Jesus The Eternal Creator - [Hebrews 1:10-12]

I don't know if you regularly encourage people. If you do, wonderful.

And my question to you this morning is, how do you encourage them? If you would like to encourage others, you know it's good for your soul, how do you particularly encourage other people?

I looked at a Christian website, and it's got a variety of things. Some are helpful, some may be less than helpful.

One is, according to this website, on 19 ways to encourage others. Learn someone's love language, and then give them what they'd like.

I don't recommend the book, but there are words of affirmation, quality time. Someone in my household says they have the love language of receiving gifts, but that's another story.

Why is that? Everyone has the same love. I like to receive gifts. Another way, it said send flowers.

Give a handwritten note in the mail. This one's better. This one's more Christian. Remind fellow

Christians of the specific promises of God. Tell them that you're praying for them.

Make celebration a more regular part of your relationship. Remind them that Jesus is coming back.

That's an excellent one. If you're part of a church, this study says our Bible study, our fellowship, be committed to showing up.

That's encouraging. If someone you know is working on a large project, send her a single flower to encourage her at the beginning of the project, and a full bouquet when it's done.

Maybe some good practical advice. I found this odd. We could learn something from the way team athletes freely pat, touch, and high -five each other in competition.

It said be careful, though, to be above reproach. They came very close to it, but the writer of Hebrews would say this, if you'd like to encourage other people who are going through troubles and trials and they're running for their lives.

They're not martyred yet, but they're close to it. They've lost their homes.

How'd you like to lose your home? What would you tell someone? I've lost my home for the sake of Christ. If you go to jail and meet someone with a jail ministry,

I'm in jail because of Jesus Christ. How do you encourage them? And there's nothing wrong with handwritten notes and praying for people, obviously.

But the writer of Hebrews says, let me tell you about who Jesus is. I'm going to encourage you with the person and work of Christ.

And I submit to you that sometimes, even in churches, the most ignored person in the world is

Jesus. We want to be doers. We want to be action -oriented. We have a list.

We manage by objectives. And the writer here knows. Let's just talk about Jesus and let's focus on Him.

And as you gaze upon Him and delight in Him, every other problem finds its right level.

Please turn to Hebrews chapter 1, as this morning we are going to be going at breakneck speed, covering three verses.

Josh Johanson last night told me at our home that when we were early on in the book of Hebrews, when

I would do three sermons per verse, he had calculated it would take about 10 years to get through the book.

Well, buddy, we're going to speed up a little bit. The interesting thing to me is the writer of Hebrews, he isn't in a hurry.

He writes, Hebrews 13, it says, a word of exhortation. He writes a sermon.

Here's a sermon and it's front -loaded, not with funny anecdotal things.

It's not got a bunch of illustrations. He immediately starts talking about the person and work of Christ, who

Jesus is, what Jesus has done, and then he just settles there. It's almost like he knows what's good for our soul, because actually he does know what's good for our soul.

It's good for us as we run hither -thither, pell -mell, running to and fro with the frenetic busyness of life, to just come back to a worship service and say, it's good to think about who

Jesus is, to ponder Him for not five minutes, not 30 minutes, but this morning for the whole sermon, thinking about who

Jesus is. And to preview the book a little bit, he says of Jesus, he's the guarantor of a better covenant, verse chapter 7, rather.

Chapter 12, Jesus is the mediator of a new covenant and a sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.

This is a book that preaches. It's like a sermon and God is speaking to us about the person and work of Christ.

You can't look at the stars and figure these things out. You can't look at the moon and figure it out.

Did you go outside last night and take a look at the stars and the moon? I mean, impressive. And they spoke of God's wisdom, they spoke of God's power, they spoke of God's creative hand, but they didn't say, you know what,

Jesus is better, Jesus is superior, Jesus is God, Jesus is better than the angels.

There's a lot of talking in this world, but people rarely talk about Jesus. Talk radio, talking heads.

