Let's take our Bibles and open up to the Gospel
according to Mark. Mark chapter 9 looking at
verses 14 through 29 as we continue our sermon
series through some of the miracles of Jesus.
We're not covering all of them. That would take
a very long time. But we're seeing several of
these and this one that we look at today This
is a remedy for the weak heart. And so if your
heart is weak, if there are things that are weighing
you down today, I pray that you would be strengthened
by God's Word. And so would you give an ear to
it now? Mark chapter 9, verses 14 through 29.
And when they came to the disciples, they saw
a great crowd around them. 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 him 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 your 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 it 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 is
often cast him into fire and 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 unbelief.
And 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. 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 when he 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 This is God's
holy word Let's pray Father we we bless you and
we thank you for your infallible word. And we
ask today that as we look at this text that you
would strengthen our faith just like you strengthen
the faith of this man within this text. This
we ask in Christ's name. Amen. I know that I've
shared this illustration before, but maybe you'll
hear it like it's the first time. You might remember
the great preacher Charles Haddon Spurgeon. Spurgeon
was the pastor of a very large church in London
called the Metropolitan Tabernacle. It was very
impressive, just lots and lots and lots of people
worshiped there Sunday after Sunday after Sunday
and showing up throughout the week for Bible
studies and for prayer and things. And people
in London would often ask Spurgeon, How do you
keep this church going? How is the ministry here
so successful? And on more than one occasion,
he said, you want to know? Come with me. And
he would take those visitors down into the very
basement of the church. And he would say, I owe
the success of this church to our heating apparatus.
You want to see? And they would say, what are
you talking about? I don't need to see that.
But in the basement, there was a room. And it
wasn't so much a physical heating apparatus as
it was a place that was filled with people praying.
And he would say, this is the engine room of
the church, the prayer meeting. And that's what
we see from this text. We see how important,
how crucial, how powerful prayer is and how Christians
have to be men and women, boys and girls of prayer.
But we also see the necessity of faith in here.
So that's what we're looking at today, faith
and prayer. But we also must note the context
of this episode. If you have your Bible still
open, which I hope that you do, look at just
what happens prior to this episode in Mark chapter
nine. This is the transfiguration. It's very
important to note that. It's also to note who
is actually involved in this episode. Verse 14
says, and when they came to the disciples, who
is they within this text? It's Jesus and it's
his inner circle of disciples. Peter, James,
and John come with Jesus to see this great crowd.
What were those three doing with Jesus? Well,
we know from that context that those three were
on the mountain with Jesus They have seen Jesus
there with him and they come down from that mountain
and they see this great crowd and these disciples
and there is some sort of commotion that is happening
and It's a commotion of unbelief This should
remind us of the time that Moses was on Sinai
You remember when Moses spends a long time on
Mount Sinai, such that the Israelites down below
are like, we don't know what happened to him,
let's make a god. And they make an idol, the
golden calf. And Moses is on the mountain, and
he hears the commotion. And this grieves him
to the core, for he sees the unbelief of the
people. This is a situation that Jesus and the
disciples see. They come down from this mountain.
and they see what's before them, and they see
the scribes arguing with them. And in the midst
of all of this, somebody comes up to Jesus and
says, teacher, I brought my son to you, for he
has a spirit that makes him mute. And so we have
this man who is desperate for help for his son.
His son has been sick since he was very young
as a boy. And he's got these seizures, right?
And more than that, he's got this demon possession
that's happening that has many times tried to
cast the boy into the fire or into the water
seeking to destroy him. And so this man is truly
desperate here, but there is a big crowd around
him. And Jesus offers this rebuke, doesn't he?
Look in verse 19. Oh, faithless generation, how
long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear
with you? Why is Jesus offering this kind of
rebuke? What's going on? Well, some have had
difficulties trying to understand who is Jesus
rebuking here? Is he rebuking everybody who's
listening, the whole crowd? Well, I don't think
that that's the case, because the whole purpose
of this has been that there is this boy who's
got this demonic spirit and nobody has been able
to do anything about it. So we wouldn't expect
the crowd to do anything about this. Perhaps
it's the scribes, those religious leaders. They
can't do anything about this either. They may
try, but I doubt it. What I really think is going
on here is that Jesus is rebuking his disciples.
