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071: When Your Faith Feels Too Small - Matthew 17:9-21 · Gospel Explorations

• 0:04
  SPEAKER_00: Hello everyone, this is Mark Davis, and I want to welcome you to the Gospel Explorations Podcast, where we gather together each week to take time to explore God's Word to learn how we ought to live in this present age.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_00: I'm glad you've chosen to spend some time with us today.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_00: Let's jump into today's episode.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_00: Hello, friends, and welcome back to the Gospel Explorations Podcast.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_00: This is episode number 71, and I'm your host, Mark Davis.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_00: In our last episode, we stood at the Mount of Transfiguration with Peter, James, and John, and we saw Jesus revealed in all of his glory.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_00: The scriptures tell us that his face shone like the sun, his clothing became white as light, Moses and Elijah appeared with him, and from the bright cloud the Father declared, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_00: Hear ye him.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_00: And when the disciples lifted up their eyes, the Bible tells us they saw Jesus only.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_00: But now in today's passage, Jesus leads them down from the mountain.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_00: And this is an important point for us to remember that the Christian life is not lived only on the mountain of glory.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_00: We must also walk into the valley of need.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_00: So let's start looking at Matthew chapter 17 and verse number nine.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_00: And as they came down from the mountain, Jesus charged them, saying, Tell the vision to no man until the Son of Man be risen again from the dead.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_00: So Jesus tells Peter, James, and John to not speak of what they saw until after his resurrection.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_00: This may seem surprising.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_00: You would think that this would be the very kind of thing that they should immediately announce, but Jesus knows the proper timing.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_00: Before the resurrection, people would misunderstand the transfiguration.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_00: They might even use it to fuel more wrong expectations about a political Messiah, a glorious conqueror without a suffering cross.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_00: You see, it was the resurrection that would be the final confirmation of his identity and mission.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_00: Only after the cross and empty tomb would the glory of the mountain make complete sense.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_00: That teaches us something that spiritual truth must be understood in light of the cross and the resurrection.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_00: You see, you can't rightly understand Jesus' glory if you miss his suffering, and you cannot rightly understand his kingdom if you miss his cross.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_00: Verse number ten, we read these words, and his disciples asked him, saying, Why say then the scribes that Elias must first come?
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_00: Now the disciples have just seen Elijah on the mountain, and they're confused.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_00: They knew the teaching from Malachi chapter 4, verse 5 that says, Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_00: So their question was completely understandable.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_00: If Jesus was the Messiah, and Elijah must come first, how did all of this fit together?
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_00: They have seen Elijah, but only after they had already come to believe that Jesus is the Christ.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_00: And so they legitimately asked, Why then say the scribes that Elias must first come?
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_00: Now notice what Jesus says in verses eleven through thirteen.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_00: And Jesus answered and said unto them, Elias truly shall first come and restore all things.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_00: But I say unto you that Elias has come already, and they knew him not, but have done unto him whatsoever they listed.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_00: Likewise shall also the Son of Man suffer of them.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_00: Then the disciples understood that he spake unto them of John the Baptist.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_00: So we find here Jesus giving them an answer with more than one layer.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_00: He says, Elias truly shall come first and restore all things.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_00: There's still a future sense in which Elijah is connected to the final coming of the Lord.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_00: But then Jesus says, Elias has come already.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_00: Now Matthew tells us that the disciples understood that he spoke of John the Baptist.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_00: No, John was not literally Elijah reincarnated, but he came in the spirit and the power of Elijah.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_00: And like Elijah, John was zealous for God, and he rebuked sin in high places.
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_00: And like Elijah, John called people to repentance and to live apart from the comforts of the age.
