The following sermon is by Boyd Johnson, pastor of Treasuring Christ Church in Athens, Georgia. More information about Treasuring Christ Church can be found at tccathens.org. For more than 300 years, the most famous painting in all the world was a work by the Renaissance master Raphael. It was completed shortly after the Reformation began and is entitled The Transfiguration. Personally, it's not a painting to my tastes, but there is one detail about it that I think is interesting. The painting depicts two stories in the gospels, one in the top half of the painting, one in the bottom half of the painting. The top half depicts Jesus' transfiguration. with Moses and Elijah and the three disciples, Peter, James, and John. And as you'd expect, the hues in this top half are bright and your eye is drawn to a white cloud that dominates the canvas. The bottom half of the painting depicts the story of Jesus' deliverance of a demon-possessed boy. which is the story that comes after Jesus' transfiguration in all the accounts of Matthew, Mark, and Luke. And in this half, the hues are dark, the shadows are deep, and the color black dominates the canvas. It's an interesting creative choice to depict both scenes in one painting. Clearly, Raphael intended to contrast the two stories through the use of light and dark hues. Now, we certainly don't look to a painting in order to interpret the Bible, but true Christians throughout the centuries have likewise recognized the striking contrast between Jesus' transfiguration on the top of the mountain and what happened when He returned to the bottom. Perhaps John MacArthur said it best when he contrasted the two stories. I'm paraphrasing his summary. The first happened on a mountain. The second happened in the valley below. In the first, there was glory. In the second, there was suffering. In the first, fallen men were in holy wonder. In the second, there was a fallen son in unholy horror. The contrast between what happened on the top of the mountain and the bottom of the mountain must have been particularly stark for Peter, James, and John, who accompanied Jesus throughout this journey. On the top of the mountain, they were privileged to see what no one else had ever seen, the radiance of Jesus' divine nature shining through the veil of His humanity. But back down at the mountain bottom, they returned to a large crowd, an intense choral, and a demon-possessed boy, despite the disturbing scene. This story of what happened when Jesus got to the bottom of the mountain is one of the most beautiful stories in all the gospel of Mark. It's convicting, and it's comforting, and there are important lessons for us to learn. So let's look at it. Mark 9, beginning in verse 14 through verse 29. And when they came to the disciples, they saw a great crowd around them and scribes arguing with them. And immediately all the crowd, when they saw Him, were greatly amazed and ran up to Him and greeted Him. And He asked them, What are you arguing about with them? And someone from the crowd answered him, Teacher, I brought my son to you, for he has a spirit that makes him mute, and whenever it seizes him, it throws him down, and he foams and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid. So I asked your disciples to cast it out, and they were not able. And he answered them, O faithless generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him to me. And they brought the boy to him. And when the spirit saw him, immediately it convulsed the boy, and he fell on the ground and rolled about, foaming at the mouth. And Jesus asked his father, how long has this been happening to him? And he said, from childhood. And it is often cast him into fire and into water to destroy him. But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us. And Jesus said to him, if you can, all things are possible for one who believes. Immediately the father of the child cried out and he said, I believe. Help my unbelief. And when Jesus saw that a crowd came running together, He rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, You mute and deaf spirit, I command you, come out of him and never enter him again. And after crying out and convulsing him terribly, it came out. And the boy was like a corpse, so that most of them said, He'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 could we not cast it out? And He said to them, This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer. Well, this is a lengthy passage, so I want to get right to it. Just as we've done with other longer passages, we'll first study the story and then think about its significance for our lives. And the story begins the day after the transfiguration. Jesus led Peter, James, and John back down the mountain to reunite with the other nine disciples. But when they found them, they weren't alone. The nine disciples had gotten themselves into a tense situation. Surrounding the disciples was a great crowd. The crowd probably came from the villages surrounding Caesarea Philippi, which is where they were. Quite a number of Jews resided in that area, though the area was largely dominated by Gentiles. The people in the crowd had heard that Jesus was in the area, and so they had come to find him. Among those gathered were also scribes. These men were official teachers in Israel, supposed experts in the Mosaic law and the traditions of the elders. They too had heard that Jesus had come, but they didn't come so much to see Him, but to oppose Him as they always did. According to verse 14, when Jesus arrived, the scribes were arguing with the nine disciples who had remained behind. The topic of what they were arguing about is not stated, but as we'll see, it seems to have been