Little Faith and Great Deliverance (Matthew 17:24-27)

WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.320 --> 00:00:07.190 Matthew Seventeen, beginning in verse fourteen. And when they came to the crowd, 2 00:00:07.230 --> 00:00:10.109 a man came up to him and, kneeling before him, said, 3 00:00:10.189 --> 00:00:14.230 Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is an epileptic and suffers 4 00:00:14.470 --> 00:00:18.269 terribly, for often he falls into the fire and often into the water. 5 00:00:18.469 --> 00:00:22.420 And I brought him to your disciples and they could not heal him. and 6 00:00:23.780 --> 00:00:28.660 Jesus answered, Oh faithless and twisted generation, how long am I to be 7 00:00:28.940 --> 00:00:33.259 with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him here 8 00:00:33.460 --> 00:00:38.170 to me, and Jesus rebuked the demon and it came out of him and 9 00:00:38.210 --> 00:00:43.009 the boy was healed instantly. Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said 10 00:00:43.530 --> 00:00:47.929 why could we not cast it out? He said to them because of your 11 00:00:48.130 --> 00:00:51.759 little faith. For truly, I say to you, if you have faith 12 00:00:52.399 --> 00:00:56.600 like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, move 13 00:00:56.799 --> 00:01:00.119 from here to therein it will move and nothing will be impossible for you. 14 00:01:02.719 --> 00:01:04.230 And as they were gathering in Gallilee, Jesus said to them, the son 15 00:01:04.269 --> 00:01:07.269 of man is about to be delivered into the hands of men and they will 16 00:01:07.310 --> 00:01:11.989 kill him and he will be raised on the third day and they were greatly 17 00:01:12.269 --> 00:01:17.709 distressed as by the reading of God's word. May he bless it to us. 18 00:01:18.069 --> 00:01:26.900 Please be seated. Well, as this ever happened to you, perhaps 19 00:01:27.099 --> 00:01:32.140 you've been enjoying a good time with your family, say on a vacation, 20 00:01:32.340 --> 00:01:36.049 where you've had a wonderful time, a time to really relax and really get 21 00:01:36.129 --> 00:01:40.170 refreshed, and then you go back into the real world, you go back 22 00:01:40.250 --> 00:01:44.930 home and find out immediately that your house has been robbed. Or so you're 23 00:01:44.930 --> 00:01:49.239 out with friends, enjoying a good dinner out at a restaurant, and you 24 00:01:49.319 --> 00:01:53.200 get so caught up in the conversation that you don't realize until it's too late 25 00:01:53.239 --> 00:01:59.280 that you've left your cell phone in the seat next to you. You know 26 00:01:59.359 --> 00:02:01.950 what that feels like like. There's a physical reaction to these things when, 27 00:02:02.109 --> 00:02:09.349 when joy gives way to panic, you get tense, you feel that shortness 28 00:02:09.349 --> 00:02:14.270 of breath. Truly, we've all had those times of joy that just sort 29 00:02:14.310 --> 00:02:22.659 of come crashing to a halt, this abrupt change from from peace to distress. 30 00:02:23.580 --> 00:02:29.340 What's sort of what we read here in Matthew's Gospel. For Look at 31 00:02:29.340 --> 00:02:37.050 what has occurred just before our passage. Chapter Seventeen begins with Jesus and three 32 00:02:37.090 --> 00:02:43.610 of his disciples up on top of this mountain, where he was transfigured before 33 00:02:43.889 --> 00:02:50.240 their eyes. Jesus physically changed, where he began to shine with with bright 34 00:02:50.360 --> 00:02:58.039 light, the glory of Christ was on display to these disciples. He spoke 35 00:02:58.120 --> 00:03:05.189 with Moses and Elijah on top of this mountain. There he reveals himself to 36 00:03:05.229 --> 00:03:09.069 these disciples in a unique way, as the Lord Incarnate, perfect, glorious. 