This scripture reading this morning is taken from the gospel according to Saint Mark chapter nine. I invite you to turn in the Bible with me in God's word to Mark nine. Our reading will be verses 14 through 29. And this portion will be the text that we consider this morning. Mark 9, beginning at verse 14. And when he came to the disciples, he saw a great multitude around them and scribes disputing with them. Immediately when they saw him, all the people were greatly amazed and running to him, greeted him. And he asked the scribes, what are you discussing with them? Then one of the crowd answered and said, teacher, I brought you my son who has a mute spirit. And whenever it seizes him, it throws him down. He foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth and becomes rigid. So I spoke to your disciples that they should cast it out, but they could not. He answered him and said, oh, faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him to me. then they brought him to him. And when he saw him, immediately the spirit convulsed him, and he fell on the ground and wallowed, foaming at the mouth. So he asked his father, how long has this been happening to him? And he said, from childhood. And often he has thrown him both into the fire and into the water to destroy him. But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us. Jesus said to him, if you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes. Immediately, the father of the child cried out and said with tears, Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief. When Jesus saw that the people came running together, he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, deaf and dumb spirit, I command you, come out of him and enter him no more. Then the Spirit cried out and convulsed him greatly and came out of him, and he became as one dead, so that many said, he is dead. But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose. And when he had come into the house, his disciples asked him privately, why could we not cast it out? And he said to them, this kind can come out by nothing but prayer and fasting. This truly is the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. Dear congregation of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, this incident in Jesus' ministry after he comes back from the Mount of Transfiguration is probably an incident that shows to us what the issues are in that ongoing conflict between the kingdom of God that is secure in Jesus Christ and the kingdom of darkness. that is headed by the evil one. The issues all meet here in terms of the hatred of Satan against Christ, the weakness of faith that is in evidence in so many, but also what is clearly in evidence is the power that Jesus Christ has as God to deliver us from Satan, from any illness, from death itself. All of those issues seem to be sort of microcosmics shown to us once again in this story. It shows us the struggle between faith and doubts, unbelief, pride. between Christ and the forces of hell. And I want us to look at Mark 9, the verses 14 through 29, and to think of this passage under the theme, Jesus shows power. He shows his power to doubters. Notice, first of all, the power of evil that is present in this story. Secondly, the power of God. And thirdly, the power of faith. While in Galilee, Jesus had gone up to a mountain with three of his chosen disciples, the inner circle, Peter, John, and James. And on that mountain, Jesus was transfigured. He began to shine and glow with the glory like that cloud that came on Mount Sinai. So Christ began to show the glory of God in their presence. They were afraid. The father declared Christ to be the beloved son. And then they come down from the mountain. And coming down from the mountain, Jesus talks about the resurrection. He talks about the coming of Elijah before the great and awesome day of the Lord. And as they come back to the other nine disciples, they see that a crowd has formed. In the crowd are scribes, probably who have come up from Jerusalem, and they're disputing, they're arguing with the disciples. Now the precise point of the discussion never really emerges in our story, but if we check parallel passages and other incidents where scribes were disputing with Jesus or his followers, perhaps the topic the scribes were disputing was, what gives you disciples the right to try to cast out this demon, to cast out this spirit from this young boy? Who gives you that power? Who gives you that right? Perhaps that was the disputed hand. But then Jesus becomes the center of attention, verse 15. As he always does, he becomes the center of attention. They see him, the crowds run to him, and the text tells us they were amazed when they saw him. They're amazed to see him. He becomes the center of joy and delight and astonishment. But Jesus interrupts their greetings with a question. What are you talking about? What are you disputing with my disciples? But the answer doesn't really answer Christ's question. The answer comes from a man in the crowd, a distraught and upset father, for he's brought his boy with him, his own child. who is suffering from a mute, that is, a dumb spirit. The boy is demon possessed. Now, modern science would look at this story and say, well, this boy probably is a case of insanity affecting speech and hearing with complications of grand mal type epilepsy. That's why he has convulsions. No. The Bible knows what it's talking about. The Bible knows to make a distinction between disease that affects us physically and demon possession. The text clearly says he was possessed by a demon, a spirit. But now put yourself in the man's sandals. This father has to face the reality of having a child possessed by an evil spirit. child different from the other children. And he and his