Please do now turn your copies of God's Word to the Gospel of Luke. Gospel of Luke, chapter nine, once again. And as is our habit from this pulpit, we desire to declare the whole counsel of God, and we do that by moving section by section through God's Word. And now we are in verses 37 to verse 45. This is God's Word. On the next day, when they had come down from the mountain, a great crowd met him. And behold, a man from the crowd cried out, teacher. I beg you to look at my son, for he is my only child. And behold, a spirit seizes him, and he suddenly cries out. It convulses him so that he foams at the mouth, and shatters him, and will hardly leave him. And I begged your disciples to cast it out, but they could not. Jesus answered, O faithless and twisted generation, how long am I to be with you and bear with you? Bring your son here. While he was coming, the demon threw him to the ground and convulsed him. But Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit and healed the boy and gave him back to his father. And all were astonished at the majesty of God. But while they were all marveling at everything he was doing, Jesus said to his disciples, let these words sink into your ears. The Son of Man is about to be delivered into the hands of men. But they did not understand this saying, and it was concealed from them so that they might not perceive it. And they were afraid to ask him about this saying. Let's pray once again and ask the Lord to bless his word to us. Lord, we thank you for the various ways that your word comes to us throughout the worship service. We know that it is good for our souls. We know that you work sovereignly through the word. And we know that in order to receive the word, we must have hearts of faith. And so, Lord, whatever was keeping the disciples from understanding your word then, Lord, may that not be so with us. Lord, remove every spiritual, barrier, and every distraction, that we might receive your word and faith to the edification and even the saving of our souls. To your glory, in Jesus' name, amen. Well, have you ever had such a good time doing something that you just didn't want it to end? You know, maybe it was a family vacation that you had this summer, maybe you got to go away somewhere or maybe it was just a staycation and you were just enjoying sort of that break from work, that break from reality and you just wanted it to go on and on. Or maybe it was a movie that you watched recently and, you know, that little bit of recreation, you were able to escape into the world of superheroes or fantasy or whatever the case may be. But like all things, the movie comes to an end, the vacation comes to an end, and often faster than we'd like it to happen. Well, Peter had much the same experience in the last scene. You recall how last week we considered how Jesus went up the mountain with Peter, James, and John. They witnessed the transfiguration of Jesus as he shone with the brightness of God's glory. Present with him on that mountain were Moses and Elijah, testifying that Jesus is the fulfillment of all of the law and the prophets. And then, of course, the voice of God spoke through the cloud. This is my son. Listen to him. And Peter's reaction, at least initially, to this glorious scene was to say, Master, it is good that we are here. Peter wanted to build shelters up there so that they might stay up there and prolong that glorious mountaintop experience. And we can hardly blame Peter. There on that mountain, the disciples were given a glimpse of the glory of the fully consummated kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ. However, as glorious as it was, Jesus had no intention of remaining up on the top of that mountain because it was not his mission to do so. In the incarnation, Jesus did not come as a king in the sense that he did not come in glory to grasp that glory. Though being equal with the father, it was not something he took advantage of, the apostle Paul tells us. Instead he came and he poured himself out. He took the form of a slave or a servant and he poured himself out even unto death. And so as our Lord descends down the mountain with his disciples, he's descending back into the nitty gritty reality and brokenness of our world. Luke doesn't want us to miss that, and so he opens this passage telling us, on the next day, when they had come down from the mountain, Our passage this morning occurs that very next day from that mountaintop experience. And if the scene up the mountain was a taste of heaven on earth, well the scene that occurs and unfolds at the bottom of the mountain is a taste of hell on earth. As Jesus descends, immediately he's met by demonic activity. As a father brings to Jesus his son who's being tormented by a demon. And not only that, but Jesus is confronted by the weakness and the frailty, even the sinfulness of his own disciples. And yet, what we see through this passage is that despite the opposition from Satan, and even despite the weakness of his own people, Jesus still shows himself to be a faithful and powerful savior. And in fact, as he teaches his disciples, his path to glory will not come through avoiding the suffering and difficulty of this age, but ultimately it will come through his descent into the