#75 Lu. 9:37-42  TURNING TO JESUS FOR HELP

Introduction:

    In our text last Sunday Jesus carried Peter, James and John with Him up
into a mountain to pray.  While they were there those disciples had a most
wonderful privilege.  They saw Jesus in His glorified form.  They got a
preview of the glory that Jesus will have when He returns to this earth.
    However, when Jesus and the three disciples went back down the mountain
Jesus was not in His glorified form.  His appearance had already changed
back to that of an ordinary man.
    He was man.  He was human in every respect, but He was no ordinary man.
He was Deity God in human flesh.  But to look upon Him He looked just like
an ordinary man of Hebrew nationality.
    In our text today we see a man coming to Jesus for help.  This is
something that every man needs to learn to do.  Everybody needs the help of
the Lord Jesus Christ.

I.  The man and his child

    V. 37, "And it came to pass, that on the next day, when they were come
down from the hill, much people met him."  Jesus, along with Peter, James
and John came back down the mountain on the day after He was transfigured.
As they drew near the place where the other nine apostles were, they were
met by a large crowd of people.  The crowd had been gathered around the nine
apostles.  But when they saw Jesus coming, they left the nine and hurried to
meet Jesus and gathered around Him.
    Luke tells us about a man in that crowd who cried out to Jesus for help.
V. 38-39, "And, behold, a man of the company cried out, saying, Master, I
beseech thee, look upon my son: for he is mine 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."  The thing that
was on this man's heart was the terrible condition that his son was in.  To
make it worse on the father, this was his only child.  His life was wrapped
up in this child.  This child suffered from a terrible condition.  His son
was possessed by a demon spirit, an evil spirit from Satan himself.  Luke
tells us that the demon spirit had afflicted this boy with a condition that
somewhat resembled epilepsy.  But apparently it was not true epilepsy.  True
epilepsy is altogether a physical condition.  But this boy's problem was
caused by a demon.  He would have seizures which would throw him to the
ground foaming at the mouth.
    According to Matthew the demon would sometimes cause the boy to fall in
the fire and sometimes into the water.  According to Mark the demon also
caused the boy to be deaf and dumb.  This was a dreadful condition, but it
was more than just a dreadful physical condition.  It was a life threatening
condition.  He was subject to either burning to death in the fire or
drowning in the water.

II.  The disciples' failure to cast the demon out

    The father further explains the situation to Jesus.  V. 40, "And I
besought thy disciples to cast him out; and they could not."  The man had,
no doubt intended from the beginning to bring the child to Jesus---not to
the disciples.  But when he first arrived Jesus was not there and so he had
asked the disciples to heal the boy.  The disciples had previously healed
others.  They might have already healed somebody on this occasion.  But they
were unable to heal this boy.  They were unable to cast the demon out.  No
doubt they commanded the demon to come out, as they had done on previous
occasions, but nothing happened.  The demon did not come out. The boy was
still afflicted.
    This, of course, had been a terrible embarrassment to the nine apostles.
I am not sure that all nine of them tried, but apparently several of them
did try and they had all concluded that they could not cast the demon out.
    What made it worse was that a delegation of scribes was there from
Jerusalem for the purpose of trying to find something they could use against
Jesus.  They had asked all kind of trick questions that were designed to
trap the disciples and cause them to say something that could be used to
cast a reflection against Jesus.  Now that the disciples failed to cast the
demon out of this man's son, the scribes and Pharisees were having a field
day harassing them and making the whole cause of Christ look bad before the
people.

