All right, if you will take your
Bibles and turn with me to Mark chapter nine. Mark chapter nine. And let's read verses 14 through
29. When he come to his disciples,
he saw a great multitude about them, and the scribes questioning
with 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? And one of the multitude answered
and said, Master, I brought unto thee my son, which hath a dumb
spirit. And wheresoever he taketh him,
he teareth him, and he foameth, and he gnasheth with his teeth,
and pineth away. And I spake to thy disciples
that they should cast him out, and they could not. He answered him and saith, O
faithless generation, How long shall I be with you? How long
shall I suffer you? Bring him unto me. And they brought
him unto him, and when he saw him, straightway the spirit tear
him, and he fell on the ground and wallowed foaming. And they
asked his father, how long is it ago since this came unto him? And he said of a child, and oft times it hath 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. Jesus said unto him, if thou
canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.
And straightway the father of the child cried out and said
with tears, Lord, I believe. Help thou my unbelief. When Jesus saw that the people
came running together, he rebuked the foul spirit, saying unto
him, thou 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's 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 unto them, this kind
can come forth by nothing but by prayer and fasting. My subject this morning, and
I think the gist of these verses, the reason for God preserving
this account, has to do with faith and unbelief. This man said, Lord, I believe. I do believe. But there's not
a one of us here that don't have to follow up as he did and said,
Lord, help thou my unbelief. My unbelief. The life of the
believer, because of the duality of his
nature, it swings like a pendulum. That's his experience, all through
life, clear to the grave. Because of the duality of his
natures, his faith swings like a pendulum. It goes from the
mountaintop to the valley. There are those who would deny
that those born of God still retain an old nature, but that's
contrary to the Word of God, and it's contrary to their own
experience. if they would admit it. In Galatians chapter 5 verse
16, Paul said, walk in the spirit and you shall not fulfill the
lust of the flesh. If you didn't have a duality
of natures, then there'd be no flesh to resist, wouldn't there? He said, for the flesh lusteth
against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh and these are
contrary, the one to the other, so that you cannot do the things
that you would. The believer would be perfect.
He would live a perfect life. He would give from his heart.
He would help the poor. He would pray constantly. He would read constantly. He
would study every waking hour. He would do all of these things.
But because of the duality of his nature, he'll never do that.
He'll never do that. And it's flesh. His flesh would
give up assembling together. It would give up study. It would
give up prayer altogether. It would just go live in the
world. It would work 24-7. It would see to all the things
that this world has to offer. It would do all of those things.
But the Spirit won't allow it. So that you cannot do the things
that you would in either direction. In either direction. So our life, the life of the
believer, what you might call his experience of grace is filled
with mountaintop experiences and then down to the valley he
goes. Up and down and strong and weak
and victorious and then utterly defeated. It is the gift of God,
faith is. It's his work and he through
the duality of our natures proves His work. One of the reasons
why we retain that old nature, God is going to prove His work
in us. And He'll prove it by its victories. This is the victory, doesn't
He say that over in 1 John, I think it's chapter five, this is the
victory, even your faith. Your faith is victorious. And
then Paul said this, after he goes through Romans 7 and tells
us, he talks about two I's in there. Because both of these
things is us. When we talk about the good that
I would, there is a nature in us that would do good constantly,
perfectly, all the time. It would never sin. But he said, when I would do
good, the good that I would, I do not. I don't do that. Because
he said, I find a law, I find an unmovable principle in me. When I would do good, evil is
present with me. And so finally he just cries
out and he said, oh wretched man that I am, who shall deliver
me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ,
our Lord. So then with the mind, I myself
serve the law of God. That is, with the mind of Christ.
