This morning we come to Mark's gospel, once again, we're in chapter nine, verses 14 through 29. And I've entitled my discourse to you "Imperfect Faith," something that we can all identify with.

Once again, we have the privilege of beholding the majesty of Christ through the longing eyes of faith. And I might say that if you have no longing for Christ, no real love for him. If he is not your greatest treasure, if he is not the joy and the delight of your soul, then you do not know Him in a way of saving faith. And therefore what you are about to hear, is going to be just another boring sermon. But for those of us who know and love Christ, because of his grace, we will be able to once again see him a fresh and anew. I might add that Second Thessalonians two and verse 10, we see that deceived sinners perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, so as to be saved. And what we see throughout Scripture is a genuine love for Christ, is what distinguishes true Christians from false Christians, from those that just merely say they believe in Him. And that love is what causes us to hunger for his word to long for his return. I trust that each of you will be able to say with Peter, First Peter one, beginning in verse eight, "Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not see him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, obtaining as the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your soul."

So let me read the text to you. Mark chapter nine, beginning in verse 14, "When they came back to the disciples, they saw a large crowd around them, and some scribes arguing with them. Immediately when the entire crowd saw him, they were amazed and began running up to greet him. And he asked them, 'What are you discussing with them?' And one of the crowd answer Him, 'Teacher, I brought You my son possessed with a spirit, which makes him mute; and whenever it seizes him, it slams him to the ground. And he foams at the mouth and grinds his teeth and stiffens out. I told Your disciples to cast it out, and they could not do it. And He answered them and said, 'Oh, unbelieving generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring him to me!' They brought the boy to him. When He saw him, immediately, the spirit threw him into a convulsion and falling to the ground, he began rolling around and foaming at the mouth. And he asked his father, 'How long has this been happening to him?' And he said, 'From childhood, it has often thrown him both into the fire and into the water to destroy him. But if You can do anything, take pity on us and help us.' And Jesus said to him, 'If You can? All things are possible to him who believes.' Immediately, the boy's father cried out and said, 'I do believe help my unbelief.' When Jesus saw that a crowd was rapidly gathering, He rebuked the unclean spirits saying to it, 'You deaf and mute spirit, I command you come out of him and do not enter him again.' After crying out and throwing him into terrible convulsions, it came out and the boy became so much like a corpse, that most of them said, 'He is dead!' But Jesus took him by the hand and raised him up; and he got up. When He came into the house, His disciples began questioning Him privately, 'Why could we not drive it out?' And He said to them, 'This kind cannot come out by anything but prayer.'"

In order to help you grasp the amazing truths inherent in this text, I have a little outline that I would like to use. We're going to see five headings and five truths that flow from them, we're going to see first of all, a gloating confrontation. Secondly, a gut-wrenching situation. Thirdly, a grievous lamentation. Fourthly a glorious restoration and finally, a god empowering revelation. Now here we will examine issues pertaining to the tactics of the evil one, and his demonic horde that serves him. We're gonna see things relating to how faith and prayer unleash the power of God. And in all of this, we're going to once again see the sovereign majesty and omnipotence of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Now, remember the context, Peter, James and John have been on the Mount of Transfiguration. They have seen the effulgence of divine glory emanating from Christ, a preview of the coming Kingdom. And they are still euphoric over all of this, but also in need of harmonizing what they had just witnessed, which included not just Jesus but seeing Moses and Elijah harmonizing that with Jesus talk of death and resurrection. Again, they're thinking to themselves, okay, if he's going to die and be resurrected, and we're not allowed to talk about it until after that is done, then how soon after that, is he going to restore the kingdom.

So they come down off the mountain, with all of this going on, in their mind. They’re going to reconnect now with the nine other disciples that stayed behind. And what we see here is frankly, reminiscent to what Moses discovered. Remember, after he had been in the presence of God on Mount Sinai, he came down off of the mountain and what did he see? Faithless and fickle people being deceived by religious leaders.

