Click - MP3 Audio Message Download

Jesus came down and fought the devil

Luke 9:37-45

Key Verse 9:44

“Listen carefully to what I am about to tell you: The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of men.”

In the last passage, we saw glorious Jesus. Even his clothes became as bright as a flash of lightning. Jesus is the Son of God Almighty. In today’s passage, we can see a powerful healing, a victory against a demon, a restoration of failures, and a revelation of God’s greatness. Just like the crowd and the disciples, we might be amazed by the greatness of God. But that is not what Jesus wants to tell us. God told us “Listen to him.” last week. Today, Jesus tells us again, “Listen carefully…” Let’s listen carefully to what Jesus is about to tell us. “The son of man is going to be betrayed into the hands of men.” This is the gospel that is the power of God for salvation of everyone who believes. This is the gospel that overcomes this unbelieving and perverse generation. May God help us to listen carefully to what Jesus is about tell us.

First, Jesus heals a boy with an evil spirit (37-43a).

Look at verse 37. “The next day, when they came down from the mountain, a large crowd met him.” Jesus came down from the mountain. On that mountain, Jesus was not a humble servant anymore; he revealed his nature as the Son of God Almighty.  His appearance was changed and his face shone as bright as the sun. He was with Moses and Elijah who appeared in glorious splendor.  Who wants to come down from such fabulous mountain?  Peter wanted to never come down, but stay up on this mountain forever, enjoying the divine glory and heavenly peace. But Jesus came down from the mountain as a humble servant of God.  He knew that at the foot of the mountain, the shameless crowds, the religious leaders who would accuse him to death, the disciples who were stubborn to listen to him, and even demons were waiting him. He knew that the rejections, sufferings, and death on the cross were waiting for him. But giving up the glory, he came down to complete his mission as the Lamb of God for the sin of the world. When Jesus came down from the mountain, a large crowd met him.

While Jesus and his three disciples were on the top of the mountain, what might the other disciples do at the foot of the mountain? Look at verses 38-40. “A man in the crowd called out, ‘Teacher, I beg you to look at my son, for he is my only child. A spirit seizes him and he suddenly screams; it throws him into convulsions so that he foams at the mouth. It scarcely ever leaves him and is destroying him. I begged your disciples to drive it out, but they could not.’”      

While Jesus went up to the mountain to pray with three disciples, a man brought his son to be healed. The boy was possessed by an evil spirit, a demon. Somehow the disciples came to engage in a spiritual boxing match with a boy demon.  All of them challenged the demon one by one, but all of them completely defeated. They could not drive it out. What a failure, not one, but 9 all of them failed. Do you know that there are demons? They are invisible enemies and so powerful.  We are not sure how the boy was possessed by the demon. At first, he might just like to play computer games for an hour. He might by accident open some interesting(?) site. However the desire began to grow from his heart and seized him. It eventually took full control over him. When someone interrupted him, he screamed, and went into convulsions, and foamed at the mouth. The demon never left him alone, but it was destroying his life: his school life, his future, and his relationship with others. Jesus called Satan, a lair who plant doubt, fear and worries in ones heart and make him to rebel against God. Jesus also called it murders that cut off ones relationship from God. As the demon was tormenting the boy, the boy’s father was also tormented, as he watched his only child suffering. It was the evil spirit that created the kingdom of hell in the life of this small boy. Once I found an interesting site that uploads all kinds of movies. It immediately seized my heart. I spent many nights to watch movies. It destroyed my early morning prayer. I could not gather daily bread. Even I could not work well in the office. Then, M. Sarah found it out. She was really upset and almost broke the computer and rebuked me harshly. It is evil spirit that creates the kingdom of hell in my live.

