I am grateful to be here among God's people. There is no life that can be lived that is any more rewarding than a life that is mixed and mingled among the people of God. Behold how good and pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity. Now, unless I'm badly mistaken, that's what I feel tonight—unity. Pray for us. I approach this week with fear and trembling, and I need your prayers. I want to read the same account from two Gospels. If you'll turn with me tonight to Mark 9. First of all, Matthew 17, then Mark 9. Matthew 17. Beginning at verse 14. And when they were come to the multitude, there came to him a certain man. Not just any man, a certain man. Always a certain man. Not everybody feels the way this man does. Not every parent feels the way this man does. Not everybody that's having cases to deal with feels like this man does. But this certain man came to him. kneeling down to him and saying, Lord have mercy on my son for he is lunatic. He ain't got his right mind. He's crazy. And that's in many ways descriptive of all who are dead in trespasses and sins. They are lunatic. They are crazy. Without understanding. A man doesn't have his right mind, doesn't have good sense until he comes to the Lord. Then he starts thinking a little bit better. Start thinking right. Well, he's lunatic and sore vexed. He's not only in his, he's in a bad frame of mind, he's in a bad frame of soul. He's sore vexed in his spirit and his soul. He's in pitiful condition. Not only that, he's suicidal. Notice in the next stanza, for oftentimes, oft times, he falleth into the fire and oft into the water. He's trying to hurt himself, trying to kill himself. And I brought him to thy disciples, and they could not cure him." Now this is an interesting statement. It's not recorded just to take up space in the Bible. And Jesus answered and said, O faithless and perverse generation. Some people say there's not any rebukes to Christians in the Bible. Look at this. Jesus has to be addressing his faithless disciples. as well as the faithless man, the faithless generation. As the Lord looked out upon the whole span of the world and found no faith, certainly no faith among the non-believing. We're going to find at the close of this story, there was no faith in the believing. So this is a broad sweeping analyzation. of the human family saved and lost at this particular time, and the disciples are caught as well as the others. He's grieved and he looks and he says, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I suffer you? Bring him hither to me. And Jesus rebuked the devil and he departed out of him. And the child was cured from that very hour. Then came the disciples to Jesus apart and said, Why could not we cast him out? Notice the very particular response of the Lord. And Jesus said unto them, Because of the sovereign decrees of God. Because of your unbelief, For verily I say unto you, if you have faith as a grain of mustard seed." My grandmother used to wear a little necklace with a little grain of mustard seed on it. A little bitty thing. You ever seen one? Not very big at all, is it? A mustard seed? Jesus says it doesn't have to be big, but it does have to be real. And it does have to be there. It does have to be there. If you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place, and it shall remove, and nothing shall be impossible unto you." That's broad. That's big. That's deep. That's full. That's rich. There ain't no limit on it. It's as big as God. Wonderful! Nothing shall be impossible unto you, how be it this kind." Now, this kind, obviously, I believe, is referring... Now, there are two views to what Jesus means, and some think that He's referring to the faith that He's just mentioned. This kind of faith that would remove mountains doesn't come except by prayer and fasting. Some interpret Jesus to be speaking about faith. And if you want faith that accomplishes the impossible, then you must pray and fast. And then there are others, and I take this position particularly, that this kind is speaking of a particular kind of demon. This kind, this particular kind, goes not out, because this is what happened in the previous case. He had to go out, he had to be cast out, and he didn't go out easy. He went out as it were kicking, fussing, fighting to the very end. This kind goes not out but by prayer and fasting. Now, we're going to enhance this story. Keep your place there. We're going to read it from the Gospel of Mark chapter 9. Let's read it and we get some details that we do not get in Matthew. Mark 9. And when he came to his disciples, He saw a great multitude about them, and the scribes questioning with them, and strike way all the people when they beheld him, were greatly amazed, and running to him saluted him. And he asked the scribes, Why or what question ye with them? And we know that their questionings could not have been for receiving information leading to conversion, that they were questioning the validity and the authenticity of his ministry. They were critical, doubting, unbelieving questions designed to to question the ministry itself. Why? Because there's just been impotence manifested in this movement. This movement didn't seem to be getting anything done. This movement was floundering at this time. Here was a real grave case of bad need, and there was no power manifested. There was no deliverances wrought. There was no salvation given, and it didn't seem like this movement was accomplishing anything. Therefore, the impotency of the moment and the seemingly ineffectiveness of the Christians at that time brought all of these critical comments from these scribes. One multitude answered and said, Master, I have brought unto thee my son, which hath a dumb spirit, and whithersoever he taketh him, he teareth him, and he foameth, and gnashes away with his teeth, and pineth away. And I spake to thy disciples that they should cast him out, and they could not. And he answered him and said, O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I suffer you? Bring him unto me. And they brought him unto him. And when he saw him, straightway the Spirit poor him, and he fell on the ground and wallowed foaming. And he asked his father how