If I wanted to quote an old song and Charlie would recognize it, all you do is talk, talk. There are some updates.

People used to think women spoke a lot more words per day than men did, but now it says on average women speak 16 ,215 words per day and men speak 15 ,669 words per day.

So women still speak a little bit more. But I wonder if we took all those words and put them together, how many of those words talk about Jesus, the

Savior, the Lord? So let's dive back into the book of Hebrews as the majesty of Jesus is shown in the book of Hebrews.

Obviously, the theme of the Bible is Jesus and here the theme of this man's sermon, this book, his theme is

Jesus. The Lord himself said, you search the scriptures for in them you think you have eternal life and these are the words which testify of me.

He is the central character and if the newspapers ignore him, the writer of Hebrews does not.

If the websites ignore him, the writer of Hebrews does not. He will not be ignored for he is to be worshipped and to thought well of.

Now, do you see in verses 5 through 14, kind of a tabbed in, plenty of paragraph space there, a lot of white space around the words and the sentences because these are all quotes from the

Old Testament. At least in my particular Bible, this ESV Bible I have, I can easily tell when there's a quote from the

Old Testament. Maybe if you've got an NAS, it's all in bold letters. The writer of Hebrews is quoting the

Hebrew Bible to convince these Hebrews to stop being Hebrews in the Old Covenant and to worship the ultimate

Hebrew, Jesus. Got it? Yes. And he gives seven passages that extol who

Jesus is and how he's better than the angels. The first one, remember in verse 5, it's from Psalm 2.

For to which of the angels did he ever say, you are my son, today I have begotten you.

To which angel did the father ever say, good job dying on the cross, excellent job living a perfect life,

I commend your resurrection and sit here at my right hand for a coronation.

Not to one angel did God ever say that. The second passage we've learned is 2

Samuel 7, 14, also found in verse 5, or again, I will be to him a father and he shall be to me a son.

Davidic covenant language, and we got a taste of that in Psalm 89 for our scripture reading today.

The ultimate David, the son of David, Romans 1 talks about the son of David, is

Jesus and no angel ever gets to be told, you're a son. The third passage is found in verse 6.

By the way, I've had a great time just studying the Old Testament from the book of Hebrews. That's why I'm not in a hurry, because as we see how the writer of Hebrews reads the

Old Testament, he reads it in a very Christ -centered way, does he not? And it says here in verse 6 from Deuteronomy 32, possibly

Psalm 97. And again, when he brings the firstborn into the world, he says, let all

God's angels worship him. I like it that the writer doesn't say, now, let's make sure we don't go overboard on redemptive historical nature of Jesus in the

Old Testament. Who is Jesus? Does he exist in the Old Testament? When did he exist?

There's none of that kind of talk. It just is very matter -of -fact. This verse from Deuteronomy 32, speaking of God, is

Jesus. Jesus is Yahweh. The Spirit of God is Yahweh. The Father is Yahweh. These texts about God obviously apply to Jesus.

And do you notice what the text doesn't say? Let all God's angels worship me, the Father. He says, worship the

Son. This triune God receives glory by the

Son being worshiped. Passage 4, Psalm 104, you see it in verse 7. Of the angels, he says, he makes his angels winds and his ministers a flame of fire.

We saw last week, and this is the final bit of review, passage 5, Psalm 45. The Father is talking.

We're eavesdropping on Trinitarian discussion. That's fascinating. But of the

Son, he says, your throne, O God. So the Father is saying to the Son, O God, your throne is forever and ever.

The scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom. You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness.

Therefore, God, the Father, your God, the Father, speaking to the Son, has anointed you with the oil of gladness beyond all your companions.

And now we come to verse 10, 11, and 12, passage number 6 from the

Old Testament that speaks to the fact that Jesus is better than the angels.

Now, if you pick up some themes as I read it, you'll have your eyes and ears tuned to what's going on.

