If you have a copy of God's Word in your hand, please meet me in
the Gospel according to Mark in Chapter 9 in verse 14, Mark
9/14. This is a lengthy portion of
Scripture that going we're going to be covering and so we're
going to read it in its entirety before we see it in smaller
portions. Just want us to have a holistic
view of this scene, this episode of God's demonstration of power
and mercy and so follow with me beginning here in verse 14.
And when they came to the disciples, they saw a great
crowd around them, and scribes arguing with them, And
immediately all the crowd, when they saw him, were greatly
amazed and ran up to him and greeted him.
And he asked them, what are you arguing about with them?
And someone from the crowd answered them.
Teacher, I brought my son to you, For he has a spirit that
makes him mute, and whenever it seizes him, it throws him down,
and he foams and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid.
So I asked her disciples to cast it out, and they were not able.
And he answered them. Oh, faithless generation, how
long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you?
Bring him to me. And they brought the boy to him.
And when the spirit saw him, immediately convulsed the boy,
and he fell on the ground and rolled about, foaming at the
mouth. And Jesus asked his father, how
long has this been happening to him?
And he said from childhood, and it has often cast them into
fire, into water, to destroy him.
But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us,
And Jesus said to him, if you can, all things are possible for
one who believes immediately the father of the child cried out
and said, I believe. Help my own belief.
And when Jesus saw that a crowd came running together, he
rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it you mute and death
spirit, I command you, come out of him and never enter him
again. And 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.
But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose
and we had entered the house. His disciples asked him
privately why could we not cast it out?
And he said to them, this kind cannot be driven out by anything
but prayer. Let's pray we confess our
reliance and dependence upon you, Oh God.
We do not presume that our desires are enough.
We confess our neediness, and we ask that you would help us in
the experience of this moment. As the Word of God is delivered,
may it be delivered in the power of the Invisible One, the Holy
Spirit. We ask.
Oh God, that our hearts would be receptive, and that more than
just a stirring of the mind or the heart, there would be a deep
work done where you would inspire us onto greater
obedience, and that you would cause us to be moved to walk
closer with Thee. This is our prayer.
And so, Lord, even now, humbly, sincerely, genuinely, we say we
are nothing without you. We cannot do anything without
you. Help us now and Lord for some
help our unbelief in Jesus name. Amen.
This is an important story to the Holy Spirit and one reason
why we know that is because it is not exclusively found in the
Gospel of Mark, but it is also found in Matthew and then Luke's
account. But what's interesting is that
if you find the story in Matthew and Luke, you'll notice that
Matthew and Luke have a much shorter version of this account.
Mark gives around double the attention in terms of verses
than the other gospel writers. And as we read this we realize
comparatively that Mark is being very careful to give details
about this scene. And a simple reading of it, like
what you and I just did, reveals the rich reporting that Mark
offers concerning the interactions and the activity.
And it gives us much to work with in terms of historical
accuracy and reliability and godly application into our own
lives. It almost seems overwhelming,
right? You look at a text like this and
you can you can make four or five sermons out of it, right?
But we won't do that for the sake of our time together.
Instead, we'll try to investigate all that it has to
say and we'll divide it. We'll divide it just by really
going through it. But the way I looked at it, I
see five things, around 5 things here.
I see that there is a specific scene.
I see that there is a situation, I see that there is the servants
example. I see that there is a stumbling
block. And lastly, I see that there is
schooling. Notice everything starts with an
S Preachers like to do that stuff.
We have a scene, we have a situation, we have the servants
example, we have a stumbling block, and we have lastly
schooling. There's a lesson at the.
End of this as you heard. And so let's examine this
carefully. We read here in verse 14.
And when they came to the disciples, they saw a great
crowd around them and scribes arguing with them.
Just envision it and immediately.
All the crowd, when they saw him were greatly amazing, ran up to
him and greeted him. So there's chaos going on here.
You have disciples and scribes arguing and debating.
You have this crowd. Now we're probably leaning in
and paying attention, and the sight of Jesus descending from
that mountain with three of his disciples caught the attention
of the multitude. And they turn away from this
debate and they come to Jesus like a celebrity, the celebrity
that he is, the only celebrity you should really care about,
really, and follow in terms of example.
And they greet him. And it's hard to move on without
contrasting the scene here with the scene that you and I enjoyed
in our previous sessions. What a contrast it is.
When Jesus and those three were on the summit of that mountain,
that atmosphere was holy. That atmosphere was glorious.
That atmosphere contained heavenly fellowship.
And as they came down, there is a chilling shift that takes
place now. They've entered into a very dark
place, filled with pain, filled with brokenness, demonically
energized. What a difference.
And looking at this, I wondered in the perspective of Christ.
You can see by looking at Jesus coming down here how this is
almost like a miniature illustration, a miniature
picture of what he did and coming into our world, the glory
that he left in order to come into our environment, our mess,
in order to save us. You know when we read Second
Peter verse one, we are told that on that mountain, according
to Peter in verse 17, Jesus was. Crowned by the Father with glory
and honor. And that is not the only time
Jesus enjoyed glory and honor by virtue of being the Son of God.
