Sermons

Introduction

Well, you can turn in your Bibles to Luke chapter 9 if you have not already. Our text is verses 37 to the beginning of verse 43. As Luke mentioned, our church is studying through the gospel of Luke and we've made it to chapter 16 and you will be there eventually, at least some of you, and it will be a great study because there's so much gold in the gospel of Luke, it is such a rich gospel for us to study.

You've probably been reminded of this already but I'll just remind you of, really, the main point of Luke's gospel, which probably could be found in chapter 19, verse 10, which says this: "For the Son of Man came to seek and to save that which was lost." That really serves as somewhat of an outline and a purpose statement of Luke's gospel. You might press that verse and say, "The Son of Man came" – chapters 1 to 3 – "to seek the lost," – chapters 4 to 19 – "and to save the lost," – chapters 20 to 24. And you see how the ministry of Jesus, first in Galilee (from chapters 4 to 9:50) and then, really, His journey to Jerusalem (from 9:51 till somewhere in chapter 19), and then, finally, His final week of ministry and before His – leading up to His crucifixion, then His resurrection and commission of the disciples. So that's the gospel of Luke for us in summary.

Well, we find ourselves kind of at the end of this Galilean ministry, and we're coming down from the Mount of Transfiguration. So follow along as I read the text, chapter 9, starting in verse 37: "On the next day, when they had come down from the mountain, a great crowd met Him. And behold, a man from the crowd cried out, 'Teacher, I beg You to look at my son, for he is my only child. And behold, a spirit seizes him, and he suddenly cries out. It convulses him so that he foams at the mouth, and shatters him, and will hardly leave him. And I begged your disciples to cast it out, but they could not.' Jesus answered, 'O faithless and twisted generation, how long am I to be with you and bear with you? Bring your son here.' While he was coming, the demon threw him to the ground and convulsed him. But Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit and healed the boy, and gave him back to his father. And all were astonished at the majesty of God." This is the word of the living God.

In his last painting, Raphael, the great master, painted The Transfiguration, and that's the title of his painting. But he painted not only the transfiguration, but the scene that follows it in Matthew, Mark, and Luke, the scene that we're looking at this morning. In Raphael's painting, on the top of the painting, he paints in bright colors "The Mount of Transfiguration," which he studied last week. But on the bottom, as you work your way down, there are darker hues, and you have the scene below with his demon-possessed boy, his father, the disciples, and the crowds, and it's mayhem down below, and it is the perfect contrast, both in color and in the context.

And that's really what you have here in this passage. Luke has the most whiplash of any of the other gospels when he comes down the mountain because Matthew and Mark had this little interlude where they talk about Elijah. But Luke doesn't have that. They just are on the mountain and then they descend, and here they meet this demon-possessed boy and his father. and so it is a series of contrasts. After coming down from the mountain, they encounter a desperate father with a demon-possessed son and the disbelieving disciples. You have from a beloved Son on the mountain to a brutalized Son in the valley, from a pleased Father on the mountain, to a pained father in the valley, from divine majesty to demonic mayhem, from a heavenly scene to a hellish scene. It is quite the contrast. We have the high point of the mountain and then the reality of the plain.

Transfiguration itself was a preview of coming attractions. Jesus displays His kingdom glory for three of the disciples, and Peter enjoys it so much that he says, "It is good that we are here, Lord." And what does he want to do? He wants to build booths, which may sound strange to you. But if you read Zechariah chapter 14, you would know that in the kingdom, when Jesus establishes it on the earth, they will celebrate the Feast of Booths. You'll have other nations that travel to Jerusalem to worship the Lord Jesus from Jerusalem and celebrate the feast. So it's very possible Peter has that passage in mind and is thinking, "This is it! This is the kingdom! It's here! We're going to enjoy it. So let's stay here. Let's build booths. Let's celebrate the Feast of Booths." That's very possible. But then they have to come down from the mountain. They have to come down back to the real world, if you will, and they have to continue in their present ministry.

In some ways, this describes what our ministry is like. We pray, "Your kingdom come, Lord." We desire to be on the new earth in restored bodies, where there's no demons, where there's no disease, where there's no more death. And yet, we live in this world. We live in this present world, this present age, where there is sin, where there is death, where there is disease, where there are demons who hate humanity. And so that's where we find ourselves descending into.

Now, this next section in Luke, after they come down from the Mount of Transfiguration, is somewhat like a plate of nachos with hot melted cheese on top. I don't know if you've had this experience, but you go to pull off one and, like, five of them come together, you can't just get one. And that's what this passage is somewhat like. It's hard to just preach this one, but that's what we're going to do. But you have to recognize, this isn't a series of lessons for the disciples.

First, it's this one on their lack of faith. And then we're going to see Jesus gives another prediction about His death which they don't understand. And then they start arguing among themselves about who's the greatest. And then there's someone who's casting out demons in Jesus name, but he's not a part of their group, and they want Jesus to stop him. And so there's these four scenes where you see the immaturity of the disciples. And that's how Luke sets it up for us.

