Our Father, we thank you for
your Word. Thank you for your Son. Thank you for a salvation
so complete and full and perfect. And thank you that this salvation
is for us who are so needy and lost in our own sin. We pray,
Lord, that you would bless us for Jesus' sake. Make yourself
known in your glory from your Word today in our salvation. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
Mark chapter 9, and starting at verse 14, And when he came, now this is
right after Jesus was on the Mount of Transfiguration. So
he and Peter, James and John were on that mountain. And they're
coming down from the mountain in verse 14. And when he came
to his disciples he saw a great multitude about them. The other
nine disciples who were there. Jesus comes down from the mountain
and he sees this crowd around his nine disciples. And the scribes
questioning them. And straightway all the people,
when they beheld him, were greatly amazed. And running to him, saluted
him. And he asked the scribes, What
question ye with them? Evidently the scribes were interrogating
the disciples. And no doubt they were trying
to discredit the Lord Jesus Christ. Because these disciples were
unable to heal this boy who was possessed by a devil. And so
they no doubt would have been accusing Jesus of not teaching
and being the one sent from heaven as he claimed to be. And as the
disciples claimed that he was. And so they would have done this.
And the multitude were standing around and watching the whole
ordeal and who knows what they were saying and whose side they
were taking. But they saw the Lord Jesus Christ coming down
and it says they were greatly amazed. And running to Him, they
saluted Him. I don't know if they were amazed
because Jesus came in the middle of this crowd when He was being
so vilified by the scribes. Or maybe they were amazed at
His boldness just for coming there then. Or they were just
amazed to see Him coming, and they were glad that someone was
coming in all this confusion to set things straight. But whatever
it was, it doesn't say particularly, so we'll go on in verse 16. And
Jesus asked the scribes, what question ye with them? It doesn't
say what they had talked about. And it wasn't important, obviously,
because something happens right next that gets us into the meat
of the matter. And one of the multitude answered
him, said, Master, I have brought unto thee my son, which hath
a dumb spirit. He was unable to talk. And wheresoever
he taketh him, he teareth him, and he foameth, and gnasheth
with his teeth, and pineth away. And I spake to thy disciples
that they should cast him out, and they could not. So this boy
had a really bad case of what we would call epilepsy, but it
wasn't just epilepsy. It was being possessed by a devil. And it says he tears him, that
means that he threw him down. He threw him down on the ground
and cast him down and his body would contort and his muscles
would contract involuntarily and so it's like he was being
torn apart. And the devil did this, he gnashed with his teeth,
his mouth was foaming, and the father came to the disciples.
They were Jesus' disciples, and he did the right thing in coming
to them, but they couldn't cast the devil out of the boy. Verse
19, And Jesus answered him, answered the father, he saith, O faithless
generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I suffer
you? Bring Him to me." When He says,
O faithless generation, He wasn't talking to His disciples and
He wasn't talking to the Father. He was talking, really, to the
scribes and those who were with the scribes in their opinions,
because they were the faithless generation. Here the Lord Jesus
Christ is. He had just been proclaimed by
his father as being his beloved son from heaven. And his father
said from heaven to Peter, James, and John that he was well pleased
with the Lord Jesus Christ. His face shined like the sun
and his clothes were as bright as light. and nothing could make them whiter.
He was the Son of God, He had explained that so many times
over, and yet these describes were opposed to Him in every
way, and so He calls them what they were, a faithless generation,
without faith. The disciples weren't without
faith. They had faith, so they weren't part of this faithless
generation. But those who believed what the
scribes were teaching were part of that faithless generation.
How long shall I be with you? How long shall I suffer you?
Bring him to me. And they brought him to him,
and when he saw him, when Jesus saw the boy, straightway the
Spirit tear him, and he fell on the ground and wallowed, foaming.
