GREAT LOSSES
INTRO.- ILL.- The story is told about a police car that pulled up in front of grandma’s house and grandpa got out. The police officer explained that he found this elderly gentleman wandering around the park. He said he was lost and couldn’t find his way home.
Grandma said, “Oh, Bill, you’ve been going to that park for over 30 years! How in the world could you get lost?”
Grandpa leaned close to Grandma so the police officer couldn’t hear what he was saying. He whispered in her ear, “I wasn’t exactly lost. I was just too tired to walk home.”
Tricky/smart/clever grandpa. He wasn’t lost, but many people are. They are lost spiritually, and there is nothing worse than that. In fact, there is nothing worse than losing anything that is very valuable. Did you ever lose anything that you considered of some value?
ILL.- Not long after I moved to Southern Illinois I went to Cape Girardeau, MO, which is about 30 miles from Anna. I went to call on someone in the hospital and then I decided to stop at the mall before going home.
I don’t remember how long I was in the mall, but when I came out I had lost my car! DID YOU EVER DO THAT? I thought, “Oh, no! Someone stole my car!” Then I thought, “Who in the world would want to steal a 1982 Dodge Omni?”
That’s when I realized it wasn’t stolen, just lost somewhere in the parking lot. I wandered around that parking lot for I don’t know how long until I finally found my car.
Who hasn’t lost their car in the parking lot of a big shopping mall? Most of us have. We just know we’ll remember where we parked that car.
Losing valuable stuff makes us panic or perhaps have “panic attacks.”
ILL.- Dr. David Busby is a psychiatrist who used to work at the Choate Mental Health in Anna, IL. Dr. Busby was a member of our church and a good friend of mine. One Saturday night when Dr. Busby got home he put his brief case on top of his car and left it there.
Sometime later in the evening he decided to go back into town to get some groceries. He jumped in his car and drove off to town, completely oblivious to the fact that his briefcase was on the top of his car.
When he got home he finally realized what had happened. He got a flashlight and went back out to the highway and began walking up and down both sides looking for his brief case. He found his briefcase, all battered and torn and no contents inside. Then he went searching for the contents. The next morning, early Sunday morning, he went back to search along the highway.
Later that morning Dr. Busby came to teach Sunday School ...without his upper teeth! You see, those teeth were in his briefcase! He also lost some very important tax papers and I don’t remember what else.
Needless to say, Dr. Busby had lost some very valuable stuff. But that didn’t deter him. He didn’t panic. He took it in stride. He went ahead and taught his Sunday School class, although it was somewhat different that day. He talked about “WHAT IS GOD TRYING TO TEACH ME ABOUT THIS INCIDENT?”
He said the first lesson was “Haste makes waste.” And it usually does. Then he went on to laugh about it and make a number of interesting applications.
Losing valuable stuff hurts. It shakes us up. It unnerves us.
PROP.- In this message I want to talk about great losses in life.
1- The lost book
2- The lost opportunity
3- The lost soul
I. THE LOST BOOK
ILL.- In 1984 I moved from Iberia, MO, to Anna, IL. In the moving process I lost my book! I lost my Bible! Horror of horrors! I lost my Bible! My good Bible, my preaching Bible! I had put my preaching Bible in a box and when we unpacked in Anna, IL, it was nowhere to be found. I was absolutely convinced that I had accidentally placed the box that contained my Bible in the trash back at Iberia, MO.
I called one of the deacons and his wife and asked if they could go through our trash and look for my Bible. How embarrassing for me to ask them to do that. AND HOW EMBARRASSING IT WAS FOR THEM TO GO RUMMAGE THROUGH OUR TRASH IN POURING DOWN RAIN!
Wanda Lilly was the wife of the deacon who dug through our trash in the rain. She said that she looked like an idiot out there in the rain digging through that trash! She said my Bible was not there! I FELT SO BAD FOR HER AND HUMBLY APOLOGIZED FOR ASKING HER TO DO THAT.
Of course, after searching more and longer, my book was discovered. I hadn’t lost my book after all! Praise the Lord! But I was sweating it for a while, because I didn’t know where I could get another book just like that one. And once you get accustomed to your book, you don’t want to try a new one.
