Jesus Offers Hope - When You Hit Rock Bottom, Part 1

Let me ask you a question. Have you lost hope? Has your world caved in? Have you lost hope in your family? Have you lost hope for your health? Have you lost hope in the church? Hope is the oxygen of the soul. Once you lose hope, everything goes downhill. Today we're going to learn how God can give you hope regardless of where you're at or what you've been through.

Stay with me. Welcome to this Edition of Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram. The mission of these daily programs is to intentionally disciple Christians through the Bible teaching of Chip Ingram.

I'm Dave Drouie. We're so grateful you've joined us as Chip launches a new series called Jesus Offers Hope. Over the next several programs, we'll explore how to tap into the hope God wants us to have and the ways that assurance sustains us through the toughest storms of life. Before we begin, let me encourage you to try using Chip's message notes while you listen. They contain his outline, scripture references, and much more. Chip's notes will really help you remember what you hear and maybe even share what you're learning. To download these message notes, just go to the broadcasts tab at livingontheedge.org.

App listeners tap fill in notes. Well, let's join Chip now for his message when you hit rock bottom from Luke 15. Hope is the oxygen of the soul. And so I want to begin with a visual image that I hope you'll keep in your mind. And it's a little scientific experiment.

You've probably seen this done before. But I have a candle here that I want to light. And I want you to think of this candle as kind of the hope in your life, the hope in your heart. Everybody puts their hope in something or someone. And for some, that light is a job. It's money.

It's your looks. You're going to find that person someday. For others, that hope is your family. I mean, we all have different things that we put hope in. And you always know where your hope really is placed is when it gets removed and how you respond. People can endure pain, adversity, trauma, difficulty, relational chaos, depressions. But as long as there's hope, as long as there's in their mind and heart a probability that it will get better tomorrow. Something's going to happen. There's a light at the end of the tunnel.

That's hope. But when hope is gone, what you find is that light begins to go low. And it's actually that it's burning the oxygen out of that little spot. And little by little by little, what you find is that candle goes out because it's sucking the oxygen out of the little tube. And that's how it happens. Little by little by little. And then it gets to the very bottom.

And as it gets to the bottom, then people say, you know something? I give up. I'm out of this marriage.

I'm tired of helping this kid. My boyfriend left me. My girlfriend left me. I've tried. I've been to rehab twice. I can't lick this. Just forget it. And when they give up, devastating things happen.

I put a teaching hand out. If you'll pull that out, it says, Jesus offers hope. Tonight we're going to look at when you hit rock bottom. Hope, definitionally by Webster's, is that feeling that what is really wanted is likely to happen. It's just that sense inside that, you know, what you really want to happen, it's going to happen. We hit rock bottom when what or who we hoped in cannot or will not come through for us. You hope to have a family, then you can't have kids. You hope to get married and you find yourself single or single again. You hope for a job and you lost yours. And you've tried and tried and tried and you still don't have one. You don't get into the school.

You don't make the team. That person, that thing that you were trusting to come through for you doesn't. And then you lose hope. And you get discouraged. And then you get despairing. And then you get despondent. We hit rock bottom usually happens, it's interesting, in two predictable places. We hit rock bottom in the pit and also in the peak. In the pit, you know, you're in an addiction.

You're in the middle of a divorce. You're in the ICU. You get cut from the team.

You lose your job. I mean, you just start going down, down, down. But the other time is when people peak. And their hope was in if I ever was this successful, if I ever married this person, if I ever became a star, if I could ever. And then there's an emptiness that goes with that. And honestly, some of the most successful, pretty, well-paid people in the world are among the most hopeless.

Who have the highest percentage of divorce, the highest percentage of drug addictions and rehabs as we check out Entertainment Tonight or whatever one of the shows that come on all at the same time that tell us who is breaking up with whom or what rehab center they're coming out of. This is Sports Illustrated. And they did a little article on people we lost. You know, great sports heroes that died. Some were 99. Some were 72. Some were 23.

And as I read through it, I noticed there was a number of younger people who died. The first one was Antonio Pettigrew. He was a gold medalist on the 400-meter 2000. He won the Worlds in May of 2008.

