Faith in the Death that Moved Mountains

Call to Worship: John 11:25-26 // Prayer

Adoration: Father, you have made all things. All things have their being and their beauty from you. You uphold the universe through the Word of your Son’s power, and the whole universe shines with your glory and gives praise to you. And so we also give praise to you: God of all beauty and goodness—in the overflow of your goodness you have given life and breath and existence to everything around us, and to us ourselves.

Confession: Yet we confess that though you made us in your goodness, we have gone astray. Though you even redeemed us through the blood of your Son, we have yet forgotten your love and turned back to our sins at various times this past week. Yet you are our Father. And so we approach your throne of mercy to confess our sins. We have sinned in fear, and in greed; in pride, and in selfishness; in lust, and in anger; and in many other ways. And in all these things we have sinned against You, our Maker. Forgive us!

Thanksgiving: Yet we know that yours is a throne of mercy toward all your children. And you have made us your children, and will never let us go! And we remember that we have not been justified by our good works, since no one can ever be justified that way. But instead, we are justified by faith in Christ, and by nothing else. For he himself gave himself up, carried our sins in himself—by your design, Father!—took your wrath in our place, that we might be named your children and declared forgiven forever. By your eternal plan, we have been rescued and declared holy.

Supp: And it’s not just this that you’ve done for us, but you have also worked among us to give us faith, and you have also taught us to love one another; and we ask that you would do this work among us all the more; that you would give us the Spirit of wisdom and of knowing you, that we, with our hearts enlightened, might know the hope to which you have called us, and the riches of our glorious inheritance as your saints, and the immeasurable greatness of your power toward us who believe—the very power by which you raised our Lord from the grave and seated him at your right hand, far above all powers and rulers with a name that is above every name; you have put all things under his feet, and you have given him as head over all things to us, his body, that he might be glorified in us // and we lift up to you Ascension Presbyterian, asking that they would also have your Spirit to grow in this way, knowing you more deeply and increasing in hope, in faith, and in holiness // and we lift up to you a little, unnamed, secret church in the United Arab Emirates: you know them, Father—you know that their hope is in you, and so we beg you to hold them together and to grow them in their faith and to give love and truth and endurance to their leaders, that your name might be glorified among the Emiraties // and finally, we bring before you the drug problem in our city; we ask, on the one hand, for gospel-redemption for those who are in the drug lifestyle; and on the other hand, we ask for wisdom for our civic leaders in constructing policies to discourage all the horrifying self-destruction that comes from drug use—we ask that in your mercy, you might grant this // and now, as I preach from Matthew, I ask that you might give me clarity and power, and every person ears to hear, to be challenged, to be comforted, and to know you more deeply...

[I’m reading Scripture this week]

Announcements

Good Friday/Easter Sunday flyers on back table.

The value of midweek discipleship: small groups + prayer meeting; or, one-on-one; please let me know if small groups/prayer meeting times don’t work for you… we’ll figure something out.

Benediction

Philippians 4:19–20 ESV

And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. To our God and Father be glory forever and ever. Amen.

Sermon

Introduction

Fear and powerlessness.

Twin enemies that face us as we follow Jesus.

Maybe you’re a younger Christian, and you belong to Jesus, and you know you should be growing in Christ. And then there’s also the mission he gave us, to reach the lost with the gospel. But you don’t seem to be making any progress in these things. You feel powerless in your spiritual life. Or if not you, then a believing friend.

Maybe you’re an older saint, and life looks much different now. You’re much closer to death, and the thought is distressing. Or maybe it’s not death, but some other frightening thing. The world we live in cursed and broken—there’s a lot worth fearing, isn’t there?

And yet, Christians are not meant to live in fear and powerlessness.

So what’s the solution?

Well, to understand the solution, we need to start by identifying exactly what the problems are that lead us into this fear and this powerlessness. And our passage this morning will give us the examples of demons and death as such problems on the outside of us, and then tie them to undersized faith as the problem on the inside of us.

Then, next, we’ll be ready to see that the solution to these problems is Jesus’ death and resurrection, by which he has defeated death and sin and the whole kingdom of darkness.

And finally, this will point us to the solution of faith—that it is faith in him that brings comfort and power for the Christian life.

So then, to sum that up, what this passage of Scripture will show us is that You must trust in the death that conquered death to gain comfort and power for the Christian life.

The External Problem: Mountains: Demons and Death

Now, if you remember from last Sunday, Jesus was just up on the mountain with his closest three disciples, where his divine glory had been revealed in their sight. That was the transfiguration. And now his glory is hidden again, and he and those three disciples are coming down the mountain. Verses 14-16 give us what happened next:

Matthew 17:14–16 ESV

And when they came to the crowd, a man came up to him and, kneeling before him, 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. And I brought him to your disciples, and they could not heal him.”

