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Thank you so much for the opportunity to open it up tonight, dear God, and have you speak to our hearts. I could preach on this subject, on this chapter, for days and days, because there's just so rich a truth in every chapter in the Bible, dear God. But please just help us to see tonight what you would have us to see out of this chapter. And we love you, in Jesus' name I pray, amen. Matthew chapter 17, well into the book of Matthew now. Before I get into chapter 17, let me just show you something from the end of chapter 16. Verse number 28 of chapter 16. Now, I remember many times when you're talking to somebody who's an atheist, perhaps, or an evolutionist, humanist kind of person, it said the Bible's not true, the Bible is written by man, we evolved, there is no God, there is no Jesus Christ, there's no word of God. They'll say to this, the Bible is full of contradictions. Have you ever heard anybody say that before? Oh, the Bible's got all kinds of contradictions in it. Now I always say to them, oh really, I hand them my Bible, I say show me one. And nine times out of ten they'll just look at you, well, you know, I don't know, it's in there somewhere, contradiction. Well, one time I was trying to win a distant relative of mine to the Lord and her friend was over and I was trying to win them to the Lord, this is when I was a teenager. And this girl said to me, yes, I will show you a mistake in the Bible. And this is what she showed me right here. And look at this, verse number 28 of chapter 16. Verily I say unto you, there be some standing here which shall not taste of death till they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom. And she said, look right there, it says that Jesus is going to come back in their lifetime. And he still hasn't come back today, 2,000 years later. Now, see, that's the problem with just isolating one verse. All you have to do is read the next verse. So here we see the promise of Jesus. He says, look, and if you notice the context of chapter 16, he's speaking to his 12 disciples. And he says, some of you standing here are going to see me coming in my glory of my kingdom. We'll look at the next verse. And after six days, well within their lifetime, after six days, Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into a high mountain apart, and was transfigured before them. And his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light. So in this chapter 17 of Matthew, we see Jesus bringing his three closest disciples, Peter, James, and John. He brings them up into a high mountain, and they have this great experience where they actually see Jesus Christ glorified the way that he's going to be one day when he comes back. I mean, they saw this sneak preview of Jesus Christ's second coming. They got to see what he's going to be like. His face shined as bright as the sun. His raiment was as white as the light. He had Moses and Elijah talking with him. And it says in verse number four, Then answered Peter, and said unto Jesus, Lord, it is good for us to be here. If thou wilt, let us make here three tabernacles, one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias. What he's saying here is, look, this is such a great experience that we're here with Jesus Christ in his glorified state. Here's Moses. Here's Elijah. They said, it's so great to be here. I wish we could just stay here is what he's trying to say. Let's set up some tabernacles. Let's set up some kind of a shelter. Let's make a place for us to stay. Let's pitch a tent. And I just don't want to leave this experience of being with God on the mountaintop. Boy, these three disciples all throughout the Bible, you'll see that there are various groups that follow Jesus. And we've talked a lot about this in the book of Matthew, just because the subject comes up so much. We see the great multitudes mentioned in almost every chapter. Did you notice that? I mean, every chapter mentions the multitude, the multitude. And sometimes there was a multitude of 5,000 plus women and children. Sometimes there was a multitude of 4,000 plus women and children. Sometimes it was an innumerable multitude that no man could number, the Bible says. And that's a lot, because the Bible has some big numbers about people in it. And so you see these multitudes thrown into Jesus, but then you see him many times send the multitude away and just spend time with just his 12 apostles, his 12 disciples. The people who were there for him every day, day in, day out, they weren't here today, gone tomorrow. These are the serious Christians. These were the 12 men that he sent out in Matthew chapter 10 as soul winners. They were the people who win people to Christ. They were the producers, if you will. And then later on, you'll see in the Bible, that group was expanded to 70. Seventy apostles that he sent out and gave them power, and they went soul winning and so forth. So you got the 5,000, the 4,000, the 70, the 12. Then within the 12, you have these three men who were Jesus' closest disciples. And these are the only three men who got to be a part of this. Look, the 5,000 wasn't there on this mountaintop experience with Jesus. The 5,000 did not see the transfiguration on the mount there. The 4,000 was not there. Not even the 70 was there. Not even the rest of the 12 disciples were there, but only the three who were the most sold out for God, the most on fire for God, the most dedicated to God, the closest to Jesus Christ, walking and talking with him daily, they got to see the power of God. They got to see the mighty power of God on the mount of transfiguration. Look, I don't want to be the 5,000. I want to be one of the three. That's where I want to be. I want to see these kind of experiences. I want to have that kind of a close walk with God, where I see Jesus Christ as he is. Now, if you look, if you would, let's go down in the chapter. Sometimes I go through the chapter just verse by verse chronologically, but sometimes I skip around a little bit just to show you a topic. So go down, if you would, in the verse. I'm going