When I Needed Him Most

Introduction

I want to begin this morning with a question, but I don’t want you to answer it. And the reason I don’t want you to answer it is not because I don’t care to hear your reply, but it’s because I already know how you’re going to reply. I am confident of your answer to this question. Do you ever get upset at people? Sure you do. For most of us, the question really ought to be, when do I not? We get aggravated, exasperated, annoyed, and even angry at people, don’t we? Sometimes it’s people collectively, all the drivers on all the roads that I’ll ever have to travel. Sometimes it’s all the shoppers in a store, or if you’re here to visit some of our many theme parks, it’ll be all the other people in the theme parks today and tomorrow.

Sometimes it’s individuals that annoy us and aggravate us. Sometimes it’s our own family members. Sometimes it’s our fellow church members. Sometimes it’s our neighbors who play their music too late at night and mow their yards too early in the morning. And so make a list just briefly. We don’t want to dwell on this unpleasant topic very long this morning, but make a list of the people who annoy you the most. Or a list of the people who have most recently annoyed you. I want to share with you one name from my list.

Me. Of all the people, and they are legion who annoy me, I annoy myself the most. I get more aggravated with myself than I do anybody else. I get more disappointed in myself than I do with the collective of the rest of humanity. And if I think about why I get exasperated and aggravated and annoyed and even angry at myself, it usually and largely has to do with my relationship to my God, of how I fail him, and how I fail him when I needed him most.

And realize that there were times in my life that I needed God and the assistance and the love that He affords. And when I needed Him the most is so often the times when I did not seek him.

1. When I Needed God the Most, I Forsook Him

Maybe you can relate with me. People throughout history can relate to me because I am them. I’m King Jeroboah. I was given by God a kingdom of his own people. An awesome responsibility was laid upon my shoulders as king of the ten northern tribes of Israel in that divided kingdom in the Old Testament. It would be an understatement to say that this was a major life change for me. An awesome responsibility had been placed on my shoulders to be entrusted with the majority of God’s covenant people. And I wondered how I would do this.

And when I needed God the most, I forsook him and erected golden idols in Dan and Bethel. And instructed the people to serve them rather than to serve the God that I needed the most. I am Judas.

I was with the Savior throughout his entire earthly ministry. I heard the sermons and listened to the prayers, witnessed the miracles. I experienced the love and the compassion of God in the flesh. I dealt with greed my whole life. And when my Lord needed me the most, and when I needed him the most, I did the absolute worst thing that’s ever been done.

I let everybody down. And I saw no way out for myself. And when I needed him the most, rather than seeking him, I took my own life.

I received a direct communication from God. God spoke to me. And he spoke to the people through me, and I was pretty good at what I did. I successfully got a nation of people to repent and turn to God. But I was not happy. I was disillusioned in my work even though I was successful. And I hated a group of people just because of who they were, and that they were different than me. And I was angry when I saw people that I viewed as beneath me and my enemies.

And when I needed God the most, I got angry at him.

And I think things are going pretty good at church.

We seem to be at peace. There’s no major problems. We have a nice meeting place, and we’ve got a lot of money stored up.

2. When I Needed God the Most, I Quit Praying

But when I needed God the most, when I needed God to direct my leadership and to help the people that have been entrusted to me by God to spur them on to spiritual growth, I grew complacent, and I did not seek God. And I am me. When I needed God most in my life, when the hardships of life seem to come in never-ending successive waves, when I just can’t seem to get ahead, when problem after problem, whether they be physical health problems, whether they be family issues, whether it be the burden of finances and the struggles, whatever it is, when I needed God the most, I quit praying. When I needed prayer the most, when I needed the help and the hope that God alone could afford, I get so angry at myself when I realize that when I needed to talk to Him most, I quit praying.

A passage that was written to a Christian, much like me. A Christian who was facing problems and the difficulties of life.

I forgot the words of the Holy Spirit that said in James chapter 5 and verse 13, is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. But when I was suffering, I sought answers, I sought solutions everywhere I could find. Except where the real answer was.

3. When I Needed Him Most, I Stayed Away From Church

When I was going through spiritual struggles, when temptation was so strong in my life. And if I when I’m honest with you, this morning, when I gave in to that temptation. And I sinned. And I knew that I had disappointed God. And when I felt like that that sin was written on my face. That in my guilt, in my embarrassment and my shame, I stayed away from you. When I needed him most.

