In your Bibles this morning, Luke chapter 9, we'll begin reading in verse number 37. Luke 9, verse 37, Jesus and his disciples have just finished this great scene of the transfiguration and they're going to come down off the Mount of Transfiguration. Luke calls it a hill. We'll pick up reading here and see what happens in the life and ministry of Christ and his disciples. Luke 9 verse 37, the Bible says this, It came to pass that on the next day, when they were come down from the hill, much people met him. And behold, a man of the company cried out, saying, Master, I beseech thee, look upon my son, for he is mine only child. And lo, a spirit taketh him, and he suddenly crieth out, and it teareth him that he foameth again, and bruising him hardly departeth from him. And I besought thy disciples to cast him out, and they could not. Jesus answering said, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you and suffer you? Bring thy son hither. And as he was yet a coming, the devil threw him down and tear him. And Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit and healed the child and delivered him again to his father. And they were all amazed at the mighty power of God. But while they wondered, every one, at all things which Jesus did, He said to His disciples, Let these sayings sink down into your ears, for the Son of Man shall be delivered into the hands of men. But they understood not the saying, and it was hid from them, that they perceived it not, and they feared to ask Him of that saying." What a fascinating passage of Scripture. And a beautiful story of the Lord Jesus Christ healing a boy that had become possessed with a demon. It's an amazing story. It's fun to watch. I like to see it unfold. I see Jesus and His disciples come down off the Mount of Transfiguration. What a high spiritual moment. They come down the hill and they're bombarded by a crowd and lots of problems. One specific problem is mentioned here. This man, a nameless man, petitions Jesus because his son is possessed with a demon. And he asked the Lord to help him and give some details about what's happening to this poor child. He also says something that's quite damning to the disciples. How many of you love it when somebody comes in front of your boss and says, hey, I tried to get them to do this, but they can't, so can you help me? It's not a good day for the disciples. They come to Jesus and say, your disciples couldn't cast this one out. And Jesus responds, he says, that they were a faithless and perverse generation. Jesus proceeds to cast out the demon and heal the boy. And you'd think the story came to a conclusion, but it doesn't. And it's important as you study God's Word that you stay with the context because in that exact context, Jesus adds something that is very important. In verse 43, the Bible says that they were all amazed, and rightfully so, at the mighty power of God. But while they wondered, every one at all things which Jesus did, he said unto his disciples. Now let me pay close attention. We're going to talk about the miracle. I think it's very important. But Jesus wants us and one of his disciples on this particular day to know that the most important thing that you can focus on right now in light of this miracle is this, verse 44. He says, let these sayings sink down into your ears. for the Son of Man shall be delivered into the hands of men." What does Jesus say? It's kind of fun. I love this verse of Scripture. It's exciting. He looks at His disciples and He says, let these sayings sink down in your ears. The Son of Man shall be delivered into the hands of men. Jesus takes at this moment And he overshadows this amazing miracle with something that was far more important to the boy, to his dad, to the disciples, and to you and I, than the miracle ever was. He takes and he says, let these sayings sink into your ears. It reminds me of something that an old southern grandma would say. Now let this sink in your ears for a minute. Put that in your mouth and chew on it a second. And some grandmas might say, put that in your pipe and smoke it. But not mine. He says, let this sink down in your ears. The Son of Man will be taken of men. And He's pointing to the cross. He's pointing to the cross. And He wants us to look at this moment at the cross and the completed work of Jesus Christ on Calvary's cross, His death, His burial, His resurrection. He wants us to look at this because the hope for the boy and his dad and the disciples and the multitude and for you and I and for all of humanity is not in the miracle working power of Jesus 2,000 years ago, but is in the completed work of the gospel when Jesus Christ gave his life as a sacrifice for the sins of the whole world. He points us to the cross and he wants us to let this sink down in your ears. Here's the message title this morning. Let this sink down in your ears. Jesus died on the cross. Let this sink down in your ears. Jesus died on the cross. When you see in the scriptures the word Selah, it means meditate on it. And Jesus in his pastoral scriptures says, I want you boys to meditate, I want you to consider, I want you to think about, I want you to let this soak in that I'm going to die on the cross. Because the work of the cross is the key to the redemption of the world. The work of the