Wimpy Faith

A Reading from the Psalms

Good morning. We're going to get our church service underway here at First Baptist Church of Artesia. Welcome; we're so glad that you're with us this morning on this beautiful Palm Sunday morning. I'm going to do a reading from Psalm 118.

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his faithful love endures forever. Let Israel say, “His faithful love endures forever.”

— Psalm 118:1-2 (CSB)

Open the gates of righteousness for me; I will enter through them and give thanks to the Lord. This is the Lord’s gate; the righteous will enter through it. I will give thanks to you because you have answered me and have become my salvation. The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. This came from the Lord; it is wondrous in our sight. This is the day the Lord has made; let’s rejoice and be glad in it. Lord, save us! Lord, please grant us success! He who comes in the name of the Lord is blessed. From the house of the Lord we bless you. The Lord is God and has given us light. Bind the festival sacrifice with cords to the horns of the altar. You are my God, and I will give you thanks. You are my God; I will exalt you. Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his faithful love endures forever.

— Psalm 118:19-29 (CSB)

Join us this morning.

[Music - "Holy, Holy, Holy"] Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty! Early in the morning our song shall rise to Thee. Holy, holy, holy, merciful and mighty! God in three Persons, blessed Trinity!

Holy, holy, holy! All the saints adore Thee, Casting down their golden crowns around the glassy sea; Cherubim and seraphim falling down before Thee, Which wert, and art, and evermore shalt be.

Holy, holy, holy! Though the darkness hide Thee, Though the eye of sinful man Thy glory may not see, Only Thou art holy; there is none beside Thee, Perfect in power, in love, and purity.

Holy, holy, holy! Lord God Almighty! All Thy works shall praise Thy Name, in earth and sky and sea; Holy, holy, holy; merciful and mighty! God in three Persons, blessed Trinity!

[Music - "He Will Hold Me Fast"] When I fear my faith will fail, Christ will hold me fast; When the tempter would prevail, He will hold me fast. I could never keep my hold through life's fearful path; For my love is often cold; He must hold me fast.

He must hold me fast, He must hold me fast; For my Savior loves me so, He will hold me fast.

Those He saves are His delight, Christ will hold me fast; Precious in His holy sight, He will hold me fast. He'll not let my soul be lost; His promises shall last; Bought by Him at such a cost, He will hold me fast.

He will hold me fast, He will hold me fast; For my Savior loves me so, He will hold me fast.

For my life He bled and died, Christ will hold me fast; Justice has been satisfied; He will hold me fast. Raised with Him to endless life, He will hold me fast Till our faith is turned to sight, when He comes at last!

He will hold me fast, He will hold me fast; For my Savior loves me so, He will hold me fast.

He will hold me fast, He will hold me fast; For my Savior loves me so, He will hold me fast.

[Music - "Rock of Ages"] Rock of Ages, cleft for me, Let me hide myself in Thee; Let the water and the blood, From Thy wounded side which flowed, Be of sin the double cure; Save from wrath and make me pure.

Not the labors of my hands Can fulfill Thy law's demands; Could my zeal no respite know, Could my tears forever flow, All for sin could not atone; Thou must save, and Thou alone.

Nothing in my hand I bring, Simply to the cross I cling; Naked, come to Thee for dress; Helpless, look to Thee for grace; Foul, I to the fountain fly; Wash me, Savior, or I die.

While I draw this fleeting breath, When mine eyes shall close in death, When I rise to worlds unknown, And behold Thee on Thy throne, Rock of Ages, cleft for me, Let me hide myself in Thee.

Amen. Amen. Please be seated. We believe that there is nowhere else where we can find true safety, security, and rest except in the Rock of Ages. That's why we gather every Sunday to celebrate this good news of Jesus Christ.

If you have a Bible, go ahead and grab it and open it to the Book of Mark. The Book of Mark. We've been continuing to go through this Gospel as we've studied Jesus' life. Today we'll be looking at Jesus healing a son who is possessed by a demon, as we see the disciples struggle to understand the source of their power, and a father who is desperate to ask for the Lord's help. So we'll be looking at Mark 9:14-29.

