Welcome if you're new or visiting with us.
We're glad that you're here.
And we're glad that you're here not because we're trying to fill seats,
but because we're following Jesus together as one community.
And as we follow Jesus together, we become convinced there's no one so good.
They don't need God's grace.
And no one so bad that they can't have it,
which is why we turn back week after week to hear what God has to say to us in his word.
We're continuing our series in the Gospel of Mark.
You'll remember that the Gospels tell the story of Jesus and his life and his death and his resurrection.
And when we were in the first half of the Gospel, chapters 1 through 8,
I would tell you over and over that we had two questions.
Who is Jesus and how do we respond to him?
And those questions are still relevant, but as we make our way into the second half of Mark,
the question really is, what does it actually look like to follow Jesus?
We saw before in chapter 8 that Peter had one idea of what it meant for Jesus to be the Christ,
and reality was actually quite different.
We're continuing that theme this morning as we're in Mark 9,
looking at verses 14 through 29,
as we are continuing to ask this question of what does it look like to have faith?
What does it look like day to day as we follow after Jesus?
In this passage, we're going to see two different pictures of unbelief.
So two negative examples that are going to help us understand positive application
for what it means to walk after Jesus in this world.
And I'll tell you at the beginning what those are.
So there's two types of unbelief.
First of all, the disciples have too much faith in themselves.
The disciples have way too much faith in themselves.
The second type of unbelief we see in the father of this boy,
which is too little faith in God.
Too much faith in ourselves, too little faith in God.
It's with that that I'm going to invite you to turn with me to Mark 9,
starting at verse 14.
You can turn on your phone.
You can turn in your Bible.
You can turn in your worship guide.
No matter where you turn, remember that this is God's Word.
And God tells us that his Word is more precious than gold,
even the finest gold, and that it's sweeter than honey,
even honey that comes straight from the honeycomb,
which is why we read now starting at verse 14.
And when they came to the disciples,
they saw a great crowd around them,
and scribes arguing with them.
And immediately all the crowd, when they saw him,
were greatly amazed and ran up to him and greeted him.
And he asked them,
What are you arguing about with them?
And someone from the crowd answered him,
Teacher, I brought my son to you,
for he has a spirit that makes him mute.
And whenever it seizes him, it throws him down,
and he foams and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid.
So I asked your disciples to cast it out,
and they were not able.
Verse 19.
And he answered them,
O faithless generation,
how long am I to be with you?
How long am I to bear with you?
Bring him to me.
And they brought the boy to him,
and when the spirit saw him,
immediately it convulsed the boy,
and he fell on the ground and rolled about,
foaming at the mouth.
And Jesus asked his father,
How long has this been happening to him?
And he said,
From childhood.
And it has often cast him into fire and into water
to destroy him.
But if you can do anything,
have compassion on us and help us.
And Jesus said to him,
If you can,
all things are possible for one who believes.
Immediately the father of the child cried out and said,
I believe.
Help my unbelief.
And when Jesus saw that a crowd came running together,
he rebuked the unclean spirit,
saying to it,
You mute and deaf spirit,
I command you,
come out of him and never enter him again.
And after crying out and convulsing him terribly,
it came out,
and the boy was like a corpse,
so that most of them said,
He is dead.
But Jesus took him by the hand
and lifted him up,
and he arose.
And when he had entered the house,
his disciples asked him privately,
Why could we not cast it out?
And he said to them,
This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer.
I invite you to pray with me
as we come to this portion of God's word.
Our Father in heaven,
we thank you again that you speak to us.
We ask that you would do that this morning by your word,
that you would show us our need for your grace.
You'd show us how you meet and supply that need.
And most of all,
that you would show us Jesus Christ
with more beauty and clarity
than we've seen before.
That you would grow our love
and our affection for him
and our reverence
and our awe for him.
And we ask these things
in the mighty name of Jesus Christ.
Amen.
If you remember last week
from the beginning of chapter 9,
we had the transfiguration
where Peter and James and John
had this vision of what Jesus truly was
in all his divine glory.
He had this light that was shining from inside of him
that glowed all the way through his clothes.
And so after they'd heard Jesus telling them
about the suffering of the Christian life,
they also were able to see how great and glorious
it would be as well.
