Sunday Sermon

"If"
[Mark 9:14-32]
June 4, 2006 Second Reformed Church

In C. S. Lewis' book, The Screwtape Letters, the devil explains to his nephew that he gets to humans, primarily, in one of two ways: either by getting them to obsess about the devil and demons, or by getting them to deny their existence. The devil gets the upper hand when we are completely preoccupied with him and when we completely ignore him and say that he doesn't exist. C. S. Lewis made that wise observation decades ago, and we see it very clearly as we go from church to church: some churches spend all of their time and effort "casting out" and "binding" demons of dandruff and hangnails and bad breath, while other churches say that the devil does not exist, demons don't exist, they are merely anthropomorphic expressions of human evil, or that they are merely primitive explanations of disease. Both of these excesses are sinful and wrong.

The Bible is clear -- God's Word is clear -- there is a real, spiritual being, the devil, and there are real spiritual beings, the demons. These beings were once angels, but sinned, and were banished from Heaven, and God created Hell, the eternal fire, for them and all those who follow them. And this was set from the beginning (Matthew 25:41, etc.).

In this morning's Scripture, we see another demon. This one possessed a young boy and had possessed him since he was very young. This demon caused the boy to have seizures and fits and foam at the mouth, grind his teeth and fall down. He even caused the boy to throw himself into fire and water to try to kill himself. Understand, this was real. This young boy was possessed by a demon. He was not possessed by a demon for each part of his body, Jesus only speaks of one demon, and he was not merely ill, though his symptoms were similar to physical and mental disease -- Jesus said the boy was possessed by a demon. So, let us understand, non-Christians have been and can be possessed by demons. (Christians cannot be possessed by demons, because we have God, the Holy Spirit, living within us.)

So, the devil and demons attack humans in body, soul, mind, and spirit. Why? For at least two reasons: their desire is against God, so they desire to sin as much and as greatly as possible, so they cause torment to humans, those who have been created in the image of God. And another reason is to lead others, and even Christians, to doubt God and not give Him His Due Glory. They draw our attention off of God and on to themselves. They try to get us to question the goodness and the wisdom of God in allowing persons to suffer at the hands of demons. And here we see a whole crowd following after the boy and his father, as they seek the help of the disciples of Jesus.

But the disciples were unable to cast the demon out of the boy. Jesus had given them the authority to cast demons out in His Name, but they were unable to, so the boy continued to suffer. But let us notice that the boy's father did not despair of God. No, since the disciples of Jesus were unable to help him, he went to Jesus Himself.

And we learn two important lessons here: first, ministers and other leaders in the church, and other Christians, will fail us from time to time. I will fail you; you will fail me -- we are not fully perfected. So we ought not, we dare not, put each other up on pedestals. The greatest person you know is just a person. And the worst person you can think of, the person you have the most difficulty dealing with, has been created in the image of God. The disciples failed this man and his son. But notice secondly, God never fails us. God is perfect, so we ought never despair that He is able, and He is carrying out His Perfect Will. For some reason or another, the disciples had failed this man and his son, but he did not despair, but came straightway, immediately, to the Son of God, because He can never fail.

How many times have we heard it said, "Christianity cannot be true, because every Christian I have ever met has been a hypocrite." I hear it again and again. "If so-and-so is a Christian, then I don't believe in God." That's elevating Christian, you and I, and the disciples, to a position we don't deserve. We do not have reason to despair of God because God's people fail us. If God were just another human, the CEO of Christianity, then we could have reason to despair. But He is God the Almighty, we have no reason to despair.

So the man came to Jesus, and he told Him that His disciples had been unable to cast the demon out, and Jesus rebuked their lack of faith. And then Jesus asked the man about his son, and he told Him what happens to his son, and he begged Jesus to take pity on him and his son, "If he is able." And the man stumbles. "My son is possessed by a demon, so I brought him to your disciples, and they could not cast him out. So I brought my son to You to be healed. -- if You are able."

And Jesus said, "'If you are able'" -- "you're so close Don't you understand that all things are possible with Me, if it is according to My Will, because all power is Mine? There's no 'if' about it, I am able. The question is, 'Am I willing?'"

Jesus is patient with us. Again and again, day after day, He waits and endures us as we stumble along, unwilling to receive His Strong and Guiding Hand. James wrote, "You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly to spend it on your passions" (James 4:2b-3). Jesus tells us to come to Him boldly, in faith, to ask of Him, and if we ask rightly, according to His Will, we shall receive what we ask, because He is always and everywhere able. God's ability is not limited, but He will only give us when we ask and ask according to His Will.

And the boy's father understood, crying out, "I do believe; help my unbelief." "I believe You are able and if You are willing, You will deliver my son, though I don't understand how." And Jesus rebuked the demon, and it left the boy. At first the boy was still, and those that doubted said, "he is dead," but Jesus held out His Hand and the boy stood up, healthy in mind and body and spirit and soul.

And Jesus left them and went into a private home, and the disciples went in after Him, asking Him why they were unable to cast out the demon, and Jesus said, "This type is not able to be cast out except by prayer." The disciples had neglected prayer; they had neglected to sit at the feet of God and align themselves with His Will.

Paul wrote, "The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God" (Philippians 4:5b-6). Again, James wrote, "The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working" (James 5:16b). We are to be a people of prayer. We are to be a people who bring our concerns and thanksgivings before God. We are to pray in a way that is consistent with what God has revealed to us in His Word. Not because God is ignorant. Not because God will change His Mind -- how could the Holy God be wrong or uninformed? No, we pray because our strength in Christ is found in aligning ourselves with the Will of God, as it is found in the Scripture.

Remember, God tells us that we are at war: the devil and his demons are enemies of God and Christ and us. We are at war. But let's not be confused. As we see with this little boy, the devil and the demons are given power, they have power, but God is All-powerful, and they must submit to the will of God. And the devil and the demons are defeated: God is not waiting, hoping that we will win the day for Him. The devil has lost, the demons have lost. They are in chains; they are being restrained. God only allows them to go so far, to say so much, to only touch us in this way or that -- remember Job.

So, God tells us to prepare: "Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm" (Ephesians 6:10-13).

We don't have time this morning to go through Paul's explanation of the whole armor of God. But let us remember this, this morning: our strength and our rest is found in God Alone through His Word Alone and to His Glory Alone. Before Jesus taught, He prayed. Before He healed, He prayed. Before He was tempted by the devil, He prayed.

Jesus told the disciples, again, that "The Son of Man will be delivered up into the hands of men, and they will kill him, and when he is killed, after three days he will rise." Here and now, we understand what He meant, and we can have confidence in Jesus and in the answer to our prayers and in our standing against the devil, because, if we ask in faith, the question is never one of Jesus being able, it's one of His being willing, because if He is willing, all things are possible.

Let us pray:
Almighty God, we thank You for the example of Your Power and Ability. We thank You that You have already overcome the devil and the demons, just as You planned from the beginning. We thank You that You are greater than all and more faithful than all. Make us to trust in You and teach us to pray after Your Will. For it is in Jesus' Name we pray, Amen.