We see the immature disciples. And Jesus comes down to the mountain and has more training to do for the disciples. And so the title of this message is "Basic Training. Basic Training." And the most basic training of all is faith. You need faith. And that's the passage we have this morning. And so this section is about "how immature disciples are lacking faith," that's our passage. The next section is, "immature disciples are lacking understanding," and then, "lacking humility," and then, finally, "lacking unity." And that takes you to verse 50. And then there's a transition point, a hinge in verse 51, where Jesus sets His face to go to Jerusalem, and that begins the journey to Jerusalem. So this is kind of concluding the Galilean ministry of Jesus, and we see He's training His disciples here.

Now, this is the last Sunday of the year, and many of us begin to think about 2025 and things that we want to accomplish and do. A lot of times those are related to our health physically. We want to eat better, want to wake up earlier, want to sleep better, whatever, maybe those are in contrast to each other, no refined sugars, whatever. Whatever your thing is that you're trying to do, those are good things to do, we want to steward our bodies. But how much more that we would want to grow in spiritual maturity in 2025. Maybe 2025 could be the year you grow the most spiritually.

I actually think that may have been the case for me. Just studying the word, our men have been going through Bible survey and just going through book after book after book and looking at the big picture and the details as well and just having our hearts full of the Scriptures. It has been such an exciting season of growth for me personally, and I've loved it. But I'm reminded though of the passage that Paul says in 1 Timothy 4:8. He says, "For while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come."

The Compassion of Jesus For The Desperate

And so, here we need some basic training and we're going to be trained this morning on faith. And from this text, I want you to see three truths about Christ meant to strengthen your trust in Him for the new year. Three truths about Christ in this text that are meant to strengthen your faith as you enter this new year. First, we want to look at "the compassion of Jesus for the desperate" in verses 37 to 39. Then we'll look at "the confrontation of Jesus with the disciples" in verses 40 to 41. And then, finally, we'll look at "the control of Jesus over the demons" in verse 42 and into the beginning of verse 43.

So, first, let's consider "the compassion of Jesus for the desperate." Look at verse 37: "On the next day, when they had come down from the mountain, a great crowd met Him." And as I said, this is right after the Mount of Transfiguration, from the mountain to the valley. And in many ways, this week may feel like that for you. There's this anticipation for Christmas Day, and it's this buildup, and there's this glorious – it never really works out exactly how you plan maybe, but there's a fondness to Christmas, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day. We have traditions, and it leads up – you set up your lights and you have the food and all these things. And then right after, your house is full of cardboard boxes and you're like, "I need another trash can. How do we get rid of all this stuff?" and everything's just kind of phasing out. The new year's ending and you've got to take down your lights and all these things, and you're full of trash and things like that. So it's kind of – you know, it's a letdown. It's coming up from the mountain to the valley. Well, that's what we have here.

One of my daughters said to me on the evening of Christmas Day, "I just don't want this day to end. I don't want Christmas to end." You know, Christmas Eve night is full of anticipation and excitement. But then Christmas Day night, you're like, "Oh, I have 365 more days here until this starts again." Like Peter, we say, "Lord, it is good that we are here."

Well, as the disciples descended with Jesus, they were met by a distressed crowd. We see that in verse 38: "And behold, a man from the crowd cried out, 'Teacher, I beg You to look at my son, for he is my only child.'" Now just imagine a massive crowd, a noisy crowd. Go to a football game or a soccer game or a baseball game, whatever it might be, you're with massive crowds, and there's moments where there's great cheering, or a concert, and there's just so much noise potential.

Well, this is a case where Jesus has so many crowds coming upon Him throughout His ministry, and as He does, there's just clamor and there's noise. But somehow this one man's voice pierces through the others in his desperation and he cries out, and it rises above the others. It is a voice of a desperate man. It is a voice of a desperate dad. Every parent knows that they would do everything in their power to help their child who is sick, to help their child who is in a desperate situation. And Luke highlights something that the other gospel writers don't, that this is his only child, his only child. And Luke often emphasizes this reality in his gospel.

Back in chapter 7, verse 12, we read this: "As He drew near to the gate of the town, behold, a man who had died was being carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow, and a considerable crowd from the town was with her." And if you go to chapter 8, verse 42, we read this about this man: "For he had an only daughter, about twelve years of age, and she was dying." This is Luke's way of highlighting the compassion of Jesus as well as the desperation of the situation to increase the emotion of this.

This man is desperate, he comes begging for help. And notice his request: "Look at my son. Look at my son." This idea of "looking at" is in Luke 1:48 Mary says this. It is this idea of asking for favor, asking for compassion, for mercy. It increases as well the compassion of this section. In verse 42 – we'll get to in a moment – after Jesus casts out this demon and heals his boy, He tenderly, in compassion, gives the boy back to his father restored. And so we see the compassion of Jesus in this passage for this father and his son.

