Message for THE LORD'S DAY MORNING, February 3, 2019 Christian Hope Church of Christ, Plymouth, North Carolina by Reggie A. Braziel, Minister Message 41 in Making A Difference Sermon Series from the Gospel of Mark All Things Are Possible To Him Who Believes Mark 9:14-29 (NKJV) Today we are continuing our series of messages from the Gospel of Mark. Please open your Bibles to today's scripture text in Mark chapter nine. And let's read verses 14-29. Mark 9:14-29 (NKJV) 14 And when He came to the disciples, He saw a great multitude around them, and scribes disputing with them. 15 Immediately, when they saw Him, all the people were greatly amazed, and running to Him, greeted Him. 16 And He asked the scribes, What are you discussing with them? 17 Then one of the crowd answered and said, Teacher, I brought You my son, who has a mute spirit. 18 And wherever it seizes him, it throws him down; he foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth, and becomes rigid. So I spoke to Your disciples, that they should cast it out, but they could not. 19 He answered him and said, O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him to Me. 20 Then they brought him to Him. And when he saw Him, immediately the spirit convulsed him, and he fell on the ground and wallowed, foaming at the mouth. 21 So He asked his father, How long has this been happening to him? And he said, From childhood. 22 And often he has thrown him both into the fire and into the water to destroy him. But if You can do anything, have compassion on us and help us. 23 Jesus said to him, If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes. 24 Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help my unbelief! 25 When Jesus saw that the people came running together, He rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, Deaf and dumb spirit, I command you, come out of him and enter him no more! 26 Then the spirit cried out, convulsed him greatly, and came out of him. And he became as one dead, so that many said, He is dead.
27 But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose. 28 And when He had come into the house, His disciples asked Him privately, Why could we not cast it out? 29 So He said to them, This kind can come out by nothing but prayer and fasting. ********************************************************************** Introduction It has been said, Life can turn on a dime. We certainly see that truth illustrated here in Mark 9. The scene in last week's message was a MOUNTAIN. The scene in today's message is a VALLEY. On the mountain the Son of God was transfigured. But in the valley we find a son who was tormented. On the mountain the Son radiated in GLORY, while in the valley there is a son writhing in CONVULSIONS. On the mountain there was the presence of a holy LIGHT, but in the valley there is the presence of an unholy DARKNESS. On the mountain there had been WORSHIP, now in the valley there is spiritual WARFARE. In this passage we are looking at this morning you find a wide assortment of characters: You have Jesus and His disciples...a huge multitude...some ornery religious scribes...a desperate father and his demon possessed son and a stubborn demon.
As this scene unfolds, the first thing we see is... I. The DISCUSSION (vs. 14-16) 1. When Jesus ascended the Mount of Transfiguration, remember He only took three of His disciples with Him; Peter, James, and John. When Jesus and His three disciples came down from the mountain they found the remaining nine apostles involved in a heated discussion with the religious scribes. 2. You remember the scribes don't you? They were bosom buddies with the self-righteous Pharisees. When the Pharisees attacked Jesus for healing on the Sabbath, the scribes were there. When the Pharisees attacked Jesus because His disciples plucked corn on the Sabbath, the scribes were there. When they attacked Jesus for eating with tax collectors and sinners, the scribes were there. When they attacked Jesus because His disciples didn't wash their hands properly before they ate, the scribes were there. The scribes were like religious gnats and mosquitoes who just wouldn't go away! And so it really didn't come as any great surprise to Jesus when He came down off the Mount of Transfiguration to find a bunch of ornery scribes in a heated discussion with His other nine disciples. 3. In verse 16 Jesus asked the scribes, What are you discussing with them? Here we see Jesus' loving protection over His disciples. He knows the scribes are a brood of vipers. He knows these guys are up to no good.
