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UNBELIEVING BELIEVERS
(Luke 9:37-43)

Intro Did you ever have a teen-ager explain your phone to you? I guarantee
you it wont be long before you say, I didnt know it did that! The truth is
that modern mobile phones have monstrous capabilities that most of us never
tap. But guess what? God also has monstrous capacities and capabilities that
most of us never tap. The trouble is we are unbelieving believers to one
degree or another. And our unbelief ties the hands of God.

Every worry is a declaration that God is not big enough, powerful enough or
loving enough to take care of me? Every outburst is a declaration that I am
better able to defend my rights than God. Every disobedience is a declaration
that I know better than God. And so, without meaning to, I trim His sails; I
limit His scope. With each such instance I drop anchor in unbelief, and live
like who I was, instead of who I am. We all do it; we do it every day; we do it
without even thinking. Our text today urges us to tap a big God by faith.

Context. The disciples just had the ultimate mountaintop experience! Peter
says they were eyewitnesses of his majesty. But while we need mountaintop
experiences we cannot live there. We are needed in the valley. But look at Lu
9:43: And all were astonished at the majesty of God. That was the reaction
to Jesus healing one of the worst cases of demon possession in the NT. And
the word majesty? same word Peter used. Peter saw it on the mount in Jesus
person; the crowd saw it in the valley in Jesus work. The majesty of God wsa
in both places. Meaning it is possible to bring the majesty of the
mountaintop to the valley. We used to sing, Heaven came down and glory
filled my soul. It can happen. I t is intended to happen. It is only limited in
scope by guess what? Our UNBELI EF! We have a big God; we believe He
can do anything except what touches our lives. Then, we either believe He
cant or He wont. Or we lost heart because He wont do it the way we think it
should be done. We are walking, talking oxymorons believers who do not
believe. Unbelieving believers.

Just like the disciples! When Jesus says in v. 41, O faithless [without faith]
and twisted generation Hes not talking to the crowd. His disciples are the
culprits. In their unbelief, the glory would never have descended. Thankfully,
Jesus was there and it did, and it still can. Heres what we need to know.

I. Our World is Bound

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V. 37, On the next day, when they had come down from the mountain, a
great crowd met him.
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And behold, a man from the crowd cried out,
Teacher, I beg you to look at my son, for he is my only child.
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And behold,
a spirit seizes him, and he suddenly cries out. It convulses him so that he
foams at the mouth, and shatters him, and will hardly leave him. Luke is
putting up flashing, neon lights saying, Note the difference! The contrast
between the mountain and the valley is stunning. Glory on the mountain;
tragedy in the valley. Gods majesty on the mountain; Satans cruelty in the
valley. A God-pleasing Son on the mountain; a demon-possessed waste of a
son in the valley. A sovereign Father on the mountain; a helpless, tortured
father below. One son a destroyer of demons; the other destroyed by demons.
The 2nd son restored to his father, delivered by the1st son. What contrasts.
Without Jesus you live in the valley without hope.

The boy below is a shattered wreck. He cries out, convulses, foams at the
mouth. Some have suggested he is an epileptic. But the Bible clearly indicates
demonic possession. Matt adds the demon often threw the boy into open fires
or pools of water trying to destroy him (Mt 17:15). Mark adds that he was deaf
and mute. Covered with scars; unable to hear or speak; his eyes betray his
terror at every new attack. I t is about to destroy the boy; it is about to destroy
the father also. They are helpless in the face of this relentless enemy. God is
picturing for us a world in bondage. Were not demon-possessed, but even as
we enjoy the good life, apart from Christ we are hopelessly enslaved to sin.
Jesus said to His comfortable, middle-class audience in Jn 8:34, Truly, truly,
I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin. In our fallen,
broken world right is declared wrong and wrong is declared right. Apart from
Christ, our bondage is every bit as real as that of this boy. And sin will take
you down just as surely without Christ.

But sins bondage is invisible. We expect comfort as the norm. Trouble
surprises us: This isnt supposed to be happening to me! Lord, why are You
letting this happen to me? We wonder if God is in control. If He is in
control, This shouldnt be happening to me. God shrinks in proportion to
our misguided expectations that life here should be like life there.

I heard a preacher on TV one night say, If youre a Christian, you should
have something to show for it. Now, you ain't gotta have what everybody
else got, but you should have a life where you're comfortable." Where does
the Bible teach that? It doesnt! A lot of Xns are not comfortable this morning
many not even safe. Why? Because we live in the valley, in a fallen world.
In that environment, God allows adversity for 1,000 reasons sometimes
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discipline, sometimes to help us focus, sometimes to benefit others.
Sometimes to grow us. When God is big in our eyes, He can get His purpose
accomplished. But when He is small, weve tied His hands.

