Sunday Message – Today Jesus 101 1/10/06

<Luke 15:1-10>
I CAME TO SEEK THE SINNERS

Read <Luke 15:1-10>

v1-2 Jesus Christ was among the tax collectors and sinners

• Jesus Christ told them the parables in a setting where there are sinners and
not righteous people
• He is looking for the sick and not the healthy
• We will be living in agony if we are always following the Lord yet do not
receive a heart that knows that God had found us. We are in agony because
we cannot see the love of God that is always showering on us
• Where is the evidence that God loves us and is looking for us? How do we
know that God loves us?
• In what state should our hearts and minds be in or what should we be
thinking if God really loves us?
• If a person can have joy, assurance, freedom in all things, not accursed; if a
person can see God’s mercy when he comes before the Lord even after he
had sinned; this person really knows that Jesus Christ is looking for him.
• Do we always realise that Jesus Christ is looking for us or do we always feel
separated from God?
• It is evident that God is having mercy on us and loves us if we have a
sorrowful heart, a heart which knows that we need God
• If we know that our brothers and sisters are facing accusation when we see
them with a burdened heart, it shows that God had already found them
• A person who feels that he can still handle everything and he doesn’t have
any problems or a person who always worship the Lord but receive no
convictions at all – these are the Pharisees and Teachers of the Law
• They are obviously full of unrighteousness and “illnesses”. They always envy
or get jealous of others. Despite all these, they still feel that they are alright.
Such persons are rejected by God
• Therefore, we must open our eyes to see the link between God’s pleasure
with us and our hearts & minds.
• We are still very carnal if we are not able to see how God is loving us or if we
cannot see God’s smiling face
• God wants to find the lost sheep. Who are the lost sheep?
1) God’s chosen ones but has yet to return home
• They have yet to hear God’s voice or know God but they are already
chosen by God
2) They have fallen in their beliefs and their hearts have left the Lord
• They are known as the “Lost Son”. However, God has never left them.
He is waiting for them to come back
3) Though they are in the church, they receive no convictions from the
hymns and message at all
 • Worship has become just a ritual for them. They continue to worry after
the worship because they have no desire to “die”

1. The Lord wants to find the lost sheep today

• Those who want to find God were already found by God. However, God
had already rejected people who are like the Pharisees and Teachers of the
Law
• In fact, God has never left us. His love has never departed from us
• God created all things out of His love. However, some people has never
seen or heard Him before, because they never think that they are sick or
lost. The Pharisees and teachers of the law are such people
• Lost sheep refers those who do not know God. It could also be those
whose interests are on the flesh, thus failing to see God. Or, it could be
believers who only rely on themselves and are numb towards God. Those
who are numb towards God will not obey God
• The Lord wants to find the following:
1) Those who are chosen but yet to be born again
• A person will receive his/her salvation unexpectedly. It is not dependent
on his will or work. He receives salvation because he was chosen by
God
• Some people live in agony. Their hearts are filled with emptiness and
they always worry. All these are because they have yet to know God
and did not entrust their lives to God
• There are some people who simply cannot die even if they wanted to.
This is because God loves them and wants to preserve their lives on
Earth.
• God loves them and God loves the eternal lives in them
• God allowed them go through a lot of problems and hardships because
He loves them and wants to win over them. It is because of their
hardships and problems; they will be easily attracted to God’s message
as soon as they have heard them.
• We who are loved by God will definitely have a yearning heart for God
• God has allowed our background, environment and problems. Thus, we
will come to know Him as soon as we have heard His voice
• <Romans 5:8> God loves us first. It does not depend on our will. This
is the grace that God wants to bestow upon us
2) The lost son
• God will definitely interfere with the lives of such people because He
will not let His beloved children continue to wander and suffer outside
• Some people are attracted by the World and succumb to peer pressure
• They face problems outside the church; but when they go to the
church, they can only see the sick people and cannot receive any
comfort. As a result, they left church and God
• God’s grace is in the church no matter how weak that church may be.
Thus, they will very quickly be like people of this world when they leave
church.
 • Sheep can never win the battle against wolves.
• No matter how hard they strive outside, they can never become
successful. The reason is such that if they become successful by their
own might, they will never want to return and rely on God.
• However, God will have greater mercy upon them when they turn back
to God. After they’d turned back to God, they will receive double
blessings in return.
• God will give us a lot of chances and reminders, telling us to turn back
to Him when we had left God to pursue the things of this world.
However, God’s discipline will come upon us if we continue to harden
our hearts to go against Him
• God will use a longer period of time to discipline us in order to set us
free from the things that bound our lives. He will make us willing to
‘die’ and be humbled
• We will never fall in love with the world completely again after we have
been disciplined and turned back to God
3) Believers who are lifeless (i.e. dried)
• God will make the believers who do not receive any convictions in the
church to turn back to him with a upright heart
• Many a times, we have also become lifeless. We’ve taken worships and
our lives for granted
• Believers who have become lifeless for a prolong period of time will
eventually be lost. We should turn back to God with a upright heart
before we are really lost
• We should just let go of everything and take a rest when we realise that
no matter what we do, we just feel “dried-up” and joyless. After we had
taken a rest, get up and wrestle with God using His words, till we
receive an answer from Him
• We should read <Matthew 6:25-34> if we always fail to have a
contented heart and keep worrying for our financial needs. We can
keep on asking God “is this true?” when we read
• We should read the promises from <John 14-17> if we know that we
are carnal and find it difficult to believe in God’s covenant
• Only the Word and Spirit of God can get rid of our “dryness”
• However, some believers will only ask God to perform miracle when
they feel “dry”. E.g. they will ask God for a pay increment when they
are lacking of money. E.g. they will only ask God to heal them when
they are sick. These people will be disheartened very easily
• God will only put His Word and Spirit into our lives to make us lively
again
• God wants us to have expectation on Him and not to be disheartened
• We must resolve the problem of lifelessness and restore Immanuel. If
not, all sorts of problems will start appearing in our lives when we feel
“dry”.
4) Love the souls and lives
• God will only come to us when we receive the life of Jesus Christ, which
is His love for the souls and lives of people
 • We will want to evangelise, comfort others and heal others when we
really love the souls and lives of others. Only then, God’s anointment
will be upon us and make us receive His words
• “God comes” means “God’s anointment has come upon us”
• God’s anointment will come upon us only when we love lives and His
Kingdom
• When we share the Gospel, we should only share the message and
desires of our Lord and not our personal message

