Four Failures Disciples Make

[0:00] Turn to Luke chapter 9. Last week we looked at the transformation of Jesus on the mountain.

[0:21] And it was meant for them, the disciples, to understand who Jesus was.

[0:36] They were the ones who were most able to see all that went on. Of course, the three inner circle, Peter, James, and John, got to see the transfiguration themselves.

[0:49] And so, that was last time. And it's, we're going from a mountaintop experience, not literally to a valley, but from a mountaintop experience to a valley experience.

[1:09] We're seeing splendor and wonder, and they come down the next day to a situation that's like, oh.

[1:24] In fact, Jesus kind of does one of those, oh, things in the middle of this. But it's good. It's there for our learning.

[1:37] And Jesus is teaching the twelve. And he's teaching us. So let's look together at Luke chapter 9, starting in verse 37.

[1:49] Luke chapter 9.

[2:19] And I begged your disciples to cast it out, but they could not. Jesus answered, Oh, faithless and twisted generation, How long am I to be with you and bear with you?

[2:36] Bring your son here. 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.

[2:53] And all were astonished at the majesty of God. And while they were all marveling at everything he was doing, Jesus said to his disciples, Let these words sink into your ears.

[3:06] The son of man is about to be delivered into the hands of men. But they did not understand the saying. And it was concealed from them, so they might not perceive it.

[3:20] And they were afraid to ask him about this saying. An argument arose among them as to which of them was the greatest.

[3:30] But Jesus, knowing the reasoning of their hearts, took a child and put him by his side and said to them, Whoever receives this child in my name receives me.

[3:44] And whoever receives me receives him who sent me. Whoever is least among you all is the one who is great.

[3:59] John answered, Master, we saw someone casting out demons in your name. And we tried to stop him. Because he does not follow us.

[4:11] But Jesus said to him, Do not stop him. But for the one who is not against you, is not against us, is for you. Let's pray together. Father, I pray that you would be with us.

[4:27] I pray that you would open our eyes to the truths of these scriptures. They would be with me as I share them. Be with us as we listen to them. I pray that it would not be discouraging.

[4:39] Father, what we look at today is going to hit pretty close to home. Lord, I know a lot of these things are things that trouble me.

[4:51] I pray that you would be with us. I pray that in the end we would be encouraged. And in the end our eyes would be on our Savior. In the end we would take to heart the lessons, use them.

[5:06] And Lord, may we go on to grow to be those disciples that you've called us to be. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. We're going to see today four areas in which the disciples struggled.

[5:23] They failed. That's a better word. They failed. And as I mentioned, it's been this mountaintop experience and the glory of the Lord.

[5:34] And it's amazing. And actually, we didn't go as far as the failures that are listed because of something that way we're going to go next week. But in total, there are five failures of the disciples listed in the Lord.

[5:50] We're going to look at four of them. But all of them are things we face. And so it's good to see some of the aspects of what Jesus is doing.

[6:03] How he's treating these men. How he's treating these men. What he expects of them. And how we can learn from this. The first thing we can see is the disciples struggle with faith.

[6:18] Now, I'm not saying that they're doubting their salvation. Christians do that. But that's not what we're addressing here. What they're doing is they're struggling with, can I do something?

[6:32] Do I have the authority? Do I have the power to do something? And so we have this situation that's spoken of here in the beginning.

[6:44] Let me back up, though, and give you some background so that you walk into this situation thinking right. We began this chapter, chapter 9, in verse 1, obviously.

[6:59] And it says, And he called the 12 together and gave them power and authority over some demons and to cure some diseases. I hope you're looking at your Bible, and I hope you see that I'm wrong.

[7:13] I've not read that right. He says he called the 12 together and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases.

[7:24] And he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom. And they did. They went out. And they proclaimed the kingdom. And they cast out demons. And they healed people.

[7:36] Now, we don't hear all the details of this. We do know they come back. Some of the other gospels do give a little bit of the details. But the idea was that they went out and they cast out demons.

[7:48] And however long they were gone, and however many people they ministered to, and however many demon-possessed people they met, they cast out demons.

[7:58] They had been given that power and that authority. Luke 9.10 talks about how they returned.

