Lord, have mercy on my son

Pray that the Lord would help us and bless us as we turn together to his holy and precious word of truth, to the chapter that we read, Matthew chapter 17, and looking at verses 14 to 15. Matthew chapter 17, and verses 14 and 15. And when they were come to the multitude, there came to him a certain man, kneeling down to him, and saying, Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is lunatic and sore-vexed, for oft times he falleth into the fire, and oft into the water.

And what we have here is the Lord Jesus has just come down from that mount of transfiguration where he had been transformed from looking like a very ordinary man, even though he was son of God and man at the same time. Yet here on the mountain, Peter, James, and John had got that glimpse of the Lord Jesus in all his glory, with his face shining as the sun, his raiment was white as the light. And we see that Moses and Elias appear there, or Elijah appears there. And Peter says some things as if to say, well, we should be worshipping all three. And then a cloud overshadowed Moses and Elias. And behold, we see there a voice out of the cloud which said, this, Jesus being left on his own, Jesus, or this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. Hear ye him. Jesus greater than Moses. See?

The law under Moses could never achieve blessing, could never get people to heaven. And it's interestingly that even Moses didn't get to the promised land. I know he got to heaven, but as a type of the way to get to heaven, it wasn't through Moses. Moses made mistake, a mistake at least, and he didn't get the children of Israel into the promised land. That became Joshua's job.

And Elias too, Elijah, yes, the prophets, they spoke of the promise of Jesus, but the fulfillment of the promise is so much better than the promise itself. And so here we read, this is my beloved son, this Jesus, This is who was standing there and this is who the voice out of heaven was talking about. This is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased.

Hear ye him. Listen to him. Deal with him. And so we just come down from that mount of transfiguration and the multitudes, the crowds meet to him, meet him, and no doubt they all had their issues and things that they wanted to bring to the Lord Jesus, but we read there was a certain man, this one particular individual that the word of God sees fit to want to tell us about, this certain man. It's really, it could have been any old person with this particular problem.

And we know a few things about him. He came to Jesus and we know a few things about him. He had this son which the Bible says he was a lunatic. Well, we don't use that word really today at all, do we? It might even be a rude thing to call someone or an offensive thing to call someone. But potentially he had epilepsy or something similar to that. But really his issue was that as the word lunatic really means he was someone that was foolish or someone that did crazy things, whether deliberately or not. And the fact that he was lunatic comes from the word moon.

A lunar eclipse is an eclipse to do with the moon. Well, a lunatic is to do with the moon, and the moon is something that's not always the same. that you get a full moon this week. I'm not sure what it is this week, but if it was a full moon this week, next week it'd be a half a moon, and the following week after that, no moon at all, and then another half a moon, and then another full moon.

It's always changing. And this boy's problem, this son's problem was a changing problem. It was intermittent, we might say, just like the moon. He wasn't always sore vexed. He wasn't always falling into the water or the fire. It was something that happened often, but it wasn't all the time.

This boy, or this son, he was sore vexed as well. He was badly troubled. Whether it was in his mind, through anxiety or stress or depression, we don't really know. But it was so bad that at times he appeared to want to take his life and fall into fires or into water. Maybe he was drowning, going to drown. He was rescued, obviously, or prevented from doing such things, but that was what he was intermittently wanting to do.

And whilst, obviously, be very careful, but we wouldn't call anyone nowadays at all a lunatic in that way, but you see, what he did The effects that it had on his life is something that is actually very relevant to us all today. We're intermittent. None of us, I don't think, would ever say that we get things wrong the whole time. Often, there will be times in our lives when, like what is said about this lunatic, if he was foolish, perhaps doing crazy things, well, we've been foolish.

There's times when perhaps we thought, I don't really want God telling me what to do. I don't want God really reigning over me. I don't really want to Listen always to God. We've been, and the Bible tells us, that the fool has said in his heart, there is no God. The fool has said in his heart, really, I don't need a God to look after me or to tell me what to do. and saying in prayer about governments and really they think that they are the supreme people that can do what they like.

They can make rules about this and that and all kinds of things. They don't have anyone that they think, there's no one that they've got answerable to. Obviously, when they become MPs, I think they have to say some kind of oaths that they will serve the king and country and God, but it's really lip service rather than genuine. And so, mankind is prone to that kind of thing, foolishness. It might be intermittent, it's not that we're always thinking about me not listening to God, but there are times when we do. We don't want God to be telling us what to do.