And he asked his father, how long is it ago since this came
to him? And he said, of a child. And
the father continues in verse 22, he says, oftentimes it has
cast him into the fire and into the waters to destroy him. But
if thou canst do anything, have compassion on us and help us. The father's life was entirely
tied up or bundled up with his son's life. So that's why he
uses the word us. He says, have compassion on us
and help us. And Jesus said, because the father
had said, if you can do anything. Jesus said, if you can believe. If thou canst believe, all things
are possible to him that believeth. And straightway the father of
the child cried out. And he said with tears, Lord,
I believe. Help thou mine unbelief. And
when Jesus saw that the crowd came running together, He rebuked
the foul spirit, saying to him, Now dumb and deaf spirit, I charge
thee, come out of him, and enter no more into him. And the spirit
cried, and rent him sore, and came out of him. And he was as
one dead, insomuch that many said he is dead. But Jesus took
him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose. And when he
was come into the house, his disciples asked him privately,
Why could not we cast him out? And he said to them, This kind
can come forth by nothing but by prayer and fasting. And so
I want to look at these verses with you. We're going to go through
this, and I want to observe some of the lessons that are taught
here in this account of the Lord Jesus Christ and His Father.
First thing you see here is that the crowd were arguing, not the
crowd specifically, but the scribes were talking and asking questions
of the disciples. No doubt they were asking, where
is your master? Why can't you cast out this devil?
If you're of God, if he's true, then why can't you cast out this
devil? And so the crowd and the scribes and the disciples were
all there talking. The boy is lying there. He's
being tormented by this devil. The father is wringing his hands,
as it were. And so the first thing we see
here is a description of unbelief. We see the description of unbelief
in the crowd and in the scribes and a little bit in the disciples. They were reasoning among themselves. And they were confused. And that's
what unbelief does. Unbelief reasons. It looks for
solutions to the problems that we face. And by reasoning among
ourselves, it tries to find a solution. And it leaves us in confusion.
But faith always looks to Christ. Faith looks beyond the problems
and sees the sovereignty of God in our lives and trusts Him implicitly. And trusts Him because of what
He said and what He's done. Trusts Him for who He is. And
faith does that. And the other thing we see here
is that the Lord Jesus Christ comes to the defense of His sheep
against these wolves. Who were wolves in sheep's clothing
in false religion. And so he asks the scribes, what
are you asking these disciples? And they didn't say in the text.
Because the father immediately spoke out, it's about my son. It's about my son. And he brings
him right away to the attention of the Lord Jesus Christ. So
that's the first thing we see here. And then we see here that
the Lord Jesus Christ is permitting this man, the father, to relate
to him the deep anxiety of his soul because of his son's misery. And this is important because
when the Lord Jesus Christ listens to this man. He's really allowing
him to tell him all that's on his heart. And when we come to
the Lord Jesus Christ, we should always try to explain what it
is we're coming for. Why are we coming? Specifically,
what is the problem? And you see the way that the
Father does this here. He says, the Spirit takes him
and tears him. And he casts him down, and he
gnashes with his teeth, and he foams with his mouth. He foams,
and then Jesus asked him, and how long has this been going
on? He says, from a child, and sometimes he casts him into the
fire, and sometimes in the water, trying to destroy my son. And
so you see here that the father is explaining the details of
his son's misery and his own anxiety over his son's condition.
When we come to the Lord Jesus Christ, pour out your heart as
precisely as you can. Tell him all that you see. Tell
him what you've tried. He said the disciples, I brought
him to your disciples and they couldn't heal him. Tell the Lord
Jesus Christ what you've done. And tell him what's failed. And
tell him he's your only hope. Tell him all. And this is what
you see here. And notice what he says next.
He says, help us. Help us. What a cry. Help us. Have compassion on us.
And so that's the second thing we see in this text of scripture
here. The father pouring out the details
of his son's misery. Now the father clearly loved
his son. A lot of times today you see
parents with children who are handicapped in some way, and
they suffered through that. Their children, this boy couldn't
talk, and he couldn't hear. So his father had no way of communicating
with his son. And not only that, but he had
been like this from a child, and he would see his son going
through these contortions, writhing on the ground and suffering under
the affliction, the torment of this devil. And it had to give
him such grief of emotion and compassion for his son, but he
couldn't do anything for his son. In Matthew's account, I
think it's Matthew, maybe it's Luke's account, he says, my son
is a lunatic. He seemed to be out of his mind.
