Take your Bibles with me and turn to Luke 9. Luke 9. We are going to be looking at verses 37-45 today. Luke 9:37-45.

We live in a dark and broken world. We like to pretend like it isn't but it is.

I'm not going to do this - but let's imagine that I asked all of you to stand up.

Then I ask you to sit down if you or if someone you are close to has been affected by any of these things:

• murder
• molestation
• adultery
• suicide
• drunkenness
• drug addiction
• domestic abuse
• divorce
• poverty
• life-altering illness
• untimely death of a loved one

Again, just imagine - but how many people do you think would still be standing in this room? My guess is zero. Maybe a few small children.

We live in a broken world. A world affected by sin and sickness and death.

Now let me ask you this - who in here doesn't feel like a failure?

• Who in here has never failed at anything?
• You are exactly the Christian you want to be?
• You are exactly the father or mother you want to be?
• You are like Mary Poppins - "practically perfect in every way?"

Anybody? So we live in this broken world that has been affected by sin and sickness and death and human failure.

Now, imagine you are Peter, James and John. You are on the mountain with Jesus and He is transfigured into His heavenly self before you.

• You see Moses and Elijah in their glorified bodies.
• You feel the glory of God descend on you like a cloud.
• You hear the very voice of God speaking to you.
  That is as close to heaven as anyone ever got on this earth.

But you don't get to stay up on the mountain forever. You have to come back down and that is where our story takes us today. Look with me at Luke 9 and lets read verses 37-45 today:

[!bible] Luke 9:37-45 - KJV 37. And it came to pass, that on the next day, when they were come down from the hill, much people met him. 38. And, behold, a man of the company cried out, saying, Master, I beseech thee, look upon my son: for he is mine only child. 39. And, lo, a spirit taketh him, and he suddenly crieth out; and it teareth him that he foameth again, and bruising him hardly departeth from him. 40. And I besought thy disciples to cast him out; and they could not. 41. And Jesus answering said, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you, and suffer you? Bring thy son hither. 42. And as he was yet a coming, the devil threw him down, and tare him. And Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit, and healed the child, and delivered him again to his father. 43. And they were all amazed at the mighty power of God. But while they wondered every one at all things which Jesus did, he said unto his disciples, 44. Let these sayings sink down into your ears: for the Son of man shall be delivered into the hands of men. 45. But they understood not this saying, and it was hid from them, that they perceived it not: and they feared to ask him of that saying.

Let's pray and ask God's blessing today.

There are two movements in this text today, and both of them show us something wonderful about our Savior and His relationship to this broken world.

The first movement that we see is

1. From the mountain to the mud.

Verse 47 says "it came to pass the next day." The next day after what? The transfiguration. The mountaintop experience. The experience where "heaven came down and glory filled my soul."

Jesus went up onto that mountaintop and communed with God the father and those who had gone on to heaven before, the glory of God and of Christ were on full display. But Jesus couldn't stay there.

He came down from the mountain and back into the real world - the world we live in - and He was immediately confronted with a scene of unbelievable brokenness and darkness. There was a crowd there - gathered around the 9 remaining disciples (minus Peter, James and John) and a man and his boy.

This man was distraught. He was at the end of his rope. His only son - the hope of his family - was terribly afflicted with demons. Apparently, those demons also gave the boy what we would call epilepsy.

He was unable to speak. He was unable to hear. He would have these seizures and fits and throw himself into the fire and into the water. He would cut himself and tare at himself. He would go mad and foam at the mouth.

And this man is desperate for help. He is desperate for his son. If you've ever had a sick kid - you can feel this man's desperation. Some of you may be feeling what this man was feeling right now.

The disciples had just finished this tour where they had been given power to heal and cast out demons - and this man had come to them - probably hoping beyond hope that they could help him - but the disciples failed.

And so as Jesus came down the mountain, as He came down from this foretaste of heavenly glory, he came right smack dab into the mud - right into this scene of pain and brokenness and failure.

The father approaches Jesus and begs him to look at his son. He explains what his son is going through. He tells Jesus that the disciples tried and failed to help him.

And Jesus cries out something surprising - He says "O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you, and suffer you?"

This is a nod to Deuteronomy 32, where God called Israel a "perverse and crooked generation."

Imagine what this must have been like for Jesus? Jesus who left the glory of heaven to come to this earth - He didn't just go from the mountain to the mud - but from heaven to the mud. From perfect heaven, where He was worshipped and communed perfectly with the Father, where there is no sin and sorrow - to here. To this world.

And Jesus has just had a reminder of that on the mountain. Maybe Jesus is homesick. There is no doubt that He is frustrated.

• Frustrated by the pain.
• Frustrated by the brokeness.
• Frustrated by the failure of His disciples.
• Frustrated by the opportunism of this crowd.

So He says aloud "How much longer do I have to be with you and deal with you - you perverted and faithless generation."

So Jesus called for the boy to be brought to Him - and as the father was bringing him, the boy had another one of his fits. And this wasn't just a fit - this was the fit to beat all fits.

The verse says "the devil threw him down, and tare him." This is a very strong word in the greek - and it carries the idea of a knockout blow. The devil was not letting go of this boy easily.

This shows us that the devil doesn't let go of people easily - and sometimes when people are coming to Christ - it gets worse before it gets better.

But Jesus rebuked this demon and put it in its place and healed the child.

In an instant this boys mind was restored. His hearing was restored and he could hear. His tongue was loosened and he could speak. His body was restored from the years of abuse. This boy got his boyhood back in an instant and this father got his son back.

And Luke tells us what this crowd thought of it in verse 43.

[!bible] Luke 9:43 - KJV 43. And they were all amazed at the mighty power of God...

