August 2023
Seeking the Lost
INTO THE WORD
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In Adam, all people except the Lord Jesus Christ rejected our loving Creator and were cast out of His blessed presence. Our just Maker would have been entirely within His rights to leave all sinners in that state of estrangement, but He did not abandon the human race to utter destruction. Instead, He chose a people for Himself, saving them and giving them the eternal life that He designed for us to have in the very beginning. The story of Scripture is the story of God’s seeking and saving the lost.
God’s tireless efforts to redeem His chosen people are the focus in Luke 15, which is one of the chapters from Luke’s gospel that we are studying this month. The Evangelist records for us the parables of the lost sheep, lost coin, and prodigal son, showing us that the mission of Jesus—which is nothing less than the mission of God—is to rescue His elect from sin and death.
After our study of Luke 15, we will examine chapters 16–17, which feature many of Christ’s sayings and miracles, including the ac-count of the rich man and Lazarus and the healing of the ten lepers. These passages reveal the scope of our Savior’s work and how we should respond to Him.
These verses parallel the themes of the studies each week. We encourage you to hide them in your heart so that you may not sin against the Lord:
abiding in the word
- Luke 15:32
- 1 Corinthians 7:19
- Proverbs 28:13
- Luke 17:10