37 00:03:09.150 --> 00:03:15.219 Unlike Moses, whose face shone, reflecting the glory of God, Jesus 38 00:03:15.219 --> 00:03:21.900 didn't reflect it, he shined with this divine glory of the Lord. In 39 00:03:22.020 --> 00:03:25.020 fact, when Peter was presented with this glory, he made a somewhat rash 40 00:03:25.460 --> 00:03:29.930 comment, as Peter tends to do, in verse four of Chapter Seventeen, 41 00:03:30.009 --> 00:03:31.250 Lord, it is good that we are here. If you wish, I 42 00:03:32.050 --> 00:03:36.009 will make three tense here, one for you, one for Moses, one 43 00:03:36.090 --> 00:03:40.250 for Elijah. Here, in his excitement, Peter seems to be saying, 44 00:03:42.479 --> 00:03:46.680 can we stay here? Let's make this glory last, let's make this permanent. 45 00:03:49.280 --> 00:03:51.960 You've been on a vacation and had such a good time you start looking 46 00:03:51.960 --> 00:03:59.069 up home prices. Maybe that's why some of you were in Tucson. And 47 00:03:59.189 --> 00:04:02.430 for Peter's no wonder he wants that permanence that these disciples are getting a foretaste 48 00:04:02.509 --> 00:04:06.909 of the glory of the Kingdom of Heaven. This is the glory of the 49 00:04:08.030 --> 00:04:11.099 Resurrection, the Glory of the New Heavens and the new earth, and they're 50 00:04:11.180 --> 00:04:15.259 seeing it before their eyes. And so, having been given this glimpse of 51 00:04:15.539 --> 00:04:21.060 this glory, having heard the voice from the cloud confirming the identity of Jesus 52 00:04:21.139 --> 00:04:27.850 as the son of God, what do you expect to follow this powerful event? 53 00:04:29.810 --> 00:04:34.569 What should flow from this glorious display? Don't you want to see an 54 00:04:34.649 --> 00:04:44.360 avalanche of blessing and Power and glory cascading down this mountain side? What does 55 00:04:44.399 --> 00:04:48.079 Jesus find? When they came to the crowd, a man came up to 56 00:04:48.120 --> 00:04:51.870 him, kneeling before him, said Lord, have mercy on my son. 57 00:04:51.910 --> 00:04:57.509 He's an epileptic. He suffers terribly, for often he falls into the fire 58 00:04:57.709 --> 00:05:02.149 and often into the water, and I brought him to your disciples and they 59 00:05:02.189 --> 00:05:09.779 could not heal him. The heavenly glory that's just been displayed on this mountain 60 00:05:09.819 --> 00:05:15.620 is now immediately confronted by suffering in this world. Jesus is confronted by this 61 00:05:15.819 --> 00:05:20.259 son, so ravaged by a demon that the sun himself isn't asking for deliverance. 62 00:05:20.259 --> 00:05:26.089 It's his father coming to Christ on behalf of his son. These aren't 63 00:05:26.089 --> 00:05:32.610 just medical fits and seizures, that the results of a demonic presence. Jesus 64 00:05:32.649 --> 00:05:36.240 is cast out demons before, and surely the father knows this and that's why 65 00:05:36.240 --> 00:05:42.160 he comes to Jesus. But what's a little different about this event is that 66 00:05:42.240 --> 00:05:48.959 Jesus has disciples here have already tried to passed out this demon and they could 67 00:05:49.000 --> 00:05:54.990 not do it. They could not bring healing back. In chapter ten is 68 00:05:54.990 --> 00:05:58.870 where Jesus equipped and sent his disciples with the authority to preach, with the 69 00:05:58.949 --> 00:06:02.269 Authority to heal. And Chapter Ten, verse seven, he says proclaim as 70 00:06:02.310 --> 00:06:06.060 you go, saying the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand, heal the sick, 71 00:06:06.339 --> 00:06:14.420 raise the dead, cleanse leppers and cast out demons. So here Christ 72 00:06:14.459 --> 00:06:18.050 is not only confronted by suffering, by demonic possession, our Lord is also 73 00:06:18.089 --> 00:06:29.769 confronted by his own disciples and their inability to carry out his commission. Sort 74 00:06:29.850 --> 00:06:38.399 Lord Declares Jesus answered, Oh faithless and twisted generation. How long am I 75 00:06:38.560 --> 00:06:43.160 to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring 76 00:06:43.199 --> 00:06:45.800 him here to me, and Jesus rebuked him. In the demon came out 77 00:06:45.800 --> 00:06:48.790 of him. In the boy was healed instantly. Our Lord here, let's 78 00:06:48.829 --> 00:06:55.790 loose with what sounds like something of a lament, right. How how long 79 00:06:55.829 --> 00:06:59.750 am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? 