The Gospel of Luke 9:37-45 He is going to be betrayed
Luke 9:37-45 · Vern Peterman · Aug 16, 2015
Gospel of Luke, No. 38
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://www.hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/4926512101720

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

Good morning. We're going to be moving into this passage here, Luke 9, 37-45. And I just want to review a little bit. Last week, for those of you who are here, or those of you who missed it, we talked about disciples. And last Sunday we observed that the word for disciples is used in the Gospels in the land of Israel.

Many traditions about rabbis and their disciples. that were considered law, and centered on the law of Moses. This is the environment in which Jesus spoke as a rabbi, and he had disciples. He did some things, as we noted, that are different from any rabbi, as well as some things that were similar. We also observed that the saints and acts, now a different definition, same word, the saints and acts were also called disciples right after they were saved. I mean, you could be a disciple immediately after you're saved.

There was no law applied to them and no rabbis. so a different pattern in Acts and then after the book of Acts the word disciple or disciples is never used again a very curious pattern but the verb form is used all the way from the Gospels into the rest of the New Testament so anyway that's a quick summary of what we looked at last week two weeks ago we had this passage in which is called the This is a passage in which Jesus' appearance is very bright and he's talking to Moses and Elijah and so this spectacular event has just taken place and so only three disciples were present for that and that's Peter and James and John were allowed to come up then we get into the passage we start here so on the next day after that vision of Jesus being glorified they came down from the mountain a large crowd met him and I have these pictures and they don't really convey the idea of a large crowd but anyway a man from the crowd shouted saying teacher I beg of you and of course teacher would be same as rabbi I beg you to look at my son for he is my only boy And verse 39, "...and a spirit seizes him, and he suddenly screams, and it throws him into a convulsion with foaming in the mouth, and only with difficulty does it leave him, mauling him as it leaves."

That almost describes my teenage years. Here we go, Peter and James and John are coming down off the mountain with Jesus. Can you imagine this scene? They're coming down off the mountain. Peter and James and John are just blown away by what they've just seen, right? They're coming down off the mountain, and now there's this large crowd of people here.

They've seen Jesus. glorified talking with Moses and Elijah and now they're coming down or just regular people with regular events are about to take place here meanwhile the other nine disciples have been trying unsuccessfully by the way to cast the demon out of this boy while the boy's father was pleading with them to cast out the demons but they couldn't they tried but they couldn't Meanwhile, a large crowd had gathered here.

Contrary to what the crowd had become accustomed to seeing and hearing about with Jesus present, this man's only boy is still possessed by a demon, even after the nine disciples had done their best." Now, one of the patterns that we see in this passage is in Luke 7. we said there this is the widow of Nain now as he approached the gate of the city a dead man was being carried out the only son of his mother and she was a widow so this is the the only child pattern and then we see in chapter 8 where Jairus who was an official at the synagogue it says there in verse 42 he had an only daughter And now in the third chapter in a row with that kind of observation, here is this boy who is demon-possessed, and he is my only boy, is what the Father is saying. So it's interesting that only Luke has this only pattern among all the Gospels, right?

Okay. So, one of the questions we might have is, is epilepsy or a demon? And Matthew, in reporting this very same event, Matthew 17, Tells of the father of this boy saying he is a lunatic Okay, he is very ill for he often falls into the fire and often into the water and that again sounds like my teenage years anyway Dr.. Luke's reports other symptoms, which put together sound like epilepsy, but I think dr. Luke's observation here is that there is a spiritual cause for these epileptic symptoms and Luke, especially being a physician, a doctor, Luke would often observe that, okay, this person has this disease or this injury or this birth defect or that sort of thing. So there's a discernment between those. In this case, the symptoms look like epilepsy.

The cause is from a demon. Now, we have a quick briefing here on angels and demons. We actually covered this back in chapter 4, but that's been months ago now. Angels were all created at some point in time in the earliest days of Genesis chapter 1 or before.

They're called angels, sons of God, morning stars, and they have the ability, as Abraham discovered, to embody themselves as men. Interesting I have various kinds of mythology gets developed out there We're you know, I have angels that are male and female and they make TV shows out of them But males is the appearance that we have. We only have two named angels That's Michael and Gabriel. Okay, and those are male names.

