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Burdened for the Lost (Romans 9:1-5)
19 Plays5 months ago
Isaiah uncovered the root cause of spiritual lostness with these words, “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned – every one – to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.” Isaiah 53:6.
As we try and chart our own way through life without the Lord, we lose our sense of how to get back home to the Lord as well as our direction of where we are heading with our future. The Bible refers to this as being “lost”.
Jesus taught a cluster of three parables in Luke chapter 15 regarding the urgency of something that is lost. He compares it to a lost sheep, a lost silver coin and a lost son. Twice Matthew records Jesus as aiming for the “lost sheep of the house of Israel” (Mt. 10:6; 15:24).
A great resource for discovering salvation in Christ is the book of Romans. The first three chapters address sin. The next two chapters point to salvation. Then it moves to sanctification or growth in grace in chapters 6-8. Chapters 9-11 exalt the sovereignty of God, while the closing chapters prepare us for service to the Lord. Romans is a tremendous book of the Bible!
Today let’s look at five verses found in Romans 9:1-5. These refer to a believer who has a burden for the lost. Since Jesus said that He “came to seek and to save the lost” (Lk. 19:10), we too should share this burden to reach those who have lost their way and are still separated from the Lord. We will look at five principles of lostness.
1. Affirmation of the Truth of Lostness, 9:1
2. Anguish with Tenderness over Lostness, 9:2
3. Affection for a Transfusion for Lostness, 9:3
4. Advantages of a Theology regarding Lostness, 9:4-5
5. Adoration for the Triumph over Lostness, 9:5
Dr. Jim Clark was fighting for the life of five-year old Liz, who was slowly dying of a rare disease and desperately needed a blood transfusion in order to survive. Naturally, her twin brother’s blood was the perfect match for little Liz. The five-year old boy was hesitant at first, but agreed to donate his blood when the doctor explained that it was the only way for his sister to live.
As the blood transfusion began the little girl’s face began to return to its normal red color as the transfusion was making a positive difference. When the doctor looked over at her brother, he was surprised to see that he wasn’t smiling but had a serious look upon his face. After swallowing hard, the boy asked the doctor, “Doc, when will I begin to die?” He had volunteered to donate his blood to save his sister assuming that it meant it would cost him his life.
Growing in Grace Devotions and Inspirations
Hosted by Pastor Victor Morrison
First Baptist Church
1700 Milam Street
Columbus, TX, USA 78934
http://fbccolumbustx.org/
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to 'Growing in Grace' Ministry
00:00:08
Speaker
Welcome to Growing in Grace with Pastor Victor Morrison. This is a ministry of First Baptist Church located at 1700 Milam Street, Columbus, Texas. We are praying that God will bless you as you listen to this message. If you would like additional information on worship times and ministries at FBC Columbus, you can find out more at our website, FBCColumbusTX.org. And now take your copy of God's timeless word as Pastor Victor gives today's message.
Understanding Spiritual Lostness
00:00:43
Speaker
Hey, welcome back to Growing in Grace. I'm Victor Morrison. I'm the pastor at First Baptist Church at Columbus, Texas. So glad you're joining us today. Today, we're going to talk about lostness, about being lost. Spiritually, the Bible teaches that men who are apart from Christ, they're lost. And it's sort of like someone who's out in the wilderness, or let's say they're out in the darkness, and they can't find their way back. How did it all happen?
00:01:13
Speaker
Well, Isaiah the prophet said a long time ago in Isaiah 53 verse 6, all we like sheep have gone astray. We've turned everyone to his own way, and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
00:01:30
Speaker
So it's just talking about how we're so lost spiritually without the Lord Jesus Christ, without the cross, without His redemption. And so that's what we're going to talk about today, but I'm going to especially refer to being burdened for the lost.
00:01:49
Speaker
Does it ever bother you? Do you ever feel a sense of weight that others are still spiritually lost, even though you've found the Lord and He's found you?
Mission of Seeking the Lost
00:02:00
Speaker
You know, the Bible says, for the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost. That's His mission. And so if that's what He's about, that's what we should be about.