cross is the hope for all of humanity. And Jesus says, don't get so caught up with the miracle that you do not trust in the cross and the gospel message and the work that Jesus came to do. There's a great emphasis here and I want to share it with you. Let's just begin reading here in the very first verse, verse 37 that we've read today. The Bible says, it came to pass that on the next day when they were come down from the hill, much people met him. Now this is interesting. We see this mountaintop experience for Jesus and his disciples at the Mount of Transfiguration. He puts on the appearance of deity as the God-man and Jesus has a meeting with Moses and Elijah. Can you imagine that? What a day, what a moment. But then they come off of the hill into the presence of a crowd of people and immediately they meet up with lots of problems. An interesting thing in The geography of the Holy Land, the Bible lands, often what you and I would refer to as a hill, they call a mountain. And so the mountains of the Holy Land, the Mount of Transfiguration, can easily also be described as a hill. It's kind of like folks that live near the Rocky Mountain Range. When they come here and we point to our mountains, they're like, those aren't mountains. And if we were to go to the Holy Land and they pointed to their mountains, we'd be like, those aren't mountains. Let me show you some mountains. So here's what the disciples do, they come from this high and holy moment where the glory of God is on display and they come off of that high point, off of the mountaintop experience and down into the valley where the people are and they meet the masses. Now I want you to know The Christian life has those highs and they have those lows, but you'll find out in the low times, in the valley times, is when God is going to use his gospel message to do the greatest work in your life and the lives of the people that you love. And so when you find yourself in the mess, around the mass, You need to know that God is at work and God is on the throne and he's faithful. When we come to this passage of scripture, let this sink down into your ears. Jesus died on the cross. The message of the cross gives us hope. Let's consider these things this morning. Number one, the cross gives hope to the hurting and obscure. The cross gives hope to the hurting and the obscure. Look at what the scripture says in verse 38, the next verse in our text. The Bible says, And behold, a man of the company cried out, saying, Master, I beseech thee, look upon my son, for he is mine only child. I want you to know this man comes to us with a great hurting heart. I can't imagine the grief that this man's dealing with. There's no grief like the grief of The child hurting and you as a man can do nothing about it. I can't imagine it. I've had people describe it to me that dealing with a hurting child that you can't help is worse than war. The Bible says that this man had a hurting child and his heart was broken. He comes to the Lord. I want to tell you something. I don't understand the whys and the hows or all the purposes of God. I want you to know something. Jesus cares about hurting people. Jesus is touched with the feelings of your infirmities. Jesus cares. And Jesus is greater than the burden that you bear at this moment. And you can trust Him. And Jesus, at the end of this passage of Scripture, He points us to the cross because He wants people like you and I in the year 2024 to be able to rest and know that when our hearts are hurting and broken, He's there. And the cross completed the work of redemption. And we have hope for not only life but for eternity when we put our trust in Jesus. Jesus is the hope. The cross is the hope for hurting people. The cross is the hope for hurting obscure people. Something I think is kind of fascinating and emphasizes this passage of scripture about this particular man is that he is just an obscure, usual, regular old Joe. The Bible says in verse 38, Behold a man. of the company. Who is he? Now sometimes when you read these miracles, the Bible gives us his name. Earlier, maybe even in this chapter, I can't remember for sure, but earlier we met up with Jairus and Jairus had a heartbreak because his daughter was sick and even dies. The Bible tells us about Jairus who was a ruler. But this person, this is just a man of the company. He's not just a man. He's not a man. They don't tell us what kind of occupation he had. They don't tell us if he had any special accolades. He probably didn't. He was just a man. He was just one of the company. He was one of the many. And earlier in verse 37, the Bible says much people came to meet him. And I want you to know this is just one man in a great big crowd, but Jesus cared for him. I'm so thankful that because Jesus was willing to die on the cross, the cross, Jesus made it possible that all men, any man, any person, any person, woman, boy, girl, man, young or old, can put their trust in Jesus and have everlasting life and have peace with God and God is touched and cares for you. You see, the cross is the hope for hurting and obscure people. The cross gives hope. I'm so thankful that God cares for us. Someone wrote it in a song, it said this, no one ever cared for me like Jesus. Oh how true it is. If you're here today and you feel like