to come back to that point, but come down to verse 14. I'm going to show you something along these lines. In verse 14 it says, And when they were come to the multitude, they've just returned from the mount. They've been speaking with Jesus on the way down from the mount. They get down to the bottom of the mountain where the multitude is. And it says, And when they were come to the multitude, there came to him a certain man kneeling down to him and saying, Lord, have mercy on my son, for he's lunatic and sore vexed, for oft times he falleth into the fire and oft into the water. And I brought him to thy disciples, and they could not cure him. Now look at this. Who did he bring him to? He didn't just bring him to the twelve disciples. He only brought him to the nine disciples that are down at the bottom of the mountain. Because if you read this carefully, Jesus is walking down with them in verses, I believe it's six through thirteen. I mean, they're walking down the mountain, four men having a conversation. When they get there, they meet this man who has a son that's demon possessed. He's got a devil in him. And when they get there, he says, I brought him to thy disciples, and they could not cure him. You see, the kind of Christianity that stays down at the bottom of the mountain when Jesus is up at the top of the mountain, the kind of Christianity that isn't as close to Jesus, the kind of Christianity that's not as sold out and separated into the three, see, that kind of Christianity is a powerless Christianity. Here's a man that needed help. Here's a man whose teenage son is devil possessed, but he couldn't get help from the Christians who weren't spending time with Jesus on a close basis. You see, where you get the power for the Christian life, I mean, and I'm not talking about some power where somebody claims to have some experience where they're slobbering on themselves and speaking in tongues and rolling in the aisles and all that kind of garbage. I'm talking about the power of God, where the Bible says that ye also may know that the Son of Man hath power on earth to forgive sins. I'm talking about the power of getting people saved so that their sins are forgiven. I'm talking about the power when Jesus said, But ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you, and ye shall be witnesses unto me, both in Jerusalem and in Judea and in Samaria and unto the othermost part of the earth. He's saying, look, the power of winning souls, the power of the Gospel, the power to win this young teenager to Christ, whose demon possessed, the power to get him saved comes from a person who's walking closely with Jesus Christ. You see, you can't just throw Jesus aside throughout your week and just all about money, you know, making money. Hey, I work a job, I work overtime. And when I work my job overtime in the fire alarm business, boy, it's hard not to just be consumed with what I'm doing. I have a one-track mind. I can't walk and chew gum at the same time. And so when I'm at my job, I just want to be all about my job. But I'm not going to do that. I'm going to be walking closely with Jesus Christ. I'm going to have my verses. I'm going to have my verses with me. This is the sheet that I had with me for the last three days as I was studying for my sermon. I was meditating on the showers, memorizing the chapter. And as I memorized the chapter, I had this sheet with me. And I don't just turn a screwdriver. I don't just make my business calls. As I'm walking from point A to point B, I'm pulling out my verses. I'm meditating on the Word of God day and night. Because God says, look, if you want to have the power of God, if you want to see people saved, if you want to get the really hard cases saved, if you want to get through to that teenager, you must have the power of God. And you get the power of God with a close walk with me, a close relationship, not like where you follow me sometimes and sometimes you're not there. I'm talking about where you're just right there with me. I go up in the mountain alone, you're there with me. You see the power. You see the miracles. You see the glory of God. That's what I'm talking about. That kind of a Christianity is the kind that has power. And not only that, but that kind of a relationship with God develops your faith. Look, if you would, at verse number, what we just saw in verse 17. Then Jesus answered and said, O faithless and perverse generation. The people at the bottom of the mountain didn't have any faith. It said that they had unbelief. You think that the three guys that were just at the top of the mountain are having a faith problem right now? I mean, after they just saw Jesus Christ in his glorified state? You think that they're wondering whether Jesus is really able to heal this man? I don't think so at all. I think the faith problem comes from a distant walk with Jesus. And sometimes when people talk about having a close walk with God, or they talk about having a close relationship with God, they use that terminology, I think sometimes they just think of it as this spooky, ethereal thing like, oh, I'm just kind of walking with God. Look, let's bring it down to human level. Let me break it to you. This is God right here. Okay, this is God. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Look, you want to walk with God? You want God to talk to you? This is how God talks to you. You open this book up, and everything written in this book, God is speaking to you. Okay, you want to talk to God? You want to talk about, I want to have a relationship with God. Look, it's based on you listening to God through His Word, and then it's based on you speaking to God through prayer. That's a dialogue that goes on there. See, God's not going to come to you and speak in an audible voice. Here's the revelation from God right here. You just pick this up and read this. So don't tell me that you're walking close to God if you're not reading much Bible. If you read the Bible for five minutes a day, God talked to you for five minutes a day. You spent five minutes with God. If you prayed for five minutes, you spent five minutes with God. Okay, because spending time with God is spending time with His Word. Spending time with God is spending time with the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit indwells the pages of this book. Jesus said, The words that I say unto you, they are spirit and they are life. And so don't try to dissociate God from His Word. Don't try to dissociate fellowship with God from Bible reading and prayer. We need to get back to the basics in Christianity. I was talking to a pastor that was here on Sunday morning. He was on vacation and he stopped through here and he visited with us. I was talking to him about this very thing. We were talking about how we get so complicated in the Christian life. We've got all the programs and classes and this book and this workbook and this activity and this and that. Hey, let's get back to the basics of Christianity. How about reading the Bible? Let's preach on that a while. How about praying? And I'm talking about getting on your knees and opening your mouth, as the Bible says, and audibly praying to God. That's what I'm talking about, prayer. Why don't we get back to the basics of opening your Bible and winning somebody to Christ? I mean, I'm talking about opening the Bible and showing them how to be saved and praying with them and getting people saved. That's what I'm talking about. Look, hang all the other stuff, friend. And I'm sure a lot of it's good, but why don't we get back to the basic things? Jesus said one thing's needful. He said to Martha, she was doing a lot of serving, but he said one thing is needful. Mary's chosen the better part. She chose the spiritual part. Martha was doing all the physical serving, all the running around. Jesus said the spiritual is what's needful. I'm talking about reading a spiritual book. I'm talking about praying in the Holy Ghost, as the Bible says in the book of Jude, and I'm talking about winning people to the Lord and the power of the Holy Ghost. That's what I'm talking about. I'm talking about a spiritual Christianity on the basics. Read the Bible. Pray. Go soul-wading. You see, I want to be closer to God. Read the Bible more. You say, I want to be closer to God. Pray more. You say, I want to have a better relationship with God. Go soul-wading more. See how simple this is? It's not some spooky feeling that you have where you just feel all this love. Hey, hereby we do know that we know him if we keep his commandments. That's what the Bible says. He says, and we know that we have fellowship with him, because we walk in the light as he is in the light. You see, when you live right, when you read the Bible, when you obey his commandments, that's when you're walking with God. And this is love, that we walk after his commandments. 2 John, verse number 5. And so that's what it is. But let's go back to the chapter. I want to go back. I wanted to skip forward because I wanted to show you the correlation between the men up on the mountaintop and the nine men who did not go on the mountaintop. One of them, of course, was unsaved. But the nine men who did not come, they just didn't seem to have the power of God in their lives. They didn't seem to have answers for the people that were looking to them as their leaders. They needed them to be the leaders, and they didn't have the power of God because they weren't spending time with Jesus. But look if you would at verse number 4. It says, I'm sorry, let me get back to my place here. Verse number 5. While he had spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and behold, a voice out of the cloud which said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear ye him. And when the disciples heard it, they fell on their face and were sore afraid. And Jesus came and touched them and said, Arise and be not afraid. Look at this next verse. And when they had lifted up their eyes, they saw no man save Jesus only. You see, another difference between these men, they didn't see anybody except Jesus. Look, what's he trying to say? Get your eyes off of man. The Bible says, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. Look, sometimes people have the idea, or they'll have this tendency to get so focused on a man. Now look, I've had many heroes through the years. I have people that I look up to as heroes now. But I'll tell you something. I have more heroes who have let me down than I have heroes that are living for God right now. If I went back through my heroes growing up, preachers, pastors, men of God, most of them have let me down. Most of them are preaching out of the NIV right now. Most of them are out of the ministry right now. Most of them have fallen into sin by now. And I'm going to tell you something. If my Christianity was based on a man, if my eyes were on a man, if I saw a man and said, I'm going to follow you, you're my role model, you're my mentor, and I didn't have that walk with Jesus, and I just said, this is who I'm following. As soon as he falls into sin, I'm going to say. Nuts to it. And I'll tell you something. Every one of those heroes that fell into sin or liberal-ed out, yeah, they took a lot of people with them. Because they took a lot of people with them whose eyes were on man. And they took them all with them. But see, when your eyes are on Jesus Christ, when you see no man save Jesus only, hey, Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. And so if your eyes are on Jesus Christ, if your doctrine is based on the Bible, not on the statement of faith of your church, you know, because that could change, God forbid. But it changes. Churches change. And so we must have our eyes on Jesus only. But go down, if you would, to verse number 9. It says, And as they came down from the mountain, so they're on the way down, they're walking down the mountain, Jesus with his three disciples, Jesus charged them, saying, Tell the vision to no man, until the Son of Man be risen again from the dead. You'll see this as a common theme through the book of Matthew. It talks about how he charged them that they should not make him known. In chapter 16, he said, He charged them that they