The Storms of Life
Sudden Darkness
CCCAG June 23rd 2019
Scripture- Ephesians 6
Intro:
We are going to begin this morning talking about a man who went from hero to 0 in the eyes of the people in less than a week.
At the beginning of the week he was the most popular and most sought out person in his country.
Everyone loved him.
Everyone wanted some time with him.
Everyone wanted the chance to hear him speak and to experience his presence.
He was at the pinnacle of popularity and fame and had he pursued political power, he could have even become the leader of his country, and possible even the entire world.
However, a lot can happen in a week, because 5 days later, his whole world collapses. The spotlight that had been on him only a few days ago has shut off, and seemingly thrown him into complete darkness.
He goes off by Himself to be away from the crowds and pray, taking three of his closest friends with him to sit and be a comfort to him as he agonized over what the future held for him.
He was in such agony that it is said that his sweat became bloody and fell to the ground.
Up until this point, this moment in time was the darkest moment ever seen in history, where the son of God did battle against all of Hells power that was coming against him.
As a Christian Church we talk a lot about the cross and what Jesus did for us in dying for our sins. This is all well and good and things that we should do.
However, much of the battle that Jesus fought to redeem us to God was fought in the garden of Gethsemane when Jesus was suddenly cast into total darkness. It was so dark that the source of all light and life said that his soul was troubled to the point of death.
Think about that for a moment- Jesus being God said, “I am scared to death.”
Have you ever been there? I’m not talking about momentary fear that comes from watching a scary movie or discovering a spider when you turn on a light.
I’m talking about life delivering you into a place so dark, so lonely, and so hopeless that your heart hurts- a physical pain coming from emotions so strong it’s overwhelming.
No light, no hope, and no comfort will help during those times.
Today we will be talking about “Sudden Darkness”- when life goes from good to absolute darkness in a blink of an eye.
We will be looking at several scriptures, so let’s start by opening in prayer.
Prayer
As part of our Storms of Life series today we will be talking about despair and hopelessness. We will be exploring what can we do when it seems like our lives suddenly fall off of a cliff, or when someone figuratively throws us into sudden darkness.
What help can we find to help us during those times? What are point of truth and light that can help us see hope again?
Let’s explore God’s truth this morning by focusing on 3 things to remember, and then 3 things to do during these times-
I. 3 Things to Remember
A. Jesus went through it (Heb 4:15)
For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.
There are many things I’m grateful to Jesus for, and this is one of them.
I’m also grateful to God for preserving His Word through almost 5000 years of people trying to destroy it.
Why did God give us the bible? Why did He preserve this truth?
1 Cor 10:11 says Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come.
The bible’s history is uncompromising when it comes to recording the good, the bad, and the ugly about the people who have gone before us.
Abraham’s lying, Moses’ temper, David’s passion, Solomon’s experimenting, Peter’s impulsiveness and failure are all recorded for us to see and learn from.
I am so grateful for Jesus’ transparency here. This is one of the proofs of the bible’s divine inspiration.
Let’s just be honest- if this was simply a manmade book and someone was standing there recording your life, would you leave in all the bad stuff? The biggest, most embarrassing mistakes they ever made were recorded, and no human author would have done that, and definitely over such an expansive timeline that the bible covers.
Most people, especially those in leadership hide their flaws.
But that’s not just a leadership issue- Even most of us will cover up the embarrassing things we have done or try to cover up our mistakes or imperfections?
Avon has a business model that is all about covering up imperfections doesn’t it?
When I was about 15 years old, I went to a wedding of some distant aunt I had never met. I remember that the son of the woman getting married (this was a second marriage) showed up late. He was a groomsman, and apparently had a girlfriend, because his neck was covered in hickies, and hickies that the suit wouldn’t cover, so the woman were surrounding him and trying to use coverup to hide the embarrassing truth- he was late because he was with his girlfriend.
However, the bible doesn’t hide the embarrassing truth that many of the people they talk about went through some stuff, and it is very open with their thoughts, feelings, and struggles.
The bible records even Jesus’ struggles. Yes, Jesus struggled. The Garden of Gethsemane was God Himself wrestling with His humanity’s desire to run away from the darkness of His own plan for His life.