Well, Jesus' attention is grabbed, and the man then explains the situation. Look at verse 39: "And behold, a spirit seizes him, and he suddenly cries out. It convulses him so that he foams at the mouth, and shatters him, and will hardly leave him." This is a serious condition, and Dr. Luke really highlights for us phrase upon phrase to describe the severity of this condition, all these descriptors of what's happening with this boy: "A demon has taken possession of this young boy and abuses him severely. It manifests itself in different ways. He's having these intense seizures that are happening." That's not to say that all seizures are the result of demonic possession, that's not what Luke is saying here. This is something unique. This is something that is demonic, and he's causing these physical problems with this boy.

We learn that he was also deaf and mute because of this demon. Matthew and Mark add that the demon would throw the boy into fires or open waters, looking for an opportune time to cause this boy's body and brain to misfire and have him fall into a dangerous place, like a fire or water to drown him or burn him. There's a desperation when a child has a condition that we don't know, when there's a sickness and there's uncertainty. You get a first opinion, a second opinion, a third opinion. They can't figure out exactly what's wrong. This man cannot figure out what's wrong with his son.

But what is more unknown than the unseen realm? What's more unknown to us than the demonic realm. As Christians, we believe that there are supernatural beings that God has created called angels, and there are elect angels and there are fallen angels. We often refer to the fallen angels as demons. And Satan and his demons hate everyone. They hate God's image-bearers.

Now, there are maybe two extremes here. There's some who have an over, maybe undue fascination with demons. The Scriptures don't tell us everything we would want to know about them. But there's also another danger we might have, which is to not appreciate their power and their destructiveness and their devices. The devil's work is to destroy and to deceive and deface the image of God, and ultimately to see sinners damned forever. Consider for a moment how much Satan hates you and your children if you have them.

We tend to think of the worst criminals as those who would prey on children, on helpless victims, and do wickedness to them. And here is a demon who's doing that very thing, preying on this child. Of course, we don't have to look far at all in our culture to recognize demonic doctrines and beliefs that are put forward in the world system that lead to the most atrocious things done to the most innocent of – not innocent in the sense of the fall, but innocent in the sense of doing evil to young children, to babies. And so we see these demonic, destructive doctrines that permeate our world. He will use whatever means necessary to destroy you and your family. Peter says, "He's a roaring lion seeking someone to devour."

Now, Christians cannot be possessed by demons. We have the Holy Spirit who dwells within us. And yet there are many devices that Satan has to deceive, nevertheless, and to attack Christians and the saints. There's a great book by a Puritan author, Thomas Brooks I believe, known as Precious Remedies Against Satan's Devices. And he really has like 15, I think, devices of Satan, common tactics that Satan has. And then after he lists what the tactic is, he will then work through various remedies that the Scriptures give to battle those. It is a very practical book for Christian living and very helpful for you. And so we want to be aware of those devices.

But here, there's just this hatred for humanity and the image of God in man. This boy really has no cure for this. This is a truly desperate situation. And there's such a stark contrast here between the mountain and the valley. We also see a contrast between the hatred of Satan and his demons and the compassion of the Lord Jesus Christ. As they return to the world as it presently is, a world in which people are desperate, a world in which demons deceive and destroy, there seems to be some hopelessness here in this father; and yet, he still comes.

Yet in the midst of our life and ministry, we have a compassionate Master. This man comes to Jesus in his desperation. And this is the best thing for you to do as well. Whatever your problem is, however great it seems, however long it's been going on, however insurmountable it may be, you can bring it to the Lord Jesus. You can beg of Him to look at you, to look at your situation with compassion. Dear Christian, if you are in Christ, you have a great high priest who is full of compassion, who knows how you suffer; for He lived as a man, and He is now in heaven interceding on your behalf. Hebrews 4:15 says, "For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, and yet without sin."

There's a phenomenon in music known as sympathetic resonance. So if you play a note, a key on a piano, if there's another piano nearby, that same note will softly ring on the other piano, even though it hasn't been touched. One preacher, Kent Hughes, says this about this phenomena. He says, "Christ's instrument was just like ours in every way. And hear this: He took that instrument, that body to heaven with Him. It is His priestly body. And when a chord is struck in the weakness of our human instrument, it resonates in His. There is no note of human experience that does not play on Christ's exalted human instrument."

There may be a desperate situation in your life right now, something where there seems to be no way to figure it out, something that seems to have lasted longer than you would have wanted or thought it could last. But there's a compassionate high priest that you can avail yourself of. Bring your burdens to the Lord Jesus. Lay them out before Him. Pour out your hearts to God, O peoples. Beg of Him to look at your situation with compassionate eyes. Where should you go when you're desperate? Go to Jesus and beg of Him to help you. He has a compassionate heart. He can sympathize better than anyone that you've ever known. This is the compassion of Jesus for the desperate.

The Confrontation of Jesus With The Disciples

Notice, secondly, "the confrontation of Jesus with the disciples. The confrontation of Jesus with the disciples," verses 40 to 41. Look at verse 40: "And I begged Your disciples to cast it out, but they could not." Now, Luke is beginning to set up a contrast for us here between Jesus and the disciples. He said in verse 38 to Jesus, "I beg You, Jesus." Now he says, "I begged Your disciples before." So now we have a contrast Luke sets up for us: begging the disciples, begging Jesus. "The disciples" here refer to the nine who were not up on the Mount of Transfiguration. The three were up and the nine were below, and as they're below, this whole situation comes about. And this man begs the disciples to heal this boy and to cast this demon out, but they're not able.

