The Gospel of Luke (37) Jesus heals a deomoniac boy 08/27/2023

First Baptist Church Leominster

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One of the difficulties the early churches had to deal with in the Gentile world, and this epistle was written to principally a

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Gentile church in the city of Rome, was the challenge posed by unbelieving

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Jews. Well, if Jesus is the Messiah, why didn't more Jewish people embrace him as such? And so Paul addresses this really in Romans 9, 10, 11.

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And basically, in Romans 9, he said it's never been God's intention to save all physical descendants of Abraham.

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And so the doctrine of God's election and his sovereignty and salvation is set forth quite clearly in Romans chapter 9.

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The sovereignty of God is so clear here that those who differ from Reformed theology often will not read this chapter publicly in their churches because it is so clear that sovereign grace is really the determiner as to whether you and I come to Jesus Christ.

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Amen? This way, Christ, God alone, gets the glory for our salvation. Romans chapter 9.

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Romans 9. I am speaking the truth in Christ. I am not lying.

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My conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart, for I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh.

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They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promise.

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To them belong the patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ, who is

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God over all, blessed forever. Amen. But it is not as though the word of God has failed.

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For all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel, and not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring, but through Isaac shall your offspring be named.

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This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring.

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For this is what the promise said, about this time next year I will return, and Sarah shall have a son.

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And not only so, but also when Rebekah had conceived children by one man, our forefather

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Isaac, though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad, in order that God's purpose of election might continue, not because of works, but because of him who calls, she was told, the older will serve the younger.

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As it is written, Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated. What shall we say then, is there injustice on God's part?

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By no means, for he says to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom

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I have compassion. So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God who has mercy.

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For the scripture says to Pharaoh, for this purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.

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So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills.

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You will say to me then, why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will? But who are you, oh man, to answer back to God?

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Well what is molded, say to its molder, why have you made me like this? Has the potter no right over the clay to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use?

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What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory?

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Even us whom he has called, not from the Jews only, but also from the Gentiles. As indeed he says in Hosea, those who are not my people,

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I will call my people. And her who was not beloved, I will call beloved.

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And in the very place where it was said to them, you are not my people, there they will be called sons of the living

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God. And Isaiah cries out concerning Israel, though the number of the sons of Israel be as the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will be saved.

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For the Lord will carry out his sentence upon the earth fully and without delay. And as Isaiah predicted, if the

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Lord of hosts had not left us offspring, we would have been like Sodom and become like Gomorrah.

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What shall we say then? That Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have attained it, that is, a righteousness that is by faith, but that Israel who pursued a law that would lead to righteousness did not succeed in reaching the law.

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Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were based on works.

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They have stumbled over the stumbling stone, as it is written, Behold, I'm laying in Zion a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense, and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.

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Let's pray. Our Father God, there is great comfort and encouragement in this passage.

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Lord, we know that you are over all things and your hand of election has chosen, and you have predestined us to be sons and daughters, and Lord, we rejoice in your choice.

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And we pray, Lord, that even though this is a difficult doctrine, we pray that we would surrender to you.

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Help us, Lord, to have a clear understanding of your character. Help us to have a clear understanding of this doctrine, and may it encourage each one of us.

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Lord God, help us now as we continue to open your word and as we continue to study. We just pray that we would be free from distraction.

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We pray that you would give Lars great power as he proclaims your truth. We pray that it would be clear and that we would understand it and that the

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Spirit would teach us exactly how we're to apply it in our daily lives. Thank you, Lord.

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In Jesus' name. Amen. Well, let's turn in our

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Bibles to Luke chapter 9. Well, let's see, today is the 37th

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Lord's Day that we're addressing Luke's Gospel, and we are a little over a third of the way through, so it looks like maybe about a hundred

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Sundays maybe for this study, we'll see. We've arrived at this account in Luke chapter 9 in which the

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Lord Jesus is coming down the mountain where he had been transfigured. He returned with his three closest disciples, apostles,

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Peter, James, and John, and he met a large crowd that apparently was waiting for his return.

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We read that Jesus engaged and defeated the devil on this occasion, rescuing a boy from the devil's power.

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He delivered a boy from a demonic spirit, we read, and gave this boy back to his father.

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This was an act of deliverance that our Lord Jesus performed, a miracle which his disciples were unable to perform.

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Charles Spurgeon wrote of this passage, down from communion with saints and the confirmation of his claims by the father's voice, our

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Lord comes to give battle to the devil. Our Moses descends from the mount and finds evil exultant in the multitude below.

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During his absence, the enemy had triumphed over his feeble followers. In the midst of jeering adversaries, the disciples had tried in vain to cast out an evil spirit from a youth who had been rendered lunatic by its horrible possession.

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The poor disappointed father appeals to the Lord at once most humbly, states the case clearly, and pleads most fittingly.

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His epileptic son was a lunatic, sore, vexed with pain, and in grievous peril through sudden falls.

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The case was a shocking one to have in one's presence, the cries and contortions which attend to epilepsy are frequently terrible to hear and see.

