“Miraculous Faith”
(Matthew 17:14-20)
Series: God’s Fulfilled Promise [on screen]
Rev. Matthew C. McCraw, EdD
First Baptist Church, Bartow, Florida
January 26, 2020
The Passage
Matthew 17:14-20
14 When they reached the crowd, a man approached and knelt down before him. 15 “Lord,” he said, “have mercy on my son, because he has seizures and suffers terribly. He often falls into the fire and often into the water. 16 I brought him to your disciples, but they couldn’t heal him.”
17 Jesus replied, “You unbelieving and perverse generation, how long will I be with you? How long must I put up with you? Bring him here to me.” 18 Then Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of him, and from that moment the boy was healed.
19 Then the disciples approached Jesus privately and said, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?”
20 “Because of your little faith,” he told them. “For truly I tell you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will tell this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”
Introductory Comments:
In today’s sermon, Jesus will speak to us about faith. As I was preparing this sermon this week I spent a lot of time working on it while in the woods as I was spending some time in Alabama with a couple of men from our church. As I was interacting with these men I was listening to a lot of what they said about the way of the woods because I’m still learning a lot of stuff. I listened to them because I want to know what they have to say so I can be a better man of the woods and because I have faith that MOST of what they say is helpful.
In today’s passage, Jesus is going to talk to His disciples about faith, but He’s going to do so in a teaching manner. He’s going to correct them and teach them how they can better follow Him and minister in His name.
Before we dive into the passage, let’s pray together.
(prayer)
Do y’all know that we need Jesus? We really need Jesus!
This morning we’re going to hear about four items that we really need when it comes to Jesus.
First, . . .
I. We need mercy from Jesus (vv. 14-16) [on screen]
When we speak of mercy we can mean several different things including mercy being the giving of help or compassion to someone who is desperately in need.
That’s what’s going on in today’s passage. We see a man whose son needed mercy shown to him because he was in a desperate situation. Let’s check out the passage. Look at verses 14-16.
14 When they reached the crowd, a man approached and knelt down before him. 15 “Lord,” he said, “have mercy on my son, because he has seizures and suffers terribly. He often falls into the fire and often into the water. 16 I brought him to your disciples, but they couldn’t heal him.”
Imagine this man’s desperate situation. He has this overwhelming concern for his son. Jesus’ disciples can’t help him and he’s hoping something will change.
All of a sudden, Jesus shows up. Aren’t you glad when Jesus shows up, church?
This man’s son is suffering from seizures, perhaps epilepsy, and it’s so bad that he’s falling into fires and probably nearly drowning in water. He needs help, he sees Jesus and he says, “Lord, have mercy on my son.”
This man and his son needed mercy from Jesus. Listen church, people all around our neighborhoods, our community, our workplaces, our schools, and our world need mercy from Jesus. All of us need mercy from Jesus. We need mercy from Jesus.
We have physical health issues, we have financial burdens, we have overwhelming hurt, we have broken families, we have worldly churches, and most of all we are plagued by sin. We need mercy from Jesus.
Like this man, we fall before Jesus and say, “Lord, have mercy.” We must also take others to Jesus and point them to Him so that they may say, “Lord, have mercy.”
We need mercy from Jesus.
Second, . . .
II. We need correction from Jesus (vv. 17; 19-20) [on screen]
Part of Jesus’ merciful ministry to us is to show us where we need correction. Jesus did this with His disciples in this passage. Check out verse 17 and then 19-20.
17 Jesus replied, “You unbelieving and perverse generation, how long will I be with you? How long must I put up with you? Bring him here to me.”
19 Then the disciples approached Jesus privately and said, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?”
20 “Because of your little faith,” he told them.
Jesus has some piercing words for His disciples (and all those who were near), when He says, “You unbelieving and perverse generation.” Those are strong words.
That’s the way He normally talks to the Pharisees and Sadducees.
However, remember how Jesus had just spoken to Peter when He called him Satan.
Jesus is nearing the end of His time on earth and He is getting down to the nitty-gritty. He wants to make sure that His disciples learn this very important point. He is offering them correction that will ultimately benefit them and all those to whom they will minister, and it will benefit us as well.
After all that goes down, and after Jesus corrects them, the disciples ask Jesus, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?” They knew that something wasn’t right, so they wanted to see what was up.
Jesus answers their question very simply by saying, “Because of your little faith.”
How difficult this must have been for them to hear.
They had faith in Jesus and His ways so they must have thought, “We have faith, Jesus!”
However, Jesus is basically saying to them that they don’t really have powerful faith. They don’t need more faith in terms of quantity (we’ll learn in a minute that it only takes a little bit). They need more faith in terms of power!
Even though this was probably hard for the disciples to hear, they needed to hear it. They needed correction from Jesus. In the same way, we need to hear from Jesus. We need correction from Jesus.
We must be sure that we are pursuing Jesus the way He wants us to pursue Him. We must be sure we are living for Jesus the way He wants to live for Him. We must be sure we are ministering in the name of Jesus the way He wants us to minister in His name. We don’t need to do it our way, we need to do it Jesus’ way! Amen?
We need correction from Jesus.
Third, . . .
III. We need healing from Jesus (v. 18) [on screen]
Jesus is the ultimate healer. This man in the story knew that, which is why He asked Jesus to have mercy on his son.