He knew glory and honor from eternity past.
But at the perfect time, at the right time, he set aside such
status and recognition. He turned his back on it in
order for him to come here. To come into our world that is
mirrored quite accurately by this scene, what do we see here?
We see Jesus entering into a place that is prevailed by sin.
We see Jesus entering into a place where Satan's power is at
work. We see Jesus here entering into
a place where there is layers and levels of pain and misery
and brokenness and so even allow this sequence of events to
inspire you to realize how Jesus.
Not just in a moment left a mountaintop of glory to come
into a world that is devilish and heartbreaking.
He turned his back on a heavenly abode where there was angelic
love and perfect praise, and because of.
A great love. He came to not keep us in this
mess, but to save us and to deliver us.
I thought, wow, even in this you see a gospel truth.
But I didn't just want to see it through the perspective of
Christ. I thought to myself, what about
the perspective? The disciples, the disciples
were also on that mountaintop, and we've used this.
Term We've used this phrase and and perhaps it came from
testimonies like this in the Word of God.
Mountaintop experiences, Right, brother?
How's your walk with the Lord? I'm in a valley.
How was the conference? Oh, it was a mountaintop
experience. What does that really mean?
I think it simply means that you and I experienced something of
an unusual intensification. Of God's presence, his
revelation, awakening and affection, awakening, sense of
faithfulness and desire for Him that seems to be almost
unbroken. So strong and consistent.
And when we are in those moments, whether it's a moment,
whether it's a season, we like Peter who was on that
mountaintop, say, Rabbi, it is good that we are here.
It is good that we are here. And more than that, we're like
Peter and wanting to make tent so that we can stay there as
long as possible. It is good that we are here.
Can we stay here? Can we remain here?
If you've had those moments of the Lord, you know what I'm
talking about. But just like how these
disciples learned that this permanence of the glory of God
being experienced and tasted, that glory will not be permanent
until a time to come, what is more common is what you and I
see in this valley. That's more real to us than
anything else. Now what do we see here?
We see bullies, right? Even religious bullies.
You know religious people can be bullies.
What do you see here? You see the brokenness of a
parent who can't seem to get control of the erratic behavior
of his child. Is that common?
What do you see here? You you see here, Satan working
in and through people, tormenting them, harassing them,
afflicting pain. And on top of all of this, what
else do you and I experience in this world, followers of Jesus
Christ who don't really have it all together, just like these
disciples? That's what you and I are
familiar with. And the hope that we have is the
hope of the glimpse that they got on that mountain.
It's not going to stay this way. There is a time coming where
Jesus will subdue. All of Satan's power and save
us, not just from temptation, not just from the power of sin,
but from the very presence of it.
That time is coming. But may I add, and may I suggest
that our hope for that future is not merely something that you
and I can't enjoy today. To some regard, what do I mean?
Because this scene in the Valley, though it is common,
though it's inescapable for you and I in this life, it can look
different based on one premise. And that is the presence of
Jesus Christ in it. You see, Christ is going to
enter into the scene and things are going to change.
Things are going to be different.
And may I say to you that though you and I can't ultimately
escape until we go to glory or glory comes to us, we can
navigate through it with a joy and a peace on one reality.
Whether or not Christ is in it with us, Jesus is going to make
all the difference here. Jesus is going to come and bring
solution here. And you and I can be encouraged
to know that although there is an ultimate fulfillment, there
is also a relief that we can enjoy now that is totally
dependent upon one thing, your relationship with the Lord Jesus
Christ. So Christ comes now and he's
going to do some work. He's going to bring some
alleviation here, a level of salvation and deliverance, one
that you and I can also expect and believe God for not just
when heaven comes, but even now in this pain filled world.
So Christ is coming, Christ is here, this is the scene now.
We look here at the situation we read, He asked them.
What are you arguing about with them?
And he gets no answer. He gets no answer from the
scries, perhaps because they were more than willing to debate
with the disciples. But now here comes the master
debater. Maybe we shouldn't say anything.
And he doesn't get an answer from the disciples because
perhaps they were embarrassed. They're ashamed that they
couldn't fulfill what they've been given power to do, by the
way. And the silence is suddenly
broken by the voice of a father. This father interrupts.
He speaks up, and he gives the answer to what is taking place
here. And he says, Teacher, I brought
my son to you. For he has a spirit that makes
him mute. And then he goes on to explain
what happens. What happens when the spirit
takes a hold of the sun? And he's saying, I brought, I
brought him to you. I I came expecting you.
You weren't here. So I gave him to the disciples,
and they were not able to do what I had hoped.
That can be done in your name, and there's so much to say about
this, so much can be expounded upon.
But I want to make one point clear based on this example and
it is this that the Holy Spirit through this text wants you and
I to be informed about the heart of the evil One.