He is lumping them in with the, oh, faithless
generation. as if to say, you must trust me.
You must depend upon me in order to do anything.
Now, we might say to Jesus here, this this sounds
a little harsh. Lighten up, Jesus. Why? Why are
you getting onto their case? But you must see,
friends, that the entire ministry of the disciples
will be contingent upon faith. They won't be
able to do a single thing for Jesus. without
faith in Him. Without faith, they, we are unable
to accomplish anything. And what is Jesus doing
but training them, preparing them for the opposition
that they will face? The context shows us this.
What immediately follows this episode? Look at
verse 30 and on. They went on from there and
passed through Galilee. he did not want anyone
to know for he was teaching his disciples saying
to them the son of man is going to be delivered
into the hands of men and they will kill him.
That's what follows. Also look at what precedes
this episode in chapter 8 verse 31. and began
to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer
many things and be rejected by the elders and
the chief priests and the scribes and be killed.
Jesus knows one day he's going to the Father.
He's preparing them for this. But if they don't
have faith to trust in God, they will not have
a ministry and it will not continue. And so Jesus
is giving them on the field training right now.
That they will be able to do teaching, they will
be able to do healing, they will be able and
have been able to cast out demons. But friends,
we cannot do anything for God without trusting
in him. We cannot. If you will, just listen to
this from Matthew chapter seven. Matthew seven,
21 through 23. And these are words we need to
pay attention to. Matthew 721, not everyone who
says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom
of heaven, but the one who does the will of my
Father who is in heaven. On that day, many will
say to me, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in
your name and cast out demons in your name and
do many mighty works in your name? And then I
will declare to them, I never knew you. Depart
from me, you workers of lawlessness. Friends,
faithlessness and ministry don't mesh. Faithlessness
and ministry, they don't work. True disciples
of Jesus trust Jesus and true disciples of Jesus
feed their faith as the Holy Spirit sanctifies.
So you might say, well, how is that? How can
we grow in our faith? I don't have an exotic
answer here. It's really quite simple. H .B.
Charles Jr. says, it's scripture intake. Scripture
intake. It's kind of like exercise. Pretty much,
I think everybody in here would say, yeah, I
want to be in good shape from our oldest to our
youngest and in between, right? We want to take
care of our bodies, right? But if you never go
for a walk. If you don't eat well, you're not
going to see that progress, right? We really
have to take in the good and cast off the bad,
right? And that's the way it is with our faith.
If you will, just listen to 1 Peter chapter two,
verse one. So put away all malice and all deceit
and hypocrisy and envy and all slander. So put
those things away like newborn infants long for
the pure spiritual milk that by it you may grow
up into salvation if indeed you have tasted that
the Lord is good. So we have to put off those
things which do not help our faith, which hinder
our faith and put on good things like scripture.
And so friend, have you tasted that the Lord
is good? Have you? And if so, you might say,
well, how do I have more? Again, it's the very
word of God. This is the time of year when people
make resolutions. Why not make a resolution that
you can actually keep by the power of the Holy
Spirit helping you, that you can give yourself
to the word of God? Now, maybe you're out of
the habit, kind of like exercise. You're out
of the habit. That doesn't mean that you should
go run a marathon right away. It doesn't mean
that you go to the gym and you You know, you
get on the bench and you try and bench press
whatever the previous person had before you.
Baby steps. And so if you're out of the practice
of reading scripture or listening to it, just
take a verse a day, at least a verse a day, just
to listen, to read it, to meditate upon it, hide
it in your heart. Recently, I've begun a practice
of taking one scripture, usually the scripture
for Sunday. and I print it off on a note card,
just very small, and I put it in my pocket, or
I put it in my bag, such that everywhere I go,
I have immediate access, can pull that card out
and look at it and reflect upon it. Do something
like that, small steps, to begin absorbing more
and more of the Bible. But we also recognize
that we need the ministry of the word. I'm preaching
to the choir here, because you are here, but
we need the preaching of the word. But we also
need time of strengthening from other believers.
And so make this the year in which you say, yeah,
I'm planning to be there for Sunday school. I'm
planning to be there for Wednesday nights. Join
in with our wick or our men of the covenant or
children taking part in those programs that we
have. Times together of learning scripture. But
not only that, we need times together of prayer.
