The Need for Faith
Notes
Transcript
If you did not come to our bible conference this past week, I really hate that you were not able to come. It was a great way to start our year off with a refocus, a renewal of our focus on our relationship with Jesus. Last Sunday morning, we took a break from the gospel of Mark to spend some time focusing on renewing our passion for others and sharing the gospel with others. I laid out a challenge for us that we will be doing for the entire year called “One a Week”. This is where each and every one of us will invite one person to church and everyone will have a gospel conversation with someone. You will be continuously hearing about this focus each and every week.
Today, we jump back into the gospel of Mark. We are coming off the heels of what is known as the Transfiguration. This is where Jesus took Peter, James, and John up the mountain with him. While up there, they see some amazing things. They see Jesus physically emulate the glory of God. And they see Moses and Elijah as well. Peter even offers to build tents for everyone so they could stay up there. But, that was not what needed to happen. So they come back down. In our text today, we pick up where we left off before.
14 And when they came to the disciples, they saw a great crowd around them, and scribes arguing with them.
15 And immediately all the crowd, when they saw him, were greatly amazed and ran up to him and greeted him.
16 And he asked them, “What are you arguing about with them?”
17 And someone from the crowd answered him, “Teacher, I brought my son to you, for he has a spirit that makes him mute.
18 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.”
19 And 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.”
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.
21 And Jesus asked his father, “How long has this been happening to him?” And he said, “From childhood.
22 And 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.”
23 And Jesus said to him, “ ‘If you can’! All things are possible for one who believes.”
24 Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, “I believe; help my unbelief!”
25 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.”
26 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.”
27 But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose.
28 And when he had entered the house, his disciples asked him privately, “Why could we not cast it out?”
29 And he said to them, “This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer.”
Let me begin this sermon in prayer for us.
I titled the sermon today, “The Need for Faith”. But this title is honestly a little too vague. See, we could have faith in a lot of things. Just next week, we will see the inauguration of our next president here in the United States. This day, to some folks, is more important than Easter Sunday when we celebrate our risen savior. There are too many people who put faith in a government than they do Jesus.
But it isn’t just government either. We put faith in man too. Should we, sure we should have confidence in people to follow their word and really be who they say they are. But, when they fail, we should not be surprised. I have known a lot of people who have failed relationships because of being let down by a friend. And for them, I am sure it was a very big deal. But, we should not be caught off guard when a person, a sinful person, fails us. Even in the church world, we all know people who used to go to church who no longer go because there was a person their, maybe a fellow member or a pastor, who truly let them down.
But the faith that we see in this passage that works and will last is faith in Jesus Christ.
Main Idea: For God to do a work in us, we need faith in Christ
Main Idea: For God to do a work in us, we need faith in Christ
I mean, is there anyone here today that wants God to do a work in them? I know I do. For this to happen, we must have faith in Christ to do it. And not some half hearted faith, but full faith that Jesus Christ will do it.
As we go through our text, we will see 3 aspects of the faith displayed in the text that we should also emulate.
Faith in the Power of Healing
Faith in the Power of Healing
If you have listened to me preach for very long, you know that I do not have faith in the charlatans that go around and hold this faith healing meetings. If they were really healers with the God given ability to heal anyone who was not well, then they would be at the hospital every day. But they are not, so they don’t go there. But the healing ministry that Jesus had was one that was very real. He was giving people their sight and hearing back. He was making people walk again. And he was expelling demons. This stuff was very real and really happened.
If you remember back to chapter 6 verse 7, Jesus sent out these same disciples before and they casted out many demons and healed many. So the idea of healing was not something that was foreign to the disciples. Let’s see what our text says.
14 And when they came to the disciples, they saw a great crowd around them, and scribes arguing with them.
15 And immediately all the crowd, when they saw him, were greatly amazed and ran up to him and greeted him.
So they come down to the bottom of the mountain and find all of the other disciples. Except this time, the scribes have shown up and there is an argument happening. But in the midst of the argument, the people see Jesus coming down. And they see him in all of his radiance and it strikes them. They are greatly amazed by it and they run to him and they greet him.
In the midst of all of the problems, and we will see that they are dealing with some serious problems, they see Jesus and they run to him. We can learn something from that.
Also, these men were just on the mountain top. They had the experience of a lifetime up there with what they saw and experienced. We have all had some type of mountain top experience. And just like us, I am sure on the way down to the bottom, they were expecting things to be better once they got back to reality. But they weren’t. The disciples and the people and the scribes were all arguing. They went from the mountain top right back down to the valley.
