A Faith that Delivers
Notes
Transcript
Introduction:
I hope you at some point in the last couple of weeks have had the opportunity to walk down the mine shaft leading into the fellowship hall. If you did, you might have noticed a stick or two of dynamite laying on the ground in there.
We’ve had a wonderful week of Vacation Bible School with Wonder Junction, and gold mines are just a small part of the scenery around and old west mining town. It was a pretty helpful invention to do everything from blasting out the earth to make a mineshaft to getting rid of that pesky tree root you wanted gone to opening a bank safe if you needed to make a speedy withdrawal.
There is a lot of power in dynamite and we still use it today to demolish buildings and blast tunnels. Last summer, several from our church family had the opportunity to go on mission trip to Dublin, VA. We worked at the Bland Ministry Center, in Bland, VA and to get there from our lodging area to the ministry center, we had to go through the mountain. We would descend deeper and deeper into the mountain until we came out on the other side. It was almost like going into the heart of the mountain to find a hobbit, if you are familiar with the Lord of the Rings series.
You know, they could have done like the settlers of old up in the Appalachia region did and find mountain passes to direct the roads through, but the closest distance between two points is still a straight line, or “as the crow flies” as the olden folks used to say. So they “moved the mountain” to get to the other side by blasting a hole straight through it.
This expression, “move mountains” is one that has been used throughout many generations all the way back to Jesus’ day to describe doing the impossible. Jesus used in our passage today to describe the type of faith that delivers.
Let’s take a look at what happened when Jesus and the three Disciples come down from the Mount of Transfiguration.
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.”
Pray
What a way to end a mountain retreat where you’ve seen the glory of God on full display, right? This account occurs in two places in the Gospels - here and in Mark 9. We need to keep in mind that the Gospel writers were aware of one another’s gospels, at least for Matthew and Luke, because Mark was probably the first gospel written down. Some scholars believe that they used some Mark for source material, while John just did his own thing out there.
Now, there could have just been one gospel given, but God likes to give us more than one witness and these four Gospels that we have are designed to give us different perspectives of Jesus. So, while they may have the same accounts recorded, there are different perspectives being highlighted from that same event. We will see this when we get to verse 21 in a moment.
I want you to see a few things about faith that delivers this morning as we look at this account of this poor child who is thrown into the fire and the water by these epileptic episodes.
1. The Destructive Designs of the Devil (vv.14-15)
1. The Destructive Designs of the Devil (vv.14-15)
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.
KJV - lunatic
The Greek word is moonstruck
The boy may have had epilepsy and the family could have dealt with this, but the boy also had a demon that was throwing him into the fire and the water in an attempt to kill the boy
Note two things about this:
The Devil and his minions don’t want to play with you. As Arthur Pink points out, “He is not merely seeking to wound us, but to “devour.”
There are limits God has placed on what the Devil can do. We see this here and in Job.
The father comes in desperation and bows down in humility before Jesus.
2. The Defective Devices of the Disciples (vv.16-17)
2. The Defective Devices of the Disciples (vv.16-17)
16 And I brought him to your disciples, and they could not heal him.”
The Disciples represent Jesus
They had previously been given authority and had been successful
They did not have the right kind of faith.
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.
Jesus was perturbed by the lack of faith in the crowd
Despite this, He instantly heals the boy. > Our defectiveness does not keep God from accomplishing His sovereign will
He lumps the Disciples with the faithless generation
It wasn’t that the Disciples did not have any faith, but their faith was in the wrong place
Jesus knew that He would leave them and it was critical that they learned to exercise the right kind of faith.
They had put their faith in their own abilities. They say in verse. 19, why could we not cast it out
19 Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, “Why could we not cast it out?”
3. The Dependance that Defines a Disciple (v.20)
3. The Dependance that Defines a Disciple (v.20)
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.”
Jesus tells them they have little faith, not zero faith
The faith they had was not in God and His ability, but in their own
Jesus gives instructions that they should have faith in God and if they do, nothing would be impossible
They could move a mountain is a metaphor for doing anything
A grain of a mustard seed is the smallest seed, but if it is placed in the right places, it is effective
Textual variant: KJV, NKJV add verse 21.
Scribal attempt to harmonize Mark’s account.
There is no reason to leave it out if it is original, but was most likely not
It is still true
Story of overhearing the woman in Olive Branch saying verses were removed. They were never there.
By prayer and fasting
Story is focusing on the lack of the Disciples’ faith in Matthew
Mark is focusing on the father, and even adds, “Help my unbelief”
Luke doesn’t ever record the event
Mark, fasting is not in every manuscript
Both prayer and fasting fix our eyes on God and make Him the object of our faith
Conclusion
Jesus is ultimately instructing the Disciples to have faith, not in themselves, but in the God who saves us. This is the type of faith that delivers.
It is a faith in God to rescue us.
All of us need rescuing. We are all born into a sin sick body and make evil choices. We have an enemy that wants to destroy us and questions the very words of God. He is a liar and a great deceiver.
Pastor and teacher A.W. Pink again puts it very clear for us:
Satan uses error to deceive souls, and the truth of God is needed to deliver us. We are to resist him in the faith, by believing, receiving, and acting out the Holy Scriptures. We are also to resist the Devil by the exercise of the grace of faith. Our hearts must lay hold of the precepts and promises of God.
Arthur Walkington Pink, The Arthur Pink Anthology (Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software, 2005).
Where is your faith? Do you have a faith that can blast it’s way through the mountains that stand in the way between you and God.
There is a mountain we must not touch. That is the mountain of the Law. But there is another mountain that we can travel up and that is Mount Calvary.
We are invited there to come and behold. Jesus is not shrouded in a cloud, but covered in blood. He is offered up on that mountain for our sins.
When Jesus died, the earth split, the temple veil was torn in two, and the dead came back to life. If you will look on Him in saving faith and not in yourself for what you can do on your own, you will find a power that will move mountains and will save you from your sins.
It is a faith that delivers.
