I invite you to open to the Gospel according to Mark chapter 9. Mark wrote this summary of Jesus's life and his crucifixion and his resurrection. He wrote this summary about 30 years after the events. He based his written summary, what we're reading today, he based the written summary on really the verbal testimony of the Apostle Peter. Peter was his teammate in Rome around 60 AD, and Peter would have often, hundreds of times, explained to people, Mark probably hearing him, he would explain to people the answers to the question, who's Jesus and why does it matter? Last week, in Mark 8, Robert taught the major turning point of the book. Once Jesus, in the first eight chapters, had convinced his disciples that he was God's chosen king to rule forever on earth, he began to explain why he came the first time. He came to be crucified. And none of his disciples liked that. And he begins this second major course of instruction on why he came, beginning in chapter eight, and we're just launching into that again here in chapter nine. It's in Mark 9 that he explains the second time. It's going to be right at the end of what we read this morning. He explains the second time, I'm going to be crucified and they don't understand it. And then in chapter 10, he's going to do it a third time. I'm here to be crucified and they're not going to understand it. Let's read Mark 9. We'll read through verse 32. And Jesus said to them, his disciples, truly I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God after it has come with power. And after six days, Jesus took with him Peter and James and John and led them up to a high mountain by themselves. I think verse two, the time indicator there indicates that it is the fulfillment of verse one. And he was transfigured before them. And his clothes became radiant, intensely white, like no one on earth can bleach them. And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, and they were talking with Jesus. And Peter said to Jesus, Rabbi, it's good that we're here. Let's make three tents. One for you, one for Moses, one for Elijah. For he didn't know what to say, for they were terrified. That is a funny comment. You can laugh. I'm guessing Peter used to tell this story with laughter. When you don't know what to say, it's a good thing not to say anything at all, rather than open your mouth and have no clue what you're talking about. Verse seven. And a cloud overshadowed them, and a voice came out of the cloud, this is my beloved son, listen to him. And suddenly, looking around, they no longer saw anyone with them but Jesus only. And as they were coming down from the mountain, he charged them, tell no one what they had seen until after the Son of Man had risen from the dead. If they had started speaking about it at this point, they would have had no clue what they were talking about. So they kept the matter to themselves, questioning what this rising from the dead might mean. They might be wondering, scratching their heads, rising from the dead, maybe he's going to affect the final, the great resurrection. And they asked him, now why do the scribes say that first Elijah must come? And he said to them, Elijah does come first to restore all things. He's probably referring to the promises in Malachi. and how it's written of the Son of Man that he should suffer many things and be treated with contempt. In other words, Jesus is saying, that's true, and so are the promises of the Messiah's suffering that I'm trying to teach you. And then Jesus reminds them of the suffering of John the Baptist. He says, but I tell you, Elijah in effect has come, and they did to him whatever they pleased, as it's written of him. I want to pause here and just explain this first section and its connection with the next one. Verse 2 says Jesus was transfigured. That means his appearance was changed. According to the details, the two major features of his appearance that were changed is his blindingly white clothing and the clouds that surrounded him. And here, if you match this with what's going on in Daniel 7 and the dream of the Son of Man, the vision of the Son of Man that Daniel is given, Jesus is clearly identifying himself as God's chosen king who's gonna reign forever on earth. Now why was he transfigured at this specific time? Well, it's because at the end of chapter 8, he had just told his disciples that he was heading to Jerusalem to be crucified. And the disciples didn't get that at all. But at the end of that chapter, he had said, but the Son of Man is going to come and reign. And if you're ashamed of him, he'll be ashamed of you on that day. He gave that warning. This transfiguration happened six days after his announcement that he was truly the son of man who would come in power and glory. And by this transfiguration a few days later, Jesus is encouraging the disciples. He truly is God's chosen king for the planet. He's reassuring them. I truly am the fulfillment of all of the Old Testament. That's