Right? We all need to be people of prayer and
that's really what Jesus is teaching here So
we've seen Jesus offer that rebuke, right? But
then what does Jesus do? He asked for the boy
And so as they bring the boy to him who's got
this Demonic spirit within him as soon as that
spirit is into the presence of Jesus near him
It sends the boy into convulsions Translations
will say that this is epileptic seizures, and
while that's true, it all happens because of
demon possession. And so the demon possesses
and makes the boy mute and makes him deaf, and
yet those things do not hinder Jesus from speaking
right to that spirit and saying, get out of him.
Look in verse 22. You can see how desperate the
father is. It's often cast him into fire and
into water to destroy him. But if you can do
anything, have compassion on us and help us.
Here, we might look at that and say, well, probably
shouldn't have said it like that, if you can
do anything. But before we begin to criticize
this father, Let's think to ourselves, do we
struggle with unbelief? Do you ever struggle
with unbelief? I would say that you do, because
I know at times that I do. Calvin said of this
passage, he declares that he believes and yet
acknowledges himself to have unbelief. These
two statements may appear to contradict each
other, but there is none of us that does not
experience both of them in himself. And so the
Christian can say the very prayer that this man
offers, help my unbelief. And we know this to
be true not just of ourselves, but of faithful
men and women throughout scripture. Perhaps you
remember Hebrews chapter 11, what's called the
hall. of faith where you have this listing of
faithful men and women who loved God and yet
struggled with sin. People like Noah and Abraham
and Moses and Samson and Rahab and Samuel and
David. And yet when we struggle with unbelief,
is not Jesus compassionate with us? He certainly
was towards this man because he corrects the
man But he doesn't offer a rebuke here. Look
in verse twenty three. Jesus said to him, if
you can. All things are possible for one who
believes. This has me reflecting upon Christmas.
For you remember when Gabriel speaks to Mary
and she's wondering, how is this whole thing
going to work? Because I'm a virgin. And Gabriel
says nothing will be impossible with God. You
see, friends, nothing can stand in the way of
what Jesus wills to do. All things are possible
for the one who believes. And so we need to check
ourselves here. Do we really believe that? Do
we really believe that Jesus can do all things?
Well, if you struggle with that answer, please
see the remedy here. God gives the remedy within
the text, prayer with repentance. For you see
in verse 24 the word immediately the man wastes
no time Confessing his unbelief. He says I believe
help my own belief Somebody once said that living
without faith is like driving in the fog I Would
say living without faith is like driving 90 miles
an hour in the fog. It's the most dangerous thing
you can do to try and live without faith in Jesus
Christ. We need to read this man's words as prayer,
because while there were others who could perform
exorcisms, and there were others who could perform
healings, who else could help a man with his
unbelief but Jesus? And so this man now sees
Jesus as the Savior, as the Messiah. This is
his prayer, help. my unbelief. And this needs
to be our prayer, too. For we can do nothing
to help ourselves here. It must all be from Jesus.
You cannot help your unbelief anymore that you
can save yourself. And so friends who struggle,
friends who struggle with unbelief, have this
prayer on your lips. Have it at the ready. Memorize
just this short phrase. I believe. Help my unbelief.
You've heard Brittany already saying these words,
I would but can't repent, though I endeavor oft.
This stony heart can never relent till Jesus
makes it soft. Help my unbelief. My help must
come from thee. And so the man needs help, the
disciples need help, and here is Jesus to help.
with this boy he casts out this demon and it
reacts violently such that the boy is laying
there and people are saying he must be dead but
remember the compassion of Jesus to reach down
to stoop down with his hand and to raise the
boy and everybody is in amazement including the
disciples but what do the disciples want to know
they want to know why couldn't we do that We've
done this before. Why couldn't we do it this
time? And so you see here their problem. You
see the disciples have been well trained by the
master. They have authority over these kind of
things, but it's ineffective without prayer.
Sinclair Ferguson says, Jesus is emphasizing
to them the danger of thinking that because God
has called you to a certain kind of ministry,
that you are therefore simply by that call and
able to fulfill that ministry. You can only fulfill
that ministry by constant dependence on the Lord
in prayer to him. Friends, I know many of you,
you made some really good food over the last
week for Christmas. In my house, we had a ton
of cookies, a lot of sugar cookies. What happens
if you leave the sugar out of a cookie? It ain't
good. It's not a good cookie. It's barely a cookie.
