Larry Siegle · Luke 23:44-49
Link to sermon video: When It LOOKS Like All is Lost! – L Siegle
“When It LOOKS like All is Lost”
(Luke 23:44-49)
Thesis: It is the human nature not to see the reality and to lose all hope
INTRODUCTION
1. The title of this message is, “When It LOOKS like All is Lost”.
2. What do we do in our lives when everything we had expected, everything we
had hoped for, everything we dreamed, imagined, and wished for, suddenly.
slips away?
a. We saw the person we always dreamed to be with…not interested!
b. The job, the promotion, the increase in pay and benefits…someone else!
c. The house we saw on the market, saved for, and anticipated was ours!
d. Our health and vitality vanish, leaving us weak, with little hope….
3. We have the story of the twelve apostles, chosen and selected by Jesus
Himself.
a. Jesus revealed Himself as the “hope of Israel” the promised Messiah–the
One who was to be the Deliverer, manifested as the King, the One who was
believed to be the great military leader who would restore the glory to
Israel, to sit on the throne of David in Jerusalem.
b. Some believed there would be more than One Messiah–a suffering servant
(Isa. 53), and another who would be King (Isa. 9:6,7).
c. The events that occurred just prior to the time of His crucifixion did not
turn out the way His followers were expecting. Their hopes were dashed,
they were scattered, some denying that they even knew this “Jesus of
Nazareth”
d. Can we begin to imagine how devastated and lost these apostles who had
“seen” the miracles, witnessed the power to cast out demons and to raise
the dead, to heal the sick, must have felt in those hours when the mob
came and took Jesus into custody? How confusing this must have been–
2. What is the most powerful emotions that humans experience?
a. There is a consensus within the mental health community that affirms
“fear” as the strongest and most powerful emotion that humans
experience.
b. The website Very Well Mind provides a list of the 100 most common “fears”or “Phobias” (from the Greek word “phobos” or “phobomai” that is defined as “fear, fright, terror, panic, to put to flight”).
c. Whether rational or irrational (as a feeling), every person is subject to
certain things that produce the emotional response of “fear” of something.
3. Whether it is the spider crawling around the floor, or a scorpion that was
chasing me across the control room at the radio station where I was working,
the sense of “fear” was real.
CRUCIFIXION
1. Jesus had told His apostles that the time of His death was approaching
(Matt. 16:21).
2. Peter proclaims his devotion and allegiance to Christ (Matt. 26:30-35).
3. Peter and the apostles are scatters and he denies Christ three times (Matt.
26:69-75)–“fear” within the hearts of the disciples and Peter is manifested.
4. Jesus is crucified just as He had told them and darkness happens from the
sixth to the ninth hour of the day (noon until 3:00PM) as Jesus dies on the
cross.
GAME OVER
1. In the minds of the followers of Jesus it LOOKED like “all was lost”–game
over, Jesus died.
2. What a feeling of loss and hopelessness they must have felt. “Fear” had
overtaken them and they were scattered.
a. They had spent three years of their lives following Jesus, believing HE was
the Messiah, looking for Him to rise up, take His authority, overthrow the
Roman oppression and to restore and establish HIM as King of Israel to sit
once again on the throne of David.
b. They must have been thinking “Now what?”
c. Jesus had cried out on the cross, “My God, my God why have your
forsaken me?”
3. But it was NOT over…Sunday was on the way! Resurrection-Sunday.
4. Satan Himself must have thought that he had won the victory, and most
certainly, the hidden mystery even the “rulers” did not understand (I Cor. 1:6-
9).
a. There are many today who have come to doubt that it was essential and
necessary for Jesus to shed His blood–to die a substitutionary “death of
the cross” (Phil 2:8)–to restore what had been lost through the sin and the
death of Adam, and to provide forgiveness of sins, the only-begotten Son
of God had to experience the comprehensive “death”
b. His sacrificial “death” was not the end of the story–Sunday was on the
way!
c. Jesus experienced “new life” through His resurrection OUT from among
the dead–resurrection was the VICTORY (Rom. 1:4; Acts 13:33).
d. Jesus came into the world as the “only-begotten” Son (John 3:16), and at
the time of His resurrection, He was manifested as the “only-begotten”
Son–born anew–risen as the “first” of the “firstfruits” of the approaching
“harvest” that was coming–the life-giving Spirit (I Cor. 15:45) who would
come again NOW having the “keys of Hades and of death” (Rev. 1:18)
LESSON OF DISAPPOINTMENTS
1. There is such an important lesson to be learned from the experience of the
followers of Jesus during those moments of sadness, confusion, devastation,
despair!
a. In our own moments of sadness, grief, disappointment, confusion, and
devastation–because LIFE does not seem to unfold in exactly the way WE
think that it should.
b. We must realize in those moments (Psa 30:1-12), that SUNDAY–the hope
for tomorrow is on the way–God has NOT forgotten us, God is there to lift
us hope to bring us through the dark clouds into the sunlight of His love
and to fulfill our hopes, our dreams, in ways beyond anything we could
possibly imagine.
c. Resurrection-Day is the “celebration” in knowing the meaning of the
empty tomb and to realize that OUR life, OUR resurrection, has been
accomplished–no matter what we may FEEL or SEE.
CONCLUSION
1. No matter what the circumstances, what we feel or see, God’s Word is
working mightily in US–to mold us, shape us, give us victory in every area of
our lives—this is the gospel.
2. Are WE ready to experience what God has for us–fully and completely in
every area of our lives?