Matthew 17:14-21, The Powerful King

Matthew chapter 17 we're going to be looking at verses 14 through 21 in a message I'm entitled the powerful King Matthew chapter 17 verses 14 through 21 let's pray Heavenly Father Lord we know that we live in a world that is hurt that is broken in many ways traumatized and Heavenly Father I pray right now by your Holy Spirit Lord as you reveal men and women who are going through difficult and dangerous times in their life Lord that we would come to a place not only as individuals but as a church that we would long and desire your presence in your power in our lives and Heavenly Father again we pray that we wouldn't be a people with wicked hearts of unbelief but rather Lord that we would love you and trust you and believe in the plans and the purposes that you have towards each and every one of us and the future that you are going to unfold and so again Lord we pray by your Holy Spirit that you would strengthen us both in prayer and in person so that we would come to rely on you trust you place our confidence in you in Jesus name Amen Matthew chapter 17 beginning in verse 14 we read and when they had come to the multitude a man came to him kneeling down to him saying lord have mercy on my son for he's an epileptic and suffer severely for he often falls into the fire and often into the water so I brought him to your disciples but they could not cure him then jesus answered and said Oh faithless and perverse generation how long shall I be with you how long shall I bear with you bring him here to me and Jesus rebuked the demon and it came out of him and the child was cured from that very hour then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said why could we not cast it out so jesus said to them because of your unbelief for assuredly I say to you if you have faith as a mustard seed you'll say to this mountain move from here to there and it will move and nothing will be impossible for you however this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting remember that the Lord Jesus has returned from the Mount of Transfiguration he along with Peter James and John are making their way down the mountain and in chapter 16 Jesus revealed his identity his mission and destiny in that revelation we also learned a little bit about our identity and our mission and our destiny in that revelation we discovered that Jesus on the top of the mountain reveals his glory and then provides a peek into the future the future kingdom of God as they head down the mountain they're going to face a dark problem a desperate father a demon-possessed boy and be powerless powerless 9 disciples at the bottom of the mountain powerless Jesus returns and he discovers a powerless people and then Jesus will bring them face to face with the problem they are powerless because their hearts are filled with unbelief they lacked power because they lacked faith and so it is with us we will find ourselves with a lack of power when we experience a lack of faith Horatius Bonner said quote in all unbelief there are these two things a good opinion of oneself and a bad opinion of God I think that's right we might put it a little bit differently and say all unbelief includes at least two things an exaggerated sense of ourself or a dependence upon our self and an independence from God and so in order to have power with God you're going to have to be connected to him by the power of the Holy Spirit aw Tozier wrote quote every man will have to decide for himself whether or not he can afford the terrible luxury of unbelief and I'm here to tell you you don't have enough money you can't afford to live a life of unbelief so how do we find power for faith it would seem that we have to revise our opinion of ourself and also of God William Booth wrote quote the greatness of a man's power is in his measure of surrender we were singing it as a congregation I surrender but I wonder if you really meant it I wonder if when you were singing the song I surrender you were beginning to appreciate the fact that whatever the plans and the purposes of God that he has for your life whatever the future that he has for your life whatever you think about yourself and whatever you think about God that you're willing to surrender to him to his greatness in his see in his love we have to be connected to Christ again Horatius Bonner says quote nearness to Christ intimacy with him assimilation to his character these are the elements of a ministry of power if you really want to have power in your life power to believe the truth about God power to address the issue in your life power to be able to minister and to help others then it's clear that you're gonna have to connect to Jesus Jesus is the object of our faith acts 20:21 the Holy Spirit is the power for our faith in first Corinthians 12:9 the Word of God is the channel for our faith in Romans chapter 10 verse 17 and so as we come to this story it's important that you begin there and look what it says in verse 14 and when they had come to the multitude that's Jesus Peter James John a man came to him kneeling down to him and saying lord have mercy on me or have mercy on my son for he's an epileptic and he suffers severely for he often falls into the fire and into and often into the water the Lord and the disciples Peter James and John when they come down from the mountain they're met by a large crowd of people and a desperate father and the text tells us where the father is he's on his