So verse 14, "When they came back to the disciples, they saw a large crowd around them, and some scribes arguing with them." Here we come to our first point, and that is a gloating confrontation. The scribes were probably reveling in the fact that the disciples were unable to exercise the demon afflicting the little boy. However, we also know according to Luke, chapter 11, beginning in verse 53, that the scribes and Pharisees were very hostile, and questioned Jesus on many subjects, plotting against him to catch him in something that he might say. So this is their mindset. They're looking for some reason to discredit Jesus and ultimately destroy him and those with him.

Now, naturally, without Jesus to defend them, the nine disciples were easy prey for these hostile scribes. In fact, in Mark three, verse 22, we read that, "The scribes who came down from Jerusalem were saying, 'Jesus is possessed by Beelzebul', and, 'He casts out the demons by the ruler of the demons.'" And we know that they were already plotting to kill him. They hated him, and they hate everybody that believed in him, that followed him. And the same is true today. May I remind you, dear friends, that the whole world lies in the power of the evil one, first John 5:19. The term world and the original language is "kosmos" and it carries the idea of an orderly system ruled by Satan. And with Satan using human and demonic forces to do everything they can to thwart the purposes of God. And in orderly systems, he promotes depraved values and ideologies and philosophies and false religions and morals. I mean, this is literally the kingdom of darkness, an evil system that's organized and ruled by Satan and his minions. For example, if you want to see where Satan works, look at the education system. Look at seminaries, Bible colleges, churches, look at the media, certainly look at government. In fact, I was reading this week that a recently amended California bill which is a B 957, would add quote, "affirming the sexual transition of a child to the state standard for parental responsibility and child welfare, making any parent who doesn't affirm transgenderism for their child guilty of abuse under California state law.

California courts would be given complete authority under Section 3011 of California's family code to remove a child from his or her parents home if parents disapprove of LGBTQ plus ideology." And by the way, AB957, is scheduled for a hearing in the State Senate on June 13. The whole world lies in the power of the evil one in orderly systems. And this is why we are exhorted and First John two beginning in verse 15, "Do not love the world, nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh," referring to the evil cravings of sinful men, "and the lust of the eyes," that is the desire to actually see that which the flesh craves, "and the boastful pride of life." In other words, to be puffed up with pride because of who one is or what one owns. If you have that it's, "not from the Father, but it's from the world."

Now, to be sure, the scribes and the Pharisees were part of Satan's world system. In fact, these vices that I just read really defined their character, and therefore attacked anyone that disagreed with them, or spoke out against them. And of course, we see the same thing happening down through redemptive history. In fact, Jesus warned to John 15, beginning of verse 18, "If the world hates you, you know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world. Because of this, the world hates you." I might add, parenthetically, don't be intimidated by this evil world system and those people that try to shout you down. Especially these nice pusillanimous painted up, drag queen, girly men. I mean, they're really hard to take serious. Don't be intimidated by these fire breathing ANTIFA feminazis that have a four word vocabulary that try to shout you down. Just walk away from them don't dignify their existence. Don't try to engage them. Don't cast pearls before swine. But don't be afraid to stand up for the glory of God in your life, in your social media, even though you're probably going to get canceled as soon as Facebook reads it right?

I think of what Jesus said in Matthew 10, beginning in verse 32, "Everyone who confesses Me before men, I will also confess Him before My Father who is in heaven, but whoever denies Me before men, I will also deny him before my Father who is in heaven. Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword." So don't cower in the face of the enemy. First John four beginning in verse four, "You are from God, little children, and have overcome them, because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world." And proverbs 29 Verse 25 says that,"The fear of man is a snare," it's a trap, "but he who trusts in the Lord will be exalted." And often I am reminded of God's word to Joshua, in Joshua one nine, "And have I not commanded you," he says, "Be strong and courageous, do not tremble or be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go." That has to be our mindset.

Now back to our text. As we can see the disciples now are going to have much to learn. They're still confused over a lot of these things. And what we also see is that in chapters nine and 10, the Lord really devotes himself to teaching them and to preparing them for the battles ahead. So as Jesus, Peter, James and John, come down off of the Mount of Transfiguration they encounter this gloating confrontation. Verse 15, "Immediately when the entire crowd saw Him, they were amazed and began running up to greet Him." Now naturally, it's like, oh, there he is the miracle worker. Here they come. But then notice for 16. Jesus asked them, "What are you discussing with them?" Probably a reference to the scribes. He's confronting them.