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The disciples had evidently done their very best, and as they had on other occasions cast out devils, they were surprised to find themselves defeated, but defeated they were.

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For the despairing father truthfully cried, I brought him to thy disciples, and they could not cure him.

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Alas, poor man, thou didst but speak, as all have done since, when they have trusted in disciples and not alone in their master.

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Wise was it on thy part to hasten to Jesus, kneeling down to him, and saying,

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Lord, have mercy on my son. Here's the account,

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Luke 9, 37 -45, and this is from the

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New King James Version. Now it happened on the next day when they had come down from the mountain that a great multitude met him.

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And suddenly a man from the multitude cried out, saying, Teacher, I implore you, look on my son, for he is my only child.

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And behold, a spirit seizes him, and he suddenly cries out, it convulses him, so that he foams at the mouth, and it departs from him with great difficulty, bruising him.

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So I implored your disciples to cast it out, but they could not. Then Jesus answered and said,

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O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you and bear with you? Bring your son here.

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And as he was still coming, the demon threw him down and convulsed him. Then Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit, healed the child, and gave him back to his father.

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And they were all amazed at the majesty of God. But while everyone marveled at all the things which

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Jesus did, he said to his disciples, Let these words sing down into your ears, for the

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Son of Man is about to be betrayed into the hands of men. But they did not understand this saying, and it was hidden from them, so that they did not perceive it, and they were afraid to ask him about this saying.

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Well, just as all three synoptic Gospels record the transfiguration of Jesus, so all three

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Gospels record this miraculous deliverance of this boy by Jesus.

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As we examine the details of Luke's account, we'll also give reference to some details that both

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Mark and Matthew relate in their accounts of this miracle. Details that Luke chose to leave out of his account.

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Of course, all three synoptic writers, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, wrote the very words that the

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Holy Spirit had inspired them to pen. Each Gospel writer had his own emphases as he retold the story of Jesus and his ministry.

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Interestingly, Mark's account contains the most detail. Even though Mark is the shortest of the three synoptic

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Gospels, his account is much longer than Matthew or Mark's of this incident.

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And perhaps because Mark recorded the remembrances of Peter, and Peter was an eyewitness to this, and it must have really been vivid in his mind.

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Perhaps that's why Mark recorded greater detail regarding this event than did

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Matthew or Luke. Now here we have the details of Luke's account.

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We'll consider the details themselves, and then we'll consider, oh, about three words of application in conclusion.

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We read first that our Lord encountered a desperate father who besought Jesus to heal his son of a dreadful condition.

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And second, we'll see that Luke records that Jesus rebuked the gathered crowd for their unbelief, but then delivered the young man from his malady.

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Thirdly, there is a report of the amazement of all who witnessed the miracle. And then lastly,

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Jesus spoke once again to his disciples in private regarding his betrayal and suffering. And so there you have basically four divisions of this account that's worked through each of them.

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First, our Lord encountered a desperate father who besought Jesus to heal his son of a dreadful condition.

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The transfiguration of Jesus had occurred in the night. The gospels do not record if he and his three disciples slept afterward on the mountain, but if they had, it must have been a rather brief period of rest.

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The Lord Jesus and those with him were probably weary in the flesh, though refreshed in the spirit coming down from that mountain.

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Well, Jesus was certainly focused on the course which lay ahead of him, his betrayal, suffering, death, and resurrection from the dead.

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He knew that his father's will would be a hard, difficult course before him. Nevertheless, it must be done.

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He was resolved to do it. And later, when we see in Luke 9, 51, he set his face to Jerusalem, he set his face like a flint to Jerusalem to see this will of his father realized.

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He must fulfill his destiny. This matter must have consumed his full attention as they came down that mountain.

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But as they arrived at the base of the mount, a crowd of people met him. Verse 37 reads, now it happened on the next day when they had come down from the mountain that a great multitude met him.

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The people had apparently known that Jesus had ascended the mountain. And as we mentioned last week, since there was but one road leading up the mountain at that time, the crowd waited for his return, probably expecting him to come the same way.

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The same way he had departed. Interestingly, Mark recorded that when

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Jesus had come to his disciples, a great crowd was with them, but they were in a heated argument.

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The crowd against Jesus's disciples, I assume, you know, the nine apostles that were there.

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A heated argument over the disciples' inability to cast the demon out of the boy. And so Mark 9, 14 through 18, record these words.

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And when he came to the disciples, he saw a great multitude around them and scribes disputing with them.

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And there's a sense in which there was great hostility. It was a significant conflict.

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Immediately when they saw him, all the people were greatly amazed and running to him, greeted him. And he asked the scribes, what are you discussing with them?

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And so it was the Jewish scribes that seemed to be the predominant opposers to the disciples.

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And then one of the crowd answered and said, teacher, I brought you my son who has a mute spirit.

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And so this spirit resulted in this boy being mute. He couldn't speak. Luke does not mention the other nine apostles of Jesus in the crowd, but he assumes that they're present.

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Luke simply records the father, this boy approaching Jesus to make his request that Jesus heal his son.