What are the themes? Let me read them and see if you can figure it out as I read. Verses 10, 11, and 12 from Hebrews 1.

And you, Lord, laid the foundation of the earth in the beginning, and the heavens are the work of your hands.

They will perish, but you remain. They will all wear out like a garment.

Like a robe, you will roll them up. Like a garment, they will be changed. But you are the same, and your years will have no end.

Jesus is superior to the angels because He creates and He never changes.

That's the idea. You stay the same. It doesn't take you very long to begin to think about angels and how they didn't stay the same.

They were all created upright, and a third of them fell and followed Lucifer. Angels are mutable.

Angels change. Yes, their status is fixed now, but there's a change to angels like there's a change to the earth.

Jesus is superior because He creates and He is eternal. Doesn't it make sense?

He just got done talking, did He not, in verse 8 about His throne is forever and ever?

How can you have a throne of sovereignty, a throne of rulership, a throne of majesty, if you don't last forever?

You have to be seated on the throne. So let's just focus in a little bit on verse 10 for right now.

Jesus is superior because He creates. Angels obviously are created.

They didn't exist before Genesis 1. Jesus is better than angels. Here's why. He created them and everything else.

The Father speaking again. Fascinating. The Father talking to the Son. You, Lord, laid the foundations of the earth in the beginning, and the heavens are the work of Your hands.

Jesus, You're going to outlast creation. You are the creator and You're the consummator.

You're the Alpha and then You're the Omega. You're the first and the last. You start everything and You're there at the very end.

Now, what does He quote? You probably have this in your fine print of your

Bible in verses 10, 11, and 12. What passage is

He quoting? And you would be correct if you said Psalm 102. So why don't we turn to Psalm 102 and see from which this passage comes.

Psalm 102. How do you encourage people when they're going through tough times?

How do you encourage people when there's enemies after them? How do you encourage the Jews in Psalm 102 when there's trouble?

How do you do that? You do the exact same thing that the writer of Hebrews is doing. You say to yourself...

You don't say to yourself, you say to these people. Enemies won't last, but God will.

By the way, if you're a Christian here today, I don't care if it's a physical sickness, a bad physical sickness, issue in relationships, whatever your trial is,

I have to tell you, it will not last forever. Is that true? No matter what trial it is, it will never last.

By the way, if you're not a Christian, you will wish when you're in hell that you would be on earth going through the trial you're going through now.

In other words, there's worse things going to come. But for the Christian, not one trouble will last.

Not one. You say, what about that person at work that I don't get along with? What about this? And what about my estrangement with my kids?

And what about my husband and wife relationship? What about all this? What about my bad back? What about my MS? What about this, that, and the other? None of those will last.

And then the writer says, but God lasts forever. Keep your focus on who God is.

He lasts forever. And that's Psalm 102. Doesn't it seem to make sense now? Why...

You scratch your head and think, why would the Hebrew, the writer of Hebrews, quote from Psalm 102 about Jesus?

Because he wants to exalt Jesus and he wants to help these people. Listen, your trials won't last.

Your persecution won't last. Your martyrdom that will someday show up won't last.

What will last? God will last. He transcends problems. And you should just stop for just a quick second and say,

God transcends every problem that I'm going through right now. I just need to put everything in perspective.

God is eternal. These problems won't last. I remember

I used to go swimming at the Quinn Sigmund Pool. And I would talk to people about the

Lord sometimes. And I remember a guy came in and I could see he had scars all over and all over his back.

And he was in a wheelchair. And I wanted to help him. And he went into the men's room.

And instead of over the locker room, he couldn't really have access to that. He just changed his clothes. He obviously had brain surgery and other things.

He changed his clothes in the men's room and then jammed his clothes behind the toilet.

And I just thought, I wouldn't want that for somebody to do that. Can I help you, please?

I'll put your stuff in a locker. Do you want me to take that into the swimming pool area for you? How could I help?