[8:09] And they told him, him, Jesus, how they had done all these things. And that verse is saying it was successful. Now, remember, we have just come through the passage on the Mount of Transfiguration.

[8:26] And during that time, Jesus took Peter, James, and John and went up onto the mountain. And we're gone for a day or two. And so, down below, at the bottom of the mountain, were nine other disciples that were part of the twelve, plus people who are following Jesus.

[8:47] We know from other gospels that there were scribes and Pharisees there. We know that there were all kinds of people there. It was a crowd. And so, while Jesus was on the mountain, while he was gone, and the three who were the inner circle were gone, not saying that they were special, not saying that they were the ones who had the power, but they were gone, so their numbers were reduced.

[9:12] While they were up there, this situation took place. Now, before we get into that situation, I want to point out to you that these people had seen Jesus cast out demons, and they themselves had cast out demons.

[9:29] They had that experience. But up to this point, according to Scripture, and again, we don't have an exhaustive account, but according to Scripture, the most ferocious demon that we have heard of was the one that's back in chapter 8.

[9:45] The one that was at Gadara, the one who had been bound with chains and would break the chains and cut himself and run off into the desert and scream and holler and torment people, that was the worst demon they had seen.

[9:59] But it was a grown man. But they had seen Jesus cast that demon out. We don't know if the disciples ever come upon a situation like the demoniac there, but they had at least seen it.

[10:13] And most of what that demoniac man had done, they never saw. Because when they landed on the beach with Jesus and Jesus got out of the boat, that demoniac came to him immediately and said, What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of God?

[10:33] And Jesus tells him to be quiet. And so, they hadn't even seen the things that this man who had been possessed what the demon had done. But now Jesus is on the mountain, and while he's on the mountain, a man comes to them.

[10:53] And scripture says that he begs them, Please, cast the demon out of my son. It's a pitiable situation.

[11:04] Now, the father describes, in verse 39, to the nine, and others who would be gathered there, his situation.

[11:17] Luke says, And behold, a spirit seizes him. And suddenly, he suddenly cries out, and he convulses him, so that he foams at the mouth, and shatters him, and will hardly leave him.

[11:30] And, you can go to the other gospels. Luke didn't include everything, that's here. He's trying to be brief. He's got a point, that he's getting to, so he doesn't, but, we could look at the other gospels, and find that, this demon, possesses this boy, a boy, not a man.

[11:49] What did this little one do, to deserve this? A boy is possessed, with a demon, who would cast him, into the fire, would cast him, into the water, would cause him, to act like he's doing, he foams in the mouth, the word shatters, it's the idea, of it does damage to him, it is doing damage, to him over time.

[12:12] You know, fell in the water, fell in the fire, you don't fall in the fire, without a little bit of damage. And this, this demon, is ruthless, with this little boy.

[12:24] This little boy, is suffering like, no one we've seen, in scripture to this point, as far as demon possession. And so, this man, pleads with the disciples, and he brings this boy.

[12:41] Now, does this boy, do in front of the disciples, what he did, when Jesus went, to cast him out? I kind of wonder, what kind of situation, is it, when you're watching, a man bring his son, and some of these things, are going on, he's convulsing, you know, this, this isn't, this isn't like, seizures that you see.

[13:09] These are some of, these are violent. These, these are meant, to destroy the child. These are in opposition, to anyone trying to help him.

[13:19] These are pitiful seizures. And to this point, the disciples haven't seen anything like this.

[13:32] It's a difficult situation to consider. In your mind, you're thinking, what kind of a demon, would pick a boy so young, and do such things to him?

[13:54] And so, I'm wondering, if the disciples, were scared. This isn't your average, run of the mill, demon, kicking out.

[14:09] This is a, a difficult situation. Can we do it? We've never seen a demon, who does this to a child. We've never seen, a demon who's, done this, this way, to anyone.

[14:25] The situation, is just a little different. In fact, it seems a lot different. It seems, scary, in the sense that, it's maybe beyond, my abilities.

[14:41] And it says, scripture says that they, the disciples, could not cast, the demon out. It was their lack of faith, that made it so that they, could not cast him out.