why Elijah and Moses are there. Because they're testifying that the law of Moses and the prophets, of which Elijah was the head, the law and the prophets are all pointing to Jesus. He truly is the fulfillment of all the Old Testament promises. And he was reassuring them that even though there is great suffering ahead for the Messiah in Jerusalem and for his followers as they commit their lives to him, that great suffering that's ahead will most certainly be followed by even greater glory. It's interesting, there's a sequence going on here in chapter 9 that's very similar to chapter 1. You might remember that in chapter 1, Jesus was baptized and there was a huge voice from the heavens that said, this is my beloved son. And right after that, Jesus went into the wilderness to confront Satan. Same pattern happens here. Jesus is on the Mount of Transfiguration, the huge voice from the sky says, this is my beloved son, listen to him, follow him, submit to him, no matter what's ahead. And then immediately he comes down off the mountain and encounters the satanic oppression that's going on in the culture. Let's continue reading now in verse 14. And when they, this is Jesus and the three who were on the mountain, came to the disciples, they saw a great crowd around them and scribes who were arguing with them. And immediately all the crowd, when they saw him, they were greatly amazed and they ran up to Jesus and greeted him. And he asked them, what are you all arguing about? 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, grinds his teeth, and becomes rigid. So I asked your disciples to cast it out, and they were not able. 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 fell on the ground and rolled about, foaming at the mouth. Jesus asked his father, how long has this been happening to him? He said, from childhood. And it's often cast him in the fire and into the water, try to destroy him. But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us. And Jesus said to him, if you can, he seized on the father's words there. Note the exclamation point in the ESV. If you can, it's like Jesus is saying, wait, wait, you're actually questioning whether I can. Whether I can is not the issue here. Jesus says all things are possible for the one who believes. Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, I believe, but help my unbelief. And when Jesus saw that a crowd came running together, he rebuked the unclean spirit saying to it, you mutant 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. Most of them said, he's 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 couldn't we cast it out? And he said to them, this kind cannot be driven out by anything but by prayer. And they went on from there and passed through Galilee. And he didn't want anyone to know, because he was teaching his disciples, saying to them, the Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him. And when he's killed, after three days he'll rise. But they didn't understand the saying, and they were afraid to ask him. We're going to park on this incident that begins in verse 14 to 29 because it actually centers on a theme that has been repeatedly emphasized in the gospel according to Mark. It's a theme that I've pointed out each time it's come up. I've commented on it each time we've read it. But it's a theme that I've not addressed to this point in much detail. And it's the theme of Jesus' confrontation of demons. You have your Bible open in Mark, Mark 9. Let me invite you to go back to one and let me take you on a quick tour of the book to show you how this is a major theme. Chapter 1, verse 13, before Jesus's ministry began, as I commented earlier, he faced 40 days of intense temptation from the demon Satan. Then as soon as his ministry began, verse 23 records that Jesus confronted a man In Capernaum's synagogue, who was demonized, he was a man with an unclean spirit. And this demon knew who Jesus was, he was terrified of Jesus, and Jesus demonstrated that he was the authority over this demon by commanding the demon to leave. Mark 1.34 then just records more generally that in this same city, Jesus cast out many demons without even letting them talk. After Mark records in chapter two that Jesus has the power to bring in the new covenant and in the new creation, Mark then records in chapter three, verse 11, that wherever Jesus went, massive crowds follow him and they would witness how unclean spirits recognized him and fell down before him. This is Mark 3 11. They fell down before him in terror because they knew he was their authority. Verse 15 records that Jesus gave his 12 emissaries, like ambassadors, authority to cast out demons. It was so publicly known that Jesus had authority over demons that, look at chapter 3 verse 22, his enemies accused Jesus of casting out demons by the power of Satan. And Jesus pointed out, that's as ludicrous as like one battalion in an army opening fire on another battalion in their own