about the disciples' failure to deliver a boy from a demon. And nevertheless, when the crowd saw that Jesus had arrived, they were greatly amazed and ran up to Him and greeted Him. " Now, that's frequently how crowds responded to Jesus wherever He went. They were amazed by His miracles. You might recall that in Capernaum, they were amazed when He cast out the demon in the synagogue. Chapter 1, verse 27. and healed the paralytic who was brought to Him through the roof of a house." Chapter 2, verse 12. In the country of the Gerasenes, the east side of the Sea of Galilee, they were amazed when He delivered the man of a legion of demons. Chapter 5, verse 15. In Nazareth, they were amazed by the mighty works He did by His hands. Chapter 6, verse 1. in the Decapolis. They were amazed when Jesus healed the deaf man. Chapter 7, verse 37. Over and over again. The astonishment of crowds is a theme in Mark's gospel. But this is the only time that it's not in response to either a miracle that he performed or a teaching that he gave. In fact, Jesus hadn't done anything or said anything to this crowd, and yet they rushed to Him, greatly amazed. Why? Why were they so amazed? Well, some have speculated that perhaps Jesus' face or clothing was still glowing from His transfiguration, like Moses when he came down Mount Sinai after seeing God. But based on the context, I don't think that's the reason. If Jesus retained an afterglow, that's a detail you think that the gospel writers would include. But the impression we're left with in both, well, in Matthew, Mark, and Luke, is that Jesus' appearance immediately returned to normal when the transfiguration was over. When the transfiguration was over, Moses and Elijah left, the cloud of the Father's presence vanished, and Jesus' majestic glory was once again veiled by His humanity. Jesus even demanded that the disciples keep His transfiguration a secret. And He ordered them to say nothing about it whatsoever until He had risen from the dead. It's hard to imagine how the transfiguration could remain a secret if His face and clothing were still shining as He came to the other disciples and the crowd. " However, perhaps Jesus' descent from the Mount of Transfiguration is intended to be an echo of Moses' descent from the Mount of Sinai. Moses had seen the glory of God and his face shone and reflected it. Jesus was the glory of God and his presence revealed it. Regardless, the reason for the crowd's amazement was not that Jesus looked any different than he usually did. It was simply that Jesus was there. His presence filled them with wonder. They had heard all the great things He had done elsewhere. And Jesus had now come to their land, to their villages and their homes in a place where they wouldn't expect Him. And so when they saw Him, they were astonished because Jesus is amazing. And there He was. This crowd was filled with exuberance and wonder, which Mark conveys with a single Greek verb that only he uses in the New Testament, but it is a quite strong verb. It's a verb that always expresses an extreme state of emotional intensity. Here it's translated, greatly amazed. But elsewhere, Mark uses it to refer to Jesus' distress when he went into the garden of Gethsemane to pray. Or the women's alarm when they entered Jesus' tomb and saw an angel sitting there. This crowd was thrilled with awe and enthusiasm at the sight of Jesus. It was almost uncontainable. They were beyond ecstatic. And so naturally, they rushed toward Him and greeted Him. But Jesus immediately knew there was tension among them all when He came upon the scene, and so He confronted the situation with a question in order to draw out the dispute. He asked, verse 16, what are you arguing about with them? It's not stated who Jesus asked this question to, whether it was to the disciples or to the crowd or to the scribes. But since the scribes were the ones arguing with His disciples in verse 14, it appears Jesus directed His question to them and demanded to know from the scribes their accusations against His disciples. Well, the enthusiasm of the crowd was chilled by Jesus' question. The scribes didn't answer. Neither did His disciples. Everyone was silent until one man spoke up. He said, verse 17, "'Teacher, I brought My Son to you.' For he has a spirit that makes him mute, and whenever it seizes him, it throws him down, and he foams and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid. So I asked your disciples to cast it out, and they were not able." The man who spoke was the father of a boy. His father was brokenhearted because his son was possessed by a demon, an unclean spirit. According to Luke's account, the boy was his only child. From a young age, this demon had seized the boy. Each time it would throw him down upon the ground, cause him to foam at the mouth and grind his teeth and make him rigid as if he were having an epileptic seizure. But it wasn't a seizure. It wasn't the result of any medical condition. It was caused by the torment of a demon. And again and again this happened. Each time the demon inflicted more trauma upon the boy's body and mind as he threw him to the ground. And to add to the cruelty, the demon also made the boy mute, as we'll see in verse 25, deaf, mute and deaf. When these demonic seizures occurred, neither the son nor the father could communicate with each other. The son couldn't cry out to his father, and the father couldn't comfort him. If the father ever prayed to God for his son's deliverance, the son never heard those prayers. The father had longed for his son's deliverance, and he long feared that nothing could be done for the boy. But then one day, word spread that Jesus had come to the villages of