That law is perfectly kept. It's as highly honored as it
can be. I serve the law of God with the mind of Christ. But
with the flesh, the law of sin. That's just so. That's just so. And as believers, we're totally
and utterly helpless without the Lord. We're helpless. Our faith, our walk, our willingness,
our assurance, and the overall salvation of our souls is by
Him. In John 15, 5, our Lord said,
I am the vine. My Father planted me in His garden. I'm the vine. Ye are the branches,
you've been grafted in. He tells us that all through
John 15. He that abideth in me, and I
in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit. Now we all know that
part, but do we know this part? For without me, you can do nothing. That's the truth. You can't do
anything. Not anything. But we don't think
like that, do we? This flesh, it overwhelms us
from time to time and we just begin to take things for granted
that we can do this and we can do that. And those disciples
thought that. They thought they could cast
out this demon. They'd cast out demons before. But it didn't work. Didn't work. And in these valley experiences
is where we learn our utter dependence upon the Lord. When the Lord came down from
the mount, he found his disciples in a state of confusion. And
these were the same men who just a little earlier were casting
out devils. They were doing miracles in his
name. And they rejoiced in the gifts
that God had given them. But now they were being mocked
by the scribes who were setting them forth and saying, see, I
told you. See, I told you. These guys can't
do what they say they can do. And so this lesson of dependence
upon the Lord is a lesson contrary to our flesh. It's contrary to
us. It goes against the grain. but
it's a valuable lesson and it's one that we have to learn. Now
there's several things I'd like to show you here. I'll show you
as many as we have time for. And the first thing is this.
I want you to see and be warned of the power of Satan. And most
of this unbelieving world believes Satan is some kind of fictitious
boogeyman. And he was made up by religious
men to keep people in line through fear and to produce professions
of faith. And they preach this fictitious
boogeyman. He's just into everything. He's into everything. They charge
him with things that he don't even do. He's just made up to
them. They don't really know it. But here Satan had so possessed
this young boy that his father in Matthew's account said this,
my son is a lunatic. He's a lunatic. He's a madman. And he's sore vexed. And then
Mark adds that he was torn by the spirit. Torn, just ripped
his body. and left him gnashing his teeth
and pining away. Satan not only possessed his
body but his heart and mind. I've known a lot of men and women
in my time siding has sold possessed them that day took their own
life i know some who have just lived a life that they've been
better off being years before they've just lived a awful, awful
life, and it's stripped them of all their health and all of
these things. Satan still works in this world. You may not see things as our
Lord did here, and I think mostly here, these things were allowed
so that we'd have some sense of reality about Satan and about
his work and his power. Satan is a very real and active
enemy of God, and I have no doubt that his power goes beyond anything
that we think about him. When you think about Adam, I
don't know what kind of a picture you get, but I get a picture
of a man wiser by far than anything that we've ever seen in our generation,
because Adam had no sin. He had no sin. This man looked
at God's creation and named all these animals and things. He
cared for God's garden. He was a very wise man. And Satan,
through one confrontation with this man's wife, brought down
all humanity. He's a powerful enemy. He's too
much for us. I have no doubt that his power
goes beyond anything we can imagine. Most of this religious world
is under his influence and power and serve him daily to the destruction
of their own souls. And the amazing thing is that
he is so powerful that he convinces them that they're not serving
him, but they're serving God. Our Lord said there's a day coming
when they'll kill you and think they do God a service. Why would
they think that? Because Satan has so deceived
them that they believe that. And what of these men and women
that you just simply invite them to come, or maybe give them just
a thing or two that we believe here, and what do they do? They do everything. And on occasion,
even that, they'll cut you off. But most of the time, they just
look at you like you're from another planet or something,
or that you're involved in some kind of cult. And they walk away
believing that they have some knowledge of God. It's just,
it's remarkable. And I have no doubt that his
influence is the cause of much suffering and heartaches, and
apart from our Lord's intervention, he can't be resisted. Actually,
in 2 Timothy 2, verse 26, it said he takes men captive at
his will. That's pretty powerful, isn't
it? Take a man who's never thought about doing anything, he's never
thought about these things at all. Pow! Boy, just in a second,
