When Jesus came to the disciples, he saw a great multitude around them and scribes disputing with them. 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? Then one of the crowd answered and said, teacher, I brought you my son who has a mute spirit. And wherever it seizes him, it throws him down. He foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth, and becomes rigid. So I spoke to your disciples that they should cast it out, but they could not. Jesus answered him and said, oh, faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him to me. And they brought him to him. And when he saw him, immediately the spirit convulsed him and he fell on the ground and wallowed, foaming at the mouth. And so he asked his father, how long has this been happening to him? And he said, from childhood. And often he has thrown him both into the fire and into the water to destroy him. But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us. Jesus said to him, if you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes. Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief. When Jesus saw that the people came running together, he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, deaf and mute, deaf and dumb spirit, I command you come out of him and enter him no more. Then the spirit cried out, convulsed him greatly, came out of him, and he came as one dead, so that many said, he is dead. But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose. And when he had come into the house, his disciples asked him privately, why could we not cast it out? So he said to them, this kind can come out by nothing but prayer and fasting. That ends the reading of God's holy inspired word. Briefly let us pray, Father in heaven, as we have read your word, may you help us to understand it and help us to see the doctrines, the teachings which come from it. We pray that we would have these things applied to us and that the application would be good for us and right for us, even sweet to us. Where we need to be rebuked, may we be rebuked. Where we need to be comforted and built up, may we be comforted and built up. And we pray that in this preaching, That you would overcome the hard-heartedness of the preacher, the hard-heartedness of the people. We pray that you would soften our hearts. We pray that you would cause there to be in our hearts fertile soil. And we pray that that fertile soil would receive the implanted word and that you would grow in us greater faith. And we pray that you would bring about for all of us a harvest of righteousness and true holiness. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Well, as I said to you earlier, I've spent about three months, came out to about 11 weeks meditating upon the transfiguration. The transfiguration is one of those most excellent and remarkable parts of the ministry of the Lord Jesus. In the transfiguration, the Lord Jesus calls up three of his disciples We can say the inner circle within the inner circle, Peter, James, and John. And on that mountain, they see him, the Lord Jesus transfigured, and his clothing becomes bright, so bright that it is as though no bleacher, no fuller would be able to make it bright. Indeed, it's as if it's bright, shining with light. And the Gospel of Luke tells us that his face shined or shone very, very bright. What those disciples saw was something extraordinary, something they did not get to see every day. It was not the Lord Jesus who was obtaining some sort of glory. It was a sort of glory that He has always had, a sort of glory that He has always been. And what they are able to see is an unveiling, in a sense, opening up to see the true wonder and glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. And I would say that our Nicene Creed rightly draws and explains this to us when it says that He is God of God. And He is light of light, and He's very God of very God. Now what in the world does that mean? Light of light? Well, there were some who were more than happy to say that, well, God, God. is the source of the light, and Jesus is simply the light. That would be the heresy of Arianism, the idea that Jesus is a created being. But when we say that he is God of God, and light of light, and very God of very God, what we are saying, rightly, is that he is both the light and the source of the light. That is something otherworldly, something we don't see here. We have light coming down to us here, but you understand that the source is the light bulb, and the bulb is different than the light that comes from it. But Jesus is both the light itself, and he is the source of the light, and he is God, and he is also the source of divinity in that, and very God of very God, in case anyone did not get the message. So it is the Lord Jesus Christ who is up there, and he displays his glory before these three disciples. And also, what happens? There are two witnesses, one is Moses and the other is Elijah, representatives of the law and the prophets. And the Apostle Peter, so prone to open his mouth and insert his foot, he says, this is excellent, let's make tabernacles, let's make tents for all three of you. In other words, Peter wanted to stay. And Peter wanted to camp. He was astonished by the glory and how we desire that as well, to be in the presence of the glorious Lord Jesus Christ. But it was over, seemingly, as soon as it had begun. Now the Trinity is present, of course. The Father speaks. and says, this is my son, listen to him. And the Holy Spirit is there with a cloud, or as a cloud. No wonder, you might think, no wonder he spent 12, 11 weeks preaching. It could have gone more, but there is a time for coming down from the mountain. There's a time for coming down from the mountain and beholding the glory of God, at least in this life. That is exactly what they do. So our passage picks up just right there, that they are coming down from the mountain, and it tells us that when he came to his disciples, he saw a