He couldn't communicate with him. He couldn't help him. And the devil took control of
him. And this father came to the Lord
Jesus Christ and all of the misery he had over his son. His life
was bound up in his son's life. And so you see here the father
whose love for his son. Now the Lord Jesus Christ is
the only and begotten Son of God. And so he comes to this
father who has an only son. If this son dies, the father
is left with nothing because his life is wrapped up in his
son. In Israel, the inheritance would be passed from father to
son and his name would be carried out through his son and his children.
But if his son was like this, obviously his life would be ended
when his son's life ended. And he was concerned for his
son. He had deep compassion. And so he brought him to Jesus.
This is what God's grace does in the life of a father. He brings
his son to Jesus, even though he can't communicate with him.
Even though he can't get through to him. Even though he watches
as the devil takes him and has, as it were, his way with him.
And he foams and he's gnashing his teeth. He's in misery under
the torment of Satan. And Satan's way, the way that
he works, is to destroy men by spiritual suicide. Remember what
it says in 2 Timothy 2.25. That the man of God must not
strive, but be gentle unto all in meekness, instructing those
that oppose themselves. That's what this boy was doing
by the devil. He was opposing his own life.
And so the devil's way is to try to cause us to commit spiritual
suicide, to deceive us, and to leave us with no hope in Christ.
But here the father is bringing his son to the Lord Jesus Christ
to rid him of the torment of the devil and the devil's control
over him. So he might have his son's life back. And so he comes
to the Lord Jesus Christ. And now here you see, you wonder,
the Lord Jesus Christ is the Son of God. That means He is
eternal. He never had a beginning and
never has an end. And He is unchangeable in all
His ways. It says in Psalm 135, 6 that
whatsoever the Lord pleased, that He did in heaven and in
earth and in the sea and all deep places. Everything. And
in Isaiah 46, 10 and 11 it says, My counsel shall stand, I will
do all my pleasure. Everything God thinks, He does. And there's no change in what
He thinks from eternity to eternity, throughout time. He's unchangeable.
His will will be done. And so we ask the question, why
did the Lord Jesus Christ allow the devil in the first place
to enter into this boy? Why? I mean, if it caused his
father such grief and the boy such an affliction, why would
he allow that? Why wouldn't he just keep the
devil out of the boy in the first place? And here we see the wisdom
of God in the way He works in our lives. Because the Lord permits
and even raises in our lives insurmountable obstacles. to
our salvation in order to make His greatness known in our salvation. And you see this throughout scripture.
Remember what God told Abraham in Genesis 15? Long before Israel
ever went to Egypt, God told Abraham, your children, your
descendants, those who come from you, are actually going to go
into Egypt and they're going to be there for over 400 years
and suffer at the hand of the tyrant of that land, Pharaoh.
And God was going to raise him up For this very purpose, in
order that he might show his power in Pharaoh, and overcome
Pharaoh in the height of his pride and his power over his
people, and in the lowness of their suffering, the God of glory
is going to deliver them at that time through the blood of the
Passover lamb. He's going to redeem them from
Egypt, and destroy Pharaoh and his army in the sea, when they
were at the height of their arrogance and pride against God. And their
power against His people. And so the Lord Jesus Christ
works this way throughout time. Look at Romans chapter 8. I love
this verse. It says here in Romans chapter
8, because this is the way God works. He says in Romans 8.35,
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? When God allowed
his people to go into Egypt and even raised up Pharaoh against
them in bondage, bitter bondage. They no doubt wondered, 400 years
in Egypt, enslaved here, no way out, suffering at the hand of
this tyrant. Why would God allow that? He
says, who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation,
or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril,
that means danger, or sword? As it is written, for thy sake
we are killed all the day long. We are accounted as sheep for
the slaughter. And you would wonder, I've read
that, man, obviously God is saying in prediction, in prophecy, this
is His way with His people. His people are treated like sheep
before their enemies and they're slaughtered. But then you would
wonder, is that the end of it? No, listen to the verse 37, but
nay. In all these things, we are more
than conquerors through Him that loved us. For I am persuaded
that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities,
nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height,
nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us
from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." And
this is the mystery of the way that God works in our lives.
He He allows our enemies to come against us. He raises them up
even. And then He puts them down right
when it seems that there's no hope and we're about to perish.
