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This is the Truth Network. The resurrection power of Jesus Christ is absolute, transforming and restoring lives, healing hurt, and making all things new. This power set Michael Bowen free from the captivity, darkness, and hell of addiction, and delivered him back to God. This is Jesus Breaks the Chains. Hello, and thank you for tuning in to this podcast, which is a part of the Jesus Breaks the Chains series. I am evangelist Michael Bowen, and I pray that the Lord blesses you greatly, and you receive this word in love and in truth.
This podcast is titled, That Which Was Lost. I'm going to open up with a couple of scriptures. The first one is going to be Luke chapter 19, verses 1 through 10, and Matthew chapter 18, verses 10 through 14.
We'll begin in Luke. Then Jesus entered and passed through Jericho. Now behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus, who was a chief tax collector, and he was rich. And he sought to see who Jesus was, but could not because of the crowd, for he was of short stature.
So he ran ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was going to pass that way. And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and saw him, and said to him, Zacchaeus, make haste and come down, for today I must stay at your house. So he made haste and came down and received him joyfully. But when they saw it, they all complained, saying, He is gone to be a guest with a man who is a sinner. Then Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, Look, Lord, I give half of my goods to the poor, and if I have taken anything from anyone by false accusation, I restore fourfold. And Jesus said to him, Today salvation has come to this house, because he also is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.
Matthew 18, verses 10 through 14. Take heed that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that in heaven their angels always see the face of my Father who is in heaven. For the Son of Man has come to save that which was lost.
What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them goes astray, does he not leave the 99 and go to the mountains to seek the one that is straying? And if he should find it, assuredly I say to you, he rejoices more over that sheep than over the 99 that did not go astray. Even so, it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish. I want to tell you that these scriptures just identify the mission of Jesus Christ, that he came to seek and to save that which was lost.
In both these scriptures Jesus gives us clues to his purpose here on earth. In Luke 19 Jesus is speaking to Zacchaeus who was a tax collector. In Jesus's time the tax collector was thought of by the Jewish people as being sinful and corrupt.
They were thought of as being greedy and selfish and lovers of money and just not well thought of at all. The Jewish people like Zacchaeus who became tax collectors for the evil Roman Empire were deemed traitors by the rest of the people. Tax collectors were hated and despised and really were rejected by Jewish society. As they walked by, people would murmur and point to them and look down upon them.
Nobody wanted to see the tax collector coming to their house because they knew they were going to have to pay their taxes. Most of the Jewish people thought the taxes were unfair and unjust. So anyone who would take on that role of a tax collector was seen as a chief sinner. It's just interesting to me that Jesus used a chief sinner like this tax collector Zacchaeus to make a statement on who he came to seek. He came for the sinner.
He came for the sinner like you and me. Why are we considered sinners? I want to talk about that in Romans 3.23. It says, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Then again in Romans 6.23 we see what is the cost of that sin. It says, for the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ our Lord. We all have sinned, you and me, and we all fall short of the glory of God. We also know that the wages of sin is death.
And really what they're talking about here in this death is really just separation from God. It's in our sinful nature that we are separated from God, the One who created us. One of the realities of human life that we must deal with is our sin condition. We all been born into this world with an inherited sinful nature due to our first parents, Adam and Eve's disobedience to God. That disobedience was the first sin by humankind and now we all have this sin condition that we received from them, that we inherited from them through their bloodline.
All humans are born into this world with this condition and it's because of this that Jesus came for the sinner. Jesus came for that which was lost. Jesus came for you and me to take care of our sin condition and the death and being separated from God. To bring us back to the Father in love.
To pay the wages for us so we do not have to. The wages of death for that sin condition. In Matthew 18 Jesus speaks about little children and sheep who have gone astray and are lost. Here Jesus is showing us that we are God's children who are like lost sheep and have gone astray and that He is our shepherd who has come to find us and rescue us and bring us back to God our Heavenly Father. For Jesus the Son of God was manifested to destroy the works of the devil. In 1 John 3 7-9 it speaks to this and it starts off with little children.
It says, Little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous, just as he is righteous. He who sins is of the devil for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested that he might destroy the works of the devil. Whoever has been born of God does not sin for his seed remains in him and he cannot sin because he has been born of God. You see the devil or Satan deceived Eve who convinced Adam to sin against God and they both sinned against God when they partook of the forbidden fruit.