hell of our world and facing the wrath of God, suffering the agonies of the cross for his people. And when we understand the purpose of Christ's suffering, that he suffered for our sins, and our shame, well then, like the disciples will eventually come to understand, we will understand that the cross for us is no thing of shame. It's a thing of glory, because it is the means through which we, his people, will be glorified. And so as we see Jesus at the bottom of the mountain, with eyes of faith, he is no less glorious than the Jesus who shone with the glory of God on top of the mountain. And so then with those eyes of faith, let us consider Christ and the scene that unfolds. As we see a persevering faith, a powerful savior, and a perplexing truth. Well, first we see a persevering faith. Following that mountaintop experience with the transfiguration, Jesus comes back down the mountain with three of his disciples, Peter, James, and John. And as I mentioned, Luke is deliberately setting up a contrast between what happened up the mountain and now what's happening at the foot of the mountain. As I said, the mountain at the top was a taste of heaven, but here at the bottom of the mountain, they're confronted with the hellish forces of this present evil age. At the foot of the mountain, there's a crowd that has begun to gather, and one man in particular emerges from the crowd, calling out to Jesus, begging him for help. He addresses Jesus in verse 38. Teacher, I beg you to look at my son, for he is my only child. And behold, a spirit seizes him and he suddenly cries out. It convulses him so that he foams at the mouth. It shatters him and will hardly leave him. So here is this poor child who is convulsing and he's foaming at the mouth. You know, as we look at this maybe with modern eyes, we think, oh yeah, we know that is. That's kind of an epileptic seizure. But we're told by Luke that his condition is much more serious. The cause of the child's suffering isn't physical, it's spiritual. We're told that he was possessed by a demon. And this demon is abusing this poor boy. He seizes him so that the boy cries out, it convulses him, it shatters him, it won't leave him alone. Could you imagine being the father of this poor child, watching helplessly? Here's another episode. Here he is again, crying out, convulsing, being hurt by this demon. Well, this might be the most upsetting or troubling image that we have in this scene, but it's not the most surprising thing in this scene. No, what's most surprising is the final thing the father tells Jesus. He says in verse 40, and I begged your disciples to cast it out, but they could not. Now remember, Jesus took three of his disciples up the mountain, leaving the other nine at the bottom of the mountain, and they were trying to at least minister to the crowd at the foot of the mountain. And the father obviously had asked these nine to help, but they were unable. They were unable to cast out this demon. Why is this surprising? Well, it's surprising because at the beginning of this chapter, Luke chapter nine, verse one, Jesus had given the disciples authority and power over all demons and to cure diseases. So the nine had all the tools and the weapons that they needed to cast out this demon. They had even done this before, during that time that Jesus had sent them out. But here, they are unable to do what Jesus has explicitly given them power to do and has commanded them to do. Something is wrong here. Well, Jesus tells us what's wrong. He responds in verse 41. Oh, faithless and twisted generation, how long am I to be with you and bear with you? Jesus identifies the problem as faithlessness, or we might say unbelief. Whose unbelief? Well, he's not speaking directly to the crowd. They hardly play a role in this scene. He's not rebuking the father for unbelief. I mean, the father is the one who, in spite of the disciples' failure, he's still persisting in going to Jesus. No, Jesus was rebuking the disciples for their lack of faith. The failure isn't that, well, if the father had trusted more, then they could have done it. Or the failure isn't, well, you didn't get the technique quite right. You didn't say the words in the right order or something like that. No, Jesus says, it was due to their unbelief. And we need to understand Jesus' words when he says, oh, faithless and twisted generation, how long am I to be with you and bear with you? Certainly, I think we can infer from these words that Jesus is disappointed in his disciples and in their lack of faith. But Jesus isn't just kind of lashing out in some kind of unsanctified frustration. No, Jesus' words are actually rooted in the language of the Old Testament. Well, this is hardly surprising since just a day ago, he had been discussing with Moses and Elijah how he was about to fulfill his very own exodus. And so here we shouldn't be surprised that Jesus once again appeals to the language of the exodus and the wanderings. We read it earlier, of course, but you recall how after God led Israel out of Egypt, he covenanted with them at Mount Sinai. Moses read to them the law of the covenant. The people said, all of these things we will do. And of course, as we know, Israel didn't do all of those things. In fact, they