Title: How Can We Be Joyful When Our Loved Ones Are Lost? Meta: How can we have joy knowing that our loved ones are perishing? If we have unceasing anguish for our loved ones (Romans 9:1-3), it should drive us to earnestly pray for their salvation (Romans 10:1). God is ready to show mercy to lost sinners and we should pray that He would save and have mercy upon our lost loved ones. Tags: evangelism,family,loved ones,children,Gospel,Salvation,Romans 9:1-3 1 00:00:04,934 --> 00:00:06,472 Here's another one. 2 00:00:06,472 --> 00:00:08,072 This is from John. 3 00:00:08,072 --> 00:00:12,023 "I know we find hope alone in Christ. 4 00:00:12,023 --> 00:00:16,045 All other ground is sinking sand. 5 00:00:16,045 --> 00:00:21,100 But how do we remain joyful 6 00:00:21,100 --> 00:00:23,638 when your spiritual eyes are open 7 00:00:23,638 --> 00:00:25,565 to the fact of the lostness 8 00:00:25,565 --> 00:00:30,172 of your earthly family and friends? 9 00:00:30,172 --> 00:00:31,598 They have heard the Gospel 10 00:00:31,598 --> 00:00:32,685 and rejected it. 11 00:00:32,685 --> 00:00:34,202 How do you remain joyful 12 00:00:34,202 --> 00:00:36,553 knowing if they don't repent 13 00:00:36,553 --> 00:00:39,035 what finally awaits them? 14 00:00:39,035 --> 00:00:41,007 Just having a hard time with joy. 15 00:00:41,007 --> 00:00:43,537 In fact, it is downright depressing 16 00:00:43,537 --> 00:00:46,252 knowing the hell that awaits them. 17 00:00:46,252 --> 00:00:47,988 Any help or direction on this matter 18 00:00:47,988 --> 00:00:51,916 would be appreciated." 19 00:00:51,916 --> 00:00:57,080 What do you all say to a guy who says that? 20 00:00:57,080 --> 00:00:58,299 (from the room) 21 00:00:58,299 --> 00:01:01,271 Well, Christ was a Man of Sorrows. 22 00:01:01,271 --> 00:01:03,880 Paul in Romans 9 had unceasing anguish 23 00:01:03,880 --> 00:01:04,919 for the lost, 24 00:01:04,919 --> 00:01:07,183 so I think part of what he's feeling 25 00:01:07,183 --> 00:01:10,294 is righteous and correct, 26 00:01:10,294 --> 00:01:13,377 but he can't let that strip his joy 27 00:01:13,377 --> 00:01:14,885 at the same time, right? 28 00:01:14,885 --> 00:01:16,877 It's kind of like you have to have both. 29 00:01:16,877 --> 00:01:21,467 (Incomplete thought) 30 00:01:21,467 --> 00:01:24,843 Tim: Somebody read the first three verses 31 00:01:24,843 --> 00:01:28,094 of Romans 9. 32 00:01:28,094 --> 00:01:29,054 (from the room) 33 00:01:29,054 --> 00:01:31,762 "I'm speaking the truth in Christ - 34 00:01:31,762 --> 00:01:33,020 I'm not lying. 35 00:01:33,020 --> 00:01:34,571 My conscience bears me witness 36 00:01:34,571 --> 00:01:36,301 in the Holy Spirit - 37 00:01:36,301 --> 00:01:38,863 that I have great sorrow 38 00:01:38,863 --> 00:01:42,291 and unceasing anguish in my heart. 39 00:01:42,291 --> 00:01:44,091 For I could wish that I myself 40 00:01:44,091 --> 00:01:46,211 were accursed and cut off from Christ 41 00:01:46,211 --> 00:01:48,489 for the sake of my brothers, 42 00:01:48,489 --> 00:01:50,784 my kinsmen according to the flesh." 43 00:01:50,784 --> 00:01:54,032 Tim: Ok now, what's interesting about that 44 00:01:54,032 --> 00:01:57,471 is he says I have unceasing anguish. 45 00:01:57,471 --> 00:01:59,608 That's the same apostle who writes 46 00:01:59,608 --> 00:02:04,044 to the Philippians and is calling on them 47 00:02:04,044 --> 00:02:08,598 to rejoice in the Lord always, 48 00:02:08,598 --> 00:02:10,965 and again, I say rejoice. 49 00:02:10,965 --> 00:02:13,483 Unceasing anguish. 50 00:02:13,483 --> 00:02:17,552 Always rejoicing in the Lord. 51 00:02:17,552 --> 00:02:21,612 Contradiction? 52 00:02:21,612 --> 00:02:27,683 I think we say both are a reality. 53 00:02:27,683 --> 00:02:31,480 Now, whenever I think of the first verses 54 00:02:31,480 --> 00:02:34,990 of Romans 9, 55 00:02:34,990 --> 00:02:38,760 I almost always think about 56 00:02:38,760 --> 00:02:41,008 the first verse of Romans 10. 