Brethren, my book as I called it, was and is the book of all books! IT IS THE BIBLE! THE WORD OF GOD!
The word “Bible” comes from the Greek word byblos which refers to the inner bark on a tree. It was used to form the front and back on a “book” in the days when men were just beginning to make “books” on scrolls rolled on sticks. The term “byblos” came to mean “book” and then came to refer exclusively to the book we call “the Bible.”
ILL.- One time an educated, Chinese man was given a copy of the Bible and was asked to read it carefully and thoughtfully. Some time later the Chinese man came back to the man who gave him the Bible and said, “What is there about this Book that is different? In all my reading of Chinese literature I have read many good precepts, but never, until I read this Book, have I been troubled in my mind when I have done wrong. Now whenever I do wrong I am greatly troubled. Why is this Book different from all other books that I have read?”
We know. It’s because the Bible is the Word of God! It is living and active, powerful and convicting!
Because the Bible is the Word of God, it should be extremely valuable to us. And we’d better not lose it! BUT DO YOU REALIZE THERE WAS A TIME WHEN THE PEOPLE OF GOD DID LOSE THE BOOK?
II Kings 22:1, 3, 8-13, 23:1-3
The people of God had lost the Book! They had lost the book that contained the law of God and mainly because of the evil kings that ruled before King Josiah. During the days of Solomon Israel began to decay spiritually and this decay continued for many generations.
The two kings just before Josiah were his father Amon and his grandfather Manasseh and both were evil men. BUT JOSIAH WAS SOMETHING OF A DIFFERENT BREED. It just proves that no matter how bad our parents or grandparents were, we can still rise above them. WE DON’T HAVE TO BE INFLUENCED BY THOSE WHO DO EVIL, EVEN FAMILY MEMBERS!
Josiah began to reign over Israel when he was just eight years old. Incredible. No child can rule at eight years. When Josiah was just 18 years old he was in the process of having the house of the Lord repaired and that’s when the book of God was found!
And as a result of finding the book of God, Josiah began a sweeping reform. In essence, he was saying, “We’re going to start doing what God says in his Book!” The people were commanded to hear the message of God from the book. Pagan vessels were destroyed. AND REVIVAL BEGAN IN THE HOUSE OF GOD!
Brethren, any time the book is discovered or rediscovered, there is going to be a revival!
ILL.- As one little boy put it, “We are having a great rebible here in our church!”
- The book of God is lost in many homes today. IS IT LOST IN YOUR HOME?
ILL.- It’s like that old story about the preacher calling in a home and he noticed a Bible on the coffee table. He asked the little girl if she knew what was in the Bible and she said, “Why, of course! There’s Aunt Janes’ picture, a lock of baby brother’s hair, and mother’s favorite recipe!”
The Bible is lost in many homes in America. And sad to say, in many homes of people who claim to be “the people of the book!” It is nothing but a dust collector. It is not read, referred to, or even revered!
What about your home? What about your Book? Do you know what’s in it?
- The book is lost in the school system today.
ILL.- Back in Mrs. Jenkins’ first grade class, and Mrs. Anderson’s second grade class, and Mrs. Etter’s third grade class, and Mrs. Weirs’ fourth grade class, and Mrs. Bull’s fifth grade class, and Mrs. what’s-her-name’s sixth grade class, in the 1950’s, THE BOOK WAS ON THE DESK! The book of God was on the teacher’s desk and it was read every day to us students. BUT NOT ANY MORE!
I don’t know if the book of God will ever get put back into our schools or not, but thank God for Christian school teachers who take a stand for Christ and Christian principles and who exemplify a Christian attitude!
We’ve got them in our many schools across the USA and we need to back them and pat them, pat them on the back, that is. Commend for their good work.
- The book is even lost in some churches across our land. I know that’s hard for us to understand or even imagine, but it’s true in some cases.
When the book of God is not the center of teaching in the Sunday School, the worship services, the preaching, and the youth meetings then the book is lost!
