By Faith intro (Heb 11:1-3): By Faith Abel (Heb. 11:4; Gen. 4:1-8)

Posted on August 23, 2026 by sarhodes

We are going to look at Hebrews 11, often called the “Hall of Faith,” the “Triumphs of Faith,” or “Faith in Action.” We are going to look at a verse and then talk about the person. We are going to get into the Old Testament. We will look at Abel, then Enoch, Noah, and many more people in the Old Testament. Sometimes we will have to wonder, “How in the world did this guy or gal get into this list in the New Testament?’ To that, we must remember that God uses imperfect people to accomplish His will.

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader is a film version of C. S. Lewis’s book by the same name. In this scene, the children who have once again been summoned to Narnia—Lucy, Edmund, Peter, and Susan —team up with King Caspian aboard the royal ship, The Dawn Treader.

During their journey, Lucy, the youngest of the children, encounters a book titled The Book of Incantations. This mysterious book boldly promises to provide “an infallible spell to make you the beauty you’ve always wanted to be.” Despite her vibrant faith in Aslan (who represents Christ), Lucy has always struggled with a deep wound: she feels inferior to and jealous of her beautiful older sister Susan. Tempted by her desire to become more beautiful, Lucy speaks the spell. Suddenly, a mirror appears on the page directly across from the spell. As Lucy looks into the mirror, she realizes her face has been transformed into her sister’s. She decides to tear out the page and hide it.

Later, in a dream, Lucy pulls out the page of the mirror and recites the words at the top, “Make me she, whom I’d agree, holds more beauty over me.” Suddenly, in the dream, the spell works to transform Lucy into her sister Susan. However, by being transformed into her sister, Lucy discovers that she never existed.

As Lucy stands before the mirror, horrified, Aslan appears, and the film has the following conversation:

“Lucy,” says Aslan.

“Aslan,” she replies.

“What have you done, child?”

“I don’t know. That was awful.”

“But you chose it, Lucy,” he tells her.

“I didn’t mean to choose all that,” Lucy answers. “I just wanted to be beautiful like Susan. That’s all.”

Aslan tells her, “You wished yourself away, and with it much more. Your brothers and sister wouldn’t know about Narnia without you, Lucy. You discovered it first—remember?”

“I’m so sorry,” Lucy says sadly.

“You doubt your value,” says Aslan. “Don’t run from who you are.”^[1]

The Theme:

By Faith Able presented a more acceptable sacrifice.

Application:

Are we religious or righteous? Do we serve God out of duty or because we are pursuing righteousness?

Read with me:

Hebrews 11:1–3 (ESV)

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. ²For by it the people of old received their commendation. ³By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.

Let’s look at the context.
1. Hebrews is written to Jewish believers who have faced persecution. They are now considering turning their back on Jesus.
2. Hebrews is a sermon-type letter.
3. The writer gives expository sermons on various Old Testament passages.
4. Now, we come to this magnum opus passage on faith.
Let’s talk about Cain and Abel.
1. Genesis 4:1–7 (ESV)
2. Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, “I have gotten a man with the help of the Lord.” ²And again, she bore his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, and Cain a worker of the ground. ³In the course of time Cain brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground, ⁴and Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering, ⁵but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his face fell. ⁶The Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? ⁷If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, and you must rule over it.”
3. Adam and Eve have a son and name him Cain.
4. Adam and Eve have another son and name him Abel. There is no mention of a time lapse, so it is possible that these two boys are twins. I imagine, though I cannot prove it, that they grow up together. I imagine that they work together. I imagine that they played games together, wrestled, and shared a tent or bedroom. We do not know what it was like back then, but I imagine that, as brothers, they were together a lot. Later, we read that Adam and Eve had many other children (Genesis 5:3), so they had other people to hang out with. We also know that when Cain is banished in Genesis 4:13-14, he is concerned about others killing him, so there were many others. Still, I imagine these two boys are brothers, and there might have been a bond when they were young. It seems they were also the first two boys of Adam and Eve. It seems they were the first two children of creation.
5. Abel was a shepherd.
6. Cain was a farmer.
7. These were common professions. I read, “Both professions were known in early society; sheepherding and agriculture provided an occasion for a natural rivalry. The Sumerian tale of Dumuzi and Enkimdu depicts a rivalry between the shepherd god and the farmer god over marriage to a woman, but it ends in a peaceful resolution.”
8. In Genesis 46:32 and 47:3, the Israelites were shepherds.
9. In Genesis 4:3-5, we see their sacrifice and how it worked out and did not work out.
10. Cain brought a sacrifice of the ground. Abel brought a blood sacrifice.
11. Later, there were grain sacrifices under Israelite law, so that was not something Cain did wrong.
12. We read here that Abel brought the first fruits of his flock. I think this is key. Abel did not pick the lame or smaller animal; no, the sacrifice was one of the firstborns. It was as if Abel were saying, “God, I love you so much, I am making this sacrifice.”
13. Cain and Abel knew God’s pleasure and displeasure with the sacrifice immediately. That is interesting. How did they know? I read that maybe a fire came down from Heaven and consumed Abel’s sacrifice. That did happen in the Old Testament.
14. They made the sacrifice, and Cain was mad that God did not show pleasure in his sacrifice. Cain’s face changed. He was angry. I see this in verse 5.
15. In the next few verses, God speaks to Cain.
16. That is where we have the illustration of sin crouching at the door, and the desire of sin is to overtake you.
17. Cain ignores this and kills his brother.
18. Genesis 4:8–10 (ESV)
19. ⁸Cain spoke to Abel his brother. And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him. ⁹Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” He said, “I do not know; am I my brother’s keeper?” ¹⁰And the Lord said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood is crying to me from the ground.
20. Cain was jealous.
21. Jean-Paul Sartre, in his book Being and Nothingness, has a chapter called “The Look.” In it, he says there’s nothing worse than a stare, because if someone sees you who you cannot see, if you cannot control people’s knowledge of you, it destroys you. It utterly destroys you. It’s easy for people to say, “Oh, that’s just not true of me. No, no, no. I happen to know who I am, and I don’t care what people think about me.” Sartre says that’s silly.
22. He says if there’s anybody who sees you who you can’t see, if there’s anybody who absolutely has access to knowledge, and you can’t be selective about what people see of you, and you can’t provide certain things and keep certain things back, you’re destroyed. Why? Because fundamentally, we know we’re not acceptable. We never just go in. We always bring offerings. We always have to hide and cover up who we are.^{^[2]}
What is an acceptable sacrifice today?
1. Abel gave an acceptable sacrifice and that begs the question, what is acceptable today?
2. Don’t go slaughtering your pet. Jesus is the only sacrifice.
3. Jesus came and died for us.
4. However, we must respond, and we must not respond to Jesus out of duty but love and devotion to Him.
Now, let’s talk about religion vs. righteousness. These are applications which I made personal.
1. These must all fall under one major application of religious versus righteous.
2. The religious person goes to God and serves God out of pure duty.
3. The righteous person goes to God and serves Him out of love.
4. The religious person thinks that he/she can earn Heaven by duty.
5. The righteous person accepts Christ’s righteousness, surrendering to Him.
6. It seems that Abel’s sacrifice was not pure duty, but pure love.
7. This means that we must love the Lord our God with all our heart, mind, and soul (Matt. 22:37-40).
8. We must love the Lord with all our being.
9. We must give God our love in devotion and sacrifice.
10. 1 Cor. 10:31 is fitting: eating and drinking, in everything, we must do them to the glory of the Lord. We must do them to love the Lord.
11. Abel gave the first fruits. We must not give God our last, but our first.
12. This applies to money. This means that we must give God our first in money.
13. This applies to our energy as well. We must not wait until we are tired to read devotions and pray. We must give Him our best time.
14. We must not stay out late on Saturday night or up late and fall asleep in worship.
15. We must give God our best.
16. We must prepare for our time with God and prepare for worship.
17. Abel seemed to have an attitude that was not only duty but faith in loving God. We must have an attitude of faith in loving and committing to God. We must ask God to take away our constant drive to make our relationship with Him a mere duty rather than a relationship.
18. Hebrews 12:24: The blood of Abel was a temporary sacrifice. Jesus’s sacrifice is forever. We must trust Jesus.
19. Jesus accepts us by His grace.
20. We don’t need to be thin-skinned.
21. We don’t need to be jealous.
22. We can have our worth in Jesus. We serve for the applause of One.

Close:

Hebrews 11:4 (ESV)

By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which he was commended as righteous, God commending him by accepting his gifts. And through his faith, though he died, he still speaks.

Thousands of years later, Abel was remembered.

Trust Christ’s righteousness, and we will live for eternity with Him in paradise.

God created us to be with him. (Genesis 1-2)

Our sin separated us from God. (Genesis 3)

Sins cannot be removed by good deeds (Gen 4-Mal 4)

Paying the price for sin, Jesus died and rose again. (Matthew – Luke)

Everyone who trusts in him alone has eternal life. (John – Jude)

Life that’s eternal means we will be with Jesus forever. (Revelation 22:5)

Pray

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (Fox 2000 Pictures, 2010), directed by Michael Apted, chapter 13; 0:50:19—0:51:12; submitted by Van Morris, Mt. Washington, Kentucky ↑
Timothy J. Keller, The Timothy Keller Sermon Archive (New York City: Redeemer Presbyterian Church, 2013). ↑

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader is a film version of C. S. Lewis’s book by the same name. In this scene, the children who have once again been summoned to Narnia—Lucy, Edmund, and Edmund—team up with King Caspian aboard the royal ship, The Dawn Treader.

As Lucy stands before the mirror, horrified, Aslan appears, and the film has the following conversation:

The Theme:

By Faith Able presented a more acceptable sacrifice.

Application:

Are we religious or righteous? Do we serve God out of duty or because we are pursuing righteousness?

Read with me:

Hebrews 11:1–3 (ESV)

Let’s look at the context.
1. Hebrews is written to Jewish believers who have faced persecution. They are now considering turning their back on Jesus.
2. Hebrews is a sermon-type letter.
3. The writer gives expository sermons on various Old Testament passages.
4. Now, we come to this magnum opus passage on faith.
Let’s talk about Cain and Abel.
1. Genesis 4:1–7 (ESV)
2. Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, “I have gotten a man with the help of the Lord.” ²And again, she bore his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, and Cain a worker of the ground. ³In the course of time Cain brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground, ⁴and Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering, ⁵but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his face fell. ⁶The Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? ⁷If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, and you must rule over it.”
3. Adam and Eve have a son and name him Cain.
4. Adam and Eve have another son and name him Abel. There is no mention of a time lapse, so it is possible that these two boys are twins. I imagine, though I cannot prove it, that they grow up together. I imagine that they work together. I imagine that they played games together, wrestled, and shared a tent or bedroom. We do not know what it was like back then, but I imagine that, as brothers, they were together a lot. Later, we read that Adam and Eve had many other children (Genesis 5:3), so they had other people to hang out with. We also know that when Cain is banished in Genesis 4:13-14, he is concerned about others killing him, so there were many others. Still, I imagine these two boys are brothers, and there might have been a bond when they were young. It seems they were also the first two boys of Adam and Eve. It seems they were the first two children of creation.
5. Abel was a shepherd.
6. Cain was a farmer.
7. These were common professions. I read, “Both professions were known in early society; sheepherding and agriculture provided an occasion for a natural rivalry. The Sumerian tale of Dumuzi and Enkimdu depicts a rivalry between the shepherd god and the farmer god over marriage to a woman, but it ends in a peaceful resolution.”
8. In Genesis 46:32 and 47:3, the Israelites were shepherds.
9. In Genesis 4:3-5, we see their sacrifice and how it worked out and did not work out.
10. Cain brought a sacrifice of the ground. Abel brought a blood sacrifice.
11. Later, there were grain sacrifices under Israelite law, so that was not something Cain did wrong.
12. We read here that Abel brought the first fruits of his flock. I think this is key. Abel did not pick the lame or smaller animal; no, the sacrifice was one of the firstborns. It was as if Abel were saying, “God, I love you so much, I am making this sacrifice.”
13. Cain and Abel knew God’s pleasure and displeasure with the sacrifice immediately. That is interesting. How did they know? I read that maybe a fire came down from Heaven and consumed Abel’s sacrifice. That did happen in the Old Testament.
14. They made the sacrifice, and Cain was mad that God did not show pleasure in his sacrifice. Cain’s face changed. He was angry. I see this in verse 5.
15. In the next few verses, God speaks to Cain.
16. That is where we have the illustration of sin crouching at the door, and the desire of sin is to overtake you.
17. Cain ignores this and kills his brother.
18. Genesis 4:8–10 (ESV)
19. ⁸Cain spoke to Abel his brother. And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him. ⁹Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” He said, “I do not know; am I my brother’s keeper?” ¹⁰And the Lord said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood is crying to me from the ground.
20. Cain was jealous.
21. Jean-Paul Sartre, in his book Being and Nothingness, has a chapter called “The Look.” In it, he says there’s nothing worse than a stare, because if someone sees you who you cannot see, if you cannot control people’s knowledge of you, it destroys you. It utterly destroys you. It’s easy for people to say, “Oh, that’s just not true of me. No, no, no. I happen to know who I am, and I don’t care what people think about me.” Sartre says that’s silly.
22. He says if there’s anybody who sees you who you can’t see, if there’s anybody who absolutely has access to knowledge, and you can’t be selective about what people see of you, and you can’t provide certain things and keep certain things back, you’re destroyed. Why? Because fundamentally, we know we’re not acceptable. We never just go in. We always bring offerings. We always have to hide and cover up who we are.^{^[2]}
What is an acceptable sacrifice today?
1. Abel gave an acceptable sacrifice and that begs the question, what is acceptable today?
2. Don’t go slaughtering your pet. Jesus is the only sacrifice.
3. Jesus came and died for us.
4. However, we must respond, and we must not respond to Jesus out of duty but love and devotion to Him.
Now, let’s talk about religion vs. righteousness. These are applications which I made personal.
1. These must all fall under one major application of religious versus righteous.
2. The religious person goes to God and serves God out of pure duty.
3. The righteous person goes to God and serves Him out of love.
4. The religious person thinks that he/she can earn Heaven by duty.
5. The righteous person accepts Christ’s righteousness, surrendering to Him.
6. It seems that Abel’s sacrifice was not pure duty, but pure love.
7. This means that we must love the Lord our God with all our heart, mind, and soul (Matt. 22:37-40).
8. We must love the Lord with all our being.
9. We must give God our love in devotion and sacrifice.
10. 1 Cor. 10:31 is fitting: eating and drinking, in everything, we must do them to the glory of the Lord. We must do them to love the Lord.
11. Abel gave the first fruits. We must not give God our last, but our first.
12. This applies to money. This means that we must give God our first in money.
13. This applies to our energy as well. We must not wait until we are tired to read devotions and pray. We must give Him our best time.
14. We must not stay out late on Saturday night or up late and fall asleep in worship.
15. We must give God our best.
16. We must prepare for our time with God and prepare for worship.
17. Abel seemed to have an attitude that was not only duty but faith in loving God. We must have an attitude of faith in loving and committing to God. We must ask God to take away our constant drive to make our relationship with Him a mere duty rather than a relationship.
18. Hebrews 12:24: The blood of Abel was a temporary sacrifice. Jesus’s sacrifice is forever. We must trust Jesus.
19. Jesus accepts us by His grace.
20. We don’t need to be thin-skinned.
21. We don’t need to be jealous.
22. We can have our worth in Jesus. We serve for the applause of One.