knees Mark's Gospel fills in the blanks in mark chapter 9 verse 17 it says quote he has a mute spirit and in verse 18 and whenever it seizes him it throws him down he foams at the mouth he gnashes his teeth and then he becomes rigid Luke's Gospel adds in Chapter 9 verse 28 suddenly a man from the multitude cried out saying teacher I implore you look at my son he's my only child when you get all of this compilation and summation of what's going on here is a desperate dad here is a dad who is at wit's end and he's come to the end of his rope the word epileptic translates a greek word that literally means in in the greek language moonstruck the French have an expression they say use it Don la lune Don la lune means you've been moonstruck epilepsy is a disorder of the nervous system characterized by either mild or severe seizures which sometimes result in a loss of consciousness does this boy have a mental problem or an emotional problem or a physical problem or a spiritual problem whatever else is happening we're told in Mark's Gospel and here that a demon is terrorizing the boy and we know from the Bible passages that demons can cause severe physical symptoms that include self-destructive behavior and if you're looking again at the the passage it says for he often falls into the fire he often falls into the water this is a New Testament 1st century way of saying he's involved in self-destructive behavior not just on occasion but but often he's looking for a way to kill himself he's looking for a way to end his life the father assumes that the boy is moonstruck in ancient cultures and even in some modern cultures it's believed that the moon had special powers they believed in that world that if you slept under a full moon and if the light of the Moon fell on the surface of your face you were said to be moon struck when emergency rooms receive a rash of patients who act out in bizarre ways doctors and nurses will often say to each other it must be yeah you know but this boy is putting himself in harm's way all the time we might think of this as suicidal behavior motivated by the presence of a demon few things are more agonizing frustrating debilitating than to have a child who's acting out in this way years ago The Denver Post carried the story of Samuel Graham Samuel was 12 years old he was the heavy kid who didn't have many friends his father Vincent Graham is heartbroken his mother Jacqueline Graham can't still show her son's room to a stranger the article says quote one night late last August while his family slept Samuel climbed out of bed dragged a stool into the backyard and hung himself from a fruit tree on his last day on earth Samuel Graham went to church he had a pillow fight with his brothers he had ice cream for dessert he was 5 foot 4 he weighed 174 pounds he wasn't the heaviest kid at school but he was shy and sensitive and some people teased him about his weight and then they would chase him down the street and smack him on the back of the head and when the teacher wasn't looking sometimes he would cry in the social hierarchy of Westwood Heights elementary school he was on the bottom rung would things have been different at Parkway middle school Sammy was supposed to start the sixth grade the Monday that his father cut him down from the tree real pain overwhelming horror profound sorrow deep and debilitating sickness that's what's being talked about here demons are real but demons aren't and simply necessary to create the chaos and confusion and mental distress and emotional distress but they can certainly contribute to it there are families right at this very moment who live in constant horror and debilitating pain there may be social factors there might be physical factors there might be spiritual factors there might be demonic factors but make no mistake about it demons are committed to your ruin they're looking for ways to kill you and if they can't kill you to debilitate you and if they can't debilitate you at least to distract you from the mission at hand demons cooperate with people's fear and insecurity and sense of hopelessness demons bring together in a perfect storm of pain and problem and treachery and hopelessness self-destructive behavior and then they want to act out we live in a world that glorifies Satan young people are given a steady diet of post apocalyptic visions invitations to supernatural experiences drugs alcohol acting out sexually and other dozens literally dozens of harmful activities parents will say well you know what my child just simply doesn't want to go to church my trick my child doesn't want to participate in the youth group my child doesn't believe in the Bible my child doesn't pray my child doesn't have faith in the Bible we'll make no mistake about it your child will go somewhere and will learn something and will participate in something and their life will be informed either by the Bible or something else they will be informed by prayer and possibilities and hope or something else is your child in trouble if someone you love are they in trouble suicide is more than just simply a personal problem or a social problem it's a spiritual problem and it is a personal disaster for those who have experienced it and so we go from this powerless family to the powerless disciples look what it says in verse 16 so I brought him to your disciples but they couldn't cure him you have to admire this father you have to admire him he's not going to give up and I want