And I can't repeat to you what that man said to me because it was untoward. But I just felt so bad for the guy because I thought, you know, one day you think you're going to be released from that situation you're in and that body that you're in.

You think death will be the sweet release. But unless God saves your heart and regenerates you and saves your soul, you'll wish in hell to get back into that seat by that wheelchair of yours.

I felt so bad. But for the Christian, no matter what you're going through, the worst thing that's going in your life, going on right now,

God transcends that problem. That's why Psalm 102 is picked. So let's just go through this

Psalm just for a second. Quickly you're going to think, you know what? If the universe doesn't last, my enemies won't last.

If the heavens don't last. When I first got to this church, we have interesting people now.

But we had even more interesting people back in those days. And I made a flippant comment. I mean, I don't usually say flippant things from the pulpit or on the radio, but I made one about Earth Day.

And because they said, Pastor, are you going to have any Earth Day celebrations? I thought they were joking, but they weren't. I said,

I'm going to celebrate Earth Day when God comes back and just destroys everything. That's happy Earth Day.

They looked at me like I was... We want to take care of the earth.

We don't want to be polluters. But friends, all that time recycling and this and that and the other, it starts blending between creature and creator.

And you know what? The universe was not made to last. Everything that you see was made for a temporary reason.

That's what the Psalm says. That's what Hebrews says. And if the universe won't last, obviously my enemies won't last.

My trial won't last. Hear my prayer, Yahweh. Let my cry come to you.

I need encouragement. Don't hide your face from me in the day of my distress. Incline your ear to me.

I'm desperate. Answer me speedily in the day when I call. This is urgent prayer. My days pass away like smoke.

I don't last. I'm frail. My bones burn like a furnace.

What interesting descriptions of how he feels. You really get the idea. Probably because he describes it well and probably because you have felt it well.

I'm alone. My heart struck down like grass has withered. I forget to eat my bread because of my loud groaning.

My bones cling to my flesh. Think about some lonely animals out in the desert.

Here's two. This is what I feel like. I'm like a desert owl in the wilderness. Like an owl of the waste places.

I can sense him just go. I lie awake.

I'm like a lonely sparrow on the housetop. All the day my enemies taunt me. Will they ever end?

Will this trial ever end? Those who deride me use my name for a curse. I'm a swear word.

I eat ashes like bread. I mingle tears with my drink. Because of your indignation and anger for you have taken me up and thrown me down.

My days are like an evening shadow. I'm not going to last. I wither away like grass.

Here today, gone tomorrow. But do you see the turn now? Do you see everything switches?

This is the Psalm 73 kind of language. I didn't understand the enemies until I went to the sanctuary of God and I perceived their end looking at it from the right perspective.

But you, oh Lord, unlike my enemies, unlike my trials, unlike all these other issues, you're enthroned forever.

Sound familiar? Sound like Hebrews 1 .8 to you? It's got that flavor, doesn't it?

You are remembered throughout all generations. You are permanent. Your covenant lasts forever. You will arise, have pity on Zion.

It is the time to favor her. The appointed time has come. It's all in your plan for her servants.

Your servants hold her stones dear. Have pity on her dust. Nations will fear the name of the

Lord. All the kings of the earth will fear your glory. He regards the prayer of the destitute, verse 17, and does not despise their prayer.

So let this be recorded for a generation to come. Remember this, in other words, that a people yet to be created may praise the

Lord. That He looked down from His holy height, from heaven the Lord looked at the earth to hear the groans.

This transcendent God is close as well. He's eminent. He's a friend that sticks close to a brother kind of idea.

To hear the groans of the prisoners. To set free those who are doomed to die. If I was a person back in the day getting persecuted in the

New Testament church time, hearing the book of Hebrews, I'd want to hear language like this.

I'd be thinking of a psalm like this. And if you go down to verse 25, the verses that are found in Hebrews 1 are now found here in Psalm 102.

God, I'm going to die, but you're not. Of old you laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands.