80 00:07:00.779 --> 00:07:08.100 But also kind of sounds like a rebuke. He calls this a faithless 81 00:07:08.300 --> 00:07:17.050 and a twisted generation. So who is Jesus rebuking? It's just those disciples 82 00:07:17.089 --> 00:07:20.850 he left behind while he, Peter, James and John were on the mountain. 83 00:07:24.050 --> 00:07:28.610 Is it all the disciples, or is it broader than that? He 84 00:07:28.730 --> 00:07:32.920 cries out concerning this generation, doesn't he does, if he's both lamenting and 85 00:07:33.160 --> 00:07:41.319 rebuking this entire situation, that there is suffering and demonic possession within the House 86 00:07:41.399 --> 00:07:46.829 of Israel, the People God has chosen and called to be his own holy 87 00:07:46.990 --> 00:07:56.709 people are under a demonic influence. There's inability among those disciples he has called 88 00:07:56.949 --> 00:08:05.939 and commissioned. All it brings about the Lord's chastisement. And just as Jesus 89 00:08:05.980 --> 00:08:11.060 is own transfiguration at the top of the mountain shared some similarities to to Moses 90 00:08:11.100 --> 00:08:16.410 his own encounter with the Lord on top of Mount Sinai, coming down the 91 00:08:16.490 --> 00:08:22.329 mountain, wasn't Moses as well confronted when he encountered the sin of Israel? 92 00:08:24.649 --> 00:08:28.800 Coming down the mountain, Moses was confronted by sin and idolatry as God's people 93 00:08:28.800 --> 00:08:35.039 were making a golden calf for herself. And upon encountering and enduring the numerous 94 00:08:35.039 --> 00:08:37.799 sins of Israel, the Lord himself would utter words similar to Jesus. Here 95 00:08:39.320 --> 00:08:43.990 in numbers fourteen eleven, the Lord said to Moses, how long will this 96 00:08:43.110 --> 00:08:46.029 people despise me? How long will they not believe in me, in spite 97 00:08:46.070 --> 00:08:50.350 of all the signs I've done among them? And a numbers four hundred and 98 00:08:50.350 --> 00:08:58.019 twenty seven. How long shall this wicked congregation grumble against me? So, 99 00:08:58.100 --> 00:09:03.779 when confronted by the faithlessness of his own disciples, our Lord laments. How 100 00:09:03.899 --> 00:09:11.970 Long Our Lord Rebukes, Oh faithless, twisted generation? But he doesn't end 101 00:09:11.049 --> 00:09:18.529 there, does he? Tho's what Jesus does next, our Lord also comforts 102 00:09:18.690 --> 00:09:24.759 and heals. In the midst of his own disappointment, our Lord shows his 103 00:09:24.879 --> 00:09:30.759 patience and endurance. It's not the disciples who are cast out. It's the 104 00:09:30.919 --> 00:09:35.840 demon. He acts where they have failed. He heals where they could not. 105 00:09:37.480 --> 00:09:41.149 He casts out this demon, saving this child. Where the disciples came 106 00:09:41.190 --> 00:09:46.990 up short when they asked Jesus why they could not cast out the demon, 107 00:09:46.070 --> 00:09:50.830 he tells them. He says, because of your little faith. For truly, 108 00:09:50.870 --> 00:09:54.620 I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard 109 00:09:54.620 --> 00:09:58.139 seed, you will say to this mountain, move from here to there, 110 00:09:58.220 --> 00:10:05.500 and it will move and nothing will be impossible for you. And Jesus uses 111 00:10:05.700 --> 00:10:13.809 this impossible example to make a point. Knows what Jesus here declares? He's 112 00:10:13.850 --> 00:10:22.639 not saying that with great faith comes great things. Jesus speaking