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And so Luke 9, 38 reads, suddenly a man from the multitude cried out, saying, teacher,

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I implore you, I beg you, look on my son for he is my only child.

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The father addressed Jesus as teacher. And this was a polite address. The man pleads with Jesus politely and with respect, but also in desperation.

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Commentator of the Greek text, I. Howard Marshall wrote, he addresses him as didescale.

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That's the Greek word for teacher. But the polite wording of this request is Luke in style.

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The father requests of Jesus, look on my son. The Greek word translated look upon, expressed by this father, is a verb used to express

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God's watchful care and concern for his people. Mary used this word to describe

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God as having looked upon her with favor after having chosen her to bear the son of God into the world.

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And so this verb is found in Luke 1, 48. Mary's words, he has looked on, there's the

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Greek word, he has looked on the humble estate of his servant, or behold, from now on, all generations will call me blessed.

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And so the father in his desperate appeal is showing honor to Jesus. By the way,

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Luke also adds the touching detail of the father for he is only my child. Mark and Matthew don't get that detail, but Luke does.

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The father described to Jesus the torment which his son experienced when a demon afflicted him.

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The father says, behold, a spirit seizes him, and he suddenly cries out, and it convulses him.

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And he foams at the mouth, and it departs from him with great difficulty, bruising him.

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Apparently, the demon kind of came and went. So the evil spirit, the demon, seized him on occasion.

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The boy seemed to be passive in this and was certainly powerless to prevent or expel the demon that took control of him.

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It does not appear, nowhere suggests that this boy was demon possessed because of his own wicked life or thoughts.

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This was a helpless young man. This is the idea being conveyed.

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He was totally passive. Matthew Henry wrote of this boy and others like him, how deplorable the case of the child was.

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He was under the power of an evil spirit that took him. And diseases of that nature are more frightful than such as arise merely from natural causes.

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When the fit seized him without any warning given, he suddenly cried out. And many a time, his shrieks had pierced the heart of his tender father.

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You can well imagine. This malicious spirit tore him, bruised him, and departed not from him but with great difficulty and a deadly gripe at parting all the afflictions of the afflicted in this world.

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And what mischief does Satan do where he gets possession, but happy they that have access to Christ.

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Amen. Matthew Henry. Luke records the father's words regarding the demon.

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He said to Jesus, and behold, a spirit seizes him and he suddenly cries out. According to Mark's account, the evil spirit caused the boy to be mute.

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But here we read that he cried out. It must have been the demon itself that cried out to the boy when he afflicted him.

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The boy experienced convulsions and foaming at the mouth and the demon mauled him, rarely giving him respite.

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And Mark gives additional details of this boy's condition. Teacher, I brought my son to you for he has a spirit that makes him mute.

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And whenever it seizes him, it throws him down and he foams and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid.

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And Matthew included different details. Lord, have mercy on my son for he's an epileptic, he suffers terribly.

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For often he falls into the fire and often into the water. So we see the deep concern of the father for his tormented son.

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The boy was suffering terribly. And he was this father's only child, according to Luke.

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So this man came to Jesus due to the concern for his son.

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And understandably, the man was ignorant and therefore uncaring regarding the concerns of Jesus when

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Jesus was coming down the mountain. He was clueless about what Jesus was thinking and feeling with the prospect of suffering and death in Jerusalem before him.

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The Lord was aware of his own impending sufferings, but the man was not. How could he have been given his condition?

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And so it is many times we try and lead people to look away at the Lord and his purposes and concerns in his world and what he's doing.

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But people are so consumed with the trouble of their own experience that they cannot see past themselves.

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And we attempt to direct their attention, their focus upon the Lord and what the

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Lord's doing, what his purposes are in the world. But many people can't see that.

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They're not to be blamed. We understand that. All this man could see at the moment was that his only son was in a desperate condition and he was in need of the

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Lord's help. And frankly, the Lord often uses this means to bring people to himself.

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The man wasn't concerned about himself, but touch his son, he's going to get to Jesus. And there are many people that are unconcerned about themselves, but they're concerned about their children and they'll begin to seek the

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Lord for their sake. But this man seemed assured that Jesus could help him.

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In fact, that only Jesus could do so. And actually Mark records that this father confessed his faith in Jesus, but acknowledged the weakness of his own faith.

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When the father first approached Jesus, Jesus told the father that if he could believe there was the possibility that his son would be delivered.

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Jesus linked this man's faith with the deliverance of his son. And so here's

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Mark 9, 23 and 24, in which we read of this verbal exchange that Luke had chosen not to include in his account,

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Jesus said to him, the father, if you can believe all things are possible to him who believes. And immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears,

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Lord, I believe help my unbelief. That's a very familiar verse in our thinking, isn't it?

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Well, it's in Mark's gospel, not in Luke. Returning to Luke's account, we read that after the father related to Jesus his son's suffering, we read further of the father's words.

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So I implored your disciples to cast it out, but they could not. Now the

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Lord had earlier given his apostles authority to cast out demons. In fact, the very first verse of a chapter 9,

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Luke 9 that we're in, we read, then he called his 12 disciples together, gave them power and authority over all demons, all demons and to cure diseases.