should tell no man that he was Jesus the Christ. It's just a simple matter of Jesus had a certain plan that he was trying to follow. He wanted to go through a certain time period of being on this earth for about three and a half years of ministry. Thirty-three and a half years of lifetime. And so he had a certain plan, and he just didn't want things to happen prematurely. He didn't want them to take him by force and make him a king, as they tried to do at one point. He didn't want them to come and arrest him and kill him prematurely before he had finished the work that the Father had given him to do. And so that's all that is. When you see that, that's all that is. He's just saying, Look, don't tell anybody until after I'm risen from the dead. And when he's risen from the dead, he's going to say, Hey, preach it on the housetops. Go ye therefore into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. It says in verse number 10, And his disciples asked him, saying, Why didn't say to the scribes that Elias must first come? See, at this point they're realizing, they're seeing that, Boy, this is the Messiah. I mean, this is Jesus Christ. This is God in the flesh. This is Immanuel, God with us. And they're starting to see that. And so they're confused because they've been taught in church all their life by the scribes at, not at church, but I'm sorry, at the synagogue, which was similar to church like we have, but they were taught their whole life that Elijah was going to come first. Now, where did they get that? Turn, if you would, to a book right before this, Malachi chapter 4. Keep your finger, of course, in Matthew 17 and turn back to Malachi 4. I'm going to show you why they're saying this. It says in Malachi 4, verse number 5, Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord, and he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse. Now, we see here the last two verses of the Old Testament, the last two verses penned down by men of God who spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. At the end of the Old Testament, this man, Malachi, penned these last two words, which is a promise, as we'll see in a few minutes, of the coming of John the Baptist. So the last thing we see in the Old Testament is a prophecy. John the Baptist is coming. Then several hundred years go by, three to four hundred years. And then, of course, you have the book of Matthew, the birth of Christ, and then in chapter 3 of Matthew, John the Baptist comes on the scene fulfilling that prophecy. Now, look if you would at Matthew 18, back in Matthew 18, look at verse number 11. They say, wait, I thought Elijah is coming back. And don't let that confuse you. Elias and Elijah are the same name. Elias is the Greek name of Elijah, meaning the Hebrew name. Kind of like in Spanish, my name is Esteban. It's the same thing. So sometimes in the New Testament, you'll see... What are you laughing about? Sometimes in the New Testament, you'll see... El Pastor, Esteban, and the Sun. And so sometimes in the New Testament, you'll see the names can be a little confusing. Elias is Elijah. You'll see another name, Elisias. Elisias is Elisha. So Elias is Elijah. Elisias is Elisha. You'll see at one time, Joshua is even called Jesus, because Jesus is the Greek of the Hebrew Joshua. And then also you'll see names like Noe instead of Noah. You'll see just on and on down the list. Rabom instead of Rehoboam and so on. And so here's Elias. Why then say to the scribes that Elias must first come? And Jesus answered and said to them, Elias truly shall first come and restore all things, but I say unto you that Elias has come already. He says, look, Elijah already came. It says, and they knew him not. They didn't recognize the fact that the man who came before me was Elijah. He says they knew him not, but had done unto him whatsoever they listed, likewise shall also the Son of Man suffer of them. He's saying, look, they're going to do the same thing to me that they did to Elijah, which is John the Baptist. It says in the next verse, then the disciples understood that he spake unto them of John the Baptist. Now, was John the Baptist literally Elijah? I don't know. Now, let me show you some interesting scriptures, though, that made it, was he Elijah come back? Or was he just a man that was very much like Elijah? Well, look, if you would, I'll show you from the Bible. Turn back to 2 Kings chapter 2. 2 Kings chapter number 2, verse number 9, and I'll show you this. 2 Kings chapter 2, and look at verse number 9. The Bible reads here, and it came to pass when they were gone over that Elijah said unto Elisha, ask what I shall do for thee before I be taken away from thee. And Elisha said, I pray thee, let a double portion of thy spirit be upon me. And he said, thou hast asked me a hard thing, nevertheless, it thou see me when I am taken from thee. Notice that wording. It shall be so unto thee, but if not, it shall not be so. And it came to pass as they still went on and talked that behold, there appeared a chariot of fire and horses of fire and parted them both asunder, and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven. And Elisha saw it, and he cried, My father, my father, the chariot of Israel and the horseman thereof. And he saw him no more, and he took hold of his own clothes and rent them in two pieces. He took up also the mantle of Elijah that fell from him and went back and stood by the bank of Jordan. And so we see here that Elijah didn't really die. We saw that he was taken from him in a whirlwind, taken straight up to heaven, raptured up to heaven, if you will. And so Elijah never died, and so could it be that John the Baptist was Elijah to come back a second time? Well, look, if you would, at Luke chapter 1. There's two books after Matthew there, the third book in the New Testament. Look at Luke chapter 1. Luke chapter 1, and while you're turning there, I'll read for you Matthew chapter 14. We were already here. I'm sorry, Matthew 11. We were here about five weeks ago in our lessons, but in Matthew 11, 11, the Bible says, Verily I say unto you, among them that are