So anyway, the appearance is they always embody themselves as men and They apparently were given a window of early opportunity to choose to be for or against the Lord. So really interesting, because they are created all at once, they were given a singular window of opportunity for or against the Lord.

We have from Revelation 12, 4, that one-third of the angels chose to rebel and were cast out of heaven, Satan alone retaining access. Satan alone retaining access to heaven. Fallen angels, this one-third of the angels, were given the earth as their domain, and Satan, who's the head of that angelic hierarchy, is called the god of this world. The prince of the power of the air being another term.

Before the flood, some of the fallen angels chose to embody themselves as men, cohabiting with human women and having offspring. All these were swept away by the flood along with sinful humanity, except for the eight who were with Noah's family there in the ark. Now, there are two different groups, then, of demons. Fallen angels, or sometimes called unclean or evil spirits, or sometimes, as in this passage, sometimes just spirits. The spirits of those demons who left their domain are now held in bondage, that is, those before the flood, in a place called Tartarus, or sometimes called the Abyss, as it is in the Book of Revelation.

The remaining demons knew, and still do, knew their time and their ultimate destiny, and knew who Christ was. In some instances, as we saw in Luke chapter 4, the demon would call out and say, I know who you are, you're the Son of God, you're Jesus Christ, and actually would verbally speak out as to who Jesus was, which isn't particularly helpful. In this case, we don't see that behavior, but nonetheless, there's no doubt the demon knows who Jesus is. These fallen angels, which are demons, can possess a fallen human being either as a single demon or, as we saw earlier in our study of the Gospel of Luke, as plural demons, sometimes hundreds to thousands at a time.

They seem to have gathered particularly around the time and location of Christ. The demons know and believe the truth, isn't it interesting, of who Christ the Son of God is. James makes a point of that. The demons actually know the truth. They know who Jesus is. They'll even declare it. The demons openly declare the truth about who the Son of God is. Isn't that amazing?

Their knowing and believing, however, does not one bit of good for them. And it doesn't do any good for those who hear it coming from a demon, right? Because they are otherwise deceptive creatures. They themselves are deceived. So Jesus often forbids them to speak. In this instance, he doesn't even go that far. He just casts them out. When Jesus commands the demons to leave, they absolutely must obey. They don't have, you know, hey, is that on the count of three, or count of five, count of ten, you know, they don't even have that.

So here's Luke 9.40, I begged your disciples to cast it out and they could not. Here's this father, he's getting desperate, he's got nine disciples, that should be enough, right?

But he's really getting desperate because here is his son, his only boy, And this fellow has lost control. This demon takes over. So this man was really desperate. It was his only boy. The evil spirit would take control of his son's body, causing him to foam at the mouth and be physically harmed as well. He would end up gashing and cutting himself as he thrashed around.

Now these disciples, these nine, actually had been given authority. in Luke 9 we saw this and he Jesus called the twelve together and gave them power and authority over all the demons and to heal diseases and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to perform healing in verse 6 departing they began going throughout the villages preaching the gospel and I put in there of the kingdom for verse 2 right and healing everywhere so it was the gospel of the kingdom but not the gospel of Christ died for my sins was buried and rose again And 10, when the apostles returned, they gave an account to him of all that they had done. So they actually did carry out this expulsion of demons, but it wasn't working here in this current situation. So here's Luke 9, 41.

And Jesus answered and said, you unbelieving and perverted generation, how long shall I be with you and put up with you? Bring your son here. Now you look at that and you say, well, wait a minute. Does that sound like something Jesus would say? It's actually something similar to what God said to Moses in Deuteronomy 32 20. Then he, God, said to Moses, I will hide my face from them. I will see what their end shall be, for they are a perverse generation, sons in whom there is no faithfulness. He says something similar also in Deuteronomy 32 5. So he's reflecting something that actually God said to Moses directly. Now, Jesus was not asking this question because he didn't know the answer, how long, right? But so the disciples would understand their misplaced faith and little faith in the Lord, right? Disciples had previously been able to cast out demons.

They had done it. We saw there earlier in this very same chapter. But at this instance, they could not do it. They were not able to. It appears that the nine disciples were approaching this man's son with a, we can do this attitude rather than God can do this attitude, right? Misplaced faith and not enough faith in the Lord himself.