did very little of those things in the grand scheme of things. They were disobedient to God. Time and again, they grumbled against the Lord. They grumbled against the leaders that the Lord had given them. And so in numerous places, in Numbers, which we saw earlier, and in places in Deuteronomy, the Lord refers to Israel, his own people, as a crooked and perverse generation. And as we saw in Numbers, the Lord specifically asks, how long will this go on? How long do you expect me to bear with this? Numbers 14, 10, God asks, how long will this people despise me? And how long will they not believe in me in spite of all the signs that I have done among them? So despite all that God had done for Israel, I mean, imagine God opening a sea and you crossing through that sea. They had seen that. They had seen his provision in the wilderness. And yet they were still hard of hearing and they were hard of heart. They were faithless. And Jesus is laying this very serious charge at the feet of his disciples. But what's comforting is that even in the disciples' lack of faith, Well, that does not deter Jesus from rewarding the faith of the father. There's a contrast there, isn't there? You see in the disciples a faithlessness, a lack of faith, but in the father, you see a faith that perseveres. This father had surely felt helpless as he watched his son suffer. He had heard probably that Jesus was in the area with his disciples. He had gone to the disciples, but they were unable to help him. But this failure of Christ's ministers does not deter this man from going to Christ himself. In fact, in Mark's gospel, the man cries out, I believe, help my unbelief. His faith wasn't in men, it was in Christ. And so when men failed, his faith persevered. And when we see the disciples, these men who were chosen and set apart as ministers of the Lord Jesus Christ, when we see them fail because of faithlessness, well, it raises a question, doesn't it, for each one of us? What are we to do if and when we are failed by Christ's ministers? It was almost seven or eight years ago now at this point, but while I was in seminary, three pastors in the Reformed Baptist world all fell for one reason or another, two of whom I knew personally. I had benefited from their preaching. I had preached at their churches. And it came as a complete shock to hear how each of these three men over the period of a year or two fell and ultimately were disciplined and excommunicated from their churches. Men who I had a high regard for, men who I had benefited from their teaching and even their fellowship. And if you've ever experienced that yourself, Maybe you've been a member in a church where that had happened. The pastor fell in some kind of shocking way. Well, you know how hard it is. And you know how it brings up all those feelings, feelings of confusion, feelings of shock, feelings of surprise. And it grieves your soul. You're hurt. You feel betrayed. And maybe also what goes through your mind is the feelings and experience of fear, where you think to yourself, well, if this pastor who I looked up to and seemed so godly and led the church week in and week out in worship, if even he can fall, what hope do I have? It's a painful thing when any Christian falls to see that happen, but to have one's own pastor or a pastor who's helped you in different ways to see them fall, well, it raises a whole new set of questions. It raises questions like, how are we to think of everything that man said and preached? raises questions. How are we to think of those whom he baptized and the Lord's Suppers that he administered? Are those now null and void? Do I need to get re-baptized if I was baptized by a fallen minister? How do we think through these kinds of issues? Well, sadly, this is a question that the church has had to wrestle with throughout her history. But thankfully, it is a question that the church does have an answer to. That's why studying church history and not only studying it, but learning from it and implementing it in our own local churches is so important. And the way that the church has answered this question is by affirming that the efficacy and power in preaching and in the sacraments and the grace conferred through these things is not dependent on the minister. In other words, the minister is not the source of grace, but rather it is Christ who by the Spirit applies that grace. is the one who is the source and giver of grace. Chapter 27, paragraph 3 of the Westminster Confession puts it this way, the grace which is exhibited in or by the sacraments rightly used is not conferred by any power in them, in the doings of the sacraments, Neither does the efficacy of a sacrament depend on the piety or intention of him that does administer it, but upon the work of the spirit and the word of institution, which contains together with a precept authorizing the use thereof, a promise of benefit to worthy receivers. Well, there's a lot there, but what that means is that the word and sacraments rightly used, so we're not talking about false doctrine and false teaching, when the word is rightly proclaimed and the sacraments are rightly administered, it is Christ who supplies the grace and it is the Holy Spirit who applies the grace. And while certainly we