wife, if he still has his wife living, must have wondered, I'm sure the question went through their minds at times, if God is good and if God is all-powerful, why us? Why do we have a child who has been possessed by a deaf, dumb spirit? He's brought his own son to the disciples of Jesus as he tells our Lord in verse 18, I brought my son to your disciples if they perhaps could cast out the spirit, but they could not. Now that's interesting because back in Mark 6, in Mark chapter 6, Jesus had given his disciples the authority to cast out demons. And so in Mark 9, These are the followers, the hand-picked followers of the beloved Son of God. They seem to have the kinds of power that Christ has, but your disciples could not cast out this spirit. Now there are spirits of Satan of various strengths, and I say that on the basis of analogy. If there are angels with different strengths, archangels and other angels with different powers and assignments and duties, I suppose by analogy there are demons of greater strength and different assignments from hell. I'm not going to burn at the stake at that. But a deaf spirit probably is not one of the greatest demons from hell. And the disciples could not cast it out. And that does it. That does it. That statement from this father, this upset father, now brings Christ to stand in full stature as the Son of God who has authority in heaven and on earth, who will judge all things. And he says in verse 19, O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? I and you, how long shall I be with you? You see what Jesus is doing? He's beginning to somewhat sort of distance himself, I and you, distance himself from this generation of people that he characterizes or describes as faithless and unbelieving. Now, think of the audience. Scribes from Jerusalem, scribes, they're the students of the Bible. Are they unbelieving? They're the disciples of Jesus. They're not rank unbelievers, are they? And even this father will say, I believe, help me in my unbelief. But Jesus says, oh, faithless generation. He's beginning to stand apart from them. He wants to stand apart. So that this generation of men and women who are so faithless and helpless that they cannot get rid of this dumb spirit might understand precisely the power of evil. Jesus is pointing out this contrast between himself and them in order that he might stand out more clearly, more distinctly, and in so standing out, our faith may be focused upon Christ. and Christ alone. What we have here, beloved of the Lord, is a classic confrontation, a meeting between God and His enemies. Jesus has met another demon in that ongoing struggle between the kingdom of light and the kingdom of darkness. And it is a real clash. It is a real encounter because the demons of hell are neither helpless and they are not simple-minded. The devil is not weak. He is not simple-minded. He possesses a snake in Genesis 3 because it was the most subtle of all the animals that God had made. So a dumb spirit, a mute spirit, one of Satan's pawns has now entered a boy. The spirit is violent and is determined to destroy the boy. One of God's creation, he's determined to destroy it. If there's a fire, the spirit may move the boy to throw himself into the fire. If there's water nearby, deep water, the spirit tries to throw him into the water so that the father is constantly, the parents, the adults around this boy are always keeping their eyes out to see what the spirit may do to this boy next. This must have made the Father's life one of constant agony and misery. And again the question probably rises, O God, why? Why me? Why my family? Why this precious boy whom you have given to me, whom I love? Why him? The Spirit wants the boy dead. This is a graphic example of what demons think of you here in Trinity Church. You know, we hear of people who dabble in devil worship or Satan worship, or they dabble with the occult. What are they thinking? This is an example of what the demons think of Christ, what they think of you. They have no love for you. All of their sweetness is meant to lure us into a place where we depart from Christ and embrace that which is dark and evil and rebel against God so that they might destroy us. This shows what they really think. The possession of this boy, the attempt to destroy him, is a clear example of what demons think of you. Christ loves you. God loves you. Why? How do I know that? God loves the world in this way. The world stood in condemnation because of Adam and Eve's fall into sin. The whole human race is judged worthy of hell, and yet God loved the world in this way. He gave his only begotten son. He gave his son. That whosoever believes, and that belief can only come through the work of the Holy Spirit, But God also gave his spirit, whosoever believes in Jesus Christ will not perish, but have everlasting life. For God did not send his son into this world to condemn the world, but that through his son, through the death on Good Friday, through Easter morning, the world might have life. And because God loves his people in Jesus Christ and in Christ alone, therefore the devil hates Christ and hates you. The people bring the boy to our Lord. And the text says in verse 20, then they brought him to him. And when he saw him, who's the he? It's the spirit, the demon, the mute spirit in the boy. When the spirit saw Christ, It throws the boy into another convulsion, rolling on the ground. In other words, the spirit has the gall, the nerve of trying to show Jesus what it can do. He seeks to insult Christ. For the armies of Satan have no love for Christ, the coming judge, and that is why they put on this show of power and strength in this world, for they know their time is short. When Christ comes back, they will be banished to hell forever with no power over God's people. They know that time will come. This is why they put on their shows of power and strength, even in our society today. And here Jesus has shown them the power of evil in this boy, but brothers and sisters, There's something else that our Lord is showing in terms of evil. Listen to these words. Oh, faithless generation. Now let those words sink in for a moment. Who's hearing these words and whom is Jesus addressing? Oh, faithless generation. Later to the father of the boy, he says, if you can believe, if you can believe, Everything is possible for him who believes. Now think about that. And then later on he tells his disciples in verse 29, look, disciples, this kind of demon, spirit, devil cannot be gotten rid of except through prayer and fasting. Have you caught what Jesus is saying? For by his words and action, our Lord has exposed the unbelief that is present throughout the entire crowd. The entire crowd. Therefore, though we are very concerned about the boy, in a way, we should be even more concerned with everybody around the boy. Oh, faithless generation. The scribes with all of their intellectual power could not cast out the demon. The disciples, hand-picked followers and students of our Lord, could not cast him out. The Father, who's hanging on to a little bit of belief yet, he cannot cast out this demon. In other words, the power of evil is such that in this entire crowd that surrounded Christ, there is not yet even the mustard seed of faith. that is able to tell the demon to run so that he goes running. Oh, faithless generation, how long am I to stay with you? How long do I put up with you? For Jesus has distanced himself from the crowd, including the disciples in these words of anger. He spares no one in his condemnation. But Jesus is doing something else as well. He reveals the power of evil to the doubters around him, but he goes on to show the power of God. Oh yeah, he shows the power of God. Bring the boy to me. And then Jesus utters the word, the word that is divine. And he tells the demon in a twofold command, get out of him, never ever come back. Never enter him again. And what is remarkable, brothers and sisters, is that the demon, though he puts on this display within the boy, goes. Goes. In every instance where our Lord confronts a demon and tells him to go, they go. They go. They leave. They're defeated. They retreat. They leave the scene. The power of God defeats another demon. And the boy seems to die. Verse 26, he falls to the ground, probably stone still. Everyone says he's dead. No, he's not dead. For Christ then takes him by the hand and he raises him up. There's kind of a death and resurrection motif or theme. For Christ talked about his resurrection coming down from the Mount of Transfiguration. And in the story that follows, he will again talk up to his disciples, I'm going to die in Jerusalem, but I will rise again on the third day. But they were baffled by that. But we're not baffled. No, we're not, for the power of God and the love of God. For those things are the mainstay, the anchor for our faith. These are demonstrated for us and secured in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ on your behalf. Christ's death and Christ's resurrection together are the mainstays, the events that dethrone Satan, They break the painful and terrifying grip that he has on God's elect. God will spare no, nothing. He will spare nothing in his work of securing the salvation of his people, his elect. And Christ is demonstrating that for you here when he commands the spirit to go and the boy seems to die. Everything is possible for him who believes, Christ. not only believes in the power of God, he is God, so that again the focus of our faith may rest upon the finished work of Jesus Christ. Here is God's power. Here is faith's power, when it rests upon Jesus Christ and Christ alone. And yet, brothers and sisters, let us not leave this scene in Mark 9 too easily. Let's not leave it too quickly. We've seen the power of evil present in all the crowd, the power of God, even the power of faith. And from our vantage point, I suppose it looks all so easy. Yeah, Jesus is God. He can command. Things follow. We know that as members of churches. But you know, remember this. Before Christ entered the scene and did his work, the entire crowd was helpless and paralyzed. And why? I'll tell you why. Because there's unbelief here, and no one wants to talk about it. I mean, how do you get scribes sitting around and talking to each other about their own unbelief? They know the Bible. How do you get disciples to sit down and say, gentlemen, This demon does not leave except through prayer and fasting, and apparently you were not praying and fasting. Yeah, but we're disciples. How do you get church members to sit down and say, you know, my life is a real mess? I believe, but what's gone wrong? How do you get people to talk about that? You don't do that easily. Remember, before Christ came on the scene, All of these people instructed in the word of God, people who had walked the dusty roads of Galilee with Jesus were all, all helpless. And then when they venture out on their own, let's try to cast the spirit out. Jesus isn't here yet, but we've got the power. And then they fail. Well, then doubts begin to arise. Unbelief says that I can do it on my own. I can figure things out by myself. Thank you very much. And really what is at the heart of it is a subtle form of pride. No, not pride in the sense of this overbearing arrogance. Many people can be very proud and yet act very humbly. But the moment they think that we live apart from the strength of Christ and the power of Christ and the love of Christ and the love of God in Christ, the grace of God, the moment we move beyond that, we are powerless. Even church members? Yes, even church members. If we disconnect from Christ, we are powerless. But we may know many verses in the Bible Almost everyone believes, they say. I've heard that line so many times. And I suspect if you were going to Grand Rapids, or Kentwood, or Caledonia, or Dutton, or wherever, and you would go door to door and say, we're doing a survey of the neighborhood. Do you believe in God? I suspect in this area, 93%, 97% of the people would say, yeah, I believe in God and all that. I believe in God and all that. I'm not sure what that all that is, but I hear that a lot. I believe in God and all that. And why does the world seem so firmly in control of evil? And why do the spirits of the underworld, of hellish spirits, have so much free reign in people's lives and in governments and in businesses and in schools? Why are there so many doubts? Who will admit that proud unbelief is really at the heart of our doubts? Very few, very few. We don't like to talk about that. Now, don't get me wrong. I respect the fact that there is unbelief around. I mean, I don't like it, but I have to deal with it. The Palestinians do not like the Israeli army occupying their areas, but they have to respect its presence. It's there. It's there. So many folks have it, even Christians from time to time. Yes, even pastors from time to time have doubts. have doubts. So we must deal with it. And one clue is in what Jesus says to the disciples when they were alone. Verse 28, verse 29, why could we not drive it out? And the question is kind of incredible. After all that Jesus has said and all that Jesus has done, how dare they ask that question? Don't they get it? Apparently not. For in Mark 6, verse 7, they had received the authority to cast out demons. And so they figured, I guess, that they had things in the bag. We've got that power. We can do it. But you know, brothers and sisters, a light bulb shines as long as it remains connected to the source of power. And that power comes into the light bulb. But the moment the light bulb thinks it has the power within itself and disconnects from the source of power, it will go dark. We live by the constant grace of God in us. We live because the spirit dwells in us. We live because Christ has come to take his place among us. But if we venture out on our own, brothers and sisters, even in the most subtle of ways, the limb will break, the doubts will come, the pain will be felt. Trust me. Many of you, many of us know what that's like. Jesus says this kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer and fasting. Apparently, the disciples hadn't prayed and fasted. Maybe they said the words. Maybe they said the right words. But unless it really connects to Christ and God in faith, Those words don't go very far. People of the world who say they believe, but never pray, don't really believe either. Because belief is this holding on to God, daily clutching his promises. trusting and resting and relying upon him and then in that strength going forward no matter what may lie ahead. We don't know what tomorrow will bring. We don't. But we live by faith and we live by faith in the Son of God who loved us and who gave himself for us. And next Sunday we're going to come together in faith around a table where the Lord wants to show us what that's what it means to be a communicant, a person who feeds upon Christ. From the pulpit you will hear the gospel, but then Christ will take us and let's go to the table. And I want to show you how that works. Just as bread nourishes and strengthens us, and as wine gives us joy, so I will nourish you. I, Christ, will feed you. My Spirit will fill you with joy. renew you. But then we come in faith, brothers and sisters. A faith that sometimes has doubts, yes. But doubts that can be laid to rest when we once again see Christ as the sole focus of our salvation and our daily, daily walk of life. Therefore, there is so much hope here for Christians who have doubts. Christ died to take away your sins on the cross. He said it is finished. It's paid for. He did rise from the dead. He has conquered death as the first fruits of the resurrection. He is at the right hand of God, interceding for us. He's waiting until all of his enemies are made the footstool of his feet. And he said to his disciples, and he says to the church here in Trinity, I will never leave you. I will never forsake you. I will be with you to the close of this age. Those are promises you can bank on. And every promise of God in Christ is yes and amen in him. That's why we come next week, not because we accomplish so much or are so smart. We come resting upon Christ alone. The question was not about Jesus' ability or willingness. He's able and he's willing. The issue wasn't there. It was a matter of faith. But he lays himself down as the solid foundation of our faith. Notice this. The unbelief in the crowd, the pain and doubts of the Father, I believe, helped me in my unbelief. None of those things stop Jesus, do they? He didn't just turn away mad and walk away. He stayed with them, and he showed his power to them. Isn't that great? Isn't that good news? that sin never defeats Christ and doubts never turn him aside. But he answers the man even as he's clinging to God with a slenderest of faith. No, our sins do not defeat Christ. He defeats the sins and promises to be with you in all things, all things, your old life and pride. Let them die. to those who stutter in prayer and who just can't get the words out. Christ knows. He intercedes. The Spirit intercedes for us with groanings that words cannot even express. Christ takes the hands of those who die, and he lifts us up to make us stand in life by his word and spirit with his body and his blood. This, brothers and sisters, is genuinely good news. Amen.