............... ............... ............... ............... ............... ............... ............... ..................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... God said without the physical experience being necessary. And according to Hebrews 11, 1, it says, faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. It evidences to your heart things that you have not seen with your eyes, but you have seen with your spirit through the Word of God. Faith is the absolute persuasion, belief, and assurance and conviction that what God said He will do, He will perform. During the Bible, Noah trusted God that there would be a flood.
He had never seen it rain before at that time. God had sent up a mist from the earth, but he saw a flood coming by faith, and so he built an ark. Abraham trusted God, left his homeland to a land he had never seen before in Canaan, but he trusted God, and he went to that promised land. Joshua trusted God to march around the city of Jericho seven times. He had never seen anybody march around a city and the walls come down, but he trusted God by faith that that would happen.
All of these men believed God based only upon what God said. Their faith was not wishful thinking. Their faith was built upon the foundation and rock of the Word of God, and so it is attached to God's Word. Faith is not attached to what we think or hope, but rather what God says, and so faith is really seeing with your spirit what you cannot see with your eyes. It accepts as a fact what you do not see with physical evidence, and true faith acts volitionally.
It will respond in obedience to God. Faith you need to understand is attached to actions. Faith is not separate from your works. Faith is the root, and works are the fruit.
If you really believe it, then you're going to do something about it. There will be an action based upon that root that is built inside of your heart, and the greater our faith, the greater our obedience to God. As faith acts in obedience, it will be rewarded by God. Faith is the conduit through which the blessings of God flow. The greater our faith, the greater God pours out His goodness and blessing upon our life, because you're trusting God. You're obeying God. You're believing God.
You're taking His word, and it is increasing in your life. Faith increases with the word of God. That's why Romans 10 17 says faith comes by hearing the word of God. Faith is necessary for salvation. According to Hebrews 4 2, it's necessary to please God. According to Hebrews 11 6, it's necessary to live the Christian life. According to 2 Corinthians 5 7, where it says we live by faith, not by sight. We walk by faith, and it's also necessary to overcome satanic attack after the Bible warns us about Satan in 1 Peter 5 8, it says we resist him in the faith. The Bible even says in Ephesians 6 that we have to take the shield of faith. So everything in the Christian life is built upon this truth about faith, and this morning we're going to see how the lack of faith resulted in the work of God, and it caused God's work to be hindered, how the Lord feels about a lack of faith, and the disciples were rebuked for this, and how to have a great faith, a mustard seed faith that grows into a great faith. And today I want to look at faith that can move mountains, and we start off in this story in verse 14 through 16 with the hindrance of a faithless ministry. It says in verse 14, when they were come to the multitude, there came to him a certain man kneeling down to him and saying. So there's a man who comes to Jesus, and it's important to understand context for you to understand a text in scripture.
You need to understand the context in which it is sitting. And so we see here that this is on the heels of what I preached on two weeks ago in verse 1 through 13. Appreciate those who preached in my stead the last couple weeks, and always thankful. Now I did not tell Pastor Carter to preach on tithing, okay? I didn't say, hey, I haven't preached on this in a while, so come and preach this message.
I have no idea. I don't tell people what to preach. Just preach whatever God lays on your heart. And so just so you know that, your preacher went away, and he's like, hey, you go hammer them on that topic.
That was not my desire. So Matthew 17, 14, he comes to the multitude. Now I'm going to be tying in Luke's account of this story as well as Mark's because in the synoptic gospels, which are Matthew, Mark, and Luke, they combine a lot of these stories and they fill in the gaps of the other people, they fill in gaps for one another, some of the things that are not totally laid out in the individual gospel itself. In Luke 9, 37, it says this, and it came to pass that on the next day when they were come down from the hill or the mountain, much people met them. So if you remember, Peter, James, and John, the three inner disciples, went with Jesus up on the mount of transfiguration, and they saw Jesus transfigured, and he began to shine forth like a light beyond the sun. His raiment became glistering, which as a word in the Greek was like, it became like flashes of lightning, and his face shined above the brightness of the sun, and basically, he revealed to them who he was in glory. And even in that essence, he still veiled himself at some level because no one can see the face of God and live, and Jesus is indeed God, very God, and Moses and Elijah appeared with Christ on that holy mountain.
Now they would have been overwhelmed with joy at that sight. This was what they were waiting for, the revelation of the Messiah. But remember, Jesus said, don't tell anybody what you've seen until the Son of Man be risen from the dead, so they had to withhold that from telling people. But on that mountain, their faith became sight. What they believed, Jesus asked them, who do men say that I am? And Peter says, thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God, and he saw that on the mountain. Their faith now became sight.
They were literally seeing the transformation of Christ, they didn't have to believe anymore, they could see it. You know in heaven, you don't have to have faith. There is no faith in heaven, everything's sight.
You don't have to believe God for something, you can see it, right? And so, now what is true about mountaintops experiences is this, every time you have a mountaintop, there's also a valley in front of you, right? And so, in their case, they were coming down from the mountain and there is a valley. And as they came down from the glorious manifestation of the presence of God, they came down to the manifestation of a demon-possessed boy. They go from seeing of absolute perfection and beauty to one of fearful and distorted and tragic scenes. They go from seeing the Son of God revealed to the Son of Satan bound.
