I remember the time my son told me about missing some cows. He counted them on a Friday, and the next Monday, they were not all there.
He talked to the neighbors but no luck. He found a gate open at one end of the pasture, and after several days, he finally located the cows.
He talked to the owner of the land and got permission to get his cows. My son spent long hours and several days in the hot weather walking and searching for his lost cows.
That incident reminds me of something in the Bible.
WhenAdam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden, it separated them from God and all mankind has followed. You can find the story in Genesis 3:6-24.
Romans 5: 12 Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned—.
The Bible says we are lost and without hope on our own, so we need help and that is why God had a plan to redeem us, Isaiah 53:6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.).
Jesus came to earth to seek and save that which was lost and make a way we could have forgiveness of our sins and a new relationship to God.
Matthew 18:11 For the Son of Man came to save the lost.
Luke 15:4-7 “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that 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 his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.’ Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.”
It was by His sinless life, sacrificial death on the cross and His resurrection from the grave that we have the hope of a new relationship to and with God.
Romans 5:8-11 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.
Luke 19:10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.
But our faith and hope must be in Christ Jesus and nothing less or more.
Romans 3:21-24 But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,...
Romans 5:1-2 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
See you in Church next Sunday.