This separated them from God. This caused them to fall from his glory and become lost just like the one sheep who was lost and the shepherd left the 99 to find that one sheep. You and I are that one lost sheep before we believe in Jesus and make him our Lord and Savior. Jesus the good shepherd seeks for us until we are found. Once we are found Jesus brings us back to God and his glory and his righteousness. John 14 6 tells us straight out and these are the words of Jesus himself. Jesus said to him, I am the way the truth and the life no one comes to the father except through me. John 10 9 through 11 Jesus says I am the door if anyone enters by me he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief does not come except to steal and to kill and to destroy.
I've come that they may have life and that they may have it more abundantly. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives his life for his sheep.
Isn't this wonderful? The good shepherd Jesus. He gives his life for the sheep and that's pointing to when he gave his life at cavalry on the cross. When he shed his innocent blood as a propitiation of our sins so we do not have to pay the wages of sin or the cost of the sinful nature that we inherited from our first parents. That Jesus pays those sins and in that it shows the righteousness of God. We are justified in God by Jesus' sacrifice.
Jesus is the gift from God sent by God to save us from our sins and bring us back to his glory to be with him for eternity. That not one should perish. That all will be found. That's the will of God. That all will be found.
Hallelujah. Jesus paid our wages of sin with his death at the cross and we are redeemed by his blood that was shed and we are justified in his resurrection. Romans 4 23 25 speaks to this the justification of his sacrifice. Now it was not written for his sake alone that it was imputed to him but also for us.
It shall be imputed to us who believe in him. Talking about Jesus Christ. Who raised up Jesus our Lord for the dead. Who was delivered up because of our offenses and was raised because of our justification. We are God's children who have been lost because of sin.
We were actually born into this fallen world lost and we desperately need to be found. There's an old saying many of us have heard that we refer to when someone begins a relationship with Jesus Christ and you can see the change in their lives. When someone has been having a destructive life and maybe going astray and going the wrong way and is having a lot of problems in life and a lot of sin a lot of sin in their life is a total mess and then all of a sudden you see them and they you notice a change in them and you're wondering wow they look different. They look like they have a sound mind. They are smiling.
They're happy. Look at the things they're doing in their life and so we calmly say to someone like that that man that person must have found Jesus and I'm telling you right now that this is wrong. That person did not find Jesus. Jesus isn't the one who is lost.
That person was lost. Jesus is not the one. We don't find Jesus. Jesus finds us because we're the ones that are lost.
One thing we must all realize we are the ones that are lost and that are lost and separated from God in our sins and Jesus is the one who is always pursuing us, chasing us, seeking us, and finding us. From the time of the very first sin by Adam and Eve God started his pursuit of that which was lost seeking that that he can find. Genesis 3 8 through 9 9 and they heard the sound of the Lord walking in the garden in the cool of the day and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord among the trees of the garden. Then the Lord God called to Adam and said to him where are you? You see here God is seeking.
God knew where Adam was but he wanted to show Adam that he was calling out for him that he was seeking him for Adam to come out and be found. God has always spoken through his prophets about seeking for that which was lost. Ezekiel 34 11 through 12 says for thus says the Lord indeed I myself will search for my sheep and seek them out as a shepherd seeks out his flock on the day he is among his scattered sheep so will I seek out my sheep and deliver them from all the places where they were scattered on a cloudy and dark day.