to these disciples, 113 00:10:22.720 --> 00:10:26.840 to those who have just demonstrated a severe shortcoming, a severe lack of 114 00:10:26.919 --> 00:10:35.279 faith. But what does he say? He speaks to those with little faith 115 00:10:35.320 --> 00:10:39.750 to encourage them that with faith the size of a mustard seed, they will 116 00:10:39.789 --> 00:10:43.549 do the impossible. I love how he illustrates this. He picks the tiniest 117 00:10:43.549 --> 00:10:48.509 object around a mustard seed to describe weak, little faith. Then he picks 118 00:10:48.549 --> 00:10:56.419 the biggest object around a mountain to describe the impossible. Although he illustrates the 119 00:10:56.460 --> 00:11:00.860 impossibility of moving of mountains, to demonstrate his own power, to demonstrate his 120 00:11:00.940 --> 00:11:07.210 own ability. What is absolutely impossible for us, Jesus declares his incredibly easy 121 00:11:09.409 --> 00:11:13.970 for the Creator of Heaven and earth. There for, as Jesus says, 122 00:11:13.049 --> 00:11:20.679 nothing will be impossible for you as believers. That's helpful to be remember that 123 00:11:20.799 --> 00:11:24.559 we rely not upon our own resources but upon the resources of God himself. 124 00:11:24.759 --> 00:11:31.519 His resources are infinite. This is so important for us to remember because, 125 00:11:31.519 --> 00:11:35.509 like these disciples who stayed behind when Jesus went up the mountain, we too 126 00:11:35.629 --> 00:11:41.230 are left without our Lord physically before our eyes, aren't we? After his 127 00:11:41.350 --> 00:11:45.429 resurrection, he ascended to the father's right hand. Even though he is now 128 00:11:45.669 --> 00:11:50.700 ruling over US and interceding for us and protecting us, it's so easy for 129 00:11:50.820 --> 00:11:54.500 us not to set our eyes on him, but on ourselves and on our 130 00:11:54.500 --> 00:12:00.860 own abilities. Our comfort and our strength is often not based on his promises 131 00:12:00.899 --> 00:12:03.129 or on his word, but on what we can see, what we can 132 00:12:03.169 --> 00:12:09.289 do, what we can accomplish for ourselves. We can be so slow to 133 00:12:09.570 --> 00:12:13.610 pray, and yet we're so quick to be proud. We are hesitant to 134 00:12:13.730 --> 00:12:20.919 mention Christ, but so quick to boast in ourselves for this little faith not 135 00:12:20.080 --> 00:12:28.960 only describes these disciples, it oftentimes describes ourselves. And why was their faith 136 00:12:30.110 --> 00:12:33.230 so small? What would what is it that made their faith so microscopic? 137 00:12:33.669 --> 00:12:39.509 On this next little seeing we get a glimpse. When they're told of the 138 00:12:39.590 --> 00:12:46.299 coming suffering, the coming death and the coming resurrection of Christ. We're told 139 00:12:46.299 --> 00:12:58.370 that the disciples were distressed. They have just heard the greatest announcement the world 140 00:12:58.409 --> 00:13:07.009 will ever know, and the disciples were distressed. So what part were they 141 00:13:07.049 --> 00:13:13.279 listening to? What part of Christ's predictions? Did they hear his suffering or 142 00:13:13.360 --> 00:13:18.799 his victory over the grave? Were they listening just to the cross or to 143 00:13:18.879 --> 00:13:22.559 the Empty Tomb? Don't you see where their hearts were at? Don't you 144 00:13:22.559 --> 00:13:28.029 see what their faith is in? In the chapter just before this, after 145 00:13:28.309 --> 00:13:33.509 Peter tries to rebuke Jesus for speaking of the Cross, in Chapter Sixteen, 146 00:13:33.590 --> 00:13:37.350 Jesus tells Peter get behind me, Satan, and then he says, for 147 00:13:37.509 --> 00:13:39.269 you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the 148 00:13:39.429 --> 00:13:46.820 things of man. As we read through the Gospels, there are many opportunities 149 00:13:46.899 --> 00:13:50.700 to show where the disciples don't get it, where the disciples are setting their 150 00:13:50.779 --> 00:13:56.090 eyes on the things of men or they don't understand what Jesus is saying, 151 00:13:56.129 --> 00:14:01.809 how they don't understand what he's doing. But we're shown there their failures. 