I'm going to turn to Matthew chapter 17, if you've got a black church Bible. It's on page 822.
!
Who Jesus really was. It's like a trailer for how we'll one day see Jesus. And Moses
and Elijah from the Old Testament were there. And they're on the mountain of transfiguration.
That's how we know it, isn't it? But here today they go back down to the real world, as we
often call it. And in the real world, you will know, as I know, you encounter the most
dark and appalling despair. Not all the time, but some of the time. What you have here is
the kind of awesome sense of a young life being ruined. The helplessness of the world contrasting
with the glory and the fullness of the transfiguration scene. There's a deliberate contrast. You've
got a helpless father and a helpless boy. A boy causing himself, apparently, considerable
physical damage, as well as other kinds. And then you've got the helpless disciples, these
followers of Jesus, that the father brings his son to, but they can't help him. He goes
to the representatives of Jesus in the world, and they come to it. They can't fix it. And
then he comes to Jesus, and you'll see, you see, he kneels down in anguish, and he says,
I brought him to your disciples, but they could not help him either. They could not heal him.
These worlds, the mountain of transfiguration, and the world we're looking at this moment,
they are contemporary. There's a world where Jesus reigns in glory, and he shines in all the
brightness of his divinity. And there's also the world that you and I live in. A world
of darkness, and need, and pain, and anguish, and unfulfilled hopes, and helplessness. And
that's what just is that I'm kind of out there in the world this morning. That's in here,
in this building, in the Church of Jesus Christ. And this man found it so.
And I think Matthew's account here of the ineffectiveness of the disciples is where he focuses.
And we'll also see this unusual outburst where Jesus kind of opens his heart, and we get a
glimpse into the heart of Jesus. And then the author of the Gospel presents to us Jesus leading
his disciples, and his disciples, and his disciples understand what has made them join the helpless
in relation to this young man. So these three significant elements all begin with G.
First we see the devastation that's in the heart of the Father. That appears in verse 14.
And then we'll see in the passage the distress that's in the heart of Jesus from verses 17 to 18.
Jesus answers them, O faithless and twisted generation, how long am I to be with you?
How long am I to bear with you? Bring him here to me.
There's an extraordinary outcry from the heart of Jesus. And then at the end of the passage
he focuses on the diagnosis Jesus gives for the ineffectiveness of the disciples.
Your disciples could not restore him. So let's look first of all at the devastation of the heart of the Father.
I don't think there's another way of describing what's going on in this family, in this poor man's heart and spirit.
He's devastated by the particular problems of his son. He's devastated by the damage being seen that's being done to him.
He's distraught by a world that seems to be able to offer him and his son no help.
I think he's devastated. He's particularly devastated when he takes them to people that he think will find
be able to finally be able to make the difference. The representative of Jesus Christ.
And they find there's very little difference between what the disciples offer him and what the world around him offers him.
And the natures of the boy's problem are seizures.
Literally, the word is moonstruck.
The lad is suffering from fits or seizures that made him fall.
And in verse 15 it tells us that he often fell into fire or water.
Now I noticed that the version of the ESV, the Blackfish Bible, that is a translation of the original Greek.
And in the word it says, it says that the boy suffered from epilepsy.
That is a really bad translation.
The word should be seizures.
There's no justification for saying that this boy suffered from epilepsy.
The symptoms might look the same.
He has the phenomenon of seizures as part of his condition.
But Jesus deals with the problem on a completely different level altogether.
The boy is not mad.
He's not a lunatic.
He's not merely sick with some kind of disease that we might recognize.
Can you see how Jesus diagnoses it?
He says he's possessed by a demon.
Verse 18.
And Jesus rebuked the demon.
And it came out of him.
And the boy was healed instantly.
There's lots of business here this morning, which is great.
I don't know how you feel about this.
About a boy like this being possessed by the power of darkness.
Indwelt by one of their representatives.
I wonder what your explanation of evil is.
Maybe you're a regular teacher going.
You have a bit of a problem with it.
But do you have a problem with someone being indwelt and possessed by God's Holy Spirit?
And if you do well, you'll have problems with the supernatural dwelling of the demon's power.
But here Jesus immediately dismisses.
And so, as you recognize that it's possible, isn't it, by the messages, for someone to be indwelt by the Holy Spirit and the living God.
That is what a Christian is.
You must learn that it's also possible for someone to be indwelt by a demonic power.