So we're like this person here and Being a lunatic, perhaps you might say, is us doing crazy things. Well, again, intermittently, we might be really sensible most of the time, but you can perhaps think in your lives of some crazy things and silly things, foolish things that we've done or said, risky things, very risky things. Things where we've done things that are a bit risque, where really we did it, look at me. attention-seeking type of things it might not be something that we do all the time it might just be a just a very rare occasion but Intermittently, we mess up. Intermittently, we do some very risky things.

And the Bible talks about consequences of doing risky things. The Bible talks about the consequences of sin, in that the wages of sin is death. And the Bible also talks about us taking fire into our bosom. Don't take fire into your bosom. Don't give fire a big hug because you'll get burned.

It's talking about illicit relationships outside of marriage at that particular point. But you could talk about it being any kind of sin that if we start embracing sin, if we start embracing wrong, Don't be surprised if it's like embracing fire and getting burned. And we might be sensible most of the time. We might not be embracing such wrong very often.

But in terms of the thoughts of getting burned by the consequences of doing such things, any burn, can be a seriously life-changing thing. People talk about people getting life-changing injuries, don't they? And it doesn't matter if you've only done such a thing once in your life. The life-changing injury just from that one event can be literally life-changing.

And then it says, He was sore, vexed, and sore is a really, an old word for very. He was very vexed. He was very badly afflicted mentally, we might say. Maybe he was anxious. Maybe he was depressed. Maybe he had all sorts of issues that he couldn't deal with, but again, intermittent like the moon comes and goes sometimes we're okay sometimes we're fine sometimes we're in a real state mentally aren't we and and so perhaps we're not all together they're so different from the description of this this this man here and really i often think that Listening to Satan is such a cause of mental health problems because you see Satan is a liar just like Adam and Eve.

He tells Adam and Eve, Adam and Eve you've got great times ahead if you just listen to me. You can have good and evil. Now, I don't actually think perhaps they really knew what good and evil was. They listened to Satan, him telling, yes, you can have good and evil, but did they really know what truly good and evil was? Were they given the full details of what was actually going to happen? Really, Satan missold them the deal.

But once they'd listened, once they'd done what he told them to do, it was too late. There was no cooling-off period like we get nowadays if you sign something and you, ooh, I've changed my mind now. There's a cooling-off period sometimes, isn't there? Or a 14-day period where you can change your mind.

But once Adam and Eve had listened to Satan, once Adam and Eve had disobeyed what God had said that they should do, once there was that disobedience, once they trusted Satan above God, that was a sin. And the sentence for that sin, the punishment for that sin, was going to be death. An eternity of curse and trouble. And when I said about embracing fire and getting burned, yes, burning can be a life-changing injury, can't it? But sinning is far worse. It's an eternity-changing thing. It's an eternity-changing disaster.

And so I wanted to think of this as I was thinking, this is so much like you and I, a description of you and I, this chapter. When they were come to the multitude, there came to him a certain man, kneeling down to him and saying, Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is lunatic and sore vexed, for oft times he falleth into the fire and oft into the water. You and I, you see, we might be just the same.

We have great expectations for the future in our lives, but sadly these can't be sustained forever. Our eternal soul won't always be here forever. There won't always be great times ahead. And as we begin to realize that, As we begin to realise that we've perhaps been mis-sold the deal by Satan, that leads to all kinds of stresses and depressions and despair and anxieties.

We feel lost. We feel as if we were We led down a route down in our forest where we live. We live in the forests of Norfolk. And there's paths there that we sometimes go down thinking we're going to try and get to a particular place, like by the lake or somewhere. Someone said to us, oh, there's a really nice path that you can get down to the lake in a very special secluded place. Well, the other day we were trying to find this path. And it looked like there was a little path going off the main track.

Ah, this will be it. And in the end we were this high in bracken and brambles and stinging nettles and all sorts and we just had to say, well no, we've been led down the garden path here, we've been sold a pup here, we've been missold, this isn't the way. And we had to try another way. And it wasn't that important. We found another route and we got there.

But the point is in our lives, you imagine you're going down a path that you thought was the path that lead to joy and blessing. Satan had told you this is a great way. And you suddenly realize the path's gone. You're in a muddle. You're in the stinging nettles. You're in the brambles. And you can't see a way out. And then it says he sometimes fell into the fire. And fire is deadly. Fire kills. And this is something that can cause death.

And it may be that, yes, we don't do that perhaps ourselves, Spiritually, there is a fire ahead in terms of hell ahead for those that don't know anything about the Lord Jesus Christ as their savior. And this boy had obviously been kept out of the fire by his father and out of the water by his father, but it was like he had a propensity to go to it. And that's us. We have a propensity to do things that are worthy of death and worthy of hell. And sometimes we even think in our terribly low situations that death might be better than life for us. And people drown, don't they? Drown themselves even.