They go from seeing what God's glory looks like to what Satan manifests. Now one thing that is true in life is this, you cannot live on mountains, you can't live on mountains. God didn't call us to isolate ourself away, to go up on a mountain to stay there, to separate ourself from the broken people in the valleys, to be a holy huddle of Christian people that don't have any interaction with people that are in this world that are struggling and hurting and broken. And so, that is something that we must understand, rather God wants us to find our strength and power in Him on the mountains so that we can minister to people in the valleys of life. Moses went up on the mountain with God so he could minister to the Israelites in the valley and he brought the Word of God to the people, didn't he? He brought the Ten Commandments to them. Jesus often went to the mountain to pray and He would come down and minister to the people as He is in this situation.
Listen, if you never go up to the mountain, you will be ineffective in the valleys. You will not be effective in ministering to people if you don't spend time with God. If you're not spending time with God, you'll be no good for men. Many Christians have never borne much fruit in life because they've not made time for God on the mountain, they haven't climbed the mountain, it's too difficult. Time with God, sacrificing time with God, it's too intrusive on their schedules.
I would ask the question, is your family stuck in the valley and struggling? Dad and Mom, when's the last time you went to the mountain to be with God for your children, for your marriage, for the struggles in your home? We live in a day when Christians say, I don't have time to go to the mountain, I have too much to do in the valley, too many problems, too many issues, and they find themselves spinning their wheels. It's a tragic thing when you come to church and it's the first time you've opened your Bible in the week. You're living in the valley with your own strength and you can't sustain yourself. There's more that God has for you. It's like filling your gas tank up with water.
It will bog you down, you will have major problems. If you don't have time for God, you'll miss the power of God in your life. And as they came down to the valley, a man met them in absolute desperation. From Mark's account in Mark 9, 14, and 15, the other nine were at the base of the mountain. You remember Peter, James, and John went up with Jesus, so the other nine are at the base of the mountain. And it talks about where the scribes and Pharisees were questioning with the nine disciples, along with the great multitude that were around them. And when they saw Jesus, they ran to greet him, the multitude did, as well as the disciples.
Now from out of the crowd, there comes a man with a desperate need. Matthew 17, 14 says, the man came kneeling down to him saying, Lord, have mercy on my son. And according to Luke 9, this man said, this is my son, my only son, my only child.
Not only was it his only child, but it was his only son. And so you have this man bringing his only begotten son to the only begotten son of God. And he says, Lord, kurios is the Greek word, it's used different ways in the New Testament, it can be simply a title of reverence for someone.
It can be like a reverential respect for someone. It can also be a declaration of your faith in Christ as the Messiah, as is in many places through the Scriptures. Whatever his, we don't know exactly what he meant by Lord when he was saying that. We don't know what he was for sure meaning, whether he was declaring him to be a Savior or if he was declaring him as just being Lord and a high title of reverence.
But in either case, he clearly revered Christ. And he pleads for mercy, he says, Lord, have mercy. Now what's interesting about this is mercy, anybody asking for mercy by implication recognizes that they don't deserve it, right? It's not like, Lord, how could God allow this to happen to my son?
Why would you let this happen? And it wasn't come blaming God, it was saying, God, give me what I don't deserve. That's what mercy does. Mercy, Elieo is the Greek word and it's show compassion on the miserable. Condescend to us, bend down to us who are valley dwellers, those that are underneath you, we need your pity on us.
And so he's asking, it's the idea of having compassion on the miserable. Now what is wrong with the man's son? In verse 15, he says he is a lunatic and he's sort of vexed, he falls in the fire and into the water. Now the word lunatic is from a Greek word, selenazomai, selena is the Greek word for moon and it literally means being seized by the moon.
Some translations say he was seized by this demon. But I like the word lunatic here, I think it ties in with the idea, the word has connection with the idea of being moonstruck. In those days, they believed that the moon had effects upon a person, people even believe that today, but the ancients believed that mental illness or madness was caused by the influence of the moon.
Today we understand things like epilepsy and convulsions and disorders are different, it's not affected by the moon, but we use the word lunatic where luna means moon and that's where lunatic even in our etymology of that word ties in with that. And so this was a nervous disorder that he would have had such as epilepsy potentially, but he was sore vexed, the word sore vexed is he was miserably ill, it was extremely bad case of what this kid had. And it's actually not until verse 18 in Matthew's account that we find out that this boy was actually demon possessed. Now obviously not all illness is a result of demon possession. Some people, if you've ever been around some circles, they'll say you have the demon of depression, you have the demon of a cold, everything's a demon, everything's a devil.
Anybody ever heard somebody talk like that? That is nonsensical, okay? That is spiritualizing things in a dramatic way that is not true. You don't need to cast out the demon of a headache, okay? But what the Bible does teach is that there are, in many cases, demons will aggravate or increase the passion of those illnesses inside the body.
