Notes from a sermon heard on 8 September 2013
Matthew 17 verses 14 – 21
Notice the heartache of this man
in the passage. He had a son who was
giving him tremendous grief. Something
had happened to him. He had been
possessed by an evil spirit, by the devil himself. When the Lord asked about when it came upon
him his reply was from a child. The son tried
day and daily to take his own life so the man brought him to the Lord. This passage teaches us about effective
service for God.
The failure they experienced. See
this man brought his son not directly to the Lord but first and foremost to the
disciples. He thought they could do
something for him. This effective
service though comes through defeat. It
is not the end of the work. Maybe you
feel like the disciples. Maybe you had
the opportunity to hear off God in this past week but somehow you let it go and
you feel defeated as a result. If the
devil can get one little bit of defeat in your life he will pull you down time
and time again. The football manager
after his team have lost says “we will take this on the chin and we will learn
from it.” Perhaps that is what you need
to hear today. You will learn from the
defeat of this past week. It is good to
do that. The business man as well – he
sets up his stall to sell but somehow it doesn’t do as well as expected. It doesn’t stop him though because he
continues on. Maybe in this mission you
will feel defeated but we shouldn’t let that stop us. Notice the failure of the disciples first and
foremost. Luke and Mark also record this
same account. Luke actually specifies
when this failure actually came. Luke 9 verse
37 “the next day when they were come down from the hill.” What were they doing on the hill? Jesus took 3 of his disciples with him, he wanted
to spend some time with them, separated them.
He took the trusted disciples there to the mountain. What happened? The clothes of the Lord actually shone with
the glory of heaven. Moses and Elijah
then appeared with him and talked with him.
What about? How he must go to
Calvary. The disciples were learning of
the glory of God and the purpose of the Lord Jesus Christ. The glory of God is completed in the work of
the Lord Jesus Christ. “I have glorified
thee on earth, I have finished the work you gave me to do.” The purpose in the Lord was to save your
soul. He stepped out into his world,
rejected of men and there on the cross of Calvary he shed his blood that you
might be saved. That was his
purpose. The moment you step out in
faith, invite him into your heart, trust him as Saviour and Lord - God is
glorified at that moment. This picture
shows that in the next life there will be people who have left this scene of
time and they are waiting on us to join them.
Luke 9 “the next day when they came down from the hill.” Be careful of the next day. When you step out from the presence of God,
and the blessings of God, when God speaks to your heart, God is right there
beside you. You can leave the house of
God knowing it was good to be there because there you met with the Lord Jesus
Christ. Maybe as you sit with the word
of God, take it and apply it to your heart, somehow God speaks to you and you
know it. You get up feeling God has been
in the room with you. Then the next day the
devil and tries to rob you of the blessing you had sitting reading God’s
word. He tries to take the peace out of
your heart. That is what he was doing
here. These disciples came down the next
day and they met a man with a demonic son.
The failure came. Be wary, be careful of the next day experience, guard
it. Put on the full armour of God. Are you standing in these days? Remember Jonah when he ran from the
Lord. God gives him another
opportunity. He tells Jonah I want you
to go to Nineveh and preach. As he
begins to preach something happens.
Jonah began to see amazing things, tremendous things, a tremendous
revival, men and women turning to God.
Then we see him sitting down on the mountainside so sorrowful. The devil started to come to him there. It was the next day for Jonah. Remember David he was in the front of the
army, having victory after victory. The
village was empty and bare, everyone with him was ready to stone him. What did David do? He encouraged himself in the Lord. In this place there was a young man who was
possessed of the devil and they couldn’t do anything to help him.
The focus they had. When the
disciples considered the events of that day and saw they could do nothing for
this young man, they began to examine themselves. It is good to examine ourselves. Maybe praying over something and nothing has
happened. If we start to examine
ourselves and the devil comes alongside and starts to put his finger on what is
wrong in our lives. Just like Job’s 3
friends. They told him he wasn’t living
correctly. It was nonsense. The devil can pull us down very quickly. Sometimes when you are praying for something
God will tell us it is not the right time, you have to wait, delay it for a
while. “What I do now thou knowest not
of.” Maybe there is a straight forward
no, I will not answer it in that way. God
answers in another way. Paul when brought
down with great sickness prayed 3 times and the Lord said “no I will not do it
but every day though you will have strength to live for me.” The disciples failed and they brought it to
the Lord. It should always bring us back
to the Lord. Sometimes a failure drives
us the other way. We need to learn
this. Why could we not cast him
out? Notice their humility, the hunger
to know and the honesty of the disciples.
Saul was told to destroy the Amalekites.
Samuel came down afterwards and asked him – why is there still the
bleating of sheep? Saul said it is not
my fault but the people’s, he had told them what to do but they kept the best
of the flocks. Even in the Garden of
Eden Adam blamed Eve. It was her
fault. She blamed the devil. The disciples wanted to know why they had
failed in this particular point. There
was a hunger and a thirst there, they didn’t want to make the same mistake
again. Joshua with the children of
Israel took Jericho then went to Ai.
They thought it would be best not to take the whole army with them but
they were defeated. Joshua almost blamed
God for this defeat. We have to keep
coming back to God time and time again.
The features of this failure – verse 20. Mark tells us there was an argument going
on. Jesus had picked 3 disciples to take
up the mountain. Maybe there was a bit
of jealousy, maybe the rest of the disciples were grieved they hadn’t chosen
them. When it came time to serve God they
couldn’t do it. Maybe in this debate I
can imagine right with the scribes and Pharisees that the accusations were
flying about. The Lord and the disciples
debated with men who were well read and learned. It was a discouraging debate. Paul told Timothy to avoid foolish talk when he
went down and talked with people. Avoid
people who are foolish in their talk who just want to ridicule and gossip. Don’t give heed to fables and endless
genealogies, “refuse profane and old wives fables and exercise thyself rather unto
godliness.” Jesus told his disciples in
verse 21 “this kind goeth not out but by praying and fasting.” They needed to pray and fast. We are going into a mission meeting the enemy
head on just like the disciples did. We
don’t want it to be just another mission, somewhere to go, entertainment - not
a bit of it. This is a battle. We need to be praying and fasting. There are things we need to leave aside in
order to pray. We need to leave them
aside, get into the presence of God and pray.
You have to be serious about it, get hold of God, laying hold upon God
to do something for us. We cannot do it
ourselves. The disciples were not ready
for active service.
The frustration it must have caused the Saviour. To see the power given to his disciples but
they failed. Remember when Jesus was in
the boat sleeping and the storm got up.
They woke him saying “carest not that we perish.” The frustration he must have felt at that
moment. Is there failures in our lives
today? Can we focus on Christ, are we
prepared to say “Lord here I am I want you to use me?”
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