born of women there has not risen a greater than John the Baptist. Now withstanding he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. And from the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven suffer the violence and the violent take it by force. For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John. Now listen to this. And if he will receive it, this is Elias, which was four to come. He that hath neared, let him hear. And so he's saying, look, this is Elijah. And so look, if you would, at Luke chapter 1, verse number 15, the Bible says, For he shall be great in the sight of the Lord, talking about John the Baptist, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink, and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother's womb. So we see a little bit of evidence that perhaps this is a second coming of Elijah because we see that the Bible says that he did not die. He was taken up by whirlwind to heaven. One of only two men who did not die in the Old Testament, one is Enoch, who was translated that he should not see death, the Bible says, and was not found for God had translated them. And then in, of course, 2 Kings chapter 2, Elijah did not die, but was brought straight up to heaven. And here he is, John the Baptist, in his mother's womb, already filled with the Holy Ghost. So to me, it seems to indicate that it's probably Elijah come back a second time. Well, I guess we'll only know for sure maybe when we get to heaven. We'll know for sure, things like that. But it's just interesting to see that. But nonetheless, Jesus said that this is the greatest man who ever lived. And you may say, well, good night, there's other great men who lived, but let's take Jesus' word for it. This is the greatest man who ever lived, John the Baptist. This is the greatest man who was ever born of a woman. Yes, he was greater than Moses. Yes, John the Baptist was greater than King David. Yes, John the Baptist was greater than any Old Testament character you want to name. This is the greatest man who ever lived. I want to study his life. I want to read his preaching. I want to pattern my preaching after his preaching. I want to be like him. I want to have the walk with God. I want to be strong in spirit, as the Bible says that he was in Luke 1, verse 80, because I want to be the greatest man that ever lived. There's a good hero for you, John the Baptist. But back to Matthew chapter 17. Likewise shall also the Son of Man suffer of them, he says in verse number 12. Then the disciples understood that he spake unto them of John the Baptist. Then we see the story about this teenage young boy who's demon possessed. Look at verse number 15. I want to show you something about this. Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is lunatic. Lunatic means he's crazy. He's nuts. He's insane. The dad didn't realize that he was demon possessed. He just thought, this kid's crazy. This kid's a weirdo. Look at the self-destructive behavior. For oftentimes he falleth into the fire and oft into the water. In another gospel of this account, I think it's in the book of Luke, Jesus talks about this. The man talks about his son actually throwing himself into the water, throwing himself into the fire. And so this was something where he's not just slipping and having an accident. Okay? He's trying to drown himself. He's trying to throw himself into the fire and kill himself. This kid is insane. Well, look on though. It says, you know, I brought him to thy disciples. They could not cure him. But look at verse number 18. And Jesus rebuked the devil. You see, he had the devil inside. He was possessed with the devil inside his body. Now, all throughout the Bible, you'll see men who are demon possessed. Yes, people are demon possessed today because, you know, things don't like that, don't change. Obviously, the devil walking about as a rolling line seat whom he made about. And you'll notice some common denominators about those that are possessed. Number one, this self-destructive suicidal type behavior. Number two, other self-destructive behavior you'll see like the man in Mark chapter 5 would cut himself with stones. Remember, he would cut into his own flesh. And listen, go down to the public school. You'll see many, many teenagers. I've known several teenage girls who inflict wounds into their arms and cut themselves. Why? Because they're demon possessed, that's why. That's what the Bible says. And I'll tell you why. They got the music. They got that Gothic music. And by the way, it talks about another man in Mark chapter 5 who was always dwelling among the tombs. Remember the demon-possessed man who cut himself? He had his dwelling among the tombs. See, he had this fascination with death. He loved death. And the Bible, no wonder, the Bible says, all they that hate me love death. It says in the book of Psalms, all they that hate me love death. Why does the rock and roll have so much death in it? Why does it have so much skulls and darkness and evil? Because they that love death, it's because they hate God, that's why. All they that hate me love death, Jesus said. And they have this fixation on death. I'm talking about the Nine Inch Nails. I'm talking about the, I don't even know the names of the girls, so the Marilyn Manson and Rammstein and all these filthy as hell groups that have this demonic, yes, it's demonic music, it's dark, it loves death, it has a fascination with death. And these kids listen to the music and they become demon-possessed listening to this wicked, ungodly music. They become demon-possessed, as we learned a few weeks ago, all music is religious. All music is religious. He said, this is secular music, there's no such thing. Is Jimi Hendrix secular music? Because he said, music is my religion. He said, when I burn my guitar, I'm offering up a burnt sacrifice. He said, my religion is rock and roll. He said, my religion is a religion of voodoo. That's what he said. That's Jimi Hendrix. All the quotes are there and his album's called Voodoo Child. It's not hard to figure out what he's about. Look, all music is religious. All