Luke chapter 9. I'm taking the
title for the message from the words found in verse 43. Luke 9, 43. Look at what it says there in
the first part of verse 43. And they were all amazed, amazed
at the mighty power of God. They were all amazed at the mighty
power of God. Now they were talking about the
Lord Jesus Christ. They were talking about what
He had just done. And they recognized and declared
that He is the mighty God. And they were amazed. So the
title of the message Amazed at the mighty power of God. Amazed at the mighty power of
God. Now, don't you find the Lord's
power to save sinners mighty power? Matter of fact, it's almighty
power, is it not? Don't you find the Lord's power
to save sinners almighty? How would you answer that? Yes,
absolutely. He is the Almighty Savior. He is God, our Savior. In Isaiah 63, we find these words
in verse 1, Who is this that cometh from Edom, with dyed garments
from Bozrah, this that is glorious in His apparel, traveling in
the greatness of His strength, I that speak in righteousness,
mighty to save." Aren't you thankful that the Lord Jesus Christ is
the Almighty God and Savior? He is able to save to the uttermost
all that come to God by Him, seeing, knowing that He ever
lives to make intercession for us. Now this marvelous story
we find here in Luke chapter 9 is also given in Matthew chapter
17 and Mark chapter 9 as we read earlier and then here in Luke
9. This marvelous story of the mighty
healing power of God our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Now we
read many times, many times through the scripture, how those who
were in desperate need came to the Lord Jesus Christ, They brought
their need to Him, and He met every need. We read earlier in
our study where it said all those that came to Him in need of healing,
He healed every one of them. That ought to encourage us to
come to the Lord and seek mercy in Him. This story of this young
demon-possessed child, Being completely healed is also a picture
of the Lord saving power toward us. Anytime we see a blind man
made to see, a deaf man made to hear, a cripple made to walk,
the dead raised up, these are all types and pictures of the
Lord saving power toward us. You see, He came to set the captive
free. He came to set us at liberty.
He came to raise us from the dead. You see, this is a picture
of the Lord saving power toward us, who by nature are dead in
sin. Not only that, but also sin and
Satan have dominion over us by nature. We're born in sin, shaped
in iniquity. Sin and Satan have dominion over
us, controlling us. And then the Lord, in His sovereign,
marvelous, mighty power, crosses our path, speaks a word of salvation
unto us, and like that, we're healed. We're made whole. You see, the Lord Jesus Christ
came to save sinners. The Son of Man has come to seek
and to save that which is lost. This is a faithful saying and
worthy of all acceptation, that the Lord Jesus Christ came to
save sinners. And I confess with Paul, there's
no sinner greater than me. If the Lord had mercy on me,
and He has, and the Lord has raised me from the dead, and
He has, and the Lord has made me a new creature in Christ,
and He has by His grace, why not you? Hmm? You in need? You need mercy? Well, seek mercy
where it's found. Where sin abounds, grace does
much more abound. That as sin hath reigned unto
death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal
life. by the Lord Jesus Christ. In this same story that's given
us in Matthew 17, it says there the Lord Jesus rebuked the devil,
and he departed out of this child, and the child was cured that
very moment. He was healed. Now, in our story
here, you turn for a moment, hold your place there in Luke,
9 and turned to Mark 9. When the Lord Jesus, James, John,
and Peter came down from the Mount of Transfiguration, they
found the disciples surrounded by a crowd of people, and the
scribes were disputing with them. Notice in verse 14 of Mark 9,
when he came to his disciples, he saw a great multitude about
them, and the scribes, these were the writers or the copiers
of the Scripture. They were familiar with the Scriptures,
but they didn't know the author of the Scripture. He was right
before them. And straightway all the people,
when they beheld Him, were greatly amazed, running to Him and saluted
Him. And then He asked the scribes,
You have a question? I have the answer. I am the answer. And then one of the multitude
who had this demon-possessed child spoke up and said, Lord
have mercy upon us. But now here's what I want us
to consider. What a contrast from the mountain scene of the
Father speaking from heaven, and the glory of the Lord Jesus
Christ shining forth in His true deity, in His true glory, and
hearing the disciples heard the Father speak from heaven, saying,
this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased, they saw the
vision of Christ's glory, and now the sad influence of sin
and Satan. Notice, they were on the mountaintop
and now they come down to this sad valley of sin and sorrow,
the sad influence of sin. Now back in the valley of turmoil
and sorrow and woes. Now, on the mountaintop, down
in the valley of sorrow. In the mountaintop of joy, down
in the valley of sorrow the next day. Is that not the life of
every believer? Honestly now, that is the life
of every believer. On the mountaintop one day, rejoicing
in the Lord, and down in the valley of despair and sorrow
the next day. But always remember, whether
we're on the mountaintop of joy or in the valley of sorrow, the
Lord is always with us and will never leave us, will never forsake
us. He said, Lo, I'm with you always,
even to the end of the earth. Now we have time to joy and we
have time to sorrow, right? But the Lord is always with us. Now, four things I want us to
learn from our story here. The first one is this, how totally
dependent we are upon the Lord at all times for our daily strength
and grace to help in time of need. In time of need. Now look back over at Luke chapter