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But here we see that they had encountered a case that they could not remedy. Interestingly, Matthew and Mark contain further dialogue between the disciples and Jesus regarding their inability.

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And there's some textual variance here I thought it would be good to point out that's of interest.

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A little bit difficult, but I hope that you'll be patient as we address these. Of course, they,

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Matthew and Mark, later record Jesus in private asking the disciples, or the disciples rather ask

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Jesus, why couldn't we cast this demon out? And so there are several interesting variants that have crept into the scribal manuscript tradition over the last 2 ,000 years as to Jesus' response to them.

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First, in Mark's account in the New King James Version, we read of Mark recording, and when he had come into the house of Jesus, his disciples asked him privately, why could we not cast it out?

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So he said to them, this kind cannot come out by nothing but prayer and fasting. And here is the parallel account in Matthew in the

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New King James Version. Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, why could we not cast it out?

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So Jesus said to them, because of your unbelief, or surely I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, move from here to there, it will move and nothing will be impossible for you.

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However, verse 21 in Matthew's account, this kind does not come out except by prayer and fasting.

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So there is agreement in the New King James Version with Mark and Matthew.

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This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer. However, when you look at the

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ESV, the English Standard Version, from which Pastor Jason read a few minutes ago, we see that there are differences in these verses.

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And so, for example, in Mark's account in the ESV, we read, and when he had entered the house, his disciples asked him privately, why could we not cast it out?

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And he said to them, this kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer. Leaves off the words and fasting.

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And then when you look in the ESV on Matthew's account, you have these words. Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, why could we not cast it out?

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He said to them, because of your little faith, virtually 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.

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And 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.

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I put brackets there in that verse to point out that an entire verse is missing in the

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ESV. Verse 21 is not included. If you'll note closely, it jumps from verse 20 to verse 22 in the

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ESV. There's no 21. Well, how do we explain these differences? Why do they exist in these translations?

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Well, in the New King James version of Mark's account, the words and fasting are included, but they're not in the

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ESV account told by Mark. And in the New King James version of Matthew's account, the same words in Mark are included.

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This kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting. But in the ESV account in Mark, it has the shorter reading.

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This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer, which says nothing about fasting.

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But Matthew's account in the ESV does not include any of these words. There's no verse 21. The explanation of these differences involves at least two intentional scribal changes through the centuries.

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Before the printing press scribes, of course, hand copied the scriptures.

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At some point, a scribe copying Mark purposely added the words and fasting, perhaps showing that although this was a difficult case, it could be achieved with the additional effort of fasting.

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And the scribe probably did this at that period of church history when there was a great deal of attention and effort given by monks to fasting.

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And then we have an intentional harmonization in the New King James version in that you have this version or the same words added in Matthew's account that you have in Mark's account.

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This is an example of intentional harmonization by a scribe.

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In other words, you have a scribe copying Matthew's account. And as he is recording this, he's familiar with what

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Mark says in the text that he had. And so he includes that, he included that in his text.

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And of course, once you had one of these changes, these variants imposed on a text, from thereafter, they were repeated in subsequent copies.

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And by the way, scribes, it was a pretty common matter among scribes of the

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New Testament to harmonize the three gospels, that the readings would be the same as one another.

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And so that's how you can explain the differences between the New King James version and the

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ESV. And scholastically speaking, the ESV probably reflects the original writing of Mark and Matthew.

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Otherwise, you can't explain easily why those words would be missing. They were more than likely added.

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Well, I thought that was of interest, and I think a good point to emphasize.

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Well, next we read that Jesus rebukes a gathered crowd for their unbelief, but then delivered the young man from his malady.

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And so verse 41, we read of our Lord's reaction in response to the crowds. And Jesus answered and said,

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O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? And bear with you, bring your son here.

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Now, we might look at these words as a rather harsh response of our Lord. It appears so.

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He rebukes the father as representative of the entire population. John Calvin's commentary, he thought that this was directed toward the scribes in particular.

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Interestingly. And so apparently, the Lord was rebuking the father for not having faith in the power of God, working through the disciples.

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And the disciples were rebuked for not having enough faith in him to work through them. The sum of it seems to be this.

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As desperate and hard a situation this case seemed to be, it was really a case of little difficulty if they had but a measured faith in Jesus.

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So often we become so focused on the severity of the problem that confronts us and consumes us.

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We really have more faith in that thing to bind us than we have faith in the Lord to deliver us.

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And perhaps when that we have that kind of mindset, it calls for a rebuke from someone who loves us.

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Now, the Lord had given his disciples authority to cast out demons on an earlier occasion. And from his rebuke, it would seem they should have been able to deal with this situation on this occasion, but they could not.

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And so the man found it necessary to come to Jesus personally. And of course, it should be acknowledged that the

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Lord alone can bring healing and deliverance to people. I can't. The elders can't.

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If I had about an extra 20 minutes, I was going to talk about how wrong it is for people to put too much faith in disciples and elders.