Now, this is strange indeed, because we don't even have to go out of chapter 9 to learn that Jesus had given them authority to do this very thing. Look at chapter 9, verse 1: "And He called the twelve together and He gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases, and He sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal." He gave them authority over all demons. This demon is a demon, he falls under all demons. So they've been able to do such miracles before, so why not now? What makes the difference? The answer is given in verse 41.

Look at verse 41: "Jesus answered, "O faithless and twisted generation, how long am I to be with you and bear with you? Bring your son here." This word "faithless," it means exactly that, "lacking faith." "Unbelief" would be another way to say it. "Twisted" refers to something distorted, deformed, perverted, not the way it ought to be.

Then Jesus says, "How long am I to be with you?" Jesus has been displaying His power and authority in so many ways already, the disciples have been there for virtually all of it. He has authority over doctrine, of course, because He is the Son of God. But also, He has authority over disasters, He has authority over diseases, He has authority over death, He has authority over demons. It's like, "When will they trust Him?"

Now, the question comes though, "Who is He addressing? Is He addressing the father? Is He addressing the crowds, the disciples, all the above?" I mean, I suppose all of us to some degree have levels of unbelief or just not perfect faith. So in some way, I guess you might say that this is addressed to everyone – the father in Mark's account. Mark has the longest account. He says this in Mark 9:24, "Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, 'I believe; help my unbelief!'" Now, of course, he's acknowledging there's some level of unbelief there, but he has enough faith to come to Jesus, to look to Jesus and His compassion. I don't think it's primarily directed at Him.

So, what about the crowds versus the disciples? And I don't know if we have to make a sharp distinction here. This statement, "faithless and perverted generation," is used in a number of places in the Old Testament, Deuteronomy 32:5 being one of them. It recounts the time in Israel's history after the Exodus when they saw many of God's miracles and signs, and yet they were grumbling and not believing in Him in the wilderness – somewhat of a parallel to what we have happening here.

But I think the main focus is upon the disciples here. They're acting like the unbelieving crowds. Though they've been with Jesus for so long, they'll often not trust the power of Jesus, not connect the dots. And that other connection that Luke makes for us, that he begged their disciples and then he begs Jesus, sets the contrast between Jesus and the disciples here. But we get more help by Matthew and Mark about their lack of faith and how it's more directed towards the disciples in Mark chapter 9.

Mark 9:28 we read the following: "And when He had entered the house, the disciples asked Him privately, 'Why could we not cast it out?' And He said to them, 'This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer.'" And so their problem was a lack of prayer. Now it's unlikely that the idea is just like a one-time prayer before they cast the demon out, like some kind of magical prayer or incantation, that's not the idea. It's more likely the idea of a life of dependence, a dependence upon the Lord to do this work as evidence through their prayer. So they somehow stopped depending on the Lord, and that was evidence in Mark's account by their lack of prayer. Jesus is not recorded as having said a prayer before He cast this demon out, though He lived his life in a spirit of prayer. That seems to be the issue.

Then in Matthew's account, in Matthew 17:19, we read this: "Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, 'Why could we not cast it out?' He said to them, 'Because of your little faith. For truly I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, "Move from here to there," and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.'" So, Luke says they were faithless, Mark says they were prayerless, and Matthew says they had little faith. This helps us to see a connection between faith and prayer. Of course, if we are trusting God, we are praying to the Lord. If we're not praying, we are not trusting the Lord, we're not depending upon the Lord for His strength.

By not praying and depending upon God's power to cast out the demon, they had, in effect, traded a sword for a butter knife. Before this, they were walking through cities and they were casting demons out effortlessly: "Boom, boom, boom, boom!" It's like, "You get out of there, you get out of there, you get out of there," and they're just having great success. But now, they can't do it. They're impotent. Things they had done before with great power and authority, it won't work. What's happening? Thomas Watson, a Puritan, said it like this: "The reason why so many prayers suffer shipwreck is because they split against the rock of unbelief. Praying without faith is shooting without bullets. When faith takes prayer in hand, then we draw near to God."

Now, while we may not be called to trust God to go cast out demons today – we're not really given any instruction on doing that in the New Testament, though demons are active in the world. We're called to preach the gospel to people; that's how they're delivered from any demon-possession, that the Spirit of God would come into their lives. But nevertheless, we are called to trust God to do the work that only God can do.

Ministry of lasting value must be done in dependence upon God's power. You cannot depend upon past success in ministry: "Well, I've seen fruit before, so why not now?" You cannot depend upon present gifting: "Well, I'm such a gifted person in some area, and so I can just lean on that." You cannot depend upon programs, though they may be necessary and helpful to do the work of ministry. You cannot depend completely upon personality either. Sinful people can't go on autopilot and expect the same results. You and I must depend upon the Lord in prayer to do the work of ministry. You might put it like this, that conscious dependence upon God is necessary for biblical ministry to occur.