9. Like Moses when he came down
from the mountain of Sinai, Our Lord found the disciples in a
state of complete confusion under attack of the enemies of the
gospel. The disciples were embarrassed
to some extent when the Father brought that child to the disciples
and they could not help Him. They were embarrassed to some
extent and the scribes were probably rubbing it in. The scribes were
the enemies of the Lord Jesus Christ. They had gained an advantage
over the disciples because they were unable to help the desperate
case of this father. We read in Matthew 17, they said,
or the father said, I brought him to thy disciples and the
disciples could not cure him. These disciples are the same
men who just a few weeks ago cast out demons and had done
many miracles. Look back to Luke chapter 9 verse
1. Remember when He sent them out?
He called His twelve disciples and gave them power and authority
over all devils and to cure diseases. He sent them to preach the kingdom
of God and to heal the sick. And they had great success in
doing that, but now here they stand helpless. The devil and
the scribes took advantage of them, and here's what I want
us to understand. What a humbling lesson and a
very needful one for us. Without the Lord Jesus Christ,
we can do absolutely nothing. Our Lord said in John 15, I am
the vine, you are the branches. He that abideth in me and I in
him, the same bringeth forth much fruit. For without me, You
can do nothing. You see, we're totally dependent
upon the Lord Jesus Christ for every mercy, every grace, everything
in this life. Let us learn this lesson of humility
from the failure of these disciples and let us learn to seek His
strength, to seek His presence, to seek His grace to help us
in our time of need. Now when is your time of need?
All the time. Our Lord said, Come boldly unto
the throne of grace that you may obtain mercy and find grace
to help in time of need. When is your time of need? If you're like me, it's all the
time. I need His mercy constantly. We're to trust Him at all times. You people, pour out your heart
before Him. God is a refuge for us. With Him, we may do all things. The Apostle writes this scripture,
I can do all things through Christ, which is my strength. With Him
we may do all things, but without Him we can do nothing at all.
With Him, we may overcome the greatest temptation. Without
Him, the least temptation may overcome us. You see, we're totally
dependent upon the Lord to keep us by His power, to strengthen
us, to cause us to grow in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Thank God He's promised to never
leave us. or to never forsake us. He is
our refuge. He is our strength. He is our
hope. Let us lean heavily upon Him. He would have us do so. He said,
come unto Me, all you that labor heavy laden. I will give you
rest. Here's the second thing I want us to learn in this story. Look back in Luke chapter 9 again. We can learn something of the
reality of sin and Satan's destructive influence over people, over sinners. Clearly, this young man was demon
possessed. He had an unclean spirit, a foul
demon spirit, which caused him at times to be unable to hear,
unable to speak. In Matthew 17, his father said,
to the Lord Jesus concerning his son, he said he's a lunatic. That is, he's crazy, or one that
has these terrible fits when the devil takes hold on him. When they brought him to the
Lord Jesus Christ to be healed, it says the devil threw him down
to the ground. Look at verse 42. As he was yet
coming, the devil threw him down and tear him, and the Lord rebuked
the unclean spirit and healed the child and delivered him to
his father again. But notice this child's sad condition. Look at verse 39 of Luke 9. The spirit, this evil demon spirit,
it takes him, that is, it controls him, and he suddenly cries out,
and it tears him that he owns again, foaming at the mouth and
gnashing with his teeth, bruising him, and then leaves him in this
sad, sad condition. Satan never seeks our good, but
rather our destruction. Let us beware of His devices. Let us beware of the influence
of sin. Let us beware as parents and
grandparents of our young people to beware of the evil influence
of Satan and sin in your very heart. You young ones that are
here today, now listen to me. Sin and Satan will influence
you to do many things contrary to God and to the Word of God. Let us do as this Father did,
seek mercy for our children in the Lord Jesus Christ. I want
to seek mercy where mercy is found, and that's in Christ.