You see, here is something that's so relevant to each one of us. I'm trying to paint a picture here that this is what we're like by nature. So often we sin and fail and mess up. And I speak for myself. You sometimes lay in bed at night and think to yourself, why did I do that? Why did I say that? Why didn't I act more kindly in that situation? Why didn't I act more loving in that situation? And we have to pour out our heart in confession before the Lord Jesus Christ, because we're just messed up.

And so this is so relevant to each one of us. And even if it's not relevant to you, you may be saved by God's grace, you may be in a great place at this moment in time, but there's people around you. This man didn't bring himself with his own problems to Jesus, he brought his son to Jesus. And you and I, you may identify loved ones of yours in this circumstance, sons or daughters or grandchildren or acquaintances, people at work, people in your neighborhood. And we can identify with this situation.

And this man, this certain man, before he came to the Lord Jesus, we know he'd asked his disciples first, but he probably asked more people than that beforehand. He'd probably gone to lots of people to see if they could help with this problem that he'd got with his son, but no one could help. He'd even gone to the disciples. We read that, I brought him to thy disciples in verse 16. And they couldn't cure him. And the disciples were human beings. And we can go to various human beings. We can go to all sorts of psychologists or counselors or therapists and all kinds of people to see if they can help us. but in terms of our soul situations they can't help.

The disciples, we don't know quite too much about what happened here but There is that hint in what the Lord Jesus said about the disciples and, oh, faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I suffer you? Bring him hither to me.

There is that hint in what the Lord Jesus said that maybe at this time the disciples knew they were on their own. Jesus was up the mountain with the three other disciples and maybe they thought they'd got this person that had been brought to them and they thought that they had to do something because they themselves had to have the power to heal this young person or this son. But maybe they didn't look by faith to Jesus. Because it does say in verse 21, how be it this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting. You see, what they needed to know was that Jesus wasn't going to be always there with them. He was going to be away in time to come and they were going to have to deal with the Lord Jesus, deal with problems just the same later on. Well, they needed to know that they could come to the Lord Jesus by faith, even though Jesus was up a mountain. And maybe they didn't do that. But whatever happened, the disciples couldn't cure this man.

But then we read this lovely story had a happy ending. The Bible takes a story like this, which is very sad on the face of it to start with, very bad, and tells of a happy ending. And that's why we have the Bible before us today and I believe we're here today because the Bible has a message for us today that is a beautiful message for mankind. It is a beautiful message for us in exactly the circumstances that we are in and it delves right down into the issues all the issues and problems we all face in our lives either in our own lives personally or in those that are around us and this is why it's such a beautiful book because it doesn't just involve ourselves it involves us communicating with the Lord Jesus Christ on behalf of those that are around us our sons, our daughters, our grandchildren, our acquaintances, our colleagues at work, our neighbours, the people that you talk to when you're on your market stall in Redhill Marketplace. All these kind of things you see.

When we come, like this man did, this certain man, he came kneeling down to Jesus. He came kneeling down to Jesus and asking for mercy. And what we do when we come to the Lord Jesus like this is we show and demonstrate, this man showed and demonstrated that he had no help in himself. And that is what's so important for you and I to come to declare by our actions that we have no help that we believe in in ourselves. And it shows that he believed that the Lord Jesus was able to help him. And if we really believe this describes us, that there's no help in us and only help in the Lord Jesus, then what did this man do? He came to the Lord Jesus. And if we realise that we're in the same circumstance with no help in ourselves and our only hope of helping the Lord Jesus, then what are we going to do?

Well, this man, he knelt down. He knelt down to Jesus, we read. Not just before him, but to him. Jesus was the object of him kneeling down. He was the reason why he kneeled down, because Jesus was there and he wanted to make a statement. He wanted to make a declaration, if you like. He wanted to worship him. And in his actions, he declared that Jesus is God. Worship is something that we should only ever do to God. And this man demonstrated that he believed Jesus was God by worshipping him and kneeling down before him.

And it's as if he's making this declaration, and this is a declaration that you and I can identify with, that I'm doing this because the problems that I got are too big for me but I believe Jesus Christ, you are the Lord Jesus Christ, God's being here with us here upon earth. He was there at that time. I believe that you are God and nothing is impossible with you and you can help in this circumstance. You see, that was his declaration. He came to the Lord Jesus. declaring by his worship that he believed Jesus is God. That Jesus is God, God's being, God's person, here upon earth at that time.