you're lost in the crowd, oh the Lord knows. He's with you, He loves you. If you're here today and you think the burden that I'm bearing is something that I can't Handle on my own. The Bible teaches that we can cast our cares on Him and He cares for us. Trust the Lord. Hey look, let this sink down in your ears. Think about this for a minute. Jesus died on the cross and there's hope for hurting and obscure people. Number two, the cross gives hope for our children. Now let me see what the Bible says about what's going on with this child. The Bible says in verse 39, And lo, the man speaks for his son, his only son. He says, And lo, a spirit taketh him, and he suddenly crieth out, and it teareth him, that he foameth again, and bruising him hardly departeth from him. He says, I want you to notice something. What my son is going through is brutal. It's brutal. He says this spirit takes him. He cries out. It tears him. It's bruising him. It says again in verse 42, As he, Jesus, was yet coming, the devil threw him down and tear him. What's happening? The cross gives hope for children. Let me tell you something about Satan. Satan wants to hurt your children. There's no doubt about it. Satan wants to hurt your children, but you know how Satan likes to hurt your children? Satan likes to hurt your children with things that look beautiful. That's been his method since the beginning. He tempted Adam and Eve with a piece of beautiful fruit. and tempted them with their pride, tempted them with the desire to be like God. Satan wants to hurt your children. Satan is using beautiful things to hurt your children. He's using culture to hurt your children. He's using media to hurt your children. He's using technology to hurt your children. He's using substances to hurt your children. Does this mean we quit using everything? No. But it means, like Peter said, that all of God's people need to be sober and be vigilant because we know that the adversary of the devil is a roaring lion walking about seeking whom he may devour. Satan wants to hurt your children. Don't fall prey to the beauties and the glory of sin and sinful behavior because Satan wants to hurt your children. Satan wants moms and dads to have no biblical convictions because Satan wants to hurt their children. Satan wants to break up your home because Satan wants to hurt your children. Have you ever been in a situation where there's somebody and they're just mad at the whole world, but you could bring in a child, and most of the time, the child will lighten the spirit. Let me just tell you something. The devil's never looked at one of our children and thought, boy, that's a cute one. I think we'll just take care of him and let him have a successful, glorious life. Satan hates our children, and Satan wants to hurt our children, and we need to live in line to the fact that that's his plan. Christian people, in light of the fact that Satan wants to hurt their children, we must protect our children. We must feed them the Word of God. What are you doing to make sure that your kids are being exposed to the wholesome, helpful teaching, the Word of God? Make it a point. I'm going to tell you something. There were situations in my growing up that were less than ideal at moments, but there's one thing that I praise the Lord for. I went to church every time the doors were open. My mom, she said, I don't know exactly what I'm doing or how to do all this, but to the best of my ability, I'm going to make sure my kids are around God and God's people and God's house, and I praise the Lord for it. There was many times that the love of the people of the church encouraged me and helped me. There was also many times that the respect that I had for God's people motivated me to do the right thing. because I didn't want to disappoint them. The work of God's people and God's house in the heart of this boy was absolutely necessary. And I want to encourage you, make sure that you have your children in the house of God. Are we perfect? No. Not even close. Not even close. I'm going to tell you something. It's our burden to feed them the Word of God. It's our burden to teach them the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's our burden to pray for them. May God's people take very seriously the importance and the obligation that we have to fight the devil for the hearts and lives of our children. I don't know about you, but it thrills my soul to look and see children everywhere. We need to be praying that our children put their trust in Jesus. You know, once a child's heart is born again, they've been saved, there's no hope, there's no room for the devil to ever take that heart. And I'm thankful. The devil hates our children. But let me tell you something. On this particular day, the dad went to Jesus, and Jesus worked on behalf of that child. Jesus healed that child both mentally, physically, and spiritually. God changed his life. I'm thankful for that. And Jesus says, let me tell you something else. This miracle is not just something that can exclusively happen while Jesus is walking on this planet. This is a miracle that will persist because, let this sink into your ears, The Son of Man will be taken. I'm going to the cross, he said. And when I go to the cross, I will pay the price for the sins of the world. I'll be