152 00:14:01.850 --> 00:14:05.610 Were shown their shortcomings, not to prop ourselves up, to feel better that 153 00:14:05.690 --> 00:14:11.360 we get it than they didn't. We're to see how easy it is for 154 00:14:11.399 --> 00:14:16.200 us to do the exact same thing. We hear Christ's saying, for instance 155 00:14:16.519 --> 00:14:20.279 in this passage, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, 156 00:14:20.440 --> 00:14:26.470 you can move mountains. And what do we do with that? Where do 157 00:14:26.509 --> 00:14:31.070 you our minds go? We go, write to those mountains in our lives 158 00:14:31.190 --> 00:14:35.389 that we want gone, that we wished weren't there. Don't you go right 159 00:14:35.429 --> 00:14:41.899 to those impossible relationships and circumstances that you want fixed. We hear that with 160 00:14:43.059 --> 00:14:48.659 faith we can do the impossible and we immediately look to ourselves what we want. 161 00:14:52.100 --> 00:14:54.809 Where Christ's words are given as a comfort, we so easily take them 162 00:14:54.850 --> 00:14:58.809 and turn them into a burden. Surely have heard the abuse has done with 163 00:14:58.929 --> 00:15:03.169 this passage that if you ask for something, they say, and if you 164 00:15:03.250 --> 00:15:05.970 didn't get it, the problems not that the Lords to a week. The 165 00:15:07.090 --> 00:15:13.240 problem must be with you. The problem must be your faith, but Jesus. 166 00:15:13.320 --> 00:15:16.320 His point is not that, with faith, the Lord is now obligated 167 00:15:16.320 --> 00:15:20.429 to give you whatever you want, because that's not really faith at all, 168 00:15:20.590 --> 00:15:26.990 is it? That's not trusting the Lord, that's using the Lord to serve 169 00:15:26.070 --> 00:15:31.230 ourselves. For True Faith, even if it is the size of a mustard 170 00:15:31.269 --> 00:15:37.059 seed, is still a looking to Christ. True faith is a trusting what 171 00:15:37.100 --> 00:15:45.379 Christ has said. True Faith is satisfied that Christ is enough. So even 172 00:15:45.419 --> 00:15:50.330 here, let us be comforted by Christ's words and be encouraged that the Lord 173 00:15:50.409 --> 00:15:56.570 is the one who specializes in the impossible. And if there's any doubt that 174 00:15:56.690 --> 00:16:02.289 our Lord specializes in what is impossible, listen to what Jesus tells us next. 175 00:16:02.610 --> 00:16:04.480 As they were gathered in Galilee, Jesus said to them, the son 176 00:16:04.559 --> 00:16:07.559 of man is about to be delivered into the hands of men. They will 177 00:16:07.559 --> 00:16:11.039 kill him, he will be raised on the third day. And they were 178 00:16:11.080 --> 00:16:17.279 greatly distressed. And so Jesus takes his disciples immediately to that impossible thing. 179 00:16:17.799 --> 00:16:21.350 He takes us right to life from the tomb, life from the grave. 180 00:16:22.470 --> 00:16:26.269 He takes us to the impossibly good news that he will be victorious over death, 181 00:16:27.669 --> 00:16:32.860 that death will be trampled down that death itself will be cast off. 182 00:16:34.220 --> 00:16:40.899 For the stone that rolled away at Jesus's tomb illustrates a farm more impossible mountain 183 00:16:41.379 --> 00:16:47.370 to move in Jesus's own death and resurrection. That mountain of our sin, 184 00:16:47.529 --> 00:16:53.129 that mountain of our own rebellion, that stronghold of our prideful hearts, has 185 00:16:53.169 --> 00:17:00.129 been defeated in Christ's death on the Cross. And so Christ is sharing with 186 00:17:00.250 --> 00:17:03.960 his disciples the good news of his mission, the good news