They, what is there becomes worse. And it says that it was such a bad case that the demon would take control of this young man, this, we don't know his age, but it would cause him to fall into a fire at times, into the water. It seemingly was trying to kill the boy. And Mark's gospel adds that it slammed him to the ground, he would begin to foam with the mouth. Luke's account says the boy would cry out with crazy yelling and screaming and convulsions . This erratic behavior was very, very synonymous with what we read in Matthew 8, 28 through 34 with the demoniac of Gadara, who acted in very bizarre ways. And I do believe that some of the things that they call mental illness today, there could be potentially demonic activity that could be involved in some of that, such as schizophrenia, which is very, and I'm not saying everybody who's schizophrenic is demon-possessed, but if you just read the behaviors of a schizophrenic compared to what demon-possessed people exhibited in the Bible, they're almost identical. Now we see here, they brought this, the man brought his son to the nine disciples at the base of the mountain there, and the nine disciples could not heal the man, it says, and you heal the young boy, Matthew 17, 16 says, and I brought him to thy disciples and they could not cure him. Luke's account adds this in Luke 9, 40 says, I besought the disciples to cast him out. So according to Luke, he was wanting them to cast the demon out of the boy. So to cure him is in verse 16 of Matthew, but in Luke's account, the cure was to cast out the demon.
The guy knew that he was demon-possessed. And so he brings to Jesus the fact that these disciples were unable to cure their boy, and I'm sure the other nine disciples were like, oh, gee, thanks, sir, did you really have to tell Jesus that we couldn't pull this off? Now why could they not cast the demon out? According to Matthew 10, Jesus had empowered them to actually cast demons out.
You need to know this. Matthew 10, one, it says he gave them power against unclean spirits to cast them out. This is repeated in Matthew 10, eight. In Mark's account of this commissioning, it says that they were successful in casting out demons. Mark 6, 13 says they cast out many devils and anointed with oil many that were sick and healed them. It wasn't until Mark 9 that this story happened. So Mark 6, they had already been casting out demons. So if Jesus gave them power to cast out demons prior to this situation, what caused them to not be able to do this? Seems that this boy's condition, first of all, was so bad that when they saw him with their eyes, they must have thought that this is the worst case that we have ever seen.
They cast other demons out, but they had not seen a situation this bad. Do you remember what faith is? It is to believe God for that which you cannot see.
And oftentimes our faith is hindered by our what? Wasn't Peter's faith hindered by his sight? Wasn't he able to walk on the waves until he did what? Until he took his eyes off Christ and looked upon the waves. And when he made the waves bigger than Christ, he sank. Jesus gave him power to walk on the waves. Was the fault Christ's or Peter's?
Peter's. God gave them power to cast out demons. Their inability was not a lapse of power given to them, but appropriation of that. It was a faith in God that caused them a lapse of believing. And so in verse 19 and 20, after Jesus cast a demon out of the boy, the disciples, according to I think it's Mark's gospel, they brought him aside privately into like one of the houses and they were embarrassed to ask him publicly. But here it says in verse 19, they asked him, they brought Jesus apart and said, why could not we cast him out?
Like what was the problem here? And he tells them in verse number 20, Jesus said to them, because of your what? Unbelief. It is a problem with your faith. You lack the faith to believe God to be able to do it. What would have caused them to not believe it?
Wouldn't it be that the boy was the worst case they ever saw? I mean, you and I do this stuff, don't we? I mean, there's things in life where like, oh, I believe God for that. I believe God for that. I believe God will provide for my needs while your cupboard's filled with overflowing with food. You have more food in your refrigerator and we throw a food away because we can't eat it all.
We're Americans. Amen. Oh, I believe God will provide my needs according to his riches and glory.
But what happens when your job doesn't work out? When we go through a little difficulty of a transition, when some trial comes, it's a little bigger. Our faith is exposed, isn't it?
I think COVID-19 exposed a lot of people. Oh, I believe God, I believe God, and then what happened to I believe God? I fear, I fear, I fear. Now life can present some fears, but faith and fear are not to coexist. The only one we're really to fear is God, right? And God is the only one that when we cast our fear before, we get peace as a result of it. He's the only place, he is the only one that when we have fear of him, it produces peace.
Fear of anything else produces anxiety. But as we turn our fear from things to God, peace comes into our life. Now the problem was not that God didn't equip them, it was that they did not believe. Sure, they tried to cast the demon out, they tried to do it, but they just couldn't pull it off. I wonder how many failures in our life are a result of us going through the spiritual motion but not truly believing God. Well I prayed about it.
Well God said he would do this, but you know, and I tried it, but it didn't work. Well the problem isn't with God, it's with us. In verse 21, Jesus gives a key to why they failed to cast out the demon. He says, how be it this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting. Now I understand if you're a Greek student that this verse is not in some of the oldest manuscripts. Just so you understand, I do study different manuscript evidences and bodies, so some translations won't have verse 21, but you need to know it's in Mark's account, these exact words, and it is in the oldest manuscripts.
So whether a scribe included that in Matthew's account here in the Texas TR or in the King James Version, it was said and it is there, so we include it here as a right inclusion. He says, how be it this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting. Now the phrase this kind is interesting because what he's saying is this kind is different than other kinds. The other kinds that you dealt with were not as severe is the seeming implication, right? This kind is different. This kind is more severe.
