Take your Bibles and turn with
me to the book of Luke. We've been going verse by verse
through the gospel of Luke. And we're in chapter 9. And we're going to be looking at
verses 37 through 45. I titled the lesson this morning,
The Next Day. Let's read these verses together. Luke chapter 9 beginning with
verse 37. And it came to pass that on the
next day when they were come down from the hill, much people
met him. And behold a man of the company
cried out, saying, Master, I beseech thee, look upon my son, for he
is my only child. And lo, a spirit taketh him,
and he suddenly crieth out, and it teareth him, that he foameth
again. And bruising him hardly departeth
from him. And I besought thy disciples
to cast him out, and they could not. And Jesus answering said,
O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you
and suffer you? Bring thy son hither. And as
he was yet coming, the devil threw him down and tear him. And Jesus rebuked the unclean
spirit healed the child, and delivered him again to his father. And they were all amazed at the
mighty power of God. But while they wondered, every
one, at all things which Jesus did, he said unto his disciples,
let these sayings sink down into your ears. For the Son of Man
shall be delivered into the hands of men. But they understood not
this saying, and it was hid from them, that they perceived it
not. And they feared to ask him of
that saying. Now Peter and James and John
had been up on the Mount of Transfiguration. They went up there with our Lord.
He went up there to pray. And he took them with him. And while they were there, they
went to sleep. They went to sleep. And when
they were awakened, I don't know, they may have been awakened by
Moses and Elijah talking to Christ about his decease that he had
to accomplish in Jerusalem, or I don't know what woke them up,
but something woke them up. And when they were awake, they
looked and they saw Christ and he had transfigured. His whole
countenance was white and blistering. And here stood, they saw Elijah
and Moses, the scripture says, in glory. And they were moved
by it, moved by it. And they wanted to, they said,
let's make three tabernacles. We'll do one for Moses and one
for Elijah and one for Christ. And then this cloud just came
down, the presence of God, They feared, and they entered into
that cloud, and then they heard a voice from heaven saying, this
is my beloved son. Hear ye him. And they came out of that cloud,
and then evidently they'd spent the night on the mountain. Because
I just read to you, it said the next day, they came down from
the hill. They were up on this mountain
of transfiguration, And they seen all these things. And they
were talking about his, that word deceased. If you look it
up in your concordance, you'll see it says exodus. He had to
accomplish his exodus. And just as it was in the days
of Moses, there's not gonna be an exodus till the lamb slain,
till its blood is applied, and until its flesh is eaten. then
there'll be an exodus. And there won't a dog bark and
rebuke as they went out of Egypt. Jesus Christ must as our representative
and substitute bear our sins in his own body on the tree. And that's what he was talking
about with Elijah and Moses. And he told his disciples plainly
over and over and over that he had to go to Jerusalem and was
gonna be forsaken, and he had to die, and on the third day,
he's gonna raise from the dead. He told them that, point blank,
simple language, but they didn't perceive it. Christ hath redeemed us, it said,
from the curse of the law being made a curse for us, for it's
written, cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree. What is the
curse of the law? What's the curse of the law?
Well, the curse of the law is that it demands perfection, perfect
obedience, perfect righteousness. It demands these things from
you, but you can't produce them. You can't produce them. And that's
a curse. For the man who, when a man first
begins to seek the Lord, he sees himself the sinner. And he's looking at how he was
raised, you have to do this, you have to do that, and then
all of a sudden he discovers that God doesn't, He doesn't
demand the best you can do, He demands perfection. And you can't
produce it. That's just the beginning of
a man when he gets lost. He gets lost. He don't know what
to do. He can't make himself, he has
nothing to offer. And so this sacrifice of Christ,
this going to Jerusalem to accomplish his exodus or his decease, this
is absolutely necessary. If he don't do this, nobody's
gonna be saved. You can't save yourselves. And that's what religion preaches,
sinner save yourself. Do this, do that, obey this,
keep that day, this day, whatever. It demands what we can't produce,
and it demands what is contrary to our fallen nature. Redemption
has to be accomplished, and none could accomplish it
but Christ. I love this scripture. When the
fullness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made
of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under
the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. The adoption is that which God
predestinated His elect to by Jesus Christ according to the
good pleasure of His will. Our Lord had allowed these three
men to see this and to peek, if you will, into the Kingdom
of God, to see things as they really are, to see Him as He
really is. And they'd heard the voice of
God. That's what Peter said in 2 Peter 1.18. And then with these
wonderful revelations, fresh in their minds, they lay down
on the mountain and slept through the night. It's a blessed time when that
happens, isn't it? Blessed time when the truth of
Christ and the grace of God and these things are fresh in your
mind and you're rejoicing in them and you lay down and you
just sleep like a baby. But then it came to pass, it
says, the next day. The next day. Nothing sweeter
than a mountaintop vision of Christ. That predestination to
adoption is defined in Romans 8.29 as being predestinated to
be conformed to the image of his son. Now he's not talking
about you looking like Christ in your outward appearance. What
he's talking about there is you're being conformed to see Christ
as he is. That's what he's talking about.