to suggest you something remember this father whoever he is and whatever is going on there's a multitude there and that means there were scribes there and there were Pharisees there and there were religious leaders there and there were the social and cultural accommodations that were available there and no one no one could help the boy and perhaps the religious leaders began to chide the disciples and taunt them and jeer at them and scream at them you're all a bunch of religious frauds you're all a bunch of fakers you're just like your phony master Jesus you say that you can help people so where is the help so much for Christian counseling and this man is at the end of his rope the nine disciples left at the foot of the mountain apparently have no power in this situation do we dare ask the question that we want to ask but we're afraid of the answer why why were they embarrassed by their failure did they provide excuses for their lack of power in Matthew chapter 10 verse 8 earlier Jesus told them heal the sick cleanse the lepers raise the dead cast out demons freely you've received freely give but now the power is gone what's the source of the power what weird what where did the lack of power come from and of course where we understand literally from the text itself Jesus is going to provide the answer we're not left with our imagination ultimately we know that the issue is unbelief and clearly clearly the man brought his son to the disciples in the hopes that they're going to find some cure they're going to find some solution to this horrible condition did the disciples try to exorcise the demon I'm gonna suggest you that's exactly what they did and without effect why couldn't they help later in the passage again Jesus gives the explanation in part that's linked to unbelief and a lack of spirit discipline the implication being that the disciples aren't praying they're not fasting Jesus and Peter and James and John have been gone for some six days why weren't they exercising spiritual discipline in the absence of Jesus we're not told for whatever reason apparently they seem to have given their themselves permission well Jesus isn't here Peter James and John aren't here so whatever it is that we normally do when it comes to prayer when it comes to Bible reading when it comes to crying out to God trusting God depending upon God believing God we're not told we're not given the answer we might speculate they might have been envious of of the other disciples enjoying their mountaintop experience of retreat with Jesus they may have foolishly thought that they could accomplish the deliverance in their own power based on the past and successful exorcisms they may have been jealous they may have let their guard down we're not told but something is happening and whatever else the passage means it's gotta mean this look what it says read it again so I brought him to your disciples and they couldn't cure him it has to mean it has to mean in part that it's okay to ask for help it has to mean that it's okay to say you know what I have a problem I have a difficulty I have an issue I have a struggle and I don't seem to be able to deal with it are you struggling with something right now depression self-destructive behavior are you struggling or to someone you know are they struggling with thoughts of suicide you need to ask for help you need to say I think about this all the time and I need help others are gonna say skeptically look I've tried I've asked for help many people exhaust their their resources and give up imagine the person says look we've talked to Ministers we've talked to counselors we've talked to therapists we've talked to social workers we've talked to docker doctors some are sincere and supportive some are expensive some complicate the situation some aggravate the situation it's not working but this man's persistence will pay off because he's going to bring his son to the one place that he can get real help and real hope and real healing he's going to bring the boy to Jesus and in verse 17 we look at this powerless generation look what it says then jesus answered and said o faithless and perverse generation how long will I be with you how long will I bear with you bring him to me jesus begins by pointing out the reality of living in a world that doesn't trust God that doesn't believe God that doesn't really want to offer hope in the reality of a real God prepared to make a difference in your life Jesus himself uses the term faithless that means absent trust and commitment to the living lord of heaven and perverse that word is exactly what you think it is crooked twisted not along a right path but along a wrong path and the Lord I'm gonna suggest you is speaking to everyone present the twelve were given power over unclean spirits to cast them out to heal all kinds of diseases in mark 3:14 faithless perverse after only a weeks absence from Jesus they are powerless and I'm gonna suggest to you that just one moment one moment just a moment away from Jesus will will render you powerless Hey look I've prayed for lots of people I've counseled lots of people I've done this lots of times guess what guess what you're on dangerous ground when you attempt to do stuff apart from Jesus when you attempt to do things disconnected from Jesus when you think that you have power disconnected from prayer and disconnected from the Holy Spirit and disconnected from the revelation of God they failed but not because they