This kind is more dramatic. Just as humans differ in strength, there are different strengths inside of demons. There are hierarchy of demons. If you read Ephesians chapter number six, what's it talk about? Bodies and powers and there's rulers of darkness in this world, spiritual wickedness in high places.
There's like rankings of demonic forces. Now what should have happened was when the disciples saw the power of the demon, it should have caused them to do what Jesus said in verse 21, that they would have began to pray, that they would have began to really intercede and go before God in desperate prayer. Because prayer is not only option A, but it's option B. I don't know that I can make that dramatic enough. We don't just pray and then it doesn't work and then we just move on to something else. It's no, you pray and then it doesn't work, then you pray again. If it doesn't work, then you pray again. Because prayer is a reflection of our faith. It is believing God and God is testing us by not answering immediately. It's not that he doesn't have the power, he's just seeing, do you believe me enough to keep asking?
Right? I mean, in the Garden of Gethsemane, when Jesus was praying, he went and prayed for an hour and then he went and prayed the same thing again for another hour. Then he went again and prayed another time the same words. Why did he keep doing it again and again and again?
Because that's the best thing you have. Do you remember when Jesus said, Satan desires to sift you as wheat, Peter? I mean, Peter's like, well, can you kind of stop him from doing that then?
I mean, wouldn't that, let me hang out close to Jesus, how do you like avoid this? And what did Jesus say to Peter? He said, Peter, but I have prayed for you. Aren't you thankful that Jesus prays for you? You know what, one of the prayers that I often make is this, Jesus, would you pray for me like you prayed for Peter? Go to the Father on my behalf, uphold me so that my faith will not fail. Because if it's left to me, I'll fail.
Anybody feel like that? Like, you're going to fail. You're not going to make it. And if you think you'll make it, he can let you fall in your face so fast that you'll deny him before a woman like Peter did, right? I mean, we go, oh, I'll never, those are famous last words before denial. So you have to understand the need you have of God. He sustains you, not we don't sustain ourselves. And so what happens is this, when people don't pray, unbelief can stir up. Doubt can stir up. I can tell you people who live in the world of doubt don't live with prayer. Now doubt and a lack of faith hinders the work of God. Matthew 13, 58, it says, he did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief. It's not that he couldn't do the mighty works, it's just that he would not bless them because of their lack of faith. Jesus would ask people, do you believe I'm able to do this? And then he would say things like this, be it unto you according to your faith.
If Jesus said that to us today, what would happen to us? Like what are you believing him for and what are we not believing him for? What in your life are you struggling with that God has promised victory over in his word? But instead of living with victory, we can often live with defeat because we just don't trust God, don't we?
We struggle with that. We keep sending the same sin day after day, week after week, struggling with the same sin, failing to overcome because we don't trust God to give us the victory and lean upon him and pray. God has given us the victory.
We need to claim that promise. Romans 6, 12 says, let not sin reign in your mortal body that you would obey the lust thereof, neither yield your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin. He goes on in verse 14 to say, for sin shall not have dominion over you. It's not going to reign over you.
Don't let it reign over you. Now, God has given us victory through Christ. The Bible says, if you walk in the spirit, you won't fulfill the lust of the flesh, Galatians 5, 16. So the first thing we see here is the weakness of a faithless ministry. Faithlessness hinders the work of God and that showed up in the disciples here. Secondly, the Lord's displeasure and faithlessness in verse 17. How does Jesus respond to this? I will say there are some questions when you read through a passage like this. It's like, why did he say that and what is the faith can move mountains and why isn't anything impossible and what does that mustard seed mean? And we're going to answer those kinds of questions. But here, Jesus's response seems a little off, doesn't it?
I mean, don't you read that? You're like, this is the all gracious, all compassionate, all merciful and loving Jesus. And his response to the guy who says, you know, cure my son, he's a lunatic, he's following the fire and the water and the disciples couldn't cure him. And you would have thought Jesus would be like, you know, bring him here and you know, you thought that would... But instead, he says, oh, faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you?
How long shall I... You could put it this way, bear with you or put up with you. And do you understand when Jesus said that, that is a perfect response? That is absolute perfection being applied to the situation. He couldn't have said anything better. He said it the best way you could say it. What happens when it seems like Jesus's patience is running thin?
And what happens when his patient... What causes his patients to run thin? I mean, he's so patient, isn't he? I mean, if we were God, everybody would be dead.
We'd be so sick of it. We can't even stand driving down the road. I find my sanctification suffering when I take long road trips. I'm like, oh, I drove through the night on the way back, I'm like, I'm just gonna drive through the night. It's so much easier, isn't it?
I mean, don't you know how to drive? But here you find his patience running thin. He is acting in perfect righteousness. Now he says you're faithless. The word faith in the Greek is pistas.
It means to believe, to have faith, to trust. The opposite of that is to add the word, the prefix A to the word pistas, so it's apistas. So the prefix A just means none or not. So like theist is a believer in God and atheist is a non-believer in God, right? So pistas is you believe, apistas is you don't believe.
