Lost Cause | Too Late?— Forrest Coleman

Lost Cause | Too Late? — Forrest Coleman | Luke 23:32-43

Transcript

Forrest 0:06

Hey, I'm Pastor Forrest and welcome to the Multiply Church Podcast. Each week we open God's word together to help you meet God and multiply good in your everyday life. We're so glad that you've taken time to join us for this week's sermon. And if you haven't already, be sure to subscribe and follow us on social media so you never miss a message. Now, let's dive into this week's sermon. We're in this series Lost Cause. And this week, a lot of people missed flights this week. Airports. I don't know if you saw this or not, but there were stories of people being stranded all over the country because TSA cutbacks. In Atlanta, the Atlanta airport on Thursday advised people to plan four hours to get through security line. I mean, there's some of those flights you could drive to your destination before you got through the security line. There's just something about missing a flight, that gate shutting, not delayed, not a maybe, not an almost, but shut. Too late. That's the title of my message today. Too late. Everybody say too late. You know, there's people who feel that very same way spiritually. Too late for that marriage. Too late for that dream. Too late for that apology. Too late for that son or daughter. Too late for that friend. Too late for a city. Too late for me. But I came to tell you today that Jesus specializes in showing up where everybody else assumes that the story is over. And if we fall into the mindset of, I'm too late or it's too late, we're going to get some things wrong. And we're going to miss some things. But we should be having faith that God can still reach anybody. If we're in the wrong mindset, that means that we stop praying bold prayers for people in circumstances. We've stopped inviting. We've stopped expecting from God. And we start treating people like closed cases while there's still breath in their lungs. Now, I'm sure you've seen somebody before that's missed their moment and having a hard time finding their way back. And maybe even for some of you in the room, this is your mentality around people. You see them and you see one relapse, one arrest, one affair, one church hurt, one bitter year, one overdose, one angry conversation, and you already decide an early verdict. But can I tell you this that God isn't finished with Frankfurt? God isn't finished with your friends, God isn't finished with your family. He is on the throne. And if we have the wrong mindset, what we'll do is we will lose hope for the prodigal. And we'll lose compassion for the hard cases that we see. And we'll lose the urgency of our witness for Christ for people. And if we lose that faith, then we then are not believing that Jesus can save at any time and any place. And even for some of you in the room this morning, maybe some of you you've given up on yourselves. Let me ask you this question: Who have you decided is a lost cause? As believers, we're tempted to give up on people. And maybe for some of you in the room, that's that you've given up on yourself. Or you see somebody's condition that they're in, and you just assume that that's their final condition, but not with Christ. You see a drug addict and you see a lost cause, or you see a homeless person and you see a lost cause, you see somebody who's hard and bitter and cynical, broken, angry at God, and you think that their story has already been written. Can I tell you today that the gospel gets the final word? The gospel of Christ. And as we head into this holy week, starting off this Palm Sunday, is Jesus in the triumphal entry, fulfilling all sorts of prophecy on the back of a donkey, enters into Jerusalem as they're singing Hosanna, Hosanna, Hosanna in the highest, and it starts a chain reaction that leads to not a clean church moment, not a revival tent, not a soft worship service, emotional. It leads to an execution site at the cross where there's blood, where there's shame, where there's darkness and mocking and public humiliation, and Jesus is crucified between two criminals. And there are soldiers there that are mocking, and people are scoffing, and nobody who is there at the foot of the cross is thinking that a salvation story is about to break out. And yet, right there, with nails in his hands and about to breathe his final breath, Jesus is still saving. We're going to look at this moment of the cross. There's three crosses. And in Luke chapter 23, in verse 32, if you have your Bible, please turn there with me. If you have it on your phone, your Bible app, pull up your phone. Would love for you to look these verses up, for you to memorize them, for you to highlight them. Luke chapter 23, starting in verse 32. Two others, both criminals, were led out to be executed with him. And when they came to that place called the Skull, they nailed him to the cross, and the criminals were also crucified, one on his right and one on his left. Jesus said, Father, forgive them, for they don't know what they are doing. And the soldiers gambled for his clothes by throwing dice. And the crowd watched and leaders scoffed. He saved others, they said. Let him save himself if he's really God's Messiah, the chosen one. And the soldiers mocked him too. They offered him a drink of sour wine. And they called out to him, If you're the king of the Jews, save yourself. And a sign was fastened above him with these words. This is the king of the Jews. One of the criminals hanging beside him scoffed. So you're the Messiah, are you? Prove it by saving yourself and us too while you're at it. But the criminal, though the other criminal protested, don't you fear God? Even when you are, you have been sentenced to death. We deserve to die for our crimes, but this man has done, hasn't done anything wrong. Then he said, Jesus, remember me. Everybody say, remember me. Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom. And Jesus replied, I assure you today, everybody say, today. Today, you will be with me in paradise. I know for me at times I'm I'm tempted to look at a terrible situation or a worse situation and just assume that God can't intervene and turn it around. And maybe for you, maybe at times you've had that mentality, there's somebody in your life or somebody that you know, and they've messed up and there's mistakes and they've messed everything up, and you just assume that the worst thing that is happening in their life is the truest thing about them. But just like this moment on the cross, as we look at somebody's worst moments, their worst day, we have to train ourselves to make sure that we are believing like Jesus believes and teaches us to believe that somebody's worst moment could become the one that changes everything. That's not first point. Because the enemy wants to tell us, and the the devil wants to put a lie in your in your ear and say, well, you know, it's too late now. Well, if God was gonna do something, he would have done it already. Well, just as they're too far gone. There's there's there's they're too damaged, damaged goods. They they can't come back from this. But what can look final to us can be the very place that Jesus does his most miraculous work. Because Jesus is able to save in the brokenness, in the wreckage, in shame, and consequences, and pain, and public humiliation. Listen to me, the thief on the cross was not in a Bible study, he was not at a revival, he wasn't getting his life together, he was nailed to a cross and Jesus still reached him there. The thief on the cross that morning, he woke up thinking that this was the worst day of his life. But by sunset, he was in paradise. That's what Jesus can do. Jesus' crucifixion between these two criminals. This was planned, it was prophesied. I hadn't noticed this until this year, but Jesus, one chapter or four in Luke 22, he declares this prophecy that he was gonna be counted among transgressors, that he he says that this fulfillment is going to come, that he's gonna be among these criminals. And Jesus speaks it and calls his shot and says what's gonna happen. One chapter before it even happens that this criminal has no idea that his salvation is a part of this incredible cosmic story and continuity that is filled, that the worst day of his life ended with the best possible outcome of paradise. That's what Jesus can do. The worst day can turn into the greatest wonder that you have seen, not because anything you've done, but because of the matchless power of Christ. This is what's happened. As Jesus, he says he calls the shot in Luke 22, one chapter before. He says, For I tell you that the scripture must be fulfilled in me. And he was numbered with the transgressors, for it was written about me, for what was what is written about me has its fulfillment. Jesus is quoting Isaiah 53, 12, that says this, therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors, yet he bore the sins of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors. This prophecy that the prophet Isaiah pinned was seven hundred years before Jesus walked the earth. There was hundreds of years of fulfillment of these criminals being on either side of Jesus, and Jesus knew that it was gonna happen, and this scripture tells from hundreds of years before that Jesus was going to bear their sins and bear the sins of many and intercede on their behalf. Don't you see that this thief's worst moment wasn't missed by God? There's times for me that I'm I'm just tempted to see people by their past or by their rap sheet, and instead of the marvelous grace that Jesus has for all of us. And maybe there's somebody in your life, and they've experienced the worst moment, and you just begin to act like that's the whole story, that's their whole book. Can I tell you that someone's worst moment is not their final story? But the enemy wants to lie to you and tell you, well, that's just who they are. That's just how it's gonna be. People don't really change. Well, they'll they'll always be like that. They'll always be like this. Or, oh, this is the this is the straw that broke the camel's back. Listen to me, a bad chapter is not the final story. Jesus saw a future in a man that everybody else saw as a failure. This