[14:54] You can see that, in Jesus' statement, in verse 41, we'll look at that statement, more in just a minute. But you can see in that statement, that it was their lack of faith.

[15:05] And if you go to Matthew, and Mark, and again, don't do that now, you're going to find that, Jesus explicitly says, it's because of their faith, their lack of faith, that they could not cast, this, demon out.

[15:24] But they had cast, all these others out. What had changed. And this is where, this situation parallels, us so well. Circumstances, change.

[15:40] And sometimes, just a little bit, even though, a different perspective, can help. Sometimes, a different perspective, makes it, more difficult.

[15:56] What was easy, to trust God for, in the sunshine, and this is just a metaphor, there's no rain here, but, what was easy, to trust God for, in the sunshine, may be more difficult, to trust him for, in the rain.

[16:11] In other words, maybe the disciples, could say, I've cast out, several demons, none of them, that look like that. And maybe, they were saying, can I cast out, a demon, that is so ruthless, that it would treat, a child, like this.

[16:32] Jesus's response, is disappointment. Remember, he had said, in Luke 9, one, that, he gave them, power and authority, over, all demons.

[16:50] Even ones, that may look, different, than you used to. They should have been, people, who believed, God's word. Well, Thomas, all means all, we've never seen, anything like this, but all means all, so let's do it.

[17:16] But they couldn't, because they doubted. And Jesus answered, and says, oh, faithless, and twisted generation, how long am I, to be with you, and bear with you?

[17:28] And this is probably, an allusion, to the psalm, that Moses wrote, that you can find, in Psalm 90, but it's in, Deuteronomy 32, 4 and 5, well, it's much longer, than this.

[17:39] I'm going to quote, three verses, from Deuteronomy 32, verses 4 and 5, the rock, his work is perfect, for all his ways, are justice, a God of faithfulness, and without iniquity, just and upright, is he.

[17:52] They have dealt, corruptly with him. They are no longer, his children, because they are blemish. They are crooked, and twisted, they are a crooked, and twisted generation.

[18:03] And then, in verse 20, he goes on to say, and he said, I will hide my face, from them. I will see, what their end will be, for they, are a perverse generation, children in whom, is no faithfulness.

[18:17] And why, why would Jesus' statement, allude back to that? And that's because, Israel had seen, miracle after miracle, God had provided for them, over and over, he had done signs, and wonders, and he had miraculously, delivered Israel, out of Egypt.

[18:37] And he had split the Red Sea, and let them walk through, on dry ground, and they, he had closed the sea, and they get to the other side, and say, we don't have any water. Now that, that, that sounds ludicrous to us, but that, that happens to us, so often.

[18:55] Once the situation, is different, we often doubt. And Jesus, I think, has made the statement, to allude to the fact, that, that, these disciples, had doubted.

[19:10] They hadn't taken, God's word, at his word, and believed, that God could do, what he said he would do. And that statement, I believe, was, and there's a lot of argument, who was that statement, written to?

[19:25] Certainly, it wasn't written to the disciples. And I think, Luke's pretty clear, that it was written, to the disciples. Probably in the crowd around, because in other gospels, you can find, that they were, the crowd, especially the scribes, and Pharisees, were arguing, with the disciples.

[19:41] Probably mocking them, for what they couldn't do. And Jesus says, you're just, back to the verse, a faithless, and twisted generation.

[19:56] Someone who's difficult, to deal with. And it sounds like, impatience, in Jesus's voice. I think it is, to a point.

[20:08] It's not a sinful, impatience. Because you go through, the Old Testament, and they don't have, near the truth we have. You think specifically, about the children of Israel, wandering through the desert.

[20:21] They see this amazing delivery, and they complain about water. And God brings water, out of a rock. And they go two steps, we don't have any bread.

[20:37] And God gives them bread. And then, another two steps, well, I'm tired of this bread. I don't have any meat. And God gives them meat, until it comes out their ears, and out their nose.

[20:55] And they go another two steps, and they complain about this. And they go another two steps, and they complain about that. And that's the way Israel is. And I think, Jesus is trying to get these people, to think, don't be like Israel.

[21:08] When God gives, his word, stand on it. And I know it's difficult. I know that the scene changes. I'm speaking as if I'm, conveying what Jesus is saying.