he's about to 187 00:17:04.000 --> 00:17:11.559 accomplish. But they're distressed, and that's understandable, because it's one thing to 188 00:17:11.640 --> 00:17:18.950 say that death has been defeated and it's another to die in the confidence that 189 00:17:18.069 --> 00:17:25.309 death has been defeated. It's easy to see the disciples dispress given their lack 190 00:17:25.390 --> 00:17:27.829 of faith that's been mentioned to this point. They still don't quite get it. 191 00:17:27.869 --> 00:17:30.660 They don't see the full picture. They're still learning what it means for 192 00:17:30.740 --> 00:17:34.019 the son of man to suffer, to die and and why that's necessary. 193 00:17:37.259 --> 00:17:40.900 Their sorrow here means they don't yet fully understand the resurrection. They don't yet 194 00:17:40.900 --> 00:17:45.210 understand the purpose of the cross. Their minds are set on earthly things. 195 00:17:48.410 --> 00:17:53.369 But notice what their distress does reveal. Their sorrow shows that they're at least 196 00:17:53.369 --> 00:18:02.640 beginning to understand the suffering of Christ. Our Lord's suffering is one of distress. 197 00:18:03.039 --> 00:18:07.000 He truly suffers at the hands of his enemies, he truly suffers the 198 00:18:07.079 --> 00:18:11.680 wrath and curse of God on the Cross. For his cry, my God, 199 00:18:11.759 --> 00:18:14.670 my God, why have you forsaken me? Is a quotation from Psalm 200 00:18:14.750 --> 00:18:18.029 twenty two, and it is a cry of distress, a cry of sorrow. 201 00:18:19.069 --> 00:18:25.710 And by telling them what will happen to himself, our Lord is also 202 00:18:25.789 --> 00:18:32.579 preparing the disciples to follow in his steps. It's an invitation to his disciples 203 00:18:32.700 --> 00:18:37.339 to join in this suffering. By coming with Christ, our Lord is inviting 204 00:18:37.380 --> 00:18:44.890 us to come and to die, as he told them back in Chapter Sixteen, 205 00:18:44.930 --> 00:18:47.490 Jesus told his disciples, if anyone would come after me, let him 206 00:18:47.490 --> 00:18:53.769 deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. Isn't this what it 207 00:18:53.809 --> 00:18:57.720 means to have faith the size of a mustard seed, even the weakest, 208 00:18:57.759 --> 00:19:03.920 even the tiniest, faith that looks to Christ and not ourselves? It acknowledges 209 00:19:04.000 --> 00:19:11.950 that our life is found only in Christ, and this means confronting the impossible, 210 00:19:12.750 --> 00:19:17.789 to take up the cross of our Lord means being confronted by mountains without 211 00:19:17.829 --> 00:19:19.990 a shovel, without even a spoon of our own to deal with him, 212 00:19:22.869 --> 00:19:26.940 for our faith often times doesn't make these challenges any easier. In fact, 213 00:19:26.940 --> 00:19:33.500 does it make him harder. Knowing of the Lord's love and compassion for us 214 00:19:33.579 --> 00:19:40.410 in Christ can make the struggles that we endure that much more confusing. For 215 00:19:40.450 --> 00:19:44.650 if he's already blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in heavenly places, 216 00:19:45.329 --> 00:19:48.650 if he's defeated to death itself, why is it so hard for him to 217 00:19:48.690 --> 00:19:56.559 keep my car running, to keep my child healthy? A Lord here's not 218 00:19:56.599 --> 00:20:02.960 promising him that following him his health is easy. He doesn't promise life and 219 00:20:03.319 --> 00:20:08.230 health and success, but it does promise to be with us, for he 220 00:20:08.349 --> 00:20:12.670 is still on the throne. Even when we don't know why we're faced with 221 00:20:12.750 --> 00:20:18.150 this or that challenge, we still cling to Christ, for he is the 222 00:20:18.190 --> 00:20:23.779 one who has actually conquered sin and death. What does Jesus himself say when 223 00:20:23.859 --> 00:20:27.980 confronted by the suffering of this world, the