If this is the first time you've used the Bible, the big numbers are the chapter numbers, the little numbers are the verse numbers. If you don't have a Bible and you grabbed one from the pew, that's our gift to you. Feel free to keep that and read through the Bible, and see and hear from the living Word of God. We'll be looking at Mark chapter 9, verses 14 through 29, and it says this:

When they came to the disciples, they saw a large crowd around them and scribes disputing with them. When the whole crowd saw him, they were amazed and ran to greet him. He asked them, “What are you arguing with them about?” Someone from the crowd answered him, “Teacher, I brought my son to you. He has a spirit that makes him unable to speak. Whenever it seizes him, it throws him down, and he foams at the mouth, grinds his teeth, and becomes rigid. I asked your disciples to drive it out, but they couldn’t.” He replied to them, “You unbelieving generation, how long will I be with you? How long must I put up with you? Bring him to me.” So they brought the boy to him. When the spirit saw him, it immediately threw the boy into convulsions. He fell to the ground and rolled around, foaming at the mouth. “How long has this been happening to him?” Jesus asked his father. “From childhood,” he said. “And many times it has thrown him into fire or water to destroy him. But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.” Jesus said to him, “‘If you can’? Everything is possible for the one who believes.” Immediately the father of the boy cried out, “I do believe; help my unbelief!” When Jesus saw that a crowd was quickly gathering, 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.” Then it came out, shrieking and throwing him into terrible convulsions. The boy became like a corpse, so that many said, “He’s dead.” But Jesus, taking him by the hand, raised him, and he stood up. After he had gone into the house, his disciples asked him privately, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?” And he told them, “This kind can come out by nothing but prayer.”

— Mark 9:14-29 (CSB)

Let's pray.

Lord, if we try to even understand this passage by our own strength, by our own intellect, by our own abilities, we will find ourselves to be completely lacking. So we pray this morning by the power of your Holy Spirit that you will come and illuminate your Word. Do what is impossible in our hearts—that we would understand what is true and that we would treasure it. We pray this in Jesus' name, amen. Amen.

Introduction: Where Do We Turn?

When life gets hard, when things get desperate, where do you turn? When there's something that you lack or something that you truly desire, what do you turn to? Have you ever heard of this term called "manifesting"? It's this belief that you can will your dreams into reality. It's something that a lot of people talk about these days—that they're going to try to manifest their dreams, or manifest their dream spouse, or their dream job, or whatever they're pursuing in their life.

In fact, Oprah teaches how to manifest your own desires on her website, and she gives it in seven easy steps:

1. Be clear about your goals.
2. Ask for what you want.
3. Start working for what you want.
4. Be thankful for what you have.
5. Let go of any limiting beliefs.
6. Check your energy. (I don't know what that means, but you could read the website to figure that out.)
7. Be flexible and trust the process.

And that is how you manifest your dreams into reality. You may chuckle at the thought of Oprah trying to teach other people how to will their desires—I haven't met anyone else who matches Oprah's bank account through this method—but how often do we think of our own Christian lives like that? To have a dream or desire that you really have, invest yourself, start working for what you want, be grateful for what you do have, dismiss any doubts that may swing in your mind, and trust the process and pursue and actualize whatever your heart may desire.

See, this is common. This is a normal thing for a lot of human beings to think of, but the root problem of it is that it places belief in yourself. The way that you accomplish your goals, the way that you achieve greatness, the way that you find what your heart has been really looking for, is to place your trust in yourself.

The problem is, that doesn't work. That doesn't work. And in this passage, we get to see two examples. Number one, you see the failure of that type of willpower, that type of belief in yourself. And secondly, we get to see the power of even weak belief that's placed in the right location. So we'll be looking at two things this morning: we'll be looking at the failure of willpower, and number two, we'll be looking at the power of wimpy faith.

The Failure of Willpower

Look at verse 14 there. When they—being Peter, James, John, and Jesus—came to the disciples, they saw a large crowd around them and scribes disputing with them. So, two weeks ago, we looked at Peter, James, and John, and Jesus coming down from the Mount of Transfiguration. They had seen Jesus reveal Himself in His glory alongside Moses and Elijah, and God the Father spoke down and said, "This is my beloved Son," and to listen to Him. And so now, those four descend down the mountain, and when they arrive, they see a large crowd surrounding the disciples. The scribes and disciples have thrown down an exchange of words, and they're arguing with each other. And you can see what they're arguing about.

