Transcript

Two men who worked at a busy office were overworked and needed a vacation.  They put in for vacation, but their requests kept being denied by their supervisor.

One day, the supervisor came into the office and found one of the men hanging upside down by his knees from the sprinkler pipe running across the ceiling.

The supervisor asked the man what he was doing.  He said, “I’m a light bulb.”  The supervisor admitted that he really did need a vacation and told him to take the rest of the week off.  The other man then started closing down his computer and packing up his stuff to leave too.  The supervisor asked him, “What do you think you’re doing?”

The man said, “I’m leaving too.  You can’t expect me to work in the dark.” 

We live and we work in a dark world.  Our Lord came from heaven to this dark world willingly to save us.  He encountered the darkness of unbelief and opposition from the kingdom of darkness. 

But our Lord delivered people from that darkness as they believed in Him, and in His power over the kingdom of darkness, He cast out demons.

Mark 9:14-18: “And when he came 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 have brought unto thee my son, which hath a dumb spirit;

“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.”

In verses 1-13 of this chapter, Christ had taken His inner circle of three disciples, Peter, James, and John, up on a mountaintop, and He was transfigured before them.  The transfiguration was Christ becoming on the outside what He was on the inside.

For a moment, the veil of His flesh was put aside, and the disciples were able to see the glory of His deity and to see Him in all His kingdom glory. 

The Lord’s face shone like the sun, and His clothes became bright, glistening, and white as snow, as this incredible bright radiance poured from Him.

The 3 disciples also saw Moses and Elijah and observed them talking with the Lord.  They even heard the voice of God the Father as He said, “This is My beloved Son: hear Him.” 

But as Christ and His three disciples descended from the mountain, they came upon a chaotic and noisy scene.

And there were contrasts between what took place up on the mountain and what was taking place down in the valley.

On the mountain, there was glory; in the valley, there was suffering.  On the mountain, the heavenly Father was pleased; in the valley, an earthly father was pained.  On the mountain, there was the perfect Son; in the valley, there was a possessed son.

As Christ and Peter, James, and John returned, they found the other nine disciples and some scribes in an animated discussion.  The scribes were questioning, debating, and arguing with them.  A large crowd of bystanders stood by, watching and listening. 

The nine disciples had been on their own, and they had gotten themselves into a situation they weren’t handling very well.

When the Lord appeared, His sudden, unexpected arrival “greatly amazed” or surprised and excited the people.  The conversation then broke up, and the whole crowd, including the disciples and scribes, rushed over to greet Him.

To protect His disciples, the Lord then asked the scribes, “What question ye with them?”  Or, “What are you discussing with My disciples?”  “What are you debating and arguing about?”  The scribes don’t respond.  They don’t say anything.  

And the disciples don’t say anything either.  Instead, somebody in the crowd speaks.  Verse 17 says, “And one of the multitude answered.” 

The scribes didn’t answer because they preferred to have a debate with the disciples than with the Lord.  The disciples didn’t respond because they were embarrassed and humbled by their failure.  So this man speaks up.

In Matthew’s account of this miracle, wrote, “there came to Him a certain man, kneeling down to Him, and saying, Lord have mercy on my son” (17:14-15).  Out of the great burden of his heart, and in his pain, a distraught and desperate father fell on his knees as he spoke to the Lord, and he asked Him to have mercy on his son.

Luke, in his account, added that the father cried out and said, “Master, I beseech Thee, look upon my son: for he is mine only child” (9:38).  This despondent father begged the Lord to look upon his son and to help him, and that his son was his only child.

Putting this all together, you can feel the agony and pain in the heart of this father.

The father then told the Lord, “Master, I have brought unto thee my son, which hath a dumb spirit.”  The man’s son was possessed by a “dumb spirit” or a demon, which made him mute.  Later, in verse 25, we learn that the demon had also made him deaf.

The demon, in his possession and control of this man’s son, kept the boy from hearing or speaking.  He had cruelly bound the boy’s tongue and ears.

Then the father, in agonizing detail, further described the condition of his son brought on by this wicked demon.  Every verb the father uses in verse 18 is in the present tense and describes his son’s ongoing torment by the demon.

