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Muskegon SDA Church

Jason Sliger

Joy in Heaven

I stumbled across a quote recently that you have probably read at some point, but it just shows a, gives us a picture of what it looks like in God's eyes as he looks down upon the earth.

This is from Christ Object Lessons, page 196.

It says this, the value of a soul, who can estimate?

Go to Gethsemane and there watch with Christ through those hours of anguish.

When he sweat, as it were, great drops of blood, look upon the Savior uplifted on the cross.

Hear the despairing cry, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?

Look upon the wounded head, the pierced side, the marred feet.

Risked all for our redemption heaven itself was in peril listen to this at the foot of the cross Remembering that for 1 sinner Christ would have laid down his life you may estimate the value of a soul How valuable is just 1 soul?

It is so valuable that there is no price tag that can be placed upon it.

As we look at Calvary and we see Jesus hang on the cross, there we begin to see with a very dim glimpse the value of just 1 soul.

Now we are tempted from time to time to become discouraged when we do some form of outreach, when we don't get the return that we would like to see in our, from our efforts.

But when we look at it from God's perspective, even 1 soul brings great joy into the kingdom of heaven.

God is looking for those 1 people here and there who are willing to give their hearts in complete surrender to him.

Now If this is how valuable 1 soul is, what about the 7.3 billion people that populate this earth?

See, oftentimes we're tempted to place a higher value on 1 soul than another.

Well, if a person's educated and have a lot of money, that soul in our eyes for some reason tends to have a little bit more value than somebody who walks in off the streets as we have sometimes that maybe doesn't even have a roof over their heads.

And so we sometimes gravitate over here to the person who is of some sort of wealth and prestige, and we want them to become a member of our church, but that person over here that is of a lower value and dirty and not really somebody that we want to look at, we tend to kind of just want them to go away sometimes.

But Jesus died on a cross for that 1 person, and he would have died for that 1 person if it was only that 1 person who would accept him.

And if God so loved the world that he was willing to give his only begotten son in payment for that 1 person that walks in off the street, we ought to place some value on that soul as well, wouldn't you say, amen?

You know, values are tricky things to really be able to come up with.

It's really based off of how much somebody is willing to give for whatever it is that you're selling, right?

And the higher that, the more that person is willing to give for whatever it is that you're selling, the more valuable that thing becomes.

And when we look at a soul, God said, listen, that soul is not just an angel's worth of value, but that 1 soul is worth my son's death on Calvary's cross.

Here's another 1, this is from Testimonies for the Church, volume 5, page 614.

It says, in comparison with the worth of 1 soul, the whole world, what does it do?

The whole world sinks into insignificance.

This is interesting to me because oftentimes we spend our time seeking after the things of the world to make our lives more comfortable, to provide for our so-called needs.

All it takes is 1, and that brings joy into the kingdom of heaven.

All it takes is 1 convert, 1 sinner that gives their heart to the Lord.

And the Bible says there's joy in the presence of the, can you imagine what it's like when 1 person gives their heart to God?

They're singing glory hallelujah, And not just the angels are happy, but all heaven rings with joy when 1 person gives their heart to God.

Are we bringing joy, or trying to find joy in the pleasures of this world, or are we bringing joy to heaven?

Luke 15, verse 6—or, sorry, verses 4 through 6.

We're going to look at 2 quick stories here together this morning.

The Bible says, what man of you having an hundred sheep, if he lose 1 of them, doth not leave the 90 and 9 in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost until he find it.

And when he hath found it, he lay it on his shoulders, " what does the Bible say?

And when he cometh home, he called together his friends and his neighbors, saying unto them, Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep, which was lost.

I say unto you that likewise joy shall be in heaven over 1 sinner that repenteth moreover than 90 and 9 just persons which need no repentance." We've read this story before, the 1 lost sheep.

Jesus is the shepherd here and he leaves the 90 and 9 behind to go and find that 1 lost sheep.

The 1 lost sheep is represented by those who once knew God but have drifted away.

They have wandered away from God and somehow they've gotten themselves lost in the affairs of the world.

And Jesus is giving us an example that we should follow to leave the 99 behind and to go search after the 1 lost sheep.

Now, just in case you're wondering, we Probably have a few lost sheep in our community who once knew God But for 1 reason or another have gotten caught up with the affairs of the world the question is Who will follow the example of Jesus and go look for that 1 lost sheep.

You see, we're usually more comfortable with the 99.

They can just find their way back somehow.

Once they get lost, they really can't find their way back.

And it's not until they're lost that they all of a sudden realize, I'm not where I'm supposed to be.

I'm supposed to be back in the sheepfold and I have no way of getting there.

They need a shepherd to come and find them.

How many of you would like to be a shepherd?

Lord, use me to help lead somebody back to the fold.

Somebody who once knew God, but for 1 reason or another has drifted away, gotten caught up with the cares of life.

They need a shepherd to help lead them back to the fold.

Now, there's much more that could be said about that, but that's not where I wanna focus my time.

Either what woman, having 10 pieces of silver, if she lose 1 piece, doth not light a candle and sweep the house, and seek diligently till she find it.

And when she hath found it, she call her friends and her neighbors together, saying, Rejoice with me, For I have found the peace which I have lost.

Likewise, I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over 1 sinner that repenteth.

The sheep represent somebody who once knew God, but have drifted away.

The coins in this story represent somebody who never knew God and doesn't even know that they are lost.

It's interesting, today There are people in our world, in our modern, fast-paced society, with all of the technology, gizmos, and all of the millions of people who profess the name of Jesus, there are still people on this earth who have never heard the name of Jesus.

We have over 1.2 million Seventh-day Adventists in North America alone, and there are still people in our world who have not even heard the name of Jesus.

There's something wrong with this picture.

There's 3.1 billion people in the world today who need to be found.

They are the lost coins, if you will, in our story this morning.

They are in this world, they are part of this world, they are part of society, but they don't even know that there is a God that is worth serving.

To search diligently, looking through the rubble and the muck and the dirt and the mess of life to find that 1 lost coin.

You see, this woman was not comfortable enough with just 9 coins.

And neither should we be comfortable with where we are at in our religious experience and where we are at in terms of geography.

But we should be diligently searching for that 1 lost coin.

Now I'm thankful that this church has seen value in foreign missions and has made the decision to make it part of our outreach endeavor to reach out to far flung parts of the world, particularly India, with Dan going over there and doing evangelistic series.

I'm thankful that this church sees value in that because there are many lost coins that need to be found.

Joy in Heaven

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