The Power of Jesus, Part 1

Welcome to God's Word for You, a ministry of Sharon R.P. Church in Morning Sun, Iowa. Check us out online at www.sharonrpc.org. We pray that this message will be a blessing to you and that the Lord will use it to transform your faith and your life. Will you turn in your Bibles with me to the book of Mark, to the book of Mark chapter 9.

Mark chapter 9. We'll begin at verse 17. If you're using the New King James Pew Bibles, you'll find that on page 892. Mark chapter 9, page 892. Remember, the context of this has been a few weeks since we've been here in the book of Mark, and what's happened is that there is the Mount of Transfiguration, these questions about Elijah, now they're coming down the mountain, and Jesus is coming to the rest of his disciples. And this is where we pick up the story, Mark chapter 9, beginning at verse 17. Brothers and sisters, this is God's perfect Word. Sorry, verse 14.

And when he came to the disciples, he saw a great multitude around them and scribes disputing with them. Immediately when they saw him, all the people were greatly amazed and running to him, greeted him and asked him, and he asked the scribes, what are you discussing with them? 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. So I spoke to your disciples that they should cast it out, but they could not.

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. 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. So he asked his father, how long has this been happening to him? He said, from childhood. 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." Jesus asked him, if you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes. Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief. When Jesus saw all the people came running together, He rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, Death and dumb spirit, I command you, come out of him and enter him no more. 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. But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up and he arose. And when he had come into the house, his disciples asked him privately, why could we not cast it out? So he said to them, this kind can come out by nothing but prayer and fasting.

Prayer for Illumination

Well, in the reading of God's word there, the grass withers and the flower fades, but brothers and sisters, the word of our God endures forever. Let's pray. Oh God, we have read your word, but we need your spirit to teach us that we might understand it and it might be applied to our hearts and to our lives. God, I confess to you that I am a broken and weak vessel. I pray that you would please Fill my mouth with the words to speak for the edification of Your people and the exaltation of Your Son. Please, Father, bless us in this time as we sit at Your feet. In Jesus' name, Amen. I'm just going to go ahead and say it outright.

Sermon

There are some times I write a sermon, and then I think, how long is it going to take me to preach that sermon? And that's one of the things that happened this week. And I thought, hmm, there's too much here. And so instead of preaching you to sleep, I cut the sermon in half. So today you're going to get part one. and next week you'll get part two. And so our focus this morning, there are many things that we could talk about, many things that we can examine, many things that I think would be helpful to your soul, and so we're gonna get to some of those next week, but this week, the purpose and the point is for you to fix your eyes on the power of Jesus. That is a really simple message, isn't it?

Fix your eyes on the power of Jesus. So first we need to set the scene of what's going on here, verses 14 through 16. Jesus has been up on this very high mountain with Peter and the sons of Zebedee, James and John. And Jesus has been glowing in His glory. He's revealed Himself. The Father has said, this is my Son, listen to Him. He's told them that Elijah has come. This is some of the most clear declarations of the entire Bible about Jesus' truly being the Messiah.

But it's like on the top of that glowing mountain as they descend, there is darkness at the foot of that mountain. There's a crowd who has gathered. And His disciples are there. There's nine of them. And they've been given a problem. Somebody has brought a demon-possessed boy to them. And they've tried. They have tried to excise that demon from this young man. We don't know how old this one is. Actually, I'm going to suggest to you that I'm not convinced he is a boy. Because Jesus will ask him later, how long has this been going on? And the man of the Father will say, since he was a child. So my guess is that he's somewhere, I can't prove this, but it's my guess, for the scene, this is a grown father with his young son, somewhere most likely in his teens or early adulthood, but who has been suffering, and the scribes are there, right?

There's always antagonists gathering around the disciples or around Jesus. There are people who don't like what he's doing, and people who just flat right don't believe what he's doing is true. And so his disciples are there and they've tried and they've tried to care for this father and this boy, this young man who's been demon possessed and they can't do it. And you can imagine the sneers of the scribes.

Your leader's up there on some mountain, he's left you, obviously you don't actually have any power. You're not telling the truth and neither is he. You're not strong enough over this demon and neither is your teacher and you know it. Why don't you try this, or why don't you try that? Why don't you try these things that are in our writings? Why don't you follow these traditions of the elders?