                What surprises me is disciples’ failure. They could not drive it out. When Jesus sent them out two by tow, they drove out demons with power and authority. But here all of them defeated by the demon. What had happened? We do not know yet why the disciples failed. We come to know that the work of God is not like a chef’s recipe: Add flour, water and egg then bake and out comes bread.”  If we just repeat the same procedure, we should get the same result. But the work of God is not a formula. Philip might exactly and precisely do as he had done before, but nothing happened. They had faith. But it was faith in themselves and their past experience. God works according to our faith in Jesus. Everyone fails. Do you know how many times Edison had failed to make a light bulb? More than 10,000 times! He had learned from failures and came closer to success. But the Evil spirit uses failures to plant doubt, fear, and shame in our hearts. Because of the disciples’ failure, it seemed like Jesus’ name had no power. It seemed like the disciples were powerless and hopeless. It seemed like the boy and the father have to suffer all the more. What a hopeless situation for the father! What a shameful situation for the disciples! What a pathetic situation for the crowd!   

How did Jesus respond? Look at verse 41. “‘O unbelieving and perverse generation,’ Jesus replied, ‘how long shall I stay with you and put up with you? Bring your son here.’” We can learn two things here. First, Jesus saw the unbelief of the generation as the root problem.  Do you think “Unbelief” is serious problem? Is “unbelief” serious than School shooting, drug Addiction, or sexual immorality? People think that believing or not believing in God is merely a personal preference. However, from Jesus’ point of view, unbelief is a most grievous sin. Unbelief is a great sin; the root of sin. It is because unbelief causes all the wickedness and perversity. In Romans, Paul depicted an unbelieving and perverse generation, listing all kinds of perversity such as sexual immorality, wickedness, evil, greed, depravity, envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice, and so on. All those are caused by unbelief. Men know that God exists and his creation gives them irrefutable evidence of God’s eternal power and divine nature. They have no excuse for not believing in God. But they deliberately suppress the truth that God exists. Why? It is because they wanted to enjoy sinful perversion. Unbelief is not only the problem of Jesus’ generation, but also problem of our generation.  Like the boy, many are seized by desires of the world; some seized by materialism, sexual immorality, selfishness, fun-seeking demon. It is because they do not have the word of God which they should live up to: “you are a kingdom of God, a holy nation, a people belonging to God.” They do not have the word of truth which they should build up their lives. Like the father, many are under the power of death and suffer from fear to lose. It is because they do have God’s word: “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies…”  Like the disciples, many are failed to live by the word of God. Like the crowds, many people seek only benefits, but cannot make commitment to Jesus. What a hopeless and powerless situation.

 Is there any hope for this unbelieving and perverse generation? How can we overcome this generation? Is there an answer for this unbelieving and perverse generation? Yes. It is our good shepherd, Jesus. Jesus is our hope and Jesus is our victory.  Look at verse 41b. “How long shall I stay with you and put up with you? Bring your son here.”  Who can stay with such smelly sinners? Who can put up with such stubborn and powerless and unfaithful disciples? It seems there is not one who can help them, but Jesus. Jesus had stayed with them and put up with them until now though they had many short-coming and made many mistakes.  Moreover, Jesus will stay with them and put up with them until they overcome their unbelief and put their faith in Jesus.  In Jesus’ long patience, we can find hope for this generation and hope for us. Jesus never gives up on us. He has hope that we will be responsible servants of God. He will stay with us and he will put up with us even when we fail. Jesus has hope that we will be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. Jesus does not want us to be like a kid who expects his parents to do his homework all the time. He wants us to be responsible, and mature stewards of God. He will be with us until each of us become a kingdom of priest and a holy nation.

Like the disciples, we might fail. However, in Jesus, there is no failure because Jesus is our victory. Jesus called for the boy to be brought to him. “Bring your son to me.” Jesus was willing to help, he was also able to help. Even while the boy was coming, the demon threw him to the ground in a convulsion. But Jesus rebuked the evil spirit, healed the boy and gave him back to his father (42).  To the boy, it was the most wonderful day of deliverance. His terrible torture was over. The demon was cast out, never to return. Praise Jesus!  To the father, to see his son happy and healthy was the best thing that could happen. This father must have wept with joy and gratitude. Jesus saved his son and gave him back to him. Praise Jesus! The people in the crowd witnessed this event. They had been greatly disappointed in Jesus’ disciples. But when Jesus drove out the demon, they could see God’s victory over the power of evil spirits. And they were all amazed at the greatness of God. Praise Jesus! To the disciples, Jesus restored their failures and revealed the greatness of God. Jesus turned their failure into a great success. Jesus is our victory.  In Jesus, there is hope and victory. We can fail like the disciples. But even in our failures, we must not let evil spirit take over our heart, but we must have faith in Jesus that Jesus can turn our failures into victory.