army intentionally. Ludicrous. It was so well known that he had authority over demons that they started inventing powers by which he was doing it. Chapter 5 then opens in verses 1 through 20 with an account of Jesus casting out a demon named Legion. He cast this demon named Legion out of a man in Galilee who was naked, he was involved in self-harm, he lived in graveyards, and he was manifesting beyond human strength. Before coming out of the man, the demon requested permission to go into a herd of animals. Jesus granted the permission, and the demon immediately ruined this herd of pigs. The demon Recognize Jesus. Beg Jesus not to torment him. The demon was terrified of Jesus. Mark 6, verse 7. Jesus gave his 12 chosen ambassadors. It's a repeat. He gave them authority over unclean spirits. And verse 13 records, they cast out many demons. Going to the next chapter, Mark 7, without ever confronting the demon directly, Jesus cast a demonic spirit out of a little girl whose mother begged his help. I've led us through those 10 or so references to demonstrate that Jesus' confrontation of demons is no small matter in Mark. Now, it's also crucial to point out that these explicit and obvious confrontations with evil spirits are not the only kind of demonic influence in Mark. I don't even think they're the most significant ones. Let me point out to you what I mean. If you look at Mark 4, verses 14 and 15, it would teach you that every time Jesus encountered people who ignored him as king, And they just, they knew he's king, they know what his claim is, but they just went on with their merry lives. Life's about making more money, life's about being accepted by family. Every time he encountered someone and they heard the message that he's king and then they ignored it, he was encountering some people who, to some degree, were being under the influence of Satan. Satan, according to Mark 4, was snatching away the seeds so they cared about everything else except the truth they had just heard. Or Mark chapter 7, there is a pairing of two stories of uncleanness. And in the first one, Jesus says, you got to be aware of the uncleanness that's inside of you. And then he encounters the uncleanness in this woman's daughter. And by pairing these stories, Mark is basically saying every time Jesus confronted people whose lives were characterized by immorality, by envy, by pride, by deceit, every time he was exposed to the uncleanness coming out of people's hearts, he was talking to people who were as unclean as that little girl that he had to drive the demon out of. Or, according to Mark 8, every time Jesus dealt with his disciples. And they wanted to live without suffering. He was dealing with believers who were giving Satan a foothold in his life. That's why he turned to Peter and he said, get behind me, Satan. You're not going with me in suffering. You might as well be opposing me. You're giving a foothold to Satan in your life. So I bring up these three accounts to say, I think the issue of demonic influence is much bigger than just the explicit, obvious cases of demonization, where a demon is controlling someone's person. It's actually much more prevalent. I just want to park here and just ask a question. Like, teenager, are you thinking maybe that the experience of illicit drugs and unmarried sex is more fun than submitting to Jesus? You are believing a demonically charged lie. It's the greatest lie in the universe, that sin is more satisfying than Jesus. Is your mind wrapped up in a lie? It's a demonically charged lie that there are things in this world that are better than Jesus. Or maybe you're a fairly mature Christian right now, and right now you are bitter in your spirit. against the suffering that God has willed for you this month. And you're saying, God, I'm mad at you. Why do you cause so much pain in your people? Do you realize that you could be giving a foothold to Satan in your life because you will not submit yourself to the suffering that God wants in your life right now? Now, I bring up these things to say demonic influence is much bigger than the obvious cases, but now I actually want to go back to the obvious cases, and I want to ask, do demons still affect people today, maybe in similar ways to the way they did in Mark? And the simple answer is yes. There was a week-long evangelical missions consortium that was held in August of 2000. It was held in Nairobi. One of the directors was Scott Moreau from Talbot Seminary in Southern California. Participants included missionaries and theologians from all over the world and from all evangelical perspectives. They met at a time when unbiblical ideas of demonization were very prevalent. These ideas were especially popularized in the 80s and 90s by Frank Peretti or by Peter Wagner. They included the study of territorial spirits and the naming of demons, the minimization of personal responsibility, like people saying, you need to bind that demon of anger. It was a