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A Needed Lesson on Needed Divine Power in God’s Kingdom
Mark 9:14-32
People often view the church through the lens of the world. We often think a church would be mightier in her work if she were richer; with a noble profile. That would make a powerful church! Some times we look to money. Thomas Aquinas once visited Pope Innocent II. Before him was a large sum of money spread out. The pope said, “the church is no longer in that age when she had to say, “Silver and gold have I none.” Aquinas replied, “Alas, neither can she any longer say to the lame - “rise up and walk.”” Other times, we look to a strong leader, like King Saul who was strong, strapping, and striking in looks. But David the shepherd boy, who was nearly forgotten, was chosen. Other times it’s eloquence and education. The Corinthians didn’t find Paul impressive - but his plain preaching of the Word bore fruit. Other times, we’re impressed with magnificent works; like at Babel - works that could reach heaven. But God advanced his work of grace by calling Abraham, an idol worshiper from Ur.
Beloved, we often forget that effectiveness and growth are God-given. That lesson must be learned again and again. Might and power aren’t found in the arm of strength, neither in horses or chariots. God said in Zechariah 4:6, not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit. This was a lesson the disciples had to learn again and again. This evening, we come to a very disappointing portion of the gospels. The Lord Jesus had spent much time teaching his disciples, training them away from the crowds in pagan lands, revealing himself to them, so they’d be ready for his eventual death. But they were slow to learn. Even now, they hadn’t learned the needed truth on needed power. And they weren’t prepared. We see their unpreparedness in three truths. Firstly, we’re powerless without faith. Secondly, Christ’s power is only manifested in faith. Thirdly, Christ’s power comes from reliance on him.
Firstly, we’re powerless without faith. We learn in our passage, Jesus came to his disciples where there was also a great multitude. The crowd recognized him and came to him. Verse 16, says there was an issue. One of the scribes had brought his demon possessed son to Jesus; but as Jesus wasn’t there, he asked the disciples to cast out the demon. But they couldn’t. Listen to his reaction in verse 19 - “O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? bring him unto me.” Jesus pronounced an indictment on them. Now, who was Jesus speaking to? He used the word “you” which is plural to address many. If he meant to address only the scribe, he’d have used “thee.” But who was he addressing? He could be speaking to all the scribes, or the whole multitude, or his disciples, or even to all present. Any of these could be correct. And his indictment? They were faithless. In Matthew and Luke, he also called them perverse.
Now, these words are similar to God’s words to Moses in Numbers 14 when Israel refused to enter into Canaan. Instead, they wanted a leader to take them back to Egypt. Numbers 14:11 and 27 - “And the LORD said unto Moses, How long will this people provoke me? and how long will it be ere they believe me, for all the signs which I have shewed among them? How long shall I bear with this evil congregation…?” How long must I suffer their unbelief? Now, why did Jesus say this? The multitude had seen all his marvelous works - like the wilderness generation. But they didn’t have faith. But in the same way, the disciples also weren’t always believing. Even after Jesus’ resurrection! In Luke 24:25, he spoke to the 2 disciples returning to Emmaus - “Then he said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken.” Also Mark 16:14; when he resurrected, he appeared to some women who told the disciples. But they didn’t believe - “Afterward he appeared unto the eleven as they sat at meat, and upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they believed not them which had seen him after he was risen.” So it’s not beyond Jesus include his disciples in this indictment. Why? Because they were!
Consider their slowness to believe. He struggled with them for months. He’d shown himself as the prophet like Moses. Moses fed the people in the wilderness and delivered the people from the sea. Our Lord fed the 5000 with multiplied fish and loaves and calmed the sea. But his miracles weren’t confined to the Jews. He delivered the Syrophoenician woman’s daughter and the Gadarene man from demons. He fed 4000 Gentiles with multiplied bread. But if you recall, when Jesus tested his disciples how they’d feed the 4000 Gentiles, they asked him how to do it. But shouldn’t they have known? He already showed his power multiple times! He wasn’t just a man! Even after feeding the 4000, he warned them to beware unbelief. In fact, he was so exasperated, he asked them in Mark 8:17-18, why they still didn’t get it - why they hadn’t believed - “perceive ye not yet, neither understand? have ye your heart yet hardened? Having eyes, see ye not? and having ears, hear ye not? and do ye not remember?”