Caesarea Philippi, and the man had hope. Evidently, he knew that Jesus had the power to deliver people from demons, and so he went to see Jesus. But when he got there, he found only the nine disciples. Jesus was nowhere to be found. Jesus was up on the mountain with Peter, James, and John. Nevertheless, the man, still hopeful, asked the disciples to cast out the demons. But they weren't able. The man's hope of deliverance for his boy was dashed twice. First, when he discovered Jesus was not there, and second, when the disciples couldn't cast out the demon. This is what led to the argument. The scribes either learned of the disciples' failed attempt to cast out the demon or they witnessed it themselves. Whatever the case, they seized upon the opportunity to publicly discredit them and their teacher, Jesus Christ. The disciples themselves couldn't understand why they couldn't cast it out. After all, in chapter 3, Jesus appointed these men as his apostles, quote, so that he might send them out to preach and have authority to cast out demons. In fact, Jesus previously did send them out all across Galilee to do just that. According to chapter 6, verse 13, they cast out many demons. and anointed with oil many who were sick and healed them. But they couldn't cast out the demon in this boy. As we'll see, the reason the disciples couldn't dislodge this demon wasn't for lack of power, but for lack of faith. That's why Jesus responded as he did in verse 19, O faithless generation, How long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? Who was Jesus speaking to? The disciples? The Father? The scribes? The crowd? Well, this word generation indicates that He wasn't speaking to any one of them alone, but all of them together. It's a term that views them collectively as people characterized by lack of faith. To be sure, they weren't all the same. There were degrees of unbelief among them. Some partial, some total. Eleven of the twelve disciples truly believed in Jesus, though their trust in Him wasn't what it should have been for having walked with Him for so long. But Judas and the scribes were hard-hearted in their unbelief. Their unbelief was total. Those in the crowd likely had no more than superficial belief in Jesus' miracles, but not belief in Him personally as the Lord and Messiah. Even the Father was doubting, as we'll see. So standing before Jesus were people who proved their lack of faith and they argued with one another. Meanwhile, a boy was suffering. Suffering the affliction of a demon. Jesus expressed his disappointment and grief over their lack of faith with two rhetorical questions. How long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? These questions echo God's response to unbelieving Israel in the days after the Exodus and their wilderness wanderings. God said in Exodus 16, verse 28, how long will you refuse to keep my commandments and my laws? And in Numbers 14, verse 11, how long will they not believe in me in spite of all the signs that I have done among them? In those days, Israel was characterized by its hard-hearted unbelief, and God described them as rebellious, stubborn, crooked, twisted, and a perverse generation. In that sense, nothing really had changed. They were still characterized by their unbelief, despite all the signs that Jesus had done among them. Nevertheless, Jesus, full of mercy and compassion, said to the father, Bring him to me. He would give this man more than he deserved. Apparently, the boy was out of sight from where Jesus stood, so they brought him to Jesus. That word brought in verse 20 implies that the boy needed special assistance in coming. Perhaps he was carried, which is why it took more than one person to bring him. And when he was brought near to Jesus, the demonic spirit within him immediately convulsed the boy and he fell on the ground and rolled about foaming at the mouth. That word convulse describes violent shaking as if tearing apart the boy from the inside. When the demon saw Jesus, he must have known that he would be cast out and that his doom was sure. And so the Spirit determined to unleash His full fury on the boy in an attempt to destroy him once and for all. Surprisingly, Jesus didn't heal him immediately. The boy was before Him, rolling about on the ground, foaming at the mouth, convulsing as if he was being torn apart. And instead, he asked the boy's father, how long has this been happening to him? Well, that wasn't a question to determine a diagnosis. It was a question that was designed to elicit a response from the father that would show how hopeless the situation was. This boy had been demon possessed from a very young age. He's called a child in verse 24. The demon kept trying to destroy him by throwing him into a fire to burn him and into water to drown him. What a horrible existence. The boy likely bore scars on his body from the burns and the beatings he took. had to be traumatizing for the father too. Again and again he had to rescue his only child from the brink of death. They were desperate. If the boy wasn't rescued from the demon, it would one day succeed in killing him. Their only hope was deliverance and so they came to Jesus because he had cast out demons from others. Surely he could do the same for the boy. But the father's faith wavered when the disciples weren't able to cast the demon out. Now he wasn't certain whether Jesus could either. And so he said to Jesus in verse 22, if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us. Of course, the father still hoped for full deliverance, but They were so weary that he longed for any relief that Jesus could give them. And he begged for compassion and help. If his boy was to be rescued from the demon, he