Close:

Hebrews 11:4 (ESV)

Thousands of years later, Abel was remembered.

Trust Christ’s righteousness, and we will live for eternity with Him in paradise.

God created us to be with him. (Genesis 1-2)

Our sin separated us from God. (Genesis 3)

Sins cannot be removed by good deeds (Gen 4-Mal 4)

Paying the price for sin, Jesus died and rose again. (Matthew – Luke)

Everyone who trusts in him alone has eternal life. (John – Jude)

Life that’s eternal means we will be with Jesus forever. (Revelation 22:5)

Pray

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (Fox 2000 Pictures, 2010), directed by Michael Apted, chapter 13; 0:50:19—0:51:12; submitted by Van Morris, Mt. Washington, Kentucky ↑
Timothy J. Keller, The Timothy Keller Sermon Archive (New York City: Redeemer Presbyterian Church, 2013). ↑

The Cost of Discipleship: Jesus Must Be Our Complete Treasure (Matt. 19:16-30)

Posted on August 16, 2026 by sarhodes

The Cost of Discipleship: Jesus Must Be Our Complete Treasure (Matt. 19:16-30)

Prepared and preached by Pastor Steve Rhodes on Sunday, August 16, 2026

Joke-

A husband sitting alone in the kitchen on their anniversary tells his touched wife how he remembers the day her father caught them in a car and gave him a choice: marry her or spend 20 years in prison. Wiping a tear, he sighs, “I would have gotten out today!”

What do we desire?

What do we crave?

This message is not so much about money as where our treasure is.

What is most important?

Jesus changes us- He is our treasure.

In J.R.R. Tolkien’s trilogy Lord of the Rings… something very odd happens at the end. The heroes are very carefully marked out as very, very pedestrian, ordinary, normal kinds of persons, but the essence of the story of the book is these two heroes go off with and ally themselves with a high, noble, angelic-like race of beings. With the help of those beings, they fight and get glory and honor in many battles and ordeals and adventures.

In triumph, they return back to their homeland, which they love and for whose freedom they fought, for whose protection they fought, but they discover they have been changed. Something has changed. They find they still love their land, and they fought to win their land, they fought to protect their land, but they realize now they don’t belong. You see these high angelic beings they made alliances with had come from a high, immortal paradise kind of land far beyond the Western Seas.

Now our heroes return to their homeland, which they love so much, and they find the life force of that high, immortal land beyond the Western Seas has entered into them. Here’s the paradox of it. When they come back, they realize the new greatness of heart they have that enables them now to be leaders amongst their countrymen has also changed them so they don’t feel like they belong there.

They realize now their hearts are over the sea. They realize they’re restless now in their homeland. The paradox is there’s a new greatness that has come into their lives from that land. [this is the case for us as Christians, the more we grow in Christ, the more we don’t fit in society.] They laugh louder than other people; they laugh louder than their peers. They cry more deeply. They see further into the future, and they remember the wisdom of the past better because in a sense they have been taken out of their land. They have a perspective that is greater than the time and place of the people who have lived all their lives in that country.

They’re recognized by their peers as having a certain greatness of spirit, and they’re made into their leaders. Yet at the same time their peers and their friends can no longer understand them because now they’re very strange. They’re always walking off to the ocean, standing on the ocean, and the sound of the waves sinks deep into their hearts. They sit there for hours, and everybody says, “What’s wrong with them? Why do they get comfort? Why do they get strength from doing something like that?”

In other words, they love their homeland, but now their relationship to their homeland has become complex. The citizenship of their hearts, the rootedness of their soul, no longer is there; it’s over the sea. They live great lives in their homeland, and they become great leaders. In a sense their relationship with the other people they love who have not had the same experiences has been turned into something very complex.^{^[1]}

A few months ago, I read this from John Piper:

Fifty-five years ago this month, I was sitting in a seminary commencement service like this one, ready to receive my degree. One of my professors was giving the address. The title of his message was this: “Remember the Rich Young Man.” And to help us remember, he gave each of us a one-dollar bill. I don’t recall whether it was his suggestion or not, but I took that one-dollar bill home and said to Noël, “I want to keep this in front of me for the rest of my life.” So, she decoupaged [the art or craft of decorating objects with paper cut outs] it for me and it has been visible in my study for 55 years, wherever we have lived.

That message and that dollar bill and its presence with me for five-and-a-half decades have been a great service to me. How many thousands of times have I looked up and seen this dollar bill and heard the voice of Jesus:

John, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. Don’t want to be rich! Don’t want to be rich! A man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions. Make your life count. But not this way. Not money. Give every ounce of energy you have to spreading a passion for the supremacy of God in all things for the joy of all peoples in my name. I’ll meet every need you have. I’ll be with you. But not if you want to be rich. Remember the rich young man.^[2]

What does it mean to be a disciple of Jesus?

It means He must be our complete treasure.

Again, Jesus uses money as an example; we are using money as an example, but the bottom line is- what is our treasure? What do we crave?

My theme today is:

Jesus must be our complete treasure.

Outline adapted from the Outline Bible^[3]:

Context
1. What is going on in this chapter?
2. Jesus is on His way to Jerusalem.
3. He explains the sanctity of marriage (Matthew 19:3-12). Then, He blesses the children (Matthew 19:13-15).
4. Then, we have the Rich Young Ruler.
5. Starting in the next chapter, Jesus will describe the Kingdom of Heaven.
6. Let’s talk about discipleship.
Jesus speaks concerning riches (Matthew 19:16–26): Jesus meets with a rich young ruler and is asked a question by his disciples.
1. Jesus and the ruler (Matthew 19:16–22)
2. Matthew 19:16 (ESV)
3. ¹⁶And behold, a man came up to him, saying, “Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?”
4. Notice, the ruler is confused. He thinks all he has to do is perform good deeds.
5. Greek traditions also reported aristocratic young men who wanted to study under a famous teacher but were too spoiled to carry out what the teacher demanded.^{^[4]}
6. As Christians, is eternal life about being good?
7. Is eternal life about earning our way to heaven?
8. No, but the cost of our eternal life is much more than being good (John 3:16-18).
9. Now, Jesus responds:
10. Matthew 19:17 (ESV)
11. ¹⁷And he said to him, “Why do you ask me about what is good? There is only one who is good. If you would enter life, keep the commandments.”
12. Notice how Jesus responds with a principle. The principle is that there is only One Who Is Good. God is the only One Who Is good.
13. Tony Evans: In other words, to be good Jesus would have to be God. And since he is God incarnate, he has the authority to answer the man’s question.^{^[5]}
14. Jesus instructs him to keep God’s commandments.
15. Now, the ruler responds inquiring of which commandments he is to keep.
16. Matthew 19:18–19 (ESV)
17. ¹⁸He said to him, “Which ones?” And Jesus said, “You shall not murder, You shall not commit adultery, You shall not steal, You shall not bear false witness, ¹⁹Honor your father and mother, and, You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
18. Honoring your father and mother is out of order from the others. Did Jesus know the young man had not kept that one?
19. The ruler says that he has obeyed these commandments.
20. Matthew 19:20 (ESV)
21. ²⁰The young man said to him, “All these I have kept. What do I still lack?”
22. He seems very confident, doesn’t he?
23. Jesus will now go deeper.
24. NET: While the rich man was probably being sincere when he insisted I have wholeheartedly obeyed all these laws, he had confined his righteousness to external obedience. The rich man’s response to Jesus’ command—to give away all he had—revealed that internally he loved money more than God.^{^[6]}
25. The Savior’s conclusion (Matthew 19:21): “If you want to be perfect, go and sell all you have and give the money to the poor.… Then come, follow me.”
26. Perfect has the idea of completely whole, or mature (Matthew 5:48).
27. Matthew 19:21 (ESV)
28. ²¹Jesus said to him, “If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.”
29. Jesus tells how he can be perfect.
30. Go and sell all he possesses…
The sorrowing ruler (Matthew 19:22): He turns away with sadness, not willing to give up his wealth.
1. Matthew 19:22 (ESV)
2. ²²When the young man heard this he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.
3. The young man had great possessions. He leaves sorrowfully.
4. Yet, Jesus doesn’t chase him down.
5. Jesus doesn’t change the standard.
6. Jesus doesn’t lighten the load.
Jesus and the disciples (Matthew 19:23–26)
1. Matthew 19:23 (ESV)
2. ²³And Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly, I say to you, only with difficulty will a rich person enter the kingdom of heaven.
3. Now, Jesus talks to the disciples.
4. The rich young ruler has left, and Jesus addresses the disciples.
5. Jesus teaches them that it is difficult to enter the Kingdom of Heaven.
6. Matthew 19:24 (ESV)
7. ²⁴Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.”
8. So, we see this allegory.
9. A camel represented the largest animal they had at that time. The eye of a needle represented the smallest opening found in a home.
10. What a picture. Can you imagine a camel going through the eye of a needle?
11. If so, then that is how a rich man enters the Kingdom of Heaven.
12. As Jesus said, we should collect “treasures in heaven,” for they cannot be destroyed, stolen, or lost (Matthew 6:20).^{^[7]}
13. I believe Jesus used images like this to help convey the lesson.
14. Matthew 19:25 (ESV)
15. ²⁵When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished, saying, “Who then can be saved?”
16. Given the description Jesus gave, this makes sense.
17. Who can be saved?
18. Matthew 19:26 (ESV)
19. ²⁶But Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
20. Notice the description: Jesus looked at them.
21. I think this is emphasizing that Jesus wants to make a point.
22. Jesus is making eye contact.
23. This is not possible without Divine intervention.
24. For the wealthy to shift their primary allegiance to God is humanly impossible, but with God all things are possible, as evidenced by the conversions of rich men like Joseph of Arimathea (27:57) and Zacchaeus (Luke 19:9–10).^{^[8]}
25. We need outside help to be saved.
26. Romans 6:23 (ESV)
27. ²³For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Jesus speaks concerning rewards (Matthew 19:27–30)
1. Peter speaks up: Matthew 19:27 (ESV)
2. ²⁷Then Peter said in reply, “See, we have left everything and followed you. What then will we have?”
3. Peter seems concerned. Jesus had told the rich young ruler to sell everything he owned and follow Him.
4. Peter says that they have left everything.
5. Peter was a fisherman (Matthew 4:18-20). They left everything.
6. Peter asks what they will have.
7. The Kingdom of God reverses the kingdom of man:
8. Matthew 19:28–30 (ESV)
9. ²⁸Jesus said to them, “Truly, I say to you, in the new world, when the Son of Man will sit on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. ²⁹And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands, for my name’s sake, will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life. ³⁰But many who are first will be last, and the last first.
10. There is a lot in verse 28. What does it mean? The disciples will judge the twelve tribes of Israel.
11. Jesus teaches a principle.
12. This is a significant promise because it shows that the disciples were not only the foundation of the Church (Eph 2:20–22) but also the leaders of the remnant of Israel (Rm 11:1–6). Jewish believers have this unique status as members both of the Church and Israel. This promise was probably made only to the twelve as a unique group, but the N^[9]T indicates that all believers will participate with Christ in His judgment of the earth (Mt 25:21; Rm 16:20; 1Co 6:2; Rv 2:26–27; 3:21).^{^[10]}
13. In verse 29, Jesus says that Christians will inherit. It is an inheritance, not a reward.
14. Those who have left things behind for Him will have a great reward.
15. In verse 30, we have the line: “The first in this world will be last in eternal life.” Those last in this world will be first in eternal life.
16. The statement in context states that God’s grace extends to those who approach God in childlike trust (vv^[11]. 13–15).^{^[12]}

Tim Keller helps us:

He comes to Jesus and says, “I’ve been a good person. Is there anything I’ve left out?” Jesus says, “Yeah, one thing.” Then he says, “Sell everything you have, give it away, and then you’ll have treasures in heaven.” What he said there will make no sense to you unless you understand the principle of this text, the principle we’re getting across now. You might say, “Oh my gosh! He’s trying to say you have to sell all of your goods in order to be saved?” No, he’s not. Instead, he’s saying, “My dear young man,” whom he loved. Remember what the text says? He looked at the man and confronted him because he loved him.