And think about the way that God's obstacles in ourselves
have been raised up. by God's providence. It was our
sin that raised to God's justice an obstacle for Him to have us
with Him in glory. But God Himself allowed sin to
come into the world by one man, and then that sin not only was
against us by God's justice, demanding our punishment and
the curse of His law upon us, But also because it enwrapped
our nature. It was so much part of us that
it was our own nature is sin. We're corrupt in our very nature.
And these obstacles seem like, how can God save us if He removes
our nature? He destroys us. If He executes
His justice, He's going to have to destroy us in hell forever.
And so we see the obstacle raised even in God's purpose. And yet,
By God's grace, what does He do? His love will not be disappointed. He will have all those He set
His love on in eternity. All those He chose in Christ,
He will have. And He will not let one of them
perish. And so He says so in John chapter 10 about the sheep.
He's going to save all that the Father has given Him. None of
them will perish. He's going to entrust them into
His Father's hands and none can take them out of His Father's
hands. So we see here, even though God allowed this boy to come
under the affliction and torment of the devil, He raised up these
barriers, these obstacles that would seem to prevent His purpose
of salvation in our lives. And He actually, at the height
of their strength, He destroys them. The Lord Jesus Christ casts
out the devil. And so we see that here in these
verses. It says in verse 23, Jesus said,
If you can believe. And then in verse 24, And straightway
the Father cried out and said with tears, Lord, I believe,
help my unbelief. And when Jesus saw the people
come running together, he rebuked the foul spirit, saying to him,
Thou dumb and deaf spirit, I charge thee, come out of him and enter
no more into him. come out and enter no more."
By the command of the Lord Jesus Christ, this boy was freed. And
that command stood because not only who he is, but what he has
done in our salvation. So that's the third thing we
see here, is that God himself permits and even raises these
insurmountable obstacles to our salvation. to make the greatness
of His salvation and His person known in our deliverance. Isn't
that amazing? When we look with physical eyes
at our life, what do we see? We see all things that would
deny the truth that there's even a God in heaven if we think of
all the trouble that comes into our life, especially the sin.
It seems like there's no control over it. But God is going to
deliver us. There's no possibility that He's
going to destroy us. And I'm going to get to that
a little bit more here in a minute. So then, the next thing we see
here is that the Lord Jesus Christ himself must deliver us. The father had brought this boy
to the disciples, and it was right that he did so. And it
was in love. His father's love for his son
brought him to the place where he could hear the gospel, where
he could have the power of the Lord applied to his son and delivered. But it wasn't done. They weren't
able to do it. And so there's a lesson here
for us to also learn. And for the crowd, and for the
scribes, and for the father, and even for the boy. Is that
when God is going to save us, He's going to teach us this lesson
first and foremost. Is that we must come to Christ
to be delivered from our sins. You and I have to come to Jesus. We've got to be brought to Him.
God has to bring us, and when we cry, and when we look, and
when we believe, it's always on the Lord Jesus Christ. It's
not on a man. It's not on what someone can
do for us. We're so prone in our lives to go in trouble to
somebody else. To tell them about our trouble.
But we need to go to Christ alone. to Christ alone. And that's what
this is saying here, is the disciples failed, but Christ would not
fail. And so the people here, and the
Father would learn this. You have to go to Christ. You
have to go to Him. Only He can save you. And the
case was so bad, and the father was so desperate, and so he says
in verse 22, he says, verse 23, I'm sorry, in verse 22 he says,
But if thou canst do anything, have compassion on us, and help
us. if you can do anything. I was reading Charles Spurgeon,
and he said there was a story of a little girl whose mother
was watching her, and she had this knife out, and she was cutting
in her Bible, and she said, what are you doing? You're going to
hurt yourself. What are you doing to your Bible? And she said,
because I was reading here about the man who was a leper, and
he came to Jesus, and he says, if you will, you can make me
clean. And she says, He shouldn't have
said, if, because that means as if the Lord Jesus Christ wouldn't. And so he's just trying to cut
out that little word, if. With the Lord Jesus Christ, there
are no ifs. There's no ifs in the Son of
God. There's nothing that He can't
do. Salvation. When we think about God, we sometimes
think He's reluctant to save us. But the opposite is true. He says in Micah chapter 7, He
delights in mercy. He delights in mercy. And then,
look at this and see if I can find it in Proverbs. It's either
in Proverbs 20 or 23. Let me direct your attention
to this, because sometimes we get these notions of God that are not right. He says in Proverbs
chapter 20, You're all familiar with what it says in the Psalms.