So what’s the problem here? The man’s son has this awful condition, where he has violent seizures that cause him to fall into the fireplace or into wells or rivers on a regular basis. It’s a life-threatening, violent condition. And you can imagine the horrible weight this father carries around in his heart with all of this suffering his son is going through.

And also, right off the bat, something is suspicious here. As if these seizures tended to happen right at those moments when they could potentially kill the boy by casting him into fire or drowning him. And then in verse 18 we find out that these were not normal seizures, but rather, seizures caused by a dark spiritual entity—a demon.

Now, I want to pause here for a moment. Does this passage teach that seizures are normally caused by demons? No. In the case of this boy, they were; but back in chapter 4 verse 24, those oppressed by demons and those having seizures are listed as two separate categories. So if Matthew’s gospel tells us anything on the subject, it tells us that seizures are normally not caused by demons.

=> And in a wider sense, we must resist the temptation to see a demon behind every problem we face, every struggle, every sin, every sickness, every opposition to the gospel that we encounter. The human heart is evil enough on its own; and the world we live in is broken enough on its own.

And yet, we must resist the opposite temptation: to dismiss the idea of demonic activity out of hand. It’s real. It’s very much present in our own city. And in this case, it was destroying the life of this boy. And it was frightening. And the disciples were powerless against it.

Now, in a moment we’ll get to why exactly the disciples were not able to deal with this demon. But before we go there, I want to look at how Jesus frames this demonic activity. After Jesus casts the demon out, the disciple come and ask him why they failed to cast it out when they tried. His answer is found in verse 20:

Matthew 17:20 ESV

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 what metaphor does Jesus use to describe demonic activity? A mountain. What’s with that?

Well, this goes back to the OT.

In OT times, kingdoms were often described as mountains. The Kingdom of Edom, for example, was sometimes called, “Mt. Seir.” That was a prominent mountain within that kingdom. And that kingdom was often an enemy of the the kingdom of Israel. And Israel was often described as, “Mt. Zion.” That was the mountain where Jerusalem, the capital city of Israel, was built. And so a conflict between kingdoms could be described as a conflict in which mountains shook and were moved.

As an example of this, listen to Psalm 46, verses 1 to 3, which describe Jerusalem under seige:

Psalm 46:1–3 ESV

God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling.

Do you see that? As a foreign army tried to topple the capital city of God’s people, it was poetically described as mountains being drowned out by the sea. Mountains moving is a metaphor for Kingdoms being defeated or crushed or driven back.

So then, when Jesus uses this metaphor, he’s reminding us that the clash between his disciples and this demon is not some random supernatural event. Instead, it’s part of this clash between the Kingdom of Heaven and the Domain of Darkness—this battle of the ages which is about to hit a climax.

And that climax is described in the very next two verses:

Matthew 17:22–23 ESV

As they were gathering in Galilee, Jesus said to them, “The Son of Man is about to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him, and he will be raised on the third day.” And they were greatly distressed.

So what would this climax be? This climax in the battle between kingdoms? Well, here’s the one person who was actually able to drive out that demon. Here’s the king of the kingdom of heaven. And he says to them, “I’m going to be killed.” In the midst of the battle, the king will be slaughtered.

Let’s take a second and put this picture together:

There’s the kingdom of darkness: it’s defined by sin, which came into the world through Adam, when he listed to the prince of demons, Satan. And from Adam’s sin, death also came into the world. So the kingdom of darkness is defined by sin and death and these dark spiritual powers.

Then there’s the Kingdom of Heaven, which has arrived in the person of Jesus. And it seems to be making headway against the kingdom of darkness. But now it’s king is predicting his own slaughter?

So then, death itself—this other enemy, this universal problem which faces every human being—will apparently strike down even the King of the kingdom of heaven himself.

Now, this is the third time we’ve heard about Jesus’ impending death in two chapters—the second time it’s been said to the disciples as a whole group. And they are reeling from the news. Verse 23 says, “they were greatly distressed.” So distressed, in fact, that you wonder if they even heard the last part of what Jesus said—that he would be raised from the grave on the third day. They had met the problems of demons and of death itself, and they were filled with fear.

And this kind of sums up our own set of problems: the kingdom of darkness, with all of its sin and death. Unbelievers are trapped in it, chained to sin, doomed to death, and vulnerable to the powers of darkness. But even for us who have been rescued, who are free in Christ, these things still batter us. And they are frightening, are they not?