Now, of course, Jesus knew exactly what was going on. He knew what the whole debate was about. But he wanted them to give an account. There's no record in the gospels that they answered, they were probably too intimidated to deal with Jesus. But Jesus knew exactly what was about to happen, and how what was about to happen, would silence them. Furthermore, this whole scenario, you must understand, was a profound object lesson regarding the importance of faith, and prayer in discipleship; this is what he wanted the disciples to learn.

So we moved from a gloating confrontation to Secondly, a gut wrenching situation, verse 17, "And one of the crowd answered Him, 'Teacher, I brought You my son, possessed with a spirit which makes him mute; and whenever it seizes him, it slams him to the ground and he foams at the mouth, and grinds his teeth and stiffens out. I told your disciples to cast it out and they could not do it."

What we have here is a description of a whole body seizure, with a paralyzing effect that corresponds to the grand mal seizures of epilepsy. And Matthew identifies it as such in the Greek in Matthew 17, verse 15, we read, "Lord have mercy on my son, for he is a lunatic and is very ill, for he often falls into the fire and often into the water." Now, the term lunatic is rooted in a Greek word for moon. And so it carries the idea of being "moonstruck" and they believed in those days that the seizures were caused by the moon, that somehow it was affected by the moon and thus, they were called lunatics. Now today, we use the term in a different way that describes irrational crazy nut jobs, you know, and we've got them running around everywhere today. But because the symptoms are consistent with epilepsy, and because in antiquity people really saw those symptoms as being rooted in being "moonstruck," the term is sometimes translated or believed to refer to epilepsy. But I would submit to you that that's not really what the issue was. This is not a physical ideology here. Clearly the condition is caused by an indwelling demon, not by something physical. The child is not merely diseased, he is assaulted. The boy didn't merely fall to the ground, I mean, he is seized and he is thrown to the ground. His condition was brought on by an unclean spirit. In fact, Luke helps us see this in Luke nine beginning of verse 38, "And a man from the crowd shouted, saying,' Teacher, I beg You to look at my son, for he is my only boy, and a spirit seizes him, and he suddenly screams and it throws him into a convulsion with foaming at the mouth, and only with difficulty does it leave him modeling him as it leaves, I beg your disciples to cast it out and they could not." Folks, can you imagine being that father? Can you imagine having that happen to your child? Can you imagine having a child possessed by a demon?

As a footnote, demons are angelic beings, beings that possess great power, but nowhere near the power of their Creator. As we look through Scripture, we can see that they indwell humans and animals, they can physically afflict people, terrorize human, imitate false worship, promote false doctrines and ideologies, perform false signs and wonders, deceive prophets encourage idolatry and even engineer death. As we read in Judges nine, however, they unwittingly serve the purposes of God. Judges nine, verse 23 gives you a little bit of understanding in that regard. And what we see in Scripture is whenever demons encounter Christ, they are absolutely terrified of Christ, then they're terrified of the gospel. They obey Christ. They even obeyed the 12 and the 72 that were sent out. And better yet, this is really good news. They cannot separate believers in Christ from the love of God, Romans 8:38, so don't be afraid of him. And they can be restrained by the Holy Spirit. Second, Thessalonians two and verse six speaks of that, first John four and verse four, as well.

Now I know many times people will ask me, Well, can a Christian be demon possessed? The answer is an emphatic no. While they can indwell nonbelievers, meaning they can literally invade their body and exercise living and dominant control over them, that they cannot resist, we see in Scripture that they cannot inhabit true believers who are indwelt by the Holy Spirit. There is no cohabitation between the spirit and some demon. I mean, we know that we belong to God, not to Satan, right? We have been delivered from the kingdom of darkness and placed into the kingdom of his dear Son, we have been sealed in Christ by the Holy Spirit of promise. Ephesians one and verse three, First, John two and verse 13 and following says that we have overcome the evil one. First, John, "For greater is He who is in you that He that is in the world." First John 5:18. We know that no one who is born of God's sins, but He who is born of God keeps him and the evil one does not touch him.