In Psalm 89, God says that His throne, justice and judgment
are the habitation of God's throne. Remember that verse in Psalm
89? Justice and judgment are the habitation of thy throne.
So we say, you see, God has to be just. He has to be just. And it's true. He has to be just.
But sometimes we think about God as some kind of a A Plato
model where we've got different colors all stuck together. His
justice, and his love, and his grace, and his mercy, and his
faithfulness, and all these things that make up God. But that's
not true. God's attributes, his love and justice, his mercy and
grace, his knowledge and his power, all these things are In
perfect harmony, there's no contention in God. So when it says in Psalm
89, 14, it says that justice, or whatever verse it is, justice
and judgment are the habitation of thy throne. He's saying that
God Himself establishes and is the reference for what's just
and judgment. He Himself executes justice and
judgment, and He Himself is the measure of that. And so we say,
well, you see, God has to be just. And He does, because that's
His character, His nature. In Proverbs chapter 20, we learn
something else. In verse 28, it says, "...mercy
and truth preserve the king, and his throne is upholden by
mercy." You see that? God's not only just, but He's
merciful. But His mercy and justice are
uncompromised. And so in His holiness, we talk
about God being holy. He's holy because all of these
things in God are in perfect harmony. So that God is able
to be inflexibly just and also immeasurably merciful. Moses asked the Lord, he says,
show me your glory. And when we say God's glory,
we mean those things, the perfections, the things that make God, God. And God passed by Moses and He
says, the Lord, He announced the Lord, the Lord God, gracious,
merciful, forgiving iniquity, and will by no means clear the
guilty. This is who God is in His perfection. And He announced
His glory to Moses in that way. His glory is that He is gracious
to whom He will be gracious, merciful to whom He will be merciful. But His mercy and grace are not
compromised, because He has found full satisfaction, even delight,
to His justice. Because He found that justice
satisfied in His Son. And He found a way to be merciful
to sinners in His Son. And so the Lord is, He comes
here in this, in this, and when the Father says, if you can do
anything, then have compassion on us and have mercy upon us
or help us. And so we know that there is
no if in the Son of God. He's almighty. He can do, there
is nothing impossible for Him. The problem is, is that we don't
believe. That's the problem. And we think,
well, I need help. And so he cries out. This father,
Jesus said, if you can believe, all things are possible to him
that believeth. In verse 24, he says, and straightway
the father of the child cried out and said with tears, Lord,
I believe. Help thou mine unbelief. Notice
how he said it. I do believe. It wasn't like
the father was faithless. He had faith. In fact, in his
saying this, it actually demonstrates his faith. Because when he says
this, he's being honest about his own condition. I do believe. I believe that you are able to
do this. I believe you're willing to do
this. I believe you're full of compassion. That's why I brought
my son to you. I believe you have power over
Satan. And that you can restore my son.
I believe that. But help my unbelief. You see,
I do believe, but help my unbelief. Help my unbelief. My unbelief
is my fault. And it's an embarrassing, shameful
thing to think that I don't believe the only one who is true, who
is truth itself, faithful, and has never deviated from his word. He's always done what he said
he would do, able to say to the uttermost, why would I not believe
him? And so the father cries out. And in his shame, I do believe,
but help my unbelief. And yet, in his saying this,
it's actually a confession of his faith. You see, true faith
is not something that we can point to in ourselves. Faith
is known only by its object. When the father cries out, he
cries to the Lord Jesus Christ. He says, he brings his unbelief
to Christ. And he says, I do believe. Lord,
only you can help what's lacking in me. Give me the faith I need
to receive from you all that you are. and can do. And so he says in verse 25, And
when Jesus saw that the people came running together, He rebuked
the foul spirit, saying to him, Thou dumb and deaf spirit, I
charge thee, come out of him, and enter no more into him. What
a word of command, isn't it? The Lord Jesus Christ Himself
must deliver us, and He does it because He answered God for
our sins at the cross. Look at Colossians chapter 2
with me. Colossians chapter 2, verse 14. What did Jesus do at the cross? Well, He says here in Colossians
chapter 2 that He blotted out Verse 14, the handwriting of
ordinances that was against us. All of the law, all that God
required, those ordinances that we were commanded to keep by
God, and which we failed in every one, that handwriting of ordinances,
it says, He blotted it out. It was against us, which was
contrary to us, and He took it out of the way, nailing it to
His cross. All the accusations God could
justly raise against us from His law, the Lord Jesus Christ
answered every one. And by His blood blotted out
those ordinances that were against us and took them out of the way.