We see him, we know that the Son of God hath come and given
us an understanding that we might know him that's true. that were
in him that's true, even in his son, Jesus Christ. That's what
this predestination's all about. He will, as Paul put it, cause the
light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of
God, to shine unto you. And nothing brings To me, more
joy than to see you leave this place rejoicing in Christ. That's
such a joy to me. A vision in your head and a song
in your heart. But then all too quickly, it's
the next day. It's the next day. And oh, what
a precious thing it is for us to be able to gather in this
place. Nobody poking, nobody persecuting. To assemble in here in spirit
and truth and worship our God, what a privilege, what an honor. And remember what I've been telling
you through our lessons of Luke 9, this whole chapter's about
preaching. It's about preaching. That's what the feeding of the
5,000 was all about, preaching. That's what these men were going
to do. God's going to fill their baskets, and they're going to
pass it out to all that he assembles before them. He's going to pass
it out, and they're going to eat to the full, and their baskets
still going to be full. They're ready for the next feeding.
He's talking to them about preaching. And our subject is no different
than what was being talked about on the mount. Accomplished redemption. No exodus. Now he's gonna show
them how things really are. They got a vision of him on the
mount. They got to peek into glory on
the mount. Now they're gonna come down,
now he's gonna, now comes reality. Reality. Now he's gonna show
them how things really are. So let me give you just a few
things to think about as we review through these verses. First of
all is the reality of man. Where do I see that? I see that
in this man's son. He evidently believed, he evidently
rejoiced in Christ, but his son was demon possessed. Actually, I wouldn't shock you,
but actually everybody there was demon-possessed, weren't
they? All who weren't believers were.
Isn't that what it says? You hath equipped them who were
dead in trespasses and sins. wherein you walked according
to the course of this world, according to the prince of the
power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children
of disobedience." Everybody there was deeming to this, but this
man was just going off. He didn't look like everybody
else. That's how Satan deceives. We compare ourselves with others,
we look around and nobody hears jumping in the fire, nobody hears
getting thrown in the water or getting torn and all, you know,
so we're all okay. No, no, not at all. And my soul, how possessed was
the Pharisees and scribes that gathered here. They're all demon
possessed. Man at his best state, altogether
vanity, man of a few days full of trouble. They met him, a multitude met
him. Why? Because they're needy sinners.
That's why. They came to him as needy sinners. And out of this crowd came a
needy father. And as a father, and as a preacher,
I know the truth. But I'm helpless except to call
upon the Lord for my children. What's in them, is beyond my
power to do anything about. What can I do? As a preacher,
I can preach to them. As a father, I can try to teach
them. And that's as far as it goes.
That's as far as it goes. And in this young boy's case,
as it is in so many, so many, couldn't do anything with him.
He wouldn't hear. Couldn't hear, why not? He was
possessed. Couldn't hear. This man was desperate because
he realized that his son was possessed and the reality of
man is that he walks according to that spirit. That spirit works
in the children of disobedience. We don't think about that, but
how does that spirit work? Well, he works through the influence
of antichrist religion. He works in all sorts of ways. The devil is a master at showing
you something that really looks good and then convincing you
that it is. Whatever it is, whether it's
religion or the world or whatever, he's a master at it. Not a single son of Adam that's
not affected by Satan and his anti-Christ religion, and so
much so that he thinks he's fine. When a man thinks he's fine,
he's got a real problem. He's got a real problem. So much
so that he was convinced that he could produce a righteousness
acceptable to God. So much so that he thinks he
can unravel the mysteries of God by his intellect. What a
man told me one time, he couldn't answer the questions that I was
putting to him, so he got angry, and he said, I'm gonna go home
this weekend and read the Bible, and I'll come back Monday, we'll
talk. You can read the Bible from now on. If God don't reveal
Christ to you, you're just gonna come up with some of the most
off-the-wall things that ever was. Actually, all of the maladies
in those who came to Christ, all together, together, not just
demon possession, but leprosy, and on and on and on it goes.
