“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 di