Amos 9 3 though they hide on the summit of Carmel I will search them out and take them from there and though they conceal themselves from my sight on the floor of the sea from there I will command the serpent and it will bite them hallelujah. Ezekiel 34 16 I will seek what was lost and bring back what was driven away bind up the broken and strengthen what was sick but I will destroy the fat and the strong and feed them in judgment. David also spoke about that which was lost in the Psalms. Psalm 119 176 he's talking he's crying out to God he says I've gone astray like a lost sheep seek your servant for I do not forget your commandments. So David here is crying out the Lord and saying Lord seek me seek me come find me for I am lost I've gone astray I am lost in my sins I have turned away from your precepts David is saying and he knows that God is a seeker. He is a man after God's own heart and he knows the word of God and he knows the promises of God and he knows God pursues him and seeks him so he in his desperation is is crying out to God saying seek me seek me come find me God. How many of us out there right now wanting to be found we are crying out to Jesus Christ and saying Lord Lord please come find me I I'm in trouble I need help I need you I'm lost in addiction I'm lost in in in loneliness I'm lost in poverty I'm lost in in in in hurt from my past and I need you to come find me Lord I'm lost in depression in the darkness of this depression and Lord please please seek me please come find me cry out to the Lord now if if you're if you can identify with that and you are in a place like that and he is a seeker and he comes for that which was lost. Psalm 139 David also says in verse 8 where can I go from your spirit or where can I flee from your presence if I send into heaven you are there if I make my bed in hell behold you are there. It's showing that everywhere David may try to run from God because of his sin or because of his shame and guilt he tries to run from God and God is there where he runs he can't get away from God God is everywhere and he's pursuing him and he's always there with him and and I say this to you God is in your loneliness he's in your despair he's in your hurt when I was in prison I was I was lost in my sin I went to prison as a as a drug addict and in the crimes I committed to get my drugs I was a thief and I stole from people and businesses and I was in prison and this is right before I surrendered my life to Jesus Christ and I was sitting in the in the chapel in the prison chapel and I was standing there and there was some worship music going on and I was just crying and I didn't feel God I didn't know where he was I was kind of like David I was like where are you Lord where are you and I was crying and crying I just kept that's all I kept saying over and over in my mind where are you where are you and then I heard a whisper in my spirit and it was Jesus and he said I'm in your tears and that right there just touched my heart I was like David no matter where I went or where I was running or where I tried to hide in the drugs and in the darkness and captivity of my addiction Jesus was there in the prison Jesus was there I believe I was captured by God the day I was arrested and and put in that prison so I could so I could stop in and be found by Jesus and I tell you what I was lost but now I'm found I was blind but now I see the day I surrendered my life to Jesus Christ in prison the day Jesus found me the word of God also speaks of that which was lost in the parables of the gospels and I'm going to begin in Luke 15 and verses 4 through 7 and it's referring to a to the shepherd and the sheep again and God uses this illustration over and over and over in in his word to give us understanding of our relationship with Jesus Christ and and how that should look and what it should look like in in in in our reliance on him uh and in our comfort in him and our where our needs are met by Jesus Christ alone Luke 15 verse 4 what man of you having 100 sheep if he loses one of them does not leave the 99 in the wilderness and go after the one which is lost until he finds it and when he has found it he lays it on his shoulders rejoicing and when he comes home he calls together his friends and neighbors saying to them rejoice with me for I've found my sheep which was lost I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over 99 just persons who need no repentance I'm here to tell you that I know that that that the angels in heaven in heaven all the hosts in heaven rejoiced for me when I surrendered my life to Jesus Christ on that prison chapel for today and I repented of my sins I turned away from them and I begged Jesus to save me and rescue me and he did he found me in my loneliness and despair and in the darkness and he comforted me and he put me on his shoulders and he lifted me up and I felt his presence and I was comforted that day that day I remember for the rest of the days of my life the day Jesus found me on a prison chapel floor at the Texas state prison at the Travis unit in 2013 about nine years ago again in Luke 15 8 through 10 he he talks about in a parable about that which was lost starts off or what woman having 10 silver coins if she loses one coin does not light a lamp sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it and when she has found it she calls her friends and neighbors together saying rejoice with me for I found the peace which I lost likewise I say to you there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents hallelujah allow Jesus to find you today repent turn away from your sins turn to Jesus Christ and and and be found once and for all for God so loved the world that he sent his only begotten son that whosoever should believe in him shall not perish shall not perish but have everlasting life God wishes that none of us perish and we must repent and turn away from that sinful nature that has been driving us away from God separating us from God and we need to repent and turn away from those sins and as soon as we turn away