He says, “My dear, you have a lot of money, and yet you have nothing. It’s all going to burn up. If you could only see that if you have me you have everything. You could have my record. You could have my forgiveness. Unless you see that my dying love is your real treasure, unless you see that, frankly, salvation and eternal life is not a matter of doing or adding one more thing to your good life but rather it’s a matter of throwing it all over and trusting wholly in me, until you see that if you have me you have everything, you cannot inherit eternal life.” Jesus is saying, “If you understood that I am eternal life, your attitude toward your money would be very different.”^{^[13]}

Piper concluded his message with this:

In that same commencement service 55 years ago, there was another professor. He had a degree from a prestigious European university. We met at his house several times. I took a couple of courses from him. When I left school, I heard later that he was beginning to invest in the stock market. He was eventually consumed with a passion for wealth. And he walked away. Today he’s not a believer. He doesn’t even believe in God, with his doctorate in theology.

What’s going to keep you on the Calvary road with Jesus — who loved you and gave himself for you — living a life of joyful simplicity, lavish generosity, heavenly-mindedness? The answer is this: God will keep you. “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible” (Matthew 19:26). And one of the means he might use to keep you is a plaque hanging on your wall: “Remember the Rich Young Man.”^[14]

Timothy J. Keller, The Timothy Keller Sermon Archive (New York City: Redeemer Presbyterian Church, 2013). ↑
June 3, 2026

Graduates, Remember the Rich Young Man

To the Class of 2026

Commencement Address | Bethlehem College and Seminary | Minneapolis; Jude 3, 2026

https://www.desiringgod.org/messages/graduates-remember-the-rich-young-man ↑
H. L. Willmington, The Outline Bible (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 1999), Mt 19:16–30. ↑
Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1993), Mt 19:16. ↑
Tony Evans, The Tony Evans Bible Commentary (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2019), 901. ↑
Biblical Studies Press, The NET Bible First Edition Notes (Biblical Studies Press, 2006), Mt 19:20. ↑
Tony Evans, The Tony Evans Bible Commentary (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2019), 901. ↑
Crossway Bibles, The ESV Study Bible (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2008), 1862. ↑
NT New Testament ↑
Michael G. Vanlaningham, “Matthew,” in The Moody Bible Commentary, ed. Michael A. Rydelnik and Michael Vanlaningham (Chicago, IL: Moody Publishers, 2014), 1489. ↑
vv. verses ↑
Michael G. Vanlaningham, “Matthew,” in The Moody Bible Commentary, ed. Michael A. Rydelnik and Michael Vanlaningham (Chicago, IL: Moody Publishers, 2014), 1489. ↑
Timothy J. Keller, The Timothy Keller Sermon Archive (New York City: Redeemer Presbyterian Church, 2013). ↑
Graduates, Remember the Rich Young Man

To the Class of 2026

Commencement Address | Bethlehem College and Seminary | Minneapolis; Jude 3, 2026

https://www.desiringgod.org/messages/graduates-remember-the-rich-young-man ↑

Come humbly before God; He accepts us based on Jesus’s death and resurrection (Luke 18:9-14)

Posted on August 9, 2026 by sarhodes

Praying in Humility (Luke 18:9ff)

Prepared and preached by Pastor Steve Rhodes for and at Bethel Friends Church in Poland, OH on Sunday, August 09, 2026

Do we recognize our need for Jesus?

Tim Keller shares:

In every culture … the Norse legends, the Finnish legends, The Kalevala, and Anglo-Saxon stuff like Beowulf. These are ancient pagan, northern European legends and cultures. At the very end of Beowulf, when the great king has died, here’s what they put on his tomb.

They say something like, “Of all men, he was the most hungry for glory.” See, in that culture, that was a compliment. I mean, the commentators on this say, we say … It’s almost untranslatable. In Anglo-Saxon, the word is lof-geornost, and it means to be hungry for glory, to be hungry for renown, to be hungry for acclaim.

Of course, in that culture, that meant glory and battle, but it was considered … In that culture, everybody was hungry for glory on the battlefield. Of course, in this ancient Jewish culture, the idea of getting glory on the battlefield was kind of repugnant, and to us it’s repugnant, but wait a minute. Are we not, though we cannot relate to the cultural form of this, talking about the same thing? What are they hungry for? What are we hungry for?[1]

We all feel like we need acceptance. Do we come to God as needy people?

My theme is:

Come humbly before God; He accepts us based on Jesus’s death and resurrection.

We see the characters in Luke 18:9-10.

In verse 9, we see the audience.
Let’s read Luke 18:9-10: He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt:
“Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.
Notice how this begins. He, Jesus, told a parable.
Who does He address the parable to? He addresses the parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and treated others with contempt.
At this point in Luke’s gospel, Jesus is heading to Jerusalem. He is on His way towards Jerusalem to be crucified.
From Luke 9:51-19:27, Jesus is on His road to Jerusalem. On this journey towards Jerusalem, Jesus goes right through Samaria. Most Jerusalem Jews avoided Samaria, but Jesus did not. Jesus came for everyone. While in Samaria, Jesus told 10 parables that are not found in the other gospels.
Jesus tells the parable of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10:25-37.
Jesus tells the parable of the prodigal son in Luke 15:11-32.
Jesus shares other parables during this time of traveling.
One of those is the parable that we are getting into.
This parable is addressed to people who trusted in themselves. They thought they were doing just fine and did not need a Savior.
In verse 10, we see the two people praying. One is a Pharisee. They are the religious elite of the day. They do not need any help, nor do they need Jesus, or so they thought.
Then a tax collector- they are not even supposed to be in the temple. They were looked down upon. It looked like they had sold out to Rome. The taxes were not regulated and held accountable, so the tax collectors would charge extra, taking advantage of people.
Sproul shares: The other man in the temple was a tax collector. When the Romans imposed taxes on people they conquered, they hired people from the conquered nation, from the Jews in this case, to go to their countrymen and collect the oppressive taxes. Tax collectors got rich on the commissions they made from serving Rome against their own people. They were the quislings of the day. When the people saw the tax collector, their hearts would swell with fury and hatred against him.[1]
II. In verses 11-12, we see the first prayer.
Look at the Pharisee’s prayer in Luke 18:11-12: The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’
He thinks he is okay, doesn’t he?
He talks about all that he has done for God. But it is all about him.
Keller: There’s a preposition here that in every single translation you pick up it’s going to translate it differently because it’s deliberately ambiguous. It’s a Greek preposition and it’s in verse 11. It says, “The Pharisee stood up and prayed …” In this translation it says, “… about himself.” In other translations, it’ll say, “by himself.” It’s a deliberately ambiguous preposition because it means both things…^[1]
I think the audience was laughing at this.
They were probably thinking, “I cannot believe Jesus said that. He is going to get Himself stoned or crucified.”
In verse 13, we see the second prayer.
Look at Luke 18:13: But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’
The tax collector, who was looked upon as a sinner, was very humble.
The tax collector pleaded to God in humility.
He asked for mercy.
Sproul: In contrast to the Pharisee, who said he’d never stolen, yet who stole the glory of God and who was not an atheist but was an idolater, stood the tax collector. He was probably by the door of the temple. He, in fear and trembling, wouldn’t even lift his face up to heaven. His gaze was on the floor. He brought absolutely nothing to God but his sin. He had nothing to offer to God except his guilt. “Be merciful. Have mercy. It’s only by Your grace alone, not Your grace and my contribution.” This man understood the doctrines of sola fide and sola gratia: justification by faith alone and justification by grace alone. There are tens of thousands of Christians in America today who will affirm justification by faith alone but not justification by grace alone. You really don’t believe in justification by faith alone if you think you’re adding something beyond your faith, beyond the righteousness of Christ, for you to be justified.[1]
In verse 14, we see Jesus’s principle.
Look at Luke 18:14: I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”
Jesus says the tax collector was justified. Jesus says the tax collector was declared righteous.
Why?
He recognized his brokenness before God. The humble will be exalted by God.
This is the sum of the gospel: how do we get justified?
It is all about Jesus.
We are all broken, and we need Jesus.
This parable is mainly about needing a Savior for eternal life.
I think most of us recognize this.
However, do we realize that we need a Savior for this life now?
We are all broken.
We are all in need.
Keller:
He says, “God, be merciful to me, the sinner.” When he uses that word merciful, in the Greek, it signals something very intriguing which doesn’t come across in English because the word mercy … Usually, when you see it in the New Testament, there’s a perfectly good Greek word that’s used, eleos. In fact, later on in this chapter, there’s a place where, for example, a blind man cries out and says, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” That’s the normal word for mercy, but not here.
The tax collector is using the word that literally means atone for my sin. It’s the word hilastērion. In the temple, there was a Holy of Holies, and there was a place where God spoke, his shekinah glory dwelled, but it was over the ark of the covenant, in which was the Law, the Ten Commandments.
In other words, you could not come near God without being scrutinized by the Law. So who in the world could pass the scrutiny of the Law in order to see God? But over the top of the ark of the covenant was a gold slab called the mercy seat. It was called the hilastērion. The very same word the tax collector is using here, and almost certainly, he had it in mind.
On the mercy seat, once a year, Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, the high priest could come back in and talk to God only because he put the blood of a substitute, who died to pay the penalty for the sins of the people, on the mercy seat so that the Law’s scrutiny was satisfied, that the Law’s penalty had been fulfilled.
This word hilastērion is used, in Hebrews 2:17, of Jesus because in Hebrews 2:17 we’re told that for this reason Jesus became a merciful and faithful High Priest in service to God, that he might make hilastērion, propitiation, atonement, for the sins of the people. This man is not saying, “God, let me off. God, lower your standards. God, just overlook my sins.” That doesn’t help with the problem of righteousness.
What he’s saying is, “Lord, I need atonement for my sin.” Well, where does it come from? Here’s how it comes. Jesus Christ became the sinner. He became the ultimate sinner. He died on the cross for us. He was looking at you and me, I believe, when he looked at his disciples falling asleep on him at his moment of greatest need. Do you remember, in the garden, he says, “All I want for you to do is just stay awake,” and they keep falling asleep, and yet he died for them anyway?
Here is how Christians deal with the problem of approval. You have to know, first of all, Jesus loved you so much that he made atonement for you. Secondly, he made such atonement for you that now he can love you. What does that mean? He can come in. Once he died for you and paid the penalty for your sin, in spite of all the things you’ve done wrong, now you’re accepted in him. You’re utterly approved in him.[1]
We are approved by Jesus, not by our merit, but by His.
Let’s pray like the tax collector.
Come to God in humility.

[1] Timothy J. Keller, The Timothy Keller Sermon Archive (New York City: Redeemer Presbyterian Church, 2013).

[1] Sproul, R.C.. Luke: An Expositional Commentary (p. 459). Ligonier Ministries. Kindle Edition.

^[1] Timothy J. Keller, The Timothy Keller Sermon Archive (New York City: Redeemer Presbyterian Church, 2013).

[1] Sproul, R.C.. Luke: An Expositional Commentary (p. 459). Ligonier Ministries. Kindle Edition.

[1] Timothy J. Keller, The Timothy Keller Sermon Archive (New York City: Redeemer Presbyterian Church, 2013).

The Disciples Ask to Have Their Faith Increased (Luke 17:5ff)

Posted on August 2, 2026 by sarhodes

The Disciples Ask to Have Their Faith Increased (Luke 17:5ff)

Prepared and preached by Pastor Steve Rhodes for and at Bethel Friends Church in Poland, OH on Sunday, August 2, 2026

Lee Strobel shares about talking with Dr. Craig Keener about miracles. He shares:

With that, Keener began recounting some of the stories he had investigated. He started with the case of a nine-year-old British girl who was diagnosed with deafness in September 1982, apparently the result of a virus that severely damaged nerves in both of her ears.

“Her case is reported by Dr. R. F. R. Gardner, a well-credentialed physician,” Keener said. “What makes this case especially interesting is that there is medical confirmation before the healing and immediately afterward, which is unusual to have.”

The child’s medical record says she was diagnosed with “untreatable bilateral sensorineural deafness.” Her attending physician told her parents there was no cure and nothing he could do to repair her damaged nerves. She was outfitted with hearing aids that did help her hear to some degree.

The girl didn’t want to wear hearing aids the rest of her life, so she started to pray that God would heal her. Her family and friends joined her. In fact, her mother said she felt a definite prompting to call out for God’s help.

“I kept feeling God was telling me to pray specifically for healing,” she said. “Passages kept coming out at me as I read: If you have faith like children . . . If one among you is ill, lay hands . . . Ask and you shall receive . . . Your faith has made you whole.”

On March 8, 1983, the girl went to the audiologist because one of her hearing aids had been damaged at school. After being examined and refitted, she was sent home.

The next evening, the child suddenly jumped out of her bed without her hearing aids and came bounding down the stairs. “Mummy, I can hear!” she exclaimed.

Her mother, astonished, tested to see if she could detect noises and words—and she could, even whispers. Her mother called the audiologist, who said, “I don’t believe you. It is not possible. All right, if some miracle has happened, I am delighted. Have audiograms done.”

The following day, she was tested again, and her audiogram and tympanogram came back fully normal. “I can give no explanation for this,” said the audiologist. “I have never seen anything like it in my life.”

The girl’s doctor ruled out possible medical explanations. After repeated successful audiograms, the dumbfounded consultant’s advice to her parents: “Forget she was ever deaf.”[1]

When we pray, how is our faith?

My theme today is:

The disciples ask Jesus to increase their faith.