You created them, God. He's not referring to the second person of the Trinity here explicitly, but we know in Hebrews He is now.

They will perish, but you remain. They wear out like a garment. You'll change them like a robe, and they will pass away.

But you're the same, and your years have no end. Friends, what changed in this person's life?

He still had the enemies, but the way he looked at everything was the right way. Nothing changed, yet everything changed.

Now let's go back to Hebrews 1. Psalm 102 is written so that people who need encouragement find it outside of themselves and they realize my problems won't last, this earth won't last, the universe won't last, my enemies won't last, my frail body won't last, but there's a

God who lasts. Can't you hear? Hebrews 13, verse 8,

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Jesus is eternal.

Can you imagine these words that we read in Psalm 102 of God, Yahweh, are applied to Jesus, the unchangeable, permanent

Jesus. The Father speaking to the Son. Almighty God described, yet the author of Hebrews says this is

Jesus. Now this is interesting if you're a Greek scholar or even if you're not, you can read commentaries and find this out.

Notice in verse 10, and you Lord, if you were watchful, you didn't see the word

Lord in Psalm 102. It's not in the Hebrew, but it's in the Greek version of the Old Testament, Lord.

He's been talking about Lord since chapter 102, verse 1 and following, but he inserts it here by the

Spirit's inspiration. You Lord, calling the Son Lord, the Father calling Jesus Lord, laid the foundation of the earth in the beginning.

You securely set this like a foundation stone and a base and you did it in creation and you will outlast it.

Friends, I've said this many times, but this is discussing the pre -existence of Jesus. Jesus existed before the nativity.

He's the second person of the Trinity. He was in the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the

Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things, including angels came into being by Him and apart from Him, Jesus, nothing, including angels, came into being that has come into being.

And the Father says to the Son, do you notice? The heavens are the work of your hands. I stood outside last night and saw that moon and saw the stars and just think, you know what?

Anybody who could make that needs to be applauded, needs to be praised and here, it's the

Father saying to the Son, that is an awesome thing that you've done. Only God can create and Jesus creates.

Jesus therefore is God. Isaiah says of God, declaring, surely my hand founded the earth, my right hand spread out the heavens.

When I call to them, they stand together. Hebrews 3, the builder of all things is

Jesus. Angels don't create, Jesus creates. Jesus therefore is superior and very closely related, verses 11 and 12 talks about the eternality of Jesus.

Kim and I are doing some spring cleaning and I've got kind of a new rule. I hate the rule, but I've got the rule. If I've got some clothes that have a hole in them,

I frame them. I'm just kidding. I throw them away. Clothes, they get old.

You toss them. The universe gets old, it gets tossed, but the sun remains.

The eternality of the sun is stressed and he should be praised for that. Verse 11 they the heavens the earth will perish.

I can hear 2 Peter say the day of the Lord will come like a thief and then the heavens will pass away with a roar and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.

But you emphatically in the Greek remain. You stay put. You stay. You don't perish.

You remain. They will all wear out like a garment. I the Lord God do not change.

Malachi chapter 3 verse 6 Wait a second.

The Father is saying this to the Son. I thought there's no God besides God. Well, there's not.

But the point here for the writer of Hebrews, you can imagine these people, these Jewish people it's hard enough for us to think

Trinitarianly. They're thinking the Lord our God is one. The Shema, Deuteronomy 6. How can there be one

God subsisting in three persons? Well, there is because the Father now is speaking to the

Son. He should be saying to the Son, you know what? I've created you and therefore you worship me as well.

Sola Dea Gloria. I will not give my glory to another. You worship me. Angels, you worship me.

But since the Father's God, the Son's God and the Spirit's God and since the Spirit's not the Father and the Father's not the

Son and the Son's not the Spirit, the Father says, it's hard to do, isn't it? When you think of Trinity, you think three.

Three things to remember. It's simple. There's one God, Deuteronomy 6. That's the first thing to remember.