Indeed, dear friends, as believers, we can be tormented. We can be troubled, we can be oppressed. Externally, I've experienced that on numerous occasions, and I'm sure you have. This happened to King Saul in the Old Testament. It happened to Paul in the New Testament, who according to second Corinthians 12 seven was given a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment him. But we cannot be demonized. We cannot be spatially indwelt by a demon, nor is there any warning anywhere in Scripture that speaks of that, or how to deal with that. And for this reason, I might add that any so called ministry that claims to deliver indwelling demons from Christians is a fraud. Run, don't walk from that stupidity. It’s as ridiculous as offering hysterectomy is for men. You cannot remove that which is not there, unless you live in the parallel universe of transgender lunacy.

By the way in Scripture, for example, James four seven, "Resist the devil and he will," what? "He will flee from you. “Resist the devil. First Peter five nine says the same thing. We're never told to rebuke the devil or demons, or to exercise them or to bind Satan. We are told to wear the full armor of God, and therefore to stand firm against the schemes of the devil and so forth. Now, I might also add that if you encounter a person that truly does manifest signs of demon possession, as I have on several occasions, there's really two things that you need to do. Number one, cry out to God and persistent prayer and ask the Lord to rebuke the demon. We see this for example with Michael the archangel in Jude nine, There we read, "But Michael the Archangel, when he disputed with the devil and argued about the body of Moses, did not dare pronounce against him a railing judgment but said, 'The Lord rebuke you!'" And I can assure you, none of us are even remotely as powerful as Michael the archangel and if Michael the Archangel prayed for the Lord to do something that he couldn't, we ought to do the same.

And secondly, what we need to do is proclaim the gospel. Dear friends, don't ever underestimate that. Unleash the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ. This is why Paul said in Romans one and verse 16, "For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes." Well, enough of demonology this morning, but I wanted to cover a little of that for you to make sure you're not confused about these things.

So we've seen a gloating confrontation, and a gut wrenching situation. And thirdly, now we have a grievous lamentation. "And Jesus answered them and said, 'Oh, unbelieving generation,'" The little word Oh is just an expression of profound frustration. You "unbelieving generation" is people. People of that day, "how long shall I be with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring him to me!" This is reminiscent of the diatribe that we see in the song of Moses in Deuteronomy 32 Verse five. There we read, "They have acted corruptly toward Him, They are not his children, because of their defect; but are a perverse and crooked generation." Jesus expressed a similar frustration in Mark chapter eight and verse 12, "Sighing deeply in His spirit, He said, 'Why does this generation seek for a sign? Truly I say to you, no sign will be given to this generation.'" We also see it when he rebuked those who doubted his provisions for life. In Matthew six and verse 30. He said, "You have little faith." And also, when he rebuked his terrified disciples in the boat, in the midst of the storm, in Matthew eight, verse 26, he said, "You men have little faith." Now, here in Mark nine, Jesus is frustrated. Certainly with the inadequate faith, resulting in prayerlessness, as we will see, in his disciples, I mean, after all, we know that they had been given authority to rebuke demons. We see that, for example, in Mark three and Mark six; he is also frustrated, even with the feeble faith of the father. And certainly he's frustrated with the absence of faith with the Jewish leaders and the crowd, this unbelieving generation. I mean, these guys were so fixated on discrediting and destroying Jesus, that they had zero sympathy for this poor father and this little boy. Its as if Jesus is saying, What must I do, more than what I have done, to manifest my deity and my power, so that you will trust me? Dear friends, I would ask you that. Do you believe who Jesus is? Do you believe what He says? Do you believe that he can do all of his promises? Do you take him at his word? Or do you doubt him? Or do you come to his word, and because of something you believe or some agenda that you have, twist and distort his word to make it fit your thinking, conform to your beliefs, Do you obey Him?

Well, in verse nine, he says, or verse 19. He goes on to say, "How long shall I be with you? How long shall I put up with you?" And then he says this, "Bring him to me!" "Bring him to me!" Don't you know that the father was ecstatic when he heard that? Oh the love of Jesus. Jesus takes the initiative. "Bring him to me!" That's the idea. The father is ecstatic. The crowd is electric. The scribes are afraid that they are about to be humiliated once again, because that always happened whenever they encountered Jesus. And I'm sure the disciples are overwhelmed with emotion, it's like what is going to happen now?