Because Jesus has gone through the darkness and prevailed, we can have hope that we can make it also.
In the 1800’s a missionary was ministering to a tribe in South America when word came that another, much larger tribe was coming to kill everyone in the village. The only way out was to swim across a river. The problem was that the tribe thought the river was haunted and they would die if they tried to swim it. For hours the missionary tried to convince them that the river was perfectly safe and they would be fine if they just jumped in and went to the other side. As the war drums of the other tribe grew closer, the missionary dove head first into the river and swam across to the other side and stood on the bank and called back across- “See, nothing happened, come and be saved!”
I’ll repeat what I said a moment ago-
Jesus has gone through the darkness and prevailed, we can have hope that we can make it also.
The second thing that will help us when the lights go out is to remember this very important fact-
B. Remember the true enemy Eph 6:11-12
Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms
Most times of sudden darkness in life comes through people or a person.
One of the issues we should remember about these times is that these sudden and swift attacks is that they will immediately expose what is truly on the inside of us.
When I went through the Community Paramedic classes a few years ago one of the things we had to learn is incision and drainage.
Don’t worry, I won’t get graphic here
Incision and drainage is used to expose a hidden sickness. They usually present as a bump or lump on the skin, or a red spot of some type that is hot and painful. We clean the skin, numb the skin, and take a scalpel to expose what is hiding underneath and get it all out so healing can happen.
When the enemy comes in like a flood, it’s like a scalpel to our souls that will cut in and expose what is immediately underneath the surface.
And sometimes what is immediately under the surface is something we thought was hidden, and is slowly killing our spirits
Another thing to consider is that the enemy usually put that sickness there, so he knows exactly where and how deep to cut to get the sickness to come out. It’s one of the reasons God allows us to go through the valley of despair sometimes, so all those things come to the surface so HE can expose them and bring healing.
I make this point to say that even when the darkness comes because of people- remember who the real enemy is.
I can make you a promise here this morning- this is one of the most liberating truths you can start to believe in when it comes to how we deal with difficult people or people we would actually call our enemies.
Remember who the true villain is.
These last couple of weeks I've gone through a little bit of this when it comes to people personally attacking me. I've had people that I care for very deeply get very personal and very vicious in some of the ways that they spoke to me. Talking with my wife about it and a couple of close friends I wasn't really offended or really hurt from it as much as I was angry at the spiritual forces behind it.
It was a struggle as I had to really take captive my thoughts and make them obedient to Jesus and His Gospel.
I was at the on call house after my ER shift was over and spent some time praying about it and suddenly out of the depths of my soul all that anger and hurt bubbled over and I said these words- “devil, I can’t wait to watch as the smallest angel God can find casts you into the lake of fire. I will relish in your screams as the first lick of fire hits your rotting carcass”
I might have gone a little too Norwegian Viking there, and I had to repent a little, as we aren’t supposed to speak evil of heavenly beings. (Jude 1:9). But it does point to assigning blame in the right place.
During these times it helps us to remember that we are all fallen people, dealing with other fallen people.
If you can remember the source of that fallen nature, that is the devil, it helps us to have compassion for those who are also under his constant attack and realize that they need God’s help as much as we do. Realizing this and living it will help us to rise above it and show love, kindness, and mercy.
The third thing to keep in mind is this-
C. God is with you (Psalm 23:4)
Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
My grandmother used to read her Lutheran Devotional in her chair every morning, and next to her chair was a wall hanging that had words many of you may recognize-
One night I dreamed a dream.
As I was walking along the beach with my Lord.
Across the dark sky flashed scenes from my life.
For each scene, I noticed two sets of footprints in the sand,
One belonging to me and one to my Lord.
After the last scene of my life flashed before me,
I looked back at the footprints in the sand.
I noticed that at many times along the path of my life,
especially at the very lowest and saddest times,
there was only one set of footprints.
This really troubled me, so I asked the Lord about it.
"Lord, you said once I decided to follow you,
You'd walk with me all the way.
But I noticed that during the saddest and most troublesome times of my life,
there was only one set of footprints.
I don't understand why, when I needed You the most, You would leave me."
He whispered, "My precious child, I love you and will never leave you
Never, ever, during your trials and testings.