day when Christians were known for using magical incantations about Jesus's name or Jesus's blood. And there was a major disconnect between deliverance ministries and gospel preaching ministries. So many of the deliverance ministries had no gospel in them. And this consortium met in Nairobi to discuss what would be healthy perspectives for their group to confess to the church. They discussed really every angle of what it meant to confront the demonic. The biblical angle, the theological angle, the church history angle. They discussed it from medical and psychological perspectives. They investigated it from missionary experience. And in their unified statement of convictions, I bring this one out just as an introduction. They got something right that we're focused on today. They said a primary purpose of the life and ministry of Jesus was to expose, confront, and defeat Satan and destroy his works. You cannot read the gospel according to Mark without saying amen. That statement is true. They focused on the cross. the centrality of the cross, and together they confessed, through the cross, Christ has defeated Satan decisively. Thus, while believers must be watchful, like 1 Peter 5.8 says, the Christian does not need to fear the devil and his demons. Any teaching on spiritual warfare that leads us to fear the devil to such an extent that we lose our confidence in Christ's victory over him and in God's sovereign power to protect us must be rejected outright. Amen. Their detailed experiences of demons they ended up cataloging in a book called Deliver Us from Evil. And they detailed experiences with demons, not only in scripture, but in history and in their experiences. Demonic influence in temptation, in demonization, in illness, disruptions in nature, disorder in society and politics, occult practices, false religion, opposition to church planting. There was demonic influence biblically, historically and experientially in every one of those categories. And they repeatedly observed, I think it's helpful for us to realize this, that in the experience of missionaries across continents and over centuries, exorcism, which is the casting out of demons from those who are possessed, exorcism takes place primarily on the border of the church with paganism. especially with the animistic paganism today. Animistic paganism, of course, describes this conviction that is in many native cultures, that everything around them, sculptures and trees and clouds and buildings and animals, they all have spirits in them. That's animistic paganism. They say that this is very common, and it's very common especially where the church meets animistic paganism. I want to give two personal examples. I'll never forget learning pastoral ministry alongside a missionary 20 years ago now, a missionary in Britain the summer of 2003. When I first came to Britain, I was shocked at how godless the culture was even compared to America. This missionary that I worked with was as non-charismatic as they came. In fact, he would have called himself anti-charismatic. He lived about two hours away from another church planter in a university town, and that man had a young teenage child who over a few months gave increasing evidence of being demon-possessed. The church planter called the man that I worked with and another pastor to come and assess what was going on. The child was manifesting several symptoms like convulsions, foaming, self-harm, speaking in a voice that was not her own, strength that her family couldn't subdue. And the three pastors, one of whom had an extensive background in working with troubled children, They agreed the only category they had for this girl was demon possession. And they began right there in the living room reading the scripture about Jesus's authority over demons and about his crucifixion and resurrection. And the girl began reacting with agitation toward the Bible. And in a moment when she was convulsing on the floor, the missionary with whom I was staying, put his hand on her shoulder and said, in the name of Jesus, I command you to come out. And the girl shrieked and then stilled. And he said, the symptoms never returned. He said, it's the only time in my life I've ever experienced anything like it. But it vividly demonstrated to me the power of Jesus and the Bible. Another incident. Last year, a friend of mine whose church planting in an unreached region near Vietnam wrote a prayer update. This was in early October. And he asked us to pray for a local pastor and his wife who've been harassed by demons at night for two weeks. He said, pray they'd be strong in the Lord and keep seeking the Lord. And about a week later, he shared with me developments in the situation. He said, this month, The local demon, which is venerated at a shrine near their village, has been regularly coming to them at night and entering the wife's dreams and causing her to wake in a state of fear and confusion. From her perspective, she does not