He later confessed that he used performance-enhancing drugs. And in August, he committed suicide. 42 years old. Erica Blasburg, 25 years old. A two-time All-American at Arizona.

Freshman of the year. Went directly to the LPGA. Now, she's only 25. Got completely discouraged because she only made the top 10 in one tournament. Struggled with her golf. Struggled with her personal life.

She committed suicide. Andy Irons from this part of the country. You know, surfers, right? You know, the two great surfers. The big rivalry between he and Kelly Slater. And Slater retires and Andy's sort of the young buck. And he does wild, crazy stuff. And Slater comes out of retirement. And we have this amazing thing about the last 8 or 10 years. Andy Irons says, my whole driving force right now is to take this little pretty picture. It's of Slater, his competitor.

And crush it. And then he won the World Championships in 2003. Again in 2004. It went back and forth.

He left the tour in 2009. Was burned out. His wife got pregnant.

They found him in a Dallas hotel room, dead. And they found Xanax, methadone, and Ambien. Xanax is for panic attacks.

Methadone is what you use when you're trying to get off of heroin. And Ambien is trying to get some sleep. So he rides the biggest waves and he's on top of the world.

His wife's ready to have a baby. But his hope's gone. Some of you older guys remember Mel Turpin, 49 years old, big Kentucky star, about 6 years in the NBA. Averaged about 14 points a game. Huge guy. Well, he died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in July, shortly after his wife suffered a stroke. He's got money. He's got fame. But the person he put his hope in is gone. And he thought, you know what?

My light goes out. The last one was from Venezuela. Edwin Valero, 28 years old. His first 17 fights he won in the first round with knockouts. How'd you like to fight that guy?

6 years, boom, you're gone. In his first 27 fights, they were all knockouts and he was undefeated. Fiery competitor. He won one world championship with one belt and was ready to fight the number one fighter in the world. But he had this problem with anger. He took out his anger on his wife and stabbed her to death.

And then hung himself in jail. A lot of people would probably say, you know something? If I would ever could be famous or pretty or be the greatest surfer in the world or be 25 years old and on the LPGA, I mean, I'd have it made. When you hit rock bottom, the only direction you can look is up. And some people get there because their life falls apart. And some people get there because they hit it on top and they realize there's not enough money or looks or fame or people or stuff to fill the gaping hole that God made and designed for him. So the question I want to ask and answer is where is God when you hit rock bottom? Where is God when in your personal life, the flame, the hope for whatever reason, whatever relationship, whatever job, whatever difficulty, whatever peak. When that flame's going down, when you feel like I can't take one more day of another day like this when I don't think things are ever going to change.

I don't think they'll ever change in this marriage. I'm never going to get a good job again. I didn't get into the right school. You know, I worked all this time and I never quite made it to and you fill it in. Where's God? Jesus answers that question in Luke chapter 15.

And as we get there, here's the occasion. Luke chapter 15. Let me just read the first verse. It says, Now the tax collectors and the sinners were all gathering around to hear him. Jesus. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, This man welcomes sinners and even eats with them. Those who had hit rock bottom, those who had failed morally, those who were the outcast, those that no one cared about. All of a sudden, this itinerant preacher without any formal training begins to teach and heal people and raise people from the dead.

And you know what? They're attracted to him. And he offers them forgiveness and he looks them in the eye and he doesn't say they're second class citizens. And he doesn't approve of their behavior. And he knows they're very, very far from God.

But it's like if you've ever watched, you know, moss at night where they try and find the light. These broken people who'd hit rock bottom and some of them were wealthy like tax collectors that had lots of money and lots of success that were empty inside. They found that he was easy to be around.

The words that he spoke and the care that he had and the reality of who he was. So they start hanging out with him and he would even go to their house and hang out in some places that good religious people should never hang out. And so the religious establishment, that's the Pharisees, they're thinking, you know what? This guy could not be from God.

He's not credible. There is no way this could be a man sent from God because no one that really loves God and who is holy would hang around with prostitutes and sinners and drug addicts and people who've been through a marriage or two or had an abortion or abandoned someone. That couldn't be from God. So we pick up the story in verse three. Follow along. In verse three, it says, then Jesus told them this parable. Notice it's singular. He's telling him this parable.