and he's sold out. Sold out. Satan took possession of this
young man when he was just a child. Our Lord points that out to us. He was just a child, and the
lesson here is that we must at least to the best of our ability,
we must control who has influence over our children. Because we're
not ignorant of Satan's means. We know how he works. And we must instruct them, and
as Lois and Eunice did to young Timothy, see that they're under
the sound of the gospel. And then to be careful, who they
entertain as friends. Ain't you thankful now that your
dead mom brought you here? Huh? Yeah. Yeah. Satan's a powerful enemy. And
then secondly, I want you to see faith in a very weak state. But that faith's still sufficient
to say. And this is the thing about faith,
it's not your faith that saves you, it's the object of your
faith. This man brought his son to Christ. He brought them as he was instructed
to bring them to his to his disciples, and so he did. Christ was not
there, they just had his disciples. Christ is here in spirit this
morning, but he's not here bodily standing before you, but his
servant is. And on this particular occasion,
and for a very good reason, these disciples couldn't do what the
Lord could do. But this man didn't fold up and
go home. When he saw the Lord, he just
left the disciples and went straight to Christ. He went straight to
Christ. The Bible said faith, though
it be as a grain of mustard seed, is sufficient. It's sufficient. And the reason it's sufficient
is it's object. It's object is Christ. It's not
looking to itself. It's looking out of self. It's
looking to Christ. And this mustard grain faith
can move mountains, and it can move obstacles, and it can save
our soul. This man came as a helpless beggar. He came desperate and needy,
but he came also with doubts and unbelief. And he said to
our Lord, if thou canst do anything, have compassion on us. And the
Lord said, if thou canst believe, the if's not on me, I've never
failed. Show me one thing that I've ever
failed to do. You've got the if in the wrong
place. It's not if I can do anything
for you, if you can believe. If you can, then all things are
possible. And I believe, realizing his
misapplication of words, he began to cry, he teared up, and he
said, Lord, I believe, I believe. help thou my own belief. And it is these experiences that
leave us with a true knowledge of ourselves and these experiences
that renew in us a knowledge of our dependence upon him. And we begin to see the glory
of God in our weakness and frailty overcoming all these obstacles
by the power and grace of God. We see a faith maintained by
God. empowered by God, whose object
is Christ. And two passages immediately
come to mind on this subject. The first is 1 Corinthians 1,
26 through 31. He calls us to look at ourselves And to look at our calling, he
said, not many wise, not many mighty, not many noble are called,
but for the most part, it's just foolish, weak, and base things. This is what God uses. And the
reason is that no flesh and glory in his presence. And so it is
with faith. So it is with these objects of
God's grace. He passes by the wise and prudent. Our Lord thanked his father because
he hid these things from the wise and prudent and revealed
them unto babes. The second passage is over in
Romans 4.16 where he said, therefore it is of faith that it might
be by grace. To the end that the promise might
be sure to all the seed. By grace are you saved through
faith. And that, not of yourselves,
it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. And I'll tell you this, if it
were not for the gift of God's grace and faith, we'd all perish. Were it not for his maintenance
of it, and his empowering of it, and his ordination of it,
We'd all perish from the lack of it. And then, let me call your attention
to this, the dominion of Christ the King. I get the impression from false
religion when I listen to them that Satan and his demons are
just roaming about out of control in this world. They're just out
of control. Somehow the door got opened and
they just flooded the world and these invisible spirits are just
going around and they're just out of control and they're randomly
causing pain and suffering to all that they, who cross their
path. But my friend, the devil is God's
devil. Don't you ever forget that. He's
God's devil. In the book of Revelations, it
said that Christ came down and put the collar on him and attached
a chain to it and holds it in his hand. The devil is God's
devil. And just as this unbelieving
world carries out the will of God without the knowledge that
they're actually doing it, Even so, the devil can only do what
God allows him to do. We're told in Colossians 2.10
that Jesus Christ, in whom we're complete, all the fullness of
the Godhead bodily dwells in him, we're complete in him. Now
listen, who is the head of all principality and power. There's
no power out from under his hand. There is no power, that's what
he tells us over in the book of Romans, except of God. The powers that be are of God. While natural means and providence
unfold, they're only doing what God determined before to be done.