And this is the scene that Jesus walks into. As He walks down the base of the mountain with these three disciples, He finds them, He finds His disciples gathered around them, and the moment people see Jesus, they make a beeline. They don't want to be with the disciples, they want to be with the teacher. And so they run to Jesus, they go and they go talk to Him. And Jesus has been seeing what's been going on as He's been traveling.

And verse 16, He asks a logical question, what y'all talking about? What's going on here? Why are you guys fighting? And the word here for discussing, that's a pretty polite term. It's more that they're arguing with one another. There's been some heat under the collar. They've been fighting. They've been shouting. He's probably able to see some people red in the face. He says, what are you arguing about?

But notice he doesn't wait for the scribes to talk. He doesn't even have a chance to ask his disciples to speak up. Because what we find is a desperate father. What we find is a father who is absolutely desperate for help. Forget decorum. He doesn't even care who Jesus was talking to. He's going to tell Jesus what's going on. And that's what we find. Beginning at verse 17. A desperate father. He says in verse 17. Teacher, I brought you. Notice, you. He didn't say, I brought my son to your disciples. He said, I brought you, my son, who has a mute spirit.

Jesus will later go on and tell us, and Matthew tells us in his description of this, that he's both mute and he can't hear. And he describes what's going on with his son in verse 18. And whenever it seizes him, this is this unclean demonic spirit, whenever it seizes him, it throws him down. He foams at the mouth, he gnashes his teeth, and he becomes rigid.

So I spoke to your disciples, That they should cast it out, but they could not. Now there's a phrase here that the translation is missing a little bit of the nuance. This idea that they could not is the idea that they didn't have the strength to do it. They didn't have the ability in them to actually cast out this demon.

You can hear the desperation in his voice, can't you? I mean, if you're a parent and you've seen your child sick and suffering, and it's a chronic thing and you can't get any answers, and you're trying to figure out what's going on, this is the desperation of his father. He said, I brought him to you, you weren't here, I brought him to your disciples, and they didn't have the strength to heal him.

And here he is, his whole life, he falls down to the floor, he gnashes his teeth. You can imagine a man whose teeth have been ground down to the roots. He foams at the mouth. He convulses. He's deaf. He can't speak. His whole quality of life has been gone, and his father has been trying, trying, trying to find mercy for his son. He brings him to the disciples, and they're powerless. They can't do it.

Jesus responds in verse 19. He answered him and said, Oh, faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him to me. Jesus has him bring his son to him. He's going to do an immediate miracle. It's not going to work through intermediate stages. He's going to do it himself. Now, I need to I need to warn you here.

There are many actually in your Bibles, many of you might have a subheading for this section. An epileptic boy is healed or something along that nature. That's a modern medical term that's been placed over this. I have a friend, his name is Nathaniel.

And he has grandma seizures. And I remember being in the library with him one time, and I was in one section of the library, and he was restocking books in another section of the library, and out of nowhere, I heard him just, and falls on the ground, clenches his teeth, starts convulsing, eyes behind his head, scary as all get out. That's not what's going on here. This man is also deaf, and he's also mute.

And what we find out is when Jesus examines further, it's worse than just some epileptic seizure. But whatever spirit is within this man has tried at times to throw him into a fire to be burned alive. And this is worse than that. You can imagine at times when they've walked along the shore of Galilee on a family vacation and they were being careful with their son who's given over to these fits. And all of a sudden, the son throws himself into the depths of the Sea of Galilee to be drowned.

And his dad is saying, I don't know what's going on. This is worse than just epilepsy. This happens not when the moon is at its different cycles. This is not some type of physical phenomenon. There's something worse going on here. The physicians can't answer. This is not just epilepsy. But he knows there's something worse, there's something more dangerous, there's something more hideous at foot. And he pleads for help in verse 22. Often he has thrown himself both into the fire and into the water to destroy him.

But the second part of this verse after the period is important. But if you can do anything, have compassion on us, and help us. Three things that need to be pointed out in that small half verse. New King James has smoothed it out for us, but if we translate it literally, he would say, but if you are able, if you have the power to do anything about this, it's a conditional statement. He's putting it before Jesus and he's saying, your disciples weren't strong enough. They didn't have it in them, but maybe you do. If that's the case, now again, the order is switched here because of the translation, that's fine. But first he says, then maybe you could help us. You could aid us. Maybe you could even have compassion on us.