remember much else except that it's a female spirit who wants to have her, and she's gripped by an awful fear. On the outside, her husband says it's like she's having a seizure with her eyes rolled up into her head, and that sometimes she'll get violent and try to beat her head against a wall. One of those evenings, he started singing and praying in the name of Jesus, and the demons spoke to him in a derogatory manner, saying, why are you mentioning the name of Jesus? This Christian wife was experiencing some sort of oppression. So they, as a couple, reached out to two other believers as well as my friend. And these three believers started counseling them that they engage in diligent private worship throughout each day, that they open up. Even though it was a pastor and his wife in this region, they open up and start sharing this with other believers in their church. They were hesitant to do so because they thought, oh, the people are going to look down on us. And it also came out in the council that they were dealing with some unconfessed sin in their marriage. And they said, you need to deal with that sin. Now, my friend said it wasn't clear at this point whether they were actually dealing with unconfessed sin in their marriage or whether they were dealing with false shame for sin that had been confessed. But the three who were counseling them said, you've got to deal with us. Go to the cross of Jesus either way. And five days after that, he sent another update. He said, I just spoke with a husband on Saturday, and he said they're doing much better, mainly for two reasons. He's become much more serious about family worship, taking time every night to read, pray, and sing, especially before bed. And secondly, they shared their struggles with some of the stronger church members, and they started going daily to visit them and regularly encourage one another. Truly, loneliness is one of the devil's strongest footholds. These sorts of direct experiences with the demonic have been very common. in every century and every culture. I've given two examples that I know of personally. We could multiply these thousands of times over the centuries and over many cultures. Now I want to say, having said simply yes, and then given a lot of exposure to saying yes, yes, yes, this stuff is real. It still goes on. I now want to go back to Mark 9 and explore it for how we as believers should respond. Mark 9, of course, starting in verse 14 is where Jesus heals this demonized boy who his disciples were powerless to heal. Here's how I'd express the main point of Mark 9. You can be rescued from the dominion of evil if you follow King Jesus, no matter what. But there's no power if you're unwilling to follow him in suffering. There is no rescue from the dominion of evil when you ignore Jesus' crucifixion and you're unwilling to follow him in suffering. You remember, when this incident happens, it had been less than a week before, that the disciples heard that Jesus was headed to Jerusalem to suffer, and they opposed that idea that the Messiah had to die. They were apparently trying to ignore it, even when he said it on the mountain to the three who were with him, they didn't understand it. And now, those disciples are going back to their mission of representing Jesus in the world, and they find that they are powerless. to deal with this cursed world. Mark records the sequence because he understands the significance. You can be rescued from the power of evil, from the dominion, the reigning power of evil, if you follow Jesus no matter what. But if when Jesus says following me involves suffering and you get off the Jesus train at that point, no power over the curse. No power over evil. We are living in a demonically oppressed world. Jesus has decisively won. How do we live until he returns and chains up demons forever? We're challenged in three ways in the passage. The first way is this, we should grieve like Jesus. When Jesus came down from the mountain, he had just shown his majestic glory to three of his disciples, and then he goes to join up with the other nine, but he finds an argument going on. He finds this dad who's like a beggar with a demon-possessed son saying, can you do anything to help? And his nine disciples have been shown to be weak. Verse 19 records his reaction, and it's really instructive for us. Jesus grieved over the faithlessness in the culture, including, I think, the faithlessness of his own disciples. And he says, how long am I going to bear with you? He was especially grieved over how blind people's hearts were to him as king. It's like the disciples get it when they see him still the sea, but then when he says, OK, you're going to have to follow me into suffering, they forget everything they've seen. He's king. And they can't get it. It grieves them. One New Testament scholar, William Lane, just says, Jesus's poignant cry of exasperation is an expression of weariness which is close to heartbreak. Jesus is