Satan absolutely hates not just those creating the image of God,
but even little children who are creating the image of God.
We read later on, and you heard it, that when Jesus asked how
long has this been going on for, He said from childhood.
From childhood. So the evil one, his hatred is
not reserved for those who have reached a certain age of mental
and physical maturity. No, he loads them at the
earliest phase possible. He loads them while they're in
the womb. And if they escape the womb, if
they are born into this world, we should not think for a moment
that he has the decency to restrain himself from afflicting
and assaulting these vulnerable and fragile gifts from God.
I'm not presenting this truth to you, to frighten you, or to
cause you to live in anxiety. Grandparents, parents, older
siblings, uncles and aunts. But why?
I am bringing this to you so that I can remind you that there
is a war for our children. There is an allout war for our
children. And I'm saying this so that you
and I can be aware of the nature of this war, lest we fight it
aimlessly. So that we can be more
effective, as his father was effective in fighting for the
soul of his son. And we can make the rest of the
sermon about how it is that we can fight for our children and
defend our children and raise our children and disciple our
children. But let me summarize it in this
The best thing that you can do, the best thing that you can do
for your offspring, for the gifts that God has given you, is
that no matter how old they are, young or old, no matter how
receptive or rebellious they may be, learn to bring them to
Jesus. Learn to bring them to Jesus.
What does this man do? Evidently he he felt as though
there was nothing he could do in his own strength and his own
ability. And yet this is how many parents
feel about their own They're exhausted.
They've run out of solutions. And all they do is, as they get
older, see their children becoming more and more
influenced by evil, by the flesh veering further and further away
from the truth that you love and hope would be replicated and
emulated by your own children. And I want to tell you this
afternoon that as helpless as you might feel, you cannot
afford to be hopeless. You might feel helpless.
That's okay. Hopeless is not Okay.
You need to have the faith to surrender them to the Lord day
after day, month after month, year after year, even if they go
from bad to worse. Learn that you can give them to
Christ. And don't you dare allow your
faith to shrivel up for them. Don't let it die.
This man could have given up. He could have been dissuaded by
the fact that these disciples, who supposedly had a reputation
of radiating the power that's been given to them, But he
doesn't. He remains.
He stays right there. And there are some, perhaps
parents, now and again. Siblings, older siblings, aunts,
uncles, grandparents. You're heartbroken.
You're tired. Maybe you're even numb.
I want to exhort you. Though you may be feeling those
things. Whatever you do, don't let your
hope die. Don't let your faith die.
In fact, Jesus reveals that the absence of faith in God's
ability to intervene the life of someone you love is to be
denounced and rejected altogether.
Look what he says here in verse 19.
And he answered them. Oh, faithless generation, how
long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you?
Bring him to me. Is he?
Is he rebuking the scribes? Is he rebuking the crowd?
Or is he speaking about his disciples?
Well, you can say He's including all of them.
But the most concerning out of them all is the disciples, the
ones who have confessed Christ and have vowed to follow him and
to learn from him. Oh, faithless generation.
How long am I to be with you? You you should know this by now.
Your your faith in me should be stronger than this.
Well, what about the faith of the disciples proves to be weak?
How did their faithlessness manifest?
What was it here, in terms of observation, that the Lord was
righteously exasperated about? I think the clue is here.
Look at the last part of verse 18.
The Father says So I asked your disciples to cast it out, and
they were not able. They were not able.
And then you come down here in verse 28 and what do you see?
And when he had entered the house, his disciples asked him
privately, why could we not cast it out.
The situation here, the the the dilemma is that the disciples
were expected to bring about results and they didn't.
So the father says they couldn't do it and the disciples realized
they were guilty that so in a private meeting with the Lord
they said Lord, why could we not do it?
Remember earlier Jesus doesn't give him an explanation but he
does give commentary. Faithless generation.
What's synonymous with faithless, Unbelieving,
unbelieving generation. Then the disciples say, hey, why
couldn't we do it? Well, he said earlier.
Because you're faithless. But then now Jesus narrows it
down and explains what faithlessness looks like in this
context. And he said to them, this kind
cannot be driven out by anything but prayer.
Oh, so now we understand what the disciples failed to do.
It wasn't just unbelief. It was an unbelief that led to
prayerlessness. It was a lack of trust and
understanding of how God relates to this situation that caused
him not to even inquire of God. Jesus underscores that true
faith in God. This is so important to hear.
True faith in God, a faith that pleases him and a faith that
unleashes his power is not tapped into when you argue or
debate about a situation, when you think about the situation
and ruminate over, or even if you desire the outcome of the
situation to be favorable, Even God glorifying the faith that
brings about results is faith that expresses itself in
supplication, prayer, and so when Jesus says, oh, faithless.
You know what you can almost say?
And part what he means is this, Oh prayerless generation, oh
prayerless generation, when will you learn to depend on me?
When will you believe that I can actually intervene even
immediately, and bring about my power?