didn't try their problem was unbelief or we should say their problem was belief in the wrong in the wrong remedy you see there are certain things and I'll just be blunt I can't heal anyone I have no power to make the deep dark difficulties in your life go away there's nothing magical about Gino Geraci it isn't like well if I could just get Gino to pray if I could just get Gino to care if I could just get Gino to reach out and say something I'm sure that these problems would disappear and I'm here to tell you and to beg you I'm happy happy thrilled to pray with you and to pray for you and to pray against Satan and to pray in confidence and faith that there's a real God and a loving Jesus who can help you Jesus says how long till I'm with you how long this is an idiomatic expression which just simply means how how much longer am I gonna have to put up with you now we laugh because it seems so not like our Savior well of course he's gonna put up with me that's what he does he's the Savior who puts up with me but this rebuke isn't just simply for them the rebuke is for us why won't you believe in trust what an indictment against a powerless disciple or a powerless church or a powerless generation we've never had more access to God's Word we've never had more ability to access God's promises we've never had more unlimited access through radio and television and the internet of powerful tools we have more teaching tools than ever before we're so rich we're so blessed then why are we so powerless one Bible writer says quote we cannot and dare not duck the Masters diagnosis for if we accept it we must carefully listen with his disciples to what Jesus now said and did for in a few moments he is going to raise the boy's father's faith to a level requisite with the miracle to take place unquote we are powerless when we fail to appropriate the power of God that is given to us through the person of Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit and there are no more words filled with more Hope than the next few words bring him here to me instead of being frustrated embarrassed bring them to Jesus take them to Jesus again we this isn't the first time that Jesus has said bring him to me this isn't the first time that I've said to you bring your loved ones to Jesus bring your children and grandchildren to Jesus bring your neighbors to Jesus bring the people who are hurting and in trouble bring them to Jesus have you brought your children to Jesus have you brought your family to Jesus have you brought your loved ones to Jesus do you understand that the dark and wicked forces that are working all around you are at work to try to discourage you from bringing them to Jesus are we going to solve the problems of persistent depression suicide mental emotional spiritual distress with more government with more drugs with more education just put it this way let me just do the math for you if we destroyed every single drug if we imprisoned every single drug lord if we banned all music that glorified sex drugs rock and roll if we crushed every pornographic website if we cleanse the earth from all sex traffickers would we still be left at the human heart would we still be left with the hosts of hell and so when you have that malignant combination the human heart and the demons of hell there is no other remedy other than to bring them to Jesus it seems so simple that some of you are thinking Chino you just sound so simple but guess what Jesus remains the solution really you should be asking a different question how do I do that how do I bring my loved one to Jesus how do I do that and again later on in the text he's going to be talking about prayer and fasting this isn't just a ritual exercise in order to make demons go away what he's talking about is connecting with the God of heaven and the Lord Jesus Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit for your life what will Jesus do once they brought him to Jesus he's going to rebuke the demon and cure the boy look at this powerless demon in verse 18 Jesus rebukes the demon and it comes out of him and the child is cured from that very hour in other words is this three days of humbly fasting and praying and doing whatever know Jesus has absolute power he has absolute power you do not have absolute power hate to be the one to break the news to you but Jesus does have power this demon has no choice but to respond and again you know this you know this in your heart and you know this in your mind you know that there's a sovereign God and a sovereign Lord and a gracious Savior this is no contest this is like Michael Tyson versus pee-wee Herman I mean you just hold up your fist and he just pretends like he's dead Mark's Gospel tells us the demon doesn't leave without making one last desperate attempt to destroy its hosts in mark chapter 9 verse 26 it says then the spirit cried out convulsed him greatly and came out of them and the Bible says in Mark's Gospel and he became as one dead so that many said he is dead I want you to think about that for just a minute there's this violent confrontation between Jesus and the demon there's one twisted perverted last attempt to destroy the hosts a loud scream a convulsion and then stillness a profound stillness that looks like death can you imagine just imagine it for just a moment the boy's father screams out in fear and terror and confusion what just happened did you kill my boy has Jesus failed the demons gone but at what cost