When our Lord spoke, his voice carried the almighty sovereign
authority of Christ with it. And when he commanded that spirit
to evacuate that man, it evacuated. When he told him he couldn't
come back into him, he didn't come back into it. We serve a
sovereign king, a sovereign Christ. And there's nothing out from
under his rule. He ruleth. Isn't that what old
Nebuchadnezzar learned out there eating a stubble? He ruleth in
the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth
and none can stay his hand or say unto him, what doest thou?
He's king. He's king. And he declares the
end from the beginning and from ancient times the things that
are not yet done saying my counsel shall stand and I'll do all my
pleasure. And our Lord's dominion is over all. Paul said he must reign until
he hath put all enemies under his feet. And that perfect love
that he talks about over there in John chapter four, that perfect
love that casteth out all fear, he's not talking about your perfect
love, he's talking about his perfect love. That perfect love
that casteth out all fear knows this, that as he is, so are we
in this world. We're in here. We're in here.
And I'll tell you, you won't find peace till you see yourself
in that perfect love. What's going to separate you
from that love? Paul said nothing. Nothing. Nothing past, nothing
future. Nothing. Nothing high, nothing
low. Nothing can separate you from
the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus, our Lord. And that
perfect love casteth out all fear. And then fourthly, the disciples asked the Lord
privately. They said, what happened to us? You gave us power to cast out
evil spirits, but we couldn't cast him out. What happened?
What did we do? Why couldn't we cast out this
demon? And the Lord said unto them,
this kind can only come forth or can come forth by nothing
but by prayer and faith. I don't know what to think of
this passage. I believe it's saying something like this, that
there's means that God has been pleased to use, and two of these
are given as examples for their failure. If we could examine
the reason behind our failures, I think we'd always come up with
the same answer, neglect of means. Faith feeds on the gospel of
Christ. It's fed when the saints assemble
together and the gospel is preached to you and taught to you. If
we neglect that, we're going to suffer from it. And we're
gonna fail in areas because our faith is weak. I'm not preaching
works here. Basically on my part, any neglect
of study or neglect of prayer, it's sure to bring forth a failure. There's just no other way to
do what God called me to do without studying prayer. But so long
as we're in the flesh, we'll never advantage ourself fully
of the means. And what I take away from this
is that our Lord would remind us that He and He alone is able
to save to the uttermost them that come unto God by Him. And
we're just simply part of that means. And while we do plant and water,
it's Him alone that gives the increase. I kinda like what Robert
Hawker wrote on this passage. I read a lot of men on it. But
he said the believer can neither by fastings, nor prayer, nor
alms deeds, nor offerings, nor by the whole observance of outward
and inward things, recommend himself to God, let alone recommend
himself to others. And he said, well it is for the
faithful followers of Jesus that our glorious high priest, the
high priest of our profession, beareth away the iniquity of
the most holy things. That's Exodus 28, 38. And what
he's talking about there is our fasting sins and our prayer sins
and our ordinance sins and our unbelief sins And our study sins,
they all must be washed in the blood of Christ. And but for this, there could
be no acceptance of our person with God. And we might well be
consumed upon our knees in the prayer chamber. I believe that. I believe that. I believe everything
we do is full sin. Full sin. All has to be washed
in the blood of Christ. And perhaps this is what he's
teaching his disciples here when they came down and he said these
things must be. But he alone is faithful and
true and his work alone is always effectual and sure. May the Lord teach this lesson
to us and teach it to us well for Christ's sake. Thank you.