We're instructed to bring our children up in the nurtured admonition
of the Lord, to teach them a way of salvation in Christ. Let us
instruct our children in the Scriptures, in the blessed doctrine
of the gospel of God, concerning the Lord Jesus Christ, which
are able to make them wise unto salvation." Now what do our young
people need? They need to hear the gospel.
If God is going to save them, He is going to do it with the
gospel. It pleases God through the preaching of the gospel to
call out His people. You remember what the Apostle
Paul wrote to young Timothy, he said, Thou from a child hath
known the Holy Scriptures, which were able to make them wise unto
salvation. I'm always glad when I see parents
bringing their children to the worship service, that they might
hear the Word of God. We have this promise from God,
train up a child in the way that he should go. When he's old,
he'll not depart from it. That's a blessing we have from
the Lord. Now here's the third thing I
want us to learn. We learn something of the vital lessons of faith. Something of the vital lessons
of faith. By nature, look at verse 42 of
Luke 9, verse 41 rather, here we learn something about the
precious gift of faith. Faith is that precious gift that's
given of God. Look what he says here, O faithless,
and perverse generation. You see, men by nature, and that's
you and that's me, that's our children, we by nature do not
have faith. Faith is a precious gift of God. Faith comes by hearing and hearing
by the Word of God. By nature we are faithless. And then that next word, perverted. We are sinners before God. How
long shall I be with you and suffer you? Thank God he is long-suffering. And here's a word of encouragement.
Bring your son to me. Bring your son to me. Let us
take our children to the Lord in prayer. Let's pray for them.
Let's ask the Lord to have mercy upon them and to save them by
his grace. He's able. By nature, we have
no true faith, not in the true and living God, not the faith
of God's elect. We know faith is a gift of God,
not of work that any man should boast. But every true believer... Look back at Mark 9 now. Mark 9 verse 21. Every true believer... Look what
this father says here, verse 21 of Mark 9 now. Mark 9. He asked his father, how long
ago, how long ago is it since this child, this came, this demon
spirit came upon him and he said, of a child. Oftentimes it cast
him into the fire and into the waters to destroy him. Sin and
Satan doesn't seek our good, seeks our destruction. But if
thou can't do anything, have compassion on us and help us,
Mark 9, 23. The Lord said unto him, If thou
canst believe, O all things are possible to them that believe. And straightway the father of
the child cried out and said with tears, Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief. Help my unbelief. Now every true
believer can identify with this man. Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief. He believed,
yet he had some doubt, didn't he? He brought his child with
hope, yet he was fearful. In Matthew 17, verse 15, it says
there, the father cried out and said, Lord, have mercy on my
son. That's faith, isn't it? Have
mercy on my son. That's faith. And here in Mark
9, He expresses his unbelief. Look at verse 22 again. But if
thou canst do anything, have compassion on us, that's unbelief,
isn't it? If thou can, Lord have mercy
on my son, that's faith. If you can do anything, have
compassion on us and help us, what's that? Doubt. Unbelief,
is it not? This man seems to put an if on
the Lord's power and the Lord's ability. Look again at these
two words in verse 22, but if, but if. He puts an if, if you
can, on the Lord's power and on the Lord's ability. When the
leper in Matthew chapter 8 came to the Lord, he said, Lord if
you will, You can make me clean." You see, it wasn't a matter of
ability, it was a matter of will. He did not doubt, the leper did
not doubt his power, but appealed to his sovereign will. Lord,
if you will. He didn't say, Lord, if you can.
He knew he had all ability, it's just a matter of will. If you
will, you can make me clean. And the Lord said, I will be
thou clean. Notice the Lord's Helpful answer
to us. Verse 23 of Mark 9. The Lord
Jesus said to him, If you can believe, all things are possible
to him that believe. Now, three things I see here. The Lord calls attention to this
man's unbelief. The problem is not in the Lord's
power or the Lord's will. The problem is our lack of faith. If you can believe, all things
are possible to those who believe. How many times did the Lord tell
his disciples, O ye of little faith. How is it that you have
no faith? He said one time. The second
thing I see here, the Lord encourages his faith. All things are possible
to them that believe. All things are not possible to
be done by the believer, but all things are possible to be
done for him by the Lord's almighty sovereign power. Anything too
hard for the Lord? Absolutely not. Saving faith,
that's a gift of God, always looks to the Lord for help. Saving
faith always prays, Lord, Thy will be done. You see, the Lord
is my refuge and my strength, a very present help in the time
of trouble. By Him all that believe are justified
from all things which you could not be justified by the law of
Moses. Lord, give me faith to believe
Thee and to trust Christ for all my salvation. Now look at
verse 23 again, or verse 24 rather. And straightway the father cried
out, when the Lord said, All things are possible to him that
believeth. And the father cried out with tears, saying, Lord,
I believe. He confessed that he is Lord,
sovereign. I believe. I do believe the Lord. Help my unbelief. Help my unbelief. Now, every honest believer can
identify with this man. Lord, I do believe. I do believe
the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the power of God
and the salvation. We do believe that His Word is
the Word of God that effectually worketh in us who believe. We
do believe that Christ is all of our salvation. We do believe
that, don't we? That's what believers believe.