And then in verse 15, and having spoiled principalities and powers,
He made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it. As,
remember the woman taking in adultery in John chapter 8? And
the Pharisees brought her. We caught her in the very act.
What are you going to do? Moses said this. That's the ordinances. That's the law. That was against
us. And Jesus writes on the ground. Stoops down. He writes on the
ground. He stands up. And he says, Him that's without
sin, let him cast the first stone. He stoops down and writes again.
They're all gone. He silenced her enemies. They're all gone.
They're gone away. And so God, the Lord Jesus Christ,
has silenced all of our enemies by His own death. And He says
to the woman, Woman, where are your accusers? And she says,
No man, Lord. And He said, Neither do I condemn
thee. Go and sin no more. He blotted out with His blood
the transgressions. Sin is remitted by the blood
of Christ. Without shedding of blood, there
is no remission. But by shedding of blood, there
is remission. And so the Lord Jesus Christ,
with His own... He took the punishment our sins
deserve. That's what He said. That's what
He did here. He blotted it out by absorbing
in Himself the full justice of God against our sins. He took
it out of the way. And then, having blotted it out
in the court of heaven, what happened? Well, whatever happens
in the court of heaven determines all that happens on earth. And
so, whenever there's a case, always go to the judge and ask
the judge to take up the issue himself. We can't set things
right. We can't take out our AK-47 and
fix our sin and the devil and all the things that would keep
us from heaven. God's got to do something. There's got to
be a decision made in heaven's court. And the decision was,
when God received the blood of Christ, is that all of His people
were justified, righteous, without sin. And God's justice stands
up and says, Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect?
It's God that justifieth. And nobody could raise an issue.
The whole universe is silent before God. And so God himself
speaks and says, who is he that condemneth? It's Christ who died. Yea, rather, that's risen again,
who's even at the right hand of God, and also makes intercession
for us. The Lord Jesus Christ spoiled
principalities and powers. He made a show of them openly,
because He satisfied God. And the decision from heaven's
court comes down, and the peal of the bell from the courthouse
of heaven rings out, justified, justified by His blood. And so
here we see the Lord, by His own work, By the authority he
has, because of the cross, he commands the devil to come out
of him. And in verse 26, And the spirit
cried, and rent him sore, and came out of him. And he was as
one dead, insomuch that many said, He's dead. And so here
we see another principle, is that when the Lord Jesus, when
we come, when we're brought to the Lord Jesus, sometimes it
seems like that our sin actually becomes more of a problem than
we ever realized it was. Spurgeon said this, he said,
sometimes people come into my office and they sit in the chair
across from me and they say, you know, I'm really the worst
sinner that ever was. And they begin to tell him all
their sins. And Spurgeon says, you don't need to tell me. He
says, I'll just take it for granted that you are what you say you
are. In fact, he says, I'll go further. I will say that you're
a lot worse than you even know that you are. And so, he says,
you're actually worthy of hell. That is what your sin is. And
so, here, when we see this boy being brought to Jesus, in his
very presence, in the presence of the God of glory, come to
save his people from their sins. This one whose face was radiant
and God spoke from heaven. And this foul spirit tries one
last desperate attempt to destroy this boy. And we see Him doing
this right in the presence of the Lord. And so we see when
we come into the Lord's presence, and we see our children, or our
friends, or our co-workers, or whoever, our family, and we're
praying for them. And it seems like they've reached
a point where everyone has given up on them. And that's the point
when faith prevails and says, ah, but if it were up to them,
we would give up all hope. But it is not up to them. It's
up to the Lord of glory. And so we look to Him again and
we persevere in patient believing that virtue and power is in our
Lord Jesus Christ because of what He's done to fulfill the
will of God. And so He said He looked like
He was dead and maybe He was dead. The people said, he's dead. But Jesus took him by the hand
and lifted him up and he arose. You see, it's not enough that
the devil be cast out of me. I have to also be given life.