And so much the more as you see the day approaching. I am so mad at myself that when I needed him the most, and I needed you, his children the most, I needed the exhortation that you would give me. I needed the love and good works that you could stir up in me. And even when I needed the correction and the admonition that you would lovingly give to me, that when I needed him most is when I stayed away from church. That when he said that whatever that day was in verse 25, so much the more, talking about assembling, so much the more as you see the day approaching. Now I wasn’t sure what that day was. Some had told me it may be the day of the final judgment.

I’d heard someone say that it may have been the day of the destruction of the city of Jerusalem that these Hebrew Christians would have been facing. Someone else had offered the suggestion that maybe it was just a day of struggle, a day of temptation that I would be facing. But whatever that big day was, whatever big event or struggle or turmoil I might be facing in my life, so much so as I see it approaching, is the more I needed to assemble together with you. But when I needed him most, is when I quit attending church.

4. When I Needed Him the Most, I Quit Trying

When I needed him the most. When I needed the steadfastness, the eagerness, the relationship with my God. I’m so annoyed with myself that that’s when I quit trying. When I thought it was just too hard. When I thought, what’s the use? When I got down on myself and say, why even try? I know I’m going to fail. When I should have heard the words of the Apostle Paul in Galatians chapter 6 to a group of Christians, to a group of Christians, to a congregations of Christians who had failed in their understanding of the core of the gospel of Jesus Christ. To whom he had said, I marvel that you’re so quickly removed from the gospel of Jesus Christ to another gospel. To people who were struggling spiritually, emotionally, just like me, he would say in Galatians 6, verse 9, let us not grow weary while doing good.

For in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart. But me, when I needed him most, I did grow weary. And I did lose heart. And I quit trying. And no one can hold a candle to the aggravation I feel toward people. When I think about how upset I am at myself.

And I needed a shepherd to guide me. Why then did I close his word and close my heart to him? And close my mouth from praising and praying to him. And why did I pull away from you? When I needed him most, I forgot the words of Hebrews chapter 10 that were spoken to a group of Christians who were drifting away from Jesus and therefore from God. And I didn’t see how they applied in my own life in Hebrews chapter 10, verse 23, these words were speaking to me, but I failed to hear them. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering. For he who promised is faithful. And I am so disappointed that I did these things when I needed him most.

5. When I Needed Him Most, He Sent His Son

But when I needed him most, he sent his only begotten Son to die for my sin.

And me, that he gave his only begotten Son. That is Apostle Paul said in the book of Romans, chapter 5, that when I needed him most, and when I was pulling away and miring myself in self-pity and sin and unrighteousness, God, Romans 5, verse 8, God demonstrates his own love toward us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. When how I needed him most, God sent his son. And when I needed him most, and I pulled away and failed to use those things that God has lovingly provided for me that would bring me closer to him. When I needed him most, he never gave up on me.

Uttered these words. Both Old and New Testament, he said to them and to us, I will never leave you, nor forsake you. Because when I needed him most, he was there.

6. He Patiently and Lovingly Waited for Me to Return

But such is common to man, but he will with the temptation make a way of escape that I might be able to withstand. When even when I was tempted, and I flirted with that temptation, and I grew closer to that temptation and further and further away from him, he still provided a way out. And he still provided a ransom. And despite my failings and disappointment with myself, that when I needed him most, he patiently and lovingly waited for me to return. When God in the flesh would tell a story of using relatable in real life characters to tell a story that portrayed our Father.

And I went away into a foreign country and wasted the blessings and the inheritance that my father had given me an unrighteous life. But when I’d finally hit rock bottom, and I came to myself and said, the servants in my father’s house have it better than I do. And when I finally decided and understood that I needed him most.

And he arose, speaking of that prodigal son, and came to his father. But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. And the son said to him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight, and I’m no longer worthy to be called your son. But my father said, Bring out the best robe and put it on him and put a ring on his hands and sandals on his feet, and bring the catted fatted calf here and kill it, and let’s eat and be merry, for this my son was dead and is alive again. He was lost and is found. That is my father when I needed him most.

Conclusion

Who are you upset with this morning? Who has annoyed you the most? But who do we praise this morning? And who do we need the most? Whatever you have done, no matter how you have annoyed and aggravated yourself, no matter how you have forsaken and sinned against your father. When you need him most, he is that Father, waiting for you to return. When you need him the most, will you believe in him, repent of your sins, and confess your faith? Will you be baptized into Jesus Christ for the remission of your sins this morning? And when you need him the most, by the blood of his son, he’ll wash away your sins. You need him this morning. Don’t quit praying. Don’t quit trying. And don’t drift further away.

If we can help you as you respond to the gospel this morning or help you in any spiritual way, let it be known right now, as together we stand and as we sing.