Message Notes

INTRODUCTION

1. Focus on Faith

a) A necessary reminder

b) A challenging response is required

2. The problems of life

a) Cultural

b) Financial

c) Personal

d) Spiritual

THE PLIGHT OF A FAMILY

14 And when they had come to the multitude, a man came to Him, kneeling down to Him and saying,

15 “Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is an epileptic and suffers severely; for he often falls into the fire and often into the water.

16 So I brought him to Your disciples, but they could not cure him.”

Matthew 17:14-16

1. A distraught father

a) He knelt before the Lord Jesus humbly

b) He pleaded for mercy

c) He had run out of options

2. A demonised son

a) He had epileptic episodes

b) He had suffered severely

i) Falling into the fire

ii) Falling into the water

3. Despair expressed

a) He had brought his son to the disciples

b) But they could not cure him

THE RESPONSE OF THE LORD JESUS

17 Then Jesus answered and said, “O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him here to Me.”

18 And Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of him; and the child was cured from that very hour.

Matthew 17:17-18

1. A strong rebuke given

a) A Faithless generation

b) A Perverse generation

2. A deep sadness expressed

a) How long shall I be with you?

b) How long shall I bear with you?

c) No one seemed to have learned the deep lessons the Lord had taught

d) The lesson of faith not learned results in faithlessness

3. A direct word to the father

a) “Bring him here to Me.”

b) The Lord Jesus exercised power over the demon

c) The boy was healed instantly

THE CHAGRIN OF THE DISCIPLES

19 Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, “Why could we not cast it out?”

20 So Jesus said to them, “Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.

21 However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.”

Matthew 17:19-21

1. The Disciples were embarrassed publicly

a) They had failed to cure the boy

b) The rebuke the Lord gave included them

c) They were humiliated

2. They humbly sought to find a solution

a) Why could they not cast out the demon?

b) Why had they failed?

3. The candid answer of the Lord Jesus

a) “Because of your unbelief”

b) Because of their little faith

c) Because they had underestimated the resistance of the demon

THE CHALLENGE OF THE LORD JESUS

1. To comprehend the power of true faith

2. Faith was compared to “a mustard seed”

3. A true faith can move mountains

4. Nothing would be impossible

“For with God nothing will be impossible.”   Luke 1:37