Jesus did, in fact, have mercy. Listen to verse 18, once again:
18 Then Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of him, and from that moment the boy was healed.
Just like that, Jesus commanded that demon to leave that boy and he was healed! Jesus is the ultimate healer.
That boy needed healing, that boy’s father needed healing, the disciples needed healing and guess what . . . we need healing too! We need healing from Jesus!
I said earlier that we needed mercy from Jesus for physical health issues, financial burdens, overwhelming hurt, broken families, worldly churches, and the plague of sin. Jesus can heal those issues and so much more! He’s the heavy-weight champion healer of the world! He’s the expert in the healing field. He’s the king of the healing court. He’s the master of the healing domain. He makes the Mayo Clinic look like a child playing doctor. He knew about Financial Peace before Dave Ramsey could afford a pack of chewing gum. He makes those fighting for justice look like Barney on the Andy Griffin show. He blesses us with all sorts of general healing in this world, but ultimately there ain’t no healing like Jesus healing!
So, go to Jesus. Seek Him first and seek His healing as He desires to work. That healing will come in His time. You will be healed of everything in His time. It may not happen even in this lifetime, but it will come. Trust Him. Seek Him. Have faith in Him.
That takes us to our final point:
IV. We need faith in Jesus (v. 20) [on screen]
We never finished what Jesus had to say regarding His correction of the disciples. Jesus didn’t just say that they had too little faith. He also said what they could do with a small amount of real faith. Look at verse 20.
“For truly I tell you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will tell this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”
This is a powerful illustration that Jesus is making to help us understand how we can accomplish His will for us. Jesus is saying just a little bit of faith (the size of a mustard seed) can accomplish something great (moving a mountain).
Jesus probably didn’t anticipate us actually rearranging the topography of the planet by our faith. However, make no mistake, if Jesus wanted us to relocate the Appalachian Trail you better believe that He’d give us the power to do it.
The point here is that if Jesus calls us to do something great, just a little bit of faith in Him can make it happen. Whether it’s casting out demons, bringing healing to the sick, sharing the Gospel with a coworker or classmate, answering the call to serve in ministry, reconciling with someone with whom we have disagreement, confronting an addiction that you have, confronting the unrepentant sin of someone else, whatever it is, if Jesus is calling you to do something, have faith in Him and watch Him do something powerful and glorious through you!
Each of you should have received a mustard seed when you walked in. This is a reminder for you that just a little bit of faith can do powerful things for the glory of God! Thanks to our Senior Adult Bible Study Department for making this possible for everyone!
Here’s another thing, you’ve got to catch this: the power of that little bit of faith is not found in you; it’s found in Jesus!
Apart from the power of Jesus, you can’t move a mustard seed even if you have a mountain’s worth of faith in yourself. You can’t even take another breath without the sovereign power of God ruling over your life.
However, with Jesus the sky is not the limit, there is no limit!
The father in this story had faith in Jesus, the disciples needed more powerful faith in Jesus and we need faith in Jesus.
We need faith in Jesus!
Concluding Thoughts:
This powerful story in Matthew 17:14-20 shows us that we need mercy from Jesus, we need correction from Jesus, we need healing from Jesus, and we need faith in Jesus.
Jesus did something great in this passage and I want to see something great happen through me, through you, and through our church. Don’t you?
Well, let’s boil it all down here to our bottom line:
Bottom Line: Miraculous Jesus experiences require miraculous Jesus faith. [on screen]
(repeat)
If you want to experience Jesus, you must do so by the power of Jesus! If you want to experience the power of Jesus, you must do so by faith in Jesus.
It’s all about faith! You gotta have faith! Faith is believing in the promises and the power of Jesus. Live in faith by the power of God and for the glory of God!
Challenge yourself to do so this week in the following ways:
Weekly Challenge: [on screen]
- Seek the correction of Jesus. [on screen]
I don’t know about you, but I want to be able to live the way that God wants me to live.
Part of living in faith is knowing that Jesus knows what’s best for us.
Part of my kids having faith in me is knowing that when I instruct them in something that I have their best interest in mind and I know how they can do something better.
Well, there’s no one who loves you more and knows more about what’s best for you than Jesus. Seek His correction.
Seek it through prayer. Seek it through Bible study.
Seek the correction of Jesus.
- Demonstrate miraculous faith in Jesus. [on screen]
Hold up your mustard seeds! Faith as small as a mustard seed can accomplish immensely powerful acts for the glory of God.
Demonstrate miraculous faith in Jesus this week. Do something that is beyond yourself for the glory of God.
Pray for someone who needs healing. Fight the temptations of the devil. Practice holy generosity. Forgive someone who is beyond your forgiveness. Love those who are unlovable. Surrender to serve the Lord’s church in some way. Make a public profession of faith in Jesus by being baptized. Share the Gospel with your neighbor. Demonstrate Christ-like love to your spouse or family.
Demonstrate miraculous faith in Jesus!
Closing:
The love of Jesus shown towards us is miraculous! We can now also live miraculously by practicing faith in Jesus!
Some of you have never placed your faith in Jesus. Be changed by the miraculous power of Jesus this week!
(Gospel presentation)
(closing prayer)