great multitude and scribes disputing with them. So you ever walk into a fight, You ever walk into an argument and you're going, what is going on here? Here's what is happening. Jesus sees his disciples, that is the other nine, and he also sees a great crowd. A crowd loves an argument. You ever notice that? Two people start arguing, crowd just comes right around. Oh, well, this should be interesting. And so Jesus' disciples are disputing with the scribes, but he doesn't fully know, and the others don't fully know. So he asks, and he says, what is going on here? And then one speaks from the crowd, and he is a father, and he says, listen, my son has a demon, and his demon possession manifests itself in certain physical issues. Now let me just stop right there. We could spend all day on the fact that our critics and Bible critics are more than happy to point out, ah, naive people who believed at that time that all diseases and all maladies are the result of demons. That's actually not the case. There are some times that there are medical issues that do have to do with demonic stuff, but there are times, even in the ministry of Jesus, when that is not the case. There are simply maladies, and there are diseases apart from demons. So let us cast off the sorts of false accusations that people are so quick to throw at the Bible, but in this case, The hardships that this man and this son are dealing with are very much of the devil. So the father speaks, and he says, I have a son, and he often gnashes his teeth, he foams at the mouth, it's like he has rabies or something, and sometimes throws him into the fire, sometimes throws him into the water. Look what it says in verse 18. It says, so I spoke to your disciples that they should cast it out, but they could not. Now just pause there for a second. In chapter six, the disciples had gone out, and they had cast out demons. The Lord Jesus had given them that power, and so They had thought that they would have that power once again. And of course, the scribes are present. And what are the scribes? Those we would understand to be religious bookmakers of the first century. In other words, it's not like it was, not like it is for us, where we just press print and all of a sudden we have pages that have been written for us, or that is to say, copied for us. If you wanted a book, You had to write out letter by letter, word by word, and it was a very, very careful process, especially for the Jews. Of course, it makes sense that many of those who were scribes, bookmakers, would also be religious people. And so these religious men have been at the Lord Jesus before, and They have been critical of the Lord Jesus, trying to trap Him. So here's an opportunity without the Master, that they are talking to the disciples. Now what do they do? We trust that they were probably arguing with the disciples. Why? Because the disciples were failing, failing at casting out demons. You can see then the self-sufficiency of the apostles. We've got this. We've done this before. We've seen this before. Don't worry, we'll handle it. And they could not handle it. And you can imagine the scribes saying, see, you don't actually have that power. Or maybe your Savior is a failure. You can only imagine the sorts of things that they were saying. Of course, when someone criticizes you, when someone criticizes someone who is dear to you, or when someone says, you can't do it and here's why, what do we do? We dig our heels in the ground and we argue. And what does the Lord Jesus say? He says, oh, faithless generation. There was a time when I used to read this and think, Why is he so harsh on this man? But then I realized, he's not talking about the man. He's talking about the disciples. And many people say, no, no, he's talking about the disciples. And others say, no, he's talking about the scribes. But notice he doesn't say, oh, faithless scribes. He doesn't say, oh, faithless disciples. He says, faithless generation, both the scribes and the disciples are faithless. That's the issue, and that is the problem. What a rebuke. Can you imagine that? There you are, defending yourself, defending him, and Jesus comes in like a wrecking ball. Oh, you're faithless. Ouch. What a sting. Well, Jesus continues to have a conversation with the man, and he asks him, how long has this gone on? He says, since he was a child. And so, This child is brought before the Lord Jesus, and the demonic activity is very, very apparent. It's very, very clear. And so the Lord Jesus casts out the demon, and He shows that He is who He said He was. He is the Messiah, He is the Christ, He is the Anointed One. He is the One that the Scriptures have proclaimed and that the people for generations have been waiting for. And then later on, His disciples come to Him and they say, why were we not able to do that? Why were we not able to do that, and he says, well, this kind only comes out by prayer and fasting. Let me just tell you, the takeaway is simply this, that Jesus can work with even weak faith. Jesus can work even with weak faith. What happens is this man comes to the Lord Jesus and says, if you're able to do this, he's got some sort of conditional. Problem is that the weakness is not on Jesus' part. The weakness is on the part of the scribes. The weakness is on the part of the disciples. And even at this point, the weakness is in the man who says, if you can do this, well, he doesn't fully understand the greatness of the Lord Jesus. Let me just say, we have to be a little gentle to him. He did not have the advantages of a completed New Testament. He did not have the advantages of the Nicene Creed, a document that is oh so precious to me, every single word of it. But he says, if you can do this, The problem is not Jesus's ability. The problem is the faithless generation. And Jesus says that he can do it. Why is it that Jesus can do it? Because he is divine. because he is the anointed one, he is the one that the scriptures