WWUTT 2046 With Faith of a Mustard Seed (Matthew 17:14-23)

The disciples attempted to cast out a demon, but they couldn't do it. And when they came to Jesus and asked why, He said, it's because of your little faith. And may this be a lesson to us that we would keep our eyes on Jesus when we understand the text.

Many of the Bible stories and verses we think we know, we don't. When we understand the text is committed to teaching sound doctrine and rebuking those who contradict it. Visit our website at www .wutt .com.

Here once again is Pastor Gabe.

Jesus Heals a Demon-Possessed Boy

Thank you, Becky. And greetings, everyone. As we come back into our study of the Gospel of Matthew, we're still in chapter 17, but moving on beyond the study that we did last week in the Transfiguration, we come to this account of Jesus casting out another demon.

This is Matthew 17, beginning in verse 14, and I'll read through verse 23 out of the Legacy Standard Bible. Hear the word of the Lord. And when they came to the crowd, a man came up to Jesus, falling on his knees before him and saying, Lord, have mercy on my son, for he has seizures and suffers terribly.

For he often falls into the fire and often into the water. And I brought him to your disciples and they could not cure him. And Jesus answered and said, Oh, you unbelieving and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you?

How long shall I put up with you? Bring him here to me. And Jesus rebuked him and the demon came out of him and the boy was cured at once. Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, Why could we not cast it out?

And he said to them, Because of your little faith, for truly I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, move from here to there and it will move and nothing will be impossible for you.

But this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting. And while they were gathering together in Galilee, Jesus said to them, The son of man is going 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 deeply grieved. They're at the end of this particular section with Jesus telling them once again, this is what the fourth time in these two chapters, chapter 16 and 17, that Jesus has said he's going to be persecuted and put to death.

And yet this statement at the close, they were deeply grieved, suggest to us that they didn't understand. Again, they didn't understand. They didn't understand it. The other times that he told them about the suffering that he was going to endure at the hands of men.

And that's really what this particular section is about, is the disciples unbelief or their lack of faith. And yet how Jesus has compassion on us and still helps us, though we may be weak in faith at times, he rebukes his disciples.

He doesn't just let them be weak in faith, but neither does Jesus walk away from the situation and not help the man who is asking for his boy to be healed. He still has compassion on us, though our faith may be weak.

So as we look at this section here, verses 14 to 23, we see, first of all, the exchange between the man and Jesus, then the disciples coming to Jesus and asking, why could we not cast it out? And then finally, Jesus instruction or his retelling once again to the disciples about the suffering that he's going to endure, but that he's going to rise again on the third.

Day.

And that's in verses 22 to 23. So let's let's comb through this passage together that we may see the object of our faith is Christ, the author and the perfecter of our faith, as said in Hebrews 12, so that we may look to Christ for all things.

Coming back to verse 14 here, when they came to the crowd, and now we don't know exactly.

Where they are.

At the end of this section, they come back to Galilee. That was said in verse 22, when they were gathering together in Galilee. But right here, we don't know for sure where they're located. We know that they came into the region of Caesarea Philippi.

That was back in chapter 16, Caesarea Philippi was to the northeast of even Galilee. It was far from Judah to the northeast of Galilee. And like I had said, when we were in that section was filled with mostly pagans.

So Jesus and his disciples did not go into Caesarea Philippi. They were just merely in that region. And it's somewhere in that area that Jesus had gone up to the mountain with his disciples, with Peter, James, and John, and was transfigured before them.

That mountain was somewhere in that area too, although it doesn't tell us for sure where. At that time, from chapter 16 into 17, Jesus is just with his disciples, and he's teaching.

Them.

At least from, what is it, chapter 16, verse 13, on to chapter 17, verse 13. So for the length of about a chapter, Jesus has just spent time with his disciples teaching.

Them.

Now they're coming back into the area where the crowds find them again. They've been in a place where they're not recognized, but now they're coming into the land of Israel again, where people are wanting to be healed.

They're wanting to see miracles. They're wanting to be cured of their diseases. This man wants cure for his son. So they came to the crowd. A man came up to Jesus falling on his knees before him and saying, Lord, have mercy on my son, for he has seizures and suffers terribly, for he often falls into the fire and often into the water.