want godly ministers, we want pious pastors who love the Lord, The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ through his means is not dependent on the minister. The grace that you receive this morning through the word of God is not dependent on the kind of week I've had as the preacher. Well, I've had a great week. I've been so obedient. You're in store for some great grace. Or, oh no, I've had a terrible week. Hold your expectations. No, that is not what the church confesses. The church confesses that it is Christ's work. And so even in the fall of a minister, and we never want that to happen, as terrible as that is and as painful as that is for the church, it does not nullify the work of Christ through that man insofar as, again, the word and sacrament has been rightly administered. What's the takeaway from this? Well, the takeaway, beloved, Since it is always and only Christ who works, build your faith on him, the best of men, our men at best. Yes, trust your pastors, but do not build your faith on us. Do not build your faith around your favorite theologian, our author, our online preacher, our conference speaker. But like the father in this passage, even when he's failed by Christ's disciples. His faith is not deterred. Why? Because he's building his faith upon Christ. His faith perseveres through their failure because it's built not on men, but on the Lord. And so, pray for your elders. Pray for your pastors and other teachers that you listen to who profit your soul, that we might not fall. But build your faith on Jesus Christ, for he, beloved, will never fall, and he will never fail you. And when your faith is built on him, then it will persevere, even through the hardest of difficulties. So Jesus has stepped down the mountain He has been confronted by the powers of the demonic. He's even seen the faithlessness of his own ministers, men he's been training for months and years. And yet in the face of all that opposition, Jesus remains a powerful and a faithful savior. Jesus is a powerful savior, so powerful that neither the assaults of Satan nor the weakness of his own people can deter him or hinder him from bringing about his great plan of redemption from all the ages. As Luther sang, Lord, sabbath his name from age to age the same, and he must win the battle. Well, after rebuking his disciples, Jesus responds to the faith of the father by calling for this child to be brought to him. And as the boy is being brought to Jesus, the demon kicks off once again. We read how the demon threw him to the ground and convulsed him. And this has been the demon's pattern. Mark tells us that the demon often threw the boy into fire and water trying to kill him. It's just a picture of how cruel sin is, how cruel Satan is. I mean, it's game over. The demon's about to be rebuked in a moment, and yet in the very last throes of death, he punishes and he attacks the child once again, torturing him. But as we see, this demon is no match for Jesus. Jesus rebukes the demon, and the boy is healed, and he reunites the father with his child. The disciples couldn't rebuke the demon, not because they weren't trying hard enough or they lacked some kind of power in themselves. Rather, it was because they were not trusting in Christ. Their faith was not resting in him. But by contrast, the father who had no power or authority from Jesus, but who simply looked outside of himself and trusted in Jesus, Well, Jesus answered his faith and healed his boy. What does it mean to have faith in Jesus? What is it that this father expressed or had that the disciples weren't expressing at this time? Well, question 91 of our catechism gives a helpful answer. Faith in Jesus Christ is a saving grace whereby we receive and rest upon him alone for salvation as he is offered to us in the gospel. is something that doesn't rest and trust in self, but rather it's something that rests and trusts in something outside of ourselves. Faith in that sense is extraspective rather than introspective. It doesn't look within. Faith is not faith in ourselves, it's not faith in faith, but rather it's faith, it's something that looks outside of self to the object of our faith, who is Jesus. And in the father, we see a positive example of faith, in that he trusts in Jesus as his powerful savior. In the disciples, on the other hand, we saw a negative example, as they were lacking faith, and even received this stinging rebuke from Jesus. As I mentioned previously, Jesus' words of rebuke were not something that he just came up with on the spot. Rather, they were a direct quotation from the Old Testament, that passage in the book of Numbers. And Jesus, therefore, is invoking this broader theme of the need for his people to persevere in faith and to have faith as something that's ongoing in our hearts. Back in that chapter, chapter 14 in Numbers, after God's rebuke of Israel as a perverse and a crooked generation, he swears that that generation of Israelites would not enter the promised land. The book of Hebrews then picks this same theme up in chapters three and four. The author of Hebrews tells us why that generation of Israelites would not enter the land. It was because of unbelief. He says it was because they were not united to Christ by faith and