God has to give me life by a look to the Lord Jesus Christ. He
has to give me faith in Him. And so His inability to talk
and hear and His convulsions, all those things had to be taken
care of. And when He gave Him this life and took His hand,
He raised Him up and He rose. He rose. We're risen with Christ.
Christ always raises up those on whom He has had mercy. Remember
Ephesians 2.4? He says, when we were dead in
sins, We were like others, but God, who is rich in mercy, for
His great love wherewith He loved us, even when we were dead in
sins, has quickened us together with Christ, for by grace you
are saved." That's the whole matter. I want you to turn to
Isaiah chapter 54 and see the glorious triumph of our God over
our enemies. Isaiah chapter 54. And you see here both his providential
permission of our enemies coming against us. Isaiah 54, verse
16. In fact, I'll read verse 15 as
well. He says, but not by me, whosoever shall
gather together against thee shall fall for thy sake." In
other words, the enemies of God's people are going to gather together.
And they are God's enemies. I mean they are His people's
enemies. And God has allowed them and even ordained that they
would be against His people. Because He is going to show Himself
strong on their behalf. But their intention, their intention,
the evil of the Spirit here, was not God's doing. But it was
his way of raising up these enemies. And then in verse 16 he says,
"...behold, I have created the smith that blows the coals and
the fire, and that brings forth an instrument for his work, and
I have created the waster to destroy." God's the one who created
the blacksmith, and the fire, and the tools, these things that
they used to create instruments of war, and I've created the
waster to destroy. But then He says this to His
people. And who are the Israel of God? Who are the people of
God? Remember what it says in Galatians,
those who believe, you are the children of promise, he says
in Galatians 4.28. But here he says, No weapon that
is formed against thee shall prosper, and every tongue that
shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. You see this
little tiny pipsqueak of a sinner who has no power against his
enemies. And you see this huge monster of an enemy coming against
him. And God says to his people, every
voice that comes against you in judgment, you are going to
condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord,
and their righteousness is of me, saith the Lord." Isn't that
wonderful? The Lord Himself is going to
save us from our enemies, because He has given us His own righteousness. It was Christ's obedience that
made us acceptable to God. And God looks at His Son, and
He finds everything He requires to honor His law and satisfy
His justice, and He says, Not guilty. No condemnation. Who is he that condemns? It's
Christ who died. And so we see that here. The
triumph, the glorious triumph. Christ always gives us the victory. And then finally, in Mark chapter
9, in verse 28, it says, And when he was come into the house,
his disciples asked him privately, Why couldn't we cast him out? And Jesus said to them, this
kind can come forth by nothing but by prayer and by fasting. And you've often probably wondered
about that, haven't you? Nothing but by prayer and fasting.
The first thing you want to see here is that Prayer is necessary. It's necessary. Remember, throughout
scripture it says, pray without ceasing. Be patient in prayer. Continue in the same. Pray for
us. Pray, pray, pray. Remember Luke
18, the widow woman who had an adversary goes to the judge who
was wicked and she says, relieve me of my adversary. And the judge
gives her no attention. I'm not going to do anything
for you. I got other things to do. And she says, keeps coming
back, and coming back, and coming back, and finally says, the only
way I'm going to get rid of this woman is by helping her. And
so he takes vengeance on her adversary for her. And Jesus
says, shall not God hear his own elect who cry to him day
and night? Surely He will, and He will take
vengeance on their enemies. So when we pray to God, know
that our enemies are His enemies. When we trust the Lord Jesus
Christ, He has made our sin, and the devil, and the world,
and death, and the accusations of His law. He's taking those
Himself and answered for them for us. And so He tells us, don't
stop praying. Pray, Thy will be done on earth
as it is in heaven. Pray. In Ezekiel 36-37 He says,
For this I shall be inquired of by the house of Israel, to
do it for them. God wants us to ask Him, to come
to Him. Because when we ask and come
like this Father and pour out the details of our misery, and
the misery and the trouble of our children or our friends or
whoever it is we're coming for. We're laying out the problem
that has to be solved. And in His mercy, He's going
to solve it so that when we look back on it, we're going to see
the great miracle that He's worked. We are going to see the magnitude
of our enemy and that there is no help in anyone but him. So
when he works we will give him all the glory. No weapon that
is formed against thee shall prosper. Because the Lord said
that. So we come and we plead his word. We ask him to do what
he said. Lord save us for your namesake.