Context:
- This section follows the parable of the Rich man and Lazarus in Luke 17:19-31.
- Jesus is giving mini messages.
- He warned them about causing others to stumble (Luke 17:1-2), then about forgiving others.
- Then, the disciples ask for an increase in faith.
On Faith (Luke 17:5-6)
- Luke 17:5–6 (ESV)
  ⁵The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!” ⁶And the Lord said, “If you had faith like a grain of mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.
- Why are they asking this?
- To me, they seem overwhelmed by what Jesus shared.
- In Luke 17:1-5, Jesus warned against causing someone else to sin (Luke 17:1-2) and told them never to stop forgiving.
- Further, I agree with John MacArthur[1] that this is about humility. Jesus had spoken about forgiveness. After this, Jesus will be talking about humility. It is humbling to admit we need help.
- Do we admit that we need help?
- 1 Corinthians 2:1–2 (ESV)
  And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. ²For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.
- The request by the disciples (Luke 17:5): “We need more faith; tell us how to get it.”
- NET: The request of the apostles, “Increase our faith,” is not a request for a gift of faith, but a request to increase the depth of their faith.^[2]
- What is faith? This means our trust in the Lord. Faith has the idea of trust.
- When we pray, do we recognize that we are needy people?
- Are we trusting the Lord?
- The Lord then gave the example.
- The reply by the Savior (Luke 17:6): Even a little faith can do great things!^[3]
- A black mulberry tree is a deciduous fruit tree that grows about 20 ft (6 m) tall and has black juicy berries. This tree has an extensive root system, so to pull it up would be a major operation.^[4]
- To cause a tree to be uprooted and planted in the sea is impossible. The expression is a rhetorical idiom. It is like saying a camel can go through the eye of a needle (Luke 18:25).^[5]
- The image of the mustard seed is another hyperbole, but the point is clear. Christians, even apostles, are distinguished not by the quantity of faith, but by the employment of faith; not by greatness or smallness of faith, but by acting on faith, even faith the size of a mustard seed.^{21,^[6]}
- After these verses, Jesus gives an illustration.
- Luke 17:7–10 (ESV)
- ⁷“Will any one of you who has a servant plowing or keeping sheep say to him when he has come in from the field, ‘Come at once and recline at table’? ⁸Will he not rather say to him, ‘Prepare supper for me, and dress properly, and serve me while I eat and drink, and afterward you will eat and drink’? ⁹Does he thank the servant because he did what was commanded? ¹⁰So you also, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.’ ”
- What is the point?
- This fits in with humility. This fits in with forgiveness.
- As Timothy Keller shares:
  Now why would Jesus use this illustration when his disciples say, “We can’t do this”? He says, “You could if you remembered who you were. You have an owner, and what if he made you pay for everything? You are just servants. If you start to hate the people who have wronged you, you’re forgetting you’re servants.”^[7]
Applications:
- Do we ask the Lord to increase our faith?
- Do we remember who we are?
- We are servants (Luke 17:10), but we are servants of King Jesus.
- Our faith is trusting in Jesus.
- In another passage, Jesus said:
- John 14:12 (ESV)
  ¹²“Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father.
- Jesus is talking about the spreading of the Gospel.
- Jesus is talking about what happened in the book of Acts.
- If we pray in His Name, this means we are praying in His Will. Back then, “name” had to do with who a person was. When we are praying in His will, we can do great things. Jesus said that when they believe in Him, they will do greater works than He did. Now, that is a little bit of hyperbole because Jesus saved all those who come to him by His death on the cross, but what happened in Acts? The Gospel spread all over the known world, and even further than that. The Holy Spirit came upon them, and over 3000 were saved (Acts 2:41, and that was just the beginning).
  What about faith in our passage of Luke 17:5?
- One source shares:
  These hyperbolic expressions describe what faith can do, but in practice Jesus was not speaking of a faith that stages wonders²³⁸ but of a faith that facilitates healing,²³⁹ that understands the need of Christ to suffer (24:25–26), that has confidence in God’s providential care (8:25), that will not fall away (8:13; 22:32) but will endure (Acts 14:22), and that will believe God and grow.^{240, ^[1]}
- The more I live as a Christian. The more I am convinced that I need to live “in Christ.”
- That means I need the fuel that only Jesus can give me.
- I began this sermon about miracles, but the greater miracle is salvation in Jesus.
- It is a miracle when we experience salvation in Jesus.
- It is a miracle when we share the gospel with someone.
- Think about it:
- When we are saved, we are forgiven. We are redeemed. This carries the idea of being bought out of slavery. We are bought by Jesus’s blood out of slavery to sin.
- When we are saved, we are sanctified. This means we are set apart for a purpose (1 Cor. 1:2). God sets us apart for His purposes. God makes us holy. This is positional sanctification. We are in a position of holiness because of Jesus.
- When we are saved, we are being sanctified. That means God is growing us more mature in Him. This is progressive sanctification (Heb. 10:14; Phil. 1:6; 2 Peter 3:18).
- When we are saved, we are justified. This means that God declares us righteous. How does this happen? Jesus gives us His righteousness, and Jesus takes our sin upon Himself (Rom. 8:1, 30; 2 Cor. 5:21).
- When we are saved, we are children of God (1 John 3:1).
- We can cry out to Him as a Father.
- We are in the family of God.
- We have the Holy Spirit (Rom. 8:9).
- Think about Who we are in Jesus.
- We live with Jesus.
- Are we living with Jesus?
- Do we ask Him to increase our faith?
- We can picture faith as a connection between the work of the Holy Spirit and the power at work in our new nature. Faith is a wire that conducts a current called grace that flows from the Spirit so that the new nature receives power.^{270,^[1]}
  
  Prayer
  
  ^[1] Tony Evans, Tony Evans’ Book of Illustrations: Stories, Quotes, and Anecdotes from More than 30 Years of Preaching and Public Speaking (Chicago, IL: Moody Publishers, 2009), 96.
  
  ²³⁸ Cf. Luke 4:9; 11:16, 29; 16:27–31.
  ²³⁹ Luke 7:9; 8:48; 18:42; Acts 14:9.
  ²⁴⁰ Acts 6:5; cf. Luke 1:45 with 1:20.
  ^[1] Robert H. Stein, Luke, vol. 24, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1992), 431–432.
  
  [1] MacArthur, John. Four Hallmarks of Humility, Part 3. September 10, 2006.
  https://www.gty.org/sermons/42-219/four-hallmarks-of-humility-part-3
  
  ^[2] Biblical Studies Press, The NET Bible First Edition Notes (Biblical Studies Press, 2006), Lk 17:5.
  ^[3] H. L. Willmington, The Outline Bible (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 1999), Lk 17:5–6.
  ^[4] Biblical Studies Press, The NET Bible First Edition Notes (Biblical Studies Press, 2006), Lk 17:6.
  ^[5] Ibid.
  ²¹ Nolland, Luke 9:21–18:34, 838, “What is needed is not the increase of faith, but the exercise of faith.”
  ^[6] James R. Edwards, The Gospel according to Luke, ed. D. A. Carson, The Pillar New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI; Cambridge, U.K.; Nottingham, England: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company; Apollos, 2015), 479.
  ^[7] Timothy J. Keller, The Timothy Keller Sermon Archive (New York City: Redeemer Presbyterian Church, 2013).

[1] Strobel, Lee. The Case for Miracles: A Journalist Investigates Evidence for the Supernatural (pp. 99-100). (Function). Kindle Edition.

Prayers to Increase Faith (Mark 9:24)

Posted on July 19, 2026 by sarhodes

Prayers to Increase Faith (Mark 9:24)

Prepared and preached by Pastor Steve Rhodes for and at Bethel Friends Church in Poland, OH on Sunday, July 19, 2026

We have been preaching on prayer. We have been focusing on prayer. Do we come to God as needy people? Are we honest with God?

Today, we look at a passage in which a father needed help. He was desperate. He was also honest. He was honest that he needed an increase in faith. Today, and in two weeks we will be talking about prayers for an increase in faith.

Today, my theme is:

Jesus heals and casts a demon out of a boy, despite his father’s unbelief.

My application: Be honest with God. Ask the Lord to increase our faith.

What is the context?
1. Jesus has just been transfigured before Peter, James, and John.
2. We see this in Mark 9:1-13.
3. Now, they come down from the mountain.
The scribes are arguing with a crowd (Mark 9:14-16).
1. Mark 9:14–16 (ESV)
2. ¹⁴And when they came to the disciples, they saw a great crowd around them, and scribes arguing with them. ¹⁵And immediately all the crowd, when they saw him, were greatly amazed and ran up to him and greeted him. ¹⁶And he asked them, “What are you arguing about with them?”
3. Imagine this: they come down from the mountain and see scribes arguing with the disciples.
4. It seems that they are arguing with the other nine disciples.
5. Who were the scribes? They were specialists in the law of Moses.^{^[1]}
6. Most scribes did not claim the power to work miracles, in contrast to Jesus’ disciples (6:12–13). Teachers of the law knew the Bible better than the disciples did, so if the disciples could not demonstrate God’s power in other ways, they risked their credibility.^{^[2]}
7. We will see; they are arguing about how to cast this demon out of the boy.
8. Then, Jesus comes down from the mountain, so they all rush towards Him.
9. Of course, Jesus asks what they are arguing about (Mark 9:16).
10. I wonder: did Jesus and the disciples go up the mountain on the same trail they came down? Then, they come down the mountain and see these people gathered, discussing?
11. Was this a lively discussion?
12. Where was this demon-possessed boy? Was he nearby? What condition was he in?
13. Many lessons are here. (1) We see that demons are real beings, not simply mythological creatures. Jesus clearly believes in the demonic. (2) Demons desire to inflict pain and death. (3) Demons are capable of inflicting physical suffering. This boy had symptoms resembling epilepsy (Matt 17:15). (4) In our own strength we are helpless against the supernatural powers of the demonic. (5) Spiritual victories in the past (cf. Mark 6:7–13) are no guarantee we will be victorious today, especially when we operate with faith in ourselves rather than in Christ. (6) When all human efforts have been exhausted, we can turn to Jesus. Counter to our sinfulness and weakness, He is where we should turn from the start.^{^[3]}
14. Dr. Jeremiah Johnston shares:
15. Sometimes mental illness and demon possession go hand in hand, the former opening up the possibility of the latter, or the latter causing the former. We may have an example of this in the case of the boy and his distraught father (see Matthew 17:14–20; Mark 9:14–27; Luke 9:37–43). The father tells Jesus, “Teacher, I brought my son to you, for he has a dumb spirit; and wherever it seizes him, it dashes him down; and he foams and grinds his teeth” (Mark 9:17–18). Should the reference to a “dumb” or “mute spirit” be understood as a sentient being? Or is it a condition? In Matthew’s account (17:15), a Greek word that means “moon-struck” is used. But at the end of the story, Matthew (like Mark) says Jesus spoke and the “demon” came out of the boy. Luke says Jesus “rebuked the unclean spirit” (Luke 9:42). In the case of the tormented boy, we do not know which happened first—the demon or the illness—but Jesus drove out the one and healed the other. (In all three gospel accounts the evil spirit is driven out, then the boy is healed.)^[4]
16. Dr. Johnston seems to be stating that there was both a mental health issue and a demon possession.
17. One source shares: The symptoms were similar to epilepsy, but Mark says they were the result of unclean spirits (9:17, 20, 25).^{^[5]}
18. IVP BBC NT: The possessed person’s lack of control over his own motor responses is paralleled by examples of spirit possession in many cultures through history and is attested in anthropological studies of spirit possession today. Some writers have noted parallels between this form of demonized activity and epileptic behavior (though epilepsy and demonic possession are distinguished in Mt 4:24); the parallels could indicate that the spirit gained access to the same centers in the brain where seizures could also be induced by other means.^{^[6]}
The demon-possessed boy (Mark 9:17-24).
1. Mark 9:17–18 (ESV)
2. ¹⁷And someone from the crowd answered him, “Teacher, I brought my son to you, for he has a spirit that makes him mute. ¹⁸And whenever it seizes him, it throws him down, and he foams and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid. So I asked your disciples to cast it out, and they were not able.”
3. Now, the boy’s father speaks. He is within the crowd.
4. How big is this crowd? We don’t know.
5. He addresses Jesus as “teacher.”
6. This man’s son has a “spirit” that makes him mute.
7. This is obviously a demonic spirit.
8. An angelic spirit would not do harm to a boy.
9. Verse 18, Mark 9:18, shows that this demonic spirit seizes him. It makes him throw himself down, grind his teeth, and become rigid.
10. This is a horrible situation.
11. What was this like for this father?
12. The man loves his son, and he is helpless.
13. The disciples were asked to cast the demon out and they couldn’t do it.
Jesus responds.
1. Mark 9:19–23 (ESV)
2. ¹⁹And he answered them, “O faithless generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him to me.” ²⁰And they brought the boy to him. And when the spirit saw him, immediately it convulsed the boy, and he fell on the ground and rolled about, foaming at the mouth. ²¹And Jesus asked his father, “How long has this been happening to him?” And he said, “From childhood. ²²And it has often cast him into fire and into water, to destroy him. But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.” ²³And Jesus said to him, “ ‘If you can’! All things are possible for one who believes.”
3. We see Jesus respond.
4. We see Jesus’s frustration with the people.
5. We know this was not sin, but frustration with the fallen world.
6. I wonder, was this Jesus hurting for the poor boy?
7. The fundamental problem of the people (the opponents, the spiritually oppressed, and even the disciples) is that they are faithless (cf. 6:6; 9:23). Jesus’ burdened expression echoes that of the prophets (e.g., Deut. 32:5, 20; Isa. 6:11; Jer. 5:21–22; cf. note on Mark 8:12).^{^[7]}
8. Daniel Akin: I appreciate the convicting words of William Lane: “The rhetorical questions … express the loneliness and the anguish of the one authentic believer in a world which expresses only unbelief” (Mark, 332). Sinclair Ferguson adds, “Mark vividly captures the pressures and frustrations of Christ’s life in these verses. On the mountaintop he had been faced with the spiritual short-sightedness of his disciples. Here in the valley he was confronted by [their] unbelief” (Mark, 143).^{^[8]}
9. Jesus asks for the boy to be brought to Him.
10. In verse 20, the demonic spirit saw Jesus and made the boy convulse more.
11. This is a horrible thing. Imagine your son or your daughter enduring this.
12. He is rolling around and foaming at the mouth.
13. Jesus asks the father how long this has been going on.
14. The father says this has been going on since childhood. The demon is trying to destroy him.
15. The father asks for compassion.
16. Notice how the father says, “if you can…”
17. Jesus says, “All things are possible if you believe.”
Help
1. Mark 9:24 (ESV)
2. Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, “I believe; help my unbelief!”
3. Is that our cry?
4. Are we honest with our doubts?
5. One pastor writes: As a pastor, I was called to meet a couple at a hospital. Their daughter had suffered a seizure and was not breathing. When I reached the hospital, neither the parents nor the doctor were with the child. A nurse was unplugging the flat-lined machines.
6. The Holy Spirit prompted me to do something I’d never done before — pray over the girl’s lifeless body. I asked the nurse if I could pray for a minute, to which she replied, “You know she’s dead,” but allowed me to go ahead.
7. I asked God to restore the little girl. Then I went to the next room and found the parents witnessing the doctor. About a minute later, we heard a scream, then the little girl crying for her mommy. It’s never happened to me before or since. But Jesus is still healer.^[9]
8. When we pray, do we pray expecting God to do the miraculous?
9. Can we be honest?
10. We know some are healed regardless of faith.
11. Jesus healed the child of this man, who admitted to weak faith.
The demon comes out (Mark 9:25-29).
1. Mark 9:25–29 (ESV)
2. ²⁵And when Jesus saw that a crowd came running together, he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, “You mute and deaf spirit, I command you, come out of him and never enter him again.” ²⁶And after crying out and convulsing him terribly, it came out, and the boy was like a corpse, so that most of them said, “He is dead.” ²⁷But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose. ²⁸And when he had entered the house, his disciples asked him privately, “Why could we not cast it out?” ²⁹And he said to them, “This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer.”
3. Notice, Jesus rebuked the demon.
4. Jesus casts out the demon.
5. Jesus told the demon to stay out.
6. Otherwise, maybe the demon would have tried to enter the boy again.
7. Jesus’s command to never enter him again is unique in all the exorcisms in the Gospels.^{^[10]}
8. Notice, the demon did not leave peacefully.
9. The boy cried out and convulsed more.
10. Then, the boy appeared dead.
11. Jesus helped the boy up.
12. The disciples ask privately why they could not cast out the demon.
13. In verse 29, Mark 9:29, that type of demon can only be driven out by prayer.
14. It seems that they were trying to cast out the demon without prayer.
15. Their failure is an occasion for encouragement to more prayer (cf. 4:10; 7:17; 10:10), implying that more time and effort in prayer (and therefore in closer fellowship with God) leads to growth in faith.^{^[11]}
16. Exorcists’ methods normally focused on their own power or, more precisely, their ability to manipulate other powers; Jesus here emphasizes prayer instead (9:29).^{^[12]}
17. Notice that, prayer is so very important.
18. Daniel Akin:
19. The disciples failed big time. It was public, brought ridicule, cast doubt on their Master and mission, and filled them with self-doubt. So when Jesus initiated reflection and debriefing, they asked, “Why couldn’t we drive the demon out?” Their question betrays a sense of confidence in their own strengths and abilities. It suggests a spirit of pride rooted in past accomplishments (6:7–13) that they believed should have been sufficient for this encounter. They are saying, “We did it before and we will do it again. But it didn’t work this time. Why?” Failure leads them to question themselves. This is a good thing.^{^[13]}
20. The phrase “this kind” refers to casting out demons and all other spiritual conflicts of this nature. He is not saying some demon exorcisms require prayer but others do not. He is saying that whenever we take to the spiritual battlefield, if we go in our own strength, pride, and self-sufficiency, we have lost the battle before it begins. Faith bridges the gap between divine omnipotence and human weakness, and that faith is experienced and exercised through prayer. Could this be why prayer is one of the most difficult of the spiritual disciplines? Could this be why we don’t see greater things in missions, our churches, and our personal lives? Is this why Paul says in 1 Thessalonians 5:17, “Pray without ceasing”?^{^[14]}
21. The power of prayer is obviously not going to be experienced if we don’t pray. Tim Keller observes that the prayer of the father is characterized by honesty, helplessness, hopefulness, specificity, and passion (“Mark,” 112). These character traits of believing prayer can be summed up in one word: humility. It all depends on Jesus. If He acts, I’m delivered; if He doesn’t, I am lost. Faith expressed in prayer says, “I would not have it any other way.”^{^[15]}