Now we don't know for sure what this is supposed to look like, what is meant by this. The demon causing the son to fall into fire, and then he catches fire, and then he throws the boy into the water to put it out, and then he just kind of continues this cycle of torture on the boy.

We don't know if that's what's meant there. But either way, whether it's throwing him into the fire or throwing him into the water, this demon that is possessing this boy means to harm him. We also don't know how old he is.

I'm saying boy, but it just says that he's a son. And then when it comes to verse 18, Jesus rebuked him, the demon came out of him, and the boy was cured at once. But still nothing is said to us about his age.

He's a youth, probably not eight or nine years old. You know, don't think of him that way as far as a boy, a little bit older than that. But he's certainly possessed by a demon that means him harm. Whenever you see these deliverance ministries out there, you know what I mean by deliverance ministry?

That's these charismatics that claim to be casting out demons. They're referred to the parlance that's used rather is that it's a deliverance ministry. I think that's the politically correct way to say it, because they don't want to call it exorcism, since that's connected more with the Catholic Church, or people have those pictures in their heads of the film, the exorcist or something like that.

So they don't want to be confused with that. So they call it a deliverance ministry. And if you've ever seen the video videos of these people doing these deliverance ministries, they're all completely fake.

I'm sure that there are people who are demon possessed. And those demons get cast out. I'm sure that happens still to this day. I've been asked before I've had somebody come to me and ask me if I could help them cast.

Out a demon.

And we actually never did anything. I've gone to places where, you know, they felt like there was there was some sort of spirit that was tormenting them. So we prayed over the place and we prayed over the family, you know, I've done things like that before, but never like an exorcism or somebody's demon possessed and lay hands on them and say, in the name of Jesus, I rebuke you.

I've never done anything like that. I know that those kinds of things happen. There are still demon possessions in the world today.

Yes.

Whenever you see a quote unquote trans person, I don't think anybody is really truly trans. But since that's the label that goes with a person when a man believes that he's a woman, there is definitely demon oppression of some kind that is happening there.

Seeing these men that dress up as drag queens, it's so horrifying the way that they make themselves up. They're showing on the outside who they are on the inside. And it's like they're dressing up like demons.

In fact, I've made the comment before that I've never seen a demon before, but I'm pretty sure a drag queen comes close. I'm saying that somewhat tongue in cheek, but it is definitely a demonstration on the outside of the darkness that is within them.

This outright rebellion against God, this destruction of that which is natural and claiming to be wise. They become fools. God turning them over to their own depraved desires is talked about in Romans chapter.

One.

So yes, demon possession is still a real thing and likewise casting demons out. But what you see happening in these deliverance ministries looks nothing like when you see demons get cast out in the New Testament.

Does it like, can you honestly say that you've ever seen any of these deliverance ministry videos that it's ever looked like the way that demon possession looks in scripture? Why would a person who has a demon show up at one of these events anyway?

Like why? Why is a person who's demon possessed going to an event where Jesus is being proclaimed and then going up and challenging the minister only to be cast out by the minister? Why would a demon even do that?

When we see these demon possessions in the gospels, rarely are these demons ever coming to Christ. I would say, you know, an exception would be when Jesus walked at the tombs of the Gadarenes and there were the two men who were possessed by legion and came to Jesus, but he was going through that area and these demons thought that Jesus had come to judge them before the appointed time.

That was the address that they made of Christ. That's a different sort of a situation, but they didn't go to a place like say the sermon on the Mount where Jesus is preaching and the demons run up so that they can be cast out by Jesus.

They would never do anything like that. So we don't see these kinds of encounters with the demon possessed the way that we see them in the gospels. That's not what you see happening in these deliverance ministries.

It's all a show. It's all a fraud. It's the same as the Holy Ghost laughter or Benny Hinn waving his jacket around and people falling down. All of that is just it's succumbing to frenzied emotion. It's of the flesh.

It is not of the Holy Spirit of God at all. So with these deliverance ministries, how many people have how many of these guys have cast out a demon from a young boy who had a demon throwing him into flames?