music, music throughout the Bible has always to do with religion, spirituality. And so these kids listen to this evil rock music and what happens? They're demon-possessed. They cut themselves. The man that was demon-possessed says no man could bind him. No, not with chains. Nobody's gonna tell me what to do. Nobody's gonna make rules and try to bind me. I'm gonna be free. I'm gonna do what I wanna do. I'm gonna break all the rules. I don't care what Mom and Dad says. I don't care what the preacher says. I don't care what God says because I'm gonna do what I wanna do because I hate God because I'm demon-possessed. That's why I'm destroying myself. I mean, think about the destructive behavior of alcoholism and the disease that comes with it. See, all of sin is this self-destructive devilish behavior. And so you'll see people that are into this kind of stuff. They're demon-possessed. What are we gonna do? How are we gonna reach them? How are we gonna get them? What are we gonna do to straighten out this kid who's into this music and he's demon-possessed and he's destroying himself? What are we gonna do? I mean, how did Jesus handle it? First of all, he had the power of God, which the nine men at the bottom of the mountain did not have. But secondly, what's he do? And Jesus rebuked the devil. So what was the answer for this kid? It was a rebuke. What's a rebuke? Somebody telling him that he's wrong. I mean, that's what it means. A rebuke is when you say, hey, we just need to get him to a psychiatrist and maybe we just need to like show him, I don't know what people think. You know what they need is preaching. That's what they need. That's what a rebuke is, by the way. The Bible says preach the word, be instant, in season, out of season, reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long suffering and doctrine. Reprove, rebuke, exhort. Exhortation. And so, yes, that's what preaching is, a rebuke, because you don't hear from the teacher down at the public school, you're not going to hear them say, hey, listen, your music's wrong, your music's out of hell, get right with God. Get saved now. You're going to go to hell, Jesus died on the cross and every music you choose to listen to, we're still going to love you, okay? I mean, look, we're still going to be there, we're still, don't, hey, look, you could come to us and to, look, whatever, look, no, no, that's not what we need. They need to come to church, they need to get a hold of them and say, listen, son, you're on your way to hell, you need to get saved. Yes, the love is there when you talk to them about salvation, you talk about Jesus Christ, but before you're ever going to get anybody saved, you got to tell them about hell, you might want to stop at Romans 3.10 and say, hey, there's none righteous, no, not one. You might want to stop at Ecclesiastes 7.20 and say, hey, there's not a just man upon the earth that doeth good and sineth not. You might want to stop and say, and death and hell were cast and that they're not worshiping God, but they're worshiping the devil and they need to be saved. And so that's exactly what happens, it says, and Jesus rebuked the devil and he departed out of him and the child was cured from that very hour. Look, Jesus couldn't even see what the big deal was. That's why he said, oh, I'm preaching the gospel. You say, what does that kid need? He needs the gospel. They need to be saved. And you know what? Christian kids sometimes get into this kind of setting. I don't believe that a Christian can be demon possessed for one minute. But Christian kids can get into this kind of garbage and this kind of sin and they need to rebuke too, by the way. They need to be loving. But you know what? Love and compassion is nothing if you don't have the rebuke. See, you have to have both there. You've got to have the both sides of the coin. You've got to have the positive and negative terminal of the battery in order to make something operate and you must have the rebuke and you must have the love on both sides of the coin. And if you just all love, all love, and let me show you some love how you can be saved. You know, you start with the negative and you end with the positive right there. Just like my servants, don't worry, the positive side is coming. Just hang in there. I've reserved the last three minutes of this sermon for all positive. All right? Just hang in there until the end. Just kidding. All right. But look, it says the child was cured of a problem. We want to see people saved. We want to do what you're doing. Why couldn't we do it? And Jesus said to them, because of your unbelief, for verily I say unto you, if you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you shall say unto this mountain, remove hence to yonder place and it shall remove and nothing shall be impossible unto you. You see, you get saved by faith. You get saved when you believe. And what is faith? Let's not forget what faith is. It's when you believe God's word. That's what faith is. Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God. He that heareth my word and believeth on him that sent me has everlasting life and shall not come into condemnation, but has passed from death unto life. How do you live the Christian life? Well, the Bible says, When you fail in the Christian life is when you don't have faith. When you don't believe the Bible over circumstances. When you don't believe the Bible over what you see with your eyes. That's the lack of faith. That's where you have unbelief. You say God is not able. Can God furnish a table in the wilderness? That's unbelief. That's a lack of faith. That's going to cause you to fail. Why did the children of Israel, which came out of Egypt, why didn't they enter into the Promised Land and cross the Jordan River? The Bible says in Hebrews, chapter 3, it says, So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief. Let us therefore fear lest a promise, see a promise, I'm talking about God's word, lest a promise being left us of entering into his rest and you should seem to come short of it. For unto us was the gospel preached as well as unto them, but