It shouldn't be new to us. Jesus says in John 15:5, "I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in Me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing," nothing of spiritual value, nothing that will please God. So if you hope to mature this next year, you must seek to abide in Christ.

Just by way of a practical application, we might think about prayer in two ways. Think about intentional prayer and impromptu prayer. Intentional prayer may be where you like set aside, like, 30 minutes and you're just going to pray through your prayer list or pray through Scripture, which is a great thing to do. You use the Scripture to be a springboard for your prayers. And that's focused prayer, that's intentional prayer.

Then there's impromptu prayer, which is like you're just out and about and you realize a need and you're like, "Lord help." And Nehemiah actually shows us that. He has intense, focused prayer as he prays for what he wants God to do. And then the king asked him, "Well, what do you want me to do?" And he's like, "Lord help," and he just has this quick, like an arrow prayer I call it. It's like you just shoot an arrow quickly up to heaven. And we need both of those. And one strengthens the other. As you're attending time and intentional prayer, it actually serves you for that more impromptu prayer and vice versa. You're bringing everything to the Lord and pray. You're just living, you're breathing out prayer throughout the day.

Conscious dependence upon God for ministry is key because this is how sanctification also works. In Philippians chapter 2, listen to this dynamic of how sanctification, sanctification being the process by which Christians change more into the image of Christ. In Philippians 2:12-13, Paul says this: "Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling," – so in other words, there's work that you and I have to do, responsibility – "for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure."

So, God does the work, but you must work. God works in you to will and to do. Willing is desire, right? Have you ever known you should do something for the Lord but you didn't desire to do it for the Lord? Here's a great prayer to pray. I pray this often: "Lord, I know I should do this, but I don't feel the desire to do it like I know I ought to. So Lord, please will in me the desire for this as well as the doing of it." And so this is how sanctification works. We have responsibility, and yet, we also know that God must do the work in us.

Also, if you hope to see someone saved, you must pray that God will grant them repentance and faith leading to a knowledge of the truth. Second Timothy, this is a great verse, by the way, on evangelism, as you think about interacting with people who don't believe. Second Timothy 2:24-26 says this: "And the Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will." You must tell people that they have to repent and believe, and explain the truth to them, but God must grant repentance. In Acts 11, it says, "God granted even to the Gentiles repentance into life."

Listen to the prayer of Moses in Psalm 90:17. It says, "Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us; and establish the work of our hands upon us; yes, establish the work of our hands!" I get a lot of use out of this verse as a preacher. After I preach, I say a lot of words into the air, and I get home, and as I'm changing out of my suit and I'm in my closet, I'll often have this verse come to mind, and I'll say, "Lord, establish the work of my hands. I've preached, I've studied, I've prepared, I've prayed, and I've delivered the message. Now, Lord, would You establish the work of my hands. Establish my efforts in the hearts of Your people, whether to save sinners or to sanctify the saints and all those specific ways that that needs to happen." And so I pray this, "Lord, if I just preach and I don't depend on You, then I'm just saying words in the air. Lord, You must work, You must cause the growth."

You must never get to the point where you just sit back and trust the process, you must always be dependent upon prayer for God to do the true lasting work of ministry. Programs are good, they're strategic, they often give structure to things that need structure; but programs in and of itself cannot do the work of ministry, they can only manage things that are happening. You can pile up a lot of wood in a fancy pile, but unless you have a spark, you don't have a fire. And so sometimes we need programs that keep things structured, but it is the power of the Lord that actually makes the growth happen. We must work but in a way that is dependent upon the Lord.

Jerry Bridges, who's written a lot of great works on Christian growth and sanctification – and I commend him to you, he's gone on to be with the Lord years ago – but he would talk about this dynamic in this way. He would call it "dependent responsibility, dependent responsibility." In other words, there is a dependence we must always have upon the Lord, and yet there are many things God calls us to do, responsibilities that we have.

I flew here yesterday, and there was quite choppy air, and we didn't get any service and drinks. Don't feel bad for me, it was okay. But I heard one person say one time, "Would you rather, if you had to go without one of the wings of your airplane, would you rather go without the right of the left one?" And you're like, "Neither. I mean, if one of those things is gone, you're going down. That's how aerodynamics works, you're not going to fly in the air."

And so it is, we need both dependence and responsibility. God calls us to do things, that's Philippians 2:12; and we are dependent upon the Lord, Philippians 2:13. That's the dynamic of the Christian life. You have things to do, and you're also to be dependent upon the Lord.

Consider the words of Henry Scougal in his book The Life of God in the Soul of Man where he writes this: "All the art in industry of man cannot form the smallest herb or make the stock of corn to grow in the field. It is the energy of nature and the influence of heaven which produce this effect. It is God who causes the grass to grow and the herb for the service of man. And yet nobody will say that the labor of the farmer are useless or unnecessary." We have the work of sowing, of planting, of watering, of doing the work of ministry or being obedient in the area of life that God wants you to be obedient in. And yet also you must be consciously dependent upon the Lord and be asking the Lord, "Lord, establish the work of my hands here. Make it fruitful."