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_00: And like Elijah, John stirred up the anger of a ruler and a wicked woman.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_00: But Israel's leaders did not recognize him.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_00: They rejected him, and because of this, John the Baptist suffered.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_00: So Jesus says, likewise shall the Son of Man suffer of them.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_00: Now this is sobering.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_00: The same hardness that rejected John would also reject Jesus.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_00: The forerunner suffered, and so would the Messiah.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_00: The disciples had just seen Jesus' glory on the mountain, but Jesus keeps bringing them back to the cross.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_00: Because there is no faithful understanding of Jesus that avoids this suffering.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_00: Look at verses 14 through 16.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_00: And when they were come to the multitude, there came into him a certain man kneeling down to him and saying, Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is a lunatic and sore vexed.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_00: For oft times he falleth unto the fire and often to the water.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_00: And I brought him to thy disciples, and they could not cure him.
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_00: So as they come down from this mountain, they are immediately met with human misery.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_00: A father falls before Jesus and says, Lord, have mercy on my son.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_00: His son was suffering terribly.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_00: Matthew described his symptoms that appeared like seizures.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_00: But the passage later makes it clear that there is a demonic oppression involved.
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_00: The boy falls into fire and water, his life is in constant danger, and his father is desperate.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_00: And then the father says something heartbreaking.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_00: The disciples had been given authority before.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_00: They had seen demons cast out, they had experienced ministry power, but here they failed.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_00: And this is the lesson for us.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_00: Past usefulness does not guarantee present power.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_00: You see, yesterday's victory does not automatically supply today's battle.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_00: We must be careful that ministry never become mechanical.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_00: We don't cast out darkness, comfort the broken, or serve the Lord by routine.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_00: We must live in the present dependence on Christ.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_00: And the disciples failed, but the Father did the right thing.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_00: When the disciples could not help, he went to Jesus.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_00: That's always the right direction.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_00: The reality is Jesus' followers may fail.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_00: The church may bring disappointment.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_00: Ministers may be weak, but Jesus never fails.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_00: Now look at verse number 17.
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_00: It says, Then Jesus answered and said, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you?
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_00: How long shall I suffer you?
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_00: Bring him hither to me.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_00: We find a sense of grief in Jesus' words, O faithless and perverse generation.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_00: This likely includes more than just the disciples.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_00: It speaks to the whole scene, the crowd, the religious atmosphere, even perhaps the disciples' failure and the unbelief surrounding him.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_00: You see, Jesus' earthly ministry is moving toward the cross.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_00: His time with the disciples before his death is getting shorter, and yet they're still struggling to trust him and depend on him as they should.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_00: But notice the mercy that he demonstrates in his command.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_00: Bring him hither to me.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_00: That's the invitation to bring the suffering child to Jesus, to bring our failures to Jesus, to bring the impossible cause to Jesus, to bring what the disciples could not fix.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_00: And that phrase is still full of hope.
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_00: And that phrase is still full of hope.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_00: Bring them hither to me.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_00: Now Jesus triumphs here where the disciples failed.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_00: Look at verse number eighteen.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_00: And Jesus rebuked the devil, and he departed out of him, and the child was cured from that very hour.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_00: You see, what was too hard for the disciples was not too hard for Jesus.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus rebukes the demon and it departs, and that very hour the child is cured.
• 8:05
  SPEAKER_00: There's no struggle here.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_00: There's no uncertainty or negotiation.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus commands and the darkness leaves.
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_00: This is the very authority of Christ.
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_00: He is not merely glorious on the mountain, he's victorious in the valley.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_00: He's Lord over Moses and Elijah.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_00: He's Lord over the demons and over suffering, and he is Lord over the things that we cannot fix.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_00: Verse nineteen reads this way.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_00: Then came the disciples of Jesus apart and said, Why could we not cast him out?
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_00: The disciples asked the right question.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_00: They came privately and they asked, Why couldn't we cast him out?
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_00: And that is a humble question.
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_00: They didn't blame the father, they didn't blame the boy or even the demon.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_00: They asked what was lacking in them.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_00: What a great reminder for us.
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_00: When ministry seems fruitless, when spiritual effort seems powerless, and when we fail in places where we expected success, we should be willing to come privately to Jesus and ask, Lord, what is lacking in me?
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_00: Is there unbelief?
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_00: Prayerlessness?
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_00: Self-dependence?
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_00: Spiritual carelessness?
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_00: The disciples' failure became the very lesson because they brought their failure to Jesus.