You are a unbelieving. And then he says a perverse generation, perverse here is diastrefo, Greek word, which means to distort. It was the same word they would use when a craftsman had been sloppy with a piece of clay and the clay got distorted.
Anybody ever work with clay before in those classes in school perhaps? And you know how it goes. You see them spin them on the wheel or something and you're trying to mold that thing, but it doesn't work as smooth as what they do. And that thing, once it starts going, it's gone, baby.
It's like flopped over and it's off the wheel. And he's saying, that's what's happened to your view of me. You have a distorted view because your faith isn't holding what it needs to hold.
You are seeing me wrong and it's wearing me out. How many works do I have to do? How many miracles do I have to do?
How long will I bear with this generation? In heaven, the angels behold my glory and they rejoice to serve and follow all that is committed. But you, because if you compare the other accounts, the Pharisees, the religious leaders are debating with the disciples, they're assaulting Jesus, the crowds wanting to come to Jesus for what they can get physically from him but not spiritually. He says, don't seek for the meat that gives you food but what pertains to eternal life and they begin to doubt him and the disciples were struggling to believe. It's just faithlessness everywhere. That's why he says, oh generation, you're a faithless and perverse generation, all of you are.
And it was just wearing him thin. And I think it's important for us to see this. When we don't believe and trust God, how do you think that makes God feel about our faith and our view of him? It would be the same way as if your son or daughter came to you, mom or dad, every week and said, are you going to be able to pay the bills this week? Are you going to be able to cover the water bill? And you're like, I've always paid the water bill, why are you asking such a silly question? Well, I was just worried. I'd worry we might not be able to have water because if you're not going to be able to provide that.
And are you going to be able to get groceries this week? I can tell you this much, your patients would run out before they asked the second question. Raise your hand, parents, you with me? You would be irritated. You'd be like, you need to keep your mouth shut, son or daughter, right?
How dare you? Because what they're doing is they're not, the worry is an assault on you, isn't it? It's an assault on your ability to provide.
They don't trust you. That would be what it is. Now that's what we do to God, isn't it? And well, I don't know, I'm just so worried where the country's headed, I'm just so worried. And God's like, do you think the White House fixes it? Aren't you glad we worshiped one on a white throne and not just in a White House, amen?
Now there's, in my opinion, a clearly a better option out of the two, but I'm not going to run down that road today. I like what R.T. France said in his commentary, he said, the parallel with Moses' experience at Sinai is suggestive. And what's interesting is this, Jesus came in the New Testament as a greater Moses. Actually, Matthew's gospel is broken down into five different parts like the five books of Moses.
It's very interesting when you do this study, I don't have time to dive into it now. But there are many scenic views of Christ as Moses here through Matthew. The Bible says in Exodus 18, Deuteronomy 18, that one likened to Moses will be raised up. But just as Moses came down from the mountain with the tablets of God's revelation, France says, and was faced by a scene of religious apostasy which caused him to break the tablets in his anger. Even Moses' patience wore thin.
And here you see Jesus also coming to that same realm. Without faith, we cannot please God. That's why Hebrews 11, 6 says, it is impossible to please Him if you don't have faith. Without faith, it is impossible to please Him. He that comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of them that do what? Diligently. That's that praying and fasting. That's that truly seeking Him, isn't it?
It's not just casually seeking Him, but you're diligently. Remember Paul? He prayed for the thorn in the flesh, not just once, did he, but twice. That wasn't enough. But a third time. It's like, Jesus, why didn't you answer the first time?
He just wanted to see if He would keep coming. Faith draws you, trials can draw you to God. And if you have faith, you'll keep being drawn to Him. If you don't have faith, you'll depart from Him and go to a plan B that doesn't involve prayer in God. We do that, don't we?
We do that. Does your faith please God or does your lack of faith displease Him? Do you really trust God and believe Him for what He says in His word?
You know what we should do when we have trials in life and difficulties in our marriage and with our children and with our provision, with our bosses and with our government and with all these things? We need to go to the Scriptures and find verses that we can pray over and claim and say, God, this is what you said and I believe it, let it come to pass. And after you prayed it once, pray it again, pray it again, pray it again and let the Word of God become your vision. See through the Scriptures what the eyes will blind you to.
You think your eyes are really seeing what's real? Wait till Christ comes back, He'll unveil it. You think you know who Jesus is?
Go up on that mountain with Him, then you'll really see Him. There are things that are in the realm of ultimate reality that we don't comprehend because we constrict God to our man-centered ideas and views. What in your life right now are you not believing God for? Provision, constant worrying.
Matthew 6-30 says, if God closed the grass of the field today and tomorrow is cast in the oven, shall He not much more clothe you with ye of little faith? Do you find yourself complaining? You know what complaint is? It's just the reflection of being unthankful, isn't it? Thankful people don't complain. The Bible says, be thankful always, Ephesians 5-20. Hebrews 13-5 says, let your conversation be without covetousness and be content with what you have. 1 Timothy 6-8 says, having food and raiment, let us be there with content. Americans don't like that verse. Amen?