57 00:02:41,008 --> 00:02:43,260 Read the first verse of Romans 10. 58 00:02:43,260 --> 00:02:45,056 "Brothers, my hearts desire 59 00:02:45,056 --> 00:02:46,855 and prayer to God for them 60 00:02:46,855 --> 00:02:48,536 is that they might be saved." 61 00:02:48,536 --> 00:02:51,779 Tim: Ok. You want to get that. 62 00:02:51,779 --> 00:02:54,074 Because he's talking about the same folks 63 00:02:54,074 --> 00:02:56,096 he was talking about in ch. 9. 64 00:02:56,096 --> 00:02:58,038 The ones he has unceasing anguish 65 00:02:58,038 --> 00:02:59,550 and could wish himself accursed 66 00:02:59,550 --> 00:03:02,638 and cut off from Christ for the sake of, 67 00:03:02,638 --> 00:03:05,502 his brethren according to the flesh. 68 00:03:05,502 --> 00:03:07,960 One of the things that I would say to John 69 00:03:07,960 --> 00:03:09,689 is this: 70 00:03:09,689 --> 00:03:16,513 We know from Scripture that it's possible - 71 00:03:16,513 --> 00:03:21,854 because Paul would tell us on the one hand 72 00:03:21,854 --> 00:03:25,471 unceasing anguish for the lost; 73 00:03:25,471 --> 00:03:27,450 on the other hand, 74 00:03:27,450 --> 00:03:29,831 rejoicing always in the Lord. 75 00:03:29,831 --> 00:03:32,150 But I would say this to John: 76 00:03:32,150 --> 00:03:37,356 Let the anguish do in you what it did in Paul. 77 00:03:37,356 --> 00:03:38,240 Which was what? 78 00:03:38,240 --> 00:03:44,462 It produced prayer. 79 00:03:44,462 --> 00:03:48,774 Jesus, in one of the classic places 80 00:03:48,774 --> 00:03:52,526 where you see His anguish for people; 81 00:03:52,526 --> 00:04:01,902 people who are rejecting Him is where? 82 00:04:01,902 --> 00:04:03,729 Where He's weeping over Jerusalem, 83 00:04:03,729 --> 00:04:07,051 and anybody know where that passage is found? 84 00:04:07,051 --> 00:04:10,991 It's in Luke 19. 85 00:04:10,991 --> 00:04:30,727 Somebody look up Luke 19:41-42. 86 00:04:30,727 --> 00:04:39,671 Somebody read that. 87 00:04:39,671 --> 00:04:41,317 "And when He drew near, 88 00:04:41,317 --> 00:04:43,159 He saw the city and wept over it, 89 00:04:43,159 --> 00:04:45,742 saying, 'Would that you, even you, 90 00:04:45,742 --> 00:04:49,118 had known on this day 91 00:04:49,118 --> 00:04:51,991 the things that make for peace! 92 00:04:51,991 --> 00:04:54,871 But now they are hidden from your eyes.'" 93 00:04:54,871 --> 00:04:57,007 Tim: And then, you know, like James said, 94 00:04:57,007 --> 00:04:58,357 a Man of Sorrows... 95 00:04:58,357 --> 00:04:59,862 and yet you read somewhere else 96 00:04:59,862 --> 00:05:01,966 for the joy set before Him. 97 00:05:01,966 --> 00:05:05,466 And we know that 98 00:05:05,466 --> 00:05:08,656 we know as Christians that those realities 99 00:05:08,656 --> 00:05:13,304 are possible to have together. 100 00:05:13,304 --> 00:05:15,887 It's not a contradiction 101 00:05:15,887 --> 00:05:18,489 because we're not saying 102 00:05:18,489 --> 00:05:24,738 that we feel sorrow and anguish over something, 103 00:05:24,738 --> 00:05:27,318 and we feel joy over the same something 104 00:05:27,318 --> 00:05:28,813 for the exact same reason 105 00:05:28,813 --> 00:05:30,061 at the same time. 106 00:05:30,061 --> 00:05:31,996 That's not what we're saying. 107 00:05:31,996 --> 00:05:35,147 The idea here is we can have anguish 108 00:05:35,147 --> 00:05:38,142 over these lost folks, 109 00:05:38,142 --> 00:05:41,709 but we can also rejoice in the Lord greatly 110 00:05:41,709 --> 00:05:45,033 because He's rescued us. 111 00:05:45,033 --> 00:05:50,315 And you can rejoice because 112 00:05:50,315 --> 00:05:54,392 his family and friends aren't dead and in hell yet. 113 00:05:54,392 --> 00:05:57,178 And God has not ceased to be the God 114 00:05:57,178 --> 00:05:59,288 that we repeatedly find about in Scripture 115 00:05:59,288 --> 00:06:01,979 that's long-suffering, that's gracious, 116 00:06:01,979 --> 00:06:05,377 that's merciful, that's full of loving-kindness, 117 00:06:05,377 --> 00:06:08,309 that's ready to show mercies to people. 