[21:22] The situation changes, but the truth does not. But God does not. Jesus expected his disciples, to believe his word.

[21:37] And he expects, you and I, to believe his word. I mentioned, this is where it hits all of us. And, I wish, I was up here, as the perfect example, to tell you, I have conquered this years ago, and yet I find myself, too much like the children of Israel.

[21:56] See God's blessing, experience God's blessing, doubt God's goodness, over and over. How often, is this our situation, we begin to trust Christ, in our lives, obeying his word.

[22:10] I'm not talking about, for salvation, we've already done that. But we're beginning, to trust his promises. My God shall supply, all your needs, according to his glory, according to his riches, and glory by Christ Jesus.

[22:21] Yes, God will do that. Lord, I can't pay this bill, this month. Please, will you provide? And he does. Lord, I can't pay this bill, this month.

[22:32] Please, will you provide? And he does. And he does that, month after month, through your whole life. Making bill, after bill.

[22:44] And he's providing food, just to meet your needs, on a regular basis. Sometimes, he lets the supply, get small, but he always provides. Sometimes, he provides, vast troves, of things.

[22:58] And he meets that need. And maybe we're people, who slowly, we struggle on this, but who slowly, begin to believe, God, is true to his word.

[23:11] And we're going along, and we're praying, for this bill, and we're praying, for that bill, this $60, that $100, that $300, that $20, and all of a sudden, the roof leaves.

[23:24] And the repairman says, I'm sorry, but that's going to be $28,000. Can God be trusted there?

[23:37] I think this is exactly, the kind of situation, the disciples had come up against. They'd seen God do things, and please, I'm not demeaning God, but I'm using it, for an illustration.

[23:49] They'd seen God do things, that were $20, and that were $50, and that were $300. And now they look at this boy, and they say, how can we ever do anything, against a demon, who would do that, to a child?

[24:04] I don't know how to do this. I don't know if it'll work. I'm going to cast you out, I hope. God's promises are true, when we face the day-to-day situations, the day-to-day expenses, but they're also true, when the major things come along.

[24:26] God gets you through stressful days of work, he gets you through, the death of the family. It's still true. Problem's bigger, God is bigger, than all.

[24:39] And so, Jesus spoke to them, faithless and perverse generation. When are you, I'm adding my words, when are you going to start trusting me?

[24:57] And those words go out to us. I hear them in my ears, way too often. Way often on, sometimes on a weekly basis, not necessarily in one area, maybe it's a different area.

[25:12] I told my wife, I wouldn't use this illustration, but I'm going to use it anyway. She's not objecting to it. You ever go into the eye doctor, and you take off your glasses, and they put this monster thing over your eyes, and they start turning things, and they turn things, and they say, which is better, one or two?

[25:35] And you never know which one to guess. And it just amazes me, how the same thing can look just a little different.

[25:46] And trials are like that. We get used to trusting God in certain areas, and something different comes along, and it throws us all off.

[25:57] It's like somebody turned the dial, too many spots. Now we can't see the E at all. And I kind of think this is where they are, and I think this is where we are often in our daily life.

[26:09] And I think God does that on purpose. Because you won't grow if you just do the same thing all the time. He gives you variety in those tests.

[26:24] He helps you to see different ways you can apply His Word. His Word is still true. So we have to be people who trust the Lord.

[26:36] And I think we need to be people who are willing to confess our sin regularly. Lord, please forgive me.

[26:49] I know you've provided for me all this time, and you can see the doubt in my heart. And you can see by the way I act, I'm struggling to trust you right now. Forgive me.

[27:00] I want to turn from this, and I'm going to trust you. I'm going to need your help to trust you. In another of the Gospel accounts of this, Jesus asks the Father, the Father says to Him, If you can do this, and Jesus says, If I can, it's literally there, I'm amazed.

[27:18] If I can, all things are possible to those who are believed. And the Father says, Lord, I believe, help my husband believe. He knows he's struggling. And that's where we are sometimes.

[27:30] Lord, I am trying to trust you. Help me to trust you. And He's there for us. I want you to notice, too, that it goes on, that even though Jesus rebuked the disciples for their lack of faith, even though the disciples couldn't heal this, or cast out this demon, Jesus had pity on the afflicted one.