Now for us, this same Jesus is in heaven. This same Jesus is in heaven today. But we read that that the Spirit, Acts chapter 2, we read that the Spirit is now sent down. I will pour out in those days of my Spirit. The Spirit is of Jesus Christ, the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit is nowadays poured down into this world. And this same Jesus is accessible through the spirit nowadays.

And as we are told later in Acts chapter 2, whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord, that is the Lord Jesus, shall be saved. So, you and I are told, therefore, to call upon the name of the Lord Jesus in spirit that we may be saved. that we may be heard in all that we require. And so today, although the Lord Jesus isn't like you can go up to him today like this man did, this certain man did, yet in spirit you and I are able to come and fall before the Lord Jesus in worship. And as we come to the Lord Jesus Christ in worship, we are also to confess that we're just human beings, unable to solve so many of our problems, but we are coming to the Lord Jesus in spirit because we believe he is God.

And we come believing that Jesus is accessible. You see, this man came out of the crowds to the Lord Jesus, he believed that he was accessible. He was accessible to that certain man. And so you and I are to be believers that today, as we name the name of the Lord Jesus Christ in spirit, then he is accessible to us. and we can bring our troubles, if it's us that feels like to be this son in all their sore vexed situation, we can bring ourselves to the Lord Jesus Christ and fall at his feet in spirit, just as this man brought. But equally, there may be those that have many people upon their minds, in their hearts, upon their souls, upon their spirits, worried about or concerned about loved ones, And we too can come accessibly to the Lord Jesus about such people, such souls, those that we come into contact with, those our acquaintances, our colleagues, our neighbours.

We are able to come today just as that man did, and to ask, and what did he ask for? He asked for mercy, Lord have mercy on my son. We're able to ask the mercy on our sons, our daughters, ourselves, And, you know, if you were in that lost situation in the forests and you can't see a way out, wouldn't it be such a wonderful thing if you heard a voice calling out of the darkness, if you like, I've come to find you.

I know the way out. I know how to rescue you. It would be such a beautiful message. It would be such a beautiful sound to hear. And that's what it is. It's such a beautiful thing to understand that where I am in all the muddle I am in, like it almost falling into the fire on the very edge of being cast into eternal destruction. That's where I deserve to be.

But to hear the sweet, gentle, loving voice of Jesus I came into the world to save sinners. That whisper, sinners, that means me. You see, here is a hope. Not the expectation of a better tomorrow that Satan gives us and then leads us into all kinds of difficulties and it's a missold deal. But the Lord Jesus, when he tells us I've come into the world to save sinners, he saves sinners. He delivers. He follows through. He never leaves us. He never forsakes us.

And we may be in all the same situation as this boy here, sore vexed, oftentimes falling into the fire and into the water, and so on. It might be an accurate description of me, and through my sins, I might well deserve it. But you see, asking for mercy is saying, Jesus, spare me the outcome there. You could be spared that outcome. And the Lord Jesus is merciful. He shows mercy. He gives mercy. And what does he say to this man? He says, bring him hither to me. Bring the son to me. And the sinful spirit was commanded to go. And the Lord Jesus cured him. Jesus rebuked the devil and he departed out of him. And the child was cured from that very hour. He was made better.

And the disciples needed to learn a lesson. Because verse 17, we've looked at it already, but it says, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? A couple of other how longs here. How long shall I suffer with you, suffer you? Bring him hither to me. How long? The disciples were needing to learn a lesson. You won't always have me here with you as a person on earth, disciples. You won't always have me. But you've got to learn a lesson.

You've got to start believing that in my name, Through the Spirit, I can do all the things that I'm doing for you whilst I'm here in person. And you have to believe that in the name of Jesus, through the Spirit, I'm able to do exactly the same. And we are able to, we are to believe that too, that Jesus in spirit is able to do exactly the same as he did all those years ago when he was here upon earth. Even though he's not here in actual presence, physical, bodily presence. And that was a lesson the disciples were going to have to learn. It wasn't just going to be, well, we've got to do this. We've got to heal this child that's afflicted. No. Engage with Jesus. Ask Him. Prayer and fasting. Ask him for help.