Ministry is intentionally a humanly impossible task in order to drive disciples to an omnipotent God. It is not so you can do it and then say, "Wow, I did that; praise to me." No, it's, "I can't do this unless God works. I have responsibilities, but God must cause the growth," and so we depend upon Him. Paul said, "Who is sufficient for these things? Who's sufficient for this? Certainly we are not. Our sufficiency comes from Christ."

Thomas Watson, again, he says, "A godly man is on the mount of prayer every day. He begins the day with prayer. Before he opens his shop, he opens his heart to God. We burn sweet perfumes in our houses, a godly man's house is a house of perfume. He airs it with the incense of prayer. He engages in no business without seeking God."

Faith is so essential to our Christian life to living before the Lord in a pleasing manner. Hebrews 11:6 says, "And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who seek Him." You see, unbelief is at the core of our problems. We are constantly battling unbelief. Sin and Satan have their promises of the pleasures of sin, whatever it's promising us in that moment, and God has His promises of what He's saying is real and true and beautiful.

This goes back to the garden: "Has God really said?" And this is the battle for your Christian life. As you're faced with the challenge of, "Do I believe the lie that my sin is promising me or do I believe the truth of God?" And that is the constant battle that we are in. It is a truth war. We are not battling against flesh and blood, but against powers and principalities and every thought that exalts itself above the lordship of Christ. We take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.

In our church, we talk about soul care, soul care, how to help people be healthy spiritually. And one of the things I like to impress upon our church is how Paul gives the process of biblical change for the Christian in Ephesians 4, and it's a threefold process: repent, renew, replace. What is it that you need to put off that God says is sinful? And then what is it that you need to put on in replacement of that? Jay Adams used to say, "When does a liar stop being a liar?" and some will say, "Well, when he stops lying." "No, when he starts telling the truth." "When is a thief not a thief any longer?" and you might say, "Well, when he stops stealing." "No, when he starts working hard with his hands so he has something to give to another person."

So there's a put off and a put on dynamic, but there's a process in the middle of renewal of your mind so that you know, "Why am I doing this? Why is God's truth beautiful and true and good?" And this is why I want to do this: so our hearts are aligned to love what God loves and hate what God's hates.

You know, commercials have a way to get it in your head, little jingles. I don't know if you have this one in Texas, but there's a company that replaces windshields, and they have this tune that says, "Safelite, repair; Safelite, replace," right? I don't know if you have that. So, I told our church, I said, "Okay, here's how you remember the process of change: 'Repent, renew; renew, replace,'" and that's how you remember it, okay? There you go. I'm full of devices for you guys to remember stuff – Waffle House, IHOP, you know, let the reader understand. Okay. So, back to the text here. Where are we?

This is the process we need. We are constantly about truth and faith in the Lord and His promises. Here's my question for you this morning: "Have you trusted Christ? Have you come to trust in the Lord Jesus Christ so that you might be saved from your sin?" Christ did many miracles in His ministry, and there's many purposes to His miracles. One was to show the compassion of Jesus to helpless people. One was to show the coming attractions of His kingdom, what His kingdom would be like, where there's no disease, no death, no demons. Another is to show His credentials, that He is God of very God, that He has authority over all things, both nature in disasters, over demons, death, disease, and the One who determines doctrine for our lives. He has all authority.

He's also in these miracles showing us in a pictorial way how the curse will be reversed, how this One will crush the head of the serpent, and He will restore the creation. He will one day renew this earth and restore our bodies by resurrecting them from the dead, both spiritually and physically; He will bring all this to pass. All of that is meant to point us to the person of Christ and to His work. And if you're here today and you've not trusted in the Lord Jesus, some sin has gripped your heart and you are a slave of your sin, let me tell you: sin is a wicked master. It is like this demon who is destroying this boy's life. Sin is destroying your life. Whether you realize, whether it's enjoyable or not, it will end in hell separated from Christ.

But this compassionate Savior has come, God of very God, remaining what He was: truly God. He became what He was not: truly man. And He entered in this world from heaven down to earth. He obeyed the law perfectly, perpetually, entirely, exactly what God demands of you, but you don't do. And He obeyed the law, and then He went to the cross. He went as a substitute. Though He had no sin of His own, He went as a substitute to bear the wrath of God for sinners just like you, and God raised Him from the dead to validate who He said He was and what He did; payment accepted. And so now, this is the only way that sinful human beings can be reconciled to their Creator, to their God, and to be rightly related to the King, so that when He brings His kingdom on the earth, you're a part of it, and you get to enjoy that restoration and the new earth, and rule and reign with Christ. This is what He offers.

He not only gives you the cancellation of your sin, but the crediting of His righteousness. That can be yours today. If you will trust in the Lord Jesus and say, "Lord, I have nothing of my own to bring to you, I'm spiritually bankrupt. But I beg of You; look at me, Lord. Look at me the sinner, and have mercy upon me. Save me. Give me that righteousness that You have earned, so that You might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Christ." Look to Him. Look to Him today. Look to Him now. Don't put it off another moment. May each of us pray the prayer of the Father, "I believe, Lord; help my unbelief." This is the confrontation of Jesus with the disciples.