Am I speaking truth? I want more than just clothing and raiment and food, right? I need a vehicle, I need a house, I need like, you know, a decent job, we need like a mower that works. You ever go out there to get your mower started? Your contentment can go out the window, baby. You know what I'm saying? Oh, you thought you were content? Pull on that weed eater when it don't start. Yeah, right.
Break that off your throat. I mean, you just, the stress builds, doesn't it? We need to trust God, and we need to trust God for caring for us, keeping us safe. Mark 4-40 says, why are you fearful, why are you fearful, why are you so afraid? We need to trust God for sharing the gospel, Acts 1-8, we'll receive power if the Holy Ghost has come upon us, salvation, sometimes people say, well, I don't think that person will ever get saved, opisthos, no faith. You don't think God has the power? He can come down and blind the leading persecutor of the church and turn him into a preacher to write 13 books of the New Testament. Believe God. What does your life, what does your prayer life say about your faith in God? Come to him today, climb the mountain, look upon his glory, increase your faith, grab the Word of God, fill your heart up with it, and see reality for what it is.
Thirdly, we see faith results in the power of God in verse 18, and Jesus rebuked the devil and he departed out of him and the child was cured from that hour. That's a summation of what happens. I want you to see a lot more detailed situation. Turn with me to Mark 9. This goes into a lot more detail. Matthew just tells us what happens.
Mark tells us a lot more of the details. Look at Mark chapter 9 verse 20. So Matthew says they brought him to Jesus. Jesus heals the boy and he's cured from that hour. Jesus has no problem curing this, this young boy.
But look at Mark's account in verse 20, Mark 9 verse 20, and they brought him unto him. They brought the boy unto Jesus, and when he saw him, straightway the spirit tear him and he fell on the ground and wallowed foaming. So the demon seems to try to kill the boy one last time before Jesus. Like it's just causing the child, and I say child, we don't again know the age, so this boy is foaming, he's wallowing on the ground, he's in a very bad situation. Verse 21, and Jesus, or he asked his father, how long is it ago since this came unto him?
And he said, of a child, since he was just a child. What does a person need to do to be demon possessed? If you're not saved, you need to do nothing. Demons could enter anyone that's not saved, but they cannot enter a believer. You can't be possessed by the Holy Spirit and possessed by a demon, right? So if you're not saved, that is a reality, and I can tell you this, the Bible tells us during the tribulation period that demon activity will once again explode on this earth. For some reason, God is restraining that over the last 2,000 years in many ways.
It exposes itself at times, but it will be unleashed as it was during the days of Christ. And he answered him in verse 21, he says, from a child, verse 22, and oftentimes it casts him into the fire and into the water to destroy him. And notice what the man says, but if thou can do anything, have compassion on us and help us. In other words, he doesn't say, heal him, he says, if it's possible, if you're able to do this.
If you can heal him, would you please heal him? And look how Jesus responds. Jesus said in verse 23, if thou can believe, if I can.
It's not depending upon my ability, it's depending on your faith, if you can believe all things are possible to him that believeth. Look what the man does, and straightway the father of the child cried out and said with tears, Lord, I believe. And one of the prayers that we probably should pray every day of our life, help thou my unbelief.
Don't you feel like that? God, I want to believe, it's just not where it should be. Help my weakness of faith. The weakness is not in you, God, it's me.
I am the weak one. And to plead for mercy is him saying, God, be good to us based on your goodness, not on our goodness. Heal my boy. And what's incredible, it says in verse 25, Jesus saw the people come running together, he rebuked the foul spirit saying, thou dumb and deaf spirit, I charge thee, come out of him and enter no more into him. The spirit cried and ran him sore and came out of him and he was as one dead in so much that they said he is dead, but Jesus took him up, lifted him up and he rose.
And according to Luke, the Bible says Jesus brought him to the father, like he gave such compassion, Jesus heals him and then gives him to the father. This is the compassion and power of Christ. This is what faith can do. And sometimes God will bring into our life mountain experiences that are two mountain obstacles that are too big for us. And it's not that God can't give us victory over them, it's just that we don't believe him to do it. Now I want to show you the test of faith in verse 20, the last thought here. Verse 20, and Jesus said unto them, they asked him, why could not we do this?
He says, because of your opisthia, your unbelief. You didn't have faith that it could be done, the mountain before you was too great in your eyes. Verily I say, if you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you could say to this mountain move and it would be removed. Now what is a grain of mustard seed here? Mustard seed was the smallest of garden herbs, not smallest of all seeds, but smallest of all garden herbs. And so it was a very, very tiny seed. But the idea of the mustard seed is not simply that it's small, but that it grows to be something very large.
And in fact, it grows to be the largest of garden herbs, according to Matthew 13, 32. You need to understand this. The idea here is not that you just need a little faith for God to do the work, it's that you need to grow from having a mustard seed faith into a greater faith. Why do we know it's not just a little faith? Because he kept rebuking them for having a little faith. If all you need is a little tiny, teeny tiny little bit of faith, why would he ever rebuke them for having little faith? Four times he refers to the disciples having little faith. Matthew 8, 26, O ye of little faith, Matthew 6, 30, O ye of little faith. Little faith in Matthew 6 calls them to produce fear for provision. Matthew 8, 26 calls them to have fear for protection at the sea. And Matthew 14, verse 31, when Peter began to sink, he said, O thee of little, O thou of little faith, wherefore did you doubt? Little faith produce fear of perseverance. Matthew 16, 8, they lack perception because of their lack of faith. He says, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees. They're like, oh, it's because we didn't take any bread.
