Last few days I've been battling through a sinus infection, so the Lord's strength, I'm gonna do my best to uh get through this sermon, and hopefully my voice holds up.
Some stories are so hard to believe they could only happen in a movie.
We see this all the time.
As a kid, I remember watching movies like Rookie of the Year and Like Mike.
Fun, feel-good sports stories where a young, ordinary kid magically gains the ability to play like the pros.
A freak accident leads to a throwing arm powerful enough to pitch in the major leagues.
A pair of sneakers gives the ability to play basketball like Michael Jordan.
Like I said, stories that are so hard to believe, they could only happen in movies.
But in each of these stories, there's a point where they suddenly lose their special ability in front of large crowds.
And it's embarrassing.
They've become ordinary again, and suddenly they look completely out of place.
All the confidence, all the ability, all the success suddenly vanishes.
And in that moment, they're forced to come to grips with something that they took for granted.
The power they had wasn't far from themselves.
It was borrowed.
And when it's gone, they're left exposed, humbled, weak.
It's not just a clever movie twist.
It's a reflection of our human nature.
We are so quick to trust in our own abilities that even when we are empowered by something else, we allow pride to get to our heads.
We forget that we are truly ordinary, and that there's really nothing special about us.
Even as Christians, we forget how utterly dependent we are until God, in his mercy, reminds us.
Sometimes he reminds us by withholding power, sometimes by humbling our pride, sometimes by showing us the limits of what we can do on our own.
And when that moment comes, and it always does, we're forced to ask ourselves, what kind of disciple am I?
One who trusts in myself, or one who completely depends on the strength and power of God.
Today's passage confronts that question head on.
And if you have your Bibles with you, please turn with me to the Gospel of Mark, chapter 9, starting in verse 14.
We will be closing out the rest of chapter 9 today.
But before we get there, let's first go to the Lord in prayer.
Father in heaven, as we open your word this morning, we pray that you would give us eyes to see and hearts that are ready to respond in faith.
We pray that your Holy Spirit would equip us and empower us, and that we would be reminded that apart from His work, we cannot accomplish mighty things, good things for your kingdom.
We need your help.
We cannot do this on our own.
And so as we turn to your word this morning, would you uh instruct our hearts and uh and be able to use it as we go forward?
And it's in Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.
So again it's Mark chapter 9, starting with verse 14.
And when they came back to the disciples, they saw a large crowd around them, and scribes arguing with them.
And immediately, when the entire crowd saw him, they were amazed, and as they ran up, they were greeting him, and he asked them, What are you arguing with them?
And one of the crowd answered him, Teacher, I brought you my son, possessed with a spirit that makes him mute, and whenever it seizes him, it slams him to the ground, and he foams at the mouth, and grinds his teeth, and becomes rigid.
I told your disciples to cast it out, and they could not do it.
If you remember from last week, Jesus took three disciples up to the top of a high mountain, where they witnessed the transfiguration.
Meanwhile, the other nine disciples found some ways to keep busy.
In this scene, Jesus and the three arrive to see that the others were surrounded by a large crowd of people, along with some confrontational scribes.
It soon becomes apparent that a father had brought his demon-possessed son to be healed.
He came looking for Jesus, but had to settle for these disciples, hoping and expecting them to be able to cast the demon out.
And to all of their disappointment, they have no success.
And this is startling for the disciples.
If you remember from previous chapters in Mark, they had already been commissioned and sent out to do things like cast out demons, and with quite a bit of success.
Up to this point, there wasn't a demon that they couldn't cast out.
So you can imagine the confusion and panic that must have come upon them when they were overpowered and unsuccessful.
It was flat out embarrassing.
And to make matters worse, these scribes were there to taunt them and to make them feel foolish.
All of this taking place right in front of their teacher and their peers who arrived just in time to witness this utter failure.
The way that this father describes what happens to his son sounds horrifying.
For anyone who has witnessed a seizure firsthand, you know how frightening the experience can be.
The sudden loss of control, the violent convulsing, the helplessness of the person afflicted.
It rattles you.
And when it's a child, it's even more heartbreaking.