The Control of Jesus Over The Demons

Finally, let's consider "the control of Jesus over the demons, the control of Jesus over the demons." Look at verse 42: "While he was coming, the demon threw him to the ground and convulsed him. But Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit and healed the boy, and gave him back to his father." When they were faithless and prayerless, nothing happened. But in contrast, consider the incredible power of Jesus and authority to take an incredibly scary and desperate situation and change it. How effortless it is for Jesus to do this. Luke focuses on Jesus' power in contrast to the disciples' impotence.

Throughout the Gospels, the demons are totally subject to Jesus, and they say true things about Him. They know who He is. Right doctrine alone is not what saves. The demons have fine doctrine, but they don't want to embrace Christ, nor can they. There's no opportunity for them. He doesn't give help to angels, but to the children of Abraham. And so this demon, as Jesus commands it, does not give up without a fight. One last attempt is given to harm the child before he's delivered.

This may be a very picture of Satan's ministry even now. We might say that Christ on the cross triumphs, and it's like He's given Satan his eviction papers. And yet, Satan's a squatter. He's still roaming the world and seeking to destroy and do as much damage as he can before Christ returns to place Satan into the pit, seal it over so that he can't do any damage in the future. Satan wants to do as much damage as he can. I read a Spurgeon sermon. And maybe Spurgeon took a few liberties with the text, but on this passage he talked about how sometimes in the case of people who are about to come to Christ, Satan throws everything at them right before, it's like every attempt to keep them from coming to Christ when they're close.

Don't let that be you. If you sense the Lord calling you this morning, He came to seek and to save the lost. Maybe He's seeking you this morning. Maybe He's coming to save your soul, and yet you think, "I couldn't confess that. I couldn't confess that sin I've committed to the person I need to. I can't do it." What a foolish mistake that would be. Or whatever it is that would keep you from the Lord for you to say, "No, bury it down, suppress the truth again." Don't do it again. You suppressed the truth your whole life, now embrace the truth that the Lord Jesus is your only hope both in life and in death.

Well, we see Jesus here in total control of this situation. He casts the demon out. He heals the boy. What a strong Savior we have. Martin Luther wrote this hymn: "Did we in our own strength confide, our striving would be losing, were not the right Man on our side, the man of God's own choosing. Doest ask who that may be? Christ Jesus, it is He. Lord Sabaoth His name, from age to age the same; and He must win the battle. For lo, his doom, Satan, is sure; one little word shall fell him." And Jesus just speaks it and this demon leaves.

First John 3:8 says, "The reason the Son of Man appeared was to destroy the works of the devil." For those of us in Christ, it is a great comfort that He is in control of all things in our lives, even the most scary and unknown to us. If God is not in control of all things in this universe, then there is much purposeless pain and evil. There's no purpose. And yet, because God is in meticulous control of all things, there is no purposeless evil, there is no purposeless pain; all will work for God's glory. This is the control of Jesus, His sovereignty.

God's sovereignty has great benefit to our lives. God's sovereignty subdues our anger. God's sovereignty calms our fears. God's sovereignty overcomes our depression. God's sovereignty informs our decisions. God's sovereignty solves our conflicts. God's sovereignty is a pillow to place your head at night, a sword to slay your doubts, wind to fill your sail, fire to fuel your passion, medicine to mend your wounds, ballast to balance your soul, and wine to gladden your heart. This is the control of Jesus, the sovereignty of Christ, and it should be a great comfort to you, dear Christian.

What we see here is yet another expression of the Lord Jesus' compassion as He gives this child back whole to his father. What a picture of what Jesus will do for each one of us as we are made whole when we are glorified. Oh, the difference Jesus can make in a person's life is incalculable. What an incentive then, again, for us to pray and seek the Lord to work in the way only He can because we see His power to overcome the most powerful of obstacles and evil.

Consider the power of Christ to make the most unlikely person in your life repent and trust the Savior. Consider the power of Christ to give strength and grace to repent of and replace a longstanding sin in your life that has dogged you for so many years. And yet you could then imagine a time where you look back in five years and you haven't had that struggle with sin anymore, and you look and say, "How is that possible?" Because the power of Christ has grown you and strengthened you where you can say, "By the grace of God, I am what I am. I'm not what I ought to be, but I'm not what I once was. He is growing me, He's changing me."

Consider the power of Christ to keep you persevering in the faith until the end, to make it. Jeremy Taylor, a famous Christian dead guy – I've been a disciple of Austin Duncan, famous statement of his. Jeremy Taylor says this: "It is impossible for that man to despair who remembers that his helper is omnipotent." Oh, you can't despair, dear Christian. Your helper who's for you is omnipotent.

Finally, look at verse 43: "And all were astonished at the majesty of God." Luke alone includes the crowd's response in this miracle. We see that when God is truly at work, it causes people to be astonished at the majesty of God. Peter will use this same word, "majesty," in 2 Peter 1:16 to refer to the transfiguration glory, the glory on the mountain, now the glory in the valley.

