More About Jesus – His Heart for the Lost
Do you love Jesus? Are you walking with the Lord? Do you feel close to Jesus? Do you feel that your heart is in line with His heart? Today we are going to take a look at Jesus’ heart for the lost.
I Jesus’ heart for the lost was nothing new
Tit 1:2 In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;
1Pe 1:18 Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, [as] silver and gold, from your vain conversation [received] by tradition from your fathers;
1Pe 1:19 But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:
1Pe 1:20 Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you,
Rev 13:8 And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
Before the world was created Jesus knew that man would fall. He already had the plan of salvation ready. He knew before He created that He would have to go to the cross. He was the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. Jesus loved the lost enough to die for them before He even created man. His great love for the lost has always been. It is not a passing fad. He did not grow into it over time. His love for the lost has always been and always will be. It is a part of who He is. Jesus still has a heart for the lost today.
II His heart for the lost is why He came
Luk 19:10 For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.
Joh 12:27 Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour: but for this cause came I unto this hour.
Jesus came to pay for our sin and provide a way of salvation to all who will believe. He came for all the lost sinners.
My first day back at work after a long illness a lady who believes in a different gospel (the health gospel) came into my office and tried to tell me that Jesus wanted me healed, and how He died for my health. She then abused scripture by quoting only part of Isa 53:5, “with his stripes we are healed.” I almost could not believe my ears.
Jesus did not come so I can have perfect health. Jesus did not come for my finances. He came for one main purpose. He came because of His heart for the lost. He came to save the lost.
III Jesus’ heart for the lost was evident in His life
a. With the woman at the well
Joh 4:4 And he must needs go through Samaria.
Why must He go through Samaria? His love for a lost woman.
A woman who is looked down upon, not only for living in Samaria, but also because of her immoral lifestyle. He loved this lost woman more than He cared what others thought.
Joh 4:5 Then cometh he to a city of Samaria, which is called Sychar, near to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph.
Joh 4:6 Now Jacob’s well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied with [his] journey, sat thus on the well: [and] it was about the sixth hour.
Joh 4:7 There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water: Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink.
Joh 4:8 (For his disciples were gone away unto the city to buy meat.)
Joh 4:9 Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans.
Joh 4:10 Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.
Joh 4:11 The woman saith unto him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: from whence then hast thou that living water?
Joh 4:12 Art thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle?
Joh 4:13 Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again:
Joh 4:14 But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.
Joh 4:15 The woman saith unto him, Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw.
Joh 4:16 Jesus saith unto her, Go, call thy husband, and come hither.
Joh 4:17 The woman answered and said, I have no husband. Jesus said unto her, Thou hast well said, I have no husband:
Joh 4:18 For thou hast had five husbands; and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband: in that saidst thou truly.
Joh 4:19 The woman saith unto him, Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet.
Joh 4:20 Our fathers worshipped in this mountain; and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.
Joh 4:21 Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father.
Joh 4:22 Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews.
Joh 4:23 But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.
Joh 4:24 God [is] a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship [him] in spirit and in truth.
Joh 4:25 The woman saith unto him, I know that Messias cometh, which is called Christ: when he is come, he will tell us all things.
Joh 4:26 Jesus saith unto her, I that speak unto thee am [he].
Joh 4:27 And upon this came his disciples, and marvelled that he talked with the woman: yet no man said, What seekest thou? or, Why talkest thou with her?
Joh 4:28 The woman then left her waterpot, and went her way into the city, and saith to the men,
Joh 4:29 Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ?
Joh 4:30 Then they went out of the city, and came unto him.
Joh 4:31 In the mean while his disciples prayed him, saying, Master, eat.
Joh 4:32 But he said unto them, I have meat to eat that ye know not of.
Joh 4:33 Therefore said the disciples one to another, Hath any man brought him [ought] to eat?
Joh 4:34 Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work.
Joh 4:35 Say not ye, There are yet four months, and [then] cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest.
Joh 4:36 And he that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal: that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together.
Joh 4:37 And herein is that saying true, One soweth, and another reapeth.
Joh 4:38 I sent you to reap that whereon ye bestowed no labour: other men laboured, and ye are entered into their labours.