buried. And three days later, I'll rise again, and I'll defeat death, hell, and the grave. And there's hope for your children, because Jesus is alive and well. May God help us. There's hope for our children. Some folks say, I'd never want to raise children today. Don't let anybody discourage you. Let me tell you something, there's never been a more important time in the history of man to raise children that love Jesus than there is right now. And I'm just going to tell you, if you'll raise a boy that loves the Lord and becomes a man, a godly man, you'll raise something that will stand out. And you raise a girl that decides that she'll live for Jesus and is a godly young lady, you'll raise a girl that will stand out of the crowd. And God can and will use in a mighty way. Look, because of the cross, there's hope for our children. Finally, number three, the cross gives hope for the powerless Christian. The cross gives hope for the powerless Christian. Look what happens to the poor disciples. These poor disciples, they get caught out on the carpet right in front of their boss, and the Lord is going to help them. Scripture says in verse 40, And I have assaulted thy disciples to cast him out, and they could not. And they could not. And Jesus, answering, said, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you and suffer you? Bring thy son hither." Folks, the cross gives hope for the powerless Christian. Now, this is an interesting thing. This man has come to the disciples before he came to Jesus, and he petitioned the disciples. He said, hey, I need help with this spiritual matter. And they made their frail, fleshly attempt and the end result was no better. And so the man comes to Jesus and tells Jesus, hey look, I tried this with your disciples, it didn't work. And Jesus' response was, I know what the problem is. He puts his finger right on it. Do you think Jesus knew exactly what the problem was? The answer is absolutely yes. He puts his finger right on the problem. He says, I know why these disciples could not cast this out, could not accomplish this spiritual work. It's because they are faithless and perverse. How many of you would feel really a lot better about yourself if Jesus came by and said, I want you to know something, you're faithless and perverse. Let me tell you what the Holy Spirit did to me as I've studied this pastor's scripture. He points his fingers right at me and he says, Cody, preacher boy, you're faithless and perverse. What does he mean by that? He looks at his disciples and says, you're faithless. He says you're unbelieving. Now will you take just a minute and think with me. I don't want to be alone in this Holy Spirit conviction getting beat half to death. I'd like to share some of this with you. I hope your toes get smashed into the carpet. I want you to think about the biggest problem you're dealing with right now. There's something on my heart right now that as soon as I just think of it, The emotion is overwhelming. You think about the biggest problem that you're dealing with right now. And then just ask yourself this really simple question. Do you really believe that God can take care of this? And I'm going to tell you what happens to me. Yes. No. Yes. No. Yes. No. Am I alone? As another preacher said, can I get a witness? Jesus says, look boys, you're faithless. You've come to a moment in your Christian experience where you really don't think that I can do that, he can do this and he can do that. There are so many amazing things that Jesus can do, but I don't think he can do this. Do you know how foolhardy we are? To think that the God who spoke into existence everything that He is and created it with such amazing attention to detail cannot handle the burden and the problem that we carry. How silly can we be? And the Lord is not punching them in the nose. He's going to help them. He says you're unbelieving, you're faithless. Now the next question I have is, how can I become more believing? I'll just tell you, I want to have great faith. But how do you do it? I remember these flashlights that you could unfold the little handle on it and you could spin it. It's got that unusual noise because it's like a little generator and you could spin it. I used to love to do it because you could turn the light on and then you start spinning and the faster you spun it, the brighter the light shone. How many of you know what I'm talking about? I like those things. My grandmother had one also that you could just squeeze, and you'd squeeze it, and it was vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom. And it would shine the light. I thought that was pretty neat. I'm just going to tell you, I wish that there was a faith handle on Cody. Like, I wish I could just unfold it out on my side and vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom. And the more I spin it, I'd hook it to the PTO on my tractor, and I'd have bright faith. I'm telling you. Whoo! I'll be like, Ruth, hook me up. I need some faith. It doesn't work like that. It doesn't work like that. How can I increase my faith? Some people have this idea that you can go, hmm. You know, you sit Indian style and meditate on something. Look, I'm in trouble. I can't sit Indian style anymore. You laugh because you can't either. How do I increase my faith? Stay