We can say with the Apostle Paul, I know whom I have believed.
And I'm persuaded He's able to keep that which I've committed
unto Him against that day. We do believe that Christ is
all of our hope of salvation. We have a good hope through grace
in Christ who is our hope. We do believe that the Lord Jesus
Christ is all our righteousness and peace before God. He made
peace with God for us with His own blood. I do not doubt Him. I do not doubt His power. I do
not doubt His grace or His salvation. Not at all! Yet, I find in my
old sinful nature unbelief, self-righteousness, self-love, pride, and unbelief. I'm just being honest. I find
in my heart that I do believe, and yet I find also in my heart
unbelief. Unbelief. In the heart of every
believer there is trust, doubt. There is hope and fear. There is faith and unbelief. How can that be? In the same
heart, in the same person. There is great assurance and
confidence in Christ. We are the true Israel which
worship God in the Spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no
confidence in the flesh, and yet we find, I do, in my own
heart. times of unbelief and doubt that
overwhelm my soul. You know what the problem is?
I tell you what the problem is. Turn to Galatians chapter 5.
Galatians chapter 5. There is a warfare and a conflict
in every believer now, not an unbeliever. In every believer
there is a warfare and a conflict between the flesh and the spirit.
Paul writes about that. The Apostle in Galatians 5 verse
17. For the flesh lusteth against
the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh. These are contrary
the one to another, so that you cannot do, you cannot do the
things you would. Well, I would believe Him and
never have a doubt again. I would honor and glorify Him
in everything. I would, but I cannot. because
of this sinful flesh. There is a warfare and a conflict
between the flesh and the spirit, between the old man of sin and
the new nature created in righteousness and through holiness that's given
in the new birth. Our Lord put it this way in John
3, 6, that which is born of the flesh, It's flesh. That which is born of the Spirit
is spirit. The flesh is nothing but full
of unbelief, doubt, and fear. That's the flesh. The new man
is full of faith, believing God. Here we have that old nature,
and we have that new nature, and we have that conflict. Faith
and doubt. Fear and faith. Now there's nothing
perfect in this body of flesh. Don't expect it. Don't expect
it. Some of the greatest saints that
have ever lived expressed both faith and unbelief. Abraham believed God and it was
counted to him for righteousness. And yet when he came before a
pagan king to protect his own skin, he said, if Sarah, she's
not my wife, she's my sister. Well, Abraham, didn't you believe
God? Yeah? But I'm still Abraham. I still
have this fleshly nature. You see, we see both. I'll give
you another example. David, the sweet psalmist, the
man after God's own heart. He said, The Lord is my shepherd,
I shall not want. He leads me beside still waters. The Lord is everything to me.
And yet we find in another psalm, Psalm 77, verse 7-9, he says, Is his mercy clean gone? Has
God forgotten to be gracious? You see in his heart that confidence,
faith, and belief, and yet doubt and fear. Why? Because of the
flesh and because of the Spirit. There is a conflict and a battle.
And here's a relative one to us as we study here through the
Gospel. Peter. Peter. Turn to Luke 9. Peter, whom do you say that I
am? Peter answering said, You're
the Christ of God. When those 5,000 turned and walked
away from the Lord Jesus Christ in John chapter 6, and the Lord
said, Will you also go away? You remember what Peter said?
Peter confessed our to Christ. He said, We believe and we're
sure you're that Christ. We have nowhere else to go. And
yet we find Peter, not many days later, when the Lord Jesus Christ
was arrested, remember? And when Peter came and looked
upon that scene, and a little girl walked up to him and said,
well, you're one of those disciples. No, not me. Peter! Did he believe the Christ of
God? Yes. And yet, he had times of
fear and doubt. Now, this is just the reality
of where we live. Peter did not only deny the Lord
once, three times, just as the Lord said that he would do. Now, I'll give you another example
of this. John Newton. We all know the
story of John Newton. who wrote the song Amazing Grace,
how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was
lost, but now I'm found. He has set me free. John Newton
wrote many other songs too, one of which goes like this. This
is the same man. "'Tis a point I long to know,
and often causes anxious thought. Do I love the Lord, or no? Am
I His, or am I not? When I turn my eyes within all
as dark and vain and wild, filled with unbelief and sin, can I
deem myself a child? Lord, decide this doubtful case.