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You know, we're only the Lord can bring deliverance. All we can do is point you to him and don't don't put too much faith in us because you'll be disappointed.

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We can pray for you. We can instruct you in the ways of God, but only the Lord can bring deliverance. If you have a problem and for sake of illustration, let's say a spiritual problem such as a habitual sin from which you cannot find deliverance.

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It should be recognized ultimately, I cannot help you. Nobody can help. Only the

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Lord Jesus himself. You need to get to him in faith, in prayer.

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You need to get to him. Now, it's our responsibility to direct you to him for he alone has the power to deliver people from their spiritual maladies.

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And it took a while for this father to realize this. He tried to get help for his son through his disciples, but they could not help.

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And so he came to see that if a work of deliverance was to occur, Jesus is going to have to do it. And the sooner we learn that lesson, we'll spare ourselves a lot of grief and wasted time.

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In verse 42, we read of the reaction of the demon to Jesus. And as he was still coming, that is the boy, the demon threw him down and convulsed him.

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The demon knew his time was short, so he'd have to leave without, he would not leave without afflicting him as much as possible.

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And sometimes right before the Lord brings a deliverance, it seems as though things become worse, even completely hopeless.

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It happens because the devil does not desire release of any of his subjects. And so he works hard at retaining them.

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And sometimes when a guilty sinner is considering placing his faith in Christ for salvation, all manner of opportunities to sin will make themselves available.

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Where a sinful habit's power will seem to break out with binding force. Why does the

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Lord even tolerate this? Why did the Lord tolerate the demon to do this to this, this boy on this occasion?

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Well, it's of course, to help this man see that Jesus Christ alone can bring deliverance.

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We read of the amazement of all who witnessed the miracle in verse 43a, Luke tells us of the reaction of all who were present.

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They were all amazed at the majesty of God. The glory of God. In a sense, the miracle story ends with this statement.

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It's like a summary statement. And often the individual episodes in the gospels end with a, with a reaction of those present who witnessed it, who were there firsthand.

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I, Howard Marshall, again wrote these words, the story ends with the astonishment of all present at the majesty of God.

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The incident is thus seen by Luke as a sign of the powerful saving presence of God. And then this, this sentence caught my eye and this is why

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I included it. What was visible only to the chosen three on the mountain is here visible to a greater number.

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The three saw the glory of Christ on the mountain. The multitude saw the glory of Christ at the foot of the mountain through this miracle.

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Well, when we then read, Jesus spoke once again to his disciples in private regarding his betrayal and suffering.

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All were praising God, but they were ignorant of the deeper things of the kingdom.

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Well these things he would reveal to his disciples or remind them, although he gives an additional detail here that's new, new for us in the gospel.

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Although Jesus had previously informed his disciples of his suffering, death and resurrection at Jerusalem, here we have the first hint that in these events, he would be betrayed by men.

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This is a new detail, but while everyone marveled at all these things, which

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Jesus did, he said to his disciples, let these words sink down into your ears for the son of man is about to be betrayed into the hands of men.

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And so whereas everyone marveled at all the things that Jesus did, he, Jesus was still mindful of what lay before him, betrayal, suffering and death.

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The enamored crowd didn't turn his mind, did it? He knew what was coming. Jesus did not allow himself to be diverted from his goal, namely to accomplish his exodus.

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That's what we saw at the transfiguration, of course. That's what he was talking about with Moses and Elijah. Not even universal acclaim and astonishment because of the great miracle he had just now performed could cause him to deviate from the course he had chosen to follow.

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So from the crowd, he now turns to his disciples. He urged his disciples to listen carefully and to remember his words.

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Let these words sink down in your ears. The unusual words accentuate the importance of what he was about to tell them.

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And later, when he's betrayed, all would have him suffer and die. Then they would need to remember that he told them in advance that he experienced these things.

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Nor of all Gilded Nights, he wrote a good commentary, tied these matters together. Although the multitude are filled with admiration for the

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Savior on account of the mighty miracle of healing performed by God through him, he still continues to see the way of suffering clearly before him.

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And that's an emphasis of Luke, the continual resurfaces in his gospel.

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He knows that he will ere long lose his temporary popularity among men and that he'll be despised and put to death.

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So he calls urgently on his disciples to remember carefully his prediction that he'll be delivered into the hands of men to be crucified.

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But especially after his divine revelation of power and the healing of the child, in view of his present popularity among the masses, it seems impossible that he will have to suffer to die.

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The words of the Savior are still quite incomprehensible to them because they would as yet not be able to bear this truth in its full reality.

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He does not give them the insight to grasp its significance at this stage. He tells them, but it really doesn't strike home until later after the fact.

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And so Jesus told them the Son of Man is about to be betrayed into the hands of men.

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Later in the gospel, we can see these same kind of words repeated. I won't read those, but this becomes a repeated theme of Jesus to his disciples.

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The last occasion he mentioned it was in Luke 24 on the road to Emmaus with the two disciples, you know, indicating, oh foolish ones, you know, didn't you understand that the

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Christ must suffer these things in order to enter into his glory? And so the sufferings of Christ.