And clearly, Jesus' diagnosis of his condition, he had seizures.
As people who may suffer from epilepsy may have.
But that is not the basic problem for which this boy is suffering.
Let me point out to you what this means as Jesus rebukes and dismisses the demon.
First of all, Jesus is not an exorcist.
Jesus doesn't have a super technique that he's learned for this kind of ministry.
There's been an enormous amount of damage done by the exaltation of some sort of technique.
That people may learn if they say the right words or the right actions.
That they may even dismiss the demonic spirit as Jesus here did.
It's not obvious then.
Can you see?
It's his powerful word of command.
That's what we read.
He speaks and the demon obeys.
He speaks as the living God.
Do you remember what we saw last week?
God the Father says, this is my son with whom I'm well pleased.
And Jesus speaks with all the authority and power that had just been demonstrated on the Mount of Transfiguration.
The one from whom heaven had been opened up.
And God says, this is my son, my love, and I'm well pleased with him.
And he comes down from that heavenly glory into this world's ultimate darkness.
And he commands the demons to depart from him.
And he does so by a word of his power.
And it's the power of God overcoming the power of Satan which is downstairs here.
It's not a technique.
The second thing that we need to say is it's not true that the New Testament mistook illnesses for demonic possession.
That's often said to me.
They were just naive.
They just didn't know what these illnesses were.
They mistook illnesses in general for demon possession.
They were just simple folk.
So people patronisingly say, they look at the Gospel and they'll say, well we have superior knowledge, we have more scientific knowledge, medicine has advanced.
And we know that this particular disease, as a matter of fact, is not demon possession.
But actually, if you're willing to read the Gospels, Matthew, Martha, Luke or John, we'd love you to take Matthew's Gospel away from you today and read it.
If you're willing to read it carefully, you will discover that the Gospels are very, very particular and very careful.
And they divide between demonic possession and ordinary illness.
And so you'll find a refrain that says that they brought to Jesus many who were sick and those who were oppressed by demons.
There is always a distinction made between the two.
And it's very, very important for you and I to grasp that.
And it shows us also that the spiritual weakness and poverty of the disciples is exposed.
They are helpless in the face of demonic powers.
And these are the powers that they're confronting at this point.
They are waging war against, not against flesh and blood.
But they are waging war against principalities and powers, against the spiritual wickednesses in the heavenly places.
And it's here that the Church of Jesus, in every age, is dealing with the real enemy.
It's really easy for us as a Church to think on a purely superficial, material and worldly level.
To think that you can deal with things just by organisation and by recruitment.
You can deal with these things by the exercise of human skills.
But when you're dealing with a life that's in the hands of the powers of darkness.
The Bible teaches us you don't meet such spiritual forces just with organisation.
Or with recruitment.
Or with the exercise of human skills.
With worldly armour.
These disciples were helpless in the face of that kind of opposition.
They cannot deal with this boy.
And that leads me to the second thing.
The second thing is the distress in the heart of Jesus.
The desperation of the Father.
The distress in the heart of Jesus.
And again, I think as we read through the Gospels, we find something unusual here.
It's an expression of Jesus' high emotion.
He's expressing pain and anguish in spirit.
He's uncovering that frustration that's right at the core of his being.
It's a famous theologian.
It's a really brilliant essay called The Emotional Life of Our Lord.
And it's a fascinating thing.
If you can get hold of it, you can read it.
Because what he's saying here is that Jesus had an emotional life.
And here's one of these examples.
He is distressed.
And you see this in so many ways
By the boy's conditions
Wherever Jesus sees needs
That call for human compassion
There is none so compassionate
As the Lord Jesus
I hope that you've learned that truth
I hope that you will learn that truth
There is none more compassionate
Than the Lord Jesus Christ
None who feel so deeply
None whose heart aches so much
In the presence of pain and of sorrow
And this kind of overwhelming
Personal family disaster
But his true distress
Is that the spiritual paralysis
That has affected the disciples
Do you know how that comes out?
The father is kneeling in his presence
With the boy in the background
Clearly suffering so profoundly
But Jesus' greatest distress
Is caused by the disciples
Who the father says in verse 16
I brought him to your disciples
But they could not heal him
And now listen to this distress
In Jesus' voice
Look what he says
Jesus answered
O faithless and twisted generation
O unbelieving generation
How long am I to be with you?