Life lived in dependence upon God is a life that brings maximum glory to God. He gets all the glory. And this is how we should serve Christians. First Peter 4:10-11 gives us this paradigm, sums it up well for us: "As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's very grace: whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything, God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To Him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen."

True ministry, then, magnifies the Lord and not ourselves. It is not about us, it is about the Lord. And so ministry done in dependence upon the Lord drives attention away from us and puts it rightfully on the Lord.

Conclusion

We've seen three truths about Christ meant to strengthen your trust in Him for the new year. We've seen the compassion of Jesus for the desperate, we've seen the confrontation of Christ with the disciples, and we've seen the control of Jesus over demons and, really, all things. But what is the most effective way for you to grow and mature in your faith? Well, it is not by focusing simply on faith in itself as an abstract, but rather focusing more on the object of your faith. And that's the very thing we've just done.

We've looked at three characteristics of Christ: His confrontation, His comfort, His compassion. And in doing so, it then increases our faith because we see a strong Savior that we have. So we don't think about faith abstractly, we think about the object of our faith. Look more to the person of Christ, and your faith will grow deeper and fuller. You'll find Him to be that much more trustworthy.

Thomas Watson, again, says, "Never did any look upon Christ with a believing eye, but He was made like Christ. A deformed person may look on a beautiful object and not be made beautiful. But faith looking on Christ transforms a man and turns him into His similitude or His likeness. As a chameleon is changed into the color of that which it looks upon, so faith looking on Christ changes the Christian into the likeness of Christ."

Every part of the Christian life involves looking to Christ. We are regenerated as we look upon Christ. We are sanctified as we behold His glory and we are transformed then from one degree of glory to another. And we are glorified when we behold Him just as He is; and we are then transformed fully into His image.

Martin Luther had a good word about this as he talked about the comfort of this reality about looking to Christ, especially for those who struggle with assurance: "Do I really trust the Lord? Do I really know the Lord?" And maybe you're here this morning, you're struggling with assurance of salvation. Here's a good word for you from Martin Luther. He said this: "If I look at myself, I don't see how I could be saved; but if I look at Christ, I don't see how I could be lost."

If you look at yourself constantly, you'll despair. You'll think, "I just sinned again, I messed up again. I never please the Lord. I don't have enough faith." But if you look to Christ, "How could I possibly be lost? He is a strong Savior." Of course He can save you. Of course He's able to keep you to the end. It's not faith in faith. Faith doesn't save us, Christ saves us. Faith looks to Christ, who is the object of our faith and the Savior of our souls. And so, dear Christian, look to Christ for your assurance. And dear image-bearer of God, who may be outside of Christ, look to Christ so that you may be found in Him without spot or wrinkle, because He's cleansed you.

Louisa Stead and her husband and their young daughter Lily were having an enjoyable day at the beach. And they were spending the time there playing, enjoying family time, when all of a sudden they noticed out in the water a young boy who was struggling in the water. And so the father swam out to help this boy, and yet in the process of trying to help him, they both drowned. They left Louisa and her daughter Lily without a father, without a husband; and they struggled financially. They struggled in many ways, as you can imagine after this. And yet, it was their faith in the Lord, their trust in the Lord in His providence in this that sustained them through such an unimaginable trial.

And out of that, the Lord led Lisa to write a hymn that many of you probably know, but maybe you did know the story, too. Here are the lyrics that she put to paper: "'Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus and to take Him at His word, just to rest upon His promise, and to know, 'Thus saith the Lord!' Jesus, Jesus, how I trust Him, how I've proved Him o'er and o'er. Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus! Oh, for grace to trust Him more. Oh, how sweet to trust in Jesus, just to trust His cleansing blood; and in simple faith to plunge me 'neath the healing, cleansing flood. Yes, 'tis so sweet to trust in Jesus, just from sin and self to cease; just from Jesus simply taking life and rest, and joy and peace. I'm so glad I learned to trust Thee, precious Jesus, Savior, Friend. And I know that Thou art with me, wilt be with me till the end."

This family found refuge in the Lord by trusting in Him. And it illustrates, though, the great pain and problems in our world. This is the world we live in presently, one in which young boys can drown and young girls may suffer the loss of fathers, where demons and Satan seek to destroy image-bearers, and where parents and spouses endure great sorrows. This is the world we live in presently. And this is the world that Jesus and His disciples descend from the mountain into to minister. In fact, this descent, in a way, from the mountain is a picture of the Eternal Son's coming to this earth to seek and to save that which was lost. Let's pray.

[Prayer] Lord, we thank You that You have come for that very purpose. Lord Jesus, You have come to seek and to save that which was lost so that we might be found, found in You. Thank You for Your compassion. Thank You for Your confrontation where we need it to be challenged to trust You more, to be dependent upon You. And thank You for Your control over all things that as we do trust You, we can know that if something remains in our lives, it has purpose, and You will sustain us till the end through it.

Lord, I pray You'd minister greatly to Your people here at Trinity Bible Church. Establish the work of my hands and Your people's hands as we do the ministry that You've called us to do in dependence upon You, all for Your glory and name, in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.