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The cross is really the center of history, isn't it? The climax of history. And Luke is continually, through Jesus, pointing this out.

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Well, in verse 45, we read of confusion among the disciples. Although our

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Lord spoke clearly and forthrightly of these matters, they remained ignorant of their meaning and importance.

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And this was all due to God preventing their understanding. Verse 45, but they did not understand this saying.

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Why? It was hidden from them. And the verb is passive. It was hidden.

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They were passive in it, which this passive verb shows it's an act of God. God had hidden it from them.

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So that they did not perceive it. And they were afraid to ask him about this saying. So they could not understand him.

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Again, their ignorance was somewhat excusable for God had, had not revealed the implications to them regarding his sufferings.

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They would not know until after the events. Only then would the meaning of his crucifixion be made clear to them.

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Somewhat as readers of the gospel, we have an advantage over those disciples at this moment in time.

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For we can understand clearly what is coming. The disciples were afraid to ask him for understanding.

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They were not to be blamed really, of course, for, for understanding there. But they were afraid to ask him.

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They should have asked him, but they didn't. And so those are the details of the passage.

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Now let's just consider a few of the implications or lessons. And there are many.

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I only thought we had time to point out three. First, the need for God to grant us illumination.

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So that we understand the meaning and importance of Holy Scripture. The Lord can blind eyes and he can open eyes, can't he?

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But it's the Lord that has to do it. These disciples did not understand the spiritual truth that Jesus had spoken to them.

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Again, verse 45, they did not understand this saying it was hidden from them so that they did not perceive it.

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The Bible is a book of historical truth. And it's a book of spiritual truth.

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It reveals to us the nature and identity of God, of his ways and of his will for us.

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Understanding the message of the Holy Scriptures is not merely a function of one's intellect. Some will say, well,

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I'm not smart enough to understand. It's not a matter of intellect. It's a spiritual apprehension that's all important.

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The Lord must open your understanding to the Scriptures and to its relevance, its importance.

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It's not only its understanding, but its validity and the weightiness of it upon your soul.

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And this is the way we acquire the spiritual things of God. It might be that we have heard some truths before, perhaps over and over, maybe for years.

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But when the Lord gives ears to hear, the truth is seen with great clarity. And it's important so vividly comprehend that it's transforming in nature.

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You're not the same. You can't be. And we should always be praying for spiritual illumination of God's word to us.

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On the other hand, if we have no interest in knowing the truth, or if we have reservations about obeying the truth, the

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Lord may judicially prevent us from understanding, perhaps even elementary teachings or doctrines of Scripture.

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Again, actually, God is sovereign in this matter. God reveals his truth to those whom he chooses.

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He hides his truth from those he chooses. Since all without distinction are guilty and underserving of his truth, by which they may experience recovery,

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God's under no obligation to reveal himself to anybody. He can keep you in ignorance and justly so to your just damnation.

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Because we're sinners. We're guilty. But thankfully, he is a

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God who delights in mercy. This doctrine of God's sovereign grace and will and illumination is seen clearly in Romans 11.

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Pastor Jason will be reading it in a couple of weeks here. And here,

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Paul spoke about it. He was explaining why many Jews had not believed upon Jesus, their promised

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Messiah. He mentioned that in Romans 9, Romans 11, he explains why.

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I asked then, Paul wrote, has God rejected his people, in other words, ethnic Jews, by no means?

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He says, I, myself, am a ministerialite. Paul says, I'm a Jew. God hasn't rejected the

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Jews. Even now, he's saving a remnant of Jews. Paul says, I'm one of them. The descent of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin.

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God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew. Do you not know that the Scripture says of Elijah, how he appealed to God against Israel?

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Lord, they've killed your prophets. They've demolished your altars, and I alone am left. They seek my life.

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But what is God's reply to him? I have kept for myself 7 ,000 men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.

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It was God who did this. It wasn't because there were 7 ,000 that were, you know, wiser, more intelligent, more willing, responsive to God than anybody else.

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No, God says, I reserved them for me, for myself. And so he says, so too at the present time.

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In this church age, there is a remnant of Jewish people chosen by grace.

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But if it's by grace, it's no longer on the basis of works. It cannot be contingent on them.

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Otherwise, it's based upon their works. And God doesn't deal with people that way. He deals with people according to grace.

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Otherwise, grace would no longer be grace. What then? Israel failed to obtain what it was seeking.

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The elect obtained it, but then I put in bold and italicized font.

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The rest were hardened. There's that passive verb again. Were hardened. Who hardened them?

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God did. As it is written, God gave them a spirit of stupor. Eyes that would not see, ears that would not hear, down to this very day.

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This is the reason that all these Jews didn't believe on Jesus. And Paul later says the reason

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God blinded them is so that he could have mercy on the Gentiles. Wonderfully.

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And then he quotes David. He says the Old Testament, the scriptures testify of this. David himself said, let their table, let all the blessings that God had given to Israel become a snare and a trap to them.

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A stumbling block and a retribution for them. Let their eyes be darkened so that they cannot see and bend their backs forever.