It means to be without faith
On a perverse and a twisted generation
And Jesus says
How long shall I stay with you?
How long shall I put up with you?
Do you ever imagine
Jesus saying something like that?
How long will I put up with you?
How long am I to bear with you?
Can I put up with this any longer?
What is it that he's having to put up with?
It is unbelieving
It is the unbelieving
And perverse generation
It is those without faith
Those who are turned
In the wrong direction
And the sheer sense of frustration
And isolation
That Jesus is experiencing
I sometimes wonder
Whether that is one of the reasons
Why the transfiguration happened
Why it was almost necessary
For our Lord
In the world
That Jesus knew
As he walked the streets of this earth
An appalling sense of isolation
He knew what it was to be lonely
Even amongst his disciples
Think about that
Those like Judas
Who betrayed him
Those like Peter
Who denied him
James and John
Were only interested
In their own position
One after another
After another
Leaves him
Until they all forsake him
And fled
But there is
In this middle stage
Of his ministry
In the midst of this
Isolation and pain
That Jesus is experiencing
He hears the voice
Of his father
Saying this is my son
Would you like me?
I will please
To have those moments
On the transfiguration
How much it would have meant him
To speak with
The Old Testament giants
Of the faith
Moses and Elijah
And they speak to him
About his death
About his exodus
That he has this moment
Of sweet fellowship
And communion
With his father
And then he goes down
Back into the valley
And he says
How long
Must I put up with this?
And I wonder
Are those there
They caught
The solemnity
Of what he said
How long?
I think you can project
That into the contemporary church
In the west today
The Lord Jesus Christ
Saying to those
Who fragrantly
Disregard his word
How long
Should I stay with you?
How long
Should I put up with you?
Here's the third thing
There's the devastation
Of the heart of the father
There's the genuine
Deep seated distress
Of the heart
Of the Lord Jesus
And then thirdly
And lastly
There's the diagnosis
Of the ineffectiveness
Of his disciples
A diagnosis
Of the ineffectiveness
Of his disciples
In verses 19-21
They see the power
Of Jesus
To heal this boy
And then they come
To him in private
And they ask him
Why couldn't we
Drive him out?
And Jesus gives them
An immediate diagnosis
Of the problem
Because you have
So little faith
I don't think so
I don't think
I'll tell you why
In a moment
I don't think
Jesus is speaking
About the quantity
Of their faith
And for this reason
Because immediately
He goes on to say
Do you see what he said?
If you've got faith
Like a grain of mustard seed
If you've got
A tiny, tiny, tiny
Little bit of faith
In me
You can't have anything
Smaller than a grain
Of mustard seed
And earlier on
Jesus
When he turns
To his disciples
And whoever else
He was speaking to
In verse 17
He's called them
Unbelieving
Faithless
And twisted
Unbelieving
Means without faith
The words
Made up
Of unbelieving
The absence of faith
And Matthew
Cleary wants to
Convey to us
That this is what
Jesus is saying to him
He's not saying
That you have a tiny
Little amount of faith
You have such a small
Faith
Very little faith
Because later
He would have
Contradicted himself
Wouldn't he?
And said
Well if you've got
A tiny little bit
Of faith
You would have
Been able to
Say
To this mountain
Be moved
And it would have
Moved him to sea
What's he speaking
About then?
He's speaking about
Their spiritual poverty
That's what he's
Speaking about
And their spiritual
Poverty takes this
Form
They are
Unbelieving
And twisted
Someone's twisted
And perverse
We might say
That they're just
They're just plain
Difficult
People like that
Difficult people
Awkward people
We all are friends
Like that
Don't we?
And they are friends
Like that
That's probably us
Angler
Tears
But that's
That's not what
Jesus is saying here
When he talks
About being twisted
He's talking about
Being twisted
In the wrong direction
Let me tell you
What I think
Jesus is speaking about
He's speaking about
Lives that are
Twisted around
In the wrong direction
Because they're
Turned
To be self
Centered
In their thinking
Self
Centered
In their thinking
Not
God
Centered
In their thinking
What did the
Mountain of
Transfiguration
Speak about?
It spoke about
God
It spoke about
God at the
Centre
With all his
Glory
And all his
Honour
Crowded around him
The Lord Jesus
Christ
Burning
With glory
So that they
Could scarcely
Look at him
But they couldn't
Look at anything
Else
Because he
Drew them
I said
It is this
That Jesus
Diagnoses
As the
Great
Problem
Of the
Disciples
Because what
Is faith?
