Lost and Found

Luke 19:10 — “For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.”

In most department stores, there is a lost-and-found section. Someone loses something, another person finds it and turns it in; and eventually the original owner comes looking for what was lost. When it is found, it is returned to its rightful owner.

 

But when it comes to God’s elect, there is an important difference: God never lost His sheep. Yes, all of God’s elect are lost by nature. But God did not lose them. In fact, He secured them in Christ before they were ever lost in Adam. So, how is it that they are lost?

 

Adam lost all his posterity when he fell in the Garden of Eden. Through Adam’s fall, sin and death entered the world, and all his descendants came into this world spiritually dead and separated from God. We are born lost, unable to find our way back to God or even recognize our lost condition.

 

Yet Almighty God never lost His sheep. They lost Him, but He did not lose them. They became lost in Adam, lost in sin, and lost in their own understanding, but they have always been safe in Christ. Their salvation was never dependent upon their ability to find God. It was secured by God Himself.

 

And they do not even know they are lost until the Lord gives them spiritual life from the dead. When He quickens them by His grace, they begin to see their true condition. They discover that they were lost, helpless, and without hope in themselves. That is when the words of Christ become so precious: “For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.”

 

The sheep are indeed lost—but not lost to God. He knows exactly where they are. He has never forgotten them, never abandoned them, and never ceased to love them. They were lost in Adam, but secure in Christ. They were lost to themselves but never lost to God. And in His appointed time, the Good Shepherd comes seeking His own, gives them life, and brings them home.

 

-preacher John Chapman 

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