Joh 4:39 And many of the Samaritans of that city believed on him for the saying of the woman, which testified, He told me all that ever I did.
Joh 4:40 So when the Samaritans were come unto him, they besought him that he would tarry with them: and he abode there two days.
Joh 4:41 And many more believed because of his own word;
Joh 4:42 And said unto the woman, Now we believe, not because of thy saying: for we have heard [him] ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world.
Jesus stayed two days witnessing to the lost and many more believed.
b. With the man at Gadarenes
Luk 8:26 And they arrived at the country of the Gadarenes, which is over against Galilee.
Luk 8:27 And when he went forth to land, there met him out of the city a certain man, which had devils long time, and ware no clothes, neither abode in [any] house, but in the tombs.
Luk 8:28 When he saw Jesus, he cried out, and fell down before him, and with a loud voice said, What have I to do with thee, Jesus, [thou] Son of God most high? I beseech thee, torment me not.
Luk 8:29 (For he had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. For oftentimes it had caught him: and he was kept bound with chains and in fetters; and he brake the bands, and was driven of the devil into the wilderness.)
Luk 8:30 And Jesus asked him, saying, What is thy name? And he said, Legion: because many devils were entered into him.
Luk 8:31 And they besought him that he would not command them to go out into the deep.
Luk 8:32 And there was there an herd of many swine feeding on the mountain: and they besought him that he would suffer them to enter into them. And he suffered them.
Luk 8:33 Then went the devils out of the man, and entered into the swine: and the herd ran violently down a steep place into the lake, and were choked.
Luk 8:34 When they that fed [them] saw what was done, they fled, and went and told [it] in the city and in the country.
Luk 8:35 Then they went out to see what was done; and came to Jesus, and found the man, out of whom the devils were departed, sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed, and in his right mind: and they were afraid.
Jesus made this trip for this one lost man. A man that everyone else rejected. A man possessed by demons. Jesus put His disciples thru a lot of work just to reach this one lost man. And after the man was saved, they got right back on the boat.
IV He gave it all for the Lost
Joh 15:13 Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
The nails are not what kept Jesus on the cross. It was His heart for the lost.
Mat 26:52 Then said Jesus unto him, Put up again thy sword into his place: for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword.
Mat 26:53 Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels?
Mat 26:54 But how then shall the scriptures be fulfilled, that thus it must be?
V Jesus expects us to have the same heart and do the same work.
The man at Gadarenes wanted to stay with Jesus. But Jesus wanted the man to be involved in reaching the lost.
Luk 8:38 Now the man out of whom the devils were departed besought him that he might be with him: but Jesus sent him away, saying,
Luk 8:39 Return to thine own house, and shew how great things God hath done unto thee. And he went his way, and published throughout the whole city how great things Jesus had done unto him.
Mat 28:18 And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.
Mat 28:19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
Mat 28:20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, [even] unto the end of the world. Amen.
Mar 16:15 And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.
Joh 20:21 Then said Jesus to them again, Peace [be] unto you: as [my] Father hath sent me, even so send I you.
Many Christians will say I am walking close to Jesus. But ask them about soul winning and they get a deer in the headlight look on their face. The fact is that Jesus has a Great Heart for the lost. Your heart cannot be close to Jesus’ and not have any concern, any heart for the lost. Walking close to Jesus and a heart for the Lost go hand in hand. The two are inseparable.
Everything Jesus did all moved toward reaching the lost.
When He healed the blind He was giving an object lesson on how He could heal the spiritually blind. When He healed a leper (Leprosy is a type of sin) he was showing how He can heal us from our sin. You see Him weeping over the lost state of Israel. When He cried before He raised Lazarus it was because of the unbelief of the people.
For a Christian to be in the will of God, he must have a heart for the lost. I did not say to be saved. I am talking about walking in the will of God.
How close is your heart in line with Jesus’ heart for the lost?
God does all of the drawing, all of the convicting, all of the removing of the scales from the eyes. His Spirit testifies of righteousness and of judgment to come. That is His side of getting people saved. But we also have a side. Our side is to care! Our side is to go! Our side is to tell! Our side is to pray!
All Christians should at some level be involved in what Jesus deeply cares about and that is the salvation of souls.