criminal on a cross. Everybody else saw him as a criminal, and Jesus saw a man that would be in paradise with him before the day was done. You know what that means for you? That means that Jesus is not intimidated by your worst moment. Jesus is not intimidated by your biggest sin. Jesus is not intimidated by the worst story and portion and chapter of your life, and Jesus doesn't define you by it. He wants to love you and forgive you. To pick you up, to dust you off, and the people that you love that you've counted out. We know that nobody is a lost cause. Because Jesus is the one that said that he has come to seek and save that which is lost. It's on him, it's his power, it's what happened on the cross. We Christ. This last moment for this guy who thought he was too late, that this was the worst day of his life, in his final moments, Jesus intervenes. You know, March Madness is going on right now. I know none of you all saw last Friday uh UK play, and when Ortega Owe hit that last second shot last Friday against Santa Clara to go into overtime. I was watching this game with my buddy TJ at B dubs, and I felt like I was in Ruperina. Everybody in that Frankfurt B dubs, when that when Owe hit that shot, the whole place just exploded. People going crazy, high fiving. I'm sure there's somebody was crying in there. Listen, even when you're down late doesn't mean you're dead yet. The scoreboard can look hopeless until the comeback starts. And what you've called over in the third quarter can be wrong by the fourth quarter. And listen to me, a person that the crowd looks at as finished can still be one prayer away from paradise. The crowd looking at this criminal. He was just one prayer away, one ask away. Jesus, remember me. Remember me. I know for me at times it's a lot easier for me at times to talk about lost people than it is for me to believe for them. I want to be somebody who's believing for them. And maybe you've got names that you don't even pray for anymore because you just have lost all the expectation that you have that God's gonna do something in their life. Can I tell you that someone's worst moment can be rewritten by your witness to them? This this thief on the cross, his last moment, his story was completely rewritten. And for you to step out and to believe for somebody who is not yet, not yet had their story written by Christ. The enemy wants to tear us down, the enemy wants to discourage us, it's to discourage you. And once you just think, well, you know, I've already invited them. Well, they'll they'll never change. They know where the church is, they'll come if they want to. Well, you know, they've they've heard the story of Jesus before. It's it's probably too late for them. Listen, while Jesus is still saving, that means that we're not done praying, inviting, speaking his name, and bringing people to him. Listen, your your witness cannot alone save anybody, but you can carry the name of Jesus to someone who thinks that his mercy has already passed them by. Keep telling the story of Jesus. Keep telling about what God has done in your life. Keep preaching his name, keep speaking his name, keep lifting him up. Because even on the cross, this criminal, this dying criminal, he finally had heard enough, he had seen enough to know this man here on this cross in the middle has done nothing wrong. And he looks to Jesus and says, Remember me. Your witness, it matters. Your invitation, it matters. Your prayers, they matter. Your refusal to give up on somebody, it matters. Years ago in my first church, Miss Ann Gover got married to Oakley Gover late in life. They had both lost their spouses and they got married in like their late 70s. And Oakley had never gone to church in his life. He wasn't a churchgoer, but Miss Ann drugged to church every single Sunday after they got married. For years, she drugged him to church. And it started to get around that Oakley was not a believer in Jesus. And so Miss Ann started asking people to pray for him. And listen to me. At 83 years old, Oakley accepted Christ as his savior and was baptized. The oldest person I have ever seen be baptized before. 83 years old. I mean, this brother was in the terminal, okay? 83 years old. It was not too late. Here's the thing: as long as you have breath in your lungs, it's not too late to respond to Jesus. As long as you have breath in your lungs, it is not too late to obey Jesus. As long as you have breath in your lungs, it is not too late for God's mercy to find you. Years ago, there was somebody in my family who I was really praying for and getting very discouraged. And I remember one day I was in the car with my wife Emily, and I just, in a moment of frustration, I just kind of threw my hands up and just said, Will God ever change them? And Emily looked back at me and she said something that stabbed me right in the front. You know, it's funny how the Holy Spirit's voice a lot of times sounds like my wife's voice. And she said, she looked at me and she said, Force is God not big enough to change them? Hit me like a ton of bricks. A few months later, somebody in their apartment complex