00:02:11
Speaker
I thought about Luke 15 and how the cluster of three different parables in that one chapter, you find things that are lost. There's a lost sheep, there's a lost silver coin, and there's a lost son. And thankfully, all of them are found in that chapter. And so I want us to look in the book of Romans at Romans chapter 9. You know, the book of Romans
00:02:37
Speaker
has a wealth of wisdom and biblical truth, especially lots to say about salvation. The first three chapters speak primarily about the problem of sin, but then when you get into the last part of chapter three on through chapter five, it introduces us to the wonderful salvation in Christ. And then it speaks about growing in grace. In chapters six and seven and eight,
00:03:04
Speaker
It speaks about our sanctification and how we're set apart to live for Him. Chapters 9 through 11, we're going to be in chapter 9, verses 1 through 5, like I said. But the focus sort of shifts to God being sovereign, to Him being in control.
Exploring Romans 9-11
00:03:21
Speaker
And then the book of Romans winds up with our service to others in His name, our service to the Lord Jesus Christ in Romans 12.
00:03:31
Speaker
through 15. So I wanted us to look today at these first five verses in Romans chapter 9, and I want you to listen for Paul's burden for the lost. And just consider, are we burdened today
00:03:49
Speaker
the way he was burdened in his day for those who are still in spiritual darkness without Christ. Listen to these words. He says, I am speaking the truth in Christ. I'm not lying. My conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart.
00:04:14
Speaker
For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen, according to the flesh. They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship and the promises. To them belong the patriarchs and from their race
00:04:39
Speaker
According to the flesh is the Christ, who is God. Overall, blessed forever. Amen. What a wonderful passage of scripture, but it also is somewhat convicting because it says, am I burdened for the lost? Just like the Apostle Paul was.
00:04:59
Speaker
There's five truths about lostness that I want us to see as we go through these verses together.
The State of Being Spiritually Saved or Lost
00:05:06
Speaker
The first one is the affirmation regarding the truth of lostness. I guess I want to ask right off the top, do you believe that people are either saved or lost? You know, we speak about all the different people groups and nationalities and races around the world.
00:05:26
Speaker
God made all of us. But you know, because of sin and rebellion and resistance to God and going our own way like we read earlier, really the world is divided into two categories in God's sight. There's those who are saved and those who are still lost. And so I just wanted to ask at the beginning, could you affirm the truth
00:05:49
Speaker
that those who are separated from Christ, those who have never trusted Christ for their salvation, that they are spiritually lost. Romans 9 and 10 and 11, it's sort of exploring the problem, if God is sovereign and if Israel is chosen, then why are they still lost?
Shift from Jewish to Gentile Believers
00:06:11
Speaker
And so he doesn't want, the Apostle Paul doesn't want his heart to become callous toward unbelievers. And so what's happening is, contextually, is that at first, many of the early believers there in Jerusalem and so forth, they were all Jewish. They were Jews. But then what happens is, through the Apostle Paul's mission
00:06:39
Speaker
The Gentile numbers were beginning to surpass the Jewish numbers. So the new believers in the early church were increasing, but what Paul saw happening was his own people were falling behind. And I think his burden was increasing. Are you burdened?
00:06:56
Speaker
for the people that are around you? For example, if you live here in the United States, are you burdened for other Americans? Well, Paul was. And I think that we see in verse 1, there were three layers of veracity that he was trying to check off. He was saying, you know what? What I'm saying is the truth in Christ.
00:07:17
Speaker
What I'm saying bears witness in my conscience. It's true in my conscience. What I'm saying matches what the Holy Spirit is saying to me. And so the truth of the Holy Spirit. And so I thought to myself, wow, he's really passionate about the people who are still separated from Christ and spiritually lost.
Religion vs Relationship with Christ
00:07:40
Speaker
As a matter of fact, it doesn't matter if you are a religious person, if you're a moral person,
00:08:03
Speaker
in seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God's righteousness. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes." So you see what he's saying is, you can be so religious in doing all these right things and still not have a personal relationship with the Father through the Son. So I definitely hear him affirming the truth of lostness.
