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The Book of Luke, O Faithless and Perverse Generation, Part I - Lesson 122Luke 9:37‑42 And it came to pass, that on the next day, when they were come down from the hill, much people met him. 38And, behold, a man of the company cried out, saying, Master, I beseech thee, look upon my son: for he is mine only child. 39And, 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. 40And I besought thy disciples to cast him out; and they could not. 41And Jesus answering said, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you, and suffer you? Bring thy son hither. 42And as he was yet a coming, the devil threw him down, and tare him. And Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit, and healed the child, and delivered him again to his father. 43And 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, 44Let these sayings sink down into your ears: for the Son of man shall be delivered into the hands of men. 45But 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. The desperate father of this epileptic boy received no help from the disciples of Christ and cried out to Jesus as he came down from the mountain where he had been transfigured:
Master, I beseech thee, look upon my son: for he is mine only child.
We see here the constant need of men for Jesus Christ for there was no relief given the Lord even after this earthshaking event on the mountain where His father identified him as His son and commanded his disciples, Peter, James and John, to Hear Him.
Jesus Christ did not shirk from this call for help but responded in a forceful manner by rebuking all in attendance but especially his disciples who could not meet this father’s need in bringing healing to his son.
They had been given power and authority to help this boy but had failed him.
So we are given this account to examine what was wrong here and to learn therefrom?
Why were the disciples powerless?
We ought to examine the “why of this powerlessness” so that we will not face the rebuke of the Lord Jesus Christ by not obeying the word that he has given us.
For the Christian who desires to walk by faith, which means believing God’s word, simply a word to the wise is to be sufficient.
A word to the wise, when obeyed will not bring rebuke.
But the disciples did not obey the Lord and they suffered this stinging rebuke.
O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you, and suffer you?
But they were not the last to hear such a rebuke for this same rebuke is given the church today for the very same offense that the disciples were to the Lord Jesus Christ in their day.
They, in themselves were powerless to carry out the ministry of the Lord and that same powerlessness is present with us today.
I believe God has given us this account because this problem that the disciples faced continues to be with us today for they had a form of godliness but they denied the power thereof.
Today in this Laodicean age especially, there is a lack of faith and that lack of faith manifests itself in a lack of prayer which indicates a lack of dependence upon God.
Trust in the Lord means dependence on the Lord.
The cry to the Lord “Give me this day our daily bread” is required of us.
It means having an attitude of daily dependence upon God for all else that is depended upon will fail.
God does not want us to be dependant for his sake but for our sake.
He knows that only He can satisfy the human heart.
So after hearing this stinging rebuke from the Lord Jesus Christ we can read the response of the disciples in Matthew’s account for it is clear the fault of the disciples lay at the door of faithlessness and, as a result, prayerlessness.
Matthew 17:19‑21, Then came the disciples to Jesus apart, and said, Why could not we cast him out? 20And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you. 21Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting.
It is obvious that the Lord was exasperated and greatly annoyed because of the disciples unbelief.
He also expresses himself as to the suffering he is undergoing by the unbelief on his disciples.
O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you, and suffer you?
This word suffer means to put up with.
If our Lord’s words of frustration reveal anything to us, it is how much our unbelief displeases Him.
How much easier it would have been for our Lord to have stayed in heaven, than to have come to earth, to dwell among us who are a sinful and corrupt people.
Faithful Christians who have fought the battle for Christ taste just a little of what Christ suffered by being among sinful men.
You can only imagine what Jesus Christ, who is completely holy and completely fit for fellowship with the Father, suffered by being in the middle of the wickedness of the men of this world.
God did not have to come to dwell among men, as Christ did in His incarnation.
God did not have to come to save men, which His incarnation was meant to accomplish.
Nor did God have to use men in reaching others with the good news.
God could have used angels to carry out his mission but he chose not to do so and instead chose men to do his work.
Can you ever think of a time when a faithful angel failed at his task?
But here, as elsewhere, the disciples failed.
No wonder Jesus viewed His days with men in terms of suffering.
God suffers from our hardness of hearts, from our unbelief.
It is a cause of grief to Him.
And yet, He bears this burden for our benefit.
God so loves the world means he bears the burden, he suffers for our benefit.
That is what love is all about, unconditional giving.
He endures our sin, in order to save us, and even to use us in the accomplishment of His purposes on the earth.
When you really think about this you come to the conclusion that this is one of the great wonders of all time — that God puts up with men.
God who is holy, God who is separate from sin, God who is lifted up and yet he puts up with the likes of us.
So Jesus stepped in and did what the disciples could not do, he spoke a word and rebuked the unclean spirit and the boy was healed.
All were amazed at the power of God exercised through the Lord Jesus Christ.
And the disciples were bewildered.
They could not understand how they could deliver from demon control in the past, but not now.
Both Matthew and Mark record the private question of the disciples as to why they were unable to cast out this demon.
In Mark we learn that after Jesus had gone indoors, his disciples asked him privately, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?”
He replied, “This kind can come forth by nothing, but by prayer and fasting” (Mark 9:28‑29).
And in Matthew when the disciples came to Jesus in private and asked, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?”
He replied, Matthew 17:19‑21, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you. 21Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting.
What did this infer?
It tells the disciples that they were depending upon themselves to get the job done.
Prayer and fasting bring God into the picture and tell the disciples that God’s work is a spiritual work and God blesses only his work done in accordance with his word.
There is no doubt that the disciples had labored on behalf of this boy but they labored in the flesh, they labored in their own strength and God does not bless work done in the flesh.
Christ is patient with his disciples and does not give up on them even after such a stinging rebuke for every rebuke of God to his children is meant to correct, to build rather than to destroy. So he said to them in Luke 9:44‑45, 44Let these sayings sink down into your ears: for the Son of man shall be delivered into the hands of men. 45But 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.
God told the three on the mountain when He proclaimed that Jesus was his beloved son to Hear Him. Now Jesus tells all of his disciples the same thing.
44Let these sayings sink down into your ears: which means let them be operative in your lives.
Why Lord? For the Son of man shall be delivered into the hands of men.
I will not be here to remind you and to correct you.
44Let these sayings sink down into your ears:
This meant the same as what James said in his epistle: Be ye doers of the word and not hearers only deceiving your own selves.
They failed because Christ’s sayings were not operative in their lives relative to this boy.
Christ tells them as recorded in the Gospels that I will be delivered into the hands of men and I will not be with you physically and you must go to the Father in prayer in my name in order for you to do the will of God.
The way that God ordains his work to be done is described in:
John 15:16, where Christ tells his disciples: Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.
You are not expected to do the will of God by your own power and strength for you will not be able to do it nor will it be acceptable to me.
Therefore in order to go to the Father in my name you must let these sayings sink down into your ears.
My word must be more than that which comes forth from my mouth while I am with you.
It must be cemented in your hearts that it will operate your mind, your mouth, your legs, your arms and your hands all to the glory of God.
He was saying what Paul would say years later and record in: Phil. 2:5, Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: 6Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: 7But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: 8And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
We are to always to be “cross minded”.
We are always to be willing to follow Christ regardless of the cross that comes because we serve him.
It is easy to desire to be found in fashion as a man for this caters to the natural man, but God expects those who follow Christ to humble themselves from that fashion and be obedient to his word even unto death.
This I believe is what comes across as Jesus Christ tells his disciples to let his sayings sink down into their ears.
But right away we learn that this was not to be for we are told in verse 45.
Luke 9:45, 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.
And Luke is careful to give us an example of their behavior that reinforces their lack of understanding in the need to humble themselves and take up the cross and follow Christ for this example is what happens soon after this saying of Christ was told. |