To unleash a great God, we must do what Jesus said to the father in v. 41,
Bring your son here. He invites us, too. Bring me your children, your job,
your vile temperament, the grudge you hold, your finances, your marriage.
Bring it to me. Its either a big problem or a big God. Why not a big God?

II. Our Ability is Bounded

The disciples forgot, as do we, when we go into battle alone, weve already
lost. V. 40, And I begged your disciples to cast it out, but they could not.
They did not fail for lack of trying. But they had forgotten the source of
power. Look at the sequence at 9:1, And he called the twelve together and
gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases. Jesus
had given them power over how many demons? ALL! And according to v. 6,
it worked. They had some success under their belt. But that was their undoing.
They had come to believe in the power, not in the source of the power. They
believed in magic, not Jesus. So they went thru their normal ritual for casting
out demons, but this time, nothing happened. Why? They were trusting in the
method rather than the Master. They were unbelieving believers.

How do we know? Jesus tells us. V. 41, Jesus answered, O faithless and
twisted generation, how long am I to be with you and bear with you? Jesus is
in the disciples face here. Theyd begun to assume His power was their power
-- they could handle it on their own. When they took their eyes off Him, they
failed, like Peter walking on the water. They were trusting self, not God. We
know that because Jesus tells them in Mark 9:29, This kind cannot be driven
out by anything but prayer. That means, they had not even prayed about this
-- assumed they could handle it. A sure sign of Unbelieving believers.

We all get deceived thinking we can handle life. But spiritual warfare is
difficult. In WWII you knew who and where the enemy was. In Vietnam you
were never sure. There were no clearly defined lines; friends and enemies
looked and sounded alike. You could never be sure. Spiritual warfare is like
that. We dont see the humanistic philosophies as spiritual warfare that they
are. We dont see the innocent office flirtation as spiritual battleground. We
dont see our out-of-control busyness as spiritual warfare. Comfort, ease and
affluence blind us. We dont pray; were self-sufficient; ignore God. When
disaster strikes, we cant cast the demon out. Unbelieving believers.
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We are easy targets when we drop the spiritual disciplines of prayer and Bible
study and live on our own resources. Easy targets. We dont see our spiritual
life is on the line every second. We must develop a tenacious faith. Not long
ago in Bear County, SD, a 120 pound mountain lion leapt thru the open
window of a motor home and attacked 18-month-old Jason Cowden. Grandma
somehow got a butcher knife, stabbed the lion, twisted hard and the lion fell
dead. She said, I knew I had pierced the heart. I said a prayer that the good
Lord would give me the strength and the right spot, and He did. Beloved,
thats the kind of ruthless faith we need in every day living. Peter learned. He
later wrote, Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls
around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour (I Pet 5:8). He wrote
that to believers, folks. If our eyes are not constantly on a big God, eventually
we will be devoured. Our ability is bounded.

III. Our God is Boundless

V. 42, While he was coming, the demon threw him to the ground and
convulsed him. But Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit and healed the boy, and
gave him back to his father. This is the God, Beloved, who is on your side
the One who will take on your children, your financial difficulties, your
impossible work situation, your medical issues, your lack of confidence,
your addictions this is the God who is on your side. Note:

A. His Passion: He Reaches Down

You dont have to run after God to find Him. His hand is already out to you.
V. 37 again, On the next day, when they had come down from the mountain,
a great crowd met him. Gods only Son came down. He could have, had He
chosen, gone right back to heaven from being transfigured on the mountain.
Instead, He comes down. And amidst the whole crowd, He comes to the only
son of a broken father. Had He not come down, it was curtains for that boy.

And that same only begotten Son of God came down to earth to redeem the
person that matters most to you you. Had He not come, wed all be without
hope. But He did come. Isa 49:15-16 promises, Can a woman forget her
nursing child, that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb?
Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you.
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Behold, I have engraved
you on the palms of my hands. Would a nursing mother abandon her baby?
God says that would happen before I would ever forget you. You are
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engraved in my palms. Every time I look, there you are. Every good and
even every bad thing in our life shows the love of God, hard as it is.