the word of faith and them that heard it. See what he's saying is that preaching will not help you unless you believe what's being preached because you believe the Bible. Your life will not have the power of God. You'll not see people saved unless you live a life of faith. Look, when I go out sowing, I'm expecting people to get saved. I expect to have the power of God. I'm serious, because God said I was going to have it. God said I was going to be bringing his sheaves with them. And so when I go sowing, I expect to see people saved. And that will change your sowing when you go in faith and say, man, I believe God's going to do something. I believe that God's going to win my lost loved one to the Lord when I get in the gospel. I believe that my co-workers are going to get saved. I have the faith to believe that my labor's not in vain. And God says if you go with faith, you'll have power. You'll get people saved because everything in life is in vain. And that's why reading the Bible is so important, because this is where the faith comes from. So we see here that they couldn't cast him out because of unbelief, but then look at verse 21. Jesus adds another reason. He says, but nonetheless, how be it, this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting. He says, listen, gentlemen, there are some hard cases. There are some people that are very difficult to get saved. You know, that Jehovah's Witness loved one, this is so filled with the devil because of their demonic religion. I'm talking about, and don't tell me that Jehovah's Witness is not a demonic religion. It's a religion that seeks to dethrone Jesus Christ from the position of God. That sounds like the devil. That sounds like the devil. If thou be the Son of God, commandeth these stones be made bread. If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down for it is written. If thou be the Son of God, well, please, hear ye him. And so there's nothing more demonic than the Jehovah's Witness religion taking Jesus out of that position of being God. You know, that Pentecostal loved one, and yes, Pentecostalism is as demonic as there is. Rolling in the aisles, speaking in tongues, flopping around on the ground, filled with Satan because of their stinking Christian contemporary rock music that they're blasting in their service that denies eternal salvation. I was trying to tell them that your sister-in-law that, you know, the Assemblies of God believe you can lose your salvation. They don't believe in the eternal security of the believer. Hey, I went on their website, I got them a statement of faith of the Assemblies of God. I got the statement of faith of the Church of Christ. I got the statement of faith of all these charismatic denominations, and they say, if you don't live right, you will come to the place where you'll lose your salvation. They got to stay saved by works. And I'm going to tell you something that's demonic, that's out of hell. He said, if anybody else preached another gospel, let him be accursed. Okay, and so it's a cursive religion. You say, look, I have a loved one that's into Pentecostalism. I have a loved one that's into Jehovah's Witness. How am I going to get him saved? It's just so hard to get through to him. The devil's done so much to just take hold on him. I'll be of this kind. Go with not that, but by prayer and fasting. And let me just tell you something. This is some advice on how to get the hard cases saved. And I remember I learned this when I was, I want to say I was about 21, 22 years old at the time. I think I was about 21, 22 right around that time. And I sat down with a pastor in Tracy, California and I was talking to him. He was telling me how he'd won some Jehovah's Witnesses and I saw a few people who had actually gotten some of them saved. And I've seen a few Jehovah's Witnesses saved since then. But I sat down with him and I said I want you to tell me right now. I sat in his house. I was just like you are. I was working in the area down in Tracy, California. And I went to his church on Wednesday night and I sat down and I went soul winning with him on Tuesday night and I sat down with him after soul winning and I said I want you to tell me right now how you win these people of the Lord that are these hard cases. Because I want to know because I want to learn. He says here's what I do. I just pick one person. I pick one person and I just set aside like two weeks. And I pray for that person a certain amount during that two weeks that's more than I could do for extended. I couldn't do this for a year. So I just have to limit it to about two weeks or so. And I just target my prayer at that person. And I'll spend maybe an hour a day just praying for one person. Or maybe even longer. I'll take some days and go without food and fast for that one person. And I'll just send all this prayer to God on behalf of this one person. And just focus my attention on this one person. And I said look and this is the way I am. I'm a very analytical person. And I'm not just going to walk away and say okay pray for him for an hour. I said look good night. How do you pray for one person for an hour? Are you just chanting over and over? Please help so and so he could say. Please help so and so he could say. I said good night. What are you praying for an hour? He said well this is what I did. The first time I did it he said I don't really need the list anymore. But I made a list of things that God could do. Because God can't really get them saved. I mean they have to choose to be saved let's face it. But he said I made a list of things that God could do to help this person get saved and I just prayed on that list. And he had things on there like just don't let them sleep at night. Like whatever verse that they've ever heard from the Bible that I've ever given them or that anybody's ever just let it just ring in their ears. They won't be able to get it out of their head. Just take away anything that they've saved. Take it out of their life. Whatever it is that's making them just so hardened to the Gospel remove it. God send a car crash to get a hold of