First, he stated, “And wheresoever he taketh him,” referring to the demon, and wherever and whenever it seized him, intending to do him harm. 

Without warning, at any time in any place, at home or in public, the demon would suddenly attack, seize, and take hold of the young man.

In Luke 9:39, the father added “And, lo, a spirit taketh him, and he suddenly crieth out.”  When the demon did this and take hold of him, his son would suddenly let loose a terrifying shriek and scream.

And then, the father said, “he teareth him.”  The term “teareth” means to dash down or hurl to the ground.  With control and power over his body, the demon would then violently slam the boy to the ground with force.

Having been slammed to the ground, the father stated, “and he foameth” or he foamed or frothed at the mouth.  The father said that he then “gnasheth with his teeth,” or he grated and grinded his teeth with great force.

Luke 9:39 adds that the demon was “bruising him hardly,” or it would crush and maul the boy and leave him thoroughly battered and bruised.

And he “pineth away,” the father said here in Mark 9, meaning these violent convulsions were causing his child to wither and waste away.  They were shattering him physically and emotionally, and they were crushing the life out of him.

Under grace today, Satan and his angels are at war against us, the Church, the Body of Christ.  We have a real enemy.  The demon’s cruelty toward this boy reveals their destructive intent and purpose toward us. 

Just like this demon wanted to destroy this young man, he wants to destroy us.  He wants to destroy our testimony, our relationships, our peace, and the work of God in our lives.

Demons are actively doing the work and bidding of Satan in this world.  They choose to operate more covertly today under grace, and like their ruler, Satan, they masquerade and disguise themselves as angels of light in order to deceive.

While they may work differently today, their aims and goals haven’t changed: to blind people to the gospel, to mislead, defeat, discourage, enslave, and destroy.

This reminds us of the importance that we “Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil” (Eph. 6:11).

The father told the Lord that he had brought his son to Him for help (v. 17).

Finding His nine disciples when the Lord was up on the mountain, he then asked the disciples to cast the demon out (v. 18).  In Luke 9:40, the father put it, “And I besought [or begged] Thy disciples to cast him out; and they could not.”

After the father begged them, the nine disciples tried but could not free this young man from the grip and bondage of this demon.

This is strange because in Mark 6, we read that the Lord sent out the 12 disciples, and that He “began to send them forth by two and two; and gave them power over unclean spirits” and that “they cast out many devils” (vv. 7,13).

Again, showing the high level of demonic activity and all-out assault of spiritual opposition in Israel due to the Messiah’s coming, the disciples “cast out MANY devils.”

The Lord had delegated authority to His disciples, giving them the ability to cast out unclean spirits.  And they had been successfully doing it, and they cast demons out of many, but their ministry to this particular young man was ineffective. 

This case proved too hard for them.  Thus, the disciples had failed, the demon was victorious, the scribes were amused, and the father remained despondent.

The failure by the disciples was NOT because they did not try.  The reason they failed here is because of what Christ says next.

Mark 9:19-24: “He answereth 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 tare him; and he fell on the ground, and wallowed foaming.  And he asked his father, How long is it ago since this came unto him? And he said, Of a child.

“And ofttimes it hath cast him into the fire, and into the waters, to destroy him: but if thou canst do any thing, 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 mine unbelief.”

“O” is an emotional expression.  And with emotion, the Lord said, “O faithless generation.”  The problem was faith.

Speaking to a crowd of Israelites around Him, which included some of her spiritual leaders, the scribes, as well as His 12 disciples, when Christ said “O faithless generation,” He was referring to the nation of Israel as a whole, including her spiritual leaders, but even alluding to His own disciples. 

Everyone present then was emblematic of the unbelief of the entire nation.

They all lacked faith, even lacking it when they had the unspeakable blessing of having God’s own Son present among them, teaching them God’s Word and performing powerful miracles in their midst.

And the Lord later pointed out to the nine disciples privately that the reason they could not cast out the demon was because of their weak faith.

Christ asked the crowd, “How long shall I be with you?”  They needed to trust in Him and quickly, because in a short while, He would die, rise again, and ascend to heaven, and He would not be physically present with them.

And then He asked, “how long shall I suffer you?” or “How long shall I bear with your lack of faith?”