B. His Patience: He Responds to Faith

What was the problem here? No faith! V. 41, O faithless and twisted
generation, how long am I to be with you and bear with you? Bring your son
here. The disciples had forgotten that it was Jesus power, not their
performance that succeeded. When we rely on our strength, it gets ugly fast.
Jesus calls them a twisted generation. The word twisted means
deformed, perverted, distorted. It describes how easily we are twisted
out of shape when we look at circumstances instead of Him.

The only cure is faith. Trust the healing and timing to Him. The disciples had
authority, but they didnt believe it. Neither do we! Rom 8:28, And we know
that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who
are called according to his purpose. How many things? All things. Do you
believe that? No I mean really believe that? Are you a believing believer or
is there a point where you become an unbelieving believer? Do you believe
financial loss is working for good? Is your spouses critical nature working to
your good? Find the point of your greatest frustration and you will know
where you are an unbelieving believer. And the only cure is to give it to God.

J. C. Ryle says of this passage, There are many Christian fathers and
mothers at this day who are just as miserable about their children as the
man of whom we are reading. The son who was once the desire of their eyes
and in whom their lives were bound up turns into a spendthrift or a
prodigal, and the daughter who was once the flower of the family becomes
self willed and worldly minded and a lover of pleasure more than a lover of
God and their hearts are very well near broken. Now what should a father
or mother do in a case like this? They should do as the man before us did.
They should go to Jesus in prayer and cry to Him about their child. Gods
time of conversion may not be ours. He may think fit to prove our faith by
keeping us long waiting, but so long as a child lives and a parent prays, we
have no right to finally despair about that childs soul. Whatever your
concern, Beloved, bring it to Jesus. We talk a good talk about faith, but we do
a lot more worrying and complaining than we do praying and trusting. We do
a lot more hating and feuding than we do loving our enemies in faith as Christ
commanded. We do a lot more whining than believing.

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Mark 9:23-24 gives wonderful insight into this father: And Jesus said to him,
If you can! All things are possible for one who believes.
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Immediately the
father of the child cried out and said, I believe; help my unbelief! We are all
a mix of belief and unbelief. None of us have it altogether. So this should be
our daily prayer, triggered by whatever worries us the most right then. Thats
where the unbelief is living. We must ruthlessly root it out. God responds to
faith; unbelief ties His hands.

C. His Power: He Restores Broken Things

V. 42: While he was coming, the demon threw him to the ground and
convulsed him. But Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit and healed the boy, and
gave him back to his father. This man brought his son to Jesus, so instant
healing, right? Well, not quite. First the demon took another shot. He threw
him down and convulsed him. It was like an invisible linebacker drove that
boy to the ground and convulsed him. Mark 9:26-27 tells us, And after crying
out and convulsing him terribly, it came out, and the boy was like a corpse, so
that most of them said, He is dead.
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But Jesus took him by the hand and
lifted him up, and he arose. God is teaching us restoration is not always
instantaneous. Sometimes things get worse after we bring them to Christ.
Sometimes faith unleashes all the power of the enemy as never before.
Sometimes we look more dead than alive for a time. Sometimes the wait is not
minutes or days or weeks, but years. Sometimes the answer does not look at
all like we think it should. Faith isnt getting what we want; its getting what
we need. Faith doesnt dictate the results; faith trust in God whatever the
result. Look at v. 42 again. Jesus gave him back to his father. And so He
will do for us. It is faith that taps into the resources of a big God.

Conclusion So what must we do? We must ruthlessly root out unbelief. It
shows when we disobey Gods commands. It shows when we are worried and
frustrated. It shows when we act without prayer. Ladies used to worry about
their slip showing. Believe me, wherever unbelief resides, the slip is showing.
We must root it out, kill it and turn the issue over to Him permanently. Like
the woman who was stopped for a traffic violation. As she searched her purse
for her license, the officer noticed a conceal-carry permit and asked, Do you
have a weapon in your possession? She answered, Yes, I have a .45
automatic in the glove box. Any others? Yes, a 9 mm Smith and Wesson
in the center console. I s that all? No, I have a .38 special in my purse,
she admitted. The officer asked her, What are you so afraid of? Looking
him straight in the eye she replied, Absolutely nothing! She was armed and
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dangerous and fearless. Just like we ought to be in Christ. People whose faith
cant be touched.

So where is your slip showing this morning? Is it children, work, marriage,
finances, temperament. Where are you an unbelieving believer? Lets take a
few moments to take inventory, bring it to Christ, untie His hands and watch
Gods majesty be revealed. Lets bring the majesty of the mountaintop down
into our valley by faith. God is way bigger than we give Him credit for. Its
time to tap some capabilities we never knew existed by faith! Lets pray.