Thou who art the people's Son, shine upon this work of grace,
if indeed It has begun. You see, Lord, I believe. Help
Thou my unbelief. These are the experimental truths,
these truths of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. This lost
religious world are totally ignorant of. They are presumptuous. It is of utmost importance to
the comfort of a true believer to be aware of this inward warfare
and this inward peace we have with the Lord. The old nature
of unbelief and sin and the new nature of righteousness and faith. But now listen to me. I would
much rather you examine yourself whether you be in the faith examine
yourself, whether you be in the faith, than to be presumptuous
trusting something other than Christ. I'd rather you examine
yourself than to be presumptuous. I don't want to be presumptuous
and wind up in hell. I want to know that my Redeemer
liveth. I want to know that I trust Him
as all my hope and all my salvation. Now here's the last thing I wanted
to consider. in Luke chapter 9 all the way
down to verse 42. And the Lord Jesus Christ rebuked
the unclean spirit and healed the child and delivered him again
to his father. I bet his doubts and fears were
gone then for a little while. Child was lifted and raised.
He was rejoicing on the mountaintop. Verse 43, they were all amazed
at the mighty power of God. The mighty power of God. The
absolute power of the Lord's dominion over all things. The devil is under the dominion
of the Lord Jesus Christ. He's not some rogue spirit going
out here trying to do things and this and that and that other
thing. The devil is God's devil. The
Lord controls him absolutely, eternally, He can't do one thing
without God permitting him to do so. He's under the absolute
control of God Almighty. Satan and all his demon spirits
are no rival to the power of the Lord. Now, they had a terrible,
terrible tornado in Texas last night. I would almost bet you
that most of the people think, well, the devil did that. You know the Scripture says this,
the Lord will have His way in the whirlwind. That wind is God's
wind. The Lord said, I kill, I make
alive. I the Lord do all these things.
You say, well, you're God the monster. Get ready to meet a
monster. God is God absolute over all
things or He's not God at all. The demon spirits are under His
absolute control. He does according to His will
in the army of heaven and among the heavens of this earth. And
none can stay His hand or say unto Him, Lord God Almighty,
what doest Thou? This gives this sinner comfort.
I know that God is God. He is in charge over all things. All things are of God. You can't
go too far with that. He is God. When the Lord commanded
the evil spirit to come out of the child, what did that evil
spirit do? Well, I don't want to. He came
out, didn't He? You see, even the demon spirits
obeyed the Lord's command. The Lord rebuked the unclean
spirit, and the child was healed. Now, we read in the Romans epistle,
if God be for us, who can be against us? Satan is strong,
busy, and active, and malicious, and we're no match for him. But
the Lord controls all things. Our great Lord Jesus Christ has
power over all things. He has power over all flesh,
and He should give eternal life to as many as the Father hath
given to Him. He said, All power is given to
me in heaven and earth. Aren't you glad? I'm thankful. You know, a lot of people don't
like Him to have all authority and all power. That's the religious
people. They would have themselves to
be sovereign and limit God. Our great God and Savior reigns
and rules over all things. There is nothing that's not under
His absolute sovereign control. That's what the Scriptures plainly
teach. Romans 11, 36, Of Him and through Him and to Him are
all things. Never despair of any sinner's salvation. God is
almighty to save. If God saved me, This wretched
man that I am, why not you? Why not your child? Why not your
neighbor? Why not you, my friend? God able
to save you? Absolutely. Absolutely. He has all power. When the Lord in grace and mercy
saves sinners, do you know what He does? He raises us from the
dead, quickens us, and makes us new creatures in the Lord
Jesus Christ. May the Lord our God be pleased
to bless His Word to your heart, to make you to know that He is
God Almighty over all things, able to save to the uttermost
all that come to God by Him, and may the Lord grant us faith
And may the Lord cause our faith to grow. You know what the Lord's
disciples asked Him in Luke 17? We're going to study there eventually. You know what they said? They
said, Lord, increase our faith. May the Lord be pleased to do
that right now. Give me faith. I don't have it
by nature. Give me faith, and then Lord,
be pleased to increase it. Increase it.