Second, the Son of Man is going to be betrayed (43b-45).

People in the crowd were marveling at all that Jesus did. The boy, the father, and even the disciples were happy that Jesus had restored spiritual order and revealed God’s glory. They began to celebrate with the crowd. In the midst of the celebration, Jesus said to them something very important. Look at verse 44. “Listen carefully to what I am about to tell you: The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of men.”

Why did Jesus say this, disturbing their joyful mood? First of all, what does it mean that the son of man is going to be betrayed into the hands of men? Though Jesus did not talk in detail about his suffering, death and resurrection, as he had previously, here Jesus simply told them again about his suffering, death on the cross.  His betrayal was like opening door of his passion. Following the betrayal, there will be suffering and death on the cross.

Look at verse 44 again. “Listen carefully to what I am about to tell you: The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of men.” Then, why did he told them his suffering, death again and again?  Of cause, he wanted them to accept his suffering, death and resurrection. To Jesus, it was very urgent for them to recognize that he was going to Jerusalem to die for the sin of the world. Why didn’t he talk about all the miracles he had performed? Why didn’t he talk about that he raised a dead into life? Why didn’t he talk about his healing work? Jesus had healed all kinds of sick people. People praised him and followed him. That was not the way of salvation for this unbelieving and perverse generation. Jesus performed wonderful and marvelous miracles. People were amazed. Jesus fed more than 5000 people. He commanded wind and waves. He even raised up a dead to life. But that was not the way of salvation. “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life." This is the gospel. This is the way of salvation that God has given to mankind.

Look at verse 44 again. “Listen carefully to what I am about to tell you: The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of men.” Jesus planted the gospel. His disciples should live in the unbelieving and perverse generation without him. How could they survive? How could they overcome, and even change this unbelieving generation into believing generation?  It is the Gospel. Jesus planted Gospel faith in their hearts for the gospel is the power of God for salvation of everyone who believes. We are living in unbelieving and perverse generation. However we must fight against unbelief.  How can we win the victory in this spiritual boxing match?  We should listen carefully what Jesus said to us. We should plant the gospel of faith in this unbelieving generation. We want to hear about God’s blessings, God’s mercy and his love for us. But what we really listen carefully is the suffering and death on the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. What we really need to accept is the message of the suffering and death of our Lord Jesus.

 It was time for Jesus’ disciples to listen carefully to Jesus’ words. It was time to open their spiritual eyes and see what Jesus was doing. How did they respond? Verse 45 says, “But they did not understand what this meant. It was hidden from them, so that they did not grasp it, and they were afraid to ask him about it.” The disciples were not stupid men, but they had a fear problem. Perhaps they were afraid they would suffer. Perhaps they were afraid they would lose their human dreams, the glorious earthly kingdom. They were even afraid to ask him about the cross.  However, Jesus wanted his disciples to repent of their worldly dreams and accept his suffering, death and resurrection. Jesus wanted them to make personal decisions of faith to commit their lives to him no matter what would happen based on what he said to them. Only faith based on Jesus’ word would lead them to victory in the end.

In this passage, we have learned that Jesus fought a spiritual battle with the devil and won the victory. Jesus challenged the unbelieving generation by planting the gospel faith.  What we really listen carefully is the gospel of Jesus Christ. We may repent of our unbelief and put our trust in Jesus. We may listen carefully to Jesus’ word and build our faith on the truth of Jesus’ word.