He's like, don't you get it? I'm not talking about bread, I'm talking about their false teaching. Little faith blurs spiritual perception. In verse 20, some translations have little of faith instead of unbelief due to some of the older manuscripts having a different Greek word here. But little faith hinders God's power in your life. Little faith causes one to doubt God for provision, doubt God for protection, doubt God to sustain you, lack understanding of his word, and lack his power in your ministries. The disciples had a little faith, but it needed to grow.
It needed to be tested and increased. God desires to grow our faith. He will often work in a way in our life in new believers. And I want you to get this, sometimes, and you'll see this, when somebody gets saved, God will give clear evidence as things many times they can empirically see, physically see to validate God, to increase their faith. Have you ever noticed that when you were maybe first saved and, man, I can't, you know, all these things are happening and you just can't believe it? And your faith seems to soar.
And once faith is established, God will test that faith to grow to see if faith can believe God for what it then cannot see. An example, Jesus went out to cross a sea of Galilee at night, then a huge storm came. They woke Jesus up and said, save us, we're going to perish. Jesus wakes up, rebukes the wind of the sea, and all goes calm, and he says, why are you so fearful, O ye of little faith?
Their response is like, wow, you know, what manner of man is this? Even the winds of the sea obey him. Now they struggled to trust Jesus when Jesus was in the boat with them because there was a storm to them that was bigger than what Jesus had the ability to do. But once Jesus calmed the storm, they realized there was more power in the boat than out of the boat.
And it caused them to fear exceedingly, Matthew 8 says. But Jesus needed to teach them to trust him when they didn't see him. If another storm came with Jesus in the boat, they would have just been like, Jesus is going to wake up and do this thing again, right?
I mean, they've already experienced it once. So Jesus needed to test them when he wasn't in the boat. So in Matthew 14, he sends them across the boat, across the Sea of Galilee, in a boat, while he goes up to the mountain to pray. And while he's on the mountain, he sees them in the middle of the Sea of Galilee, three miles deep, right across, it's halfway across, and he sees them toiling and they're stuck in the middle of the night in the Sea of Galilee. Now, could they trust Jesus for what they could not see him for now? He was watching over them, praying for them, caring for them, but they couldn't see him. He comes walking to them on the sea. And they were terrified.
They thought they saw a spirit. He says, be it of a cheer, it is I be not afraid. When they saw him, they no longer feared the storm.
How do we know that? Because Peter's like, can I come out and walk to you? He wasn't like, calm the storm, let me walk on the storm. I'm not afraid of this now, I see Jesus, you see?
But what happens? He begins to walk on the sea and then the storm caused him to fear again because he was in a new test. And he began to sink. And what's interesting is that it says this, when he saw the wind and the sea boisterous, he began to sink, his faith sank, so did his body. But what's awesome is this, it says in Matthew 14, verse 31, and immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand and caught him. Even though his faith failed, Jesus doesn't fail. You may have a faith that sinks, but your salvation is not based on how strong your faith is, it's how strong his hand is. And he catches you even when you would sink. Anybody thankful for that hand?
That immediately he'll reach out and grab you? Why did you doubt? One day we're gonna stand before God and said, I would have sank long ago, but his hand kept me from falling. The Bible says in 1 Peter 1.5, who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. Now this work of God providing faith-building opportunities is seen in the nation of Israel. I don't have the time to walk through all that, but if you remember, he did all the signs on Egypt, right? All the 10 plagues upon Egypt. But then he brought them out to the Red Sea and they're like, oh, God's not gonna save us.
Then he crossed the Red Sea, kills all the Egyptians in the Red Sea. So he showed them, they saw all these things, but then they had to start trusting him for water which they could not see. And they doubted God for water, and then they doubted God for food. He was trying to teach them to trust him with the physical things. They had already seen him do miracles, but now he's putting greater tests in front of them.
Why? Not to hurt them, but to build their faith because how could you defeat the giants of Canaan if you can't trust God for water? God will bring tests into our life, not to bring us down, but to give us strength and faith to overcome greater victories in life. God will then provide faith builders, often early in it, to sustain you. Listen, this may be very eye-opening for some, but I believe one of the things that God does as a faith builder before he brings faith tests is he will provide you the faith builder of spiritual energy, of spiritual energy. When you get saved, I believe he infuses you with being spiritually energized. You ever remember when you got saved, you're like, man, I was just so excited, I was just like so excited all the time.
I was so excited to read the Bible, I was so excited to pray, I was so excited to come to church. Do you think you produce that? Where do you think that came from? That came from God. He energized you with strong feelings to do what he wanted you to do, but then he'll allow that to fade so that now you have to walk by faith and not by feelings.