When will you learn not to rely on your own wisdom and strength?
And the reason why Jesus was righteously frustrated with his
own disciples was because they needed to learn how to exercise
that power, How to walk in such a faith, Faith that expresses
itself in prayer. Because he soon was going to
leave, and he was hoping that they would have learned that
lesson while he gave him a trial run.
Where was Jesus while this was taking place?
Was he with them? No, He was on the mountain.
He was on the mountain. And there would be a time coming
in a few short months, where Jesus would die, rise and
ascend. And the disciples need to know
by now. I'm not always going to be with
you. And because of that, you need to
know how to connect with me. How?
Not through conversation, not through pulling me aside
privately, but in prayer. Disciples, you should know by
now how to pray. You're going to need prayer if
you're going to fulfill the Great Commission.
You're going to need prayer if you're going to go and preach
the Lost. You're going to need prayer if
you're going to plant in churches.
You're going to need prayer when people come in with demons and
disease, how will you do it if you don't know how to pray?
And This is why he's rebuking? Because they're supposed to be
trained by now. Can I ask you a question this
afternoon? Does your faith pray?
Does it pray? I don't care how you articulate
it. I don't care what you blog about
it. I don't care how many debates
you win. It doesn't matter how you can
articulate your theology and your doctrine and systematize
it. Does your faith pray?
If so, keep praying because you're doing the best thing that
you can do with your faith. If not, I ask that you allow
this sermon today to encourage you to take up spiritual arms
and to fight. In the place of prayer,
especially for your children. It's the best thing you can do
for your son. It's the best thing that you can
do for your daughter. It's the best thing that you can
do for your niece, for your nephew, for your grandchildren.
Yes, I know. Examples important.
Yes, I know life is more practical than that.
But there are certain levels of demonic influence that only
prayer can deal with. This is the situation at hand.
Oh, faithless generation. Oh prayerless generation, But
now we come to the servants example in verse 20.
And 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.
And you would think at this point then here is this boy now
manifesting, and this demon is clearly trying to destroy him
even before the Messiah. You would think that at this
time Jesus would immediately interject and bring about the
deliverance that only he can bring.
But we read something quite strange, Something maybe that
you might have just read past. But I find it to be absolutely
fascinating in light of how Mark writes about Jesus verse 21 and
Jesus asked his father, how long has this been happening to him?
Is Jesus ignorant? No, he's all knowing.
Is Jesus trying to discover something about?
The length of this possession so that he would know exactly how
to exercise his power. No, it doesn't matter if the
demon was there for 5 minutes or for 50 years, he can deal with
them equally. Why is Jesus asking this
question? Does he want the crowd to know
something? Does he want the crowd, the the
scribes to hear something? No, no, no.
The reason why Jesus is asking this question is because Mark
wants to see how the perfect servant serves.
Luke omits this detail. Matthew omits this detail.
Mark is the one who tells us and shows us that he asked this
question to the Father. And when you consider and I
reminded again, This is why it's beautiful to go through a book
and its entirety, what kind of portrait Mark is trying to paint
concerning Christ? You remember that what it's
about Jesus fulfilling the prophecies of him being what,
the perfect servant of Yahweh. That's true for the prophecies,
and it's helpful for us practically because the Lord
here. Is engaging with the father, and
by asking a question, he is showing his sympathy and caring
heart for this man. Asking Listen, asking questions
isn't always about finding answers, but sometimes it's
about showing that you are invested and that you actually
care and desire to connect with the sufferer.
And here's the Lord just giving a chance for this father to
unburden his heart. As much as he is concerned about
this boy who is being tortured, he's also concerned about this
father whose heart is heavy. And so he turns to this father,
and he asks, and he's inviting him to unload.
And he wants him to know that he is approaching a personal God,
not just a powerful one. A personal.
God, not a vending machine that if you press the right button
and if you get the right amount of faith, you'll get some
results. But one who actually cares.
How long has this been happening?
You've met people like that They they don't just they don't want
to just a surface relationship. They ask more.
They ask more because they actually, genuinely care.
At least hopefully they do. And I looked at this verse last
night and I thought to myself, if this is Jesus demonstrating
what it means to serve God in very practical ways, then surely
there's instruction here for you and I as a church.
There's instruction for you and I.
When people come into this place and we pray that people would
visit this place, believer or nonbeliever, they're not coming
here for a performance, nor is our aim for them to come to be
plugged into a program. We want them to come to meet
people, caring, loving people. When you and I are planning to
go out to the world, we did and we're going to go again, we
don't want people to see us heartlessly proclaim a message
of righteousness. We want them to see people who
care. They care about my soul.
They care about my life. They're not just try to satisfy
the religious conscience. They're not just trying to do
this so that they can say something to others about how
much they serve and stand for the truth.
They actually care. This is Jesus actually caring.
He pauses. He gives time, he inquires, and
he convinces this man and encourages him that he does
care, and this this man was able to perceive that.