invited them to Christ. Invited them to church. And changed the whole story and whole trajectory. Can you imagine, church, if multiply was the the kind of place that refused to call it early and have early verdicts on people's story? Can you imagine, church, if we stopped looking at Frankfurt through a lens of cynicism and started looking at Frankfurt and our friends as our our family through this lens of Luke 23 and Jesus on the cross with these criminals. Can you imagine, church, if we if we were believing Jesus to save people who are caught in an addiction? Skeptics, prodigals, that angry father, that bitter mom, that hard-hearted wayward son, that fake daughter, the old man, the person with the criminal record, the person that's been running for years. Imagine, church, imagine if Easter this next week wasn't just a service that we attended, but we had expectation that the Savior was going to interrupt dead stories with his resurrection power and invade somebody's life. And it starts so small. Two weeks ago, we we we put down names and initials of people who we're praying for outside on this wall that says one more. And if you didn't get to do that a couple of weeks ago, I'm I'm asking you to to write down somebody's Name and to put it on that wall. To write down one name, to pray over one person, to invite one friend, to text one family member, to bring one person with you next week. Listen, we're not gonna call somebody a lost cause and do nothing. We're gonna let Jesus do what he can do. The thief on the cross looked finished to everybody else except not Jesus. Stop treating yourself or others like a closed case. When Christ is still able to save and pursue and love. And I want us to be that kind of church. I'll just be transparent with you. The name that I put down and put on the wall is somebody that I've been praying for that grew up in another religion. And there's been plenty of times that I thought, you know, God, like, can you can you really change them? Can you can you really set them free from all that baggage that they grew up in and grew up with? Like, God, can you really do it? And I'm telling you, church, I'm believing in faith for them today. Because nobody is a lost cause. Nobody. God can turn it around in an absolute instant. And today, I want us to pray. Here in a moment, we're gonna move into a time of prayer and communion. And what I want to ask you to do is for you to plant some seeds in the ground of prayer. We're gonna have a prayer team that's gonna come forward, and I'm gonna ask you to come forward and pray during this time of communion. If you have your cup, the juice that represents the blood of Christ poured out for you, the bread that represents the body of Christ broken for you. And as you take this communion and in this time of sacred prayer, I'm asking for you to come forward, to get on a knee, to pray for that person who's on the wall or somebody that is on your mind right now. If it might be a son, a daughter, a parent, a friend, a coworker, a neighbor, somebody that you've quietly been thinking is a lost cause, but I want you to come and pray for them. Or maybe you just need you need some faith put into you, and you need to grab on the prayer team members and have them pray for you, just to pray faith over you and into you. Listen to me, it is not too late for Jesus. It is not too late, it's not too late for that person. It's not too late. And maybe for you, you're in the room and we're taking communion, but you can't even receive this yet because you haven't accepted Jesus as your Savior. Today is the day for you to step across the line and for his resurrection power to meet you in a state of sin, of being dead in your sins, to make you alive in him. So, church, will you stand to your feet now as we pray? God, all across this room right now, I pray for faith to well up in this place, Lord. Faith, God, to well up in hearts and minds, Lord, over friends, over family, over coworkers, over people, Father, that Lord, you love dearly, and God, you're calling us to love well and witness. Father, I pray, God, right now, Lord, in this room, if there's anybody in this place who has not received you as Savior, that today would be the day that they receive you. That they receive your forgiveness, that you bought for them on the cross 2,000 years ago, that we celebrate this week. Your body broken for them, your blood poured out for them, that today would be the day of their salvation. If that's you, I ask you in your heart and mind to pray, Jesus, save me. Do it now. Pray, Jesus, save me. Forgive me, cleanse me so I can be in heaven with you one day. I believe that you're the Son of God, that you died on the cross for my place, and that you are alive. I give you my life as you gave yours for mine. Thank you for saving me.

Sallie 27:04

We're so grateful you joined us for this week's message. At Multiply, we believe life was never meant to be lived alone. If today you made the decision to follow Jesus, we'd be honored to walk with you on this journey. Visit multiplyky.com to let us know. We love you and we'll see you again soon.