16 And he asked them, “What are you arguing about with them?”
17 And someone from the crowd answered him, “Teacher, I brought my son to you, for he has a spirit that makes him mute.
18 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.”
The argument comes out. Let’s sum it up. A man has a son who is possessed by a demon. This demon has made the boy mute and it also seeks to inflict harm on the boy. So this man, seeking help, goes to find Jesus. Yet, Jesus is not there. What is the next best thing to Jesus, well it is his disciples. So he asks the disciples to help. But, the disciples were not able to help.
Let’s backtrack a little bit here. Just a few chapters earlier, Jesus sent out the disciples to cast out demons and had success. But here, they were not able to. Jesus will eventually tell them the issue, but we should also see that earlier, they were sent out by the power and authority of Jesus. But here, they acted on their own power.
We often try to do things in our own power. Have you ever thought that you had a really hard job? Well I could think of no harder earthly job at times than leading a country. There was a leader once who was leading one of the most powerful and prominent nations. But on top of leading the country, people were out for them. He knew that there was an impending war ahead of him from outsiders. But there were also insiders that were working up a mutiny against him. He knew that in his own power, he would fail. So he sought God. This leader was King David and through this experience, he wrote Psalm 18.
1 I love you, O Lord, my strength.
2 The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
3 I call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised, and I am saved from my enemies.
6 In my distress I called upon the Lord; to my God I cried for help. From his temple he heard my voice, and my cry to him reached his ears.
31 For who is God, but the Lord? And who is a rock, except our God?—
32 the God who equipped me with strength and made my way blameless.
When we rely on God for strength, he deals with us accordingly. I know how many of you feel sometimes. I try way too often to operate in my own strength. There are days when getting out of the bed and getting out of the house are a successful day for me. And it is because I need, just like everyone here, to rely on God for my strength. Or I will be just like these disciples trying to rid this boy of the spirit. I will be useless.
19 And 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.”
He is speaking to the crowd. The people, the scribes, and his disciples. Telling them that it is their fault that the boy is not healed. They were trying to do it without the power of Christ. They were faithless in this act. So let’s turn this back to us. Does Christ still miraculously heal people? All the time. Can we heal other people? I do not see evidence of people getting healed in scripture outside of the miraculous power of Christ being used. He would charge people to go out in his name to do so. But regardless, if we are to experience a healing, we must have faith in the power of healing through Jesus.
Faith in the Power of Christ
Faith in the Power of Christ
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.
Now, in instances before when Jesus was dealing with demons, he would often speak directly to the demon. Like he did with the legion when they begged to be put in the herd of pigs. But here, there is no dialogue between them. What we do see though is the demon attack the boy when he sees Jesus. If you ever think that evil things are able to exist peacefully where the presence of God is, you have it all wrong. The demonic, in the presence of God himself, is causing chaos within this young boy.
21 And Jesus asked his father, “How long has this been happening to him?” And he said, “From childhood.
22 And 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.”
From a young age, this boy has been plagued by this demon. Casting him into fire and to water. Trying to destroy an image bearer of God. Maybe we don’t encounter demons like Jesus did in this story. But, brothers and sisters, I will tell you that the demonic is all around us in this world. Instead of fire and water, Satan is throwing us into anxiety and depression trying to destroy us. He is throwing us into addiction trying to destroy us. He is putting something in the middle of the family, trying to destroy us. He is sending children by the will of the parents to the slaughter house each year right here in America by the millions, because he intends on destroying image bearers of God.
It has been his intention since the garden of Eden and it has not changed. So what must we do? We must turn to Jesus and have faith in him. Ask him for compassion like this father did.
He asked Jesus to have compassion on his son and help his son. Wait, that isn’t what he says here. This man, in the midst of his son being possessed by a demon, asks Jesus to have compassion on them, the crowd and to help them. We see this glimpse of faith in the man. He sees that the crowd are the ones who need the ultimate help. But yet at the same time, he still questions whether or not Jesus can do it. He tells Jesus if you can do anything, then do this. Jesus responds the way that he should have responded to that.
23 And Jesus said to him, “ ‘If you can’! All things are possible for one who believes.”
If you can! If you can! What do you mean if you can. Of course Jesus can. Just look at his ministry. He has proven time after time after time that not only he could, but that he would. This man took the wrong approach because he did not have a correct view of Jesus. If you go back to one of Jesus’s first miracles, he heals a leper.