All these maladies together picture the sinner. They'll give you
a picture of the sinner. Leprosy, he dying from the inside
out. Is that not the sinner? Sure
it is. And demon possession, blindness.
He said, don't walk like those Gentiles. They walk in the vanity
of their mind, having their understanding darkened because of the blindness
of their heart. This man's son was beyond any
control that That evil spirit controlled him. No matter what
he did to him, he could not get free of it. His father couldn't
free him of it. The disciples couldn't free him
of it. And this is the reality of man. And then secondly, he's
gonna show you the reality of the preacher. Turn with me to
2 Corinthians chapter four. Preachers are not supernatural
men. There's some on TV, I'd like
for you to believe that, but they're not supernatural men.
They're not immune to the things of the world, they're just men. You know, when Paul started,
you go into the average Southern Baptist church, I'm gonna pick
on them this morning. Go into the average Southern
Baptist church, and You're gonna meet that pastor
in there, and they're gonna put all these letters and degrees
and all these things after his name, and they're gonna start
telling you all about him. He's just a man. But when Paul,
he's an apostle. He holds the highest station
in the church. There's a lot he can say about
himself, but you know what he said? I'm Paul. I'm Paul. You know what Peter, how he introduced
himself? I'm Peter. They're not supermen, they're
just men. Now God has gifted them, he's
called them, his providence is arranged for them, and he opens
doors for them, and he gives them the ability and the understanding
to know things and teach things. But they're just men in the end,
and that's the reality of it. Paul tells us something of the
gospel he preached here in 2 Corinthians 4. And he tells us about the
miracle and wonder that it works in those who believe. And then
in verse 7, he says, but we have this treasure, now watch this,
in earthen vessels. Why? Why? Why would he say that? That the
excellency of the power may be of God. and not of us, that's
why. That's why. When he works his
work through his preacher, nobody's gonna say, they're not gonna
come up and kiss my ring or my feet or anything else. They're
gonna say glory to God. God be praised for this. He puts
it in earthen vessels for that reason. And we're troubled
on every side. My house is falling apart. I've
got diverticulitis. We're troubled on every side,
everywhere we look. I want to do things, but my age
won't let me. And we're perplexed. I don't
have all the answers. Sometimes you ask me a question,
and I'll say, well, I'll get back to you. I don't know. I'm
perplexed, but not in despair. And I'm persecuted, but I ain't
forsaken. cast down, but not destroyed. These are earthen vessels, weak,
doubting flesh. The disciples said, Lord, we
believe. Help thou our unbelief. You mean
disciples had unbelief? They were just men. They were
just men. His loving father brought his
demon-possessed son to the Lord's disciples and they couldn't do
anything for him. Back in verse one of Luke nine,
it says, he gave them power and authority over all devils. They had it. They had the gift. And they went out and exercised
those gifts and come back and told the Lord, Everything that
they'd done. Told him everything that they'd
done. But this time it didn't work.
Why? Was there a power out there greater
than Christ or equal? God forbid. So what was the problem? Flesh. Flesh. That's the problem. Paul said,
when I would do good, evil is present with me. It never leaves. It's always there. Now listen
to how our Lord responds to this situation. He said, I besought
thy disciples, and they couldn't do anything for him. So here
stands the disciples, and they're no doubt looking down at the
ground. Here's the congregation out there,
and then here's all the accusers of the brethren standing over
here. So what's he gonna say? He said, oh, faithless and perverse
generation. We forget what we are, don't
we? We're sinners. Being saved. I'm saved by grace,
and I'm being saved by grace, but I still got a sinful nature
in me. Old faith was, now listen to
this, perverse. Oh, surely he's not talking to
his disciple. Oh, yes he is. Oh, yes he is. They couldn't plead ignorance
because what he told them was so simple to understand. They
couldn't plead ignorance. They had no plea. Their only
plea was just unbelief. Well, the Lord's standing right
here. He'd been with them on the mount.
They'd saw him in his glory. And now they stood down there.
What's our Lord showing these men? He's showing them the reality
of the preacher. You're just a man. You're just
a man. And when something actually is
accomplished through your ministry, God gonna get all the glory.