And this is why we have so much liberalism and false doctrine being taught in some churches. And this is why we have Gay marriages performed by some preachers in some churches! BECAUSE SOME DON’T BELIEVE THE BOOK AND DON’T CARE WHAT IT SAYS!
ILL.- Someone wrote this powerful and penetrating letter. “Churches are straining to keep their members. Every gimmick under the sun has been tried in hopes of wooing outsiders to come into the ‘fold of safety.’ But gimmicks won’t work. As a matter of fact, they have never worked in the kingdom of God.
“Churches today are fooling around with celebrity testimonials and Bozo-the-clown rallies because most of them have nothing significant to offer the spiritually emaciated. So the various religious groups of the land use the only drawing card they can think of - a big name.
“Many churches are filled with members who are not filled with the Spirit. They think Hebrews is only a language and Deuteronomy is an Italian dish. If anyone were to ask these Christians what to do to be saved, they would slobber all over themselves trying to explain that the preacher is the man to see about things like that.
“What amazes me is to be with Christians in study and ask them to turn to a certain book of the New Testament. I firmly believe some could find the carpet section in the Sears catalog faster than they could find the book of James.” OUCH! BIG OUCH!
Is that you? Is that our church? If so, the book has been lost and it needs to be found, read, and revered!
USE IT OR LOSE IT! If we don’t read the Book, we won’t know the Book! And worse yet, eventually, we will lose it!
Psalm 1:1-2 “Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. BUT HIS DELIGHT IS IN THE LAW OF THE LORD, AND ON HIS LAW HE MEDITATES DAY AND NIGHT.”
Brothers and sisters, we need get back to the book of God! Read it! Listen to it! Absorb it! Allow it to penetrate into the depths of our souls!
If we want the blessing of God on our lives we must be a “people of the book” once again.
II. THE LOST OPPORTUNITY
ILL.- Mark Twain, after losing money several times on impractical inventions, was approached one day by a stranger. The stranger said, “I’m not asking you to invest a fortune,” showing his invention to Twain, “You can have as large a share as you want for $5.”
But Mark Twain said no. The invention didn’t seem profitable. AND SO ALEXANDER GRAHAM BELL LEFT TWAIN’S HOME. And now you know the rest of the story. Or can guess it.
All of us experience lost opportunities. Some greater opportunities than others. Of course, most of the opportunities that we miss, regret and cry over are in regard to the lost opportunity for making money. HOWEVER, THERE ARE GREATER OPPORTUNITIES THAT WE LOSE.
Luke 16:19-31
Here we have the story of the rich and Lazarus. And many applications could be made to this story, but we will consider only one for now. The rich man lived in luxury. He had everything. He had an abundance of food. He had all the food he ever wanted and then some. (sounds like America!)
He ate to the point where he was “full and overflowing.” DO YOU EVER DO THAT? Don’t answer that question.
The sad thing was this: Poor old Lazarus the beggar had nothing. He longed just to eat the crumbs that fell from the rich’s man table! He was so hungry. “Just give me some crumbs. That’s all I’m asking for.”
But, no, the rich man would not share. He would not care. He would not give. He would not grant.
Brethren, we have so much today, but sometimes we give so little!
ILL.- The guest speaker had just returned from a tour with the Peace Corps. He was troubled about the apathy of American church members. He was late that night to visit an Atlanta, Georgia, church. After the opening hymns had been sung, he went to the pulpit. He hadn’t changed his clothes after ten hours of work on the farm. Clumps of mud and manure clung to his clothes and boots. The aroma filled the church. People began to whisper. His sermon was short. It went something like this:
“You act shocked as though I were a costumed clown. But you are wearing the costumes. Seventy-five percent of the world is dressed like me. Half the world went to bed hungry tonight. You stuffed yourselves, fed the dogs, and still threw away a good meal.
“Something is wrong with a country that lets grain rot in the silos while bodies rot away in other countries. What’s more, some of you do not care. When I leave here tonight, I will be remembered as the misfit. You will not think yourselves as the strange ones. But you are. And the strangest thing of all is that many of you do not even realize it.