The sins that we still wrestle with, that aim to destroy us? You know what they are in your life;

All the powers of the domain of darkness, arrayed against God’s weak and needy people;

Death itself, which all of us will face unless the Lord returns first;

And the primary fear of the disciples themselves: that they would lose their Lord. We may not face that exact same fear, because Jesus is now risen from the grave—yet, we have been charged by him to walk this life by faith. Will he actually return? Will he really make right all that is wrong in the world?

We Christians are caught up in a battle between kingdoms. Yes, the Kingdom of Heaven is destined to win. But in the meantime, we have a very strong need for comfort.

The Internal Problem: Our Mission and Our Little Faith

But these external problems of the kingdom of darkness are not the only problems we face. There’s an internal problem also. The lives we live in this world have been intrusted to us by our king, and faith is required to live out our lives in a way that’s worthy of the gospel.

And in this passage, what Matthew highlights about our lives is The Mission Entrusted to Us, and the faith we need to pursue our mission.

Why did this father bring his demon-oppressed Son to the disciples? Because they had been trained by Jesus. They were his disciples and so it was for them to carry on his work, even if he was not there at the moment. And back in chapter 10, he had even commissioned them to exercise power over the spiritual forces of darkness. To cast out demons. And according to Jesus, this is a form of moving mountains.

Now, for us, the mission is a bit different.

The temporary mission that Jesus gave his disciples included teaching, but also miracles of healing and cleansing, along with casting out demons. And you can read about that in Matthew chapter 10.

The mission Jesus gave us is found at the end of the gospel of Matthew, in chapter 28 verses 19 and 20. It includes going out into all the world to preach the gospel, and specifically to baptize those who trust in Jesus and to teach them to obey his commands. And that means that for us—while dealing with demons or seeing miraculous healings may happen from time to time—they are not the mainstay of our mission. Our mission is a mission of evangelism and discipleship.

But here’s the thing: that still counts as moving mountains. When a new believer turns from sin to Christ, the kingdom of darkness has been plundered. When a struggling believer is helped by his brothers to walk closer with Christ, the forces of darkness are beaten back.

And yet, there’s something required in us for these things to happen: faith.

You can see this in what happens when the father of the demon-possessed boy approaches Jesus. He tells Jesus that none of the disciples were able to cast the demon out. And in verse 17, Jesus responds:

Matthew 17:17 ESV

“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.”

It’s a strong statement. And it seems to be describing both the father of the boy and also the disciples themselves, and probably also even the crowd that was gathered around them there.

This father wanted deliverance for his poor son. And who could blame him? Yet, his love for his own son was not matched by much faith in the Messiah. He was not like the Canaanite woman back in chapter 15, who came to Jesus seeking healing for her demon possessed daughter, and displayed total faith in Jesus’ power over the forces of darkness. There was not much faith in this father’s heart.

And you can see the distress in Jesus’ soul with how he responds there. He has come as the king of God’s kingdom, and they can’t see it. There is something twisted in their own souls, and so they cannot see it.

Now what about the disciples?

Well, after all of this they came to Jesus privately and asked him why they hadn’t been able to cast out this demon. And in verse 20 he responds:

Matthew 17:20 ESV

“Because of your little faith.”

So then, the disciples didn’t have NO faith… in fact, if they’d had no faith at all, the would not have been genuine disciples in the first place. But even the faith of a genuine disciple can reach low ebbs, where it is very, very small. It’s the problem of undersized faith. In fact, Jesus goes on to say:

Matthew 17:20 ESV

“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...”

Now, a mustard seed is very small—about the size of a large grain of sand, maybe 1 or 2 millimeters across. And so Jesus is saying, if your faith had been even that size, you would have been able to cast out the demon. They would have been able to have success in their mission. But as it was, they were powerless.

And that’s the basic problem we also face: facing off against the kingdom of darkness—facing the problems of sin, death, and dark spiritual powers, we have a mission to pursue: evangelism and discipleship. And we have a great need of power in the face of these things. And yet, due to an undersized faith, we so often lack the power we need.

The Solution: Jesus

So then, to summarize all of this: we have this external problem, which is that we are facing off against the kingdom of darkness, and against death itself. And so we have this great need of comfort and of power. But then we have the internal problem of undersized faith, so that we lack the comfort and the power that we need. And it would be tempting right here to just go right on and talk about faith itself—the goodness of faith, and how to strengthen your faith. But that would be skipping a vital step.

Why? Because faith, by nature, looks away from itself. Faith, by nature, is pointed toward something else. So what is it pointed toward? Let’s get specific here:

It is not some generic faith that, “well, you know, things will get better.”