so they did not enter the land. And then Hebrews applies this to the New Covenant saying, let us therefore strive to enter that rest so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience. In other words, faith is something we must persevere in throughout our entire Christian lives. Faith is not something that we have at the start of our lives, and then it becomes sort of this useless appendage that we don't really need anymore. No, we need it every day of our lives. It's not that we get into the kingdom by faith, but then we kind of have to white-knuckle it and get through the rest of our Christian lives by works. Nor is it that we enter by faith and then we can sit on our laurels the rest of our lives. No, we begin the Christian life by faith and we continue the Christian life by faith. Faith is a muscle that we never stop exercising or using. Faith is to our souls what breathing is to our bodies. If you're not breathing, you're not alive. Faith is our very life breath. From beginning to the end of our lives, we exercise faith in our powerful Savior, Jesus Christ. By faith we're justified, such that our sins are forgiven and we're presented as righteous before the Father. By faith we receive the grace of sanctification, whereby he renews us after the image of God. So that when we get frustrated with our remaining sin, by faith we trust in the promise that he who began a good work in you will see it to completion. We exercise faith in the face of temptation. or we're being lured to trust in false ideologies, or we're being lured to think that sin is some kind of safe haven or an escape from the difficulties of this life. And we don't overcome temptation by trusting in our own strength. No, Paul doesn't say put sin to death by kind of finding some inner power within yourself. No, he says put sin to death by the power of the Holy Spirit who's at work in you. By faith, we look to Him for the grace to grow more like Him. And it's by faith we persevere, even to the end of this life. And many of you are in a place now of old age where you're facing more and more the effects of old age on your bodies. And the reality is you probably have more years behind you than you do ahead of you. And you may wonder, what will give me the strength to persevere through those very hard times, times of pain, times of memory loss, times where I know maybe I'm even trying my loved ones What gives you the grace to go through that? Again, it's the very thing that strengthens you. Even now, it's the Lord Jesus Christ who gives you that grace through faith. And what comforts you today will comfort you then. It's not that you will, at that difficult time at the end of your life, maybe on your deathbed, that you'll tap into some kind of unfound strength or energy or power. No, but like, The Israelites, as they were led through the Red Sea, as God parted the waters, so God will part the waters for you, and he will bring you through safely to that other side, as you persevere in faith, trusting in Christ, holding onto him. And so, beloved, hold fast to Christ, for he is a powerful Savior. He is not only the author of your faith, but he is the finisher of that same faith. Well, we see a persevering faith. We see a powerful savior. Thirdly, we see a perplexing truth. So Jesus has just demonstrated his power and authority over Satan as he has returned the son to his father. And in response, Luke tells us that the crowds who are watching all of this unfold, well, they marvel. They're astonished at the majesty of God on display before their eyes. However, Jesus knows that the faith of his disciples isn't as strong as it could be. It's somewhat weak. And it seems like Jesus is concerned that, well, maybe all of the praise and the cheering of the crowds and seeing his display on the mountain and seeing the boy released from the demon, all of that might get to the disciples' head, and not in a good way. And so he takes them aside while everyone is marveling, and he teaches them, saying, But while they were all marveling at everything he was doing, Jesus said to his disciples, let these words sink into your ears. The Son of Man is about to be delivered into the hands of men. This, of course, is the second time that Jesus has taught his disciples explicitly that he would suffer and die. Only a week earlier, he had told them very explicitly that he must suffer many things, be handed over, and be killed. So Jesus wants to get it into their heads what is about to happen. So he says it slowly and clearly, let these words sink into your ears. Essentially, his message is, don't be so distracted and enamored by the praise and the cheering of the crowds. Today, they might be praising me, but soon I will be handed over, and I will be betrayed, and I will suffer. We read those words, and they seem quite clear to us, kind of unmistakable, but for the disciples, it's not so clear. Rather, it's kind of a perplexing truth. We're told in verse 45, but they did not understand this saying and it was concealed from them so that they might not perceive it. And they were afraid to ask him about this saying. So the disciples have no idea what Jesus is talking about. Clearly, his words have not sunk into their ears. It seems like on one level, the