Tim Keller:

To say, “I don’t have faith, I’m riddled with doubts, I’m not faithful, but help me,” is faith in Jesus instead of you. Jesus says, “When you say that, my power is released into your life, because now, finally, you have faith in me.” Remember the absolute difference between the religions of the world and Christianity. Religion says, “You give God a good record; then God owes you blessing.” Christianity says, “God gives you, at infinite cost to himself, a perfect record through Jesus Christ by grace, and then you live gladly for him.”

They’re absolutely different, totally different. Religion starts by saying, “Look, I’m holy. I’m faithful. I’ve really summoned up all my faith. I’ve gotten rid of all of my doubts. Now you have to work in my life.” I’m sorry. There are many branches of Christianity that talk like that. “Oh, God will only bless me if I get it all together.”

Here’s a man who says, “I don’t have faith. I have all my doubts. I don’t have what it takes, but help me,” and Jesus says, “I can work with that,” because that is saving faith. It’s a way of saying, “Accept me not because of what I am but of what you are.” Isn’t that good news? The first step into access to the presence of God is not holiness; it’s helplessness.^{^[16]}

Prayer

William Arndt et al., A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000), 206. ↑
Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1993), Mk 9:14–15. ↑
Daniel L. Akin, Exalting Jesus in Mark, ed. Daniel L. Akin, David Platt, and Tony Merida, Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary (Nashville, TN: Holman Reference, 2014), 187. ↑
Johnston, Jeremiah J.. Unleashing Peace: Experiencing God’s Shalom in Your Pursuit of Happiness (p. 130). (Function). Kindle Edition. ↑
Ross H. McLaren, “Mark,” in CSB Study Bible: Notes, ed. Edwin A. Blum and Trevin Wax (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2017), 1575. ↑
Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1993), Mk 9:16–18. ↑
Crossway Bibles, The ESV Study Bible (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2008), 1912. ↑
Daniel L. Akin, Exalting Jesus in Mark, ed. Daniel L. Akin, David Platt, and Tony Merida, Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary (Nashville, TN: Holman Reference, 2014), 187. ↑
https://www.cmalliance.org/about/beliefs/healer ↑
Ross H. McLaren, “Mark,” in CSB Study Bible: Notes, ed. Edwin A. Blum and Trevin Wax (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2017), 1576. ↑
Crossway Bibles, The ESV Study Bible (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2008), 1912. ↑
Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1993), Mk 9:28–30. ↑
Daniel L. Akin, Exalting Jesus in Mark, ed. Daniel L. Akin, David Platt, and Tony Merida, Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary (Nashville, TN: Holman Reference, 2014), 189. ↑
Daniel L. Akin, Exalting Jesus in Mark, ed. Daniel L. Akin, David Platt, and Tony Merida, Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary (Nashville, TN: Holman Reference, 2014), 190. ↑
Daniel L. Akin, Exalting Jesus in Mark, ed. Daniel L. Akin, David Platt, and Tony Merida, Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary (Nashville, TN: Holman Reference, 2014), 190. ↑
Timothy J. Keller, The Timothy Keller Sermon Archive (New York City: Redeemer Presbyterian Church, 2013). ↑

Hezekiah Prays (2 Kings 19:14)

Posted on July 12, 2026 by sarhodes

Hezekiah Prays (2 Kings 19:14ff)

Prepared and preached by Pastor Steve Rhodes for and at Bethel Friends Church in Poland, OH on Sunday, July 12, 2026

I love history. I absolutely love history. I love studying and reading about it. I love listening to things related to history. I love watching historical movies. I love watching documentaries. I love history. One thing history shows us is that we are not in charge as much as we think. Think about it: how many times have things not turned out the way we expected? Nations can have the best generals and leaders and still face problems. It looked like no one could stop Japan and Germany, and then the United States was awakened. Even after we were attacked, it took some time for our infrastructure to catch up. By the end of the war, Germany and Japan were soundly defeated. What about the First World War? After the war, Churchill wrote about his surprise at the United States taking a new role in the peace treaties. Think about Churchill. No one would have thought he would rise to power again. In the First World War, he had a brilliant strategy, but it failed. It was called the Gallipoli Campaign. It failed. Yet in the Second World War, he was the leader the Allies needed.

These things show that God oversees world affairs. What about the Civil War? Lincoln never should’ve been president. Read the book Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin, which is about Lincoln and his cabinet. She also explains how he became the candidate. He was a self-taught man and God’s man for that time. Read about U.S. Grant. No one expected him to be a great general, but he was God’s man for that time. The South should’ve never been a challenge for the North, but the North struggled to win. What about the Second War with England?

What about the War of 1812? Do we see God’s providence in that war? Years ago, I watched a History Channel documentary about our history. Do you know that after the British burned Washington, D.C., they were heading to Baltimore? Do you know what stopped them? A hurricane stopped them. How often does a hurricane hit Washington, D.C.?

Forget that war, how did we ever win the Revolutionary War? No one would have expected that.

As we continue our series on prayer, we see Israel being attacked. The king of Israel has already given money to Assyria, yet the Assyrian king wants more. The Assyrian king is named Sennacherib, and he is taunting Israel. He is blaspheming the Lord. Hezekiah prays. The Lord intervenes.

My theme today:

We see Hezekiah’s worshipful prayer asking for God’s help, but his ultimate concern is for the Lord’s honor.

My application: When we pray, remember who we are.

Context:
1. In 2 Kings 18, beginning with verse 17, Assyria begins threatening Jerusalem.
2. In 2 Kings 18:13, we see that Assyria takes all of Judah’s fortified cities.
3. They are advancing.
4. Hezekiah pays off King Sennacherib of Assyria. He pays him all the gold and silver from the house of the Lord. He even stripped gold from the temple doors. That was not enough.
5. This is also in Isa. 36:1-22 and 2 Chronicles 32:9-19.
6. The ESV SB summarizes this well and explains what happened after Hezekiah’s prayer.
7. Assyria Attacks Judah
8. 701 b.c.
9. During the reign of Hezekiah of Judah, Sennacherib of Assyria attacked cities along the western edge of Judah, and he sent officials to besiege Jerusalem and convince Hezekiah to surrender. The Cushite king Tirhakah advanced from Egypt to support Hezekiah but apparently failed. The siege of Jerusalem was broken when the angel of the Lord killed 185,000 Assyrians in a single night. Sennacherib withdrew and returned to Nineveh in Assyria, where his own sons killed him.^{^[1]}
10. Breaking it down, in 2 Kings 18:19-35, the Assyrians surround Jerusalem and taunt its citizens, promising them swift and severe punishment unless they surrender.^{^[2]}
11. Following this, in 2 Kings 18:36-19:4, Hezekiah’s officials report this to the king, and he becomes afraid. He dresses in sackcloth and prays in the Temple. He also asks Isaiah to pray for Judah.^{^[3]}
12. Sackcloth was a sign of humility. Hezekiah, the king, and other officials were dressed in sackcloth (2 Kings 19:1-2).
13. As an application, how do we show that we are humble before the Lord? This is the king of Judah, dressed in sackcloth as a sign of humility. That is super-powerful!
14. He is the king, and yet, he does this.
15. Are we humble before the Lord?
16. In 2 Kings 19:5-7, Isaiah speaks words of assurance. God will not be mocked! This is very prophetic about how Sennacherib will die.
17. In 2 Kings 19:8-13, Assyria gives a final warning to Hezekiah: Sennacherib [he is the king of Assyria] receives word that he must put down a rebellion in Ethiopa. Before he goes, he warns Hezekiah of the fate of all the nations that have opposed him and says that the same will happen to Judah.^{^[4]}
18. Sennacherib taunts Hezekiah. He asks about the gods of these other nations that he had conquered. He asks if the gods of these other nations helped them.
19. 2 Kings 19:12–13 (ESV)
20. ¹²Have the gods of the nations delivered them, the nations that my fathers destroyed, Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the people of Eden who were in Telassar? ¹³Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of the city of Sepharvaim, the king of Hena, or the king of Ivvah?’ ”
21. In the previous chapter (2 Kings 18:35) Sennacherib’s officials spoke these mocking words to the people of Judah.
22. It seems like this is more of a letter that Hezekiah received from Sennacherib.
23. What does Hezekiah do?
24. How does he respond?
Hezekiah goes to the Lord with the problem (2 Kings 19:14).
1. 2 Kings 19:14: Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it; and Hezekiah went up to the house of the Lord and spread it before the Lord.
2. This is powerful! We see here that Sennacherib’s threats are in a letter.
3. Hezekiah takes it before the Lord.
4. Can we learn from this? Maybe we should do the same. Take our troubles literally before the Lord.
5. Remember, prior to this, Hezekiah was already humble before the Lord (2 Kings 19:1ff). He sent other officials covered in sackcloth to Isaiah.
6. Now, he goes to the house of the Lord and spreads it out before the Lord.
7. Godly Hezekiah returned to the house of the Lord (cf. v. 1) as he should have, in contrast to Ahaz who in a similar crisis refused even to ask a sign from the Lord (Is 7:11, 12).^{^[5]}
Hezekiah depicts the Lord as the sole creator God (2 Kings 19:15-16).
1. 2 Kings 19:15–16 (ESV)
2. ¹⁵And Hezekiah prayed before the Lord and said: “O Lord, the God of Israel, enthroned above the cherubim, you are the God, you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; you have made the heavens and the earth. ¹⁶Incline your ear, O Lord, and hear; open your eyes, O Lord, and see; and hear the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to mock the living God.
3. Now, we see Hezekiah pray.
4. The cherubim were winged creatures associated with the Israelite ark of the covenant and Yahweh’s presence. They also accompanied Yahweh in his travels through the heavens (see Ps 18:11). They appear in Assyrian mythological texts as Karibu, angelic intercessors. In Assyrian art they are shown as various composite creatures with one or more faces (human, bovine, aquiline, lionlike) and two or four legs.^{^[6]}
5. Notice, Hezekiah prays that the Lord is God alone.
6. In comparison to all these false gods, the Lord to whom Hezekiah prays is God alone.
7. YHWH, the covenant-keeping God of Israel, created the heavens and the earth.
8. In verse 16, Hezekiah asks for God to hear and see. Notice the descriptions he uses:
9. Incline your ear and hear.
10. Open your eyes and see.
11. Hezekiah shares that Sennacherib has mocked the “living God.” The Lord is the living God.
12. Hezekiah is not simply asking for deliverance. He is concerned with the Lord’s reputation.
13. When we pray, what is most important to us?
14. Are we most concerned with the Lord’s holiness?
Hezekiah asks the Lord for deliverance (2 Kings 19:17-19).
1. 2 Kings 19:17–19 (ESV)
2. ¹⁷Truly, O Lord, the kings of Assyria have laid waste the nations and their lands ¹⁸and have cast their gods into the fire, for they were not gods, but the work of men’s hands, wood and stone. Therefore they were destroyed. ¹⁹So now, O Lord our God, save us, please, from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you, O Lord, are God alone.”
3. Notice, Hezekiah acknowledges what Assyria has done, but he contrasts these gods with the Lord. He contrasts these fake gods with YHWH, the Living Lord.
4. In verse 19, he makes his requests.
5. Even with his request, the purpose is not for himself, but so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that YHWH is God alone.
6. The prayer, the request, is about the Lord’s glory.
Applications:
1. The prayers in the Bible are worshipful.
2. They are requests laced with worship. These kings and prophets could not say hello without talking about how awesome the Lord is.
3. When we pray, we must understand who we are and Who the Lord is.
4. Are our prayers about us, or about God?