That sense of helplessness is exactly what this father brings to Jesus: a desperate plea for deliverance, because every other attempt had failed.
Continuing with verses 19 through 29.
And he answered them and said, O unbelieving generation, how long shall I be with you?
How long shall I put up with you?
Bring him to me.
And they brought the boy to him.
When he saw him, immediately the spirit threw him into a convulsion, and falling to the ground he began rolling around, foaming at the mouth.
And he asked his father, How long has this been happening to him?
And he said, From childhood.
And it has often thrown him both into the fire and into the water to destroy him.
But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us.
And Jesus said to him, If you can, all things are possible to him who believes.
Immediately the boy's father cried out and was saying, I do believe, help my unbelief.
Now when Jesus saw that a crowd was rapidly gathering, he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, You mute and deaf spirit, I command you, come out of him and do not enter him again.
And after crying out and throwing him into terrible convulsions, it came out, and the boy became so much like a corpse that most of them said, He is dead.
But Jesus took him by the hand and raised him, and he stood up.
And when he came into the house, his disciples began questioning him privately, Why could we not cast it out?
And he said to them, This kind cannot come out by anything but prayer.
Jesus rebukes his own disciples for their lack of faith before he rebukes the unclean spirit.
Let that sink in for a moment.
We find out that the disciples failed, ironically, not for lack of power, but for lack of faith, which rendered them powerless.
They had gotten so used to casting out demons that they forgot the power wasn't theirs.
It had always come from Jesus.
It was their self-reliance and unbelief that caused them to be unable to cast out this demon.
Jesus says that this kind cannot come out by anything but prayer.
In other words, only the dependency on God that comes through prayer can produce the power needed to cast this demon out.
Self-reliance or self-confidence, when you break it down, is really a form of unbelief because it lacks prayerful dependence on God.
It's a reminder that faith is required for the power of God to be effective in our lives and for the spiritual good of others.
The great Puritan Thomas Watson once said, Till sin be bitter, Christ will not be sweet.
The sin here is not gross immorality, it's prideful independence.
The disciples were trusting in themselves, not in Christ.
And Jesus uses this moment to lovingly wound their pride for their ultimate spiritual good and for his own glory.
And just as Jesus exposes the pride hidden in the hearts of his disciples, he also exposes the power of the enemy at work in this child.
Mark's gospel often uses the word immediately to convey urgency.
And here it marks the demon's violent last ditch effort as Jesus draws near.
This is what happens when true authority confronts evil.
There's resistance, there's chaos, but eventually submission.
The demons may rage, but they cannot prevail under the eternal reign of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
Amen.
As already mentioned, he first rebukes his own disciples for their lack of faith and prayer, but then turns his attention to the father of the boy.
Like a physician asking diagnostic questions, Jesus asks the father how long this has been happening to his son.
We find out that this has been going on since he was a young child.
This demon would often throw this boy into fire or water to try and destroy him.
In other words, this demon had every intention of bringing death upon this child.
And we are yet again reminded that the powers of darkness have one goal in mind to kill and to destroy.
That's what Satan has come to accomplish.
He hates children.
He hates what God loves.
This horrifying experience was a natural occurrence for this young boy.
You can imagine how desperate the father must have been to finally see his boy made well.
And this father, he's struggling.
We see that when he exclaims, But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us.
Within that statement, Jesus engages with a kind of faith that persists even in doubt, if you can do anything.
We see that this father had every reason to doubt that his son would ever be made well again, as time after time after time people have failed him, including Jesus' own disciples.
And yet, even still, this father musters a kind of faith that still clings to hope, still persists to cry out to Jesus for help.
Jesus responds by turning the if you can into a all things can be made possible to the one who believes.
We just sang it.
All things are possible, only believe.
So of course Jesus Jesus can do this, right?
Of course he can.
The question really becomes, can you believe that all things are possible to the one who believes?
The Father responds with an honest plea.
I do believe.
Help my unbelief.
And this is so true of many of us.
We believe, and yet we struggle with doubt.
It's a bit of a paradox, or at the very least, it's an inner tension.
We have this way of believing gospel truths in our minds, but not in our hearts.