would need both Jesus' power and his willingness to use it on their behalf. The father's words revealed his heart. He had some faith in Jesus, but he also doubted. His faith was weak and incomplete. When Jesus delivered others of demons or healed them of their diseases, He didn't require them to first express full and complete trust in Him. But this situation was different because the disciples themselves were also lacking in faith. They trusted Jesus, but not as they ought. Their faith needed to grow in order for them to be faithful witnesses of Jesus' death and resurrection. They would need greater faith to endure the sufferings to come and to carry out their mission as apostles. A lesson needed to be learned. And so for the sake of both the Father and the disciples, Jesus seized upon the man's doubt and rebuked his lack of faith. He said to him in verse 23, if you can, All things are possible for one who believes. It wasn't a question of whether Jesus had the power to overcome the demon that seized the boy. The boy's condition was not beyond his ability to help. He'd delivered countless people of demons before, just as the father knew, and was never unsuccessful. What the man needed was to fully trust in Jesus. to seek help from God while doubting Him dishonors Him. God's not obligated to help. On the other hand, what honors God is full and complete trust in Him, a faith that comes from an unwavering heart. With God, all things are possible, so the man needed to believe. All things can be done for the one characterized by faith, even the seemingly impossible. Well, hearing this, the man was immediately cut to the heart. He cried out in verse 24, I believe. Help my unbelief. I think this may be the most honest confession in all scripture. He really did believe in Christ. That's why he came in the first place, but he also recognized that he doubted when the disciples couldn't cast out the demon. And all of us who believe in Christ find ourselves in exactly the same condition. We don't have perfect faith. Our faith isn't what it should be. We doubt. We waver. Sin in our life is proof of our weak faith. If we fully believed in the promises of God, why would we ever give in to the enticements of sin? Sin tempts us to believe that life is most fully lived in rebellion. And yet God promises life and abundance comes through faith and obedience to Him. Our giving in to sin is a failure of faith. The Father's faith, weak as it was, is actually a wonderful example for us. His faith was small, but it was true. And so when He realized His unbelief, He asked Jesus for help. That's what faith is. That's what faith is. It's casting yourself upon God and depending on Him for all that you need. That's what this father did. He begged Jesus for help, both for his boy and for the faith that he ought to have. Charles Spurgeon said, this man's faith was not perfect faith. Though it obtained for him the healing of his son, it was weak faith, and for its weakness he was blameable. But the faultiness of his faith was not the destruction of his faith. A feeble faith can receive a mighty Savior." Well, that's true. Thank God that's true. It's not the size of faith that saves, but only the presence of faith that saves. Even a mustard seed size of faith. The Father's confession and plea were what Jesus was after, so the lesson He wanted His disciples to learn was now out in the open. Meanwhile, as Jesus and the man talked, the crowd continued to grow in size. More and more people were coming, the crowding around Jesus, eager to see Him and perhaps witness His miraculous power. There was a time, not many months before, when Jesus would have welcomed such a crowd. He traveled from place to place and performed miracles for the masses while preaching a message of repentance in the coming kingdom to spread the gospel of God. But the situation was different now, that His crucifixion was only months away. His ministry was no longer for the masses, but for His 12 disciples. All that he did focused on training them for their future commission and preparing them for his death and resurrection. And so according to verse 25, when Jesus saw that a crowd came running together, he took immediate action to cast out the demons so that he and his disciples could retreat to a private place. 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. Jesus demonstrated His authority over all demonic powers by commanding this unclean spirit to leave the boy. What the disciples could not do, Jesus did in an instant. This is the only time in the Gospels that Jesus cast out an unclean spirit with the words, never enter him again. It's possible for a demon to leave a person and come back. That may have happened with this boy. As we saw in verse 18, the demon would come and seize the boy and then throw him down and cause him great harm. But Jesus assured the father that would never happen again. When Jesus cast out the demon, it was permanent. This would have given the father much needed comfort for the horror they had been living through. It was truly over. And so for a final time, the demon raged against the boy, even as it was forced to obey Jesus's order. After crying out, verse 26, and convulsing him terribly, it came out and the boy was like a corpse, so that most of them said, he's dead. For a moment, it looked like the demon killed the boy as he departed. A final act of vengeance against the child and his family. The boy lay motionless. He didn't move. Most thought he hadn't survived. But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up and he rose. The boy wasn't dead, he was alive. His healing was complete. He was healthy and able to stand on his own. Seeing this, perhaps