That it would not just be following Jesus in suffering,
but also following him in victory.
It's after that story that we enter into this one,
verse 14,
and when they came to the disciples.
In other words,
they have come down from this glorious vision of Jesus,
understanding who he is in all of his splendor.
And immediately they experience this whiplash.
Because on the one hand,
they have seen Jesus alone on the top of the mountain.
On the other hand,
they walk right back into a problematic situation.
They saw a great crowd around them
and the scribes arguing with them.
And so they go from this glorious vision
into a headache-inducing situation.
Peter, James, and John are probably wondering
where their Tylenol is as they come off the mountain.
Okay.
Jesus has come, though, in the midst of this argument,
and there appears to be a new distraction.
Verse 15,
all the crowd, when they see Jesus,
they pull away from whatever this great argument was,
and they're amazed just that Jesus is there with them.
Of course, Jesus, as always, is a question asker.
Verse 16,
and he wants to know,
what is this that all of them have been quarreling about
while he has been up on the mountain?
They don't get a direct answer,
but we find out in verse 17,
it must have something to do
with the fact that the disciples
have been trying to heal this boy,
this son,
and they've not been able to.
And it's the father,
unsurprisingly, that speaks up.
Teacher, I brought my son to you,
for he has a spirit that makes him mute.
Verse 18,
so I asked your disciples to cast it out,
and they were not able.
Now, if you're familiar with the gospel of Mark,
if you've been with us,
this should be very surprising.
We should be confused as we hear
that the disciples are unable to perform this healing,
because we saw Mark chapter three.
Jesus chose them for two reasons,
that they would preach,
and they would heal and cast out demons.
This is what they've been called to do.
Not only that,
Mark chapter three proceeds into Mark chapter six,
where Jesus sends them out two by two
to do that very thing,
to preach and to heal.
And remember,
they come back so excited
to tell Jesus the stories
of what happened while they were out.
So the obvious question for us
is what has happened?
Why is it that the disciples
who are trying to fulfill the mission
that Jesus gave them,
who have been able to succeed
so well in the past,
fail at this point?
Thankfully, Jesus doesn't leave us to wonder.
He gives us our first answer in verse 19.
And he answered them,
Oh, faithless generation,
how long am I to be with you?
Now, Jesus uses the word generation here,
which means that he's most likely speaking
of more than just the disciples,
but certainly not less than them,
because it's their unbelief,
their faithlessness,
which has led to this situation
where they're trying to heal,
and they find themselves completely incompetent.
Of course, that would make us to ask,
well, what is it that the disciples
are doing differently this time?
Why is it that they were able to have faith
last time, but not this time?
Jesus gives us the final answer in verse 29,
when the disciples want to know,
why could we not cast it out?
And he said to them,
this kind cannot be driven out
by anything but prayer.
Why is it that the disciples were unable to heal
in this situation?
The answer is very simple.
They forgot to pray.
In other words,
the disciples thought that they were really hot stuff.
And they had decided that they were great enough
and powerful enough
that they would be able to do this on their own.
They had forgotten that Jesus
was the source of their power.
They had forgotten how dependent
they actually were on him.
They forgot that they needed God's help.
The point, brothers and sisters, is this.
There are blessings and power from God
that we do not have
because we have not prayed.
There are blessings and power from God
that we do not have
because we have not prayed.
You could put it in the opposite.
There are blessings and power from God
we will not have
until or when we pray for them.
James chapter four says the same thing.
You do not have
because you do not ask.
Now this raises a question,
which is why has God set up the world
so that it works in this way?
Why wouldn't he just set it up
so that we would know
that we belong to him
and we could go out at that point
and have all the power
and the blessings that we would need
without having to return back
over and over again
to answer him in prayer?
Well, the answer part is
that not that God is punishing us,
but that he is protecting us.
It is not that God is punishing us.
It's not that he's angry and upset
that people won't pray
or he's trying to be withholding
until people come and beg him
like some vindictive God.
No, he wants to protect his people
from what is most dangerous to them.
And what is it that is most dangerous?
It's the idea that we don't need God.
Look with me on verse seven
of your worship guide.
Tim Keller spells this out for us
in his book on prayer
when he tells us,
God often waits to give a blessing
until you have prayed for it.
Why?
Good things that we do not ask for
will usually be interpreted
by our hearts
as the fruit of our own wisdom
and diligence.
God wants to rescue us
from the self-sufficiency
that leads to overconfidence
and sets us up for failure.
In other words,
we are in deep trouble
if we believe that our gifts
and abilities operate
without God's help.
In another place in that book,
Keller says that it's prayer
that actually makes God's blessings
and his power safe for us.
They no longer present a danger.
Now you might be wondering
why and how could blessings from God
present a danger to us?
Well, I want you to think about it this way.
Let's say we had an amazing revival
here at Cheyenne Mountain Presbyterian Church
and within a certain matter of weeks,
our attendance doubled
and we were having two or three baptisms
a Sunday of soldiers from Court Carson
and people from our community
who were coming to know Jesus Christ
and we had never prayed to God for revival.
What would be the danger?
We'd be tempted to go around
telling other churches
about how we had figured out the secret
and if they could just copy us
in the way that our building looked
and the way that we ran marketing
and the times that our Google reviews were great,
then they too could be like
Cheyenne Mountain Presbyterian Church.
In other words,
we would praise ourselves rather than God
and that would be a great danger to us.
Imagine how dangerous it would be
if you saw all of your dreams come true
for your children and they experienced
no obstacles in this life
but instead went from strength to strength
and received blessing after blessing
and you had never prayed.
What would the danger be?
That you would congratulate yourself
on how smart and wise and gifted you are as a parent
and if other parents could just be as great
and wonderful as you,
then they also could have success.
It would praise yourself rather than God.
Imagine how dangerous it would be
if you had victory over sin and temptation
and suddenly your life was free
of so many of the things that tied you down
and you had never prayed.
What would the danger be
if only other people could be as great as me?
God loves you too much
to allow you to live a life filled with smug success
disconnected from him.
God loves you too much
to allow you to live a smug life of success
disconnected from him.
What could be worse
than to be incredibly successful and powerful
and far away from God?
God loves you too much.
What does it gain a man
to have the whole world
and forfeit his soul?
And so what do we do
as Christians in 2022
at Cheyenne Mountain Presbyterian Church?
The disciples set a negative example
for us to flip it to the positive.
We cry out to God in prayer
knowing that he has set up the world
in such a way
that that is how we access
his blessings and his power.
And when we see him answer,
those blessings do not lead to pride.
They lead to praise.
When God answers,
his blessings for us
lead to praise, not to pride.
Because when we prayed,
we made it safe.
We said, look,
we know that if and when this happens,
it is not because we are great
and glorious and powerful,
but because God is.
That is why God has set up the world
that his blessings come through our prayers.
Success without prayer leads to pride.
Success with prayer leads to praise.
God wants us to trust him
and praise him more than anything else.
That is why the disciples were unable to heal.
What do you need done
that you thought you could do on your own?
What blessings and power from God
did you think you can generate by yourself,
but instead you need to pray about?
God invites his people to come to him
and bring their requests.
And he delights to pour out his blessings.
We're going back to the 101 of the Gospel of Mark.
Remember I told you so many times,
neediness is the price of admission.
And the way God's people show their need
is by coming to him in prayer.
We've seen the disciples here,
they trust too much in themselves.
But our main character in this passage
is actually this father of this son,
this boy who has too little trust in Jesus.
If you look with me at verse 22,
you notice he is low on confidence.
We've heard about how traumatic it is
for this child and the things that he's experienced.
And this father says to Jesus,
but if you can do anything,
have compassion on us and help us.
Now the word, problematic word for him there is if.
He stands in contrast to the Syrophoenician woman
we saw in Mark chapter six.
Remember, Jesus tells people
that she is a woman of great faith.
Why was her faith so great?
Because she believed that Jesus could.
That's why she said,
even the dogs get to eat the crumbs
from under the table, right?
She keeps pushing because she knows
the character of Jesus' power.
One aspect of faith
is our level of confidence in God's power.
One aspect of faith
is whether we really truly believe
that God can do what he says he can do.
This man fails to meet that mark.
He says, if.
If you can do this,
maybe have some compassion on us.
And so perhaps he believes more
in Jesus' compassion than his power.
That helps us understand
Jesus' statement here in verse 23.
Jesus is understandably upset.
He repeats these words,
if you can,
all things are possible
for one who believes.
In other words,
what's standing between you
and this healing
has nothing to do
with the limits of my power
because they have none.
What is standing between you
and this healing
is whether you believe
that I am the king of the world
because everything is possible
for one who believes.
Now we have to talk for a minute
about this promise.
We could potentially put this
under the category
of hard sayings of Jesus
and it could be easily used
or abused, I should say,
to shame people.
We might say,
well, Jesus makes this promise
that if you have enough faith,
anything's possible.
So clearly,
X has not happened in your life
and so your faith is failing.
Problem is,
that actually changes some words
in this verse.
Verse 23
doesn't say God will do everything.
He says that he can.
Okay?
All things are possible.
The point is not
that your wildest dreams
will come true
if you believe hard enough.
The point is that
nothing is too great for God.
The point is not
that your wildest dreams
will come true
if your faith is great enough.
The point is that
nothing is too great for God.
There is a difference
between a can't and a won't.
Jesus is telling this man,
if your son is not healed,
it's not because I can't.
Don't use that word if.
It would only be because I won't.
There is nothing too great
for my power.
It does say
all things are possible.
It does not say
all things will happen.
walk away from this verse
knowing that God
is powerful enough,
not that your faith
controls the universe.
Be comforted by the fact
that if God says no
to your request,
it's because he's decided
it's not best,
not because he's not powerful enough.
all things
are possible
for the one who believes.
In fact,
James chapter 4
also talks about this.
I quoted it earlier.
He says,
you do not have
because you do not ask.
And then he goes on to say,
you ask and do not receive
because you ask wrongly
to spend it on your passions.
God doesn't answer
every prayer
just because you have
enough faith.
faith and faith
through prayer
is the way
we access
God's blessings
and his power.
So this passage
raises a question for us.
What if we are like
this father?
What if we're like
the disciples?
And maybe we have
too much confidence
in ourselves
or not enough
in God.
What do we do
with our prayerlessness?
How do we walk away
from our lack of faith?
Well, thankfully,
this father,
as much as he's
a negative model,
is also a positive one.
When he understands
what Jesus is saying,
that his doubt
is getting in the way,
he immediately repents.
Verse 24,
immediately the father
of the child
cried out and said,
I believe,
help my unbelief.
Which is a way of saying,
I want to want it.
I want to believe this.
And I know
I can't change myself.
Remember,
I've told you before
that one way
to summarize the gospel
is this.
I know that I need
to change
on the one hand.
And I also know
on the other hand
that I am incapable,
I am powerless
of changing myself.
And so what is the answer
in the midst of that?
It's the one
that this man gives
that resolves
that tension.
I need God
to come
with his supernatural work
to soften
and change my heart.
I cannot stir up
enough faith
in my own life.
I cannot melt
my own heart
and make it change
from a heart of stone
to a heart of flesh.
No, the only hope
for me
is that a power
from the outside
would come and help.
And so the point
is this,
faith is a supernatural
gift and work.
Faith is something
that God must work
within us.
And so the solution
fits the problem.
We become dependent
on God
by becoming
dependent on God.
We become dependent
on God
by saying
how helpless
we are.
We do not become
dependent on God
by becoming
more disciplined
and self-controlled.
We do not
become dependent
on God
by becoming
more rigorous
in the way
that we live
our lives.
No, what this passage
is telling us
is that we will
never have enough
power to do that.
We become dependent
by admitting
that we need God
to make us
dependent.
We receive help
by asking
for help.
And so this man
for us
reveals one of the
greatest spiritual
secrets
of the Christian
life.
do you find
yourself
prayerless
with no desire
to talk to God?
Pray
that you would
want to pray.
Pray to God
that you would
want to pray.
That's not to say
that all sorts
of other methods
or journals
or systems
are unhelpful.
that's to say
that they are
a handmaiden
to the main
thing that must
happen which is
that God is at work
changing your heart
and your life.
Do you find
yourself not
wanting to obey?
Pray that you
would want to obey.
Recognize you have
no hope
outside of God
and his work.
do you find
yourself struggling
with Christianity
as you think
about it
if you're
completely honest
you have
doubts
and questions
and objections.
Pray
that God
would lead you
to the answers
you need.
Pray that God
would help you
in the midst
of your doubt.
There's a
fundamental
recognition
that we cannot
change our
own hearts
and God
can.
Do you
not have
enough faith?
All you have
to do is
ask God
to give you
more faith.
Are you
too independent
like the
disciples?
All you have
to do is
ask God
to make you
more dependent.
Do you
lack faith
like this
father?
All you have
to do is
ask God
to give you
new faith.
The good
news of the
gospel is
this,
that great
faith does
not come
from more
self-discipline.
Faith comes
to those
who ask God
for help.
People of
great faith
are needy
people.
People of
great faith
are people
who like
this man
who say,
I can't
change
and I need
God to
change
me.
No matter
what you
face in
this life,
you are
in desperate
need of
God's
help.
And he's
waiting for
you to
ask.
He's waiting
for you to
ask for
his power.
Finally,
this passage
tells us the
exact type
of power
that we're
believing in.
In verses 26
and 27,
Jesus honors
this man's
small,
mustard seed
size faith
and heals
his son.
And we're
told,
verse 26,
the boy was
like a corpse
so that most
of them said,
he is dead.
Verse 27,
Jesus took
him by the
hand,
lifted him
up,
and he arose.
There's a
picture here,
a foreshadowing
of resurrection
power.
The kind
of power
that we're
hoping in
and looking
towards and
praying for
is a
raise the
dead kind
of power.
It is
Ephesians 1
kind of power
which tells us
that the
very same
power that
raised Jesus
Christ from
the dead
is the
power that
is work
in us.
That is
what gives
us hope
and confidence
as we ask
God for
his help.
Now there's
another discussion
in the Gospel
of Mark
about prayers
and what
is possible
for God.
This one
shows up
in Mark
chapter 14
as Jesus
is facing
his death
and he
decides that
he is going
to pray
to God.
This is
verse 35,
and going a
little farther
he fell on
the ground
and prayed
that if it
were possible
the hour
might pass
from him.
and he
said,
Abba
Father,
all things
are possible
for you.
Remove
this cup
from me,
yet not
what I
will,
but what
you will.
Jesus,
like a great
teacher,
remembers the
things that
he has
taught.
He knows
all things
are possible.
And yet,
how does he
end it?
Not your
will,
not my
will,
but your
will be done.
That word
possible,
by the way,
is the
exact same
Greek word
that is here
in chapter
nine.
Jesus does
not forget
this exchange,
but instead
he draws
back on it
as he
faces the
cross and
is reminded
that ultimately
it is God
and his
will that
prevails in
the midst
of his
power.
And so
we can
cry out
to God
in prayer
with confidence
and hope
because
God
says yes
to our
prayers
because he
said no
to Jesus'
prayer.
God
can say yes
to our
prayers
because he
said no
to Jesus'
prayer.
Jesus
trusted the
will of
the Father
and went
to death.
We
cry out
to God
knowing
that we
will live.
in his
book
Just Mercy
the
lawyer
Brian
Stevenson
tells
the story
of a
man named
Walter
McMillan
who
in
1988
was
wrongly
convicted
of a
murder
in
Alabama
from
1986.
It was
a
murder
of a
college
student
named
Rhonda
Morrison
and it
happened
in
Monroeville
Alabama
and what
had
happened
is that
the
police
had
brought
forth
false
testimony
to frame
Walter
and so
he was
eventually
convicted
of
capital
murder
but what
Brian
was able
to do
was uncover
new evidence
that revealed
that the
witnesses
in this
situation
had outright
lied
especially
the key
witness
who he
convinced
to appear
in court
and confessed
that his
testimony
the first
time around
was incorrect.
Now much
of this
was because
racism
was alive
and well
in the
1980s
in Birmingham
Alabama
and so
as the
second
hearing
came around
the place
where they
were going
to present
new evidence
there were
members of
the African
American
community
who wanted
to come
and support
Walter
to show
that they
stood with
him as
they tried
to overturn
this conviction.
Now the
second day
of the
hearing
something
mysterious
happened
the black
supporters
were not
able to
get seated
until many
of the white
supporters had
already sat
down and so
there were not
many seats
left for them
and so they
had to start
picking who
among us
is going
to be
chosen
to go
sit in
this
balcony
and support
Walter.
One woman
who was picked
was Mrs.
Williams
and she
was an
old revered
member of
the community
and so she
began to
enter the
courtroom
except one
thing had
changed between
day one
and day two.
Day one
of the court
hearing it was
just a normal
courtroom
nothing to
notice.
Day two
they'd installed
this metal
detector and
they'd brought
in a German
shepherd to
sniff everyone
as they
entered the
room.
Well as she
looked at this
German shepherd
Mrs. Williams
was reminded
of her time
in 1965
when she
walked in
Selma for
voting rights
and it
brought back
her memories
of dogs
being set
on them
German
shepherds
specifically
and so she
froze in that
moment was not
able to make
her way into
the courtroom
and so she
went back
she was filled
with shame
and disappointment
in herself
and her family
tells the story
of that night
she went
back to
her house
and she
stayed up
all night
praying.
The next
morning she
returned with
her family in
the car and on
the whole drive
back she just
kept repeating
this prayer
Lord I can't
be afraid of
no dog.
Lord I can't
be afraid of
no dog.
That was her
prayer over and
over during the
night and in
the morning and
so then that
next day she
walks into the
courtroom and she
just says over
and over to
herself I
can't be afraid
of no dog.
I can't be
afraid of no
dog.
And so she
walks past this
German shepherd to
sit in this area
so that she can
support Walter as
they try to
overturn this
unjust sentence.
And then when
she makes it out
she yells so
that everyone can
hear I am
here.
She models for
us the life of
faith because she
is shaking with
fear on the one
hand and she's
filled with faith
on the other.
And how does she
close that gap?
She closes it by
crying out for
God's help and
his mercy.
She knows that by
herself she has
no hope of
entering that
courtroom.
She has no hope
of standing for
justice and yet she
knows that God
will meet her in
that moment.
Here's what I
know to be true
and yet I'm
tripped up by my
human weakness
and frailty.
I am afraid.
Help my fear.
And it's with that
that she's able to
walk in and
declare to everyone
that she is
present.
Brothers and
sisters the same
is true for us.
We rely on God's
power in prayer
not our own.
Lord I believe.
Help my
unbelief.
Let's pray.
Our Father in
heaven we thank
you that you
don't ask us to
jump through
higher hoops
to make better
test scores on
our faith but
you tell us the
truth that we're
helpless and
needy and you
delight to answer
our request for
that help.
We ask this
morning that you
would give us
both humility and
confidence.
We'd be humble in
knowing that we are
helpless without you
and we'd be
confident in
knowing that you
hear and answer
our prayers.
We ask these
things in the
mighty name of
Jesus Christ.
Amen.
I invite you to
stand for our
closing hymn.
my health has found
a resting place
not in device
or greed
I trust the
ever living
one
his wounds
for me
shall breathe
I need no
other argument
I need no
other plea
it is enough
that Jesus
died
and that he
died for
me
I need
enough
that Jesus
saved
this is my
fears and
doubt
a sinful
soul
I come
to him
he'll never
cast me
out
I need
no other
arguments
I need
no other
plea
it is
enough
that Jesus
died
and that
he died
for me
heart
heart is
leaning
on the word
the written
word
of God
salvation
by my
savior's name
salvation
through
his blood
I need
no other
argument
I need
no other
plea
it is
enough
that
Jesus
died
and that
he died
for
me
my
great
physician
heals
the sick
the lost
he came
to save
for me
his precious
blood
he shed
for me
his life
he gave
I need
no other
argument
I need
no other
plea
it is
enough
that
Jesus
died
and that
he died
for me
we end
our time
together with
a benediction
and a benediction
is simply a good
word from God
it is a word
that is true
in a world
filled with words
that are not true
and so hear now
God's good word
over you
from Numbers
chapter 6
the Lord
bless you
and keep you
the Lord
make his face
to shine upon you
and be gracious
to you
the Lord
lift up his
countenance upon you
and give you peace
now and forever
so go now
in the grace and peace
of our Lord and Savior
Jesus Christ
amen
forども
up to the langdon
live
fall
to whom
to you
and vive
to have
们
vind
of
Yu
Cloud
and
ede
with
the
number
and
Hos
at
Seite
P
la
atus
Musique
Christ
hu
Thank you.