The Lord’s first question expressed His dismay that His presence with them had not resulted in greater faith.  His second question revealed the personal disappointment their unbelief had caused Him.

Then the Lord said, “Bring him unto Me” (v. 19).  The young man and the demon would now both come face-to-face with the Son of God.  The boy was nearby and had to be brought to the Lord.

As he was still approaching, verse 20 says “when he saw Him,” when the eyes of the boy saw Christ, the demon then saw Christ, and Christ saw him. 

“Straightway,” or immediately, at that moment, “the spirit tare him; and he fell on the ground, and wallowed foaming.  The demon threw the boy into a convulsion, and he fell to the ground and he “wallowed,” or he began rolling around and foaming at the mouth.

The demon knew his time was short in possessing this young man, being in the presence of Christ.  So he vented his rage and tried to do as much damage as he could before he left.

The Lord then asked his father, “How long is it ago since this came unto him?” or “How long has this been happening to him?” 

Now why did the Lord ask that question?  He didn’t need the information.  He knows everything.  But He wanted the father to tell Him the story.

The question wasn’t for information; it was for the man to unfold his heart to a caring and listening ear.  He wanted the father to rehearse what he had suffered.

Christ cares about our pain; He cares about our suffering.  He cares about the things that break our hearts.  And He wants to hear.  And He wants us to pour our hearts out to Him in prayer in these times.

The father responded to the Lord’s question, “Of a child,” or “from childhood.”  He then rehearsed the daily challenge to protect his son from harm and death, and how the demon was trying to destroy him.

“And ofttimes it hath cast him into the fire, and into the waters, to destroy him.”

When the demon seized and took control of the young man, he would often throw his body into a fire or into water to destroy him, to kill him.

Open fires were everywhere, because that is the way they cooked and heated everything then.  Water was everywhere, with wells, pools, ponds, rivers, all around in Israel.

The demon was doing its best to destroy him, and this father was doing his best to save him and protect him, spending his whole life in an unceasing effort to keep his son from being killed by this demon.

He kept having to rescue his son out of bodies of water and to quickly pull him out of fires.  Time and time again, through his father, the boy escaped narrow brushes with death.

Other fathers could watch their child grow and mature; he could only watch his suffer.  While others were just spending time with their sons teaching them about life and perhaps about an occupation, he was just trying to keep his son alive. 

He couldn’t leave his son alone for a minute.  He never knew when the next attack would come.  The father had to remain on call, on alert 24-hours a day, every day.  This was a situation that was completely out of his control and was a nightmare for any parent.

Then the father issued a heart-rending plea, wrung from years of desperation, “if Thou canst do any thing, have compassion on us, and help us.”

It’s a plea for help, but he said “if you can” to God’s Son.  From the man’s perspective, since His disciples had failed, the desperate father was not sure that Christ could succeed.  His faith was weak and incomplete.

He asked to the Lord to “have compassion on US, and help US.”  The father identified with the misery of his son.  Deliverance for the son would be deliverance for the father.

The man said, “If Thou canst do any thing” to the Lord, and the Lord replied, “IF THOU CANST believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.”  This response challenged the father’s understanding of who Christ is.

The Lord took up the father’s words of doubt, “If You can,” to show that the point was not about His ability to heal the boy but the father’s ability to trust, and to trust in Him.

There was no question whether Christ could do this.  Nothing is too hard for the Lord.  And though the deliverance of this man’s son’s might have seemed impossible, it was possible through Christ. 

All things are possible through Him according to His will and His promises.

In that kingdom program, the Lord’s challenge of faith for both the man and His disciples who had been unable to cast out the demon, was to believe this and to trust Him. 

The father responded in tears.  His son was still writhing and rolling around on the ground foaming at the mouth.  And with tears, he cried out, “Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.”  Now, this is an honest and humble man. 

He told the Lord, “I believe, I believe in You and Your power, but I have a lot of doubt and unbelief and I admit it, and I need your help.”

This was a fully transparent and real response.  His faith was imperfect and he knew it.  The father’s plea expressed a beautiful combination of faith and honesty. 

The father’s statement, while acknowledging a measure of unbelief, is still a statement of great faith as he relied on Christ, not only as the One Who could heal his son, but also as the One Who could help his own unbelief. 