00:08:11
Speaker
Romans chapter 10 verses 1 through 4 says,
00:08:31
Speaker
But I see, secondly, in the second verse, another point that I think is a principle of lostness, not just the affirmation regarding the truth of lostness, but the anguish. We hear the tenderness that he has over lostness. When you see other
00:08:50
Speaker
non-Christians around you, maybe at work, maybe in your neighborhood, perhaps in your family, did they simply get on your nerves? And do they make you angry? Do they frustrate you and irritate you? Or do you have a sense of anguish and tenderness knowing that they're acting the way they're acting because they don't know Christ yet? And then you run the tape back and you realize there was a time when you did it.
00:09:18
Speaker
live for Christ. And when you were also perhaps just as irritable and so forth, well, verse 2 says that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. You know, when I read verse 2, I thought about the personal anguish. You see, he says, this is how I feel in my heart.
00:09:43
Speaker
But it's also an unusual anguish. He calls it great. Did you see that? He said that I have great sorrow. So the amount of sorrow was off the charts. It was also sorrow.
00:10:02
Speaker
You know, this is grief, so emotionally this was heavy. It was deep pain that he felt as he was experiencing this excruciating pain in his life that could be compared to, say, the delivery of a baby.
00:10:20
Speaker
You know, in John 16.6, Jesus told his disciples that he was going to leave. And so there was going to be this separation and it was painful for them to hear. But then there's also, he says, unceasing anguish. So it wasn't just personal and unusual and emotional. It was continual. All of this was like
00:10:44
Speaker
the heavy force of gravity that holds a man on the face of the earth. It's like a spiritual heaviness that constantly presses on the soul of a man. Is there anyone in your life, and you would say, I've got to pray for them more. I've got to get the gospel to these people because they don't know, and it bothers me that they don't know.
00:11:09
Speaker
I think that when we become so hardened and callous that it no longer bothers us, that there are people all around us. I think there's a serious condition that we need to go to the Lord about.
00:11:23
Speaker
Well, I want to go to the third principle about lostness that I see here, and that is the affection. You know, he loved and he cared for these people. He wanted them to have this spiritual blood transfusion between the blood of Christ covering them for salvation. And so I want to talk about the affection for a transfusion for lostness.
00:11:50
Speaker
You know, of course it's hypothetical because he had just stated in Romans 8, 35 to 39, that nothing can separate us from the love of Christ, right? So he knows this is just him sort of painting a picture of what he wishes that he could do for his own kinsmen. Listen to him as he says in verse 3, for I could wish
00:12:18
Speaker
that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen, according to the flesh." Do you see how heavy this was? He was saying, I wish that all of the punishment for their sin could fall upon me so that I would be separated from the Lord instead of my brothers. Wow, to me, I think two things about his love.
00:12:43
Speaker
It was sacrificial love that he had for his kinsmen. Do you remember a long time ago? I'm not sure if you're old enough to remember this, but I remember when I was a teenager, there was a popular song out by the Bee Gees called, How Deep Is Your Love? Well, how deep was his love?
00:13:02
Speaker
The depth of his compassion is seen in the length of his confession. As he says to them, to these brothers that he wishes he could die for, he said, I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ. Man, that is sacrificial love.
00:13:22
Speaker
But there's something that is very different between Paul's statement here and the statement of Moses back in Exodus chapter 32, 32, where Moses was willing to perish with his people, saying, Lord, I wish you would blot me out of your book if you're not going to forgive them. Blot me out too.
00:13:45
Speaker
That's different than what Paul is saying. Listen to what Paul is saying. It goes beyond sacrifice. It reaches to the concept of substitution.
00:13:56
Speaker
For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen, according to the flesh." Flesh, according to the flesh. And so he's saying to them, man, I wish I could do it for their sake. That's powerful. And so I thought to myself, that's substitutionary love that he wishes he could do.