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So God is sovereign in his ability to reveal himself and his truth to you or withhold his truth from you.

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And so may we always pray and be humble before the Lord. Illuminate our understanding to your word, please.

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Open our eyes. And so let us prepare ourselves to do so.

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Every Lord's Day, we should prepare ourselves before you open the word and begin to read it. That ought to be a prayer.

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Illuminate my mind and my soul to the truth and the weight of your word before me.

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And so let us prepare ourselves and commit ourselves to believe whatever we learn from the scriptures, but not just believe, commit to obey whatever you discover in the scriptures.

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Because obedience, if you're not willing to obey the word, the Lord will not reveal his word to you.

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Jesus said, if anyone wills to do his will, in other words, if you really want to obey the will of God, he says, then he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it's of God or whether I speak concerning me, it's to the ones who are desirous to be obedient.

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God opens up his word to you. The illumination, the grace of illumination, which is so critically important.

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Secondly, the need we have to be prayerful when afflicted. And I put in parentheses by the devil, how much of our affliction does the devil have a part in?

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That's a good question to ask. Not all sickness, of course, is instigated by the devil, but we should not fail to consider that he may be involved when we're afflicted with physical infirmities.

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It's clear he can afflict people or aggravate their condition. Later in Luke 13, we'll read of Jesus healing a woman who had been suffering for 18 years.

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We won't read the entire account. You're probably familiar with it. This was a woman who had a spirit of infirmity for 18 years.

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She was bent over and no way could she lift herself up. And so Jesus healed her.

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It had to be on a Sabbath day. So that brought up another conflict and the Jews reacted him and Jesus appealed to them.

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So ought not this woman being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has bound, think of it for 18 years, be loosed from this bond on the

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Sabbath. This physical affliction of this woman was satanically, at least we can say aggravated by the devil.

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She was bound by the devil. When we pray for people to be healed, it would probably be a good thing to ask our

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Lord to remove the devil's influence and to break his power if indeed he's involved in the matter.

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And I'm not, you know, advocating we blame the devil on everything, you know, and sickness too.

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No, but I was interested to read John Calvin's comments about this. Let us learn from this how many ways

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Satan has of injuring us. He's talking about this boy, the son of this father, were it not that he is restrained by the hand of God.

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And if the Lord took away the restraining hand from the devil, look out. And that appears what's happening in the world, isn't it?

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Our infirmity is both of soul and body, which we feel to be innumerable. There are so many darts with which

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Satan is supplied for wounding us. We're worse than stupid. If a condition so wretched does not arouse us to prayer.

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But in this we see also an amazing display of the goodness of God. That though we are liable to such a variety of dangers, he surrounds us with protection.

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Particularly if we consider what eagerness our enemy has bent on our destruction. We ought also to call to remembrance the consoling truth that Christ has come to bridle his rage and that we are safe in the midst of so many dangers because our diseases are effectually counteracted by heavenly medicine.

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We must attend also to the circumstance of the time. The father replies that his son had been subject to this grieving disease from his infancy.

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If Satan was permitted to exert his power to such an extent on a person of that tender age, what reason have not we to fear who are continually exposing ourselves by our crimes to deadly strokes, who even supply our enemy with darts, and on whom he might justly be permitted to spend his rage if it were not kept under restraint by an astonishing goodness of God?

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Well, the point of this application is that, you know, is that we ought to recognize that the devil could could really be involved in a lot of this stuff that we're dealing with.

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It's not just a matter of scientific physical consequences, we're not, you know, we're in a spiritual universe, a spiritual world, and God is good and the devil is evil, and we just cannot take that and divorce that from that realm.

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And then lastly, we'll close with this, the need for the Lord to increase our faith. Oh, unbelieving, perverse generation,

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Jesus, of course, rebuked. The crowd, Jesus said to the father, if you can believe all things are possible to him who believes.

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And the father immediately cried out, I believe, yet help thou my unbelief.

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And we should always pray to our Lord, help my unbelief.

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I try, you know, everyone who is a Christian here has faith. Not one of us has faith enough.

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But we should pray for more faith, help my unbelief. Now, we can get by without having great faith.

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Even a little faith is of God, of course, which is wonderful.

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Great faith is preferable to little faith, but really all we need is little faith. That's what Jesus said, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you can say to a mountain, if it was the will of God, of course, or a mulberry tree, be pulled up by the roots, be planted in the sea, it would obey you.

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You don't need great faith. You know, it's important to have a little faith in a great

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God rather than great faith in a little God. A little faith, you know, puts you in contact with a great

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God. And you can tear up mulberry trees. The Puritan John Flavel, I came across this, addressed this man's faith here in Luke 9 and his prayer to Jesus.

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And I said it forth before us, it's a long quote, but I thought I'd give you a little flavor of Flavel, okay, regarding his encouragement.

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The encouragement of these words, for the one who sees his faith as weak or little, okay. And so here's

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John Flavel in his sixth volume of his works. The occasion of these words is to be gathered from the context, and briefly it was this, a tender father brings a possessed child to Christ to be cured.