I began this message talking about how things don’t always work out as expected. What about George Washington? He should’ve died many times:

Washington should not have survived. He had an incident when he was 23 years old that should have killed him and then Medved writes: Washington’s successful defiance of danger became a notable feature of his leadership during his eight years of service in the Revolutionary War. The general in chief frequently and fearlessly exposed himself to enemy fire, rallying his troops on many occasions by his own incomparable example. At the Battle of Princeton in January 1777, he rode at the head of his troops on a huge white horse as they marched directly on a well-formed British line. When the Americans came within range, both sides fired, and smoke from their rifles temporarily obscured Washington, who rode forward halfway between them. His aide, Richard Fitzgerald, covered his face with his hat in order to avoid watching the inevitable death of his beloved commander. But as the air cleared and he lowered his hat, he saw men on both sides who were dead and dying while Washington, unscathed, rose in his stirrups and urged his men forward against the shattered British line. “It’s a fine fox chase, my boys!” he shouted. A year and half later, in June 1778, the Marquis de Lafayette, the aristocratic Frenchman who became an esteemed general in the Continental Army, recalled the great man at the Battle of Monmouth, where “General Washington seemed to arrest fortune with one glance….His presence stopped the retreat….His graceful bearing on horseback, his calm and deportment which still retained a trace of displeasure…were all calculated to inspire the highest degree of enthusiasm….I thought then as now that I had never beheld so superb a man.”^[7]

God is in charge.

We can humbly learn to pray like Hezekiah. The Lord is in charge.

Prayer

Crossway Bibles, The ESV Study Bible (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2008), 681. ↑
Ibid., 2 Ki 18:19–35. ↑
Ibid., 2 Ki 18:36–19:4. ↑
Ibid., 2 Ki 19:8–13. ↑
John F. MacArthur Jr., The MacArthur Study Bible: New American Standard Bible. (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2006), 2 Ki 19:14. ↑
Victor Harold Matthews, Mark W. Chavalas, and John H. Walton, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament, electronic ed. (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2000), 2 Ki 19:15. ↑
Medved, Michael. The American Miracle: Divine Providence in the Rise of the Republic (p. 81). (Function). Kindle Edition. ↑

Independence Day- Patriotism and the Christian Life

Posted on July 5, 2026 by sarhodes

I want to thank Mrs. Karen Olsen Coy for leading this play.

I want to thank everyone involved in the play.

Should Christians be patriotic?
1. What does Scripture say about being patriotic? I am glad you asked.
2. In Romans 9:3, Paul shares: For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh.
3. In that passage, the apostle Paul really cared that his people, the Jews, would know Christ.
4. In a direct way, we can make the application that we must care that our nation knows Jesus. Indirectly, we can apply this to the idea of being patriotic.
5. We should want the best for our country, right? Of course, we should.
6. Romans 9 also shows that God can control nations the way He wants to. God has chosen Israel above other nations.
7. In John 17:18 Jesus says: As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.
8. We are to be in the world but not of the world (John 17:16).
9. Let’s turn to one more passage. Let’s turn to 1 Timothy 2:1-2: First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way…
10. That passage is telling us to pray for our leaders. Whether we like them or not, we should pray for our leaders.
11. John Piper shares:
12. C. S. Lewis wrote a book, The Four Loves, and he distinguishes philia, friendship; erōs, sex; agapē, the love of God; and the one that I think is relevant right here: storgē.[1]
13. This comes from Piper: Storgē is a kind of affection. We should as Christians have an affection for our country. That is the type of love we should have for our country. When you leave our country, you are likely happy to come home. This is home, we love home. When we see our country losing certain good values, that disappoints us. Some of you may feel like you cannot recognize the country that you love. But this is not the love you have for a spouse, a child, or God (agape); this is an affection. This is a storgē
14. Yes, in that sense, we should love our country. We should support our country. We should be patriotic. We should be proud to be an American. We should care that our people, the people of our nation, are saved. We should want the best for our nation. Christians should be the best citizens.
15. We could go to other passages. Romans 13 is about being submissive to the authorities. We also see that in 1 Peter 2:12-17.
The United States has always been different because of our Christian values.
1. Our Judeo-Christian history makes us stand out.
2. We were founded on Christian values.
3. We were founded on Biblical values, and there is a common-grace blessing when we follow His values. Yes, we had sins in our past, but our values, by and large, were Biblical.
4. We see this in the impact of the Puritans before our founding.
5. We have many quotes from our founders. See me for the Truth Project lesson 10, which shares much about this. Our founders recognized that we needed to teach Christian values. John Adams: “Statesmen, my dear Sir, may plan and speculate for liberty, but it is Religion and Morality alone, which can establish the Principles upon which Freedom can securely stand.”[2]
6. Washington’s Farewell Address, Sept. 17, 1796: “…And let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion… reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principles.”[3]
7. Benjamin Rush: “The only foundation for… a republic is to be lain in religion.” “…Christianity is the only true and perfect religion; and that in proportion as mankind adopt its principles and obey its precepts they will be wise and happy.” (Benjamin Rush, “A Defense of the Use of the Bible as a School Book,” 1796.[4]
8. The problem is that today the State has replaced God. The State is supposed to surrender to God’s authority. Our founders recognized the importance of a Biblical Worldview.
9. We were founded on Judeo-Christian values, yet still have freedom of religion. People in the United States did not have to be Catholic, Protestant, or of any one national religion.
10. We have always supported the Jewish people and later Israel (Genesis 12). Not perfectly, but our pattern has been supporting the Jewish people and Israel.

Some applications:
1. We must understand that God is at work.
2. We must understand that God is at work in His providence, working through nations.
3. We must be good citizens, really caring about our people group as Paul did in Romans 9:3.
4. We must pray for our leaders (1 Tim 2:1-8).
5. We must not make our country an idol. We must be Christians first and then Americans.
6. Do you know Jesus?

The Bible uses four verbs to describe the Christian life: Believe, confess, commit, and trust. Let me explain:

The Bible teaches that we must confess our need for forgiveness. This means that we must confess that we are sinners in need of a Savior. In other words, we have done wrong things, and we need to be forgiven (Romans 3:23; 6:23; 10:9-10). We tell God this.
The Bible teaches that we must believe in Jesus. We must believe that He is who the Bible says He is. The Bible teaches that He was born of a virgin; He lived a sinless life and died on the cross for our sins, and He rose triumphantly over the grave (John 3:16; 14:6; 1 Cor. 15; 2 Cor. 5:17, and 21).
The Bible teaches that we must commit to Jesus as Lord and Savior. This means we are not simply fans of Jesus but followers of Jesus. Fans stay on the sidelines, but Jesus calls us to be on the field with Him. Jesus told them to count the cost before committing to Him (Luke 14:27-33).
The Bible teaches that we must trust The belief in Jesus as Lord and Savior is not a casual belief, but a firm trust (1 Timothy 1:15; John 3:16).

Firmly make the decision to be with Him in order to become like Him and to learn and do all that He says, and then arrange your affairs around Him.

[1] Piper, John. How Much Patriotism Is Too Much Patriotism? July, 3, 2020

https://www.desiringgod.org/interviews/how-much-patriotism-is-too-much-patriotism

[2] Letter of June 2, 1776, quoted in the Wall Builder Report, Summer 1993. John Adams, “Letter to Zabdiel Adams, Philadelphia, 21 June 1776,” in The Works of John Adams—Second President of the United States, ed. Charles Francis Adams (Boston: Little, Brown & Co., 1854), 9:401.Truth Project Lesson 10

[3] The Will of the People: Readings in American Democracy (Chicago: Great Books Foundation, 2001), 38.

[4] Benjamin Rush, Essays, Literary, Moral & Philosophical (Philadelphia: Thomas and Samuel F. Bradford, 1798), 93.

Nehemiah Prays (Neh. 1:5ff)

Posted on June 28, 2026 by sarhodes

Nehemiah Prays (Neh. 1:5ff)

Prepared and preached by Pastor Steve Rhodes for and at Bethel Friends Church in Poland, OH on Sunday, June 28, 2026

We have been talking about prayer.

In “Stay of Execution,” Stewart Alsop discussed what it was like to live with incurable leukemia. The disease was temporarily arrested. During this time, the not-too-active Episcopalian and noted journalist discussed a number of variables with his physician. Finally Alsop said, “There is one variable you keep leaving out.”

“What’s that?”

“God,” he said.

The doctor and patient smiled. Alsop continued, “I don’t really believe in God, or at least I don’t think I do, and I doubt if my doctor does; but I think we both had in the back of our minds the irrational notion that God might have something to do with what happened all the same.”^[1]

We must never forget God.

Today, we are going to look at Nehemiah’s prayer.

My theme: Nehemiah seeks the Lord on behalf of Jerusalem.

My application: Don’t forget God, learn to pray like Nehemiah.