This leads us to our fourth point and that is a glorious restoration verse 20. "They brought the boy to Him when He saw him immediately the Spirit threw him into a convulsion. And falling to the ground, he began rolling around and foaming at the mouth." Is this amazing? I mean that this is the demon. He's having a terrifying reaction to seeing his creator. What a horrifying and violent scene. Whenever I read these things, I try to in my imagination, look around and see what's on the faces of the people. I've been in somewhat similar situations, where clearly, demonic powers are at work. And it is terrifying. I'm not afraid of very many things. But I'll have to admit when you encounter that type of a scenario, you are afraid because it is something beyond anything that we can imagine.

Verse 21, "And Jesus asked his father, 'How long has this been happening to him?' And the father said, 'From childhood.'" Now, obviously, Jesus already knew because he knows all things, but he wanted others to see the severity of the supernatural torment, and thus magnify the supernatural the nature of the deliverance. Now it's fair to ask, Why would God allow this? And certainly we are not told in scripture. But we do know from scripture that God ordains to allow even evil to exist in his world, to put his glory on display. Like the man born blind from birth that Jesus healed, and John nine, beginning in verse one, "And his disciples asked Him, 'Rabbi who sinned, this man or his parents that he would be born blind? And Jesus answered, It was neither that this man's sin nor his parents, but here's the answer now. It was so that the works of God might be displayed in him.

We see this most vividly in the crucifixion of Christ, do we not? In Acts chapter two and verse 22, we read that Jesus was, quote, "Delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God." And why would that happen? To put the glory of God on display through his wrath, his judgment against sin, but also to put his love on display in Christ, who bore our sins in his body, so that we could see His grace and His mercy, and so forth. So, the distressed father goes on now to tell Jesus more about the terrifying effects of the unclean spirit upon the boy, verse 22, "It has often thrown him both into the fire and into the water to destroy him." So you know that the little child was scarred. And then he says this, "But if You can do anything, take pity on us, and help us!" I'm struck with the word help. "Boetheo", in the original language, it's really a compound word that consists of two smaller words, which is a cry and run, and it means to run, to a call for help.It means to hasten to help someone who is oppressed.

The term was used, for example, in Matthew 15, in verse 25, remember the Canaanite woman whose daughter was cruelly demon possessed, she cried out to Jesus and said, "Lord, help me." And here, this father is begging the Lord, to take pity and run to the aid of his little family. But then he adds this, "If you can?"

Jesus picks up on that in verse 23. Jesus said to him, "'If you can? All things are possible to him who believes." See, Jesus is saying the question is not so much if I am able, but whether or not you believe I am able. And all of this remember is going on to teach his disciples. It's as if he's saying, disciples, are you listening? Are you learning? Because they need to learn the importance of accessing divine power through confident prayer.

As we will see, verse 24. Immediately the boy's father cried out and said, "I do believe; help my unbelief." Don't you appreciate the brutal honesty here; I've prayed the same prayer haven't you? Imperfect faith, we all struggle with it. Help my unbelief. Grammatically, it's a present continuous, active imperative, which means he's saying, Never stop helping me with my weak faith. I need it all the time, every moment.

Later, Jesus will explain the reasons the disciples could not exercise the demon in Matthew 17:20. He said it's because of the littleness of your faith. By the way, as we will see, it wasn't so much that they needed more faith, that wasn't the issue. What they needed to do was to exercise the faith that they had, however imperfect is was by crying out to God to do what only He could do. Again, as Jesus said, "All things are possible to him who believes." By the way, be careful here, all things comprehended in the promise being made, not all things indiscriminately. Jesus also said in John 14, verse 14, "If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it." Anything in his name for His glory, etc.