In verse 15, let's read on. He says: "When the whole crowd saw him, they were amazed and ran to greet him. He asked them, 'What are you arguing with them about?' Someone from the crowd answered him, 'Teacher, I brought my son to you. He has a spirit that makes him unable to speak. Whenever it seizes him, it throws him down, and he foams at the mouth, grinds his teeth, and becomes rigid. I asked your disciples to drive it out, but they couldn't.'"

So these crowds see Jesus and they run to Him, and Jesus asks, "What is the issue here?" But unlike the other interactions between the scribes, Jesus, and the disciples, this dispute isn't over what's being taught, but over a person. The father speaks up on behalf of his possessed, mute son, and despite his pleas to Jesus' disciples, they seem unable to cast out this demon.

Why weren't the disciples able to cast out this demon? I mean, can you imagine being the disciples in a moment like this? Before this, Jesus has already sent you out multiple times to proclaim the good news of God. According to Mark 6:13, you've already driven out many demons and anointed sick people with oil and seen them get well. That's something Jesus has already commissioned you to go out and do. You've seen it time and time again; this is not the first time that you've gotten on the bicycle.

So while you're waiting for Jesus to come back, a man brings out his son who's possessed by a demon, and the son can't speak and he's rigid, as still as a vegetable. So the father comes and asks for Jesus. Notice the father says in verse 17 to Jesus, "Teacher, I brought my son to you." So he takes his son and he goes up to the disciples and he says, "Hey, where's Jesus? I need him to heal my son." And you say, "Listen, Jesus is a little busy right now. We couldn't even go up and bother him, but we're pretty sure that we can take care of it."

The crowd starts to gather around to see the miracle. You tell yourself it's just another day's work. You look at the boy and you say, "Spirit, come out!" And the boy doesn't move. Okay, hold on, hang on, give me a minute. "Spirit, come out!" Nothing happens again. Okay, "Spirit, come out!" Nothing. Another disciple taps you on your shoulder and asks if he could give it a try. Nothing. Another disciple tries again. Nothing. Disciple after disciple, a carousel of incompetence. And the son is still as a demon-possessed man, and the father falls deeper and deeper into despair.

And the Jewish scribes are eating it up. They turn to the crowd and they say, "What else did you expect? Of course they couldn't do anything; they're false teachers." You start to feel the blood rush to your head and you snap back, "No, I swear I can do this!" This crowd turns into a jury. You start yelling at the scribes, going back and forth, and this deliverance ministry devolves into a debate. Argument after argument, you start to raise your voice, and meanwhile, the son still can't move and the father begins to lose hope.

And then Jesus shows up. He hears what's going on, and instead of shutting down the scribes, he turns to you and he rebukes everyone. Look at what he says in verse 19: "He replied to them, 'You unbelieving generation, how long will I be with you? How long must I put up with you? Bring him to me.'"

Then Jesus heals the son. We'll get to that in our second point, but let's focus on what Jesus says here, on his words. I mean, his words are dripping with disappointment. The whole scene is pathetic. The crowd is there to witness a spectacle, to see fireworks. The father's in despair, the son is in torment, the scribes are more interested in being right than caring for this man in need, and the disciples are completely useless.

Imagine the embarrassment that the disciples felt. A colossal failure in front of the crowd and your opponents isn't what anyone would consider a good workday. What just happened? More than embarrassment, imagine the frustration. This is something that they're used to doing. They've been able to cast out spirit after spirit after spirit. Why couldn't they do it this time?

And more than the embarrassment and the frustration, there's the shame. Their Master, Jesus, doesn't provide any comfort for them, any solace. In fact, he includes the disciples when he says, "You unbelieving generation." There's no footnote there in Mark 9 that excludes his boys. The disciples are part of that faithless generation. What's wrong with me?

Have you ever felt that way? Powerless. You share the gospel with one of your unbelieving friends and your words ricochet off them like they're Superman. You try to have that difficult conversation that you've been meaning to have with your loved one, but you lose your cool and both of you end up more hurt than before. You look around and it seems like all of your effort, all that you're doing for God, is not making a single dent in the kingdom of darkness. Powerless. That's how the disciples felt.

So after Jesus heals this son, the disciples huddle around Jesus to ask for some post-game analysis. So we'll skip down and see what Jesus says in verse 28: "After he had gone into the house, his disciples asked him privately, 'Why couldn't we drive it out?' And he told them, 'This kind can come out by nothing but prayer.'"