2． Heaven will rejoice when a sinner repent (there will be party in heaven)
• How joyful will God be when a lost son returns
• How please will God be when a lifeless believer restored his strength
• How do we know that God is pleased with us? If we do not know; no
matter what we possess or what we do, we will always be fearful
• We must be sure that God is pleased with us if we really believe in Him
• A believer who is sure that God is pleased with him will definitely be joyful,
filled with assurance, receive freedom and will love lives. Only then, the
heaven will party
• Heaven will party only when believers receive strength in their lives. A
believer will be happy, unafraid, filled with confidence and love, will not
feel inferior and not be accused when he receive strength
• We are talking about spiritual strength
1) Our perspective will change
• Although the physical world and things will not change when we
receive our salvation, our perspectives will
• Our strength will be different when our perspective changes
• Strength is about having different perspectives and emotions in the
same situation
• We will only realise that we are lost and turned back to God after our
perspective has changed
2) Establish a covenant
• Only after we had established a covenant with God will we turn back to
Him and He will show Himself to us
3) Uprightness (Honesty)
• We become numb because we are not upright. We do not want to
ponder or use God’s Words after we’d read them
• We should pray, read the Bible and go for meetings with a upright and
honest heart
• When we says that we are too “dried up”, thus we are not able to be
upright or establish a covenant. It only means that our problems are
not significant enough yet
• We will be lost after we are not upright for quite some time. Therefore,
God will use a period of time to change us
4) Treat our neighbours as ourselves
 • Love our neighbours as we love ourselves. We cannot love them when
we only love ourselves
• We should share the pains of our neighbours
• The heaven will start a party when a person really loves his neighbour
like himself
• If our belief is one filled with power, we will be able to connect the spiritual
things with our emotions and physical situation
• If we are not able to connect, our belief is empty
• When we have power, we will be joyful, be at ease, love others, and help
others whenever we think of God’s word and spirit.
• A belief that has assurance is one that is able to connect. Are we really
able to restore strength to love and bless the people around us after we’d
read God’s word?
• Our belief is real. It is not empty. We should understand the difference
between Gospel and religion
• If our beliefs are empty, we will only flee from problems when we meet
them

3. No one can snatch them out of my hand

• ‘nobody’ means anyone, any environment or any event
• God will use His complete life to protect us
1) Saved once, saved forever
• God will love us forever. Once we receive our salvation, we can never
lose it
• We are born by God. It does not depend on our faith, or conditions
• We must have the absolute perspective of being loved. Use this
perspective to view all things and judge all things. Explain everything
using the love of God
•We must know God’s perfect will quickly. The son must follow the path
of his father
2) God’s interference
• God will want to meddle with us. His interference will increase when we
are receiving more grace
• A blessed person will allow God to interfere, or else, we will become the
lost son
• When we realised that we have problems, we must diagnose the root
cause to find out where and how God wants to interfere
• If we do not want God to interfere, we should go to Him first
• God’s interference is to enable us to restore the correct direction. We
will not be lost when our direction is correct
3) Discipline
• We should rejoice when we realised that God is meddling with our lives
now
• <Hebrews 12> God will discipline His beloved children
 • When we are being disciplined, we must know that it is God’s love for
us. We are disciplined because of His love
• It’s the time for us to renew ourselves when we are being disciplined
4) Receive the heart that is not accused
• If our hearts do not accuse us, God will give us everything that we
asked for
• If our hearts do not accuse us, the hardships we met are not hardships
but blessings
• We should obey God in accordance to His conviction
• We will not be afraid if our hearts do not accuse us. We will then realise
that we cannot do anything by ourselves. Thus, we want to pray and
then, we will receive answers

Sharing and Prayer Topics

1. I came to seek the sinners and find those who belong to me. Reflect:
How did God appear to me and what message did He use when He
first sought me? How is it like to return to God when you are lost?
How did God comfort and strengthen me when I desire His grace?
How did God help me when I want to care for the lost souls?
Examine: Did God seek me daily for all things?

2. The heaven will rejoice when a sinner repents. How I know that God
is pleased with me, in accordance to my spiritual conditions now.
Reflect: What experience does my heart and mind have when I first
receive salvation, renewal and grace? Whenever I seek the Lord (via
reading the Bible, prayers, going for meeting and serving), does my
heart and mind experience comfort, joy, power and hope? And
receive the evidence that ‘my life is connected to heaven’!

3. <John 10:28> no one can snatch them out of my hand. The sooner
you are determined to follow the Lord completely, the sooner you
get to enjoy the abundant grace that God had prepared for you. Did
you clearly experience this “God will interfere immediately when I’m
weak”? How do I know? Have I already acquired this: The principle to
enjoy abundant life is in the Lord? How is my current relationship (in
terms of closeness, guidance, and submissiveness) with the Lord?