4 DECEMBER (PREACHED CHRISTMAS EVENING 1769)
Lost in ourselves
‘For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.’ Luke 19:10
SUGGESTED FURTHER READING: Luke 15:1–32
If man is lost to God, is he not lost in himself also? Yes, he that sinneth against God wrongeth his own soul. The utmost meaning of the word lost in a worldly sense, falls far short of its meaning here. O think what you have lost and how are lost, if Christ has not saved you and repaired your breaches.
You have lost the image of God—all spiritual knowledge of righteousness and true holiness. This loss perhaps does not affect you—the loss of health or money would trouble you more, but it will not be always thus. If you do not lay it to heart sooner, you will at least in that solemn hour when you render up your soul to God.
You have lost his favour and communion. Do you pity a blind man? You have lost the eyes of your soul. Would you pity a man banished from all that comfort and do him good? While you remain in your natural state, you are in the case of Cain, driven from the presence of the Lord. Ah, poor blind, banished, wanderers, where can you go for good, if he that has made you will have no mercy upon you, if he that formed you will show you no favour? But still more:
You are lost under his curse—you are not only excluded from his presence, but exposed to his wrath. You hear not from him now, only in his ordinances and providences, but ere long you must see him face to face. He will reprove you and set your sins in order before your eyes. Think of that dreadful sentence (2 Thessalonians 1:9). Thus we are utterly lost except Christ seeks and saves us.
FOR MEDITATION:
Thou didst once a wretch behold,
Once a sinner near despair,
In rebellion blindly bold;
Sought thy mercy-seat by prayer;
Scorn thy grace, thy power defy,
Mercy heard and set him free,
That poor rebel, LORD, was I.
LORD, that mercy came to me.
SERMON: LUKE 19:10 [4/5]
Milo 