So he finds the courage to look at Christ and to say, if if you
are compassionate, I perceive that you are compassionate, help
me. Please help me.
I can't do this anymore. And so on verse 22 we read that.
Now we look at the stumbling block it says here at the end of
verse 21, he said from childhood.
And it has often cast them into fire, into water to destroy him.
You just imagine that kind of a life.
Imagine being a father or a mother.
And so much of your time is to protect the unpredictable
behavior of your child, where demon is in him and launches him
into a fire pit, and if not into a fire pit, into some kind of a
well or a pond. To try to drown him.
Imagine all that time and energy rescuing, putting out fires,
trying to arrest them by while trying to be kind and letting
them live as much of a normal life as possible.
This is what this father is dealing with then, he says.
But if you can do anything, but if you can do anything, have
compassion on us and help us. But if you can do anything, does
that sound like strong faith? But if you can do anything, even
Jesus gives this surprising expression.
If you can. If you can, I would have loved
to hear the Lord say that if you.
Can that does it sound like strong faith?
What does strong faith look like?
You know, I'm reading Romans. I was reading Romans this week
and this first came to mind. Every time I go to Romans
chapter 4 and read about Abraham, my faith is always
checked. Always.
Because the Holy Spirit describes this Father of faith
in such a detailed manner and it gives us language.
To what strong faith looks like. Can I show you what strong faith
is? According to the Bible, we know
what faith is, but what does strong faith look like?
Well, turn to Romans 4 with me. Romans 4 and let's go to verse
19 Every time I come to this chapter, in this portion of this
chapter I examine the quality of my faith.
Romans 419. It says here about Abraham.
He did not weaken and faith when he considered his own body,
which was as good as dead since he was about 100 years old, or
when he considered the barrenness of Sarah's womb.
So Abraham didn't weaken in faith the older he got.
He didn't weaken in faith the older Sarah got.
That's an astounding commentary. Look at verse 20.
There's an end there. No unbelief made him waver
concerning the promise of God. But he grew strong in his faith.
OK, this is strong faith. He grew strong in his faith as
he gave glory to God. Verse 21 is a description of
strong faith. You ready?
Fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised?
That's strong faith. Fully convinced.
Not partially, not 90% completely.
As a shirt as I am. That this is a wooden pulpit,
That this is an ESV Bible, That this is a white shirt.
That's how you are with the promises of God.
There's no doubt. There's no question.
I'm fully convinced that what God has said he would that's
strong faith. That's what you and I should
strive for. That's God glorifying faith.
You come back to this man, is he?
Fully convinced If you can do something, that's not Abraham.
Like faith, Abraham didn't weaken in faith, he was fully
convinced. So the opposite of weak faith is
fully convinced faith. But that's not what we read up
in this story. Let's come back.
May I add that this man is not coming to Jesus blindly.
He wasn't taking a walk with his son and saw Jesus and heard for
the first time. You know this.
Jesus can do miracles. I'm sure this man was very, very
aware of who Jesus was. I'm sure he has heard the
reports and the eyewitness testimonies.
That's why he came to Jesus to begin with.
So this man is informed. He's not in the dark concerning
the reputation that Jesus had, but despite the reports, despite
the accounts, there was still doubt in him, there was still
this uncertainty. And Jesus takes this opportunity
to say something not just for this man, but also for his
disciples, his disciples, who were also going to live most of
the life without the immediate physical presence of Jesus
Christ. This is what he says, if you
can. All things are possible for one
who believes. All things are possible for one
who believes. That's really the center.
That's the core of what this is all about, Believing.
Believing that as long as what you're believing for doesn't
contradict the word of God is in alignment with the will of God.
It can happen. All things are possible.
And if we're honest, if we're honest, let's be honest, we're
in church. We're Christians.
We should be honest when we hear that all things are possible for
one who believes. Our response is more like this
man than it is being fully convinced.
This is a little too good to be true.
All things are possible for one who believes so we can resonate
with his response. I'm sure more than anything else
in verse 24, immediately the father of the child cried out
and said I believe this end there, I hope my own belief.
I believe there's a motion here. There's like an outburst, right?
Like something was triggered. I believe help my own belief.
Which one is it?
Do you believe or you're not believe?
It's both. You're familiar with that,
right? You believe, but there's a
little bit of doubt. I don't know.
I'm not sure really. Can it?
You know what's amazing? This man says, I believe, help
my unbelief. And before you read verse 25,
you would anticipate that Jesus would respond with what we saw
earlier in verse 19. Oh, faithless generation.
Like, when does the faithlessness stop here?
Oh, faith, That how you're just this is just not going to stop,
is it? You would think so.
You would think that would be the appropriate.
Reaction that Christ would have, but he doesn't give that.
What does he do? He actually performs the
miracle. And when Jesus saw that a crowd
came running together, he rebuked the unclean spirit.
He rebuked it, and he brought deliverance to this child.
How can this be? He?
He said to the disciples, mainly of faithless generation.