disciples have finally come to terms with who Jesus is as the glorious Messiah, the conquering King, the Son of Man from Daniel chapter 7. But what they have not yet come to understand is that the same savior must save, not through conquering in the way, all the ways they expected, but rather by conquering through suffering as the suffering servant. And so Jesus' words at this point don't make any sense. Now Luke does tell us that they didn't understand because it was concealed from them. Does that get them off the hook? I don't think so. Previously, Jesus had told parables to the disciples and to the crowds which were deliberately designed to conceal the truth. But they were also designed so that those of genuine faith would come seeking answers. And that's what happened a number of times. Jesus would tell the parable. No one, including the disciples, would have any clue what he was talking about. Then the disciples would go to Jesus, ask for understanding, and Jesus would explain. What's troubling here is not only do they not understand, But they do not ask for clarification. Luke tells us they were too afraid to ask. Perhaps it was pride that kept them from asking, as the next three scenes seem to indicate. Or perhaps they didn't ask because it was such a perplexing truth, they'd kind of rather it not be true. And maybe if they ignored it, it would kind of go away, this language of cross-bearing and suffering. But what the disciples are ignorant of, and quite possibly averse to, is the very purpose for which Jesus came to earth. And it's why he didn't stay up that mountain in glory, but descended into the pits of the earth below. Let's not forget the question Jesus raised. How long am I to bear with you? It's a question that is raised in this text. It's a question that was asked in numbers as God asked, how long am I to bear with this sinful and perverse generation? How long is a holy God to bear with a sinful and rebellious people? How is it that A sinful and faithless people can not only be spared from judgment, but be brought into a glorious and everlasting kingdom. How will these faithless and disobedient disciples enter into the glory that they had a taste of just a day ago, let alone any one of us? For we are all sinners and trespassers. Before we knew Christ, before we pledged allegiance to Him in baptism, we rebelled against Him. We were by nature sinners and children of wrath. But even after baptism, every one of us must confess that we've continued to sin against the Lord. We've done what we know is wrong. We sin against Him daily. How is it that He bears with any one of us? Recall again Jesus' allusion to Numbers 14. After God accuses Israel of faithlessness and asks how long he must bear with them, The very next thing that happens is that Moses then intercedes for the people. Moses becomes their mediator who God listens to and accepts and then relents from destroying them. And here, Jesus, as the new Moses who is on his exodus, who has gone up the mountain and seen God's glory and now has come down to a faithless people even as Moses did, Well, now Jesus is the one who moves from expressing that divine frustration to now interceding for his people and speaking of the mediation which he will bring through his own suffering. The way for his faithless disciples to be forgiven and cleansed and accepted before the Father can only come through his own suffering, his atonement in being handed over to death on a cross. The only way for you, dear sinner, to be made right with God is through the suffering and humiliation of Christ on the cross. On the cross, the one who knew no sin became sin for us. He was judged in the place of sinners. He was treated as a faithless man, a faithless man. He was treated as a perverse man, as a disobedient man. And there, he absorbed the wrath that was due to our sin. so that we who trust in him by faith may be saved. For whatever reason. This truth at this time was concealed from the disciples. But friends, it has not been concealed from you this morning. It has been opened unto you and plainly and clearly explained. They were deaf to these things at this point in time. Don't you be deaf to these things. Instead, listen and receive and hear. Let these things sink into your ears. And if you don't understand, call out to the Lord for understanding. Do what the disciples did at other times and places. And like the father in this passage, persevere in faith. Call out to the Lord, knowing that he still bears with us because of Christ, even in the weakness of our faith. And so then, in faith, Let us go to Him. In faith, let us believe in Him. And in faith, let us rest in Him. Let us pray in faith now. Oh great God and King, we thank you for the Old Testament picture we have in Numbers 14 of how you mercifully bore with your people. and you even forgave your people through the work of a mediator. And how now we see that Christ is that new and greater mediator of a new and greater covenant. Lord, may we through this word be encouraged and edified and strengthened to rest and trust in Christ and by faith obey and by faith persevere in the strength and the grace that Christ gives his people now and until the end of the age. We pray these things in Jesus' name, amen.