Introduction

I once was lost, but now I am found, was blind, but now I see.  Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me.  Over the past few weeks, in my prayers, I have been thanking God for not overlooking me or my loved ones.  I was thanking God that He had not forgotten us or that we had somehow gotten lost in the mix of all He does.  I do not feel lost and I know for a certainty that I am not lost because I have been saved.

Are You Lost?

Now I imagine that some of you who will listen to this sermon or will read this sermon can say the same exact thing.  Truly, it is certainly a wonderful thing to be in this world and know that you are not lost in it.  However, there are many of you who will likely read this sermon or listen to this sermon that will be unsure of whether or not you are lost.  To be honest with you, if you’re not sure whether you are lost or not, then you probably are very lost.

So, what does it mean to be lost and how does one become lost?  Well, I suppose that there are two ways in which we could be lost:  we could be physically lost or we could be spiritually lost, right?  Let’s think about this for a moment.  

Back in the day before GPS, when we would go on trips or vacations, pop would have this big atlas.  (I believe we still have that thing; I think it’s still in the closet on the shelf.  For those young enough to not know what an atlas is:  it’s a book of maps.  Dad’s atlas had a map of all of the states.)  Dad would pull out the old atlas to chart out the destination.  

Now, I cannot recall us ever really having this problem, but back in the day, it would be easy to miss a turn while going to your destination.  Missing a turn eventually led to moments of questioning, which then led to confusion as to where exactly you were.  Before you could get yourself even more lost, you would have to accept that you were indeed lost and needed some help.  You would hope to find somebody who could give you some good directions to get you back on the right path.

Fun times!  Now that would be a description of getting physically lost.  Of course there are certainly other ways that we can get lost.  We can be lost in confusion at a lack of understanding something, right?  Some of us can be lost in despair which essentially means we have become hopeless.  Being lost in those manners are more of a mental and spiritual thing.  

Self-check, self-examination

The question I have asked you today is whether or not you have gotten lost along your journey?  (I am not talking about being lost physically by the way.)   I was watching a movie clip from an old movie the other day that brought this to mind.  That movie – Lion King.  (Let me make a note that I’m talking about the animated movie and not the CGI version that came out recently.)   

In the clip, the main character – Simba – is asked:  who are you?  He could not answer.  That is such a simple question that we ought to be able to answer, but many of us are like Simba in that we are unable to answer that question.  Why?  Because we have lost ourselves in this world; we have lost who we are on this journey.

If you are familiar with the movie, then you know Rafiki has Simba look at his reflection until he sees his dad (Mufasa).  Mufasa gives Simba a very powerful message to remember who he was.  It is honestly a very powerful scene that has stuck with me for a very long time – since I was a kid!  You should go watch that movie/scene if you have no clue what I am talking about!

Lost in this world

This world has a way of making us feel like we are lost or simply cause us to be lost.  We often find ourselves living in a world where wrong is right and up is down.  It is very easy to be thrown off track in our world and get lost.  We often find that obstacles will fall into our path or our path becomes overly congested with traffic to which we end up trying to dodge and before we know it, we end up lost.  Now, I am speaking metaphorically here but I do feel that some of us are reaching a point to where we are starting to look around and wonder whether or not we are lost.

There are many people who are going through this inner conflict today.  If you are lost today – unsure of who you are or where you are going, I do have a message to share with you today.  If you feel that you are lost today in this world of confusion or maybe even lost in a sea of despair, I do have a message to share with you today.  Now, this message that I have to share today is absolutely for anybody but I am aiming this message at those who genuinely believe in the Lord.  There is a Helper that I want to talk about here for a moment today, who I know for certain can help you.  

Looking For and Saving the Lost

My key verse for today is going to be my jumping off point.  I want to first show you what God did for us spiritually before I bring this to an application in our everyday life.  (Again, our spirit is always the starting place for everything so we must start there.)  What God did for us spiritually in the time of the gospels, leads to what plays a role in our life today.  Now, in this scripture, we are told by Christ that the Son of Man came to save that which was lost.  

Lost in this sense does not necessarily mean physically lost out in the woods somewhere.  No, Jesus was talking about being lost as in having gone astray (out of the way) from God.  (To go astray from God leads one down a dangerous and treacherous path that opposes God’s path and could lead to them perishing spiritually should they not turn back to Him.)  In the book of Proverbs, we are told multiple times that this path is the path of the foolish and the wicked (sinners in other words) and that the path they walk would lead to their destruction (Prov. 10:29; Prov. 14:12; Prov. 16:25). 

God desires we not be lost

Yet, we again see the grace of God, in that God does not overlook anybody – especially those who have gone astray and gotten lost.  God sent His only begotten Son to save those heading down a treacherous and dangerous path so that they would not perish.  Let’s note the example that Jesus uses in this passage of scripture (Matt. 18:10-14):  Jesus uses as an example a shepherd of a hundred sheep.  