And when you go to Matthew's version, you don't have to turn
there. Matthew 17.
You read there that Jesus actually tells them why they
couldn't cast it out. Mark emphasizes prayer.
Jesus says because your faith is weak, it's weak faith.
They didn't have 0 belief, it was just weak.
Well, isn't this man's faith weak?
So why isn't he rebuking him? Why did he rebuke the disciples
for their weak faith? But here's a man with equally
weak faith, and Jesus doesn't rebuke him but actually honors
him. I'll tell you why.
You ready? It's because what the disciples
did with their weak faith was much different than what this
man did with his weak faith. The weak faith in the hearts of
the disciples caused them not to pray but to be self reliant.
The weak faith of this man though was weak.
There was enough of it for him to act upon and say I need you.
It's weak but I still give it to you.
It's contaminated with doubt, but I still cry out to you.
Do you see the difference? It's not necessarily the
strength of the faith, though that strength can glorify God.
Is that despite the measure of it?
Can you act upon it and still move?
Forward with it. And if you really think about
it, this man is acting in more faith than you might perceive.
I believe help my unbelief. Do you realize that in his
unbelief he's actually believing?
This is I love this miracle for this this reason right here,
help my unbelief. The fact that you're identifying
that unbelief is good, but the fact that you're surrendering it
to the Lord is an act of faith in itself.
So it's not necessarily the presence of doubt or fear or
anxiety that disqualifies God channeling through our faith.
It's that though you see that doubt, what do you do with it?
And here's the mercy of Jesus Christ, here's the glory of his
compassion that you can even take your doubt.
Give it to the Lord, ask him to help you with it, and he'll
honor the faith behind that request.
Does not move you. Doesn't that stir you?
You can't lose. Only way you can lose is if you
don't come to him at all. You you see earlier where he
says, if you have compassion, have compassion on us and help
us. That same word for help is being
used here about his unbelief. Help us concerning my son.
And then when it came to his lack of faith, he goes help my
lack of faith. I'm desperate for my doubt to be
dealt with, and the Lord honors that.
The Lord answers that the Lord works with that kind of faith.
And so I don't believe God in the story earlier as strongly as
I know I should. Well, don't be like the
disciples and reserve yourself from coming to him altogether.
Come to him, even with that mustard seed.
Like faith. One that is murky and slimy, not
rock solid. Say, Lord, I I know I should
believe you more about this, but it's not as strong.
Can you help me here? That's faith, and that's the
Lord and his goodness willing to answer and rescue us and even
bring about results and fruit. You won't prove of that in Acts
chapter 12, when the church there praying for Peter to be
released from prison, Rhoda hears some knocking at the door.
It's Peter at the door. She runs back to the perming,
says, you know, Peter is here, they go, You're out of your
mind, no? No, no, it's it's really Peter,
the one that you're asking God to deliver.
He's actually outside in the courtyard is probably his Angel.
What kind of faith is that? OK, and yet that was the kind of
faith they were offering to heaven.
And God still was willing to send an Angel and deliver Peter,
How good is our God? How awesome is he?
How can you not pray? How can you condemn yourself to
the point of being paralyzed in your prayer?
Life may not be so. This man says, help my own
belief. I can pray to God in my own
belief, and he'll recognize the act of faith behind that plea.
And finally we come not just to the stumbling block that was
overcome, but we come to the schooling.
The boy was delivered verse 27, but Jesus took him by the hand
again. Mark loves to use that language.
He loves to show Jesus touching and looking and asking more and
being more personally, takes him by the hand and lifted him up.
And he arose, and now the scene shifts again.
There's a there's a private meeting.
They go to a house. We're not told which house it
is. And when he had entered the
house, his disciples asked him privately why can we not cast it
out? Now the disciples have the right
to ask this question, obviously because of their failure, but in
light of their previous experience.
This is not the first time that the disciples dealt with demons.
It's not the first time that they were confronted with a
problem in the supernatural. Go back to Mark chapter 6.
Very briefly, look at verse 7 and Mark 6.
And he called the 12 and began to send them out two by two, and
he gave them authority over the unclean spirits.
And then you come here to verse 13 and they being the disciples.
Cast out many demons and anointed with oil, many who were
sick and healed them. So the disciples had a history
of success with demons before, and now they come to this, and
there's no fruit, there's no power, there's no demonstration
like what they have known. And they're they're they're
confused. Jesus, we're not understanding
this. You gave us authority.
We've seen results. Now we're here.
Why isn't anything happening? Why didn't anything happen?
And Jesus is something so insightful.
This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer.
What is the Lord getting at here between Mark Chapter 6 and Mark
Chapter 9? For some reason the disciples
developed a prayerless attitude and the disciples relied on
previous success, maybe even technique, maybe some kind of
methodology. But where they went wrong is
they stopped being depended upon God Almighty.
And where do you stop being depended upon God Almighty when
you stop praying. And that's what Jesus points
out. You stopped praying at some
point. And this is for those who are
servants of God who desire to see fruit, even supernatural
fruit, right? It's all really supernatural.
But you want to see God do great things.
You want to see God bless your minister, your efforts.
It's very tempting to rely on a reputation or to to get a hold
of a certain technique or routine and see on the surface
level, something steady and satisfying where you begin to
now remove yourself from the place of getting before God and
speaking to Him and asking help from Him.
It happens all the time. It happens more frequently than
you think. It's a great temptation for us
to get off of our knees, especially on the other side of
success. And this is what happened to
these disciples. And I think it's more than just
Jesus saying in this moment you didn't pray.
I think this is Jesus saying that altogether their sense of
dependency was removed. And so this is a longterm thing,
not just an immediate thing. And Jesus, as God Almighty,
brought about results not just because he's got almighty, but
because being man, he actually modeled how you and I should go
about serving him. He tells him you didn't pray.
But Jesus coming down the mountain, was he prepared?
Was he prepared? Let me show you how he was
prepared. If you go to Luke in Chapter 9
in verse 28, this is the same account of the transfiguration
where Jesus went up to the mountain to make his glory known
to his disciples. But look what we see here in
Luke 928 Now, about eight days after these sayings, he took
with him Peter and John and James and went up on the
mountain to what, pray Jesus was prepared.
So Jesus is talking more than just about spontaneous prayer in
light of a surprise attack. I believe the Lord is speaking
about a lifestyle of prayer that makes you ready for the
surprise. We all know how to run to prayer
when there's chaos. We all know what to do when
there's things that get out of hand.
Prayers are 911 and it should be, but it should be more than
that. Prayer should be our posture all
the time. Pray without ceasing, Paul said.
How do I pray without ceasing? Do I stay in my room the whole
time, Ask my wife to make me dinner?
To put out the closet door and quit my job?
Is that what prayer means, To pray without ceasing?
No. Develop an attitude of
dependency on the Lord every day, all day.
That's what prayer without ceasing means.
And Jesus saying. You've forgotten that.
And it shows. It shows.
I wasn't planning to go to this text in the Old Testament, but I
think it's helpful. It's helpful because I want to
show you for more than one place how what I am saying to you is
valid and for our consideration. Please understand me.
You can know a level of success without prayer.
I know that sounds blasphemous. You can know some kind of
superficial results and not pray at all.
I remember hearing this years ago where a minister was at a
minister's conference and when he discovered with these pastors
who had churches of thousands of people, that most of these
pastors don't pray at all. They're so busy, have so much to
do, administrative work and meetings and conferences, and
they have thousands of people. They have books, but you know
what? They don't have a prayer life.
And there was a man in the Old Testament who saw some results
without prayer. And there is an amazing lesson
here through his life that I want to bring to your attention.
It's in Second Chronicles. Let's turn there.
We're we're gonna end it here. Second Chronicles.
It's after First and Second Kings.
First the Second Kings as of First and Second Samuel.
Second Chronicles, it's after Genesis, before Revelation.
Second Chronicles In Chapter 16, King ASA, the king of the
Southern Kingdom, heard reports of Basha, king of Israel, coming
up against Judah and built Rama. There is a war that was about to
ensue between the Northern Kingdom and the Southern
Kingdom. So what does King ASA do in
order to deal with the enemy? Verse two, Second Chronicle 16.
Then ASA took silver and gold from the treasures of the House
of the Lord and the King's house, and sent them to Ben
Haddad, king of Syria, who lived in Damascus, saying, There is a
covet between me and you. As there was between my father
and your father, behold, I am sending to you silver and gold.
Gold. Break your covenant with Basha,
king of Israel. That he may withdraw from me.
Stop. Is aligned with the Syrians a
good thing or a bad thing? It's a bad thing.
The Syrians are enemies as well. And so he makes an alliance with
Syria. He asked Syria to break their
covenant with Israel and notice what happens.
We see here in verse four and Ben Haddad listened to King ASA
and sent the commanders of his armies against the cities of
Israel and they conquered. And at the last part of the
verse he stopped building Rama and let his work cease looking
verse six. Then King ASA took all Judah and
they carried away the stones of Rama and it's timber with which
Basha had been building and with them he built Giba and Mispa.
Success results. Advancement, relief, yeah.
But the story doesn't end there. God sends a prophet, and this is
what the prophet says in verse seven at the time.
Hannah and I, the seer, came to ASA, king of Judah and said to
him, because you relied on the king of Syria and did not rely
on the Lord your God, the army of the king of Syria has escaped
you. ASA, because you trusted in
human power, because you trusted in human resources.
Read your Bible carefully. He said the king of Syria has
escaped you. He didn't say the king of
Israel, king of Syria, the same Syrians that you made an
alliance with. You know what he's saying by
this? If you had just relied on God,
not only would have God-given you Israel, He would have given
you Israel and Syria, but you forfeited that by trusting in
your own strength instead of God's.
People wonder, do I miss out on prayer?