“Just by being an American, I am one of the richest people on this planet. Very few others can talk about a $7 continental breakfast in a hotel (which would be higher now). Walt Disney has the 8th largest submarine fleet in the world. President Lyndon Johnson captured the spirit of pride in our economic supremacy when he said: ‘Don’t forget, there are two hundred million of us in a world of three billion (now 6 billion people in the world). They want what we’ve got, and we’re not going to give it to them.’”
Again, we have so much, but sometimes we do so little. We share so little.
I Timothy 6:17-18 “Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share.”
God gives to us to take care of our needs in life, BUT HE ALSO GIVES TO US SO THAT WE CAN GIVE TO OTHERS! We have so much, but are often reluctant to give generously because we think we are going to run out of money.
ILL.- I know a Christian man who died in his 80’s. He had money. He had everything he wanted and them some. He drove fairly new cars and could have driven a new one every year if he wanted to. He could have done most anything.
When he died he left everything to his only son. At first, that doesn’t sound bad, but his only son was not a Christian. And his son was only interested in himself and no one else. He lived for himself. He had already retired and had a comfortable income on which to live.
He was called when his father suffered a bad stroke and was in the hospital. He flew in from California to see his dad who was near death, but only after a week he decided to go back home, saying to friends of his father, “CALL ME WHEN HE’S DEAD.”
There was nothing to keep him from staying with his father until he passed from his life, but he didn’t want stay, didn’t want to be bothered. At least, that’s the attitude that he projected to everyone. And the sad thing was this: that father left him everything. House, car, money in the bank, etc. And I thought, “What a waste.”
I understand how he wanted to take care of his only son, but just think of the good he could have done with at least some of that money. HE HAD A DOOR OF OPPORTUNITY TO DO GOOD, BUT HE LOST IT.
ILL.- Now on the other side of that coin, I knew an elderly lady who knew she was going to die. What did she do? She had a pretty good amount of money in the bank and she started giving money and gifts to people before she died. She said, “I believe in giving flowers to the living.” She wanted to bless others, to help others while they will still living, instead of sending flowers to their funeral.
Galatians 6:9-10 “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.”
We’ve all been given opportunities to do good to others. To give. To share. To care. And I have discovered that when you give from a heart of love, whether it’s money or a good deed, it always comes back to you. Your well will never run dry!
Proverbs 11:17 “A kind man benefits himself...”
Proverbs 11:24-25 “One man gives freely, yet gains even more; another withholds unduly, but comes to poverty. A generous man will prosper; he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed.”
We are given opportunities all the time to do good for others. We dare not lose those opportunities. Not only is it a shame to miss those opportunities, but it is also a sin.
James 4:17 “Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn’t do it, sins.” This is what some call “the sin of omission.” We omit doing the good we know we should do.
We dare not be guilty. Open your eyes. Open your hearts. Be aware of opportunities to do to anybody, anywhere, any time. WALK THROUGH THAT DOOR. You’ll never, never regret it. In fact, you’ll be blessed for it!
1- The lost book
2- The lost opportunity
III. THE LOST SOUL
Luke 12:16-21
This is the story about the rich farmer who lost his soul because he got so involved with the things of this life. He forgot that someday he was going to die and that he would have to give account for his life on earth.
ILL.- Famous NASCAR motor racing legend Dale Earnhardt Sr. is dead! He was killed last Sunday in a dramatic crash in the final turn of the last lap of the 43rd Daytona 500. He was only 49 years old.
Obviously, Dale Earnhardt worked at a various dangerous occupation and more than likely he knew there was always a chance that he could be gone from this life in a matter of minutes or even seconds! DEATH IS OUR DESTINY. For some, however, it comes earlier than for others. But come, it will.
Brethren, many people in our world live exactly like the rich farmer. And I’m not saying that Dale Earnhardt did, but many people do. They subscribe to the philosophy of “eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we die.” And they think that when they die, that’s it! Zero. Zip. There is no more life. There is no life after death. “Grab all the ghusto you can, because you only go ‘round once in life.”