proclaimed, and also because he is the one that the Father is willing to split open heaven and say at his baptism, you are my only begotten Son, with whom I am well pleased, and also, at the transfiguration previously, This is my beloved Son. Believe Him. Listen to Him. What we see is a contrast so very great. The Father speaking about the Son and saying, you need to listen to Him. And then the Lord Jesus Christ with these three disciples, where are they going? Down to a hurting world, down to broken people, down to people who are plagued and wracked with sin, and down to people Or struggling with Satan and with demons, and down to faithless disciples and faithless scribes. The contrast could not be greater. One Son who is the Beloved of the Father and glorified, and one Son who is a great struggle for the Father. because of demonic possession. Jesus can work with weak faith. And so this man says, I believe, Lord. Help my unbelief. Jesus can work with great and with weak faith. Jesus can work with no faith. He's not limited by us in any sort of way. But think about that. Does that not capture your heart and mine? I believe. Help my unbelief. In other words, even those of us who know the Lord Jesus, even those of us who trust in Him, who are able to overcome unbelief and say, if Jesus is willing, And so we say, Jesus is willing, but even still we say, while I have faith, I know that He is the Savior. And I assent to the Bible. I assent to the truths that are in there. I assent to the history which is told to us in there. But there is a little part of us that does not trust Him like we ought. And so even with faith, our faith is not strong enough, or at least it seems to us. We are told in Genesis 15.6 that Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness. I would say I don't think that Abraham at that time had the strongest faith. I think he probably could have said the same thing. I do believe. But help what is continuing to be unbelief in my heart. Continue to help me and continue to aid me. Though my heart sings with faith in the glory of the Lord Jesus, do I really believe him as I ought? We understand what it is to have faith. And we understand what it is to have a sense of our own weakness. This man has advanced far more than the scribes and far more than the disciples at this point, you see. Because while the scribes are displaying self-sufficiency without faith, The disciples are displaying self-sufficiency with faith. They know, they believe, they have come to know in deep ways who he is. But this man who says, I believe, help mine unbelief. He has advanced even past the disciples because he knows that faith, truly received and truly had, is one which depends upon God and leans into him for spiritual needs. and even for material needs as well. So when we read this man, do our hearts not say, I know what he's saying, I know what he is thinking, for I have felt what that man has said, and it is recorded for us. These men rebuke, or this man rebukes, both the disciples and also the scribes. Weak faith can be used of God to do great things. Elsewhere in the Gospels it tells us that just but a mustard seed of faith. A mustard seed was very, very small. But I have seen pictures of mustard seeds that are quite, quite large. They end up dwarfing many a man, because they can become so very large. It comes from one very, very tiny, tiny little seed. People of God. What ought to be the primary object of our faith? It is the Lord Jesus. Our faith ought to be in Him. Not only that He is able to fight and defeat demonic forces, but also that He is powerful to forgive your and my sin. This is why the Lord Jesus came into the world. It was not just to teach and not to do miracles, signs and wonders, and exorcisms. Those were just preparatory for the great thing that he was going to do, which was to suffer on the cross, and to suffer and to die for your sins and for mine. and to be raised from the dead. And therefore, that is where our faith must especially be on the death and the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, trusting in the person for his ability to defeat your and my sin. But of course, he does not only come to defeat your and my sin. He came to undo the works of the devil. People of God, though we may not see demonic possession, though we may not see it in this way, or regularly, or may not see it at all, nonetheless, demonic forces, they very much are at work. What was the problem with these disciples? We've got this. We'll take care of this. No problem. It's almost as if they thought they were the Ghostbusters or something. We've seen this before. We'll take care of it. And they had neglected to pray. They had neglected to pray. As I said, This man and his situation, it rebukes the self-sufficiency of the scribes, the self-sufficiency of the disciples, but it also rebukes your and my self-sufficiency as well. Do we not often enter into the battle, enter into the fight against satanic and demonic things? Saying, we've got this. We've done this before. We might think, I have plenty of Bible. I have plenty of catechism. I have plenty of knowledge. And therefore, I'll just enter into this debate. I'll enter into this fight. Just like the disciples, we've cast out demons before. But not all are the same. And therefore, they rebuke us as well. Congregation of the Lord Jesus Christ. Are you a praying congregation? Families. Do you occasionally neglect the family altar? And as individuals sometimes we can get so busy. I understand how it is. I am perplexed. Do you remember? Having microwaves and ovens and text messages and emails, all these things are supposed to make things easier. And we're supposed to have a lot more free time. But for whatever reason, those promises have not been delivered. Maybe that's just me. Maybe you have all the free time in the world, but I trust that it's probably not the case. We have so many intrusions into our time. I have found