inability of his disciples? He 224 00:20:30.819 --> 00:20:37.130 asks how long, Oh faithless and perverse generation, how long am I to 225 00:20:37.250 --> 00:20:42.569 be with you? How long am I to bear with you. It is 226 00:20:42.650 --> 00:20:49.319 this frustration with suffering, with sin, that compels our Lord to go to 227 00:20:49.559 --> 00:20:56.279 Jerusalem, to be delivered over, to be killed, not simply because he 228 00:20:56.319 --> 00:21:04.470 wants to leave, but because of his desire to redeem. Notice in his 229 00:21:04.589 --> 00:21:10.349 lament here, do you hear the Lord's Longing for the Cross? Do you 230 00:21:10.470 --> 00:21:15.430 hear his longing for his work to be accomplished? That was how he answers 231 00:21:15.509 --> 00:21:19.819 this question, both here and at the end of this Gospel. Here he 232 00:21:19.900 --> 00:21:26.940 tells his disciples about his suffering and his coming resurrection. That, the end 233 00:21:27.099 --> 00:21:33.890 of Matthew's Gospel, Jesus concludes being being raised from the dead, speaking to 234 00:21:33.970 --> 00:21:41.089 his disciples with this announcement. And behold, I am with you always to 235 00:21:41.210 --> 00:21:47.089 the end of the age. Look at how the Lord continues to patiently endure 236 00:21:47.160 --> 00:21:49.960 with his people. Look how the Lord continues to answer the challenges of a 237 00:21:51.480 --> 00:21:56.200 faithless and a perverse generation. He met this challenge by going to Jerusalem, 238 00:21:56.200 --> 00:22:00.559 by being delivered over to the hands of men, by being killed and by 239 00:22:00.559 --> 00:22:04.509 being raised on the third day. Being confronted then by the faithless, being 240 00:22:04.589 --> 00:22:11.910 confronted by the twisted and perverse. These things didn't weaken his resolve. And 241 00:22:11.990 --> 00:22:18.299 yet the dead bring about true distress, true sorrow. How does our Lord 242 00:22:18.339 --> 00:22:22.619 then respond to sin we see here? With genuine disgust, with genuine when 243 00:22:22.740 --> 00:22:29.140 hate hatred, he despises it. You hear this and in Jesus's cry, 244 00:22:30.130 --> 00:22:36.809 don't you ever feel the same? How Long Will Jesus name be mocked? 245 00:22:36.970 --> 00:22:42.690 How long will the Lord be blasphemed? How long will these sins go unchecked? 246 00:22:42.769 --> 00:22:49.640 How long will the lawless reign, reminded daily that we live in a 247 00:22:49.799 --> 00:22:56.039 world with very little regard for the Lord? Our Lord's assessment of his own 248 00:22:56.039 --> 00:23:00.150 generation could be spoken of our generation. It is faithless, it is twisted 249 00:23:00.829 --> 00:23:06.109 without faith, this world is distorted, it's upside down. Without faith, 250 00:23:06.150 --> 00:23:10.190 the world and thrones the self while casting aside the true Lord and King. 251 00:23:11.069 --> 00:23:18.019 The World Glories and its sin, while despising the true sinless one. So 252 00:23:18.099 --> 00:23:23.059 let in the Lord's cry here of how long we hear our own outcry, 253 00:23:26.460 --> 00:23:29.569 the cry of how long, is the cry of faith. It's a cry 254 00:23:29.609 --> 00:23:33.930 we hear throughout the Psalms, Psalm for be gracious to me, hear my 255 00:23:33.130 --> 00:23:37.089 prayer. Oh men, how long shall my honor be turned into shame. 256 00:23:37.170 --> 00:23:41.480 How long will you love vain words and seek after lies? Psalm Thirteen. 257 00:23:41.599 --> 00:23:45.839 How Long, Oh Lord, will you forget me forever? How long will 258 00:23:45.880 --> 00:23:48.799 you hide your face from me? How long must I take counsel in my 259 00:23:48.920 --> 00:23:52.400 soul and have sorrow in my heart all the day? How long shall my 260 00:23:52.480 --> 00:23:56.309 enemy be exalted over me? But the thesalm goes on to say, but 261 00:23:56.349 --> 00:24:02.789 I have trusted in your steadfast love, my heart shall rejoice in your salvation. 