118 00:06:08,309 --> 00:06:11,656 Listen, I'll tell you the kind of God that we have, 119 00:06:11,656 --> 00:06:13,413 we have the kind of God 120 00:06:13,413 --> 00:06:17,001 that Jonah went into Nineveh, 121 00:06:17,001 --> 00:06:18,280 and at the end of it, 122 00:06:18,280 --> 00:06:20,587 he said, "I knew it!" 123 00:06:20,587 --> 00:06:23,079 I knew You were that kind of God. 124 00:06:23,079 --> 00:06:26,336 I wanted Nineveh destroyed. 125 00:06:26,336 --> 00:06:28,467 These people are enemies 126 00:06:28,467 --> 00:06:29,843 of the people of God 127 00:06:29,843 --> 00:06:31,991 and they're enemies of You, God, 128 00:06:31,991 --> 00:06:34,136 and I just knew You were going to 129 00:06:34,136 --> 00:06:35,684 show them mercy. 130 00:06:35,684 --> 00:06:40,554 That really is how Jonah talks. 131 00:06:40,554 --> 00:06:42,396 It's like I just knew it! 132 00:06:42,396 --> 00:06:44,445 I knew He was so gracious, 133 00:06:44,445 --> 00:06:45,942 and so merciful, 134 00:06:45,942 --> 00:06:48,453 He would have pity on these people. 135 00:06:48,453 --> 00:06:51,356 See, we can take a lot of hope in that. 136 00:06:51,356 --> 00:06:54,325 Family and friends are not gone. 137 00:06:54,325 --> 00:06:58,753 And you can take courage in this: 138 00:06:58,753 --> 00:07:03,058 That if God has taken a person 139 00:07:03,058 --> 00:07:05,452 who is a family member or a friend 140 00:07:05,452 --> 00:07:07,374 and placed that person in the midst 141 00:07:07,374 --> 00:07:08,557 of these people, 142 00:07:08,557 --> 00:07:10,585 and given that person a real burden 143 00:07:10,585 --> 00:07:16,288 for their souls and they're praying for them? 144 00:07:16,288 --> 00:07:20,338 I mean we can take great courage in that. 145 00:07:20,338 --> 00:07:23,342 One of the things that we want to remember too 146 00:07:23,342 --> 00:07:26,498 is that - he admits this - 147 00:07:26,498 --> 00:07:33,123 he says, "they've heard the Gospel 148 00:07:33,123 --> 00:07:35,967 and rejected it." 149 00:07:35,967 --> 00:07:37,179 And that's right. 150 00:07:37,179 --> 00:07:38,837 You think about the text there in 151 00:07:38,837 --> 00:07:42,248 2 Thessalonians 2:10 152 00:07:42,248 --> 00:07:45,117 that talks about the lost, 153 00:07:45,117 --> 00:07:51,753 and the fact that they love to believe a lie. 154 00:07:51,753 --> 00:07:57,974 They refuse to love the truth and be saved. 155 00:07:57,974 --> 00:08:00,723 They love to believe lies. 156 00:08:00,723 --> 00:08:05,448 And refusing to love the truth 157 00:08:05,448 --> 00:08:06,978 and so be saved - 158 00:08:06,978 --> 00:08:09,372 that's what's true of lost people. 159 00:08:09,372 --> 00:08:13,768 The lost refuse. 160 00:08:13,768 --> 00:08:15,580 The lost are like the people 161 00:08:15,580 --> 00:08:18,628 who were invited to the wedding feast, 162 00:08:18,628 --> 00:08:22,231 and said, no thank you. 163 00:08:22,231 --> 00:08:24,342 And so one of the things that we do need 164 00:08:24,342 --> 00:08:26,746 to remember is 165 00:08:26,746 --> 00:08:29,114 people are wicked. 166 00:08:29,114 --> 00:08:31,022 And they deserve this. 167 00:08:31,022 --> 00:08:33,105 Now that may be true that we love them. 168 00:08:33,105 --> 00:08:35,022 I mean, the thought of - brethren, 169 00:08:35,022 --> 00:08:36,323 you start having children 170 00:08:36,323 --> 00:08:38,709 and the thought of your children perishing 171 00:08:38,709 --> 00:08:45,040 is sometimes, I guess for most parents 172 00:08:45,040 --> 00:08:52,038 they can't accept that reality. 