Why couldn't we drive out the demon? You need to pray. Let's be honest, do you feel a little let down by Jesus' answer? I mean, come on, prayer—is that really it? How many of us have prayed and had nothing happen? Is prayer really supposed to be a viable strategy? How is prayer supposed to be effective in a time like this?

Jesus' answer might have felt like a non-answer to the disciples as well, right? The disciples aren't just asking Jesus, "Why couldn't we cast out the demon?" If you look at the language, what they're asking for is more than that. They're asking, "Why did we lack the ability to cast out the demon?" In other words, "What's wrong with us? What do we need to do to upgrade our skill set, our toolkit, our ability? How do we improve ourselves so we're strong enough to do it next time without you?"

But Jesus doesn't give them a workout regimen to improve their power. Instead, he points them to prayer. See, Jesus is not saying that prayer unlocks some kind of supernatural superpower that strengthens you. This is not a "Casting Out Demons 101" class. The contrast here is not comparing the effort of the prayerless to the prayerful. The point is, if you go to Jesus asking for more power to strengthen yourself, to elevate your own ability, you've missed the point of this passage.

The disciples are tunnel-visioned on their own ability, and Jesus is trying to point them outside of themselves. He uses a double negative here. He says, "This kind can come out by nothing but prayer." Nothing but prayer. The only way that this kind of challenge can get overcome, the only way that the disciples will be able to accomplish this kind of work, is by realizing that they can't accomplish this kind of work.

In other words, the reason why the disciples were unable to cast out this demon wasn't because they lacked willpower, but because they were blocked by their own pride. They were blinded. They were so obsessed with their own ability, so comfortable casting out demons, that they forgot that they don't have any abilities. See, the problem isn't their methods; the problem was their source. They thought that the power to cast out demons came from themselves—from their title, from their status.

Even before in Mark 6, the reason why the disciples were able to cast out demons was because Jesus gave them authority over unclean spirits. That authority didn't come from their own strength; it didn't come from their Bible knowledge; it didn't come from their qualifications. It came from Jesus. And when we presume upon Christ's power, we plunge into powerless pride.

See, you can go through your own little Rocky montage of training and you still won't be able to do a single thing for the Lord. You won't be able to cast out a single demon. You won't be able to do any of the Lord's work. I mean, we can be tempted to do that ourselves, can't we? To replace the spiritual with strategy, to rely on church attendance numbers over true conversion, to rely on entertainment over substance, to rely on practice over prayer.

Now, strategy isn't inherently wrong. It's not wrong to be intentional about how our church spends its time and resources. But the point that Jesus makes here is that strategy can't substitute for spirituality. Strategy cannot substitute for spirituality. Polishing the exterior lacks an engine.

See, true spiritual work requires us to sacrifice our self-reliance. Jesus is not honored by our willpower. This is why Jesus says in John 15:5, "You can do nothing without me." Is there an area of your life where you're tempted to rely on your own willpower? That might be worth talking about over lunch and letting other people speak sanity into your self-reliance.

In verse 29, Jesus reminds us that this kind can come out by nothing but prayer. See, prayer is a litmus test. It's a litmus test. As H.B. Charles says, it is the most objective measurement of determining self-reliance and pride. When you're prayerless, it reveals our pride. If we as a church pursue success by our own willpower, all we've done, if we succeed, is build a Tower of Babel in our own name, and God will not be honored by that pride.

That's why one of the most important things our church does together is pray. It's pray. It's an essential part of our church's life together. Prayer isn't just a transition so that the musicians can come on the stage. Prayer isn't just a nod of acknowledgment before a meal. Prayer is the act of shifting our reliance from ourselves to the Lord. It's us acknowledging with our actions that we can do nothing without God. It's us going before the one who can actually do something and asking him to do what we can never do.

That's part of the reason why we spend time every Sunday evening praying together—because a prayerless church is a prideful church. Every time we gather together to pray, we are getting together to do the most important work of the church. Prayer helps us let go of our pride and pursue the one who can truly do it. It frees us from the shackles of productivity.

The Power of Wimpy Faith

The disciples failed because they relied on their own willpower. But what about the opposite problem? What if you believe, but you're bad at believing? What if you're bad at believing? That leads us to our second point, number two: the power of wimpy faith.

