To the Faithless and Fallen
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Story of the weary traveler, the old shack, and the rusty water pump.
“Believe me, it really works. You have to give it all away before you can get anything back.”
Charles R. Swindoll: Living Above the Level of Mediocrity
Whether we recognize this or not, faith is something we are continually using, but it comes at a cost.
It is when the cost is too great in our eyes that we begin to lack in faith.
And sometimes, it’s not that we are neglecting faith, but that we put our faith in the wrong thing- and that is when we find ourselves in the greatest of trouble…
If you have your Bibles, and I hope you do, turn to Matthew chapter 17, starting in verse 14.
We are going to read about the power of genuine faith...
I hope to accomplish two things this morning...
The first is this: That those who are in Christ are encouraged to step out into a more bold and confident faith, knowing that their confidence is found in Christ alone.
The second is this: That those who are broken and in need of saving will understand that there is nothing in this world that can offer or do what Jesus can do.
Faith is honestly a hard thing to wrestle with! Especially at your age, you can find yourself hearing and understanding it, but putting it into practice is difficult.
In 7th Grade my mother was diagnosed with ovarian cancer…Watching my mother suffer through rounds of chemo, to then come attempt to watch my basketball games only to have to lie down i the bleachers in her weakness was hard- but I was urged to have faith that all things work together for the good of those who love Christ. Thankfully she is cancer free to this day, serving those who are going through the battle she once faced, including my aunt, her brohers wife, as of a few weeks ago.
Walking into a church service one Sunday as a 9th grader to listen to our pastor resign and watch our small church begin to struggle was difficult. I went through a season where I wasn’t even sure if church was really for me. But I was urged to have faith and to trust that all things work together for the good of those who trust Christ. Thankfully we ended up joining a church that would play a vital role in guiding me as God worked in my life.
Laying on the couch with a bacteria disease after a mission trip to Africa at the age of 15 to hear my mother running in the house to grab her purse as she was screaming in crying because she was on a phone call with a nurse from the hospital updating her on how they found my father in the midst of one of the deadliest heart attacks was incredibly hard. I was urged to have faith in knowing that all things work together for the good of those who trust Jesus. Thankfully he survived. The Lord drastically changed his heart and now my father has never been more active in seeking the Lord and faithfully serving at their church.
My senior year of high school, our family received a call to inform us that a story has been revealed and is in need of immediate attention. Turn out that one of my mentors, my Bible teacher at my school, and a 3 time state champion women’s soccer coach had been taking advantage of and abusing my twin sister since she was in the 8th grade and we were just now finding out.
Walking through the halls for the rest of that year was a nightmare. It was on every local news outlet known to man. Rumors flew the halls, my sisters life, although a victim, was exposed and filled with shame and guilt.
Immediately following the news, my dad lost what was at one time an incredibly successful job.
The same month I de-committed from a college to play basketball to pursue ministry, an aspiration I had for quite sometime.
At this point, while my family was under attack and my dad was jobless, I was working a full time job to help meet needs while seeing what I thought was my future college experience disappear.
After one prayer was answered that led to another, my dad was able to get a job, making a small percentage of what he once made, busting his tail to give me what I so longed for, supporting my aspirations of ministry, while living grateful for what we did have as a family.
During that season I had to have faith that all things work together for the good of those that love Jesus.
Thankfully, God has restored many things. My Father is working a job he wished he had all along. My sister has been completely restored! She is almost done with a graduate degree from a seminary and is a Biblical counselor, helping girls who are facing what she faced.
I could go on, but I hope you see my point. in every scenario, I struggled to have faith, but it was faith that enabled me to not only prevail those situations, but to experience something that was better than any outcome that I could have come up with.
Each of those situations I would never wish on someone else.
I failed in life during each one of those seasons, but it was Jesus that gave me the confidence to stand up and have “that kind of faith,” a faith this passage talks about so clearly...
Right before this passage is the transfiguration.
Jesus has taken Peter, James, and John to the top of a mountain.
It was there that they had an incredible experience with Jesus, watching Him literally transform before their eyes.
They were even there with in the presence of Moses and Elijah, two prominent and well known Old Testament figures who had been dead for hundreds and thousands of years!
You can imagine what the other disciples were struggling with… maybe a little bit of jealousy and pride...
This is important to remember… We all know how jealously and pride works itself out...
Look at Matthew 17:14-20 with me...
14 And when they came to the crowd, a man came up to him and, kneeling before him, 15 said, “Lord, have mercy on my son, for he has seizures and he suffers terribly. For often he falls into the fire, and often into the water. 16 And I brought him to your disciples, and they could not heal him.” 17 And Jesus answered, “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.” 18 And Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of him, and the boy was healed instantly. 19 Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, “Why could we not cast it out?” 20 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.”
We can sense a bit of disappointment in the disciples from Jesus in this passage!
It wasn’t but a year ago when Jesus released them and affirmed their mission to be able to accomplish this!
Look at Matthew 10:7-8
7 And proclaim as you go, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ 8 Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons. You received without paying; give without pay.
So why were they not able to accomplish what they set out to do in this given moment?
20 For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.
The disciples failed in their efforts to help the boy and cast out the demon because they had no faith in the Spirit of God working through them!
Being a Christian is being confident in Christ.
Being a Christian is being confident in Christ.
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.
5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
and do not lean on your own understanding.
6 In all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will make straight your paths.
8 I have set the Lord always before me;
because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken.
If there is one word I can leave with you that will help you endure hardship, stay in step with the Spirit of God, and walk in a way that is worthy of the Gospel, it is dependency!
Back in Matthew 10, after Jesus deployed the disciples to go out and perform these miracles and share of the kingdom coming, he warned them of hardship and this is what He reminded them...
20 For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.
So how do you remain dependent on the Lord?
Through the reading of His word.
4 For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.
17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.
Through prayer.
24 Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.
7 If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.
Master these two Spiritual disciplines. Learn to study God’s word, learn to humbly seek and petition your desires before the Lord.
Learn Dependency.
Imagine what could happen if a remnant of believers in this school took seriously the idea of truly depending on the Lord and NOTHING ELSE.
I want to add one more word to our statement for the day...
Our confidence in Christ is key- but we must not only be confident in Christ...
Being a Christian is being Confident in Christ Alone.
Being a Christian is being Confident in Christ Alone.
The father of the boy was desperate. In the end, he recognized that Jesus was his only hope… And so should we!
This is a word to those who have never trusted Jesus as their savior and have neglected to truly follow Him and His word with their whole life…
For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?
One thing this world can’t offer that faith in Jesus does is eternal life.
At the end of the day, Jesus is either Lord of all or not Lord at all…
What is He to you?
Some of you may be like the disciples… others the demon possessed boy.
You are either faithless or fallen.
I want to draw your attention to the last verse, verse 21…
This verse is sometimes not included in some manuscripts, but we know that this is truth because of Marks account.
This verse answers this question…
How can I, How can you have this kind of faith?