that in order to pray, it's not a good thing to say, well, let me get these couple things done first. Oftentimes, it just becomes one more thing, and sometimes we don't get to it. I have found it's best to set specific times. As you set specific times for other things, set your clock, and here is where our technology can be very helpful, set an alarm for specific prayer times. May we not neglect these things, because prayerlessness is really self-sufficiency. And we are so easily able to fall into the self-sufficiency of the disciples. We also learn from this. Parents, you understand that Satan wants your children. Satan wants your children. No, we may not see demons per se and we may not be experiencing these sorts of things. There are forces at work against your and my children. We can be lulled to sleep. And there are demonic influences that are upon them. Look, it's what's going on in many of the realms of our nation, many parts of our nation, seeking to take away the innocence of our children. Let me say, we as Reformed people, as Calvinists, we believe in original sin. We believe that our children Our children are sinners, and they are born sinners. You don't need to teach them how to lie, they already know how to do that. You need to teach them to know the truth. But in so far as they are innocent, they are sexually innocent. The fact is there are forces, even many, backed up by our government, which are seeking to undermine Many of the things and many of the ways that our children are still innocent and therefore may our prayers be for our children just because things are going fine or seem to be going fine now. May we be fasting and praying for our children that Satan will not have his way with them. Let me speak to you young people as well. We do not know at what age this really began. from a child, but you understand, young people, that there is a devil, and he's not made up by strange medieval people. There is a devil and there are demons. And the devil and the demons do desire you, to do harm to you. And therefore may you young people begin a life of prayer as well. Prayer, fighting against these things. And let me just say, Jonathan, Pastor Jonathan, soon, someday, well we call him that. Hopefully we'll see him passing some exams and those sorts of things. Are we praying for him? Are we praying for him? Why are we praying for him? Well, the fact is the temptations and the fights that he has are the same as yours. And also let me just say this. The pastoral life can be very, very busy. It can be filled with appointments and duties and studies and all sorts of things. But do not forget that he is one who is fighting a spiritual battle. And he is fighting against demons as well. I know it's slightly a joke, but I remember someone having a t-shirt and it said something along the lines, I'm not going to quote it exactly, pastor because demon fighting Satan slayer was too long or something like that. And while there is something funny about that, there's also something very, very serious that the one that this congregation has placed to be preaching ordinarily, Lord's Day by Lord's Day, and praying for you that he is fighting a spiritual battle. And let me just speak directly to him and say this, it is easy for you to forget that this is a spiritual battle. Why? Because emails are coming, books need to be read, Sermons need to be prepared, bulletins need to be done, meetings, all sorts of things. We always joke, pastors only work one day a week. No, they work, to quote the Beatles, eight days a week. It really is the case. It's never off. But the fact is, with all the busyness, pastors can also fall into it and begin to think that this is not so much a spiritual battle, that this is a battle against myself, against my will. This is an administrative battle. But truly, he is fighting a spiritual battle. And we would set him apart to be one who preaches and teaches and prays and even fasts against the wicked forces. people of God, let us cast off our self-sufficiency, especially as we consider the people around us, here around this area, broken people, hurting people, and people fighting against their own demons, figurative and literal May we pray for Jonathan as he goes around in the neighborhoods and seeks out the lost sheep. May He go with our prayers, even if He does not go with our presence. People of God, once again, may we cast off our self-sufficiency, put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and put on prayerfulness, and put on fasting, where things get intense. Not ordinarily, but there are times and seasons where that is appropriate. For we understand that prayer truly is submission to the Lord, and it is a way of saying that I cannot do this. But you, Lord Jesus, are strong and mighty and able to do all things, including fighting and defeating demonic forces in my life and the people who are dear to me. Let us pray. Father in heaven, we thank you for the amazing glory of the Lord Jesus upon the mountain, and we thank you that he would not take the advice of Peter to build tabernacles and to stay on the mountain, but he came down and he participated in the common lives once again of the people of And he endured and overcame the faithlessness of that generation. And we thank you that there were some who were his, including this father and also this son. And we thank you for displaying them for us and for 2,000 years. that we might see that our faith is much like his. But we thank you that our faith, even weak, does get the victory. And we thank you that our faith, even at times weak, does give us victory over the world. And so we ask that we would rest not in our faith, but we would rest in the object of our faith, namely the Lord Jesus, and we pray that you would shower down blessings as we fight against demons. May we see that the church is undefeated and will conquer even to the gates. of hell. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.