It's a kind of faith that's fragile.
We know something to be true about God, but in a moment of weakness, we have a hard time trusting Him.
Connecting that faith between mind and heart is an 18-inch journey that makes all the difference.
And for this father, he was clinging to what little faith that he had.
And it was enough.
Sometimes we need that reminder to press on in hope, even in times of desperation, where our faith is weak and our strength is failing.
Jesus is the one we can always turn to in our greatest times of need.
And even when our faith is weak, he is still mighty to save.
Jesus is able to do what no one else could do for this father and his son.
That's because, as 1 John 3:8 states, Jesus came to undo the works of the devil.
The powers of darkness came to steal this child's life and crush his family with despair.
But Jesus came to rescue, to heal, and to save, because that's what he does for those who come to him in faith, even faith that's trembling and weak.
Jesus rebukes the unclean spirit, saying to it, You mute and deaf spirit, I command you, come out of him and do not enter him again.
It's interesting that some demon possessions can cause things like being mute or being deaf.
But Jesus has a way of bringing healing to those who are physically afflicted, loosing tongues to speak, giving ears to hear, and opening eyes to see.
Jesus came to set captives free.
Even as this demon resists and doesn't want to go down without a fight, it must inevitably submit to the power and authority of Jesus Christ.
The boy is in critical condition.
Many onlookers presume that he is dead.
But with Jesus, it never truly ends with death.
Jesus had a purpose to deliver this boy from death, and he will be glorified.
He takes this little one by the hand and physically lifts him up to his feet.
And what Jesus does for this child physically, he does the same for us spiritually.
When our faith is weak, when we're down and nearly counted out, Jesus takes us by the hand, lifts us up, and restores us, not by our strength, but by his mercy.
A final thought to verse 29.
And he said to them, This kind cannot come out by anything but prayer.
Some commentators note that Jesus may have been referring to the prayer of the petitioner, the father in this case, rather than the ones performing the exorcism.
It's a sobering thought to consider the spiritual implications of a praying parent for their child.
We must be reminded that the powers of darkness are after our children.
Therefore, we must be diligent in prayer.
It makes all the difference.
Prayer is the expression of humble faith, a mighty weapon, even in weak hands.
The disciples failed because they relied on themselves, but the father received help because he cried out in faith.
One was confident but powerless.
The other was desperate to be saved and delivered.
So where are we in this story?
Are we just coasting on the strength of yesterday?
Or are we still clinging to Christ daily in dependent prayer?
John Calvin once said, prayer is the chief exercise of faith.
Some of you feel like perhaps your ministry days are behind you.
You might not lead a group or teach a class.
But guess what?
You still have something powerful in your hands, and that's prayer.
You still have access to the throne of grace, and that's where the real work happens.
It doesn't matter how old you are or how physically weak you may be, you still have the power of prayer.
If you'd only believe, true disciples depend on God for his help and for his power to work through them.
Let's continue with verse 30.
From there they went out and were going through Galilee, and he was not wanting anyone to know about it.
For he was teaching his disciples and telling them, The Son of Man is to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him, and when he has been killed, he will rise again three days later.
But they did not understand this statement, and they were afraid to ask him.
And they came to Capernam, and when he was in the house he began to question them, What were you discussing on the way?
But they kept silent, for on the way they had discussed with one another which of them was the greatest.
And sitting down he called the twelve and said to them, If any one wants to be first, he shall be last of all, and servant of all.
And taking a child, he set him before them, and taking him in his arms he said to them, Whoever receives one child like this in my name receives me.
And whoever receives me does not receive me, but him who sent me.
John said to him, Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to hinder him because he was not following us.
But Jesus said, Do not hinder him, for there is no one who will perform a miracle in my name, and be able soon afterward to speak evil of me.
For he who is not against us is for us.
For whoever gives you a cup of water to drink in my name, because you are of Christ, truly I say to you, he will not lose his reward.
Like a celebrity trying to keep a low profile, Jesus is making a point to avoid the public as he passes through Galilee.
He then goes on to deliver another prediction of his death and resurrection to his disciples, who still have no true understanding of what he's talking about.