So Jesus ends verse 41 with, bring your son here. So the picture we get here is the man is going to bring his son up which would be an act of faith on his part. So that's why Jesus doesn't just heal him right there. He wants this man to demonstrate faith by responding.

But that also points out one other thing. The boy and possibly the father earlier were not immediately in front of Jesus. but had to be brought forward. The other thing is, they're in a large crowd, larger than what these pictures depict actually, and you know how it's like moving through a crowd. It can be difficult. They slow you down. So, the demon was going to take his last opportunity. Let's look at Luke 9, 42.

While he was still approaching, the demon slammed into the ground and threw him into a convulsion. But Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit and healed the boy and gave him back to his father. As we've seen before, the demons know who Jesus is and they cannot defy Jesus' command to come out. It seems certain that the demon is taking his last opportunity to harm the boy, possibly with trying to delay his ejection.

What can I do to slow this thing down? Well, I'll have this boy go into another thrashing session. So demons can have various influences, even today, including propagating doctrines of demons. That's 1 Timothy 4.1 is one of the influences that demons can have.

They are the spirits behind the idols. And we have various phenomenon that take place even in our own time that demons are certainly or likely behind. There is, for example, no real teaching from scripture that the spirits of human beings, once a person dies, hangs around here at all. There is no biblical teaching to that effect. But demons can emulate that. Demons can emulate that.

So here's what Jesus did. Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit or demon, if you will, and the demon left the boy. And as we know, the demon had to leave the boy on Jesus' command. He must. Dr. Luke also wrote something very interesting here. Jesus gave him back to his father. Now, certainly that he may have actually brought the boy physically to the father, but there's also something else about it, too. There's a part of this that's also telling us the father had his only son back. Can you imagine the father going, I've got my son back! Yes!

This is exactly what he had been pleading for with the other disciples. So here's Luke 9.43a, the first part, and they were all amazed at the greatness of God. So here's this large crowd of people, and they see the other disciples trying to cast this demon out of this boy, and Jesus comes up and readily does so. So Mark and Luke here move on to the topic of faith and prayer and have that discussion. But Dr. Luke leaves the account focusing on who Christ was and God's great power in and through him. That's Dr. Luke's focus and direction here in this account.

This also should have convinced the crowd that Jesus was in fact deity. But though they were amazed, they didn't see him as God. They should have. But they didn't. They did see that this miracle was from God, however. They saw that much. They were amazed at the power of God. So here's the rest of verse 43 and into verse 44. But while everyone was marveling at all this he was doing he said to his disciples Let these words sink into your ears for the Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men and that Word delivered actually means betrayed.

Hey betrayed so the Son of Man I must suffer, this is Luke 9.22 that we saw just a few weeks ago. The son of man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed and be raised up on the third day.

That's giving you some real specifics, isn't it? Now, the first thing is the translators, you know, they'll start off a sentence with lept. But this is an imperative. You must. You must. Jesus told disciples that they must take action, and this is written in such a way as you must take action with that action coming back on themselves.

To get this message into your minds and into your ears. And the physical ears were not the problem, were they? They could hear him. Difficulty it was a spiritual difficulty. So he's talking about let this sink into your ears. It's not just your physical ears But it's your spiritual ears.

You've got to let it sink into your mind and your thinking and your understanding So that Jesus is telling him here that he the son of man. This is from Daniel 7 13 and 14 which by the way as a passage about actually we would call Christ's second coming and that he would be betrayed. Betrayed.

Now, think about this. How many disciples were present there when he's telling them this? Twelve. And one of them was who? The betrayer. As powerful as Jesus had just appeared, Jesus was going to be betrayed into the hands of men. And he's telling them this. He had previously, in verse 22, given them more detail. But nonetheless, he's focusing on this, and they're not getting it. Think about it. Here's Judas, the one who would be the betrayer of Christ, was standing right there listening to this. And he heard these words.