That's the way the future's going to be, says Jesus. You're gonna have to have faith that though I'm not actually here with you in presence, I'm here with you in spirit. You won't be able to see me, that's why it's faith, but you will be able to interact with me through faith and you will receive exactly the same answers and exactly the same help as you do whilst Jesus is here upon earth. And you see, this is such an important lesson for each one of us, that this child was cured from that very hour. The Lord Jesus in his power was able to do what was unable to be done for that boy by anyone else. The Lord Jesus was able to do it. And Jesus is the same yesterday when this was taking place, and today, and forevermore. We are to have that faith today with our issues that he is able to restore and deliver us.

And that's why it's such a beautiful story, because here's a story that you and I can all identify with. It's a bad situation to be in. In fact, it's one of the worst situations. that human beings can be in, in all sorts of sore vex situation and almost falling into the fire and into the water, if you like, on the very brink of death, on the very brink of hell, on the very brink of drowning. But there is a good outcome, a happy outcome, a blessed outcome.

And just briefly, into the water, you see, We might say, well, that's like a declaration that we would make when we are baptized. It's very important to think of the symbolism of baptism in this way, that when we are being baptized, we go underneath the water, the water under which all human beings would drown by nature. And once you are laying flat on your back in the water, you are sinking to the bottom. and we all know from people that have drowned that they drown, they sink to the bottom and only a few days or 10 days later they come to the surface when they start to gas up a little and start floating but they sink to the bottom It's well known. Think of the inquiries for looking for missed persons that we've heard about perhaps in our days, but not so long ago there was a lady that fell into the river in Lancashire and they couldn't find her and some of the people that went to look for her were, she's not here.

But there was a person that I know who's a search and rescue expert, and he said, she will be there. She'll come back. They'll find her after 10 days. And of course, yes, that's exactly what happened. Someone was walking the dog and found her. But that's by and by. By nature, we sink to the bottom. And that's what would happen. Being baptized is a symbolism of that.

I was sinking. Jesus lifted me up. In sinking sand, he lifted me. He lifts us up, and he puts our feet upon the dry land. And that's exactly what we're declaring when we're baptized, that we believe that I myself was sinking, sinking, sinking to the bottom with no hope. I was in a vexed situation. I was in fire. I was in water. But I believe in the Lord Jesus. He's lifting me up. He put me on the rock, Christ Jesus. He has cleansed me. He has renewed me. It's nothing to do with me. It was all to do with what the Lord Jesus did for me.

And so that's just an example of being delivered, going into the water and being delivered by the Lord Jesus Christ out of the water that we think of in the ordinance of baptism. And we're to make that declaration. All of God's people will in some way or other have some kind of knowledge of sinking and being lifted up out of a sinking situation by the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ.

And that's a message that's still so applicable to us. The gospel message is still open. The same Jesus that was open to receive the request, the kneeling down of this certain man, the same Jesus, his ears are listening today to problems that you and I bring about ourselves or other people that might be around us. It's still so relevant today. There are still lost people out there. There are still vexed people out there. There are still troubled people out there, in all kinds of situations.

But the Lord Jesus' arms are still open. He is opened armed to receive sinners. He is opened armed to receive the needy and the poor to himself. So we are called to him for his deliverance and he was cured, the child was cured from that very hour. When we come to the Lord Jesus Christ, he is able to cleanse us and cure us.

And so the message, as this Jesus said to this certain man, bring him hither to me, that's exactly what he says to you today. Bring your troubles to him. Cast your care upon him. Call upon him. Ask. and it shall be given you. Seek, and ye shall find.

Why may we each come just like that? It's such a beautiful story. The Bible is such a beautiful book. It deals so much with just like the things we, the life, like the way we experience it delved right down into our circumstances and shows us his salvation, his loving, tender care to deliver us and care for us. in time and eternity and may we each know this blessing in each of our lives.

Let's pray. Dear Lord God, I do thank Thee so much that Thou art that dear Lord Jesus that is still in heaven today, and through the Spirit we can still access Thee in Thy name, Lord Jesus, for Thy help in our circumstances, in our sore-vexed situation, in our dangerous circumstances. Lord, Thou art able to deliver us and cure us and heal us and put our feet upon the rock, Christ Jesus. Lord, we bring the souls of each one that's gathered here before thee this morning, and we pray that each and every one of us may know what it is to fall into thy tender, loving care, Lord Jesus, into thy arms, unable to save ourselves, but to know that thou, Lord Jesus, art able to lift us up and deliver us. Lord, we pray for thy blessing upon each and every one of us then. Pardon all those things that we've spoken amiss. May thy name, Lord Jesus, be lifted up, and may that name being lifted up, be attractive to each and every one of us here this morning, we ask for Jesus Christ's sake. Amen.

Lord, have mercy on my son

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Lord, have mercy on my son

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