I appreciate what Sinclair Ferguson said in regard to these things, especially with respect to prayer and faith, he says, and I quote, "The struggles we sometimes experience in prayer, are often part of the process by which God gradually brings us to ask for only what he has promised to give. The struggle is not our wrestling, to bring him to give us what we desire, but are wrestling with his word until we are illuminated and subdued by it saying, Not my will, but Your will be done." He went on to say, "This is why true prayer can never be divorced from real holiness. The prayer of faith can be made only by the righteous man whose life is being more and more aligned with the covenant grace and purposes of God, and the realm of prayer to since it is a microcosm of the whole of the Christian life, faith, prayer to the covenant Lord, without works, obedience to the covenant Lord, is dead."

Let me digress for a moment, this is very important, I want you to understand this issue of faith. Many times people are confused. This is just a brief reminder of what Scripture says, in Ephesians, two, eight, we are told that "By grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves it is a," what? It's a gift of God. It is important for you to understand that it's not the act of faith that saves a man even when that faith is focused on the correct object. But rather, it is the object of faith that does the saving. God the Father who has sent His Son, who has ministered the gospel through the Spirit. And when this happens, in a mystery we can't understand, God works with a human will so that it freely and voluntarily chooses to come to Christ and saving faith, this miracle of regeneration, and then God responds to that act of faith and justifies the believer. An amazing thing, moreover, genuine saving faith involves the whole man, the intellect, the emotions, the will. The intellectual component includes knowledge. In other words, there must be objective truth, which is the conscious object of faith. I mean, faith doesn't operate in a vacuum. Romans chapter 10. in verse 14 says, "How shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard?" Verse 17 goes on to say "Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God." But not only is there an intellectual component, there is an emotional component. There is an emotional assent, there is a heartfelt agreement and love for the truth and for who God is and who Christ is. You see, dear friends, and this is very important, faith is more than just mere knowledge. I mean, demons believe and they shudder, right, James 2:19. Judas left everything to follow Christ. He served Christ. He believed in who he was. And today he is in hell. Why is that? It's because he did not love Christ. It's one thing to believe in Him. It's another thing to love him. First, John five, verse one, "Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and whoever loves the Father loves the child born of Him." In other words, there will be a love of God, there will be a love of Christ, as well as a love for all those who belong to him.

What did Jesus ask Peter? Do you believe in me? No. He said, "Do you love me?" That's the issue. Dear friends, I ask you, you claim you know Christ, you've placed your faith in Him. If it's genuine, saving faith, that means you love him, and you will give yourself for him. Romans 8:28, "We know that all things work together for good to those who love God." Not just those who believe in God, "to those who are the called according to His purpose." James one in verse 12, speaks of those who will, quote, "Receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised, or those who love Him."

In Matthew seven, we know that many will cry out to the Lord on the Day of Judgment, saying, "Lord, Lord!" Jesus says, "They will not enter the kingdom, depart from me, you workers of iniquity, I never knew you." Well, what's the deal there? I mean, they believed in Jesus. So why aren't they going to get into the kingdom? Because they didn't love Christ. And when we love Christ, we will obey Him. All of that is a magnificent work of the Spirit. Remember, again, second, Thessalonians, two, nine, or 2:10.

The deceived will be those who perish quote, "Because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved." Well what is the truth? Well it's the gospel, but it's also Christ. "I am the Way the Truth and the Life."

So there is an intellectual component to faith. There is an emotional component and then there is a volitional component. There is a decision to trust there is an act of the will. When a man believes and loves Christ, therefore loves the truth, he will make the conscious decision to reject all of the lies that he's trusted in and depend therefore solely upon the truth of the gospel, the glory of Christ. You see, again, saving faith is a knowledge of, and an assent to, a love for and an unreserved reliance upon the finished work of Christ in redemption, as it is revealed in scriptures.

You know, we often hear the phrase "people of faith", Faith in what? Faith in whom? And typically just refers to anybody that's religious. Hell is going to be filled with people of faith. But there will not be one single person in hell, who truly loved Christ. Because inherit in genuine saving faith. there's a love for Christ. Hebrews 11 and verse six, we read that "Without faith, it is impossible to please Him. For he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him." And scripture is filled with all of the blessings that belong to the redeemed who love Christ. Those things that flow to a believer who lives by faith, the hope, the joy, the peace, the confidence, the boldness in preaching, the soul exhilarating joy of Christ, within one soul. Christ dwells in our heart through faith, we read. And Peter tells us in first Peter two seven, "To you who believe, He is precious.”