what a price and then mark 9:27 says but Jesus Jesus Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up and he arose can you imagine how dark and desperate the circumstance must have been the boy was cleansed the boy was alive the boy was free isn't that exactly what you want for your children don't you want them to be cleansed alive free isn't that exactly what you want for yourself demons are powerless against the Lord Jesus see luis made the comment that we make two mistakes concerning demons we give them far more attention than they deserve or we dismiss them all together as mythological creatures or ancient superstitions fabricated by primitive people afraid of the dark or ignorant a brain chemistry some people point to demons as the explanation for all bizarre behavior but that's just simply not true did you know that the word schizophrenia itself is a word that means bizarre behavior but there's a lot of reasons you can act out weird I was watching the Bronco game on Thursday and I said to myself they want to lose this game they want to lose instead of doing everything that's right they're doing everything that's wrong and then when they get in field goal position I said they can't miss this kick anyway the lamest kicker in the NFL can make this shot and miss Mary my wife said you know with God all things are possible it wasn't a silent voice saying o ye of little faith it was an audible voice coming from my wife Chuck Smith gave me good advice years ago he said emphasize what the Bible emphasizes teach what the Bible teaches be silent where the Bible is silent and the Bible has a lot to say it is not silent on the subject of demons in Ephesians 6:12 it says for we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against principalities powers against the rulers of darkness in this world against spiritual forces of wickedness and high places there is an unseen enemy who is very real and the struggle is personal we face a powerful army bent on the destruction first of individuals then of families and then of churches and your family is no exception and this church is no exception because guess what when you come to love Jesus and trust Jesus his enemies become your enemies his foes become your foes his adversaries become your adversaries and these enemies seek to suggest and then seduce and then cost people to surrender to them the Bible rightly condemns occult divination spirit communication or trying to get access to information through the dead Oswald Chambers writes quote the devil is a bully but when we stand in the armor of God he can't harm us if we tackle him in our own strength we will soon be done for but if we stand in the strength and the courage of God he cannot give one inch of way at all unquote and so look at the powerless faith in verse 19 and 20 then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said why couldn't we cast it out jesus said because of your unbelief look at this private conversation why couldn't we deal with the demon the simple answer that Jesus offers because of your unbelief now again remember what does unbelief include always at least two things unbelief isn't just simply I don't believe what the Bible says about God unbelief always includes I do believe what I believe about myself it's this wicked combination of both things it is exaggerating your own ability and refusing to come to grips with God's Authority and geezus ability all unbelief is the belief of a lie so we might think about this in two ways exaggerated personal ability under estimating God's ability there very question reveals the source of their error why couldn't we cast it out because it's not about you you don't have the ability to make anyone well you don't have the ability to cleanse sin forgive sin bring hope is it possible they believe that they possess this power in a magical way or in a religious way or in a superstitious way were they trying to exercise power independent from the Lord or their mind or their motives somehow disconnected from the mind and the heart of the Lord Jesus Christ unbelief isn't the cause of sin sin is the cause of unbelief aw pink wrote quote none but the Lord Himself can afford us and he helped from the awful workings of unbelief doubting carnal fears murmurings thank God one day we will be done forever with unbelief I love that there's going to come a day when doubt carnal fears complaints will be done away with in order to defeat Satan and demons it's going to require faith it's going to require supernatural power but not just any kind of faith but biblical faith the kind of faith that is persuaded that Jesus is the Lord and so look at verse 24 assuredly I say to you we have a powerful Savior he says for assured this is the true Jesus say if you have faith as a mustard seed you'll say to the mountains move from here to there and it will move and nothing will be impossible for you look at the period at the end of the sentence that's the size of a mustard seed depending on what font you have in your Bible if you have a large print like me then the periods way bigger than a real mustard seed this is interesting mustard seed faith isn't about quantity it's about quality and persistence that's what he's talking about the basis of faith is the Word of God Romans 10:17 so faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God there's an intimate relationship between faith and V faith faith is the act of believing John 1:12 but as many as received