III.  The rebuke of Jesus

    Now that Jesus was on the scene the man was asking Jesus to cast the
demon out.  However, the failure of the disciples plus the ridicule of the
scribes and Pharisees had taken their tole on his faith that Jesus could
help his son.  According to Mark, he said, "If thou be able..."  He still
wanted Jesus's help, but he was no longer fully convinced that Jesus was
able to help his boy.
    V. 41, "And Jesus answering said, O faithless and perverse generation,
how long shall I be with you, and suffer you? Bring thy son hither."  There
is no doubt that this statement was intended as a rebuke to the father for
his lack of faith.  Whatever faith he previously had in Jesus which prompted
him to bring his son to Jesus had melted away because of the failure of His
disciples and because of the ridicule of the scribes and Pharisees.  Oh, why
will men doubt Jesus just because they see a weakness in the lives of His
disciples!  That same thing happens even today over and over again.  People
see the faults and failures of Christians or at least of professed
Christians and immediately they assume that the Lord is not worthy of their
trust.  In the recent bad publicity concerning some TV evangelists a lot of
people seemed to lose confidence in all Christianity and some lost
confidence even in the Lord Himself.  Let me tell you something.  Even if
every Christian in the world should fail that still would not meant that the
Lord is unworthy of your trust.  Jesus is still the All-wise, All-holy and
Almighty God even if every Christian in the whole world should fail.
    But Jesus' rebuke was intended for more than just the father of the
child.  He did not say, "O faithless and perverse man."  He said "O
faithless and perverse generation."  He was talking about all of the people
of Israel of that generation.  He was talking about people who had seen Him
perform miracles and who had heard Him declare the truths of God.  He was
especially talking about that group of people who were gathered there on
this occasion.  They were attracted to Him by the miracles, but they had
failed to accept Him as the Christ.  They had failed to put their faith in
Him as their Savior.  At least the majority of them had.  The majority had
never yet trusted in Him as Savior.
    Perhaps He was also including even the apostles in this rebuke.  After
all, He had given them power to perform miracles.  He had given them power
to heal all manner of diseases and to cast out demon spirits.  That included
this boy.  Furthermore, they had already performed similar miracles on other
occasions.  Why was their faith weak on this occasion?  Perhaps their faith
in Jesus was somewhat weakened because of the presence of the critical
scribes and Pharisees.  In the light of what Jesus said to them in Matthew's
account, we can be sure that their faith was weak because they had neglected
their prayer life.  In Matthew's account they asked Jesus why they could not
cast this demon out.  Jesus told them that this kind is cast out only after
fasting and prayer.  If their prayer life had been what it should have been
their faith would have been stronger.  It would have been strong enough to
cast this demon out.
    If Jesus were here today, no doubt, He would include us in the same
rebuke.  Jesus would most certainly have reason to rebuke us for the
weakness of our faith in Him.  Our faith most certainly has been weak on
numerous occasions.  I do not mean that any Christian here has ever come to
doubt that Jesus really is the Christ, but we have most certainly failed on
occasions to trust in Him to take care of us and to take care of our needs
here in this world.  Isn't it strange that we can trust Him to keep us out
of the fires of hell, but we have trouble trusting Him to take care of us
here in this world?

IV.  The demon's final attempt

    V. 42, "And as he was yet a coming, the devil threw him down, and tare
him..."  That is, the demon spirit within the boy threw him down again.  He
threw him down right there in the presence of Jesus.  It was almost as
though he was daring Jesus to do anything about it and I would not doubt for
a moment that he was mean enough to do just that.  But that is not all the
demon was doing.  That demon was making one last-ditch effort to kill this
boy or at least do him great bodily harm before he was cast out.
    Let me tell you one thing.  The Devil and his demon spirits are never
out to do anybody and good.  He always seeks to do harm.  When the Devil
tempts a man to do commit adultery, he is not trying to show him a good
time.  He is trying to hurt him.  He is trying to give him an illegitimate
child or to cause him to have aids or some other venereal disease.  When he
tempts a man to steal or cheat or commit robbery, he is not trying to help
him get money. He is trying to get him shot down or thrown in jail.  When
the Devil tries to take control of a man's life, he is not trying to help
that man.  He is trying to ruin him both in this world and in the world to
come.  When the Devil tries to get a man to reject the gospel of Jesus
Christ, he is not trying to help him in any way.  He is trying to make sure
that he suffers in the fires of hell.  The Devil wants to make men suffer
both in this world and in the world to come.

V.  Jesus healed the boy

    (V. 42), "...And Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit, and healed the child,
and delivered him again to his father."  Luke says that Jesus rebuked the
demon spirit.  That is, He commanded him to come out of the boy.  In
addition to that, Luke says that Jesus healed the child.  Whatever damage
the demon had done to he boy Jesus healed it.  Jesus then delivered the lad
to his father.  I assume that He caught him by the hand and led him to his
father.
    What a wonderful experience this must have been for that dad.  This was
an answer to prayer.  This was what he had hoped for in the first place when
he decided to bring the boy to Jesus.
    Nothing is said about the mother, but assuming that the mother was still
around, this must have also been a wonderful experience for that mother.  I
am sure that she loved her son just as much as the father did.  I am sure
that she was just as anxious for her son to be healed as the father was.  I
am sure that she was just as happy about his healing as the father was.
    It must have also been a wonderful experience for the boy himself.  No
more seizures.  No more foaming at the mouth.  No more hard painful falls to
the ground.  No more falling into the water. No more falling into the fire.
He could now run and work and play as any other normal child.  What a joy it
must have been for this boy.
    Listen, we all need Jesus in so many different ways.  We need Jesus to
help us to maintain good health.  We need Jesus to help us to put bread on
the table and clothes on the back.  We need Jesus to help us to walk the
straight and narrow and to do what is right.  We need Jesus to help us to
have a good home.  We need Jesus to help us to raise our children in this
sin cursed world.  We need Jesus to protect our home form thieves and
robbers.  We need Jesus to save our unworthy souls and to keep us out of the
fires of hell.
    Thank God that I have already trusted Jesus to save my soul.  Thank God
that some of you have done the same.  But there is someone here this morning
who has not done so and who desperately needs to do so today.

Conclusion:

    Are you ready now to turn to Jesus and call on Him and to ask Him to
take care of your need?