What's amazing, Jesus loved Judas and expressed that love and treated him no differently, such that the other disciples did not have a clue that Judas was going to be the betrayer. Christ chose him for that. But here's the amazing thing. Jesus loved Judas. Jesus expressed that love to Judas in such a way that the other disciples had no idea that Judas was going to be the betrayer. Eventually, Jesus would even wash Judas' feet. He would die for his betrayer's sins. Isn't that amazing? That really is astounding. He would die for Judas' sins.

One of the things that kind of struck me as I think about that, Christ died for the sins of the whole world. That means, hear me correctly here, that means everybody is savable. Everybody is savable because Christ died for the sins of the whole world. Everyone is savable.

Here's Luke 9.45, "...but they did not understand the statement, and it was concealed from them, so that they would not perceive it, and they were afraid to ask Him about the statement."

They did not understand what Jesus was saying. It was concealed for all of them at the time, so that they could not understand. They just didn't get it. Jesus had told them about this before, and He would tell them again about this. farther on, even though they didn't understand until after Jesus was raised. So, why would Jesus tell them things that they couldn't understand? Even repeatedly tell them something they couldn't understand.

We have some explanation of that given in John 14. Here's Jesus on the night in which he was betrayed, telling him these words in John 14, 25 and 26. These things I have spoken to you while abiding with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you."

So here is the disciples, turned apostles, who over time would have more and more aha moments. Oh, that's what he meant! They would have aha moments for decades. They didn't know, for example, for about three decades that we were identified with Christ in his seating in the heavenlies. They didn't know that until about three decades had passed.

But here, these words that he kept speaking to them, I'm going to be delivered, betrayed into the hands of men, I'm going to be taken by the elders and the Jewish leaders and I'm going to be crucified at the hands of the Romans and I'm going to be buried and I'm going to be raised again on the third day that he would tell them again and again and again but they would not understand it until later because the Holy Spirit would both teach them what does this mean and help bring to remembrance the things that he said Now, there's several take-homes, I think, from this passage.

One, I'm going to talk about the mythology of prayer. Christians will sometimes talk about the power of prayer, but that's actually a mistake. It's the God to whom we pray who is powerful. A key distinction. If I talk about the power of prayer, I'm talking about the stuff that I do, instead of realizing it's because this is going before God that there's power at all. So it's not the power of prayer, it's the one to whom we pray who is powerful. Christians also sometimes talk about praying a wall or a hedge of prayer or bathing something in prayer, but that puts the focus on what we do instead of on God doing things. And by the way, this way of speaking is actually New Age. Yet Christians have caught on to this. The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much. Christians will also get the idea that the more people you get praying, the better. Is that what the Bible teaches? Not really. I mean, it's okay for us to have our prayer chain, and that's good as a church body, to support one another. But the reality is, Scripture doesn't underscore the idea of lots of people praying is better. One righteous man praying, that's best.

Whether having a mountaintop experience or mixing with the masses, it is best to keep our spiritual eyes on the Lord and remain occupied with Him. We can easily get distracted in the middle of different things, but it's best to keep our eyes on the Lord. No matter what's going on, or no matter what we're going through, it's always best to be looking for God's purpose in it, even if it's not what we had in mind. Make a plan, and uh-oh, something else is happening, other than what we planned. The Lord still has a purpose in it, even if it's a surprise to us, it's not a surprise to Him. We need what we're going through.

Whatever we don't understand now is where we can grow in our understanding of the future. The disciples did not understand the words that Jesus just said, I'm going to be delivered into the hands of man. They didn't get it. But they spent the next 30 years continuing to have aha moments and growing into what he had told them.

And we should keep in mind that God's ways are always higher than our ways. we seek to have understanding, always realizing that the Lord Himself has ways of thinking, ways of doing things that are beyond us, and we never will catch up to it. There are likely things that puzzle us now. It will be much clearer once we see the Lord face to face. As a matter of fact, I think, will all of us be saying something like, oh, well, of course. It will all make sense. the other side of heaven's gates. Let's pray.

Lord, we thank you for your word. We thank you for what you've revealed. We thank you for what you've done, that we can behold you through your word here this morning. And as we look at the example of Jesus and the disciples and see how they didn't understand, but you gave them understanding for years to come. We look to that and want to learn from that. And Lord, we ourselves are spending the rest of our lives catching up to what you've already done. We thank you in Jesus' name. Amen.