It’s not even just a general faith in God: “you know, God is good, and I believe that he’ll do good things for me.”

It’s very specifically faith IN JESUS AS THE PROMISED MESSIAH. It’s faith in Jesus as the one who drives back the powers of darkness and has defeated even death itself.

Look at verse 18:

Matthew 17:18 ESV

And Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of him, and the boy was healed instantly.

Don’t miss this. Don’t skip over his verse. Jesus has power in himself, and authority in himself, over the forces of darkness. And he has this power both as the Eternal, Divine Son of God and as the truly human Messiah, king of the Kingdom of Heaven.

He decided to heal the boy, and within a moment the demon was gone and the boy was completely healed.

If you are a believer, that is the Messiah you’ve trusted in. His power and his authority to save are total. And if you are not a believer, this is it: this is the one you need to rescue you from the clutches of sin and death and hell.

And of course, in the end, it’s not so much the power he had over demons that matters. Instead, what matters is his power over death itself. Look down in verse 22. Jesus explains to his disciples:

Matthew 17:22–23 ESV

“The Son of Man is about to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him, and he will be raised on the third day.”

Do you see that? Jesus would be slain by men who were serving the powers of darkness. And so, death would swallow him up—temporarily. But then he would be raised back to life on the third day. But why is this? What’s going on here?

Basically this: that in his death, Jesus took the divine curse against our sin on himself. He carried that curse, that punishment, in our place, and died. And he did this so that we might instead be forgiven and go free. But since death is a consequence of sin, and since he so utterly succeeded in taking care of the sin problem, he was then raised back to life. And death no longer has any hold on him.

And as a result, all who come to him are rescued from the kingdom of darkness—rescued, forgiven, and destined for eternal life.

Do you see that? The ultimate moving of mountains was accomplished not by the faith of any disciple, but by the death of Jesus. And so it is not just faith in general that you need, but much more specifically faith in Jesus—faith in the death that conquered death.

Therefore, Our Critical Need for Faith

And this same point is emphasized by the size of the faith Jesus says you need: you need faith the size of a mustard seed. Do you see how that takes to focus off of the faith itself? The need of faith is crucial. And yet at the same time, it’s not about an impressive faith. Because even a rather small and unimpressive faith—faith as small as a puny mustard seed—when focused on Jesus himself, can do what?

Move mountains—in other words, strike effective blows against the domain of darkness.

And that’s what Jesus means when he says, “nothing will be impossible for you”—you will really be able to advance the kingdom of God, a thing which is impossible by human power, but possible with God, and thus possible by faith in what God has done for us in Christ. Possible by faith in the gospel of Jesus.

So It’s faith in Jesus himself that we need—faith in the death that conquered death!

=>Kids, as you grow up, you need to know that there’s only one place you can go. As you grow up, you’re going to have moments when you see just how bad, how ugly your sin is. And when that happens, you can try to pretend your sin is not there; but that won’t save you. But if you trust in Jesus, he will save you from your sin, and bring you safely to everlasting life!

Brothers and sisters, in view of all this, how do we grow in faith?

Yes, even mustard-seed-sized faith can do great things. But often, our faith is smaller even than that. Often, rather than living confidently in faith, we are crippled by sin or fear or the like, and feel powerless to live the Christian life. So, how can our faith be strengthened? How can it grow?

By focusing on Jesus. By seeking to understand his cross, his defeat of sin and death, his gospel, his mercy and grace, his love—by seeking to understand these things more and more deeply as each year goes by.

Practically speaking, that means, first and foremost, committing yourself to the fellowship of a local church, where you are built up in Christ and seek to build up your brothers and sisters in Christ as well, by seeking to point their hearts more and more toward Christ as well.

And second, it means learning how to read your Bible in a Christ-centered way, always looking to see how each passage, from Genesis to Revelation, points you to this death-defeating, sin-forgiving, life-giving, crucified Savior.

And third, it means giving these things central place in your prayers: “Jesus, show me your glory, that I might love you more. Do what ever you need to do in my heart to increase my faith in you and my love for you.”

And as your faith grows, your comfort in Jesus grows. Death begins to lose its threat against you, as you see more and more clearly how he has taken care of your sin, and has himself passed through death ahead of you, and will certainly bring you safely home to glory.

And as your faith grows, your power to accomplish your mission will grow. You will begin to have a deeper confidence that he is with you as you seek to evangelize and disciple others; you’ll begin to be able to overcome your fear, as you rest in him and desire to see him glorified in the hearts of others.

So then: this is it. Put your trust in the death that conquered death , and you will gain comfort and power for the Christian life.