ILL.- Some years ago there was a funeral director in one town where I lived who “burned the candle at both ends.” He worked quit a bit, because he had the only funeral home in our small town. But when he wasn’t working he was either playing or partying. He was going night and day. He claimed to be a Christian, but I don’t think he had much time for God in his life. I don’t think he went to church at all or very little. THE KINGDOM WAS NOT A PRIORITY IN HIS LIFE. Playing and partying were his priorities.
One morning very early he went Turkey hunting. He came home mid-morning, went to his bedroom to take a nap and never woke up. His wife found him some time later. He had died from a massive heart attack. He was 37-years-old.
Stories like this one happen all the time. And death is not the sad thing. The sad thing is if someone dies without the Lord! In a lost condition!
Luke 13:3 “Unless you repent, you too will all perish.”
Matthew 25:41 “Then he shall say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.’”
Matthew 25:46 “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”
ILL.- A. W. Rainsbury once said, “Time was when the doctrine of hell caused men to tremble, but it no longer does so, for the doctrine of hell has been relegated to the rubbish heap by the Modernists. They think they are wiser than the Lord Jesus. They do not believe in hell any more. Indeed, most are more concerned with the dangers of nuclear war than the dangers of hell. I tell you that the danger of hell is far more real, far more certain, infinitely more terrible, and for some far more imminent than the danger of nuclear war.”
The greatest loss there is, is that of the lost soul!
Matthew 28:18-19 “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”
We Christians have been given the responsibility of witnessing and leading people to Christ as best we can. The problem is most of the time, we do little or nothing about sharing Christ with others. We even find it difficult to invite people to church. And that’s not hard to do at all.
How tragic to have the blood of the lost on our hands!
ILL.- Winston Churchill biographer William Manchester devotes pages of The Last Lion to describing the many ways that Winston’s father, Randolph, hurt him. Yet, strangely, the boy maintained a steady devotion toward his father, always wanting to believe that there would come a day when the two would connect.
Churchill said he wished he could have "been apprenticed as a bricklayer’s mate, run errands as a messenger boy, or helped my father to dress the front windows of a grocer’s shop. I should have got to know my father, which would have been a joy to me."
Later, looking back, Sir Winston faced the fact that the two had never connected. Churchill said "that whenever he tried to open serious conversations with his father, he was snubbed pitilessly."
He recalled, "[My father] wouldn’t listen to me or consider anything I said. There was no companionship with him possible, and I tried so hard and so often.
“He was so self-centered no one else existed for him…. He treated me as if I had been a fool; barked at me whenever I questioned him. I owe everything to my mother; to my father, nothing."
—Gordon MacDonald in When Men Think Private Thoughts
Brethren, how sad to think that Winston Churchhill’s father ignored his own son. He lost a great opportunity to do something good for his son.
Churchill’s father was as Churchhill described, “So self-centered that no one else existed for him.”
Brethren, I hope this could not be said of us. That we are so self-centered that we exist for no one else. This is very reason that so many people are lost in their sin. We get so wrapped up in our own lives, our own things, our own fun, etc. that we forget the multitudes of people around. WE FORGET THAT THERE ARE LOST SOULS ALL AROUND US!
CONCLUSION---------------------------------------
ILL.- The great ship Titanic sank on April 15, 1912. It was a ship that was supposed to be unsinkable.
When it took off from England, all kinds of passengers were on board: millionaires, celebrities, middle income people and perhaps even some lower class income people. But a few hours later it only carried two categories of people: LOST AND SAVED.
Out on life’s sea there are all kinds of classifications. But when the voyage is over it won’t matter whether you were a rich man, poor man, beggar man, or thief. Whether you drove a Cadillac or pushed an apple cart.
ALL SUCH DISTINCTIONS WILL DISAPPEAR AND ONLY TWO LISTS WILL REMAIN: LOST AND SAVED.
Which are you? Or which will it be for you? If you are not saved, you need to get saved in Christ. And He’s the only one who can save you. Acts 2:38
If you are saved then you need to get into the book! You need to use your opportunities to do good and to witness for Christ. There are lost people all around us! WE MUST DO OUR BEST TO WITNESS FOR CHRIST!