You know, I just don't have the same passion to read anymore. You think that's the problem with God? He wants to see is he good enough to be sought when you have to walk by faith and not feelings. I imagine Noah had some strong feelings when God showed him, hey, I'm going to flood the world. But I bet the feelings ran out 50 years deep into building the ark. Imagine 50 years deep, 50 years deep, cutting another tree down, hands on, right? You think he's not like 60 years deep, you think he's energized? You think he's feeling it when everybody's mocking him? You think his sons ever complained? 80 years, 90 years, 100 years, 110 years, you think he's still feeling it?
120 years? But then there was a day that the rain came. I believe in our life, there are times when he will infuse you with spiritual energy to sustain you, to grow your faith at that point, but then he doesn't keep that feeling there all the time. And sometimes people chase feelings. You don't have to chase feelings.
You just come after God, go up on the mountain with him. Your life is not built on feelings, it's built on faith in the word of God. Jesus despised the shame of the cross. It was the joy set before him past the cross that kept him going. He despised it, physically despised it.
He sweat agonizing drops of blood over that. But it was a joy set before him, Hebrews 12, one and two. Let me ask you, has your lack of feelings caused you to stop seeking him, loving him, reading his word?
I used to be so energized. I don't want to be offensive, and this statement will come across offensive, because we've all been there. I include myself. Children live off feelings. Newlyweds live off feelings.
But you go to a marriage that's 50 years deep. Their feelings, they've learned to come and go, but love stays. Love is action, love is verb.
Love is like, I don't feel like doing this for her, I don't feel like doing this for him. But you know what? I love them enough and I love God enough, I'm going to do what's right. I'm going to hold my tongue, I'm going to do this over here, I'm going to be gracious, I'm going to be forgiving, I'm going to be this.
You know what? You're not living based on feelings, because if you were, you'd be like every other marriage that dissolves. You'd be like every other person that just gives up. But you're going to, you're holding, listen, and that's, don't be like a newlywed Christian all the time. It's not about just emotions and butterflies. One day you're going to be in the presence of God and there will be overwhelming joy, unceasing joy forever, Psalms 16, 11. But now we have to live by faith. Mountaintops give you strong feelings, valleys, it's all faith, baby.
It's all faith. And some of you are in that valley right now. Some of you are on mountaintops. You're like, I don't know what you're talking about, I have so many good feelings right now.
I could sing forever. And when you're on the mountain, don't you feel like that? Like I just feel so spiritually strong. Like I don't know why people struggle, I share the gospel and I just want to tell everybody and I just want to read. Pastors unspiritual. I have feelings all the time. Next week you'll be in the valley, you'll be like, let me listen to that sermon again.
What did he say there? Y'all know what I'm talking about, raise your hand if this makes a little bit of sense. This is a reality for us. The danger is this. If we live like children, we'll follow feelings, but if we live like adults, we'll follow faith. Just read through Hebrews 11. It wasn't all easy. I mean, they were sowing us under, torn in half, I mean, they went through a lot, a lot of difficulties for the glory set before them.
D.A. Carson said, great oaks do not spring up overnight. If you want a dandelion patch, a few days will do.
If you want a stand of cedars, you need decades of sun, storm, and wind. And I'm just going to wrap up. This last statement that he makes in Matthew 17 may seem kind of disjointed. Verse 22 through 23 says, while they abode in Galilee, Jesus said unto them, the son of man shall be betrayed into the hands of men. They shall kill him. The third day he shall be raised again. We read that and we're like, yes, don't we? That's the gospel.
He died, buried, and rose again. We're like, yes, but you know what? They were exceeding sorry. They're exceeding sorry for the gospel.
Why? Why were they sorry? Was it faith that made them sorry or was it sight? It was looking through lens number one like we preached about a few weeks ago. They didn't see the last statement because they were so focused on his death.
Don't we do that sometimes? We have a loved one that dies and we're so stricken with grief and there's a time to weep and a time to mourn and that's necessary, but we don't have to mourn as others which have no hope. Faith is a foundation of our life, friends. Where is your faith at today? What do you need to believe God for? What do you need to climb the mountain and say, God, let me see your glory once again so I can minister in the valley like I need to. We need to be on the mountain with God.
We need to see his glory. We need to increase our faith and I can tell you, if you are in the word of God, your faith will increase, but if you're not in the word of God, you're going to find your faith struggling. Listen, people say, I don't think people should... If you're not really wanting to read the Bible, should you read the Bible? Yes, because you're not basing your desire for God based on a childlike feeling. You're basing it on the faith in God like I want that. The thing is, the more you read, the more you desire to read. The more you pray, seek him, long for him and you need accountability for that.
That's why these 242 groups are so essential. You get plugged out of one of those and you'll find... If you don't get plugged into a small group somewhere in the church, you'll find yourself distancing yourself from this because you need the truth and accountability. You need somebody to say, how are you doing reading? How's your Bible reading? How's your prayer life? You need to open your life up to people. God's never called us to isolation, amen. He's called us to being open.
Plug in. If you're in a life group class right after this, if you're not in one, God's called you to have a life of faith. As your faith increases, guess what? You increase the faith of those around you because they see your faith increasing and your trust in God.