modeling grief. And notice that this grief does not paralyze him and say, I'm not going to face all these people who are grieving me. No, his grief actually moves him to engage with the world that's under the curse. The second facet, we grieve like Jesus. The second facet is we believe Jesus. Jesus grieved his culture's refusal to believe that he's God's chosen king. And he, of course, grieved his disciples' powerlessness because they weren't willing to follow him in suffering. as Jesus reviewed the symptoms with the demon-possessed boy's father. The father says, verse 22, but if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help. And Jesus, of course, like I highlighted in the scripture reading, says, if you can. The issue's not if I can. He's bothered by the insinuation that he might not be able to help. And Jesus then, in verse 23, pinpoints the issue. He says, everything is possible for the one who believes. In other words, the issue isn't Jesus's power, the issue is human faith. He's telling this dad, the rescue of your son from the power of Satan has nothing to do with whether my power is great enough to help. It has everything to do with your faith. It's not if I can, it's will you trust. In the Bible, belief or faith is not like, A fuzzy, warm, generic optimism that I hope things are going to turn out better. When Jesus is calling the culture to believe him, he's referring to a conviction that leads to life commitment. That's belief, or faith according to the scripture. It's a conviction that involves life commitment to Jesus. It is a conviction that he is God's chosen king, crucified for sinners, risen again, and returning to reign forever on earth. That's belief, a conviction that leads to a life commitment to Jesus. And this man with a demon-possessed boy realized that when Jesus confronts his problem of belief, the man blurts out in verse 24 one of the most precious cries, I believe, but help my unbelief. I think this is the turning point in this man's life. He's admitting that he's not believed Jesus to this point, that he now believes and he's in desperate need of Jesus to rid his heart of all its unwillingness to trust Jesus. Like, I still have a lot of doubts. I still have a lot of fears. I'm struggling to just put all my faith there. And Jesus rewards this man's faith, weak as it was. He saved this man's boy to prove, I think, that he saved the man. Charles Haddon Spurgeon, pastor in the heart of London, on October 14th, 1883, preached a sermon entitled, Where the If Lies, based on that if you can. Where the if lies. And he preached so powerfully, a feeble faith can receive a mighty savior. Even as a beggar with a palsied hand can receive a golden gift. The anxious father had to cry, Lord, help my unbelief. But that unbelief, when it's confessed and lamented, didn't shun him from receiving a blessing. The unbelief which lingers around our faith is a thing to be got rid of by the help of Christ. So, dear friend, If your faith in Jesus Christ amounts to this, that you believe him able to save and you trust him, you're a saved person. Even though you might be staggered with a host of fears and you're troubled with a multitude of sins, your faith has saved you. Go in peace, for that faith of yours shall grow from a mustard seed to a far spreading tree. It's not the amount of faith that saves us. Jesus saves those with a weak faith that says, I believe, but help the weakness of my faith. He saves those people. I know that we have people in this room who've not yet committed your life to Jesus. He is God's chosen king who is crucified for your sins and then raised to prove that God can justify you if you will trust him. God can reconcile you to himself forever if you will approach him through faith, life commitment to Jesus. I know there are some of you in here who are like this and I just ask, do you see yourself in this man? You've not believed Jesus to this point in your life, but maybe right now you are willing to say, I believe. I don't have all my questions answered, but God, deal with my questions. I still have doubts. Jesus, I'm gonna come saying, I believe, this much I know, you're God's crucified, risen and returning king. I believe. I'm still filled with a host of doubts, but will you come? Will you admit that you have a weak faith, but come to Jesus anyway? I urge you to follow this man's example. You're still gonna wrestle with doubts, but come to Jesus, believe him. Tell Jesus that you have a weak faith. Ask for his help to get rid of your unbelief. Tell him, I really do believe what the scripture says about you, that you can rid this whole earth of the curse. I need your help to fix me completely. Jesus will save you. He will save you even if you approach him with a weak faith. And he will then shepherd you as a weak believer to make your faith strong. Third facet, pray in Jesus's name. We get this point from verse 29. After Jesus had driven out the demon, the disciples asked