The second thing to remember is the text clearly says the Father's God, the Son's God and the

Spirit's God. And then the third thing to remember is the Father's not the Spirit and the Spirit's not the Son and the

Son's not the Father. Jesus was not throwing His voice at the Mount of Transfiguration, right?

Trinitarian worship. The Father says, and I spoke of this last week, worship the Son just like when the

Son's on earth. Worship the Father. I'm not going to worship something that's going to be old and worn out, folded up like a cloak, but something that's eternal, something that doesn't change, something that can't get better, something that can't get worse.

Someone. Verse 12, like a robe you'll roll them up. Like a garment they'll be changed.

But you're the same. But you are the same. Angels aren't the same.

Angels don't create. Your ears will have no end.

Can you think of something that doesn't change? Say, well, it doesn't change for like 10 years, maybe 20 years.

Everything changes. Everything decays. What is the law of entropy or thermodynamics?

Which particular law where things don't just get better? I don't believe in evolution for lots of reasons.

One being, things don't go from bad to better.

Things go from what? Good to bad. And if I just made a mistake with my thermodynamics stuff, then you correct me.

But I'm not mistaken about this biblical truth. Everything changes except God doesn't change.

And if God doesn't change, the promises of God don't change either. And God says, and it says it later in Hebrews 13,

I will never leave you or forsake you. But what if He forgets? He won't forget.

He doesn't change. Stars burn out and will. The universe gets old. How about your own body?

I begin to think, you know, when you look at the mirror, right? Ecclesiastes 12 is fascinating because some people think, you know what, all of a sudden

I'm 70 and I have to stand before God. Nobody really ever told me. I was getting close to being face to face with God.

The mirror tells you every day. That's Ecclesiastes 12. The mirror tells you one day closer.

Right? I stand in the mirror and I look and I think, first of all, I can't see the mirror. That's why I have to go like that.

I can't even see the mirror. And you know, when you're a kid, you're like, oh, I got some facial hair, you know, a little bit here and shave.

And then when you're old, you go, I don't want any more facial hair because I feel like I'm a wolf man or something.

The hair is coming up on my... I look, baggy eyes, I can't see, I can't hear. I've lost two inches.

I'm getting older and older. I'm changing. I'm dying. What do you tell dying people?

Well, at least you had 80 years. There's a God who loves sinners.

And front loaded in chapter 1, verse 3, He purified all your sins. He washed them.

He cleansed them. He will never make you pay for one of your sins. Because He poured out

His wrath on Jesus. And when you get old and you decay, you could even lose your mind about the promises of God.

MacArthur's professor, Charles Feinberg, he was an Orthodox Jew. He gets saved. He becomes

MacArthur's mentor. He was the guy that said to MacArthur when MacArthur preached in chapel at Tabitha Seminary, I have one comment for you,

John. The point of the passage wasn't the point of your sermon. You completely missed the point of the sermon.

And he lost his mind and he was in a rest home. He reverted back to Judaism, not Messianic Judaism, and the only vestige of his mind that said, seminary professor,

Christian, was he'd get all the nurses together for a staff meeting. You think

God forgot His promises? Even though this guy couldn't even say His name? God's eternal.

He doesn't lie, just like in Psalm 89. He doesn't lie to David. He doesn't lie to us.

His years don't come to an end. Angels subject to decay in terms of their fall.

Old Testament covenant, it says in chapter 8, and what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.

Fame, it lasts 15 minutes. Money, it rusts. God's promise,

God's oath does not. Jesus is God. Jesus is great.

Jesus is better than the angels because He's eternal. I'd like you to turn your

Bible to Mark 9 and this is where we're going to land today and end our message. Mark chapter 9, showing you something about Jesus on earth and to show you how great

He is because I want you to size up your problems in light of who Jesus is. If you don't have problems now, you know, just wait a minute and you'll get some.

Isn't that interesting? I think I've been through enough trials in my life. Lord, I think I've hit my quota. Glad I don't have to do any more of those.