from those sins Jesus is there he's right there he's pursuing us he's pursuing you he's pursuing me every day all day he is my good shepherd he watches over me he takes care of me he provides for me then in luke 15 verses 21 through 24 talks about a son it says and the son said to him father I have sinned against heaven and in your sight and I am no longer worthy to be called your son but the father said to his servants bring out the best robe and put it on him and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet and bring the fatted calf here and kill it and let us eat and be married for this my son was dead and is alive again he was lost and is found and he began to be married that is the the the parable of the prodigal son the son who took his inheritance and ran off and squandered it and on riotous living and sinful living and just was greedy and took it and left his family left his father and ran away and his father did not see him for years and years and years and and he was like dead to his father because he was separated from his father it's an illustration of how we are when we are separated from God in our sins but it also says in there that he came to his senses that he came to himself when he found himself in the pig slop in the pig pen eating the corn the the corns of husk with the pigs what the what the pigs ate and and and he came to his senses and i just ask us right now all come to our senses and and and and and and receive Jesus Christ turn from our sins and our riotous living and come back to the father where we belong and that can only be done by believing and receiving Jesus Christ as your lord and savior it's interesting to me that when the word of God is speaking about that which was lost the two symbolisms the word of God uses the most are sheep and children i believe that God wants to show us that we are his children that have been lost and that he has sent his son Jesus Christ to seek us to pursue us to seek us to find us to save us to rescue us and to bring us back to him just as a shepherd searches for his lost sheep and brings them back to the fold on his shoulders brings us back to green pastures back to the glory to the glory of God in his presence how beautiful is that how beautiful of a picture in your mind can you create Jesus having a lamb over his shoulders who who is out in the wilderness where the wolves and the snakes and the and the danger is and the predators that could have killed him and Jesus left the 99 went for that one lost sheep who was who was crying i know you've seen sheep out there and and when they're a little lamb or something crying for its mother and the sound that it makes that's what what we are like when we are crying out to God and and the shepherd heard that and he went immediately to that lost sheep and when we cry out to Jesus Christ he hears us just like that shepherd hears that lost sheep and he comes for us and he takes us and he pulls us close to him like he pulled me close to him on that prison chapel floor and he loved me back to life and he put me up on his shoulders and he brought me back into the presence of God because when i threatened my life to Jesus Christ that day i was broken i was a broken man and i wept and i cried when i was finally able to i was on the ground on the foot line weeping and and when i was finally able to get enough strength to rise to my feet i felt the presence of God psalm 23 is a perfect psalm or word about the the shepherd and and Jesus that we can identify with that we can see how he takes care of us and comforts us protects us and helps us overcome the enemies of our soul and it starts like this the lord is my shepherd i shall not want he makes me to lie down in green pastures he leads me beside the still waters he restores my soul he leads me in the path of righteousness for his name's sake yea though i walk through the valley of the shadow of death i will fear no evil for you are with me your rod and your staff they comfort me you prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies you anoint my head with oil my cup runs over surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life and i will dwell in the house of the lord forever wow i love this i love that that scripture it's very uh popular scripture it's one that a lot of people memorize and quote and uh it's just a beautiful description of a relationship with the lord he is our good shepherd who seeks that which was lost and he finds us and delivers us from sin then he brings us back into the fold into the presence and glory of the father as he leads us each day protects us guides us and provides for us though we walk through the valley of the shadow of death or we could say though we walk through the valley of sin we shall not fear because he is with us and as he is with us he comforts us he comforts that which was lost and now has been found beautifully written by john newton the song amazing grace says it like this amazing grace how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me i once was lost but now i'm found was blind but now i see i pray right now that god open our eyes that we may see the glory of our salvation in jesus christ i pray that we all come into the knowledge of jesus christ as our lord and savior our good shepherd who is constantly and relentlessly seeking all which has been lost i pray that we turn to jesus and receive him so we may come back to the father i love you all and i pray that you too can find the freedom that i found in jesus christ jesus breaks the chains he is my he is the one that found me when i was lost in the captivity darkness and hell of addiction and delivery back to my god this is the greatest life i've ever lived living my life in jesus christ god bless you all in jesus name i pray amen thank you for listening for more information on michael bowens ministry sons and daughters of thunder visit sonsanddaughtersoffunder.org and remember there is no addiction in jesus christ jesus breaks the chains
Whisper: medium.en / 2023-04-24 15:11:47 / 2023-04-24 15:21:43 / 10