Why? The occasion is because he's hanging out with people that are lost and irreligious and immoral and he's being discredited as a messenger from God. This parable is to address the Pharisees notion of what God is like and how he feels about people that are struggling, who have failed, who've hit rock bottom. Here's the parable. Suppose one of you has 100 sheep and loses one of them. Does he not leave the 99 in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and he goes home. When he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, rejoice with me, I found my lost sheep.

Application. I tell you that in the same way, there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over 99 righteous persons who do not need to repent. Story number two. Or suppose a woman has 10 silver coins and loses one. Does she not light a lamp and sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? When she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, rejoice with me. I found my lost coin.

In the same way, I tell you there is more rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents. Singular parable story number three. There was a man, Jesus continued, who had two sons. The younger one said to his father, Father, give me my share of the estate. So he divided the property between them. Not long after that, the younger son got together all that he had, he set out for a distant country and there he squandered his wealth in wild living. After he spent everything, there was a severe famine in the whole country and he began to be in need. So he went and he hired himself out to a citizen of that country who sent him into his field to feed his pigs.

Not a great job for a Jewish boy. He longed to feed his own stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything to eat. Translation, rock bottom. When he came to his senses, he said, how many of my father's hired men have food to spare?

And here I am starving to death. I will set out and go back to my father and I will say to my father, Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.

Make me like one of your hired men. So he got up and he went to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him and he ran to his son and he threw his arms around him and he kissed him.

Literally it's in the tense of the verb that he kissed him repeatedly. The son said to him, he's got the speech. Father, I've sinned against heaven and against you. I'm no longer worthy to be called your son. But the father said to the servants, quick, bring the best robe and put it on him.

Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fatted calf and kill it. Let's have a feast and celebrate. Reason, for the son of mine was dead and is alive again. He was lost and he's found.

So they began to celebrate. The scene changes. That's the younger brother. Now the camera moves to the older, faithful brother.

Meanwhile, the older son was in the field, out working. When he came near the house, he heard the music and the dancing so he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. Your brother has come home, he replied, and your father has killed the fatted calf because he has him back safe and sound. The older brother became angry and refused to go in so the father went out and pleaded with him. But he answered his father, look, all these years I've been slaving for you, I've never disobeyed your orders yet.

You haven't even given me a goat to celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fatted calf for him? My son, the father, said, you're always with me and everything I have is yours.

But we had to celebrate and be glad because this brother of yours was dead and is alive. He was lost and now he's found. The point of this parable is to understand how God feels and how God responds to people who have hit rock bottom. Immoral, irreligious people.

People who by their own work or by the work of others find themselves absolutely without hope. In your notes, if you pull out a pen, I've made some observations that I think will help you understand it. First of all, this one parable has three mini stories.

Did you notice that? The first story is about the lost sheep. He tells this story because sheep were very important.

They used the wool. It was a part of the landscape. They understood it would be a valuable thing. Everyone knew you would leave in this open country. It was safe for the 99.

Everyone knew you would go get them. The second story is about the lost coin. This one takes it from something that's important to even more important. The woman sweeps because in that day, women who were married, the sign of being married, they would take 10 silver coins and they made a headband and they would put it around their head so that in public, people knew they were married. It was worth about one day's wage but the sentimental value was even more.

It would be like losing your wedding band. I've got to find this. The third goes from a sheep that's important to something very important like a reminder of who you are, what you have, not to mention a full day's wage work. Then there's the lost son. We hear the story of a lost son who disrespects his father, runs away, and then is found. Each story has five things in common.

If we were doing Bible study together, sitting around a living room, we might do some observation. At the end of our time, we'd come up with five observations about these three mini stories. One, something valuable is lost. Two, there's an intensive search occurs. Three, that which is lost is, can you fill this one in?

Found. Four, a great celebration follows. I mean, there's a party, there is music, there is dancing, there's excitement each time. And five, the spiritual application is explained. More rejoicing in heaven. God rejoices. The angels in heaven. Each time it says, these are many pictures that explain how God the Father feels, how heaven rejoices when one sinner repents.