173 00:08:52,038 --> 00:08:55,147 I didn't want to spend the time today 174 00:08:55,147 --> 00:08:57,230 to look it up, 175 00:08:57,230 --> 00:08:58,904 but I remember years ago 176 00:08:58,904 --> 00:09:01,511 reading a Spurgeon sermon, 177 00:09:01,511 --> 00:09:06,165 and Spurgeon basically has a picture 178 00:09:06,165 --> 00:09:11,863 in his mind of Christ coming, 179 00:09:11,863 --> 00:09:14,166 and a mother who's saved, 180 00:09:14,166 --> 00:09:16,773 and the children are lost. 181 00:09:16,773 --> 00:09:19,317 And you know how that saved mother - 182 00:09:19,317 --> 00:09:21,400 she more than anything wanted to see 183 00:09:21,400 --> 00:09:22,913 her children saved, 184 00:09:22,913 --> 00:09:24,648 but here Christ has returned, 185 00:09:24,648 --> 00:09:27,025 her children are unsaved. 186 00:09:27,025 --> 00:09:30,446 And how she, as Christ comes, 187 00:09:30,446 --> 00:09:33,373 and she lifts up her eyes and beholds Him, 188 00:09:33,373 --> 00:09:35,342 and now she looks at those children 189 00:09:35,342 --> 00:09:39,222 and she reproves them 190 00:09:39,222 --> 00:09:42,443 and said I pressed you to believe in Him. 191 00:09:42,443 --> 00:09:45,157 And she goes to finding fault with them. 192 00:09:45,157 --> 00:09:48,902 And she parts to be with the Lord forever, 193 00:09:48,902 --> 00:09:50,547 and they're cast away. 194 00:09:50,547 --> 00:09:52,017 And what Spurgeon does 195 00:09:52,017 --> 00:09:53,336 is he paints the picture 196 00:09:53,336 --> 00:09:55,438 of the affections of that mother 197 00:09:55,438 --> 00:09:58,217 as they let go. 198 00:09:58,217 --> 00:09:59,459 And that's a reality. 199 00:09:59,459 --> 00:10:01,859 That's going to happen. 200 00:10:01,859 --> 00:10:03,667 On judgment day, 201 00:10:03,667 --> 00:10:07,112 when everybody's divided, 202 00:10:07,112 --> 00:10:08,472 we're going to see the lost 203 00:10:08,472 --> 00:10:09,797 for what they really are. 204 00:10:09,797 --> 00:10:11,681 We're going to see the beauty of Christ 205 00:10:11,681 --> 00:10:14,006 and what rejecting Him really is. 206 00:10:14,006 --> 00:10:15,818 And refusing to love the truth - 207 00:10:15,818 --> 00:10:18,427 how heinously wicked that is. 208 00:10:18,427 --> 00:10:20,908 And how guilty sinners are. 209 00:10:20,908 --> 00:10:23,084 And how vile that sin is. 210 00:10:23,084 --> 00:10:25,892 How monstrous that sin is. 211 00:10:25,892 --> 00:10:27,972 And we're going to see people 212 00:10:27,972 --> 00:10:30,163 for the way they really are. 213 00:10:30,163 --> 00:10:32,677 And for the love and the affection of Christ, 214 00:10:32,677 --> 00:10:35,042 there's going to come that break. 215 00:10:35,042 --> 00:10:37,550 And here and now, 216 00:10:37,550 --> 00:10:43,413 we wrestle with God for those lost ones. 217 00:10:43,413 --> 00:10:45,139 But one thing in the midst of it, 218 00:10:45,139 --> 00:10:47,563 that if a person is saved, 219 00:10:47,563 --> 00:10:50,781 they can certainly rejoice 220 00:10:50,781 --> 00:10:53,551 in the goodness that God has shown them, 221 00:10:53,551 --> 00:10:55,501 even while they're feeling the anguish 222 00:10:55,501 --> 00:11:00,387 for those that don't yet know the Lord. 223 00:11:00,387 --> 00:11:04,034 And it's not as though it's hopeless. 224 00:11:04,034 --> 00:11:05,372 I mean, Paul wasn't talking 225 00:11:05,372 --> 00:11:06,702 as a hopeless man. 226 00:11:06,702 --> 00:11:09,575 In fact, through those three chapters, 227 00:11:09,575 --> 00:11:11,275 9, 10, and 11 of Romans, 228 00:11:11,275 --> 00:11:13,711 Paul is talking about his hope 229 00:11:13,711 --> 00:11:17,659 that God is going to save 230 00:11:17,659 --> 00:11:19,140 some of those Israelites 231 00:11:19,140 --> 00:11:20,917 and they're going to be made jealous 232 00:11:20,917 --> 00:11:22,568 and they're going to be grafted 233 00:11:22,568 --> 00:11:23,795 back into that tree 234 00:11:23,795 --> 00:11:28,547 from which they were broke.