He acknowledged the need to trust but recognized and was conscious of his weakness.  He admitted he needed help with his faith and his doubts.

The father expressed the paradox of faith and unbelief experienced by God’s people in all ages.  We believe, we want to believe more, yet we often find ourselves filled with doubt.

This is an encouragement to all of us.  We do not need to think that we are alone when our faith is not perfect, because we are not alone.

But the Lord does want us to have the heart of this humble man, to turn to Him, to ask for His help with our unbelief, and to know we can always trust Him more deeply. 

Our Lord delights to hear this kind of request, and He will always honor it.  The Lord wants us to keep growing in our faith in Him.

D. L. Moody once said, “I prayed for faith and thought that someday, it would come down and strike me like lightning. 

“But faith didn’t seem to come.  One day I read in Romans that ‘faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.’  I had up to this time had my Bible closed and prayed for faith.  Now I opened my Bible and began to study and faith has been growing ever since.” 

God’s Word is where the Lord will help and strengthen our faith, and dispel our doubts.

Mark 9:25-29: “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 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 unto them, This kind can come forth by nothing, but by prayer and fasting.”

While Christ was having this conversation with the father, the crowd started to swell.  The word had spread that He was there, and they began converging on the place where Christ was.  But the Lord was not going to wait for the crowd.

So He acted.  And “He rebuked the foul [or unclean, impure] spirit.”  Like other times when the Lord rebuked a demon, the word translated “rebuked” refers to a word of command.  Being their Superior, and so high above these demons in power and authority as their Creator, Christ commanded them and they had to obey.

He addressed the demon as a separate being from the boy, and He said unto him, “Thou dumb and deaf spirit, I charge thee, come out of him, and enter no more into him.”

The Lord commanded the demon, that had caused the boy to be mute and deaf, to come out of him and He prohibited him from ever coming back.

Immediately, there is a final, vicious protest by the demon.  The spirit could not fight against the Lord’s command; he had to obey, but he took some parting shots against the young man as he came out. 

Verse 26 says that the “the spirit cried, and rent him sore,” or the demon cried out and shrieked through the boy, and threw him into one more terrible convulsion, and then it came out.

And then Scripture says, “and he was as one dead.”  The young man was at perfect peace.  And his body was completely relaxed.  And he was so still, so calm, his body was like a corpse.  And many people in the crowd thought and said, “He is dead.”

Then Christ, in His kindness, “took him by the hand, and lifted him up,” He helped him to his feet, “and he arose” and stood up. 

The Lord took Peter’s mother-in-law by the hand when He healed her.  He took Jairus’s daughter by the hand when He raised her from the dead.  Like God had led Israel “by the hand” out of her bondage in Egypt, so Christ took these people by the hand as He led them out of their illness, death, and the darkness and bondage of demon possession.

After helping to lift the boy to his feet, Luke adds that the Lord, in His love and compassion, also “delivered him again to his father,” the once-despondent father, who now was filled with joy at his son’s deliverance. 

It reminds you of the type of joy a parent experiences when their children trust the Lord and are delivered from the power of darkness into the light of Christ.

The disciples and the Lord then went into a house they were temporarily staying at.  Out of their embarrassment, the disciples waited until they could ask the Lord privately the question they had been deeply wanting to ask: “Why could not we cast him out?”

In Matthew 17:20, it says that the Lord responded, “Because of your unbelief.”  They could have cast it out too.  But their lack of faith is shown to be powerless in contrast to the power of faith in the Lord. 

The Lord’s additional and convicting response was “This kind can come forth by nothing, but by prayer and fasting.”

In the Bible, we find prayer and fasting as practices that put one’s focus on God, in dependence on His power and aid.  The disciples were beginning to rely on themselves and their own power (v. 34) and were taking their eyes off the Lord.

They had become confident in themselves, because of their successes in the past.  But they were learning the lesson that they could not minister on their own and in their own strength, they needed to depend on the Lord, always.

All ministry, then, and now, finds its power through the living God by faith in Him.

For strength to live for the Lord, we need to always be drawing closer to Him, and to depend on and trust Him more.  Our faith in God always needs refinement and growth. 

Thus, may we have the heart of the father in this account, “Lord, I believe, help my unbelief.”  And He will.