So faith is a gift from God whereby a believer will wholeheartedly trust in all that he is, all that he's done, all that he is doing, all that he will do, all that he can do. And at the very core, there is a genuine love for Christ, a reflex of the soul that that delights in him what John Calvin called "pious affections. “That person will hunger and thirst for Christ, will hunger and thirst for righteousness because it gives glory to the one that he loves. That person will surrender all that they are and all that they have to him, they will prefer Him above all else, they will have a joyful commitment to obey Him, they will enjoy him, and therefore they will be dependent upon him, which will be the fuel for prayer. Dear friends, if you have a weak prayer life is because you love Christ very little.

I love my wife dearly. I fell in love with her when I was 16 years old, married her when I was 21. We're about to celebrate 50 years of wedding bliss. And you know what? I love to be with her. I love to hear her voice. I love to serve her. Right? That's the way it is with Christ, when we truly love Him. And when we truly love someone, we want to speak to them, we want to commune with them. If you didn't want to commune with Christ, it'd be like being married to someone, you don't really want to talk with them. You don't want to be around them and what's going on there. That's not genuine love. So our love for Christ will be the fuel for prayer. We love him, we want to honor Him, we trust Him, we depend upon him. Therefore we say, Lord, these issues in my life, all I know to do is cry out to you for help. And that's what this father is doing. You see it was persistent, passionate, dependent, confident prayer that was missing in the lives of the disciples. Again, Hebrews 11 Six, "Without faith, it is impossible to please him." For he who comes to God must believe that He is in other words, you must believe that He is all that he claims to be and can do all that he promises and that he is a rewarder of those who seek Him. And of course the reward is eternal life. It is salvation, it is eternal fellowship. And dear friends, it is answered prayer for the glory of God.

Now back to the historical account. Verse 25, when Jesus saw that a crowd was rapidly gathering, he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, "You deaf and mute spirit." In other words, you, the one who has possessed this little child and caused the state, "I command you come out of him, and do not enter him again."

And then we read, "After crying out," the term could be translating, translated shrieking loud shrieking loudly. After shrieking loudly "and throwing him," referring to the little boy "into terrible convulsions. It came out and the boy became so much like a corpse that most of them said, 'He is dead!'" I mean, that's what we would all conclude, right? I mean, we would see the stiff, lifeless child with this ashen, paler. He's dead. "But Jesus, took him by the hand." Isn't that precious? I mean, the Lord could have just raised him up, but he reaches down. And he takes him by the hand, you know how precious it is with a child to take them by the hand. When you talk with your child, you want to look them in the eye, and you want to take them by the hand you want to touch them. You want to engage them that demonstrates your love for them.

He takes him by the hand and raised him up; and he got up. Reminds me of a song we used to sing when I was a little boy. I don't know if we've sung it here. Maybe we have, "Love lifted me, love lifted me, when nothing else could help. Love lifted me." Oh, what a glorious restoration.

And then in verse 28, "When He came into the house," obviously they went now to some place privately together with the disciples. His disciples began questioning him privately, "Why could we not drive it out? “And He said to them, 'This kind cannot come out by anything but prayer.'"

And here we come to the fifth and final point, in our little outline, we now see a god empowering revelation. And I might add, it is one that we should all take very, very seriously. It is precious indeed. Now, no doubt, their question was prompted by their public humiliation, right? They couldn't do what they had been doing. And the scribes are just giving down the road. There's the....scribes are gloating over it, but they're also confused. I mean, they've been able to exercise other demons. Why weren't they successful this time? What is going on? Now, we must remember that the New Testament record reveals that there is a hierarchy to demons varying ranks or levels, Ephesians 6:12. And other passages speak of that. And obviously, some are more are more powerful than others. First Corinthians 15:24, speaks of how Christ will eventually abolish all rule and all authority and power. But the demon that indwelt this little boy must have been more powerful than some of the others that they had encountered. However, Jesus frustration here had nothing to do with the power of the demon but rather the deficient faith in His disciples, which was the primary factor in their failure.