Context
1. Nehemiah is written around 430 BC. This chapter takes place around November-December 445 BC.
2. NIV SB: Means “The Lord comforts.”^[2]
3. Nehemiah is written to the people of Judah who had returned from exile in Persia.
4. God uses Nehemiah to lead his people to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem and to rebuild their distinctive identity as God’s people.^[3]
5. In Nehemiah 1:1-4, he hears of the news of the plight of Jerusalem.
6. Nehemiah 1:4 (ESV)
7. ⁴As soon as I heard these words I sat down and wept and mourned for days, and I continued fasting and praying before the God of heaven.
8. Prayer is the theme of Nehemiah.
9. Earlier, around 520 BC, Haggai was written, and around 515 BC, the temple was completed (for the second time).
10. Nehemiah 1:11 says that he was a cupbearer to the king. According to the Greek historian Xenophon (Cyropaedia, 1.3.9), one of the cupbearer’s duties was to choose and taste the king’s wine to make certain that it was not poisoned. ^[4]
Nehemiah prays about Israel’s situation.
1. God’s people have disobeyed his laws and are suffering the penalty.^[5]
2. Nehemiah 1:5–7 (ESV)
3. ⁵And I said, “O Lord God of heaven, the great and awesome God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, ⁶let your ear be attentive and your eyes open, to hear the prayer of your servant that I now pray before you day and night for the people of Israel your servants, confessing the sins of the people of Israel, which we have sinned against you. Even I and my father’s house have sinned. ⁷We have acted very corruptly against you and have not kept the commandments, the statutes, and the rules that you commanded your servant Moses.
4. We saw in Nehemiah 1:4 that he was weeping, mourning, and fasting.
5. Notice his worshipful prayer.
6. The city of God, Jerusalem, was in disrepair. That grieved him.
7. We don’t have a strong correlation for us. We don’t have a city in the United States that is God’s city. We are not God’s nation, at least not in the way of Old Testament Israel.
8. However, does the state of the church break our hearts?
9. When we hear of the church caught in sin, does it move us to prayer and fasting?
10. Are we caught up in just saying a simple prayer, or will we fast from television, our phones, or food to seek the Lord more deeply? When we fast, we are dedicating the time we would be eating, watching television, or using technology to prayer. When we desire those items, we pray, “Lord, we need You more than this.”
11. In Nehemiah 1:5, he prays in worship. He identified God as the awesome God.
12. He appeals to God as the One Who keeps covenant and steadfast love…
13. This is for those who keep His commandments.
14. I like what the Christian Standard Study Bible writes: Nehemiah’s prayer, while shorter than Ezra’s (see note at Ezr 9:6–15), is also written in late biblical Hebrew style found in other penitential prayers of that era (Neh 9:5–37; Dn 9:4–19). Like them it reflects the language of Deuteronomy, acknowledging that Israel’s adversities had resulted from the nation’s covenant unfaithfulness and that their present survival was due solely to God’s abundant mercy.^[6]
15. In verse 6, Nehemiah 1:6, he confesses the sins of Israel.
16. Notice this contrite prayer: ⁶let your ear be attentive and your eyes open, to hear the prayer of your servant that I now pray before you day and night for the people of Israel your servants, confessing the sins of the people of Israel, which we have sinned against you. Even I and my father’s house have sinned.
17. He is speaking to God with human language.
18. “Let Your ear be attentive…” “let Your eyes be open…” That is anthropomorphic language. It ascribes to God human attributes.
19. Nehemiah identifies himself as the Lord’s servant. He also identifies Israel as the Lord’s servants.
20. He is praying to the Lord, day and night.
21. He is praying for the people of Israel.
22. He is confessing Israel’s sins.
23. Notice how he says, “we have sinned…” Further, they sinned against the Lord (Ps. 51:4).
24. He adds, “even I and my father’s house have sinned.”
25. We all sin, he is confessing.
26. How serious are we about confessing sin?
27. Psalm 66:18 (ESV) If I had cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have listened.
28. Habakkuk 1:13 (ESV) You who are of purer eyes than to see evil and cannot look at wrong…
29. Isaiah 59:2 (ESV) but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear.
30. Numbers 32:23 (ESV) But if you will not do so, behold, you have sinned against the Lord, and be sure your sin will find you out.
God’s promise (Nehemiah 1:8–10):
1. If the people repent, the Lord has promised to restore them.
2. Nehemiah 1:8–10 (ESV)
3. ⁸Remember the word that you commanded your servant Moses, saying, ‘If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the peoples, ⁹but if you return to me and keep my commandments and do them, though your outcasts are in the uttermost parts of heaven, from there I will gather them and bring them to the place that I have chosen, to make my name dwell there.’ ¹⁰They are your servants and your people, whom you have redeemed by your great power and by your strong hand.
4. Nehemiah asks the Lord to remember the word He told Moses.
5. This may be Leviticus 26:33 and Deuteronomy 30:2-3.
6. In vv. 8–9 Nehemiah explicitly quotes Dt 30:1–4 (also Lv 26:33), effectively Moses’ last words to Israel before Joshua’s conquest, and in so doing identifies with the promises of restoration to the land, which would partly take place under Nehemiah’s own leadership. The regular mention of the people You [God] redeemed by Your great power and by Your strong hand (v. 10) is the language of Passover and the exodus (Ex 12–14).^[7]
7. After 70 years of captivity in Babylon, God kept His promise to restore His people to the Promised Land. The promise appeared to be failing, and Nehemiah appealed to God’s character and covenant as the basis by which He must intervene and accomplish His pledges to His people.^[8]
8. Nehemiah recalled how God had said, “Though your outcasts are in the uttermost parts of heaven, from there I will gather them and bring them to the place that I have chosen, to make my name dwell there.”
9. The place God had chosen was Jerusalem.
10. This is so very powerful. The people were scattered after Israel was conquered. They were in captivity in Babylon. Yet, Babylon was conquered by Persia, and Persia sent them back. But God was really the One sending them back to Jerusalem.
11. Nehemiah is praying Scripture.
12. Do we pray the promises of God?
13. Do we pray Scripture?
14. We can’t pray Scripture if we aren’t in the Word of God.
15. Are we in the Word of God? Soak it up and then pray it back to the Lord.
16. Nehemiah 1:10 (ESV) They are your servants and your people, whom you have redeemed by your great power and by your strong hand.
17. Nehemiah claims the people of Israel as the Lord’s people.
18. God redeemed them.
19. We again have anthropomorphic language. Nehemiah ascribes human attributes to the Lord.
20. God redeemed them with His strong right hand.
Nehemiah’s petition (Nehemiah 1:11): Nehemiah prays that the Lord will cause the king to grant his request to return to Jerusalem.^[9]
1. Nehemiah 1:11 (ESV)
2. O Lord, let your ear be attentive to the prayer of your servant, and to the prayer of your servants who delight to fear your name, and give success to your servant today, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man.” Now I was cupbearer to the king.
3. He repeats what he started with- “Let Your ear be attentive…”
4. He prays for success.
5. He says God’s servants- Nehemiah and Israel delight to fear the Lord’s Name.
6. Fear would be holy reverence. This is deep, set apart respect.
7. Do we have deep, set-apart respect for the Lord and His Name?
8. Nehemiah asks for mercy.
9. He was a cupbearer to the king.
10. As the cupbearer, he had access to the king.
11. The cupbearer in the ancient Near Eastern court held a very important position. He had direct access to the king and thus had great influence. Texts and reliefs describe cupbearers in Assyrian and Persian courts. The cupbearer was in close proximity to the king’s harem and thus was often a eunuch, although there is no evidence that this was the case with Nehemiah. Later sources identify the cupbearer as the wine taster. In addition he was the bearer of the signet ring and was chief financial officer.^[10]
12. Can we learn to pray like Nehemiah?
13. Make our prayers worshipful.
14. Repent as we pray. Take sin seriously.
15. Take prayer seriously. Have a holy, set-apart reverence for the Lord.
16. Ask for mercy.
17. Add-in fasting.
18. Pray spiritual prayers.
19. He is not praying for good health or money. None of those requests are wrong, but they must be secondary to spiritual needs. He is praying for Israel’s spiritual condition, which leads to the needs of Jerusalem.
20. Nehemiah’s intercession for the people prefigures Christ’s intercession for us before God the Father (Heb. 7:25).^[11]

Pray

^[1] G. Curtis Jones, 1000 Illustrations for Preaching and Teaching (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1986), 98.

^[2] Kenneth L. Barker, ed., NIV Study Bible, Fully Revised Edition (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2020), 778.

^[3] Kenneth L. Barker, ed., NIV Study Bible, Fully Revised Edition (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2020), 775.

^[4] Kenneth L. Barker, ed., NIV Study Bible, Fully Revised Edition (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2020), 779.

^[5] H. L. Willmington, The Outline Bible (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 1999), Ne 1:4–7.

^[6] Carl R. Anderson, “Nehemiah,” in CSB Study Bible: Notes, ed. Edwin A. Blum and Trevin Wax (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2017), 720.

verses
verse

^[7] Bryan O’Neal, “Nehemiah,” in The Moody Bible Commentary, ed. Michael A. Rydelnik and Michael Vanlaningham (Chicago, IL: Moody Publishers, 2014), 656.

^[8] John F. MacArthur Jr., The MacArthur Study Bible: New American Standard Bible. (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2006), Ne 1:5.

^[9] H. L. Willmington, The Outline Bible (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 1999), Ne 1:8–11.

^[10] Victor Harold Matthews, Mark W. Chavalas, and John H. Walton, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament, electronic ed. (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2000), Ne 1:11.

^[11] Crossway Bibles, The ESV Study Bible (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2008), 825.

Parable of the Sower- I urge you to pray for faith that has good soil. Pray this for yourself and your descendants.

Posted on June 21, 2026 by sarhodes

Father’s Day 2026

June 21, 2026

Matthew 13: Parable of the Sower- I urge you to pray for faith that has good soil. Pray this for yourself and your descendants.

Happy Father’s Day!

Timothy Keller writes:

Dr. Lloyd-Jones has this incredibly interesting illustration that really changed the way I thought about a lot of things when I heard it. Dr. Lloyd-Jones was himself a very powerful preacher, and one evening he was preaching a set of evening services. They were evangelistic evening services. One evening he was preaching, and he could feel the Spirit working through him, and he was preaching up a pretty good storm. He noticed a particular man in the balcony who seemed to be very emotionally affected. He was pretty obviously upset, pretty obviously weeping.

Dr. Lloyd-Jones finished the sermon, and at the door, the man came on through, and he said, “Hello.” It looked like the man was going to say something, but somebody else came on up and asked him something else, and on the man went. The next night as Dr. Lloyd-Jones was walking to church, the man was coming the other direction, not going to church at all. He said, “Hello, Reverend.” Dr. Lloyd-Jones said, “How do you do?” He remembered him. He said to Lloyd-Jones, “I’ll tell you something. You missed your chance last night.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, I went to hear you preach. I’m not a religious man. I’m not a Christian. I went to hear you preach out of curiosity. And you know, gosh darn, you are pretty good. You really had me there for a while. If you had given some kind of invitation to respond to Jesus Christ last night, I probably would have done it. In fact, at the door, if you had just said, ‘Come with me, and let’s sit down and talk,’ I probably would have prayed some kind of prayer or something, but you didn’t.”

“Well, that doesn’t matter. I have time now. Everything is fine right now. This is matter of most urgent importance, so come with me right now. We’ll go and talk.”

“No, no, no. I’m sorry. You didn’t hear what I said. That was yesterday. I woke up this morning. I realized, “Gosh, I was just really upset yesterday, and I don’t know what came over me.” The fact is, if you had done something yesterday, you would have had me, but you missed your chance. I hope that teaches you a lesson, Dr. Lloyd-Jones.”

Dr. Lloyd-Jones looked at him and said, “My dear friend, I don’t know what happened to you last night, but if it didn’t last 24 hours, it was not the work of the Spirit of the living God. If you want to come with me right now, I’d be very happy to, but I didn’t miss anything, and you didn’t miss anything either.” Now you know what he is trying to say. It lasts. It works. You obeyed from the heart the form of teaching.

So, do we pray that our faith sticks?

Do we pray that our children and grandchildren will have faith that sticks?

What does this mean? Does our faith have deep roots? Is it in good soil?

We are in a year-long focus on prayer.

My theme: Today, I urge you to pray for faith that has good soil. Pray this for yourself and your descendants.

I. The parable of the Sower (Matthew 13:1-8)

Matthew 13:1–9 (ESV)
That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea. 2 And great crowds gathered about him, so that he got into a boat and sat down. And the whole crowd stood on the beach. 3 And he told them many things in parables, saying: “A sower went out to sow. 4 And as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them. 5 Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and immediately they sprang up, since they had no depth of soil, 6 but when the sun rose they were scorched. And since they had no root, they withered away. 7 Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. 8 Other seeds fell on good soil and produced grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. 9 He who has ears, let him hear.”

a. A farmer sows grain, which falls upon four different kinds of soil, producing four different results.
b. Swindoll points out that Matthew 12 was a long day for Jesus. Now, He sits by the sea to rest but they won’t let Him.
c. Notice verse 1 says, “that same day…” This is the same day as His previous teaching.
d. The verse also says that He went out of the house… So, He was in a house.
e. In the previous chapter, Jesus had a confrontation with the Pharisees over plucking grain on the sabbath; healing a man with a withered hand, and casting out a demon. He was told that He casts out demons by the prince of the demons. Jesus had also been teaching in the previous chapter.
f. Jesus gets into a boat…
g. Jesus gets in the boat for the purpose of relieving the overcrowding, but this would also make him easier to hear; a speaker to a crowd on shore would produce an ideal acoustic situation.
h. Several other parables follow.
i. In church history, they would try to allegorize parables. Then they would try to give a single meaning, but sometimes Jesus gives more than one.
j. They cannot be allegorized.
k. Roadside soil (13:1–4): This seed is soon devoured by the birds.
l. Shallow, rocky soil (13:5–6): This seed springs up quickly but soon withers, being scorched by the sun.
m. Thorn-infested soil (13:7): This seed is quickly choked by the thorns.
n. Fertile soil (13:8): This seed produces a thirty, sixty, and even hundredfold crop!
o. A receptive heart will bear fruit –
p. good heart;
q. good soil;
r. good hearing; and a
s. good mind.
t. This is not about us, but God bearing fruit for the Gospel. We must be in the Word. We must be focused on spiritual disciplines to be more like Christ, not just for legalism…The soil cannot change itself… Pray the Holy Spirit would soften our hearts, provide us with roots, dig us deep…
u. Review:
v. The path: the birds ate it,
w. The rocky places: grew and then died;
x. The weeds or thorns grew and then is suffocated;
y. Good soil- grew and multiplied.
z. Robert Murray M’Cheyne said our hearts are like a smoking furnace. Nobody can really see more than a foot or two into them. The fact is, the Word of God can blow a lot of that away and help us really see what our hearts are made of.

II. The interpretation of the parable of the sower (Matthew 13:18-23).

Matthew 13:18–23 (ESV)
18 “Hear then the parable of the sower: 19 When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is what was sown along the path. 20 As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy, 21 yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while, and when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately he falls away. 22 As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. 23 As for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it. He indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.”

a. The seed (Matthew 13:18–19a): The seed represents the Good News about the Kingdom.
b. The roadside soil (Matthew 13:19b): The hard soil represents those who hear the message but do not understand it, thus allowing Satan to steal it from them.
c. The rocky soil (Matthew 13:20–21): The shallow, rocky soil represents those who have no depth and thus drop out upon encountering any trouble or persecution.
d. The thorn-infested soil (Matthew 13:22): The thorny ground represents those who allow the lure of wealth to snuff out the Good News.
e. Fertile soil (Matthew 13:23): The good soil represents those who truly accept God’s message, producing an abundant harvest.
f. It seems to me that the parable makes sense. It is easy to understand, but there are major applications.