And you know this word, if I asked you, what do you think that word for compassion there is? It's my favorite Greek word, splachnon. If you actually have a true heart for us, if you have any feeling in your bones of compassion, if you have that ability to help us, would you not aid us, Jesus? And notice he doesn't say, would you help my son? Would you have compassion on him? Now notice, this is the true desperation of a father. Have compassion on us. Help, not him, help us.

One of the least favorite things of mine to do is to go near a pediatric ward. Our children, we got children who take after me and they're sometimes a little bit rambunctious and crazy and that's good. But it means we take trips to the ER sometimes up in Iowa City. And it's great. Do you know what they have at the ER in Iowa City? They have an emergency room for kids like mine. You have all the normal emergency room where you got like a curtain and stuff like that. But you go up there and they got fish tanks and they got coloring books and stuff like that just for kids who get hurt.

But if you go up there, you'll also see some of the most desperate parents you've ever seen in your entire life. Because of the pain that their children are feeling, they feel. And what this man is asking Jesus is, he said, do you feel this pain? Do you see how desperate my son is? He needs your help. Will you help us if you're able to? And this is where I want us to lean in and notice Jesus. What do we learn about Jesus?

First Point

First, we learn that He is compassionate. You may be amazed Jesus may sit here and He may be amazed by the disbelief that's surrounding Him all around, right? The disciples aren't believing like they're supposed to be believing. The scribes are arguing with them. The Father is asking them, if you're able to...

Jesus might be amazed by that, but that does not stop Jesus from showing compassion. Jesus is still tender-hearted toward them. Thank God Our Savior is no stoic philosopher. Jesus doesn't have a hard heart towards his people. Jesus doesn't look at you and say, well, I know you're suffering, but you know what? Get over it. No, Jesus is compassionate. Jesus is not some detached teacher. He's not some cold-hearted physician with bad bedside manner, but He cares for this man and his son. So notice first, Jesus is compassionate, but also notice that Jesus is powerful. Notice that Jesus is powerful.

Immediately, verse 24, the father of the Child cried out and said with tears, Lord, I believe, help my unbelief. When Jesus saw that the people were 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. Then the spirit cried out, convulsed him greatly, came out of him and he became as one dead. So that many said he is dead, but Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up and he arose. This man, this boy, when he's brought into Jesus' presence, involuntarily starts shaking in the presence of Jesus. Why?

He knew he had met his match. He knew that Jesus was able and he was strong enough. That in the presence of the second person of the triune God, Jesus Christ, could command an unclean spirit, get out of him. But not just now get out of him in his presence, but what could he say that the demon had to listen to? And enter him no more. Jesus was able to command an unclean spirit, and even though that unclean spirit might hate Jesus with all of its being, and all of its pride, it must obey the words of Christ.

Jesus commands a spirit to come out of him, and it does. Jesus has the authority to speak this word to him. And I want you to think about this father who is standing and watching this happen, a mix of fear and a mix of hope. He hasn't had a glimmer of hope in a long time. The physicians have failed him and his son, but Jesus, finally has real power. He has come into contact. He has found the Teacher.

He has come to the One by Whom and through Whom all things were created, exist, and have their being. It is by the Word and power and person of Jesus Christ that His Son was created and has His breath. He came to the right person because He came to the one who is the exact image and representation of His Father in heaven with all honor and authority and power who could command the legions of angels and could tell some unclean nobody's spirit, get out of here and never come back. And the spirit must listen because that's the power of your Savior. as the power of Jesus Christ.

Now I need to tell you that sometimes we, as enlightened Western Christians, don't take this seriously enough. There is a spiritual realm. It's a realm that we don't understand well. There are things in our society, people that you will run into, that you cannot explain their behaviors, you cannot understand what's going on in their minds and our modern psychological culture has just said, well we'll peg it with a name and we'll pump them full of lithium and then we'll lock them into a room surrounded by other people who aren't right in their rockers and we'll just deal with them that way.

Not every mental disease is demon possession, but not every mental disease isn't demon possession. And we ought to be especially careful as we even pray for God to protect us. Brothers and sisters, Satan would love nothing more than to make you think that this is just ancient, superstitious, pagan, backward culture reality. Satan would love nothing more than to convince you he doesn't exist, The legion of fallen angels with him doesn't actually still torture people. Doesn't mean that we should be constantly superstitious, doesn't mean that we should be looking for demons under every rock or trying to figure out if this is demon possession or a mental illness.