It's just smooth sailing from here on out. That's at least how I think. Jesus suffered and He has servants who suffer.

And there are benefits to suffering and one of the benefits is we realize we can't be self -dependent and we have to look to our

Savior because He can be trusted and He's eternal and He's powerful. In Mark chapter 9, verse 14,

I know in this passage, you're familiar with it. I think it's been 10 years, maybe 15 since I preached through Mark but the writer,

Mark, you get a sense like you're right there. And this extols

Jesus when, Mark 9, verse 14, they came back to the disciples.

They saw a large crowd around them and subscribes, arguing with them. So, Peter, James, and John, and Jesus, they've been on the

Mount of Transfiguration. They come back and here's what they see. A debate with a lot of people. So much for the mountaintop experience.

And these scribes, what's the text say? They're questioning the disciples of Jesus. I think what's happening is they're saying

Jesus is a fraud. Jesus can't be trusted. Jesus is a faker. Jesus is a snake oil salesman.

Laughing it up. Yucking it up. Verse 15, and immediately, doesn't Mark like to say that? When the entire crowd saw

Him, when's the last time you were amazed in your life? Yet everybody when they were around Jesus in the book of Mark, they're amazed.

And they were amazed and began running up to greet Him. One minute ago, they were too busy arguing.

Now they're running up to meet Jesus. Some think, well, because He's got the Transfiguration glow still on His face. I don't think it's that, but just the power of Jesus, the presence of Jesus.

And they were amazed. The text says they were greatly amazed. They're just always amazed when you're around Jesus.

When's the last time you were amazed? You see Jesus and you think, that's amazing. He's amazing.

He asked them, what are you discussing with them? He's not asking for information.

He's God. He knows the disciples are weak. Don't you love it that He comes to their rescue?

I don't hear anymore jeering. I don't hear anymore arguing. What are you discussing with them? But the silence of the scribes doesn't last long because someone steps forward.

Verse 17. One of the crowd answered, Teacher, I brought you my son possessed with a spirit which makes him mute.

Teacher, out of respect, I've got a boy and it's demonically induced.

One writer said, Luke says, this man shouted out, Teacher, I beg you to look at my son, for he's my only boy.

Probably tried to find Jesus earlier. He wasn't around. He got the disciples. They couldn't help. And look what this demon does to this boy.

What if you had a child like this? Some of you have very, very needy children and sense that it almost seems like it's this, although this is more than epilepsy.

Whenever it seizes him, it dashes him to the ground and he foams at the mouth and grinds his teeth, stiffens out.

I told your disciples to cast it out. They could not do it. It seizes him.

It dashes him down. It makes him convulse. It tears him asunder. He shrieks. He cries.

He makes a shrill, dried up. Luke is a doctor and Luke writes from a doctor's point of view in the synoptic account, and behold, a spirit seizes him.

He suddenly screams and it throws him into a convulsion with foam at the mouth and it mauls him.

M -A -U -L -S I want your disciples to do this, but they can't do it.

Mark 3, they had been given authority to do it, but they can't do it. And what does Jesus say? Verse 19,

And he answered them and said, O unbelieving generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall

I... Can you imagine the words from Jesus? How long shall I put up with you? Bring him to me.

Probably talking about the father of the nine unbelieving scribes, Israel, maybe all of them.

How long? Three years. The father goes and gets the boy. The boy wasn't with him.

They brought the boy to him, verse 20, and when he saw him, spirit threw him in a convulsion, falling to the ground, began rolling about, foaming at the mouth.

He asked his father, How long has this been happening to him? And he said, From childhood. And it has often thrown him both into the fire and into the water to destroy him.

This is not just epilepsy. This is demonically induced. Try to deface an image bearer.

And now listen, mark it. But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us.

If you can! Now if he said, If you will.

If it's your will to do it. If you would please be merciful. But he said the wrong thing to Jesus.