[27:54] And He says, Bring your son here. Now, whether it happened in front of the disciples or not, the violence started. If it happened in front of the disciples, it started all over again.

[28:07] But, I'm just amazed at this. I'm amazed at these demons. I'm amazed that as the Holy Son of God commands them to come, and they have to come, that they do their best the whole time, trying to destroy and hurt everything they can on their way.

[28:28] And this, this demon throws the boy down, he gives him the convulsions, and another gospel says, it looks like he's dead when he's done. Jesus casts the demon out.

[28:43] The violence might have shaken the disciples, but it didn't shake Christ. That's good for us to know, when it comes to our troubles.

[28:57] When the violence does shake us, when the trial is hard, and we're like, oh, Father, this is an area that's so hard for me to trust you.

[29:08] It shakes me, but it doesn't shake him. And even though the demon resisted, it had to obey the authority of Jesus. Our troubles and trials may shake our whole life, and tempt us to doubt.

[29:28] All troubles, all trials, have to obey the authority of Jesus. Now, that's one way of looking at it.

[29:40] He's in control is what I'm saying. He can provide. He can control. He can meet your need. We just must still trust him.

[29:54] And Jesus did this, even though both the father and the disciples struggled to believe. He casts out the demon, heals what the demon has done to the boy, and gives him back to his father.

[30:06] Can you imagine how the tender mercies and the authority of Jesus changed that family's life? Since a boy, how many years had it been that this little boy would have seizures that would convulse him and throw him into the water and into the fire?

[30:27] Now, Jesus had the tender mercies before them, but he displayed it to them so that they could see it there.

[30:40] And it says the crowd and the disciples were so amazed at what Jesus had done that they marveled at the majesty of God. It's interesting.

[30:58] That word, according to something Peter wrote in 1 Peter, I don't remember the reference, Peter used that exact reference when he speaks of beholding Jesus' majesty on the Mount of Transfiguration.

[31:16] He makes reference to it in his epistle. But here, these, this crowd and the disciples were so amazed that they marveled at the majesty of God.

[31:32] I'll make one more comment before we go on to the next thing. I want you to notice that at this point, Jesus did not write off his disciples. That's so good.

[31:45] That's so good to hear. When I struggle in faith, Jesus is not going to write me off. Now, Jesus' statement was an ache from his heart.

[31:55] He wants us to trust him. He is there to meet our needs. He's given us what we need and promises to give us what we need. And, and it makes his heart ache when we won't trust him to do it.

[32:11] But when they fail to trust him, he didn't disown them. We're quick to write people off when they don't trust us. But the steadfast love of the Lord endures forever.

[32:24] Jesus still loves his disciples even though they fail to show the kind of faith they should have. God doesn't forsake us when we fail.

[32:35] He does like he does for these. He teaches and disciplines but continues to lead us along. Now that's the first one.

[32:46] The rest of mercy ordered. That was the first struggle that the disciples failed at. If we look at the second, this is verses, it's the second half of verse 43 through verse 45.

[33:01] We see the second struggle. Verse 43.

[33:13] But while they were marveling at everything he was doing, Jesus said to his disciples, let these words sink into your ears.

[33:25] The Son of Man is about to be delivered into the hands of men. But they did not understand the saying and it was concealed from them so that they might not perceive it and they were afraid to ask him about what he was saying.

[33:39] Now, I'm not going to deal right now with the idea that it was concealed because, well, one is time. Two, it comes up twice more and I think the more appropriate time to deal with it is close to the end of the book of Luke.

[33:57] So we're going to leave the idea of it was concealed from them. God didn't allow them to understand all this at the time but at the same time he told them something that they should have believed even though they didn't understand it and it's kind of evidence that they didn't believe it.

[34:17] So he says, let these words sink into your ears. Earlier in the chapter we see that the disciples came to see that Jesus was the Messiah of God.

[34:30] Remember when Jesus asked the disciples when they were alone who do you say that I am? Peter says thou art the Christ of God. And we may mention then that the Jews thought the Messiah was coming to overthrow Rome, was going to set up his throne, the throne of David in Jerusalem and the Messiah was going to rule the world from that throne in Jerusalem.