Friends, if we attempt ministry without the ingredient
of prayer, it won't be ministry. It will not.
Disciples could have done everything right. They
could have been gentle. They could have been
pastoral. They could have been confident. They
could have done everything just like they saw
Jesus to do. But if they were not dependent on
God exercising prayer, it would not have been
effective. And so this is a lesson for them.
But it's not just that Jesus tells them to pray.
Jesus has also shown them his own prayer life.
You might remember how Jesus, ahead of turning,
ahead of multiplying the loaves and the fish,
what did Jesus do? He prayed. You might remember,
and we haven't looked at this one yet in the
miracles of Jesus, but you might remember Jesus
raising Lazarus. Before he does that, what does
he do? He... Praise There's also good news here
though For the disciples, I think they take this
to heart because in Acts chapter 4 We see some
of them praying Before they can do anything so
in Acts chapter 4 Versus 29 and onward we see
their prayer and I'll read just part of it And
now Lord look upon their threats and grant to
your servants to continue to speak your word
with all boldness. So this is their prayer. While
you stretch out your hand to heal and signs and
wonders are performed through the name of your
holy servant Jesus. And when they had prayed
the place in which they were gathered together
was shaken and they were all filled with the
Holy Spirit. and continue to speak the word of
God with boldness. It's like I've said many times,
quoting John Bunyan, you can do nothing until
you have prayed. And so did they forget prayer?
Perhaps in Mark chapter six, Jesus gives authority
to them over the unclean spirits. And so perhaps
the disciples thought, this is sufficient. I
have authority from Jesus so we can do this thing.
They sought to tough it out. on their own. And
as Americans, I think we like these kind of people.
We like tough people, gritty people, people who
can pull themselves up by their bootstraps. In
a lot of ways, that's an admirable quality. But
not in your walk with Jesus. Not in your walk
with Jesus. You must depend upon Jesus. Indeed,
many of you have been gifted beautifully. by
the Holy Spirit with gifts. Every believer has
a gift to exercise, but the gift alone is not
enough. You must depend upon Jesus to exercise
that gift, whatever it is. Maybe you're a teacher
within the church of children or of adults. Maybe
you have musical abilities and you sing in the
choir. Maybe you're an evangelist and you love
to tell people about Jesus. Maybe you're an officer
within this church. These things are wonderful.
Praise God for them. But you must exercise faith
in prayer in order to perform those responsibilities.
And so whatever your gift is, there's something
you must understand. You can only use your gifting
with prayer. There is a direct connection between
unbelief and prayerlessness, right? But prayer
is an expression of our faith. Prayer is an expression
of our faith. It puts our faith to words whenever
we pray to God in the name of Jesus. But you
might say, well, prayer is difficult for me.
I really struggle with that. What kind of practical
help is there for me? Well, from this text alone,
we see something beautiful. We see something
very helpful that you can be honest within your
prayer life. This man is honest because he knows
that Jesus knows I believe help my unbelief We're
probably not all that eager To express to one
another that we struggle with unbelief But you
can certainly express that to Jesus you must
express that to Jesus and know That he helps
those who ask right and so be honest in your
prayer, pray about prayerlessness and unbelief.
In the case of this father, something very unfortunate
led to the recognition of his unbelief. But it's
the kindness of God to even use the difficult
things in our lives to draw us back to him. And
so friends, I know the things that you go through
are painful, the suffering, the illness, the
job loss, whatever it might be, but do not waste
the sufferings that you go through. but instead
see them as opportunities to draw near to God
in prayer. This man asked for help and unbelief
and what did Jesus do? He helped him. Will Jesus
not also do the same for you? Of course he will.
And so what's weighing on you today? What is
too heavy for you? What has you saying, I don't
think I can go on? You feel like your faith is
weak. But friend, don't you know that God is
near? He's nearer than the fog, and He listens
to your prayer. Don't you know that Jesus is
the author of your salvation? Don't you know
that you can call upon God in prayer at any moment,
at any time of day or night, that God is listening
for His children? And He, as you pray, He will
strengthen you, and He will help you, and He
will help your unbelief.