him to diagnose their ineffectiveness. And Jesus said simply, this kind cannot be driven out by anything but by prayer. It's interesting, really interesting, that before he cast out the demon, he didn't pray. He had authority within himself The disciples' problem was that they ignored their need for Jesus, probably because of past successes Jesus had given them. On this occasion, Jesus says, you need to understand the critical importance of prayer. The power's not in you, it's in me. Pray for power in my name, on my authority. James Frazier was a church planter. with the China Inland Mission. This is the group that Hudson Taylor started. He began his work among the Lisu people in Southwest China in 1909. And the first 10 years among these idol worshipers were characterized by constant and intense demonic encounters. One missions biographer recounts it like this. The demonic powers held the people in this region in fear through inflicting illnesses, attacks by wild animals, spirit possession of individuals, demonstrations of special powers through mediumistic practices like climbing the sword ladder without ever being cut, and things like that. Over the decades, James found that only what he termed the prayer of faith could bring breakthroughs in the evangelistic work among the Lissou. He also came to realize that he needed urgently the backing of as many intercessors as possible. And over the years, thousands of the Lissou came to faith as the bondage of Satan was broken. His ministry among them lasted over 20 years. And he was famous for saying near the end of his life, solid, lasting missionary work is done on our knees. Two years after entire villages began to turn to Jesus, this was 1922, he wrote this back home to the people praying for him. He said, I used to think that prayer should have the first place in my life and teaching the second. But now I feel it would be truer to give prayer the first, second, and third place and teaching the fourth. Pray. I prayed earlier for Zach and for Carla. You guys, I prayed. It's like you have a target on your back. You are going to be opposed as followers of Jesus, and you will be opposed from the demonic realm. There will be insinuations. There will be demonically charged temptations. There will be lies that you are drawn toward, that you're pulled toward. And you are going to resist by prayer. You are going to resist not only by your personal prayer, but by reaching out to other people saying, pray for me, pray for me. Prayer is critical. We as Christians need to beware of two extremes when we're dealing with the reality of demons. One is ignorance, acting like they don't exist. And the other is fascination, acting like the reality of demons is the most interesting facet in all of the Bible. No, instead of ignorance or fascination, we need what I would just call a matter-of-fact approach. Demons exist. No Christian should fear demons because Jesus is Lord of every one of them. They're terrified of your Savior. Don't fear them. We should deliberately intensify our regimen of prayer, personal prayer, corporate prayer. We should play songs throughout the day that we in our spirits engage in worship of the Lord to whom those songs are pointing. We should deliberately intensify our pursuit of daily encouragement, letting other people know how we're doing, asking other people to pray for us. We should deliberately intensify our memorization of scripture, our treasuring of scripture. I would especially point you to Colossians 1 and 2 and Ephesians 1 and 2. There are paragraphs that we should memorize there and repeat to ourself and pray to the Lord. Demons are spirits and they work in the realm of the spirit. Their wheelhouse is truth and lies. What's going on in your head? Priorities. And what you're indifferent about, that's where they focus. Fears, angers, loves, hatreds. That could make everything scary. It's in the realm of the spirit. That's like a realm I don't have any control over. That's not true. It is the realm that Jesus is Lord over. You shouldn't be a bit scared. Not if you've made Jesus, who's the Lord of the demons, Lord of your life. Not if the Spirit of Jesus indwells you. And if you're a Christian, he does. Paul says it in Romans 8, if you've been justified by faith, the Holy Spirit indwells you. It shouldn't be scary if on a daily basis you yield control of your heart and mind to the truth of the Word. Yield control of your spirit to Jesus day in, day out. We have learned from Mark 9 that Jesus has the power to rescue anyone who follows him from the dominion of evil. But following him demands that we follow him no matter what, even into suffering. Let's pray. Oh God, I pray that you would equip us to resist the spiritual onslaught that takes place against our spirits. I pray that we would fill our minds, our hearts, our relationships with those songs and verses and people who can remind us of Jesus's lordship. Jesus be exalted in your name. Amen.