Chip will join us here in studio with his application in just a minute. You've been listening to the first part of his message, When You Hit Rock Bottom, from his series, Jesus Offers Hope. Does it feel like you've hit rock bottom?

Like you've done everything right, only to have your circumstances go from bad to worse? Are you in desperate need of hope right now? Well, in this four-part series, Chip reveals how it's possible to experience God's supernatural hope, even in the midst of the worst life throws at you.

Hear from the Gospels why we can place our absolute confidence in God and hang on to the hope he wants us to have every day. For a limited time, the resources for Jesus Offers Hope are discounted, and the MP3s are always free. You'll find everything you need at LivingOnTheEdge.org, or give us a call at 888-333-6003. That's 888-333-6003, or LivingOnTheEdge.org. App listeners, tap Special Offers. You know, Chip, one of the things listeners really appreciate about you is how real you are about your ups and downs.

I mean, you're continually saying, I'm a regular guy. Well, since we're in this series about hope, how do you hang on when you start to feel like hope is slipping? This series, Dave, honestly, is where I go. That's why I called it, you know, Jesus Offers Hope. What I'm teaching today and for the next few days will be the core places I go when, God, life doesn't make sense. God, this isn't fair. God, I don't know if I can hang on anymore.

Somehow, I think we've got to measure up to something. And what I've found, when I'm most desperate and I've lost hope, is I try and just get raw and say, Lord, I've lost hope. I need to experience you.

I need your help. And my prayers may not sound very good, and then I jump into the Psalms or Luke 15 or John 11 and some of these core places where I say, Lord, I need you to meet me. And there's a promise in Psalm 34. It says the Lord is near to the brokenhearted, and He saves those who are crushed in spirit.

And what I've found is, no matter how down, how low, if I can refuse to compensate, you know, eat, work out, distract myself, and come to God honestly, He's going to meet me. And that's my prayer as we go through this series. A lot of people have lost hope.

A lot of people are in very painful, difficult situations. I believe God's going to speak through this series and help them get through it. Thanks for that, Chip. Well, we hope you'll make plans to be with us for this entire series.

And if you happen to miss a program, you can always listen on the Chip Ingram app or at livingontheedge.org. As we wrap up today's program, we learned that we lose hope when something or someone doesn't come through for us. So let me ask you, how about you? You know, we talked about a timeless story today where Jesus offered hope to a group of people that thought no one cared. And at the heart of it was a warped view of God. In that day, people felt like if you didn't have it all together, God didn't care about you. And in front of these Pharisees and people who felt they were marginalized and no one cared, Jesus tells this timeless, amazing story about a Heavenly Father that's kind and compassionate, that even when you blow it, He's there, that He's looking for you, that He wants to pull you out of the ditch, take you out of the pigpen. He wants to take the biggest need and the deepest hurts of your life, and He longs to forgive and restore and make you His son or daughter. Now, I don't know about you, but when I blow it or when I've been far from God, I just have to tell you, I grew up with a picture of God as a cosmic cop, angry, frustrated, mad at me, and the only reason that He wanted me to come around was so He could kind of wrap my spiritual knuckles with this heavenly ruler to get me back in line. And it was years before I understood that's not the God of the Bible.

So let me encourage you to listen to this message again, whether it's getting the MP3 or listening to this in our next broadcast. For many of you today, you need to believe and understand that God loves you, He cares for you, He wants to do something significant in you and through you, even when you feel like you don't deserve it. He's the God of grace. He is the one person that will never let you down.

When you run to Him, He'll catch you in His arms. As we wrap up, I want to say thanks to those who make this program possible through your generous financial support. Your gifts help us create programs, purchase airtime, and develop additional resources to help Christians live like Christians. Now if you've been blessed by the Ministry of Living on the Edge, would you consider sending a gift today? You can call us at 888-333-6003, tap the donate button, or donate online at LivingOnTheEdge.org. Your support is greatly appreciated. Well be sure to join us next time when SHIP continues his series, Jesus Offers Hope. Until then, this is Dave Drouie saying thanks for listening to this Edition of Living on the Edge.