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus then says these words in verse number 20, and Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief, for verily I say unto you, if ye have faith as the grain of a mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, remove, hence to yonder place, and it shall remove, and nothing shall be impossible unto you.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus identifies the problem because of your unbelief.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_00: They did not fail because Jesus lacked authority.
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_00: They did not fail because the demon was stronger than Christ.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_00: They failed because of their unbelief.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_00: And Jesus speaks of their faith as literally being just the grain of a mustard seed.
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_00: The point is not that we need enormous faith in ourselves.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_00: The point is that even small faith, if it's real faith placed in Almighty God, can accomplish what looks impossible.
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_00: Faith is not powerful because faith itself is impressive.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_00: Faith is powerful because of its object.
• 10:25
  SPEAKER_00: You see, weak faith in a strong Christ is better than a strong confidence in ourselves.
• 10:31
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus says that that kind of faith can move mountains.
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_00: This was the common way of speaking about great obstacles.
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_00: The mountain represented that which was immovable, impossible, beyond human strength.
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_00: And Jesus says that trusting God makes the impossible possible, not because we command God, but because we depend upon Him.
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus closes with these words in verse 21, howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting.
• 11:03
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus teaches us here that some battles require deeper dependence.
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_00: This kind suggests that not every spiritual conflict is the same.
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_00: Some are more intense, some are more resistant, some require a greater seriousness in seeking God.
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_00: Now prayer and fasting do not manipulate God, they express dependence upon God.
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_00: Prayer says, Lord, I cannot do this without you.
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_00: Fasting says, Lord, I need you, you are more than daily bread.
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_00: The disciples had perhaps begun to rely on past authority, past experiences, and familiar methods, but spiritual warfare could not be handled mechanically.
• 11:45
  SPEAKER_00: There are battles that require deep prayer, burdens that require spiritual seriousness, and strongholds that are not overcome by habit but by dependence upon God.
• 11:55
  SPEAKER_00: Prayer and fasting remind us that the power is not in us, the power belongs to God.
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_00: So this passage gives us several truths to consider as we wrap it up today.
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_00: First, mountain experiences are not meant to keep us from valley ministry.
• 12:13
  SPEAKER_00: Peter may have wanted to stay on the mountain, but Jesus led them down into the need.
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_00: We cannot live only for spiritual experiences.
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_00: We must follow Jesus into the brokenness of this world.
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_00: Secondly, Jesus is Lord in both glory and suffering.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_00: That is, he is the transfigured son in the mountain and the compassionate deliverer in the valley.
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_00: Thirdly, failure should drive us to Jesus, not away from him.
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_00: The disciples failed, but they asked Jesus why, and their failure became instruction.
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_00: Fourthly, a small faith in a great Savior is powerful.
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_00: The issue is not the size of our faith, but the greatness of the one that we trust.
• 13:02
  SPEAKER_00: And then finally, Jesus reminds us that prayer and fasting matter.
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_00: These aren't empty religious exercises.
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_00: They're expressions of dependence, humility, and spiritual earnestness.
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_00: This passage takes us from glory to groaning, from Moses and Elijah to a desperate father, from a father's voice to a suffering child, from the disciples' failure to Jesus' victory, and through it all we see the same truth.
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus is enough.
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_00: So bring your problems.
• 13:33
  SPEAKER_00: He's enough for the questions, enough for the suffering, enough for the failure, enough for the battle, enough for the impossible.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_00: So we need to bring it to him and trust the one who still says, bring him hither to me.
• 13:47
  SPEAKER_00: Friends, thank you for joining us today for the Gospel Explorations podcast.
• 13:51
  SPEAKER_00: If this podcast has been a help, please share it with someone else.
• 13:55
  SPEAKER_00: And be sure to check out the show notes for reflection and further study questions.
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_00: Until next time, race and peace, friends.
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks for listening.
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_00: I hope that you've been both encouraged and challenged today.
• 14:07
  SPEAKER_00: If you want to connect with us further, please be sure to check us out on the web at Gospelexplorations.com.
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_00: We look forward to having you join us again next time.