You ain't gonna get any, because here's what you are. And he proved
it to them. And it's providence. Preachers are as needy of Christ
as anyone. And because we have gifts or
abilities does not make us immune from the flesh. Look at David. This is a man after God's own
heart. Look at him. Noah. and a drunken sleep. God saved this man and his house
and destroyed the whole world. And now the ship lands and he
plants a vineyard and makes some wine and gets drunk. Now he's
laying there drunk and stupor. Peter, Thomas, go on and on and
on. The reality of the preacher is
that he's an earthen vessel. But God puts his treasure in
him. He puts his treasure in him. And he does it that the excellency
of the power may be of God. And then, thirdly, I see here
the reality of faith. God gives faith, and this faith
cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. They'd been
on the mountain, but they were asleep. They were asleep. I'll tell you something about
faith. God don't believe for you. He gives you faith, but
he don't believe for you. You believe. You believe. And there was a weakness of faith on these men. And he reproves
them for it. They're just, and I don't know
if you've ever experienced this or not, but there's no excuse
for unbelief. There just is no excuse. And I think if we would all examine
ourselves in the light of God's word, and especially here in
these verses, if we just examine ourselves, you're gonna find
out that your faith is more like that grain of mustard seed that
our Lord talked about than it is the faith of Abraham who's
laying his son down on the altar. It's the mustard seed faith I
think we'll identify with a lot more than we will with Abraham.
But thank God it's not your faith, it's not the degree of your faith,
or the strength of your faith, or the percentage of your faith
that saves you, it's the object of your faith, which is Christ.
And that's what he's showing them here. And then fourthly,
let's look at the reality of Jesus of Nazareth. This man was
really, as his father had told them, his beloved son. And my friend, this man on whom
they believed and trusted was God come into the flesh. This
was God. Unto us a child is born. Unto
us a son is given. The government shall be upon
his shoulder. What government? Government of
what? Of everything. Huh? That's right. Everything. Well, what keeps
them planets from just spinning off out into nowhere? Christ. The government's on his shoulders.
He runs everything. He runs everything. You look
at creation, there's such an order in it, it's just undeniable.
There's too much order in it not to be governed. Who's governing? Christ is. Well, what about men
and nations and on and on? Government's on his shoulders.
There is no power but of God. The government's on his shoulder. Ruling, reigning over all things. His name should be called Wonderful.
Everything about him's wonderful with him. Everything. Oh, my
soul. He'd God come in, come down from
heaven to do what? to save his people
from their sins. Everything about him is wonderful.
The very God against whom we transgressed has come to make
peace and reconcile and save. Counselor. Does that mean he come down here
to counsel us? Well, there's a sense in which
he does, but I don't think that's what that's talking about. That's
a capital C. He's using it as the name, as
a name of Christ, something that Christ manifested. And what he's
talking about here is that there was only one who could take the
book of God's eternal counsels and decrees and unloose the seals.
He's the counselor. He'll manifest the counsel of
God. And he's the mighty God, the
everlasting Father. Have you been so long time with
me? Have you not seen the Father? And if he be God, he can do what
he will. And where all others fail, where
all others just come to the end of themselves, Christ said, now
bring thy son to me. Bring him to me. And that's what
preaching's all about, isn't it? Huh? I won't declare to people
who he is. I'm just gonna keep pointing,
pointing. Look to Him. Look to Christ. Here He is. This
is God come into the flesh. I just keep pointing at it. He
said, bring thy son to me. But He's helpless. He's hopeless.
You're a disciple. I can't do anything for you either. I can't change anybody's mind
or heart. All I can do is point you to
Him. And when they couldn't finish the work, He said, now you bring him to
me. You bring him to me. And this is reality. He's the
only one who can do anything for anybody. He begins with some delegated
authority, but we end up bringing him to Christ, don't we? And then when everything was
said and done, our Lord said to His disciples, let these things
sink down into your ears, for the Son of Man shall be delivered
into the hands of men. Everything that had taken place,
both on the mountain and in the valley below, had a connection
to His cross. In Romans 3.25, Paul tells us
that God had set forth His Son as a propitiation that which
enables God to forgive and reconcile, and it's through faith in His
blood to declare His righteousness for the remission of sins that
are passed through the forbearance of God. He's talking about the
sins of the Old Testament saints. And this is exactly what was
taking place on this day, and Christ was telling them the reality
of the connection The reality of the connection. This is why
this boy was healed, because I'm going to that cross. And
I'm gonna pay, I'm gonna redeem him, I'm gonna pay everything
that he owes, I'm gonna pay. And in the light of that, God'll
raise that boy up. He'll cast out those demons,
he'll save his soul. Well, I pray that the Lord will
use these things this morning, use them, help us to grow in
grace and knowledge of our Savior. Thank you.