If you can! Don't you like the way

Jesus responds, verse 23. And Jesus said to him, If you can! Now Jesus didn't laugh.

If you can do it! What do you mean if I can do it? I can do it!

All things are possible to him who believes. You believe in the right object of your faith? Don't contort this to make belief the ultimate issue.

Belief has an object. It's just not faith in faith. If you believe me, I'm standing right before you. I'm the son of God.

I'm the anointed one. I can! By the way, that's how you should know I'm the Messiah because I can heal lepers.

I can heal anyone. If you can! The question isn't am

I able to? That's not the right question. Immediately the boy's father cried out.

It's a loud cry. It's an inarticulate cry. He began to say, I do believe!

I do believe! I do believe! Help my unbelief! Over and over. I do.

What honesty. And when Jesus saw that the crowd was rapidly gathering, he rebuked the unclean spirit saying to it, you deaf and dumb spirit,

I command you, come out of him and do not enter him. I think Jesus could.

What power. Only God could do that. After crying out and throwing him into a terrible convulsion, he came out and the boy became so much like a corpse that most of them said, he's dead.

I can imagine. Nice job, Jesus. It's like the guy that says, I've got good news and bad news.

The doctor says that. The good news, the operation was a success. The bad news, the patient's dead.

He was fine, relatively. Jesus shows up, he's dead. Demons using this boy's vocal cords, streaking out.

Jesus took him by the hand and raised him. If you can. And he got up.

When you read the book of Mark, here's what you find. Jesus gets tempted and he could and did overcome it.

Jesus exercises demons out of the synagogue. He did do it. He could.

Jesus heals Simon's mother -in -law. If you can, yes, he could.

He cleanses the leper, chapter one. If you can, yes, because he's powerful and loving, he did.

He heals the paralyzed man in chapter 2. He can. He heals on the

Sabbath, chapter 3. He can. He calms the storm, chapter 4. He can.

He heals the demoniac, chapter 5. He can. He raises Jairus' daughter.

He can. He heals the hemorrhaging woman. He can. He feeds 10 ,000 people, chapter 6.

He can. He walks on water. He can. He heals a Syrophoenician woman's daughter.

He can. He heals the deaf mute in Decapolis, chapter 7. He can. He feeds the 4 ,000 men, chapter 8.

He can. He talks to God on the Mount of Transfiguration. He can. But God, I don't know if you can do this because the thing on your plate now is this one sick boy.

You can heal everybody else, but you're not who you say you are until you heal this particular one.

I know your track record is faithfulness, healing, power, authority, majesty, love.

But right now, I'm in this trial right now, and I don't know if I can really buy all that other stuff. Do this one instead.

Rescue me today if you can. And for the writer of Hebrews, as he discusses this idea, and for us as a church, there's so much similarity.

God, you've saved us. You've equipped us. You've given us your word. You've given us spiritual gifts.

You've given me a family. You've given me a family of God. You've been faithful, faithful, faithful. You could, you could, you could, you could, you could, you could, you could.

But I've got this one trial right now, and I don't really know if you can.

Theologically, yes, I know you can, but in my heart of hearts, I don't really know if you can. And then the writer of Hebrews says,

Jesus never changes. He's eternal, and He can. Father, I thank you for your word.

Angels change. We change. The universe changes, yet your love and power and compassion never change.

Oh, Father, forgive us for just looking back in the past, seeing your faithfulness in Scripture and in our own lives, and then wondering now, have you forgotten us?

Can you just get me through this one trial? Father, we know your Son can, and we repent.

And we know that there are things that you're doing in our life with trials and tribulation and suffering and sickness that work out things in such a way.

And you do it because you love us. You do it because you're sovereign. And you get more glory in ways we might not ever know until heaven.

I pray for myself and for every person here, Father, that we would in light of our trials and troubles rehearse the eternal power and eternal love of Jesus, not only in the

Bible, but in our own lives, so that we see things clearly, because your