He says, “[if] one of them (the sheep) goes astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine and go to the mountains to seek the one that is straying.”  Again, God does not overlook anybody.  It is the Lord’s desire that we never be lost (perish) to Him.  This is why God sent His only begotten Son to sacrifice Himself for the world.

Now, I have been talking about God’s grace in recent weeks, and I want to continue to show you just how deep God’s grace runs for us.  When we study scripture, we will learn that God did not stop at His only begotten Son, but that He did give of Himself again!  In John’s gospel, we find Jesus talking about the other person that God sent – this person is called “the Helper”, but we know Him as the Holy Spirit (John 14:26).

The Holy Spirit

Of the Holy Spirit, Jesus tells us (John 14:26) that, “He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you”.  Jesus would later say (John 16:13): “… when He, [the Holy Spirit] the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears [from God] He will speak; and He will tell you things to come.”

The coming of the Holy Spirit would only occur after the going away of Jesus from the world after His resurrection (John 16:7).  Jesus told the apostles that it was to their advantage that Jesus go away so that the Helper would come to them.  Why would Jesus tell the apostles that?  It is because the Helper – the Holy Spirit – has a role to serve in assisting and guiding us in our everyday life so that we can better understand things.  

In God’s grace, God gave the whole world His only begotten Son – Jesus Christ.  Jesus opened the door and showed the entire world the way to God!  Nobody has to be lost spiritually on this journey because Jesus showed us the way.  He said (John 14:6), “I am the way, the truth, and the life.  No one comes to the Father but by Me.”  The choice is ours as to whether we want to be lost or not on this journey.

Yet, at the very same time, God gave of Himself again by the giving of the Holy Spirit.  Now, watch this:  unlike Jesus, the Holy Spirit is giving specifically to those who choose to follow in the way of Christ!  The Holy Spirit was specifically given to us to help us get to the door – in other words, the Holy Spirit was given to help us while we are yet alive and on this journey.  The Holy Spirit is the one that guides us (helps us) in our everyday life.  So, again, we do not have to be lost spiritually nor do we have to be lost in our everyday life thanks to the Lord our God.

Going Through This Life

Now I understand that much of this will be confusing to some.  You have come here for some clarity because you may feel lost or have gotten lost on your journey.  To some of you, all I have done is go on a spiritual tangent and not said much about how you can get back on track in your everyday life.  Again, I say, there are many people who don’t quite understand how much our spirits play a role in our everyday life.  Understand:  If we feel lost on the inside (in your inner person/spirit), then we definitely will become lost on the outside in our everyday life.  

Many of us are lost spiritually and we fail to realize that being lost spiritually can cause us to be very confused (or very lost).  Being lost spiritually is what causes so many of us to feel hopeless or to be in despair.  This sermon is very personal to me because there are too many of us who are lost right now and don’t even realize it.

To make matters worse, some of us know that we are lost and will not seek help.  Many of us do not have the Helper that we can turn to and ask for help and for directions so that we can make the proper course correction to get back on track!  I want to tell you that you are at such a disadvantage when you are trying to go through this life without the Helper.

When we walk without the Holy Spirit, we end up being on this journey where paths are often blocked with stumbling blocks without any help or any guidance; we end up with just a bunch of people that think they know things (who you are or where you maybe need to go).  Personally, I would much rather have someone that can help me with those stumbling blocks or any other obstacles that may block my path.  When a path is blocked (or a door shut), I much rather have the architect of this world – the Creator – be there to show me another way to go!

God’s guidance when we are lost

God told Israel (Is. 41:10), “Fear not, for I am with you; Be not dismayed, for I am your God.  I will strengthen you, yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.”  I believe the Lord says this very same thing to all of His children today.  When we begin to feel like we are lost, God says that there is no reason for you to be dismayed (anxious, confused, and worried).

What I want you to know today is that God has poured the Holy Spirit into all of His children today.  The Helper – the Holy Spirit – dwells with us today — this means that God dwells with us today.  In our everyday life, when we feel that we have lost ourselves or do not know where we are going, we should meditate in our spirit – commune with God.  The Holy Spirit will bring back to remembrance what we need to know and guide us in the way in which we need to go.

Talk to God

My message to those who have gotten lost – whether it is to despair, or not knowing who you are or where you are going – is this:  take a look on the inside.  Focus on your spirit.  Also take a moment to focus on the Holy Spirit – commune with Him.  If you are a child of God, remember that you are a child of God and allow the Spirit to guide you.  For those who are not a child of God, today I encourage you to take a moment to talk to the Lord.

We are living in a time where all of us should be calling on the name of God!  Every last one of us needs God’s help, His guidance, in this tipsy-topsy, topsy-turvy world that we are living in.  God will lift you out of the way you have found yourself in, and He will sit you back down on the right track!  If you have gotten lost along the way, I tell you to turn to God.