[34:54] That's exactly what the Jews thought was going to happen. And unfortunately that is also exactly what the disciples thought was going to happen. From the moment they acknowledged Jesus as God the Messiah, Jesus set about to correct their understanding of what God's Messiah would do.

[35:19] Luke 9 22, Jesus says the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed and on the third day be raised. The minute they said thou art the Messiah of God, Jesus is saying, now understand the kind of Messiah I am.

[35:37] I am going to suffer. I am going to be delivered. I am going to die. I am going to be buried and I am going to be raised from the dead. And he was setting that mindset set in them.

[35:53] As the disciples beheld the majesty of Jesus here in the healing of the demon possessed boy and even in the transfiguration, their previous views of the Messiah were still not changed.

[36:06] changed. And now it has been two times that the Lord has told them what to expect of the Messiah. We'll see it again in Luke 18, 33 and 34.

[36:20] And we'll see it again in Luke 24, 31. That happens after Christ is risen from the dead and Jesus explains all that's gone on. God. But one of the things that happens to disciples of God, of Christ, is that we don't always pay attention to the word.

[36:43] We don't always pay attention to what he said. If they'd have paid attention to what he said, when he was arrested, they would not have been shocked. When he was scourged by the Roman soldiers, they would not have been shocked.

[36:57] when he was taken to the hill of Golgotha, Calvary, and crucified there, they would not have been shocked. Nor would they have been shocked the day that he rose to the dead.

[37:09] And they went to the empty tomb, and it was said, he's not here, he's risen. But they didn't. Again, God is doing something here, but it is something that disciples often fail at.

[37:27] And that is we don't always hear the word of God. We don't always seek to understand the word of God. We must be gracious towards others in the things we do not understand. Many places of scripture teach us to ask God to open our eyes to the word.

[37:43] That's why when I do the pastoral prayer, I try to end with verses or at least just pray that God would open our eyes to the word. There's much that we won't understand if God doesn't reveal it to us.

[37:55] But we need to be people who are hungry, to say, what is he saying? I want to believe what he's saying. I want to understand what he's saying. We need to have a desire to understand God's word.

[38:06] And he will open our eyes to understand it when we need it. So be people who look to understand God's word. The third struggle is a struggle of humility.

[38:20] Back in chapter 9, verse 46, such an interesting situation. an argument arose among them as to which of them was the greatest. But Jesus, knowing the reasoning of their hearts, took a child and put him by his side and said to them, whoever receives this child in my name receives me and whoever receives me receives him who sent me.

[38:44] For he who is least among you all is the one who is great. God so they had a struggle with humility. They struggled about who was the greatest.

[38:59] Why? Because they still had this wrong view of the Messiah. They still saw Jesus as taking the throne. And here he called them to be the Messiah. They had mentioned that he was the Messiah.

[39:13] And they had called them to be apostles or disciples to him. So they figured, well, certainly if he's going to take his throne, he's called us to be disciples, he's called us to be ambassadors, apostles, he'll take us right up there with him.

[39:27] And you can imagine the situation. Peter, James, and John come back and we know that they don't talk about the situation on the Mount of Transfiguration, but still they've been gone with Jesus.

[39:39] And even if they don't say anything, Peter's saying, I'm putting words in their mouth. I don't know who said what. this is just an example. Peter's saying, yeah, I'm going to be second in command.

[39:53] For sure. I mean, after what I've seen and the things I've said, I mean, it sounds ludicrous to say this, but it is exactly not that tactless, but it's exactly what they're doing.

[40:09] They're saying, when he reigns, I'm going to be right there. We'll reign with him and I'm number two. No, no, I'm number two. You can't talk, remember? Number two has to be able to talk, or however they argued this out.

[40:23] Each one wanted the best position. If they had listened to what Jesus had taught about his coming suffering, they wouldn't have thought like this.

[40:38] And he says, if they had let that saying sink down into their ears, grace, and Jesus then goes on to define what greatness is.

[40:51] It's not being seated in the highest seat next to Christ. It's being like Jesus. But for them to really understand it, he pulls a child to his side, probably a young child, probably less than eight or so.