When you saw only one set of footprints,
It was then that I carried you."
The reason the enemy uses darkness is to try and hide this truth from us. God would never, ever for any reason abandon his children.
The same God who went to the cross for you and me will stand against every evil plan of hell to ensure your safe passage into His arms one day.
During these times of sudden darkness, when the enemy is doing everything, he can to make your vision of God dim, remember these words in Psalm 139
Psalm 139
7 Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?
8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea,
10 even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.
11 If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,” 12 even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.
Remember, our God is not an absentee Father. He loves you with an intense love that no scheme of hell could ever extinguish.
Remembering Jesus went through the same trials we did
Remembering who our enemy is
Remembering that God will always be with us
will carve our faith in granite that will withstand the harshest storm life can throw at us.
As we remember these things, let’s look at 3 things we can do-
II. Three things to do
A. Remember the fight is God’s
David Vs Goliath
Remember the story of David and Goliath. David a shepherd boy, probably a smidge over 5 ft tall standing in front of what would have been like our Green Beret/Navy Seal, Delta Force commando that was literally twice his size.
David was able to stand there because he believed in this truth-
(1 Sam 17:47)
(David Said )All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves; for the battle is the Lord’s, and he will give all of you into our hands.”
Can I share a truth that isn’t talked about much in the modern American Church? There is a lot of anxiety about the seemingly decreasing influence and power of the church in our nation and our world.
However, I read the last couple of chapters of this book. God wins, and therefore we win.
Not only do we win, but there is coming a day when we will never, ever know or see evil every again.
God wins, because the battle belongs to HIM. Remember that, and pray that when the darkness comes
The second thing we should do is this-
B. Chose the right battlefield
If you are going to fight, make sure you fight on the right battlefield. Throughout world history fhe entire fate of nations has hung on this truth. Battles are won and lost based on who chooses the battlefield.
There was a Chinese man named Sun Tzu, and his writings about warfare are required reading at any military school in the world. Most of what Sun Tzu talked about was choosing and preparing the area that you were going to fight in to be the most advantageous toward your objectives.
The same hold true here-
The Apostle Paul tells us in 2 Cor 10
For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. 4 The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. 5 We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ
Listen- the enemy wants you to fight on the battlefield of his choosing and according to his terms.
Why?
Because he will win. If you chose to try and fight this using fallen earthly means you will get fallen earthly results.
I had a coworker who had a rumor started about her that she was sleeping with her partner on the ambulance. It wasn’t true at all, and we figured out who started the rumor. The person who started the rumor was in fact doing what she accused the other person of doing, so my coworker used social media to tell everyone what was going on, and destroyed their marriage. Unfortunately for her, it was discovered that her own husband had an affair several years prior, and their marriage also fell apart.
She used an earthly tactic, and got earthly results.
She chose the wrong battlefield
God calls us to a higher form of battle, and calls us to fight on his battlefield and in His way.
It’s pretty easy- Let HIM do your fighting, and stand back and see the salvation of your God.
That leads us to the 3rd thing we can do when Sudden Darkness comes.
C. Chose the right tactics Matt 5:43-48
We covered the battlefield, so Let’s finish this morning by learning about His tactics for us
Matthew 5:43-48 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. 46 If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? 47 And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? 48 Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
A few moments ago I shared about personal attacks against me. I chose not to react in anger toward the person, but disengaged from the fight.
I chose to pray for that person as I know what and more importantly who is behind the attack.
The funny thing about using God’s tactics and the thing that will liberate you from hate, you can’t pray for a person and still continue to be angry or hate them.
Even if it starts out that way- Old Testament style of calling down wrath and judgment on them, the longer you go praying the Spirit of God will soften your heart for them and HE will show you the darkness that person is attacking from. You will see the hurt and pain that they are trying to share with you. You will understand they are merely puppets of an enemy pulling their strings to try to keep you in the darkness.
And then, you will actually learn to love your enemy.
You might think that is impossible, but I have one final thought for you.
Even when you were an enemy of God, He loved you.
Even when you rebel against Him and sin- He loves you
Even when you act opposite of what you profess to be and drag His holy name through the mud
He never, ever stops loving you.
And that will be the light in your darkness.
Prayer
Conclusion