262 00:24:04.230 --> 00:24:07.430 Is Cry of how long is a cry that John Hears from the Saints 263 00:24:07.470 --> 00:24:11.819 in Heaven and revelation six, when he opened the fifth seal, I saw 264 00:24:11.859 --> 00:24:15.059 under the altar the souls of those who'd been slain for the word of God 265 00:24:15.180 --> 00:24:18.700 and for the witness they had borne. They cried out with a loud voice, 266 00:24:18.779 --> 00:24:22.859 oh sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge 267 00:24:22.180 --> 00:24:27.130 and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth? And so, 268 00:24:27.250 --> 00:24:32.609 as we ourselves cry out against this age of of wickedness and death, with 269 00:24:32.769 --> 00:24:38.400 frustration and with longing for the Lord, we here in Christ's words, is 270 00:24:38.480 --> 00:24:45.359 that our cry is matched by Christ himself. If we've been united to him, 271 00:24:45.440 --> 00:24:48.279 we are one, united to Christ by his spirit. There's a sense 272 00:24:48.319 --> 00:24:55.029 in which Christ's desires and our desires are the same. He is at the 273 00:24:55.069 --> 00:24:59.589 father's right hand. We are here on earth, which means that his church 274 00:24:59.670 --> 00:25:04.029 is not yet complete. Until he is finally united to us in eternity. 275 00:25:04.069 --> 00:25:11.460 He is still building and still perfecting his body. How long until we are 276 00:25:11.500 --> 00:25:15.819 done with this body of sin? How long until we are made perfect, 277 00:25:15.259 --> 00:25:22.450 bodily raised and all sin and all wickedness destroyed? We can ask these questions, 278 00:25:22.490 --> 00:25:25.930 we can cry out in pain and disgust, knowing that our Lord's cry 279 00:25:26.049 --> 00:25:32.609 is the same. And yet his cry is not a helpless cry into the 280 00:25:32.690 --> 00:25:37.640 void, but the cry of the one working towards that end, working towards 281 00:25:37.680 --> 00:25:44.720 that goal. How long will he be at work? Behold, I am 282 00:25:44.759 --> 00:25:49.589 with you always, to the end of the age. Therefore, our task 283 00:25:49.670 --> 00:25:52.549 is just as crucial as in Jesus is day, where he calls us to 284 00:25:52.630 --> 00:25:56.789 go, to go to the faithless, to go to the twisted and the 285 00:25:56.829 --> 00:26:00.390 perverse, to go into this world of sin and darkness with the light of 286 00:26:00.549 --> 00:26:04.539 Jesus Christ, with the clarity of his Gospel, even if this means facing 287 00:26:04.619 --> 00:26:11.059 the impossible, for it's his strength that is made perfect in our weakness, 288 00:26:12.019 --> 00:26:18.099 all the while trusting, because this question that Jesus raises, how long, 289 00:26:18.180 --> 00:26:21.730 in our own cries, of how long even Jesus is answer, till the 290 00:26:21.769 --> 00:26:26.089 end of the age? They all lead us to consider that there will be 291 00:26:26.170 --> 00:26:27.849 an end. There will be an end to sin, there will be a 292 00:26:27.970 --> 00:26:33.279 final end to evil and to suffering, and in Christ the Kingdom of Heaven 293 00:26:33.319 --> 00:26:37.599 has drawn near. And because there will be an end to the twisted and 294 00:26:37.720 --> 00:26:44.200 the perverse generations, this means that now is the time to come to Christ 295 00:26:44.240 --> 00:26:48.269 by faith. Now is the day of salvation. Now is the time to 296 00:26:48.349 --> 00:26:53.349 proclaim peace and good news to the nation's because we have a good gospel to 297 00:26:53.470 --> 00:26:57.069 proclaim. We have good news to announce, that your king has conquered, 298 00:26:57.150 --> 00:27:06.059 he has triumphed, he has put to shame the strongest thing this world could 299 00:27:06.059 --> 00:27:11.940 throw at him, death itself. Therefore, let us sing his praises forever. 300 00:27:12.660 --> 00:27:15.009 Amen, let's pray