III. Applications:

a. We want to have good soil in our hearts to grow spiritually. We talked about this earlier.
b. We must be active in the Spiritual Disciplines.
c. We partner with the Holy Spirit.
d. As we share the Gospel, we must pray that the Lord casts the seeds that we plant into good soil.
e. Are we praying for faith with deep roots?
f. Are we praying for faith in good soil?
g. Are we praying that our descendants walk with the Lord?
h. Are we praying that our descendants have faith with deep roots?
i. Are we striving to encourage and uplift our children and grandchildren?
j. Can we pray for them?
k. Can we love them?
l. Can we encourage them?
m. Can we always do that “in Christ”?

Ezra’s Prayer (Ezra 9:5ff)

Posted on June 14, 2026 by sarhodes

Ezra’s prayer (Ezra 9:5ff)

Prepared and preached by Pastor Steve Rhodes for and at Bethel Friends Church in Poland, OH on Sunday, June 14, 2026

Tony Evans shares:

It wasn’t too long ago that I was going down a one-way street, and I noticed somebody coming the other way. Obviously there was a problem. That car was going the wrong way. As I kept driving, I heard sounds all around me. After awhile it became clear that all these chorus of voices were trying to get my attention, trying to confront me with the reality that I was wrong. You see, I thought stuff was wrong with everybody else, when the problem was with me.

I suspected that there were two reasons for their concern. One is the damage that I could do to myself. The other is the damage I could do to others. They could have simply ignored it, and said, “That’s his business.” Or, they could do what they did, which is try to get my attention, because they understood that when you’re going the wrong way, somebody needs to confront you, so that you can reverse your direction.^169,[1]

We are in a year-long series on prayer.

We are going to look at a passage in which Ezra prays and makes confessions for the people of Israel.

My theme today is:

Ezra prays for the people.

Context:
1. Who was Ezra?
2. Ezra was a priest. Let me give you a little background now. In the Old Testament, Israel had their own land, kings, and government, but they didn’t follow God. Instead, they worshipped Baal. Baal was a fertility and nature god of the Phoenicians and many other cultures. Since Israel didn’t follow the True God, He gave them over to captivity. Around 586 BC, Israel was taken over by Babylon. The people were taken captive. Daniel was one of them. Then, eventually, Persia conquered Babylon, and God looked on Israel with favor, and the king of Persia decided to let the Israelites return to Judah and rebuild the Temple (Ezra 3). Ezra was a Jewish priest who led a group of people back to Judah.
3. There was a time when Ezra had to go back to Persia. Then Ezra returned to Jerusalem a few months before this happened.
4. According to the traditional view, Ezra arrived in Jerusalem in the seventh year (Ezr 7:8) of Artaxerxes I (458 BC), followed by Nehemiah, who arrived in the king’s 20th year (444; Ne 2:1, 11).^[2]
5. In Ezra 9:1-4, he returns and realizes the people of Israel married foreign women. They were never supposed to marry outsiders.
6. Intermarriage was forbidden in Deut. 7:3–4 because it led to idolatry (see Ezra 9:11–14). Separation prefigures the need for uncompromising allegiance to Christ (Matt. 10:34–39; Luke 14:26–33; 2 Cor. 6:14–7:1).^[3]
7. Prior to the Israelite exile, intermarriage with foreigners was one of the things that led them into idolatry.
8. Once they intermarried, they began to follow foreign gods.
9. In verses 1-2, there were two accusations:
10. (1) They had not separated themselves. (2) They participated in the abominations of the foreign nations. The issue not only concerned intermarriage, but also communal purity and idolatry (Ex 34:11–16; Dt 7:3–4).^[4]
11. This brings us to our passage.
12. Ezra 9:3 (ESV)
13. ³As soon as I heard this, I tore my garment and my cloak and pulled hair from my head and beard and sat appalled.
14. These were traditional signs of grief in Israel and other nations.
15. Ezra 9:4–6 (ESV)
16. ⁴Then all who trembled at the words of the God of Israel, because of the faithlessness of the returned exiles, gathered around me while I sat appalled until the evening sacrifice. ⁵And at the evening sacrifice I rose from my fasting, with my garment and my cloak torn, and fell upon my knees and spread out my hands to the Lord my God, ⁶saying:
17. “O my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift my face to you, my God, for our iniquities have risen higher than our heads, and our guilt has mounted up to the heavens.
18. Ezra is sitting in grief.
19. In 1 Kings 11:1-13, we see Solomon’s downfall. But in the first few verses it specifically says that his foreign wives led him astray.
20. Think about this: Ezra is tasked with leading people back to Jerusalem and rebuilding the Temple. Yet, they are back in the same sins that brought them down.
21. Ezra is in grief over the people’s sins.
How much does sin bother us?
1. Let’s go deeper:
2. Are we bothered because of the sin?
3. Or because, in our opinion, or preference, it bothers us? Many times, the lines get blurred.
4. I knew a church that was discerning sanctuary seating. They were considering pews versus chairs. The pastor said he really didn’t care which was chosen. A man came in and got really angry. He yelled and pounded his fist on the table, “They must be pews.” That is a preference issue. It is not a biblical issue.
5. On the other hand, there are biblical issues, but we may think of them as preferences. This can cause us: 1) not to be bothered. Or, 2) to be grieved because of our preferences and not because of the holiness of God.
6. Sin is cosmic treason.
7. Sin breaks God’s heart.
8. Does sin break our hearts?
9. What about sins of omission? These are not doing things we should do for the Kingdom of God.
10. Psalm 66:18 (ESV) If I had cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have listened.
11. Habakkuk 1:13 (ESV) You who are of purer eyes than to see evil and cannot look at wrong…
12. God is holy.
13. How do we react to sin?
14. Do we grieve? Do we go to the Lord?
Ezra prays to the Lord, confessing the faithlessness of Judah and the faithfulness of the Lord.
1. The faithlessness of the people of Judah (9:6–7, 10–15)
2. Their past sins (9:6–7):
3. Let’s re-read verse 6: “O my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift my face to you, my God, for our iniquities have risen higher than our heads, and our guilt has mounted up to the heavens.
4. Ezra is going before the Lord like a priest. He is confessing their sins to the Lord.
5. Ezra’s priestly prayer of intercession and confession is like Daniel’s (Da 9:1–20) and Nehemiah’s (Ne 1:4–11), in that he used plural pronouns that identified himself with the people’s sin, even though he did not participate in it. The use of “we,” “our” and “us” demonstrates Ezra’s understanding that the sin of the few is sufficient to contaminate the many.^[5]
6. He is ashamed.
7. He didn’t commit the sins, but he owns them.
8. I like what one sources shares:
9. The train of thought in this prayer is as follows: I scarcely dare to lift up my face to God, through shame for the greatness of our misdeeds (v. 6)…^[6]
10. Ezra was sitting and contemplating the sin for hours. Now, he confesses.
11. He makes no excuses. He is humble.
12. Ezra 9:7 (ESV)
13. ⁷From the days of our fathers to this day we have been in great guilt. And for our iniquities we, our kings, and our priests have been given into the hand of the kings of the lands, to the sword, to captivity, to plundering, and to utter shame, as it is today.
14. He is now speaking to the Lord about the past. He understands they were taken into captivity because of these sins.
15. The faithfulness of the Lord (9:8–9):
16. Ezra 9:8–9 (ESV)
17. ⁸But now for a brief moment favor has been shown by the Lord our God, to leave us a remnant and to give us a secure hold within his holy place, that our God may brighten our eyes and grant us a little reviving in our slavery. ⁹For we are slaves. Yet our God has not forsaken us in our slavery, but has extended to us his steadfast love before the kings of Persia, to grant us some reviving to set up the house of our God, to repair its ruins, and to give us protection in Judea and Jerusalem.
18. Ezra is grateful that the Lord has shown favor.
19. God has left them a remnant.
20. What is he referring to?
21. Though they were conquered, the Lord left them a remnant. Israel didn’t cease to exist.
22. God gave them a “secure hold” with His holy place. What does that mean?
23. Literally, Heb “a peg” or “tent peg.” The imagery behind this word is drawn from the experience of nomads who put down pegs as they pitched their tents and made camp after times of travel.^[7]
24. God is letting them come back and rebuild.
25. In verse 9, the Lord continues to share that they are slaves, but the Lord has given steadfast love before the king of Persia…
26. Notice, Ezra gives all credit to the Lord.
27. Even though the Jews were still subject to the Persian Empire, Ezra recognized that God had blessed them and given them new life as a religious community. The word for “wall of protection,” gādēr, is generally used of a fence or a wall around a vineyard. Ezra here was not talking about the Jerusalem wall but about God’s protection for the Jewish community.^[8]
Their present sins (9:10–15)^[9]

1. Ezra 9:10–15 (ESV)
2. ¹⁰“And now, O our God, what shall we say after this? For we have forsaken your commandments, ¹¹which you commanded by your servants the prophets, saying, ‘The land that you are entering, to take possession of it, is a land impure with the impurity of the peoples of the lands, with their abominations that have filled it from end to end with their uncleanness. ¹²Therefore do not give your daughters to their sons, neither take their daughters for your sons, and never seek their peace or prosperity, that you may be strong and eat the good of the land and leave it for an inheritance to your children forever.’ ¹³And after all that has come upon us for our evil deeds and for our great guilt, seeing that you, our God, have punished us less than our iniquities deserved and have given us such a remnant as this, ¹⁴shall we break your commandments again and intermarry with the peoples who practice these abominations? Would you not be angry with us until you consumed us, so that there should be no remnant, nor any to escape? ¹⁵O Lord, the God of Israel, you are just, for we are left a remnant that has escaped, as it is today. Behold, we are before you in our guilt, for none can stand before you because of this.”
3. He ends this prayer as he began.
4. He is talking about the sins of the people.
5. He still uses the plural, “we.”
6. “We” have…
7. They have forsaken God’s commandments.
8. NAC: He mentioned some of these commands in vv. 11–12 and referred to various passages (Lev 18:25ff.; 2 Kgs 16:3; Deut 7:1–3; 11:8; 23:6; 2 Kgs 21:16; Isa 1:19), thus testifying to the unity of Scripture. We must know God’s Word so we can heed the warnings that are applicable to the present dangers. We need to remember that God has given specific ethical commands that should be followed in order to do his will.^[10]
9. They intermarried, but they were told not to do this.
10. We spoke about this.
11. They weren’t to make treaties with the people of the land.
12. In verse 13, he shares that God punished them less than their sins deserved.
13. God gave them a remnant.
14. In verse 14, he asks, “Shall we break Your commandment again…? That seems like a shocking question, one that anticipates a positive answer. It seems as if he is really saying, “How could we!!!”
15. He fears that God will not allow the remnant to continue.
16. God is not capricious like human beings; his anger is his just reaction to disobedience and evil.^[11]
17. Notice how he ends-
18. ¹⁵O Lord, the God of Israel, you are just, for we are left a remnant that has escaped, as it is today. Behold, we are before you in our guilt, for none can stand before you because of this.”
19. He is appealing to the Lord as just.
20. If we read on, in Ezra 10:1, the people join him in confession.
21. The confession was contagious.
Applications
1. Do we pray in humility?
2. Does sin break our hearts?
3. Do we give all credit to the Lord?

In 2023, Asbury University had another revival. In the 1970’s, there were revivals at Asbury. Sometimes revivals are contagious. Sometimes confession is contagious. That happened in 2023 during the Asbury Revival. That also happened in Ezra 10:1. The people joined in repentance.

Let’s pray for revival here.

Prayer

^[1] Tony Evans, Tony Evans’ Book of Illustrations: Stories, Quotes, and Anecdotes from More than 30 Years of Preaching and Public Speaking (Chicago, IL: Moody Publishers, 2009), 66.

^[2] Kenneth L. Barker, ed., NIV Study Bible, Fully Revised Edition (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2020), 752.

^[3] Crossway Bibles, The ESV Study Bible (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2008), 818.

^[4] J. Brian Tucker, “Ezra,” in The Moody Bible Commentary, ed. Michael A. Rydelnik and Michael Vanlaningham (Chicago, IL: Moody Publishers, 2014), 650.

^[5] John F. MacArthur Jr., The MacArthur Study Bible: New American Standard Bible. (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2006), Ezr 9:5–15.

^[6] Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch, Commentary on the Old Testament, vol. 4 (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1996), 74.

^[7] Biblical Studies Press, The NET Bible First Edition Notes (Biblical Studies Press, 2006), Ezr 9:8.

^[8] Mervin Breneman, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, electronic ed., vol. 10, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1993), 153–154.

^[9] H. L. Willmington, The Outline Bible (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 1999), Ezr 9:5–9.

^[10] Mervin Breneman, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, electronic ed., vol. 10, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1993), 154.

^[11] Mervin Breneman, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, electronic ed., vol. 10, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1993), 155.

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By Faith intro (Heb 11:1-3): By Faith Abel (Heb. 11:4; Gen. 4:1-8)

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Come humbly before God; He accepts us based on Jesus’s death and resurrection (Luke 18:9-14)

The Disciples Ask to Have Their Faith Increased (Luke 17:5ff)

Prayers to Increase Faith (Mark 9:24)

Hezekiah Prays (2 Kings 19:14)

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Nehemiah Prays (Neh. 1:5ff)

Parable of the Sower- I urge you to pray for faith that has good soil. Pray this for yourself and your descendants.

Happy Father’s Day!

I. The parable of the Sower (Matthew 13:1-8)

II. The interpretation of the parable of the sower (Matthew 13:18-23).

III. Applications:

Ezra’s Prayer (Ezra 9:5ff)