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A doubting question, if thou can't do anything, this is what the father asked

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Jesus, if thou can't do anything, have compassion on us and help us.

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Words importing much natural affection and tender love to his child, have compassion on us and help us.

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If the child be sick, the parent is not well, what touches the child is felt by his father.

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And so Flavel speaks about they were both in need, not just the child, but the father too. As they import this natural affection to his child, so also his own spiritual disease or the weakness of his faith.

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His child possessed with a dumb devil and himself with unbelieving doubts and suspicions of Christ's ability to cure his child.

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The child had a sick body, the father had an infirm soul. Satan afflicted one by possession and the other by temptation.

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Christ returns his doubtful language upon himself. If thou can't believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.

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Dost thou doubt my ability to heal the child? Question rather thy own ability to believe for his cure.

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If he be not healed, the cause will not be my inability, but thine own infidelity. Which he speaks not to insinuate that faith was in his own power, but to convince him of his weakness and drive him to God for assistance, which effect it obtained.

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For immediately he cried out and said with tears, help, Lord, I believe, help thou my unbelief.

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Oh, how good it is for men to be brought into the straits of affliction sometimes.

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Had not this man fallen into this distress, it's not like he had arrived either to the sense of his grace or the weakness of it.

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And then Flabel breaks it down in the words, we may note these three parts. First, a profession of his faith,

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Lord, I believe. Secondly, a sense of the weakness of his faith, help thou my unbelief. And thirdly, the affection with which both are uttered.

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He cried out and said with tears. If these tears proceeded from a sense and feeling of divine power, enabling him to believe in something, then they were tears of joy and would affirm us this great truth.

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And then the typical Puritan way after setting forth the meaning of the details like we did this morning, they then set forth a doctrine.

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This is the truth from this. And then they gave application of the truth. And so he drew two doctrines from this.

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First, that the least and lowest measure of true faith is a matter of great joy unspeakable to the possessor of it.

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A little faith. If they proceeded from the sense of the weakness of his faith, they gave us this note.

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And so here's the second doctrine that he gleaned, that the remainders of unbelief in the people of God do cost them many tears.

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They are the burdens and sorrows of gracious souls. Gracious souls means those who have saving faith, those that are saved by grace.

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Their cause of grief, measures of unbelief. He then expounds on these two doctrines.

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And there's about eight pages that are following this. And I condense them all into what we have right here.

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Doctrine one, the least and lowest measure of true faith is a matter of great joy unspeakable to the possessor of it.

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The apostle in second Peter calls it precious faith. And it well deserves that epithet.

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For the least and lowest degree of saving faith is of an invaluable excellency, as will appear in these particulars.

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First, the least degree of saving faith truly unites the soul to Jesus Christ and makes it as really a branch and member of him as Moses and Abraham and Paul.

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If you have even a little faith in Jesus, you are as blessed and privileged as Abraham, Moses and Paul.

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All saving faith receives Christ, John 1 12. Indeed, the strong believer receives him with a stronger and steadier hand than the weak one doth, who staggers, doubts and trembles, but yet receives him and consequently is as much interested, in other words, participant in the blessed privileges flowing from union as the greatest believer in the world.

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And secondly, from the least degree of saving faith, we may infirm as plenary a remission of sin.

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We conclude, you know, just a little faith. Nevertheless, you have the remission of sin if it's faith in Jesus.

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The weakest believer is as completely pardoned as the strongest. Acts 10 43, by him, all that believe are justified from all things.

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And thirdly, the least degree of saving faith infers the election of God. Oh, it's a matter of more joy that our names are written in the book of life than that the devils are subject to us.

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Luke 10 20. And fourthly, and lastly, he that hath any the least degree of saving faith hath that which will never be taken from him.

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All other excellencies go away at death. Job 4 21. But this is a spring that never fails.

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It springs up unto everlasting life. John 4 14. A man may outlive his friends and familiars, friends and family, his estate and health, his gifts and natural parts, but not his faith.

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How great matter joy and comfort is wrapped up in the least degree of faith. I thought that would be encouraging for it should be encouraging for every one of us who are

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Christians, who cling to Christ and look to Christ alone as Lord and Savior.

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Amen. Let's pray. Thank you, Father, for your word. And thank you, our

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God, for the human element that we see on every page of scripture.

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And we thank you for your mercy and grace that you show to this man and to this boy, our

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God. And Lord, we have concerns. No, not perhaps as grievous as what this father had.

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But we have concerns for ourselves and for some of us, more so for our children and our grandchildren, our parents, our siblings.

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And we pray only you, our God, can save them. We pray you do so.

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Show forth your great mercy and power, Lord, in bringing them out of their sin, out of their death into spiritual life.

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Use us, our God, as messengers to declare them the truth of the gospel in Jesus Christ, that they might look past us, look past themselves and see

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Jesus Christ in all his saving glory. And we'll thank you, our God, for enlarging your kingdom and showing yourself wonderfully merciful and powerful in saving them.

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Help us, our God, increase our faith, we pray, in Jesus Christ and the authority, the infinite authority you've conferred him as the