After seeing Peter get strongly rebuked for speaking up, they're now afraid to ask Jesus questions about this topic.
It's possible that the discussion that they were having amongst themselves about who is the greatest had to do with the implications of Jesus dying.
Who would be the one to take over in his place and lead the others?
Or what would be the rank of each disciple in the political kingdom which they were expecting Jesus to establish?
Once again, we see that they are still setting their minds on their own interests, not God's, and pride and selfish ambition clouds spiritual understanding.
Jesus confronts them.
Just as he knows their thoughts and hearts, but as he always does, Jesus uses it as yet another teaching moment.
He says, If anyone wants to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all.
It's a complete reversal of expectations for those seeking power and position.
The first shall be last and servant of all.
It would be like asking the CEO of a Fortune 500 company to informally resign from his position to work as an intern who cleansed the company's toilets and got everyone in the office coffee each day.
Jesus confronts their quiet pride and illustrates humility by referencing a child, considering that children are least in status and have no ability to repay.
This was the example of who he calls his disciples to serve.
And let's be honest, children can be demanding and require a lot of patience.
But isn't that also true of us in our walk with Christ?
Yet Jesus himself came to serve, not to be served, and to give his life as a ransom for many.
Jesus warns his disciples, and this warning applies to us as well.
Pride seeks position, but humility seeks service.
If we are to please God, we must be willing to cast away our pride and selfish ambition to serve those who may never repay us back, trusting that our obedience is storing up for us treasures in heaven.
As we look at verse 37, where Jesus says, Whoever receives me does not receive me but him who sent me, notice how he hints at unity with God the Father.
To receive Jesus Christ, or in other words, to accept his teachings and obey his commands, is also to receive God the Father, who we know is the one who sent Jesus.
However, those who reject Jesus also reject God the Father.
They are a package deal.
This has profound implications for those in Judaism, Islam, Jehovah's Witnesses, or any religion that claims to worship God, yet rejects Jesus Christ as the eternal Son of God.
By rejecting Christ, they are incidentally rejecting the God they claim to worship.
Also worth noting are verses 38 through 41, where John seems to try and change the subject and express what he believes to be zealousness.
Apparently, there were people who were casting out demons in Jesus' name, but weren't part of the group.
So John made sure to hinder such people whenever possible.
Now, what that means exactly, we can take our guesses, but it would be the equivalent of one church denouncing the ministry of another church in a public forum so as to dissuade people from going to that church and following its teachings.
John probably expected Jesus to commend him for his work, but was surprised to find Jesus say that he who is not against us is for us.
Furthermore, it is the obligation of the disciples to not hinder the work of anyone who performs a miracle in Jesus' name.
Clearly, there is more to the kingdom of God than their click of disciples.
But they couldn't grasp that as they focused on their own glory and their own expectations.
And so Jesus rebukes John and the disciples for their narrowness.
God's kingdom advances through every sphere of life and extends beyond our theological tribes.
Therefore, we need to be careful not to limit God's work by interfering with the faithful and fruitful ministries of others, regardless of the different theological flavors that they may express.
Some denominations might make this more difficult than others, but the point that we should all take away from Jesus' words here is that God uses all kinds of people from all kinds of churches to accomplish his will and kingdom purposes, and we need to be careful not to get in the way because of our pride.
Continuing with verse forty-two through the end of the passage.
And whoever causes one of these little ones who believed to stumble, it would be better for him if with a heavy millstone hung around his neck he had been cast into the sea.
And if your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off.
It is better for you to enter life crippled than having your two hands to go into hell, into the unquenchable fire, and where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.
And if your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off.
It is better for you to enter life lame than having your two feet to be cast into hell, and where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.
And if your eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out.
It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than having two eyes to be cast into hell, where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched, for every one will be salted with fire.
Salt is good, but if the salt becomes unsalty, what will you make it salty again?
Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another.
As we read and listen to these words, it is intentional that we feel the weight of them.
Woe to those who cause the little ones to stumble.
Little ones can certainly be referred to as children.
You can imagine the wrath of God for those who physically or sexually abuse children.
And how often do those children go on to struggle with trusting God after going through such a horrific experience?