Now they did eventually get it, but still struggled. At Caesarea Philippi, when asked who they thought he was, they proclaimed he was the Christ, the Son of the Living God. He wasn’t just a prophet like Moses, he was THE prophet. Nor was he just a priest like Aaron, he was THE priest; nor just a king like David, he was THE king! But after knowing all this, when he told them he’d die, Peter refused to believe him. “It’ll never happen!” Aren’t you supposed to believe the prophet greater than Moses? So there was still unbelief. And when three of them saw him transfigure, which showed him to be God - they still looked at him as another prophet, like Moses and Elijah. So much so that God from heaven had to proclaim - “this is my beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased - listen to him!” He’s not just a prophet, he’s THE prophet because he’s God’s Son! But if they knew who he was, they should’ve believed in him, and called out to him.
But these disciples were faithless. At the end of this account, Jesus said that such a demon would’ve been cast out if they had prayed. Meaning, they hadn’t prayed. They called Jesus the Christ, the Son of the Living God, but hadn’t prayed. Yes, he was on the mountain, and they below, but they hadn’t called out to him. Remember the centurion whom they met? He simply asked Jesus to heal his servant from afar. And Jesus did. And remember what Jesus said to the centurion? “I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith.” The disciples were faithless. And because they were faithless, they failed miserably. In verse 18, the scribe explained, “and I spake to thy disciples that they should cast him out; and they could not.” Because they couldn’t, this led to the scribes questioning them, verse 14. This was the scene that our Lord arrived at. Yes, we know the sad state of the boy. Verses 18 and 22 said that the demon had often thrown him violently to the ground, where he’d foam at the mouth, ground his teeth, and would seize up and become rigid. It would also cast him into fire or water to destroy him. What a sad scene. But what was even sadder was not the boy, but the faithlessness of the disciples. And this faithlessness led them to be powerless. They’d seen and performed miracles previously, but now they couldn’t. Churches today have money; they have people; they have activities. But do we have power?
We learn secondly that Christ’s power is only manifested in faith. Where the disciples failed, Christ was able. And here, we see the condition for true faith. Now, why did the father bring his son? Because the son was stricken with this spirit of muteness since he was a child, verse 21. And this father was a scribe - an enemy of Jesus. These were the elite Pharisees, the lawyers, who knew the law better than anyone. And yet, out of desperation he came to Jesus. But our Lord wasn’t there so he asked the disciples. He had faith - he probably heard all the accounts, maybe even saw them happening. But while he had faith, the disciples didn’t. The condition for his true faith was knowledge of sin and misery. He saw no other way but to come to Christ. After he heard the father’s story, the Lord commanded the boy be brought to him. When he arrived, the demon in the boy recognized Jesus and attacked the boy. In verse 20, it threw the boy to the ground in violent convulsions, writhing and foaming at the mouth. Such desperation led to an exercise of faith in Christ.
But we also see the result of a lack of faith. Here, when the Lord asked the man to bring him the boy, the man said in verse 22 - “but if thou canst do any thing, have compassion on us, and help us.” These words are sad. Originally he brought his son to Jesus believing he could heal him. But after encountering the faithless disciples, this was the man’s response to the Lord. Because the disciples lacked faith and power, they tarnished Jesus’ reputation. The father now assumed Christ lacked power. “If you can do anything.” Of course Christ can do anything. And this led him to doubt Christ’s compassion and mercy to help. Now, this was very different from the woman with the issue of blood - she believed that if she just touched Jesus, she’d be healed. This was also different from the centurion, who asked Jesus just to say the word, to heal his servant. When we’re without faith, Jesus’ reputation suffers. Paul said in Romans 2:24, “For the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles through you, as it is written.”
So our Lord responded to him in verse 23 - “If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.” This was a powerful lesson for the man and for the disciples. If you have faith, all things are possible. When the father heard this, he made one of the most honest and transparent prayers in the entire Bible. He looked at Jesus and said, “Lord I believe; help thou mine unbelief.” I believe in you! But my faith is weak, help my faith! The Lord then commanded the spirit to leave the boy. What we learn here is this - weak faith is better than no faith. Yes, Jesus can work in the absence of faith. His power’s not limited by our lack of faith. However, we learn and see that Christ often demonstrates power when we demonstrate faith. The father was filled with doubt - but yet, there was a mustard grain worth of faith. God is not put off by our doubts - but total unbelief shuts out his power from our lives. Matthew 17:20, “And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.” Dearly beloved, that’s why we look to Christ alone. Our faith is in him. The disciples were just weak men who struggled with faith. The best of man is at best a man.
But we’re taught a needed lesson here about needed power. Thirdly, Christ’s power comes from needed reliance on him. In fact, we see the power of prayer in Christ’s life. When the episode ended, and the demon was cast out, the disciples who failed to cast out the demon asked Jesus why they failed. They were concerned about their spiritual failure. The Lord answered them in verse 29 - “This kind can come forth by nothing, but by prayer and fasting.” This means that the disciples hadn’t prayed. They failed because they lacked prayer. They lacked the fervency in prayer seen in fasting. They should’ve taken time to focus on prayer. But the Lord was able to cast out the demon. Why? We may say, well, he’s God. He’s the Christ. But the Lord Jesus was also a man. Consider what had just happened before he healed the boy. He had gone up to the mountain where he was transfigured. Why? Luke 9:28-29 says, “And it came to pass about an eight days after these sayings, he took Peter and John and James, and went up into a mountain to pray. And as he prayed, the fashion of his countenance was altered, and his raiment was white and glistering.” Why did our Lord go to the mountain? To pray. Only then was he transfigured. And he heard God’s voice strengthening him. He was the beloved Son of God. The disciples heard. They saw him praying and communing. So when he descended, he was strengthened, and did what his disciples couldn’t. They weren’t communing with God. They hadn’t learned to call out to Christ. They didn’t trust God when they should’ve. Their efforts of casting out the demon showed self-sufficiency.
You see, their faith was not in God, but in method. Their faith was in themselves. These men failed because they weren’t leaning on Christ for the power they needed. The Jews of Acts 19 - Sceva and his 7 sons - tried to cast out a demon in Jesus’ name. So yes, they had the right name and the right formula, but no power from God. And the demons over came them. Without faith and prayer, we’re nobodies. We can’t accomplish anything with just formula. Yes, Jesus doesn’t need our faith and prayers - but he works through them. AC Dixon, a well-known pastor in the late 19th century, said, “When we rely upon organization, we get what organization can do; when we rely upon education, we get what education can do; when we rely upon eloquence, we get what eloquence can do. And so on. But when we rely upon prayer, we get what God can do.”
But it wasn’t just methodology. The reason why they had no power and no faith was because they were still earthly minded. Why do I say this? Consider verses 30-32. After they departed, they traveled to Capernaum away from everyone. The Lord told his disciples again that he would be “delivered into the hands of men, and they shall kill him; and after that he is killed, he shall rise the third day.” This was the third time he told them. The first was after Peter’s confession. Peter denied it would happen. The second was at their descent from the Mount of Transfiguration. This was the third. He told them he was going to die. But they didn’t get it, understand it, or believe it. Why? To them, what good is a crucified Christ? They were still earthly minded. They believed that the kingdom would be physical. I’m jumping ahead to next week’s sermon. But consider what happened after this. Along the way, they were confused at Jesus’ prediction, because they were already talking about who’d be first in his kingdom. Verses 33-34 - Jesus asked them - “What was it that ye disputed among yourselves by the way? But they held their peace: for by the way they had disputed among themselves, who should be the greatest.” If Jesus was going to die, who’d be first? And verse 38, as we’ll see next week, John revealed he saw someone casting out demons in Jesus’ name. But since he wasn’t part of the 12, he told him to stop it. Imagine this - this man who wasn’t part of the 12, trusted enough in Jesus, and had spiritual power to cast out demons. But the disciples who had no faith and power, but wanted power, tried to prevent this man from exercising faith. They had no power because they were earthly minded.
Beloved, our Lord Jesus Christ was powerful - not only in and of himself - but also because he relied on God. He prayed. He trusted in the Word of God. He had a heavenly kingdom in mind. He’d be king because he was servant of all. And as servant, he trusted God while on earth. He prayed. And we’re able to have that power when we trust in Christ. God uses us in his kingdom to do exceptional things. But meanwhile, his disciples who professed his name, who saw the miracles, who heard the voice of God from heaven, were slow to learn, vying for first place. But when they prayed, the Lord Jesus poured out his Spirit on them, all of them were filled, and did the work of ministry. Remember? Before the pouring of the Spirit, they prayed in the Upper Room. Let us all be relying on Christ’s Spirit in the work of the ministry. And let us look to Christ alone for that power. Let us be a church that looks not to money, eloquence, or impressive works; and let us not be a church that squabbles about power. Why? This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased, listen to him.
1. We Are Powerless Without Faith
A. His indictment on them
B. Their slowness to believe
C. Their faithlessness
2. Christ’s Power Is Manifested in Faith
A. The condition for true faith
B. The result of faithlessness
C. Weak faith is better than no faith
3. Christ’s Power Comes from Reliance on Him
A. They failed because they lacked prayer
B. Their faith was in methodology and self
C. They failed because they were earthly minded
* As a matter of courtesy please advise Rev. Mark Chen, if you plan to use this sermon in a worship service. Thank-you.
(c) Copyright 2025, Rev. Mark Chen
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