Peter, James, and John remember back to when Jesus had raised Jairus' daughter from the dead in almost exactly the same way. He took her by the hand, commanded her to rise, and she got up. It seems this boy hadn't died, but in a sense it was as though he had been resurrected. Free from the demon, he had a new life. A new life because of the touch of Jesus. After this, Jesus and his disciples retreated to a home, likely the place where they were staying. Verse 28 says, when he had entered the house, his disciples asked him privately, why could we not cast it out? The nine disciples still brooded over their spectacular failure. They couldn't understand why they weren't able to do what they had done numerous times before. They looked like fools attempting to cast out a demon that would not budge. The scribes heaped ridicule upon them for their impotence. And so away from the hosts of the house, they asked Jesus, what had gone wrong? Jesus' answer was simple, but utterly devastating. It was an indictment of their lack of faith and struck a blow at their pride. He said to them in verse 29, This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer. It was true that Jesus had previously endowed them with the power to cast out demons. And so having done it before, they took for granted that they could do it again. But the power to do such wonders was His. and delegated to them to be exercised by faith. There can be no ministry in the name of Jesus apart from reliance on God to empower the work. Yet they sought to serve in the power of their own strength and neglected prayer. As a result, they weren't able to cast out the demon. They didn't have power in themselves. They only had a power to be exercised by faith. We know from elsewhere in Scripture that there are different kinds of demons. Ephesians 6.12. Apparently, this one was particularly strong. The only way that it could have been driven out was by prayer. Full reliance on God. And what is prayer? Well, it's the heart's expression of dependence upon God. We ask God in prayer to do what we cannot do, trusting that He is able and willing to help. That's the essence of faith, isn't it? True prayer is faith vocalized. Those with growing faith pray. Those with little faith don't. It's as simple as that. And so the disciples' prayerlessness actually revealed that their faith was lacking. They trusted in themselves to do the works of God rather than trusting in God. In fact, in Matthew's account, he records that Jesus responded that they could not cast out the demon because of their little faith. Little faith. It wasn't that they had no faith, but that their faith in God was small, weak, not what it should have been. They trusted in themselves so they didn't pray and the demon refused to come out. As I said at the beginning of this sermon, there are lessons for us in this story. It's recounted in the gospels so that we would recognize lack of faith in our lives as well. In this story, deficient faith is exposed in two ways. Deficient faith is exposed in two ways. The father's lack of faith was exposed by his doubt. The disciples' lack of faith was exposed by their prayerlessness. Have you seen either of these symptoms of deficient faith in your life? Do you have secret doubts about whether God loves you? Or cares for your needs? Or has the power to overcome your trials? Do you sometimes wonder whether He exists at all? Likewise, do you really pray? Are your prayers sparse and shallow? Do you serve in your own strength and rush ahead without thought of prayer? When you look back over your day, do you see a thread of prayer that binds it all together? Or is the distinctive thing about the day what's not there? A lack of prayer. You might very well be a believer who struggles with doubt and struggles with prayer, but these symptoms expose a deficiency of faith. And so what should you do? Well, since both doubt and prayerlessness are symptoms of a weak, deficient faith, then the remedy is simple, and it's found in our story. The remedy is to humble yourself and cry out to God, I believe, help my unbelief. God is eager to answer that prayer for you. Just as Jesus was eager to answer that prayer for the man who had a demon-possessed boy and needed his compassion and help, And if you've never truly trusted in Christ alone for the forgiveness of your sins, then you too must humble yourself and you should cry out to God, help me to believe. Help me to believe. And I want you to know that God is eager to answer that prayer for you as well. Will you bow your heads with me in prayer? Heavenly Father, we know that you do exist and that you are loving and gracious and caring and sovereign. We also know that you hear our prayers, even those from weak faith. And so hear our cries this morning for more faith. Help us to depend on you for all that we do and to thread our days with the vocalization of our faith in prayer. And for those who don't know you savingly, we ask that you would grant them the faith to believe in you. The faith to believe in Christ who paid the penalty for their sins on the cross, that they would be forgiven and have eternal life. Father, we believe Help our unbelief. We pray in the name of our Savior. Amen. Thank you for listening to this message from Treasuring Christ Church in Athens, Georgia. Feel free to make copies of this message to give to others, but please do not alter the content in any way without permission. Treasuring Christ Church exists to spread a passion for the fame of Christ's name in Athens and around the world. We invite you to visit Treasuring Christ Church online at tccathens.org. There you'll find other resources available to you and information about our upcoming gatherings.