them. Send a disease to get them in the hospital where they might realize that they need it. Do whatever it takes to get them saved. And sometimes he said I picture it like this. He said I picture it like I'm in a courtroom. And like I'm an attorney on one side. And God's the judge. And I'm making my case before God who's the judge and the jury. And I'm making my case why God should answer my prayer. And I'll even bargain with God. He says I'll offer God things and say God what about this? Take this away from me. I don't need it. I want you to answer my prayer God. And he went through just all this great advice. Probably a whole sermon of itself. And I said you know what? I'm going to try that. I said that's exactly what I'm going to do. And so I picked out the person that I want to save more than anybody else. A relative of mine. It was a hard case. And I said I'm going to try this out. And boy I started doing it. And I mean I just prayed. I made a list. I prayed and prayed. Just begged God for this one person days without food. Begging God. I went over to this house. 1045 at night unannounced. Knock on the door. Because you know you got to put some boldness with the prayer. You can't just pray and God God. You know you need to act also in your mouth boldly preaching the gospel. I went to his house. I dragged him out of the house. 1045 at night. I said listen to me. Because he wasn't open to the gospel. I said you're going to listen to me right now. I preached in the gospel for 20 minutes. He kind of laughed and snickered. Whatever. And I thought to myself this is going in one ear and out the other. I'm not getting anywhere. But I did it anywhere. And I just preached to him. Okay? And it seemed like nothing was getting through. Well a few days later I talked to somebody and he had repeated back a bunch of stuff that I had said. And so I was like why? You know maybe something did sink in. I went back about a week later and I was still doing my praying and everything. Went back a week later sat him down talked to him for 45 minutes. And he argued with some of the things I said. I preached in the gospel from the Bible. And 45 minutes later he bowed his head and got saved. The next Sunday he got baptized. And I'm telling you I'm telling you something. Right now he goes to church Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night. Right now he goes soul winning on a weekly basis. Right now his life's been completely turned around. Right now he reads the Bible. Now look, this kind cometh not out but by prayer and fasting. You see I want that kind of convert. I want to be able to have somebody that I want to the Lord that's serving God. I want to get that lost loved one of mine saved. That friend of mine saved. How am I going to do it? I want to have somebody that I want to the Lord. I want to bring my soul to the Lord. I want to bring my sheaves with me with rejoicing. How am I going to do it? Is by prayer and fasting, that's how. But look, don't just take that one verse and say well, just run with that and just say it's all prayer and fasting. Look, it really went back and he said how be it, this is kind of an afterthought. How be it this kind goes not out by prayer and fasting. Yes these are the hard cases but look, before that let's look at the primary thing that he talked about. Look, unbelief. You got to live a life of faith if you want to see the hard cases. And then go back you want to be up there on the mountain with Jesus as much as you possibly can. You get on the mountain with Jesus as much as you can and you get the faith and you get the prayer and fasting. Good night. You're going to get some people saved. You're going to see something or else the Bible's not true. But let me hurry up because I'm running out of time here but look at verse number 22. We switch subjects here. And while they abode in Galilee, Jesus said unto them, The Son of Man shall be betrayed into the hands of men and they shall kill him and the third day he shall be raised again. And they were exceeding sorry. They didn't quite understand that this was important that it should happen for the gospel. But in verse number 24 it says, And when they were come to Capernaum they that received tribute money, this is the IRS, this is the tax man, they that received tribute money came to Peter and said, Did not your master pay tribute? He said yes. And when he was coming to the house Jesus prevented him. Now the word prevents just so you can understand the English. And by the way let me put this in right here. These preachers are just constantly going back to the Greek and Hebrew. You know there's so much just if you can understand the English language. There's so much that's on the surface in the Bible. And especially if you could learn the English language. You know that word prevent there. The word prevent means came before. That's what it means. Like the Bible says in 1 Thessalonians 4 that they which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend with that and says, And the dead in Christ shall rise first. See the dead in Christ are going to rise first. Those that are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. They're not going to go up first saying that the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so look, prevent, it means that Peter, he's talking to the IRS man at the door. I'm glad it was him and not me. And so the IRS is coming by saying, hey look, doesn't Jesus pay taxes? And he's like, uh, yes. And he goes to the house to talk to Jesus about what's going on. Jesus, you didn't pay your bill or what? And he goes into the house and he gets there and it says Jesus prevented him. Meaning, before he could even ask Jesus what was going on, Jesus already knew what was going on because he's omniscient. He's God. And so Jesus already knew what was going on and he says, Simon, what thinkest thou? He says, of whom do the kings of the earth take tribute and custom? Of their own children or of strangers? Peter saith unto him, of strangers. Jesus saith unto him, then are the children free. 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