And so don't stop praying. And then he says by prayer and
fasting. Fasting. Job said this in Job
23, 12. He says, I have esteemed thy
words, the words of his mouth, more than my necessary food. What is he saying here by prayer
and fasting? Well, it means to set aside everything,
all of our sustenance, for the word of the gospel of our Lord
Jesus Christ. Isaiah 58. Look at this with
me in Isaiah 58. Isaiah 58, God describes what
true fasting is. He says in verse 5, when I get
there, Isaiah 58 verse 5, He says in verse 4, actually let
me start with verse 3. Wherefore have we fasted, say
they, and thou seest not? Wherefore have we afflicted our
soul, and thou takest no knowledge? God says in response, Behold,
in the day of your fast you find pleasure and exact all your labors. It's like you're just stacking
up little coins. See how much I've paid God needs to repay
me for? Behold, you fast for strife and
debate and to smite with the fist of wickedness. You shall
not fast, as you do this day, to make your voice to be heard
on high? Is it such a fast that I have
chosen, a day for a man to afflict his soul? Is it to bow down his
head as a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him?
Wilt thou call this a fast and an acceptable day to the Lord?
Is not this the fast that I have chosen, to loose the bands of
wickedness? To undo the heavy burdens, and
to let the oppressed go free, and that you break every yoke.
Thy word, I esteem your word above my necessary food. The
fast is to take the gospel and preach it to myself and to those
who need it. Those who are bound up, the broken
hearted, the poor, those captives. the oppressed, the ones who have
heavy burdens, to tell them what God has done for us in the gospel. And so Jeremiah in Jeremiah 15,
16 says, "...thy words were found and I did eat them, and thy word
was unto me the joy and rejoicing of my heart. For I am called
by thy name, O Lord God of hosts." All physical helps are of no
help when my soul is needy. The only good we can do for the
souls of men is to bring them to Christ. There's no case too
bad for Him. Nothing from which God Christ
our Lord cannot deliver us and so let us go to Him as His Father
did and cry and look at Him who is and has done all for us by
the will of God to save us from our sins. Ask Him for the grace
of faith to believe Him, and come and look and cry to Him. In Psalm 116, it says, The sorrows
of death compassed me, and the pains of hell got hold upon me. I found trouble and sorrows.
Then I called upon the name of the Lord. O Lord, I beseech Thee,
deliver my soul. Deliver my soul. Jesus says,
And Romans chapter 10 verse 13, whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord shall be saved. And so I say with you, Lord,
remember me, remember my children, remember my family, remember
this church, remember these people that hear the gospel week by
week and save us by your great power and take glory to yourself
By delivering us from the enemies that came against our soul and
were too strong for us. That enwrapped our own nature
and would separate us from the love of God. But in Christ Jesus
the Lord, God always gives us the victory. Amen. Let's pray. Dear Lord, we pray
that you would do your will. You would do all that's in your
heart, all that pleases you, your counsel. We know it will
stand, and you will do all that is pleasing to you. Thank you
that your great power cannot be hindered by our sin. That you have even made your
glory known in saving us from our sins. That you've delivered
us from the power of Satan. by your cross you've nailed even
those ordinances of God's law and justice to your cross and
answered everyone. And now there's no condemnation
and you speak from glory telling us that there you appear in the
presence of God for us. You've removed our sins. And
lift our eyes, dear Lord, cause us to pray as this father did.
Lord, have compassion on us and help us and save us from our
dreadful enemy. How we thank you, Lord, that
you actually did save this boy. It gives us such hope that you
can do anything. There's nothing too hard for
you. And we look upon ourselves and we look upon our family and
our and our loved ones, and we say, Lord, even when it seems
hopeless and helpless in our eyes, it seems like they're dead
and there's no hope for them, that they're going to commit
eternal suicide by their willful unbelief. Lord, we know that
you can rescue, and we pray, Lord, that you would rescue them.
In Jesus' name we pray, amen.