tuned. I'll tell you in a minute. The Lord said, you're faithless. He says, not only are you faithless, but you're perverse. Now, how many of you take a little step back when the Lord says you're perverse? But we are. We are. So there's things that God says are wrong, but then we're kind of like, eh. There are things that we know that Our families shouldn't partake in, but we make excuses because it's culturally acceptable. There are things that we know that we should do and we should do faithfully, but we'll let just about anything step in the way of our commitment to the Lord. And God says, that's perverse. He says, you have changed what I've intended and you've made it fit what your sinful will desires. You've perverted truth. Now, we never want to admit that we are perverting God's truth, but I'm going to tell you something. Anytime you excuse sin in your heart, in your life, you are perverting truth and you are losing standing and power and the blessing of God. He says to his own disciples, he says, look, you're faithless and perverse. You're faithless and perverse. So how can I have more faith? In Mark's account of the same story, you may take a note of this verse, Mark chapter 9 and verse number 29. After everything has passed, this scene has passed and Jesus has a private moment with his disciples. His disciples ask him in Mark 9 verse 28, why couldn't we cast it out? What's the secret? Here's what Jesus says. He said to them, this kind can come forth by nothing. but by prayer and fasting. This kind can come forth by nothing but prayer and fasting. So immediately my mind starts to spin and turn and think. So if I pray a lot, does that mean that God loves me more? If I pray a lot, does that mean that I've got God more on my side. Do I pray a lot and impress God? He's like, wow, he's really praying a lot today. I think I might send him a little blessing. No, I'm going to tell you something. God loves you with perfect love. Isn't it wonderful? And we don't pray in order to please God. I should say that differently. It does please God for us to pray, but we don't pray in order for God to be more pleased with us. That sounds better. And it's more right. You see, praying is not something that makes God love us anymore. He loves me as much as He loves Jesus. But I'm going to tell you what praying and fasting does. is a tool that sets my heart in tune with God, God's plan, God's will, God's purpose. I'm going to tell you something, when you take time to pray, and you just, out of a sincere and honest, I'm not talking about some type of formal Our great God and Savior, blah, blah, blah. You know, some kind of wordy prayer. I'm just talking about coming to God and saying, I need you. I want you. I don't have the answers. My son. My problem. As a matter of fact, it's so wonderful. In the same chapter of the Scriptures, Mark, I think chapter 9, the boy's dad gives us a statement that's very famous. He's asked if he believes. He says, I believe. He says, help my unbelief. The man's on the right. He's praying. He's coming to the place where I need God, I need God, I need God, I need God. Let me tell you something. Let this sink down in your ears. Jesus Christ died on the cross for your sins. He's the Savior of the world and He is the hope for powerless Christians. If you'll humble yourself and you'll turn to the Lord and you'll ask Him to help you in your time of need, and you'll seek Him and pray. Hey, you may even take some time and fast. What's it mean to fast? Most of the time it means giving up food for a short time in order to focus on seeking and knowing the mind and will of God and seeking God's blessing and God's direction in your life. Let me tell you something. Because of the cross, we have hope in our power situation. You can't crank up the faith, you can't mmm up the faith, but you can turn to God and pray. Let me tell you something, you pray and start seeing God answer your prayers and you're going to find out your faith will increase. You pray and even if God doesn't answer your prayers specifically the way you want Him to, just something about praying and giving God the glory and yielding to the glory of the Lord in prayer is going to increase your faith. You're going to find out that He'll help you. And just like He helped the man with no name, hurting and obscure. And just like He helped the boy, the child that the devil wanted to destroy. And just like He helped the disciples who had lost their power with God. Because of the cross, on this day, today, you and I have hope. We have hope because the cross is the completed work of the Lord Jesus Christ and you and I have forgiveness of sin. We have peace with God. We have the promise of God's blessing for life and for all of eternity. And because of the cross, we have hope. Hey look, the burden that you carry is not too big for God. The children you're raising, Raise them for the glory of God and it's hopeful. And there's hope that you can have power with God. He'll bless you. He's good like that. As a matter of fact, Jesus looks at his disciples on this particular day and he says, let this sink down in your ear. Let this sink down in your ear. Jesus died on the cross for our sins. Oh, what a Savior. The cross is the hope. It's our hope. Trust in the Lord. You'll be glad you did.