Matthew 17: 17-20-Believing the Incredible
-- and Living According to What is Believed
Introduction
A. While Jesus was transfigured, the disciples at the foot of the mountain could not heal a boy.
1. The lunatic boy had a demon, which made him fall into the fire, and many times into the water. (17:14-15)
2. The boy’s father begged Jesus to have mercy on his son. He complained that the disciples could not heal him.
B. Jesus said, “O faithless and twisted generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him here to me.”
1. He called them, “faithless and twisted.”
2. In addition, Jesus implies that they didn't even have "faith like a grain of mustard seed." They had less than little faith.
C. A twisted and weak faith produces twisted and perverse living.
1. The unbelieving and perverse generation weakened the disciples' faith, because of their twisted influences.
2. How is it possible that being eyewitnesses of the power of Jesus, the omnipotence of Jesus, had not produced a very strong faith among them?
3. Jesus demonstrated among them that he was able to change water into grape juice. He could heal the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons, walk on water, multiply the loaves and fish, command the winds and calm the storm. What could He not do? With God everything is possible and there is nothing impossible.
4. Jesus demands that we have the faith that can see what is not seen.
I. Faith that can see the unseen.
A. Hebrews 11:1 “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”
B. Hebrews 11:7 Noah by Faith saw the unseen future.
C. Hebrews 11:8-12 Abraham and Sara believed what is unbelievable, outside of human experience.
D. Hebrews 11:17-19 Abraham believed that God was going to resurrect his son Isaac, because he believed God's promise.
E. Hebrews 11:29-30 It was impossible to part the waters of the Red Sea and lay down the walls of Jericho.
F. Matthew 19:26 With God, anything is possible. (Mark 9:23; 14:36; Luke 18:27)
--God can: 2 Corinthians 9:8; Philippians 3:21; Ephesians 3:20
II. Doubt defeats Faith and weakens man's fidelity to God.
A. Mark 9:14-29 It gives us more detail of the boy, who the father said had a spirit that made him mute.
1. The scribes disputed with the disciples. V. 14
2. The young man had a mute spirit, “that seizes him, it throws him down, and he foams and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid.”
3. This accounts reminds us of the demon Legion, Mark 5:2-4. The man was so strong that no one could chain him. “no one could bind him anymore, not even with a chain, 4 for he had often been bound with shackles and chains, but he wrenched the chains apart, and he broke the shackles in pieces. No one had the strength to subdue him.”
--Demons provoked in men physical force that frightened everyone.
B. Matthew 14:25-31 Peter walked on the water until he saw the strong wind, he was afraid, and he began to sink. Jesus said to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?”
C. In both cases, the doubt was a product of looking at what is seen: the impossibility of what Jesus does. In front of the world of Satan, we feel very weak, but Jesus is stronger.
III. Today's scribes are called "scientists." They weaken the faith of the saints of God who listen to them too much.
A. Jesus said, “Oh faithless and twisted generation.” Deceit twists the truth, and does not believe it because it trusts in the falsehood. It is carnal and surrenders to sin. Life is twisted, perverted, because thoughts are perverted.
B. The unbelievers invented the theory of "evolution," to provide an alternative to the Bible and its history of creation and the flood.
1. The Bible says the universe was created in 7 days, and it can't have been more than 10,000 years ago. But scientists say the earth is at least 4 billion years old.
2. The Bible says that man was made according to God's likeness, and that God ordained marriage and gave us laws to protect the family from the sins that destroy it. But scientists say we are the children of monkeys, and that family is a convenience invented by men. They justify fornication. They justify abortion, and the murder of inferior people. They have given us the political system of "Communism," tyranny, "humanism," homosexuality, and "feminism."
3. The ethics of "evolution" are all part of modern science: in biology, physical science, and social science. It is found in criminology and economics. Schools are governed according to the principles of "Humanism." There is no God. Man is the lord of his own salvation. They take God from his throne and put in His place "evolutionary pantheism."
C. The influence and power of this "science" produces doubt in many Christians and in many churches. We are also a “faithless and twisted generation.”
Conclusion
A. If we had faith as a grain of mustard seed, we would deny ourselves, take up our cross and follow in the path of Jesus Christ. We must not doubt the power and presence of Jesus.
B. The Gospel overcame ancient idolatry, and today it can overcome it again. We have to preach the message boldly without hesitation, without apologizing for Christ.