him to them he gave the right to become the children of God even to those who believed in his name I have a little acronym for you j esus j justification e eternal life s salvation u union s satisfaction what I encourage you to do is get the tape or go to the website justification Romans 424 eternal life John 4:13 salvation Matthew 1:21 Union John 12:24 satisfaction John 7:37 with justification eternal life salvation Union satisfaction guess what there's a storm that will begin to brew inside of your heart the faith is truth believe so what's the difference between faith and the faith the faith is when you believe the truth faith is food that makes us strong in acts 14:23 faith is a weapon that we use against spiritual forces of darkness in first Timothy chapter 6 verse 12 fight the good fight of faith lay hold of eternal life to which you were called confess the good confession in the presence of many enemies the faith is an anchor which fastens its cables so that you can hold on tight the disciples needed to learn a lesson that that we all have to embrace that real power comes from the Lord and in verse 21 look what it says however this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting let me just be simple here prayer attaches us to God fasting detaches us from our self remember fasting is to deny yourself something not for purposes of getting something religious but rather you deny yourself in order to have something that God or Jesus wants to offer you so prayer attaches us to God fasting detaches us from our self prayerlessness is powerlessness I know it's not good English but it's really good theology on the top of the mountain the father said this is my beloved son hear him now the beloved son says this is my father talk to him fasting detaches us from our self many manuscripts omit fasting from the text but the principle of denying the flesh applies in the strategy of cultivating and exercising faith faith requires a lifestyle not just an incident but a lifestyle of praying and fasting our prayers and fast prepare us like soldiers in boot camp for the physical or the physical conditioning of an athlete so that when the terrifying moment comes you're going to be able to have something to offer it was 15 years ago today 15 years ago that 9/11 occurred it happened on a Tuesday most of you are old enough to remember where you were and what you were doing 15 years ago when it happened I left on Sunday morning to go to ground zero I got to New York on Sunday night and found myself at Ground Zero on Monday morning six days had gone by and we were still in the rescue mode when we were there and when I literally came upon Ground Zero fire fighters were approaching me covered with soot and sweat and tears they were still literally looking for people to dig out of the rubble the very first person I talked to said to me that 16 people in his precinct died at that moment and there was so much pain and there was so much sorrow and there was so much difficulty but you can imagine they would ask me were you from Littleton Colorado without exception every single person said oh oh oh so you know about pain you know about sorrow you know about devastation you know about disaster demons are dangerous but we're not powerless faith goes up the stairs that love has built and then opens a window that only hope can provide faith says I'm going to stand in God's will like Steven and acts 65 faith says I'm going to rest in God's bosom like Timothy and second Timothy 1:5 faith says I am glad and his joy like Paul in Romans 5:1 faith says I'm inspired by his love Ephesians 1:5 faith says I'm strengthened by His grace like the Apostles in first Corinthians 2 5 faith says I glory in Christ and I'm completely satisfied in him in Philippians chapter 3 verse 9 you're always gonna be faced with two choices faith or unbelief and trust me you're going to need Jesus when the time comes for someone to say could you please pray with me could you please help me could you please help me discover the promises of God in order for me to go forward into the future let's pray Heavenly Father Lord we do pray for our family members and friends who are so hurt and so empty and so broken Lord in moments of honesty we confess our selfishness and prayerlessness Lord we understand that just simply praying once in a while or simply denying ourselves a latte or a pleasure isn't really what the Bible has in mind when it talks about prayerlessness Heavenly Father we know that each time we pray were admitting that we can't and that you can Lord you're the one who offers the solution to the emptiness in our heart in the darkness and the fear and the anger that so many people are experiencing Lord you're the one who offers the solution to the persistent pain and the pounding of supernatural forces that are trying to get us to walk away from the truth and so Lord we resolve by grace and through the Holy Spirit to be men and women who loved you and who will pray to you for your empowering presence and for the strength of the Holy Spirit and the wisdom of the word of God to help us say the things that need to be said and to do the things that need to be done in Jesus name and the Saints said let's stand

Channel: Calvary South Denver

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Keywords: Calvary Chapel, Gino Geraci, Christianity, Bible Study, Gospel of Matthew

Id: Qf1vgkHDEpQ

Length: 51min 52sec (3112 seconds)

Published: Tue Sep 13 2016