4. Well the scribes are silent! Not a one of them says a word about what they were arguing with His disciples about. Everybody there knows this has been a nasty, heated discussion, but no one's talking; not even Jesus' disciples. It's at this point, another character emerges on the scene, and that is... II. The DISTRAUGHT FATHER (vs. 17-18; 21-22) 1. Remember, Jesus has just asked the scribes to tell Him what they were discussing with His disciples. After a long period of silence a man in the crowd speaks up and reveals what the argument had been about. 2. The man is a heart-broken, distraught father who had brought his demon-possessed son to JESUS to be healed. When he arrived, he learned that Jesus was up on the Mount of Transfiguration. Desperate to have his son healed the heart-broken father turned to Jesus' disciples for help. He asked them to cast the demon out of his son; but the disciples couldn't do it! Apparently the scribes had witnessed the disciples' failure to cast out the demon and they began mocking the disciples for their lack of power. That is what the heated discussion had been about. The scribes had been mocking and criticizing Jesus' disciples as a bunch of powerless wimps. They were trying to expose Jesus and his disciples as a bunch of frauds in an attempt to turn the people away from Jesus.
3. Well let's turn our attention back to this heart-broken father and listen to his sad story. vs. 17,18a Then one of the crowd answered and said, Teacher, I brought You my son, who has a mute spirit. And whenever it seizes him, it throws him down; he foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth, and becomes rigid. 4. It is interesting to note that of the thirty-seven miracles of Jesus that are recorded in the gospels, seven of those miracles involved the casting out of demons. And this account here in Mark 9 is the most detailed of those accounts. 5. Demon-possession is foreign to us. But in many parts of the world today demon-possession is still rampant. And it was certainly a very real problem in Jesus' day. The demon inside of this young boy had inflicted him with excessive violence. It had robbed him of his ability to speak. It had slammed the boy to the ground many times. One has to wonder how many concussions this young man had suffered. The demon was literally using this boy as a punching bag! The father tells Jesus that while his son is under attack from the demon that he foams at the mouth and grinds his teeth and his body becomes as stiff as a board.
6. We learn in verse 21 that this had been going on ever since the child was a little toddler. In other words, this boy had never known a normal childhood. While all the other kids were out laughing and playing, this boy was being brutally assaulted by a demon. The father goes on to tell Jesus in verse 22 how the demon had even tried to kill his son on several occasions by throwing him into a blazing fire and attempting to drown him. Matthew's account of this same miracle describes the young boy as eplileptic. And in Luke's account we are told that the boy often cried or screamed and went into convulsions and after every demonic episode his body was left badly bruised. (Luke 9:39) 7. No wonder this father had brought his son to Jesus. He was so desperate that when he learned Jesus was up on the mountain that he begged Jesus' disciples to do something...but THEY COULDN'T! 8. We learned in one of our previous messages in this series, in Mark 6:7 that Jesus had given His apostles power over unclean spirits. And just a few verses after that, in Mark 6:13 we are told they cast out many demons.
9. So when this broken-hearted, desperate father asked Jesus' disciples to cast the demon out of his son, why couldn't they do it? They had done it before, why couldn't they do it again? Jesus will answer that question for us shortly. For now, let's turn our attention to... III. The DIVINE HEALING (vs. 19-27) 1. Having heard the desperate father's story about his demonpossessed son, Jesus is filled with compassion. And at the same time, He is filled with disappointment towards His disciples for their failure to help this man. v. 19 He answered and said, O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him to Me. 2. Jesus is expressing His righteous frustration and disappoint with His disciples. In His absence, their faith had waned. Knowing that He is getting closer and closer to the cross, and the time when He will return to His heavenly Father, Jesus is deeply concerned that if His disciples' faith had wavered while He was away from them for just a short time on the Mount of Transfiguration, what would happen to their faith when He left this world to go back to His Father.