40 And a leper came to him, imploring him, and kneeling said to him, “If you will, you can make me clean.”
41 Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand and touched him and said to him, “I will; be clean.”
See how the questions are different. The leper asks, “if you will”. The father asks, “if you can”. He needed to have faith in Jesus for being able to do what he was about to do. But he had either a lapse of faith or maybe even a complete lack of faith. If you can! Of course he can. All things are possible for one who believes. Jesus here is not saying that faith can accomplish anything here. What he is telling this man and telling us is that for those who believe in Jesus, we will not put any limitations to what we believe Jesus can do.
This man though is in the middle of a crisis of faith it seems. He believes that Jesus may want to help but he is not sure if Jesus is able to help. Jesus declares to this man that he indeed does have the power and the ability to do this.
24 Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, “I believe; help my unbelief!”
We see it in this man. He does believe yet there is still this unbelief going on. And this is not a foreign concept for us either. We have been there. Most of us might have been there this week. Maybe with this impending storm that we had and you believed that we were going to finally get some snow, yet you still needed some help believing. Yet again another example of man letting you down in the form of the weatherman.
But in all seriousness, you may even be there right now. And I want to assure you, that it is okay. It is okay to not be okay. But, just as this father realized, I want you to realize as well that even though you may not be okay, even though you may be struggling with some unbelief, it is not okay to stay that way. This is why he asks Jesus to help him. I believe, help my unbelief.
Maybe you need to pray that to Jesus right now. Something is going on in your life that you are greatly struggling with. You know that you have faith in God but you are just struggling. And the most accurate prayer that you could pray it exactly what this man says to Jesus.
25 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.”
26 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.”
27 But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose.
What a beautiful picture of the power of God over all of the demons and all of the evil spirits. The demon is gone, it has physically drained this boy to the point where everyone thought he was dead. But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up. This is what Jesus does for us. He brings us up. I have heard it said that the 2 most important words in all of scripture are, but Jesus. Think about that. Have faith in that. Have faith in the power of Jesus.
Faith in the Power of Prayer
Faith in the Power of Prayer
I think that we can all agree that there is power in prayer. We have all seen God do amazing things in each of our lives that we have prayed for. But also, just like these disciples, we often try to work things out on our own without God being part of it. We need to stop that. We fail, just like the disciples. Because I think we could also agree that things go a lot smoother when we bathe things in prayer.
28 And when he had entered the house, his disciples asked him privately, “Why could we not cast it out?”
29 And he said to them, “This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer.”
Have you ever failed at something? The disciples failed at casting this demon out. And this failure was something that was very public and so we can assume that it was probably quite embarrassing. So when they were in private, they wanted to know what they did wrong. When you look closely at the question, you can even see some pride in it. Why could WE not cast it out. They were able to do it before and now they couldn’t. Their focus was on themselves and not God. They thought that the power to do these things was from within them. But it wasn’t. And Jesus corrects them in his answer.
This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer. We have seen demons be cast out through means without explicit prayer. He is not saying that some require prayer and others do not. What Jesus is saying is that if we go into battle, which we are in a battle every single day, if we go to battle in our own strength and pride then we have lost before it even starts.
We need faith. And faith is experienced and exercised in prayer. It is not faith in ourselves but faith in God that he can and will work. Think to the prayer of the father here. He knew in the moment that the only person that could help him was Jesus. All other attempts had failed. So he turned to Jesus. This is humility. And this is how we should approach God in our prayers.
Conclusion
As we finish up our time in God’s word today remember that if we are going to have God do a work in us, then we must have faith in Jesus Christ. We see God do a great work in the life of this man. And through our journey in the gospel of Mark, we are seeing glimpses of God working in the life of the disciples. As we progress, we will see it even more.
I have a challenge for each of us this week. And that challenge is working on our prayer life. I am not saying to develop a prayer list to pray over, although that is not a bad thing. We can always pray for Aunt Sally’s knee. But what are we praying for God to do in our lives. This man, in his humility, saw that his attempts had failed miserably. So he prayed the only thing that he could thing. God, help my unbelief. He is asking Jesus to do a mighty work in his personal life.
What is the prayer that you need to be praying for yourself. Maybe it is for a greater faith or for God to renew your focus on him or for God to restore a relationship. Maybe it is for God to give you the words to share to someone else the hope that you have in him. Maybe it is for the confidence to truly live out your faith in front of unbelievers. Let us pray for our own lives, our own walks with Christ. And let us do it boldly.