Faith is not
Some kind of
Condition
That you
Work at
And you
Try to
Make yourself
Believe
Please don't
Think
I'm
Trying to
Say that
This
Morning
That you
Kind of
Crank
It up
And you
Try to
Feel
That you
Can
Do it
It's like
The high
Jump
People
Through the
High Jump
And you
Visualise
It
And then
You
Work it
Up
On yourself
I can
Do it
I will
Do it
I must
Do it
And off
You run
And you
Try
And do it
That's
Not
Faith
It's not
Believing
In yourself
More and
More
No
Faith
Focuses
All its
Attention
On an
Object
And its
Object
The Bible
Says
Is God
Should be
God
And Jesus
Is the
Supreme
Example
Of a
God
Centred
Life
That he
Lives
Here
In the
Flesh
And the
Disciples
Learned
That
And Peter
Learned
That
If you read
Through his
Epistles
Of the
New Testament
You find that
Peter learned
That lesson
Too
He learned
It late
But he
Didn't
Learn it
And so
Many of
The followers
Of Jesus
And the
Disciples
Of Jesus
When they
Began
This is
What became
Central to
Them
You see
That in
The book
Of Acts
God
At the
Center
And that
Is Jesus
Diagnosis
You know
If you've
Read the
Bible
There is
Nothing
That's
Impossible
For God
Jesus
Says
If you
Had faith
As small
As a
Mustard
Seed
You
Would
Be
A
This
Mountain
Move
From
Here
To
There
It's
A
Rabbinical
Expression
It's
Saying
That
Simple
Truth
Nothing
Is
Impossible
For
God
And
Nothing
Would
Be
Impossible
For
You
For
The
Simple
Reason
That
Nothing
Is
Impossible
For
God
And
They
Give
A
Final
Shape
To
Their
Unbelief
Look
About
The last
Of
Paragraph
In
Verses
22
To
23
Jesus
Begins
To
Tell
Them
About
His
Plan
And
The
Purpose
Of
His
Father
That
The
Son of
Man
Is
Going
To
Be
Betrayed
Into
!
The
Hands
Of
Men
And
They
Will
Kill
Him
And
On
The
Third
Day
He
Will
Be
Raised
To
Life
At
The
End
Of
Verse
23
They
Were
Greatly
Distressed
Greatly
Distressed
And
So
What
Is
This
Passage
Calling
For
It
Is
Calling
For
You
And
I
To
Re-Oriented
Our
Lives
From
A
Man
Centred
Life
To
A
God
Centred
Life
What
Was
That
Look
Like
In
1546
A
Polish
Astronomer
Named
Nicholas
Copernicus
Published
A book
In
Latin
And
He
Challenged
The
World
In
That
Book
He
Shows
That
The
Earth
Was
Not
The
Central
Planet
In
The
System
As
People
At
The
Time
Thought
But
In
Fact
The
Sun
Was
The
Central
Planet
And
The
Sun
Did
Not
Go
Round
The
Earth
But
The
Sun
Is
Called
The
Copernicus
Revolution
And
All
The
textbooks
Of
Europe
Had to
Be
Changed
And
All
The
University
Lectures
Had to
Scrap
Their
Notes
And
Start
Again
And
All
The
Poets
And
Theologians
Had to
Think
Differently
And
All
The
Maps
Needed
To
Be
Redrawn
Because
Copernicus
By
That
One
Discovery
!
The
Way
People
Saw
Reality
!
Around
Me
And
My
Wants
And
What
I
Want
Like
Those
People
Who
Thought
The
Earth
Was
The
Centre
Of
Everything
And
We
Naturally
Don't
We
Think
That
We're
The
Centre
Of
Everything
But
What
This
Path
Shows
Is
That
God
And
The
Lord
Jesus
Christ
He
Is
The
Centre
Of
Everything
And
When
You
Discover
That
You
Find
That
Your
Life
And
My
Life
Has
Be
!
And
We
Have
To
Think
Differently
And
Our
Ambitions
Need
To
Be
Redrawn
Because
To
Live
A
God
Centred
Life
Means
To
Put
Our
Faith
In
A
God
Who
Says
Nothing
Will
Be
Impossible
To
You
Let's
Pray