3. Jesus now sets out to do what His disciples had failed to do. He issues the command, Bring him...bring the young boy to Me. Verse 20 Then they brought him to Him. And when he saw Him (when the boy saw Jesus) immediately the spirit convulsed in him, and he fell down on the ground and wallowed, foaming at the mouth. 4. The demon knows Jesus is about to evict him from his home, and as one final act of stubbornness and rebellion, the demon literally body-slams the boy to the ground. 5. While the young boy is lying there wallowing on the ground and foaming at the mouth the desperate father turns to Jesus and says, If you can do anything, have compassion on us, and help us. (v. 22b) Now listen carefully to the dialogue between Jesus and the desperate father in verses 23,24... 23 Jesus said to him, If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes. 24 Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!
6. Brothers and sisters listen closely! The word impossible is NOT in our LORD'S vocabulary! It is never a question of whether the LORD is able to do something, it is always a matter of His willingness. You see, true faith is not simply believing the LORD will do whatever we want Him too even if it is NOT His will; TRUE FAITH IS BELIEVING THAT IF THE LORD IS WILLING, HE CAN DO THE IMPOSSIBLE! TRUE FAITH PUTS WEIGHT ON THE WILL OF THE LORD AND NEVER ON HIS ABILITY! 7. No one could heal blindness in those days, BUT WHAT WAS IMPOSSIBLE WITH MAN WAS POSSIBLE WITH JESUS! No one could cure leprosy in those days, BUT WITH JESUS THE IMPOSSIBLE WAS MADE POSSIBLE! In those days no one could make the deaf to hear or make the mute to speak, or make the crippled walk again, or make the dead live again, BUT WITH JESUS ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE!!! 8. The desperate father said to Jesus, IF YOU CAN DO ANYTHING...JESUS SAID, IF YOU CAN BELIEVE, ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE!
9. Brothers and sisters, OUR LORD IS THE LORD OF POSSIBILITIES! He can reverse the irreversible! He can change the unchangeable! He can do what no other can do! But our faith and trust in the LORD'S ability to do the impossible, must line up with His will. Remember what the leper said to Jesus back Mark 6, verse 40? If You are willing, You can make me clean. He had faith that if the Lord was willing that he be healed of his leprosy, that he would be healed of his leprosy. And the LORD was willing! 10. And so now this desperate father finds himself in a similar circumstance. Seeing his demon-possessed son writhing upon the ground and foaming at the the mouth, the father cries out to Jesus, LORD, I believe, help my unbelief! What humble honesty! The father is saying to Jesus, I I do believe...i believe in You...I believe in Your power, but I admit I still have some doubts...is that enough LORD, is that enough faith for You to heal my boy? If, not, then LORD help my faith to grow.
11. And with that, Jesus rebuked the evil spirit. He told the demon to come out of the boy and don't ever come back! The demon protested like a bully who has just been whipped, and as he made his exit he threw the boy into convulsions one final time. And then the boy's body went limp and lifeless. In fact, by all appearances it looked as though the boy was dead. 12. But look at verse 27... v.27 But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose. The demon had stolen this boy from his father for almost all of his young life. But now Jesus gives the boy back to his father completely whole, completely healed. No more convulsions! No more foaming at the mouth! No more blood- curdling screams in the night! The boy can hear again...and talk again...and laugh and play like all the other children. And they owed it all to JESUS CHRIST, THE LORD OF THE IMPOSSIBLE!
C O N C L U S I O N Later when they were alone with Jesus, the disciples asked Him, Why couldn't we cast the demon out? Jesus answered, This kind can come out by nothing but prayer and fasting. Perhaps the disciples had trusted in their past success in casting out demons. Maybe they had even trusted in their own strength to cast him out. Whatever they had done, it failed miserably. The LORD is reminding them that our faith, and our trust must be in Him and Him alone! PRAYER IS THE ROAD THAT FAITH TAKES TO THE POWER OF GOD! Brothers and sisters, it is only when we come to the end of our own human strength and resources and cry out to the LORD in prayer, that we come to realize this life-changing truth: All things are possible to him who believes!