I mean, this boy is probably coming to Jesus with some significant wounds on him. The father is bringing his son to Jesus to be healed, and he's surely showing scars from his burns and Jesus healing the boy also cast the demon out and is probably curing these burns that he has because of being thrown into fire.

And this is not the kind of demon possession that you will see in charismatic services. Nobody is really willing to go throw themselves into flames so that they can then come to one of these fake faith healers and be healed, which which the faith healer won't be able.

To do anyway.

That person's burn scars are still going to be there. So it's not worth it's not worth it to them to stage this with such dramatic flair. As we see this happening here with Jesus, this is a legitimate demon possession and Christ casting out the demon.

The man says, Lord, have mercy on my son, for he has seizures and suffers terribly, for he often falls into the fire and often into the water. He has he has seizures is the demon like when he gets close to fire, causing him to have a seizure and fall into the fire.

We don't know. Some of those details aren't really given to us, but we we know that something is happening to this boy that seems beyond natural. People don't behave in this way. We're not just automatically self-destructive, throwing ourselves into flames and otherwise.

So this this father knows that his son needs help. It doesn't even say from the father's part that he believes that a demon is in him. He doesn't even say that. Lord, have mercy on my son, for he has seizures and suffers terribly, often falls in the fire and often in the water.

And I brought him to your disciples and they could not cure him. But in verse 18, Jesus rebuked him and the demon came out of him and the boy was cured.

At once.

So the father doesn't say anything about the demon. But Jesus, knowing that this is what's causing the boy to do this, is the one who cast the demon from him. But the man brought the boy to the disciples and the disciples could not cure him.

And this is what brings about Jesus' first rebuke here. Jesus saying, oh, you unbelieving and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring him here to me.

Now it's possible that this rebuke is not necessarily of Jesus' disciples. It could be of the unbelieving Jews. This same account is given in Mark, in Mark 9, the same possession of Jesus casting out this particular demon.

And there the man says, the father says to Jesus, if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us. And then Jesus says, if I can do anything, all things are possible to him who believes. So it could be the expression from the people that Jesus is rebuking, although he does give a rebuke to his disciples here in a moment in verse 20, when he says, the reason why you couldn't cast out this demon was because of your little faith.

But to say here, you perverse generation, Albert Barnes, who was a Presbyterian minister in the 19th century, he said the following on this passage, perverse means that which is twisted or turned from the proper direction and is often used of the eyes when one or both are turned from their natural position applied to a generation or race of people.

It means that they held opinions turned or perverted from the truth and they were wicked in their conduct. And Jesus applied this probably to the Jews and not to his real disciples. That's that's in the note there from Albert Barnes.

So the the reason why the boy is even possessed in the first place is because of the unbelief of this people at this time, that they aren't seeking God, they aren't seeking his ways. They're going after the doctrines of man, as we've read about previously, Jesus rebuke of the Pharisees.

And so he becomes exasperated with all of this and says, you unbelieving and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? And yet takes compassion on the boy and says, bring him to me. And he cast the demon out of him and the boy was cured at once, he says, and not just cured of the seizures, but even of the burns that were probably on his body because of being thrown into the flames.

But that's the first section of this particular account with Jesus talking with the father and then rebuking the perversity of this generation that they had turned their eyes away from the Lord. And that's why Satan was having his way with them.

Faith the Size of a Mustard Seed

But the disciples then come to Jesus. So we have this conversation between Jesus and the disciples now beginning in verse 19. And they say, why could we not cast the demon out? And Jesus said, because of your little faith.

For truly I say to you, if you have faith, the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, move from here to there and it will move and nothing will be impossible for you. They needed to have just a little bit of faith, but they didn't even have that much, not even enough faith for a mustard seed.

Jesus said, your faith was even less than that. Now it wasn't for lack of wanting to cure the boy. The disciples surely wanted to do that. But what was it they doubted? What were they taking their eyes off of?

They were not looking to Christ. Something about what they were trying to do with the boy was not relying upon Christ. They were not looking to God for the strength, for the power supplied to them to be able to cast out this demon.

Now when we go on to verse 21, this is in brackets. If you're reading it from the legacy standard Bible, this verse is in brackets because it was not in the earliest manuscripts. If you're reading from the English standard version, the verse is not there at all.