Let's jump back into the story and read verse 19 again: "He replied to them, 'You unbelieving generation, how long will I be with you? How long must I put up with you? Bring him to me.' So they brought the boy to him. And when the spirit saw him, it immediately threw the boy into convulsions. He fell to the ground and rolled around foaming at the mouth. 'How long has this been happening to him?' Jesus asked his father. 'From childhood,' he said, 'and many times has thrown him into the fire or water to destroy him. But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.'"

There is a stark difference between our own power and Christ's. The disciples can scream and shout with all their might, and the son was as still as a rock. But the moment that the demon catches sight of Jesus, he immediately starts to convulse and foam at the mouth. The demon who caused terror on this poor boy is terrified of the God-man.

And the father is utterly helpless. His son has been terrorized since childhood. I mean, imagine seeing your son unable to talk, unable to communicate his pain, constantly throwing himself towards his death. He had been laboring for years and years. He's probably tried everything in the book to save his son. There comes a point where our efforts aren't enough. Our job performance can't stop layoffs from happening; our workouts can't stop our backs from eventually giving out; our scolding can't convert our children.

Where do you run when you've run out of options? The father goes to the only source he has left. He goes to Jesus and he says, "But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us." How does Jesus respond? In verse 23: "Jesus said to him, '“If you can”? Everything is possible for the one who believes.'"

"If you can?" Jesus points out this father's wimpy request. I mean, "if you can." Despite this father's desperation, he still questions Jesus' ability. He questions whether or not Jesus can actually do it. And honestly, his doubt makes a lot of sense. I mean, he just saw Jesus' disciples try to heal his son and fail time after time after time. So far, Jesus and his team are zero for nine. And if Jesus' disciples aren't able to do it, maybe Jesus can't do it either.

Maybe you're here and you're not a Christian partially because of those who claim to follow Jesus. They've let you down. That was a big obstacle for myself. I saw the character of those who are claiming to follow Christ, and I myself questioned whether or not Jesus was someone worth following. If that's you, let me just say: I'm sorry that we've let you down. Honestly, Christians—including myself—can be lousy representatives of the Savior.

But the good news of the gospel isn't that Christians are perfectly good people, because we're all bad. And let's be honest, that includes you too. All of us have standards of what good looks like, and all of us have had times where we failed to meet those standards. The truth isn't primarily that you need to be perfect, but that you can't be perfect. All of us fail to meet not only our own standards of goodness but God's standards, and all of us deserve to be punished in hell forever because of our failures.

And the solution cannot be belief in ourselves, because that's where the problem started in the first place. The solution has to be something outside of ourselves. There's nothing that we can do to save ourselves.

The problem with this father, though, is not just his doubt in himself. He's tried everything; he knows that he can't save his son. The problem is he's doubting whether Jesus can save his son. Whether Jesus can save his son. "If you can do anything"—that is a pathetic prayer. "If you can do anything." So Jesus flips it on him. The question isn't Jesus' ability, but the man's faith. He says, "Everything is possible for the one who believes."

Now, when Jesus says that word "everything," does he mean that you can receive anything you'd like if you have faith? No, that's not what he's saying. We can treat God like that sometimes. The problem is we can treat prayer and faith in God almost like a Christian version of manifesting. "I will pray to God enough times and he will grant me that dream job, or that dream spouse, or that dream car." We start to treat God like a genie who's there to help us accomplish our goals.

The problem with that is that God doesn't promise that. When Jesus says "everything is possible," he's not saying that God will answer every selfish desire that you have. "Everything" is not a statement of diversity; it's a statement of degree. Of degree. It's not that God can give you anything that you want, but that God can do anything that He wants. When you trust in God to accomplish what He wills, nothing can stop the Lord.

Jesus is not asking this father, "How bad do you want it?" He's asking him, "Who do you think that I am? What do you think I can do?" Because the question isn't whether or not Jesus can help his son, but whether Jesus will help his son. And if Christ is the spring from which life flows, faith is the channel into which Christ helps the sinner. You need to believe. And this father believes—kind of. You can see that in verse 24: "Immediately the father of the boy cried out, 'I do believe; help my unbelief!'"

I love this father's response: belief and unbelief.