Jesus' words are graphic and clear.
Such people would be better off tying a millstone around their necks and thrown into the sea to drown.
Little ones who believe can also be translated as little ones of the faith, or those who are young or new to the faith.
Such little ones are vulnerable in the faith, and can more easily be led astray.
The wrath of God is upon any false teacher who leads such little ones in the faith to go astray.
You can imagine those who encounter God then soon find themselves in a church that teaches things like the prosperity gospel or denies biblical authority.
Lives are either formed by Christ through faithful discipleship or deformed by the destructiveness of sin.
And as we read verses 43 through 47, it uses hyperbolic language such as cut it off or gouge it out as a way to express a radical pursuit of purity.
God calls his people to be holy and utterly devoted to Him.
That requires putting sin to death and making absolutely no provision for sin in our lives.
While our own pursuit of purity does not save us, a disregard for personal purity reveals works of the flesh, which accompany those who are destined for eternal damnation and hell.
As Christians, we must take sin seriously.
We must repent immediately when we sin.
And we must resolve ourselves, as Jonathan Edwards once did, never to do anything which we would be afraid to do if it were the last hour of our lives.
Woe to those who are found to indulge in works of the flesh before an appointment with God.
And to be clear, our seriousness about sin is not legalism, but the fruit of true sanctification by way of discipleship.
The only power we have to put sin to death in our lives comes through the work of the Holy Spirit.
Finally, our purity is to be reflected in salt and fire.
For all this talk of hell, I actually believe that verses 49 and 50 have to do with purity for Christians.
Fire purifies and salt preserves.
Together they enable a person to be sanctified.
Therefore, salted with fire likely refers to the refining work of God in believers through trials and sacrifice.
We're not talking about eternal judgment in these verses, but rather the purification that every believer in Christ experiences on the path of true discipleship.
The humble disciple welcomes the refining fire of self-denial and holds fast to the preserving flavor of grace.
And from that place of humility flows true peace, the kind that unites us as the family of God.
As we find in this passage and throughout Scripture, humility is the key to experiencing the power and blessings of God in our lives.
Humility is not weakness, it's kingdom strength.
So, what does all of this mean for us today?
As disciples who still struggle with things like pride, weakness, and unbelief.
Well, we're reminded that pride is not just a character flaw, it's a spiritual danger.
It sets us on a path toward destruction and it affects the people around us.
When we stumble, others often stumble with us.
That's why Scripture calls us to be watchful, to clothe ourselves not in self-assurance, but in the humility and righteousness of Jesus Christ.
But his way is the way of the cross.
The way of the cross is the way of humility.
And as we walk that path, the power that sustains us is not our own.
It's Christ in us, the hope of glory.
Though we suffer, we suffer because Christ also suffered.
But like his suffering, our suffering will ultimately have its limits.
Because of what Jesus did on the cross to suffer and die for sins, we are able to experience a day where we shall suffer no more for all eternity.
Just as Christ was raised, we too, who are united to Christ in faith, will be raised to life again and experience the incomprehensible joy of being in the presence of God forevermore.
Church, we cling to this hope.
We remember what Christ has done for us, and we embrace the path of true discipleship.
We take sin seriously, we pray earnestly, and we serve joyfully.
We remember that our strength is not our own, but in the one who makes all things possible for those who believe, who gives us the bold confidence to boast in our weakness, yet able to proclaim, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
Let's pray.
Father in heaven, what a glorious hope we have in your Son Jesus.
We thank you, Lord Jesus, that you are the perfect model of humility.
We thank you, God, that you give us your Holy Spirit.
You give us access to the throne of grace, that we can come to you at any time through your Son Jesus.
And we can come to you in prayer, knowing that that we we go to a God who is all-powerful, and therefore our prayer is powerful.
And God, we pray that that you would bring conviction through your Holy Spirit for the ways in our lives that we are currently being prideful.
Help us to put that sin to death immediately.
Make us humble.
We know through your word that those who humble themselves will be exalted, and those who exalt themselves will be humbled.
And God, we don't want to learn that lesson the hard way.
And so we look to you in all things.
It's in Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.