[41:08] Why? Because children were not considered significant in that day. Children don't carry their own load.

[41:18] That's why I think it was very young one. They don't carry their own load. They're helpless. They're loved, but they're considered unimportant. They don't contribute to society, and often don't contribute to the family in any meaningful way when they're very young.

[41:33] they're really not. They're not the kind of person you look to and say, I know two-year-old Nate, therefore I'm a great man. I know I'm trying to think of a big, tall, famous basketball player.

[41:56] Jabbar is his last name, but that's too old for most of you. LeBron James, if I came to you and said, I know LeBron James, you might be impressed.

[42:08] Probably won't. Why would he want such a short friend like you? But we try to impress people by saying, oh, I know this, or I know that, and Jesus says, no, it's not the person that stands next to you that makes you worth something.

[42:27] Jesus is saying, you have to be like me. I accept this little child, and I see him as important as any one of you, as important as the ruler in Israel, as important as the ruler in Rome.

[42:45] I don't see him any different. Jesus is teaching them, you have to look at everyone being that important, or equally important.

[42:56] God, then you will be great in the kingdom. If you're humble and accept anyone on equal footing, I mean, if they really thought about this, it's Jesus, son of God, the God man, and he's taking notice of them, he has to be willing to take notice of anybody.

[43:20] And they need to have that same kind of mentality. they were to serve people as Jesus did, not to make himself the greatest, to see all important as they were, and the least among them were the greatest.

[43:36] And the last of the struggle was tribalism. Tribalism. John said, most people, as you look at the commentaries, most people are thinking, yeah, John's kind of feeling guilty at this point.

[43:48] He's confessing a situation that happened sometime in the past. John says, well, it wasn't just him, it was all the disciples. John said that the disciples had tried to stop a man casting out demons who was not in their group.

[44:02] In other words, he wasn't one of the twelve. To this point, he only knew of the twelve, John only knew of the twelve having the authority to cast out demons. Now, did Jesus give it to someone else?

[44:14] We don't know that he did, but there's this one casting out demons in Jesus' name. And John says, I told him, to stop. Why, sir?

[44:28] Because you're not one of us. Only we can do that. Tribalism. Tribalism is where people think their own group is the only legitimate group.

[44:44] Tribalism is wrong. those who are not against you are for you. If they're not against the gospel and key doctrines, they are for you. We often, as disciples, fail at this.

[45:00] We get our favorite topic, and we exclude everyone else based on our favorite topic. when our kids were young, it was dating versus courtship.

[45:11] When it was even younger than that, it was Bible versions or views at the end time. If you're not part of my group, then you're not the right group, and I won't have anything to do with you.

[45:23] Tribalism is something that should be repented of. But through this all, I want us to see how our Savior portrays himself.

[45:38] He's the one who meets the true needs of those who come to him believing. He's the one who does not give up on us when we fail. He prepares us to face, prepares us for what we will face in the future, teaching us to trust him in different circumstances.

[45:59] He sees and does not leave his people there in their sinful ways, ways of pride, wanting to promote ourselves, ways of exclusivism.

[46:13] No, if you're not part of my group, you're not in. Our Savior is one who ministers to these people. And I hope that as we've talked about these four different things, that if the Lord has spoken to your heart, oh yeah, I'm a person who doubts, that you see your need to repent and trust Christ.

[46:35] Oh, I'm a person who's not careful to seek to understand God's word, repent and trust Christ. If you're a person, if I'm a person who is trying to get the best position, who's only thinking about me, I need to repent of that and trust Christ.

[46:50] If I'm a person who is exclusive and says only the people who believe just like me can be in the right group, you need to repent of that and trust Christ. Thankfully, he's provided for that sin to be covered.

[47:04] Let's pray. Thank you, Father, for your word. Thank you through these things, you proved to be a faithful God.

[47:16] And so, Father, we praise you for that. Father, I pray that you would be with us where your word points out our sin, not just one time, but often. May we be people who are quick to repent, quick to run to you, quick to stand on what Christ has done for us on the cross.

[47:35] Lord, if there's one here who doesn't know you, may today be the day you draw them to yourself, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen.