All right, open up your Bibles again to the book of Mark, chapter 9. We are going to continue on with more of the story that we got into last week, a story that has to do with a boy that is demon-possessed. His father brought him looking for Jesus, but Jesus was up on the mountain with Peter, James, and John, and Jesus was being transfigured. So the man took his son to the nine remaining disciples, hoping that they might cast out the demon, and they failed at that. And then when Jesus came down off the mountain, he saw a crowd, saw the scribes questioning the nine disciples, and he began to ask what was going on. Now, as we looked at the first part of this story, the title last week was we will never get to a place where we don't need Jesus, okay? And we talked about that. As we continue the story this morning, we're going to see in the title of the message for this morning is we will never get to a place on this earth where we don't need faith, okay, where we don't need faith. And next week, Lord willing, we will wrap it up by saying that we will never get to a place on this earth where we don't need prayer. But we're gonna focus in on faith here this morning. In fact, we're gonna read a passage that has always intrigued me, and I'll note that when we get to that verse in a moment. But there's a very, I find, a very interesting verse in the midst of this that has to do with faith. So let's look at our text. We're going to begin reading here in chapter 9 at verse 20 and read down through 27. So after asking what was going on, being told by the father that his son was possessed, the demon tore at the son, we now come on down to verse 20, 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 he 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. And 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, and this is what I was referring to moments ago, to me, a very intriguing statement, Lord, I believe. Help thou mine 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 ran him sore and came out of him and he was as one dead in so much that many said he is dead. But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up and he arose. Let us pray. Our kind and most gracious Heavenly Father, we do thank you, Lord, for this blessed privilege it is to assemble here at our appointed time, Lord, to worship you as a congregation, and I pray, Lord, that this worship this morning will be found pleasing to you, even already that it has been pleasing to you and will continue to be. Lord, I pray that you would, through your Holy Spirit, you would minister unto us, help us to focus our attention upon those things that you wish for each one of us to learn from this passage, Lord, that we might be strengthened, that our faith, indeed, might grow, and that we would be better to exercise that faith. Lord, I just pray these things in Jesus' name, amen. So as we look there at verse 20, we find the Lord asked, had asked about the boy, and he is now brought before him. In verse 20, they brought him unto him, and when he saw him, meaning when the boy saw him, or maybe it's the demon inside the boy that sees Jesus, nonetheless, when it sees Jesus, When Jesus is seen let me state it that way straightway the spirit tear him and he fell on the ground and wallowed foaming so this demon realizes of course that his time of Possessing this boy is very short. It's about to come to a an end the demon therefore tries to do as much harm as it could before it is forced to leave and Now I want to try to make a difficult and delicate point here. And I begin with the question, could Jesus have stopped the demon from doing this and causing any more suffering? Yes, I believe he could, without a doubt. He is sovereign. And he could have prevented, he could have brought that demon out of that boy without any more pain or suffering being inflicted. So then the question becomes, then why didn't he? Is it because he is heartless and uncaring? Well, of course not. We should perish that thought from ever entering into our minds. But we are still left with why. And this is the difficult part. This is the hard part. I think we as believers need to look at suffering differently than the world does. And by the way, the way our own flesh does. The world sees suffering as an end that must be prevented. That's the way the world would look at it. Don't want any suffering. And by the way, that's not an unreasonable way to look at it necessarily. The problem is it makes no account for God. It makes no account for what God may be doing through this suffering. It makes no account for why we suffer anyway. But that's the way the world looks at it. It is an end that must be prevented. God sees suffering. as a necessary consequence of the fall and the entry of sin into creation. That's why we have suffering. If you want to take up the issue of why is there suffering in the world, you really should ask Adam that question and not God. And then you ought to turn around and ask yourself that question because we too sin against God. And that is a consequence of sinning against God. The Christian, therefore, should see suffering as a means that produces good in a person or even for a person. You see, God can and he does use suffering to develop in us more dependence, more trust, even more adoration towards God and those who are believers. And I point you right now to Christ as the prime example of this. Did Christ not suffer? Was he not sinless? Well, absolutely he was sinless. So why did he suffer? He suffered because it pleased the Father for him to suffer. And there was a reasoning in this. I want you to turn in your Bibles, we're gonna go to two passages about this, both in Hebrews. So turn your Bibles, hold your place there in Mark, but turn to Hebrews chapter five. Hebrews chapter five. You see our Lord's suffering produced in him obedience and perfection. We actually touched upon this several weeks ago last fall when we were looking at the deity of Christ, his humanity and his deity. And we talked about how in his humanity, how he grew. in God, how he grew in favor with God. He grew in his obedience towards God. He grew in his moral strength as he lived his life. All of those things had to be developed in his human body so that he could go to the cross and take and bear there the weight of our sin. So God worked this through suffering. Hebrews chapter five, starting at verse six. As he saith also in another place, thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek, who in the days, and we're not talking about Melchizedek at this moment in verse seven, we're talking about Christ, who in the days of his flesh, When he came here and he took flesh upon himself, he became human. When he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death and was heard in that he feared. Now what is that talking about? The first thing that should come to mind is the prayer that our Lord made before the Father in the Garden of Gethsemane on the night before he was to be crucified. If you go back and you read the gospel account of that, you see that he was suffering in that prayer. that he was sweating great drops of blood, as it were, that's how intense he was praying. He asked that the cup be spared from him. And this was a great time of suffering on our Savior's part. And we need to know that, we need to realize that, remember that. Strong crying and tears. Now, let me insert at this particular point, if our Lord, who was perfect in every way, saw that it was necessary to be so emotionally involved in his prayers that he cried tears, that he made cries of anguish to the Father, then should we not also for those things that are important? Who are we to think we can be all cool and collected and everything in our prayers and not invest ourselves into them emotionally? We should. So Jesus did this and note that he was crying unto him that was able to save him from death. You do realize, right, that God could have spared his son from going to the cross and from having to die. He could have. It was possible. Jesus chose to go to that cross. The Father chose to send him to that cross. But he didn't have to. Jesus did not have to die on that cross for your sins or mine. Could have left things as they were, and you and I would have justly been sent to hell. And Jesus in his human body, that human body would still be alive. It would not have died. Jesus didn't have to go through all that. He chose to go through all that. And it was the plan the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit made before eternity that it would come to pass. So therefore, it was going to come to pass. but God could have spared him from that suffering. Now before you get mad at God because he's not sparing you or maybe someone you're close to you love very much from suffering, remember he didn't spare his own son so that we might have eternal life. God has a purpose in suffering, that's the whole point I'm trying to make here. So back to the text, though he were a son, Yet learn, this is what happens through this suffering Jesus did. Yet learn he obedience by the things which he suffered. Jesus took this suffering and through it chose to learn how to be even more obedient to God the Father than he already was. You know what? That should be our attitude as well in the face of suffering. we should see it as an opportunity to become even more obedient to God. In verse nine, in being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him. I think God used the suffering of his son to great end, to great purpose, don't you? If you back up to Hebrews chapter two, do that real quickly, verse nine and verse 10, Another passage similar, but we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, that is, when he took on the form of man, for the suffering of death. We see him, we're saying, crowned with, the word is saying here, crowned with glory and honor, that he, by the grace of God, should taste death for every man. For it became him for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, and bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings." Again, he accomplished all these things through sufferings. Well, you know, at this point, there might be some people who say, well, you know, we're talking about Jesus after all. He was perfect, he was God. I can kind of see this, and probably that's because it's him suffering and not us, we see that. But this isn't talking about people. This isn't talking about humans. This isn't talking about believers. Well, turn to Romans chapter eight, and verses 16 and 17. You see, the scriptures call upon us to share in his sufferings. Romans 8, verse 16. The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God. And if children, then heirs, heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ. Now, I dare say a lot of modern preachers stop right there. Because that sounds great, right? Who doesn't want to read that? Join heirs with Christ? That means we get to share in the inheritance of all that God has. Man, that's awesome. You'll get some hallelujahs and amens there, right? Well, look how that verse continues. If so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. Well, a lot of those modern preachers aren't preaching that part because people don't wanna hear that. Your flesh doesn't wanna hear that it's gotta suffer for these things. We wanna hear that God's just gonna give us everything we want and everything's gonna be wonderful. We get to live our best life now, as someone has said. Oh, you know what? Scriptures tell us we're gonna suffer. Tell you another, this morning it was brought up at some point in Sunday school, or the devotional one, that there are scriptures that people love to quote, that this was kind of alluded to, but they really kind of take out of context. And one of my pet peeves is Philippians 4.13. I can do all things through Christ, which strengthens me, okay? For a lot of people that means, I'm gonna win this ball game because Christ is gonna give me strength. I can go make that deal and make some money because Christ is gonna give me strength. I can get through taking that test because Christ is gonna give me strength. Well, you know, I think we ought to couple this 413 with another 413. Turn to 1 Peter 413. This is where we need that strength. This is where we need to be able to do all things, all things that are good and glorifying to God, that is, and not gratifying to our own flesh. 1 Peter 4, verse 13 says, but rejoice inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings, that when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy. Now that is a great and wonderful promise. It's talking about future joy when we are with Christ in eternity because we will have shared in his sufferings. We will have partaken in those sufferings while we are here on this earth. That's what we need strength from Philippians 4, 13 for. Now back to our text, verse 20. so they When they bring the boy the young man, whatever he is, whatever age he is at this point when they bring him to Jesus This demon it says straightway the spirit tear him tore his body And he fell on the ground and wallowed there foaming Okay More probably one of the more severe attacks this young man had experienced to this point and Why did Jesus not stop that immediately is our question. And I'm gonna tell you it's because the Father had to learn and be perfected through suffering. You see, sometimes God even uses suffering of those that we love to work a work in us. Nobody likes to see someone else suffering. And by no means should you take this to believe that we should go out and willfully, purposely inflict suffering upon ourselves. There are some people who take that extreme. That's not what we're talking about. But we are talking about when that suffering does occur as a consequence and as a course of life. Then we need to learn how to look at that and ask, what is God teaching me in this? What is it I need to learn? What part of me needs to get stronger? How can I obey God through this? Those are tough questions. And not what our flesh wants to do. What does our flesh want to do? Our flesh wants to withdraw into itself and have a big old pity party. Our flesh wants people to see that we're suffering and try to get some compassion out of that. And it's okay to want help and compassion, that's okay, but not if that's where you're turning all this and you're not even thinking about how you might be obeying God in this. Think about this father. The Lord will ask him, in just a moment, how long has this been going on? He'll tell him since he was a child. There's no telling how many times a father has witnessed this thing happen. And it must have just torn his heart. Think of, you know, only a parent can understand this. You don't want to see your child suffering. You don't want to see your child hurting. You'll do anything you can to prevent that from happening. To take it away. And yet here he is being subjected to it once again. His heart must have just sunk to see his son once again abused by this demon. And we can understand from the scriptures that we've read already that we're going to get into more in a moment. We can understand that his faith weakens in this moment. I mean, think about it. He came his last hope. was to bring this boy to Jesus, and for Jesus to cast out this demon. He brings him, the disciples cannot cast him out. And now Jesus stands before him, and to this moment, Jesus has not cast the demon out. The demon once again assaults his son. But let us understand, Our Lord does not stand there coldly. He stands there with great tenderness and compassion and purpose. And his purpose is to teach this father about faith. In verse 21, and he asked his father, how long is it ago since this came unto him? Did Jesus not know that? He knew that. He wants the father to be thinking about it. He wants the crowd to hear it because of what he's about to do. And he said, of a child, since he was a little child. By the way, children suffer too, right? Some might say, well, child hasn't lived long enough to have committed any kind of sin to be worthy of that suffering. Well, it's that sin that Adam committed that we suffer for, let alone our own sin. Verse 22, and oft times it hath cast him, and listen to what the father recounts, it hath cast him into the fire. So the boy would be walking near a fire and this demon would throw the boy, cause the boy to be thrown into the fire and into the waters to destroy him. So this father recounts the agony of his life, how this suffering has been going on. and on and on since the boy was a child. And the end result of all this is a very weak faith, because look what he says next. But if, if thou canst do anything, have compassion on us and help us, if, you can do anything. His belief that brought him to Jesus in the first place has taken a hit here and is faltering. He is overwhelmed. By the way, I didn't tell you what this first point is about. That is that we need faith for direction when we're overwhelmed. He's overwhelmed. But that's when faith gives us direction. His faith may have been weak, but it had pointed him to Jesus after all. It had brought him to Jesus after all. Our faith is often weak, but it still gives us direction. when we are overwhelmed. When you're overwhelmed by something in this life, it is faith that will always point you in the right direction. Take it to Jesus. Turn to Jesus. Flee to Jesus. Faith may not be strong, but it will always be strong enough, even in its great weakness, to point you to the right one. And that's Jesus. Look to Jesus. Brings us to the second point now. We need faith for a bridge between human weakness and divine power. We need faith for a bridge between human weakness and divine power. Remember what the man said? If thou looking at Jesus son of God he says if you can do anything would you please do it look at verse 23 Jesus said unto him if thou can't believe all things are possible to him that believeth Jesus responded and surprised yes I You're looking to me and you're saying, if you can do anything, Jesus can do everything. I think we actually forget that. We look at this man, we may chuckle a little bit at his, I don't know, simplicity or whatever here, but sometimes we act like we've forgotten that Jesus can do anything. He can. You see, divine ability is not the problem here or in any difficult situation, any situation that brings suffering, any challenge. It's not divine ability that's in question here. It's human unbelief that's always the problem. Faith, then, is the bridge that carries one from human weakness and unbelief to experience divine power. So here in verse 23, Jesus turns the if back on the father. We're told in Psalm 34 in verse 8, O taste and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is the man that trusteth in him. I'm gonna read that again. O taste and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is the man that trusteth in him. Jesus is calling on this man to taste and to see and to trust. Jesus calls on you and I to taste and to see and to trust Do we In the father responds verse 24 and straightway the father of the child I mean immediately that's what that means right away right then that very second the father the child cried out and said with tears Lord, I believe. Help thou mine unbelief. The father here expresses great and wonderful honesty and humility. He says he does believe, but that he needs help with unbelief. Now belief and unbelief are two separate things. that can exist at the same time in a person. They're not mutually exclusive in a believer. Now they are in someone who's lost because someone who's lost has not been given faith. All they have is unbelief. But in the person who's been born again, we are given faith, but we also harbor and grow unbelief. And that's what's going on here. We need to strengthen the one and get rid of the other. But we need help with that. And fortunately for us, the Holy Spirit works in us to accomplish this. Hebrews 3 to 12 in our Sunday school lesson back there this morning, I saw this verse. Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God. We need to take heed for that. Then we need to get rid of it, that unbelief. Verse 25. 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. So the people have a sense that something big's about to happen. With what Jesus says back to the man, the man expressing some faith, now I think his faith has strengthened some, The people begin to rush up and to trot. They want to see what's about to go down. And Jesus understanding this, I think, allows them all to kind of rush up there where they can see. And then he commands the spirit not only to come out of the boy, but to never return again. Had he not done that, that spirit might have come back, likely would have come back, potentially. You know the boy, but now that's all taken care of because Jesus says no You've got to leave and you can't come back So what is this this evil spirit do this demon do in verse 26 One last time and the spirit cried and rent him sore and came out of him and he was as one dead and As severe as the, just moments ago, that attack of Ben when he had thrown him on the ground, this now I think is the worst one of all. It leaves it so that the boy is laying there on the ground as if he had died. That demon had killed him. Why? Why again? Could this have been permitted? To give this father an opportunity to shed unbelief and take action in faith in a stronger manner? Jesus has just taught him about this. Now is the opportunity for him to put it into action. We're not told, but I just kind of believe that the father did in the moment. I believe his heart swells with belief. Because I believe he sees, he understands, he perceives that this demon has indeed left his body. That this man Jesus standing before him told the demon to leave and also told him not to come back. What an expression of authority that was. And I think this father's faith swells in the moment. That's what I think. I do, whether it did or not, I do believe this. That's how God works in us. He teaches us, then he gives us opportunity to put that teaching into action, sometimes pretty quickly. Don't be slow like I am. I'm slow to learn lessons, slow to put them into effect. We ought to be quicker about that. Jesus takes then in verse 27, I don't, some believe that the boy did actually die and Jesus literally resurrects him here in verse 27. I don't think that he literally died. I think we would be told more about that if he had. It just, but the verse says, but Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up and he arose. He helps the boy up off the ground. Now what I do think this is, is a beautiful picture to us of what happens when we're quickened. We're dead, by all appearance we're dead in our trespasses and sins and Jesus takes us by the hand and raises us up and we live. Spiritually we live. What joy is that? gives faith to his people. We must exercise that faith and use it as a bridge between our weakness and his great power. I want to close with this verse. Turn to Hebrews chapter 11 in verse 6. You ought to know this verse. It ought to be one that you have memorized. At least the first part of it here. And I'm gonna give you one third point very quickly. I'm not gonna elaborate on this very much. Basically, I'm gonna tell you the point, read the verse, make a comment or two. And this third point is we need faith for obedience to please God in this life. Hebrews 11, six, but without faith, it is impossible to please God. There are Christians out there attempting to live life on their own without faith, thinking that they're pleasing God, but the things that they do, God's not pleased unless faith is involved. Faith means we trust Him and not ourselves. Faith means we're leaning on Him and not ourselves. Faith means we're looking at Him and not at ourselves. It's impossible to please God without faith. For he that cometh to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of those that diligently seek him. Do you wish to please God in a great and a glorious way? I pray that you do. Then you need to exercise the faith that has been given you. And shed the unbelief that we often can cling to. And thus then see the power of God at work in our lives. To accomplish the purpose of God. Not the purpose of our flesh. Not the desires of our flesh, but his purpose. And folks, if you hadn't figured it out by now, let me just tell you, his purpose for you is way, way better than what your flesh wants for you. Let's pray. Our kind and most gracious heavenly Father, oh Lord, we thank you again for this privilege to be here. We thank you for these precious words and this story and for your Holy Spirit helping us to understand more about suffering and faith and how they go together and your purpose in these things. And Lord, help us to use this to take a fresh look at the things that we experience in life. to understand these things better, and to grow in grace and favor with you. We just pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen. So I'll stand. What number shall we sing?