00:14:24
Speaker
You know, I remember hearing a long time ago about a doctor who was trying his best to save a five-year-old girl. And he realized that this girl had such a rare disease that if he didn't get a blood transfusion quickly, then she was not going to be alive much longer. And so the perfect match for this little girl's blood type was her twin brother. So he talks to the twin brother.
00:14:51
Speaker
And he says, can we take a donation from your blood and put it in your sister? And the little boy was hesitant. He said, I don't like needles. I don't like to see blood. And so the doctor tried to talk to him and he said, look, if you don't do this, if you don't help us, then your sister is going to die. And then the little boy began to cry. And the little five-year-old boy said,
00:15:16
Speaker
It's OK. Go ahead. You can have my blood to give to my sister. And so the doctor started and it was not that much longer until he noticed whenever that blood was going through all of those tubes, that it went into the little girl and her true color began to return to her face.
00:15:35
Speaker
as their little cheeks turned rosy once again. He knew that the procedure had been effective. So he looks over at the little boy, expecting that the boy would be smiling and happy. But he wasn't. He was kind of staring off with a serious face. And he said, are you OK? And the little boy said, well, Doc, I'm just wondering, when am I going to die now?
00:15:59
Speaker
You see, that little boy thought that by sharing his blood with his sister, that it meant he would die, and yet he was willing to do it. Isn't that amazing when someone is willing to do that? Wow, the Bible says there's no greater love than one lay down his life.
00:16:16
Speaker
for his friends. Just think about how Christ was willing to die on that cross to shed his blood so that we could find life, so that we could live, so that we would no longer be lost, but we'd be found. We would be able to return home to the Creator who made us.
00:16:36
Speaker
I think it's fantastic. Have you ever heard that before? That Jesus died on the cross, not just sacrificially. He died as a substitution. Substitutionary Atonement of Christ means that he died in our place. He took our punishment. And so he's able to share his righteousness with us. Wow, that is some kind of gift.
00:17:02
Speaker
Well, let me move to the fourth truth or principle about lostness, and that is the advantages of theology regarding lostness. You know, I was asking you, have you ever heard about sin? Have you ever heard about salvation? Have you ever heard about the atonement of Christ and the cross?
00:17:23
Speaker
Well, chances are most of us have here in the United States. Many people have heard the gospel. We have had a lot of spiritual light. If we don't know, then perhaps it's because we chose not to go to a church, not to watch a Christian program that has the gospel on it, not to listen to Christian radio. Maybe those are the reasons why.
00:17:47
Speaker
But whenever Paul goes into verses 4 and 5, he starts remembering the advantages that his own kinsmen had.
Benefits of a Christian Upbringing
00:17:56
Speaker
You know, this is the people of Israel, eight different privileges or advantages that they had.
00:18:02
Speaker
But these are not the same for us, but I would say that if you grew up in a Christian family, if you had a Christian father or mother, grandfather, grandmother, if you had a church family that loved you and taught you the word of God, man, you're so blessed to grow up in a free nation where you're not told you have to do this or you have to do that. Man, you are so blessed.
00:18:28
Speaker
I look at their advantages and he says, you know, you have the advantages of being adopted into God's family, the advantage of the revelation of God's glory, the advantage of the promises within God's covenants, the advantage of the inspiration of God's Word.
00:18:45
Speaker
The advantage of the sacrifices that were done in Israel foreshadowing Jesus, God's son. The advantages of prophecies regarding God's plans. The advantages of patriarchs demonstrating the way of faith, the ways of God.
00:19:03
Speaker
and the advantage, last of all, of hosting the birth of God's Messiah. Just think how blessed the Jews were that when Jesus came and was born in Bethlehem, he was born to Jewish parents. I think to myself, Luke 1248 says, to whom much is given, much will be required.
00:19:26
Speaker
So it's very important that we do not remain in spiritual lostness whenever we know the way to return to God, which is found only in the gospel of grace, only in Christ. So I just encourage you, please don't put that off. And if you know a friend, a family member, somebody you work with, someone at your school, then please tell them.