Matthew helps us understand this in Matthew 17, beginning of verse 19. "Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, 'Why could we not drive it out?' "And he said to them, 'Because of the littleness of your faith, for truly I say to you, if you have faith, the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, move from here to there, and it will move and nothing will be impossible to you. But this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.'" You see, what Jesus is saying is even miniscule mustard seed faith, can be effective. The issue is not the amount of the faith or the adequacy of the faith, but the infinite power of God that it employs, what is needed is not more faith. But the exercising of existing faith through persistent, passionate, believing prayer. James four and verse two, "You do not have because you do not ask."

I'm reminded of Luke 11. Remember, the disciples asked Jesus to teach them how to pray. And he gave them a model for prayer, sometimes called the Lord's Prayer. But then he followed that with a parable. And this is appropriate for where we're at here in this text. In Luke 11, beginning in verse five, "Then Jesus said to them, 'Suppose one of you has a friend, and goes to him at midnight and says to him, 'Friend, lend me three loaves; for a friend of mine has come to me from a journey, and I have nothing to set before him.' And from inside, he, the one who was sound asleep, but has now been awakened with his whole family.

Doesn't say that, but that's what's going on here. He answers it says, "'Do not bother me. The door has already been shut my children and I are in bed, I cannot get up and give you anything. I tell you, even though he will not get up and give him anything, because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence he will get up and give him as much as he needs. So I say to you ask and it will be given to you, seek and you will find, knock and it will be open to you. For everyone who asks receives and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks a will be opened."

Then he adds this, "Now suppose one of you fathers is asked by his son for a fish. He will not give him a snake instead of a fish, will he? Or if he is asked for an egg, will he not give him a scorpion? Or he will not give him a scorpion will he? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children. How much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?"

Beloved ours faith is imperfect. We are not glorified yet. But what God wants is for us to exercise the faith that we have by pounding on the gates of heaven. Asking him to help us, to do so with a sense of urgency, with a sense of earnestness with boldness with confidence, Oh father helped me, I'm asking you to do this, to help me so that I can ultimately give You praise and give you glory. We are to cry out to the only one who, according to Hebrews four verse 15, can "sympathize with our weaknesses. One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore draw nearer with timidity." Doesn't it say that does it?

"Let us therefore draw near with confidence to the throne of grace that we may receive mercy and may find grace to help in time of need." Jesus made the same point in the parable of the persistent widow remember Luke 18, in verse one. Now, he was telling them a parable to show them at all times they ought to pray and not to lose heart. You see, dear friends, what we see in scripture is God not only responds to passionate, persistent, persevering prayer, but he desires it. It shows our love and dependence upon him.

Isaiah 62, verses six and seven speaks of never being silent, give God no rest. In other words, plead with him, show him your absolute dependency on him, your love for him, your confidence in him. And your willingness to accept his answer, whatever it might be, whenever it might come, knowing that he is right, and that he is just, and he ultimately acts for our good and for His glory. Paul prayed with passionate persistence, quote, "night and day." And he did so with heartfelt intensity and earnestness. He pleaded with God for the sanctification of others, because he really believed that God hears and God acts for His glory.

Well, this was the lesson the disciples needed to learn, and they did over time. And I trust we will learn it as well may I challenge you first of all? Do you possess genuine saving faith? If so, you will have a genuine love for Christ that will motivate all that you do. And therefore you will have a longing, you will have a desire, you will see him as your greatest treasure. Again, it will be a reflex of your soul, to commune with Him, to honor Him, to obey Him and to cry out to Him to do what only He can do in your life. That's the stuff of real saving faith. And sadly, most of evangelicalism today knows nothing of any of that. They believe, but they do not love. And those of us who do, by God's grace, love Christ. Do you exercise your imperfect faith with passionate, persistent, confident prayer? I hope you do. I hope you will.

Charles Spurgeon said "He who knows how to overcome with God in prayer has Heaven and Earth at his disposal." May this be the passion and the practice of our daily walk with Christ, amen. Amen. Let's pray. Father, as always, we are humbled when we immerse ourselves in your word, because through it Your Spirit speaks to us in such profound ways. And I pray that you will change us to the praise of your glory. And I asked it in the name of Jesus. Amen.