There are legitimate chemical imbalances, there are legitimate mental illnesses, there's legitimate sometimes people just need to repent of their sins so they'll get better. But the reality is that we must be careful. Because if we just put this all behind us and act like it doesn't exist, then we are also saying we don't need the power of Jesus in our own lives. Why pray? Why pray? Lead us not into temptation and deliver us from evil, if evil doesn't actually exist.

I need to also encourage some of you. I need to encourage some of you who have children. And you don't know what's going on in their hearts. You just know something is wrong. Some of you have been struggling on your knees and with tears in your eyes like this father, pleading with God to heal your children of physical ailments, but also things going on in their minds and in their hearts that you don't understand.

This passage is meant to give you hope. That Jesus does hear those prayers. That Jesus is not ignoring you. That your Savior is still loving you. That He still has a mind upon your covenant children. And keep praying for them. Keep taking them to the throne of grace. Keep telling them of Jesus Christ. They might not like it. But tell them of the great physician who could care for them. He's able and He is ready to help us. But lastly, also notice that Jesus is in perfect communion with His Father. Notice that Jesus is in perfect communion with His Father.

After this whole thing is done, they leave. It doesn't tell us anything about the Father receiving His Son or about the Son and His reception. None of that. It just says they left. Verse 28. People thought he was dead. No, he wasn't dead. Jesus took him by the hand, he lifts him up, and he rises. He's well. He's good. Verse 28, though, and when he had come into the house, whose house? We don't know. Maybe the Father's house. I don't know.

His disciples asked him privately, why could we not cast it out? Verse 29, he says, so he said to them, this kind can only come out by nothing but prayer and fasting. You know, sometimes it's easier when I'm reading things in the original languages, right? And when this is in Greek, it's asking, why couldn't, why didn't we have the ability to cast this demon out? Right, they had done it before. Jesus has sent them on a preaching mission and they've cast out demons before. Why not now? Why couldn't we do it? Why didn't we have the ability? Do we not have the strength? And the answer is no, you do not. No, you don't. But notice, Jesus didn't pray either in the story, did he?

Did you pick that up? In the previous verses, were there any time where it says, and Jesus got on his knees or lifted up his eyes to heaven, thanked God for this opportunity and prayed for his father to give him power to heal this boy? No, he didn't either. So how was he able to do this?

He was able to do this because we see time and time and time and time and time again that Jesus is always dependent on His Father. Early in Mark, while it was very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus left there and went to a desolate place and there He prayed. While His disciples went out onto the Sea of Galilee going to the other side, what was He doing on the shore? He was praying. When they went up the Mount of Transfiguration, why did He say they needed to go there? So they could pray. Jesus had a constant dependence on His communion with His Father in prayer.

But something had happened with His disciples. They thought they were able to cast it out. They thought they had it in themselves. Why couldn't we Why did we not have the ability to cast out this demon? Because you've misunderstood your roles as disciples and apostles. You thought it was dependent on you. But it was never dependent on you. The only reason why you were able to before, and the only reason why you will ever be able to, is by prayer and fasting, showing your utter faith and dependence on your Father in heaven.

So as we come, as we come to this passage, what are you supposed to walk away from? You look at a passage like this and you kind of scratch your head and you're like, okay, so he healed the boy, that's nice. But why is it in Matthew, Mark, and Luke? Why three different times? Because you need to know that the apostles didn't have the ability in themselves. That we will never have the ability in ourselves to do these powerful things.

But it's Jesus Christ. It is Jesus who has the strength and power in and of Himself by His very nature and being and connection with His Father that He has the power to do these things. This is why we come to Him and call Him our Lord and our Savior. because He's a compassionate and powerful God who knows your needs, who knows your pain, and who watches over you even when it hurts.

Closing Prayer

Let's pray. Father, you have given us a story about Jesus. We pray that we would believe it. Real history. And that the same power that was working by your Spirit, through your Spirit, in this story, would also work in our lives, in our hearts, in our children's hearts. that we might also cry out to you to have mercy upon our children, to have compassion on us, Lord, and we pray that we would have faith that you are able to do all these things. In Jesus' name, amen.

Thanks for listening to this week's message from God's Word for You, a ministry of Sharon R.P. Church in rural southeast Iowa. We pray that the message would be used by God to transform your faith in your life this week. If you'd like to get more information about us, feel free to go to the website, SharonRPC.org. We'd love to invite you to worship with us. Our worship time is 10 a.m. every Sunday at 25204 160th Avenue, Morning Sun, Iowa, 52640. May God richly bless you this week.