Think of this - Jesus showed his glory to the three disciples on the mountaintop. But that isn't the only place Jesus could show His glory. Jesus came down from the mountain to the mud - from this heavenly experience to this place where pain and brokenness and failure reigns - and it wasn't just Peter, James and John - but all the crowd saw the glory of God and were amazed at His mighty power.

Now, why would Jesus do this? Jesus came to reveal His glory and power where we live - He entered our world of darkness, suffering and failure - to show His compassion and strength.

Listen, the glory of God isn't just seen on the mountaintop - but in the mud. Jesus doesn't just show us His power in heaven, but He comes down to where we are, He meets us where we live, in our world of brokenness and failure He wants to show His glory in our life.

Jesus came to seek and to save that which was lost. To do that He had to go where they are. He came as the light of the world, and the light doesn't do much good in the light store - it has to go to the darkness. The physician isn't much use around all the healthy people - he needs to touch the sick.

And so Jesus came from the mountaintop to the mud for us - to show us His glory where we live. Hold onto that thought, we'll come back to it in a few minutes.

Back in our story we see the second movement. Not only did Jesus go from the mountaintop to the mud but He went

2. From Heaven to the Cross

As the crowd was marveling at the power and glory of God through Christ - Jesus had a message He really wanted His disciples to hear.

Listen again to verse 44.

[!bible] Luke 9:44 - KJV 44. Let these sayings sink down into your ears: for the Son of man shall be delivered into the hands of men.

This is such an interesting turn in the story. Because Jesus has just shown his power over darkness. He commands the demons and they obey. He comes into where we live and He heals and reveals His glory.

But as they are marveling at Him he says to his disciples "I'm going to be delivered into the hands of men."

Now, they had no idea what He was talking about - but they would figure it out later - when Jesus was taken by the temple leaders and passed off to the Romans and hung on a cross and crucified.

Jesus wanted this truth to "sink down into their ears" - He wanted them to think about it over and over. To meditate on it.

This one who had all power - who commanded the storms and the sea, who could make the lame walk and the blind see, who could boss around demons - He would voluntarily allow Himself to be "delivered into the hands of men" and delivered to the cross.

So as the crowd was marveling at Jesus' glory - Jesus was pointing the disciples to the cross.

Listen, it is amazing to me that Jesus went from the mountain where he was communing with God in glory to the mud where he had to deal with human suffering and failure. But was is more amazing is that Jesus went from the glories of heaven all the way down to the darkest mankind could go - to the cross - so He could show us the glory and power of God.

On that cross the Bible tells us that God poured out His just wrath on his only begotten son - that Jesus bore the sins and the darkness and the failures of the whole world - Jesus went to the grave and three days later He rose again - showing His power over sin and death.

And because of that movement - because Jesus - the son of God - went from Heaven to the Cross and bore our sin - we can be redeemed, we can be forgiven, we can be justified, we can have full fellowship with God.

Now, listen, folks, let’s pull this all together. We’ve seen Jesus do something incredible in this story. He didn’t stay up on that mountaintop, basking in heavenly glory. No, He came down to the mud—right into the mess of our world, where pain and brokenness and failure live. He met that father in his desperation, healed that boy, and showed His power where we live. And then, while everybody’s marveling at His miracles, He points His disciples to the cross—where He’d go from the glories of heaven to the darkest place mankind could take Him, to take on our sin and redeem us. Jesus reveals His glory and power where we live—entering our world of darkness, suffering, and failure with compassion and strength—yet His ultimate glory shines at the cross, where He willingly defeats darkness to redeem us.

So we've seen these two movements: from the mountain to the mud and from heaven to the cross - let's spend a few minutes considering...

What do we do with this?

What can we take away from this story? Let me tell you the two things I think God would have us do with this.

The first is...

1. Trust in the Christ of the Cross

If you are listening today, and you've never put your faith in Christ - then I think the most obvious thing is to trust Christ. Jesus came to this earth, He came to the mud, He lived the perfect life you couldn't live so that He could die on the cross as your substitute.

As "the gospel song" in our hymnbook puts it:

Holy God in love became
Perfect man to bear my blame
On the cross He took my sin
By His death I live agian

So have you trusted Christ?

Let me put it another way: If you were to stand at the gates of heaven and they asked you "Why should we let you in?" What would be your answer?

• Would you talk about your Sunday School attendance record?
• Would you talk about your good deeds?
• Would you point out that you haven't killed anyone?

Or would you say "I can come in because Jesus took my sins and died for me."

Have you trusted the Savior?

That's the first thing I think we should ask ourselves as we think about this story. The second thing I think we should do is...

2. Reflect His glory in this world.

Let me tell you about God's plan for us as Christians. It is not for us to live on the mountaintop. We have no use there. It may be good to go up there from time to time and be refreshed - but that is not where our mission is.

God wants us to be down here, in the world but not of the world, reflecting the glory of Christ.

To do that, we have to be different. We have to be Christlike. We have to be Christian.

And to do that we have to live in the mud. We have to live among the hurt and the brokenness and the failure.

• We are the salt of the world - and for the salt to do it's job it has to touch the meat.
• We are the light of the world - and for the light to do it's job it has to go out into the darkness.

God has called us to reflect the glory of Christ in dark places.

Listen to how Paul summarizes this in Philippians 2:15

[!bible] Philippians 2:15 - KJV 15. That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world;

“Jesus reveals His glory and power where we live—entering our world of darkness, suffering, and failure with compassion and strength—yet His ultimate glory shines at the cross, where He willingly defeats darkness to redeem us.”

Have you been redeemed? Then God wants you to show His glory in the mud. Will you answer that call?

Let's stand for prayer.