What? Do I really miss out?
Is it really practical? I don't want to live a life
where I can navigate through it comfortably but not know what
else could have been done if I had just sought God.
Some Christians are comfortable with it.
That's why this part of the message isn't moving you a bit.
I'm not interested in that kind of Christianity, because again,
you can go about, you can do ministry and not pray.
But Jesus said this kind cannot come, it cannot come out but
anything but prayer. Meaning you always will reach a
ceiling of potential being prayerless, but there is
unlimited possibility for the prayer fall.
So do it, but you'll always reach a limit.
You only come so far this kind. There is a level that you will
never reach if you don't pray. Why does this church pray?
Why? Why do we put a meeting
uncomfortably during the week? So because we have nothing else
to do. Is it because we're bored?
Is it because we want to eat something together on a
Wednesday night? We don't eat anything on
Wednesday night. The reason why we pray is
because we know that we can't know God's full potential unless
we do. That's why we pray.
That's why we take time to see God's faith.
Because we don't want to be like disciples and rely on our
strength and our gifts and our money and our hopes and plans.
God, if you don't come, we're finished.
If you don't help, we will not go far.
And I look at this in verse eight.
He reminds him of the past. We're not The Ethiopians and the
Libyans, a huge army with very many Chariots and horsemen.
Yet because you relied on the Lord, he gave them into your
hand. That's that bothers me because
this man was a prayer man. He was at one point.
Usually when people are early in their ministry, early in their
walk with the Lord, we usually become prayerless as time goes
on. And so here's the reminder.
Just to get an idea of how this man prayed, go to Chapter 14.
This is ASA as well. Look at verse nine of Chapter
14. Zero.
The Ethiopian came out against them with an army of 1,000,000
men, a million men, and 300 Chariots, and came as far as
Marisa and ASA went out to meet him and drew up their lines of
battle in the valley of Zepha. Marisa did.
Did ASA have an army here? Yes, he had an army here, but he
has something else. Verse 11.
And ASA cry to the Lord his God. Oh Lord, there is none like you
to help between the mighty and the weak.
Help us oh Lord our God, for we rely on you and in your name we
have come against this Multi the Oh Lord you are God.
Let not man prevail against you. The power of ASA and his Kingdom
was not his army. It was in prayer.
And Hannah and I says you were a praying man before you knew how
to rely on God. But then you got smart.
Then you being confident. You allowed your track record
and a time of peace to convince you that you don't need to plead
before God. What happened to you?
ASA? And then he gives verse 9 as a
motivation for us. Unfortunately, one that was too
late for ASA, though he could have repented verse 9 for the
eyes of back in chapter 16. For the eyes of the Lord run to
and fro throughout the whole earth to give strong support to
those whose heart is blameless toward him.
ASA, do you know why you can pray?
Because God is actively looking for those whose hearts are
completely his, and that will seek him so that he can bring
about his power through them. Can you imagine that the eyes of
the Lord in 2023? Not just then, 2023, are still
scaling the earth to find a man, a woman, a mother, a father, a
church whose heart is blameless toward him and that shows itself
by relying on him in the place of prayer?
What is God looking for in this hour?
Intelligence, looks, Charisma, Prayer.
It was true then. It is true today.
It'd be very strange to end this meeting by singing 2 songs and
not allowing it to bleed into some kind of response.
Let's pray. What do you need God to do in
your life? I do not stand here to present
to you a nice religious lesson. I present to you the truth of
the living God. What do you need to What do you
need God to do in your daughter's life?
What do you need to see God do in your son's life?
What do you want to see God do through your ministry?
What do you want God to do? And as delfo as it may seem, as
drug addicted as they might be, as confused as they might be, as
rebellious and hardened, as difficult as the fruit has been,
as limited as the opportunities. Are I believe help my unbelief I
I I did my part I I mean if if if after this your heart isn't
start to pray. I mean I can't do anything I
can't make you pray put your neck down and get on you.
I can't do that. It's between you and God.
But I pray that we would remain prayerful as a church, and pray
that this church will remain prayerful, whether that prayer
meeting is 5 or 500. May God find a praying people in
this place. What do you need God to do?
That's the answer. That's the response to this
message. What do you need God to do?
And the praise team will come. They'll set themselves up.
We're ready to sing. But we would be remiss not to
seek the Lord after hearing all of this.
And so don't get distracted by who's on your left, by who's on
your right. If you need to fast a little
bit, by waiting a little bit longer to pray and not get your
lunch. It's good.
Fasting is good. Ask the Lord.
I need your help. Lord, forgive me for my
presumption. Forgive me for trusting in
myself. Forgive me for not looking to
you like the disciples that help me be like that, Father, who
knew how to come to you still in weakness and unbrokenness.
And the Lord will honor that kind of faith.
What do you need to see God do? Don't let your mind wander.
Engage with your God and praise team when you're ready.
After you have finished praying, please come and prepare so that
we can sing together. It's not.