00:19:52
Speaker
tell them the way of salvation before it's too late. If they're still lost, they need to know that Jesus came for them. Well, let me close with the fifth principle or truth about the lostness, and that is lostness has been overcome. That's right. When Jesus died on the cross, let me tell you, that was all it took.
00:20:15
Speaker
for the Father to say, you know what? I can rescue them from lostness because of what my son has done. And so I think that's why the Apostle Paul, even though he's got all this heaviness on him, you know what he does?
00:20:29
Speaker
the praise and the worship of the Lord Jesus Christ, he just breaks out in a doxology. He just wants to adore the Lord Jesus Christ because he's triumphed over lostness and over sin by providing salvation. I thought to myself, listen to him in these last verse when he says here, the Christ who is God over all, blessed forever, amen.
00:20:59
Speaker
You know, I think he was praising the Lord for the Atonement, the Atonement that is only found in the Christ. That word means the anointed one. He's the one that the Father had promised long ago through the Old Testament, over and over again, that a Messiah would come.
00:21:18
Speaker
The Christ would come. Someone would come to pay the price for their sins. And now he had come. He had died on the cross. He had been placed in the tomb. And three days later, he rose from the dead.
Paul Praises Christ's Sovereignty
00:21:32
Speaker
And I think that Paul was just saying, I can't hold it back. I've got to praise the Lord for the atonement. But I think he was also praising the Lord for his great attributes. Have you ever thought about the attributes of God?
00:21:47
Speaker
He's gracious. He's merciful. He's faithful. He's holy. He's just so many things we could name. But one thing I also thought about is when it comes to Christ, He's God. He's the Son of God. And I thought, wow, He's also praising the Lord Jesus Christ that He is God. Over all, He says, bless forever. Amen.
00:22:13
Speaker
So he was praising God for the atonement, praising God for the attributes, but he was also praising Jesus for the authority. You know, Jesus told his disciples before he ascended back to the Father that all authority had been given to him in heaven
00:22:30
Speaker
and on earth. And here we hear the Apostle Paul, he's celebrating. He said, you know what, Lord Jesus, you are God over all, over all. And I thought, man, that's wonderful news. You know, he also was praising him for the accuracy. You know, it says that Jesus is blessed forever, amen. You know that word amen? It means verily. It means yes, it is.
00:22:59
Speaker
Let it be.
Call to Action: Reach the Spiritually Lost
00:23:01
Speaker
And so he knew that it's true that Jesus has overcome lostness. What a wonderful message that we find in Romans chapter 9, verses 1 through 5. But also, like I've said, it's a convicting message. Because if Paul was burdened for the lost that were around him, are we burdened for the lost that are around us?
00:23:27
Speaker
Perhaps this summer you could spend some time introducing someone that you know who is still spiritually lost and they don't know Christ personally. Tell them that God left heaven so that He could come down here and provide for our salvation. Lord, praise the Lord that the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ,
00:23:50
Speaker
went that far just so we could be in God's family. Well, thank you once again for being with us today, for growing in grace. Let me close us in a prayer and then we'll meet next time. Father, thank you again for this time to look into your word.
00:24:06
Speaker
I thank you for going to the cross for us. I thank you, Father, for raising your son, the Lord Jesus Christ from the dead. You knew he does not deserve death. He deserves life, life everlasting, life forever and ever.
00:24:22
Speaker
And so it's no wonder that even though the cost of sin is that separation and it's heavy whenever that truth sinks into us, that not everyone will be going to heaven who rejects Christ. No one who rejects Him will be able to enter into heaven. Only those who have by faith trusted in the finished work of Christ.
00:24:46
Speaker
It is by grace that we are saved through faith and that not of ourselves. So thank you, God, so much for passages like this that recalibrate us and point us in the right direction so that we could trust Christ. So Lord, help us to not only put our faith and trust in the Lord, but also to lead others that they might trust Christ. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.
00:25:12
Speaker
Well, friend, thank you so much for being with us today. God bless you. Have a great day. This is a ministry of First Baptist Church, located at 1700 Milan Street, Columbus, Texas.