So in the ESV, it jumps from verse 20 to verse 22. There's no verse 21 there. And then if you're reading it from the legacy or the new American standard, it puts brackets around the verse, still preserving it because it's been in so many translations for so long, especially since chapters and verses, chapter and verse markers were added to to the text.

So it seems kind of awkward to leave it out and the number jumps from 20 to 22. So the legacy translators have left the verse in there, but indicating that it is not in the earliest manuscripts. So where does this phrase come from?

But this kind, talking about the demon, does not go out except by prayer and fasting. Well this comes from the same account that we have, but in Mark's gospel. Mark 9, verse 29. At the end of this, after Jesus has cast the demon out, he says to his disciples, this kind cannot come out by anything but prayer.

That's what said in Mark 9, 29. So it's the same account of a demon being cast out. Mark has a different phrase in there. And when some Byzantine monks were copying manuscripts of the gospel of Matthew, there was some overzealous scribe that decided to carry that phrase from Mark 9, 29 into this account in Matthew 17, 21.

Just trying to help the story out a little bit. We know from Mark's account that this demon couldn't be cast out by anything but prayer. So I'm going to bring that over into this particular passage. And somehow fasting got added to that as well.

This kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting. Mark doesn't mention fasting, but whoever copied the line to be that in Matthew 17 wrote it that way. Becky and I have gone over this on the Q &A before on Friday as we've been through all of the missing verses, quote unquote missing verses out of modern translations like the English Standard Version.

There's always an explanation for why that verse is missing. It's not that the theology is not changed in any way. So nothing has changed about the message that's being conveyed, but in an effort to be faithful to the earliest manuscripts, for we know that those earliest manuscripts give to us what was actually written by Matthew in faithfulness to the original text.

There are some translations that have removed those verses because it wasn't written by.

Matthew.

Matthew did not include this kind does not go out except by prayer. That was in Mark's account. So we're going to leave that to Mark. We're going to write what Matthew wrote. We're going to translate what it was that Matthew wrote.

And so that's why the verse would be removed. I'm content with there just being some sort of an indication that this was not in the earliest manuscripts. So there's no reason for us to have to exposit that and understand it further because that's not in this account anyway.

When we get to studying the gospel of Mark, then we'll talk about it there with the demon going out by no other way but prayer or fasting. But then beyond this, Jesus goes with his disciples to Galilee and says to them, the son of man is going 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 deeply grieved. And so once again, we have this demonstration here of the lack of faith of the disciples. Not that they didn't believe at all, but they had such little faith that they could not even cast out this demon, nor did they understand the words that Jesus was telling them and their hearts were grieved.

Sometimes the sorrows that we experience are self-inflicted because we don't trust in God. And we may be going through some sort of a trial that certainly warrants our sorrow, but does it need to fall into grief so deep?

If we trusted in Christ, would we be so vexed? So we must turn to the author and the perfecter of our faith. As I referenced Hebrews 12 earlier, we read in verse one, therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily entangles.

And let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, despising the shame and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

For consider him who has endured such hostility by sinners against himself, so that you will not grow weary, fainting in heart. And we must remember to turn our eyes toward Jesus, that we would not grow faint in heart.

He will strengthen us. He will deliver us out of this. And as said in Romans chapter eight, the glory that awaits us cannot even compare with those trials that we are going through now. So let us hold fast to Christ, knowing that in him our sins are forgiven and we have right standing with God by faith in Jesus.

Heavenly Father, we thank you for what we've read here today. And I pray that we continue to look to these reminders of the gospel, that Jesus died on the cross for our sins, rose again from the dead.

He has done these things for us so that by faith in Jesus, our sins are forgiven and we have fellowship with God. Build us up in this most holy faith that we are so privileged to have received by your Holy Spirit, and give us the strength to endure trusting in you, that our hearts may be encouraged and our hopes sustained.

It's in Jesus' name we pray, amen.

Thank you for listening to When We Understand the Text with Pastor Gabe Hughes. If you'd like to support this ministry, visit our website, www .wutt .com, and click on the Give tab in the top right corner of the page.

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