long ago since this came unto him. And he said, And oft times it hath cast him into the fire and into the water to destroy him. But if thou canst do anything, have compassion on us and help us." It's interesting in the next stanza, verse 23, in Jesus' end of hymn. It's interesting how it's really worded. I understand in the original language it's worded like, the immediate response, it's like the Lord says, if you can. He just asks, the question, Lord, if you can do anything. And the Lord turns the tables and says, if you can. If you can. If you can believe. All things are possible to him that believe it. And straightway the father of the child cried out and said with tears, Lord, I believe. Help thou my unbelief. When Jesus saw that the people came running together, he rebuked the foul spirit, saying unto him, Thou dumb and deaf spirit, I charge thee, come out of him, and enter no more into him. And the spirit cried, and wren him sore, and came out of him. And he was as one dead, insomuch that many said, He is dead. But Jesus took him by the hand, and lifted him up, and he arose. And when he was come into the house, his disciples asked him privately, Why could not we cast him out? Verse 29, again, we don't have the response in its fullness, because Jesus said, because of your unbelief. Matthew, he said that. But he said unto them, This kind can come forth by nothing but by prayer and fasting. Now, I want to speak to you tonight on hard cases. Do you believe, and I believe everyone does here, that sinful man is impotent in himself to come to Christ? Do you believe that is a biblical doctrine? That man in his sinfulness and in his deadness and in his depravity will not move to God? The work of Jesus in salvation is viewed from two perspectives in the Gospels. You'll find at times Jesus coming to the impotent sinner first. the impotent person first who needs his help. And then there are other passages where there are concerned men bringing impotent men first to Jesus. Now, there's no denying that some cases with men are more pitiful, more wretched. more miserable than others. Among the children of men, we know that there are these two great classifications of the saved and the lost, but we as Calvinists tend to put all of the lost into the same category. All lost men, indeed, are in a bad state. But we find in Scripture a very clear enunciation of different degrees of sin and unbelief, even in the wicked. We find that in the Gospels there are insensible, abandoned sinners, like the demonically possessed and oppressed, where the demons are in absolute possession of the mind and the faculties of an individual. Pitiful, insensible state. We find also in the Gospels there are those that are absolutely reprobate, irrecoverable, sinners who have committed the unpardonable sin and are on the fast track to hell. beyond hope, beyond redemption. Then we find in the Gospels there are sensible thinking sinners who are hearing and thinking and asking questions like Nicodemus. We find in the Word of God that there are sinners who, after hearing the Word, have the Word wrought out of their heart quickly and are growing harder and harder and harder, day by day, like Pharaoh and like the seed on the soil. robbed by the founds. We find that there are sinners like certain lawyers. There's a certain lawyer who, after asking a good question, getting a biblical answer from the Lord, seemed to manifest understanding of what that text was saying. Jesus told him, he said, you are not far from the kingdom of God. So what I'm telling you folks, even in among men, There are different degrees of sin and wretchedness found in even the lost. Now, I want to address tonight and point out some encouraging truths that are drawn from this passage, this account. For those tonight whose lot it is to be dealing with a particularly hard case, and I mean by a particular hard case. Now let me make clear again, I'm not saying that any case with lost men, sinful men, depraved men is easy. But I'm telling you folks, there are some cases that are particularly hard, desperate to the extreme. When I'm talking about this case tonight, now I don't know where the Holy Spirit will make application in your case. I don't know what you're dealing with or what case it might be. But primarily I am speaking to those who are dealing with a case where there needs to be spiritual deliverance. People set free. And by the way, that is the most epic, monumental, wonderful, permanent healing there is. This thing of physical healing is a drop in the bucket compared to the healing of the soul. The valuable healing, the true healing, the healing that all physical healings were pointing to and seeking to bring men to was the healing of the soul, the healing of the relationship with God. Now, there's no denying as we read this passage that this was an unusually hard case. Wouldn't you say it was? The disciples found it so. They were very perplexed. And they asked the Lord why could not we cast him out. The Lord Jesus puts this particular demonic case in a separate category by saying, You'll notice, and I'm not going to have you read that, but back in Matthew 10-1 and Matthew 10-8, the disciples on their Palestinian ministry had already been endued with power over unclean spirits to cast them out. And these people that were dealing with this young lad, they were not novices. They were already experienced veterans in spiritual warfare. But this particular case, was challenging beyond anything they had experienced previously. They were stumped in this case. Mark 9, 28, their question again. Why, in verse 9, 28, why could not we cast him out? Their question alone reveals their perplexity over their pitiful, repeated, unsuccessful attempts at effecting deliverance. What had worked before? had not worked in this case. And Jesus himself identifies this demon as a particularly hard one to evict. And he said, only with the strictest devotion to God and sacrifice and dependence upon God can this kind be evicted from its human habitation. It is clear from the Word of God that some devilish cases, some cases among children, some cases among family members, some cases among friends, are more wicked, more malicious, more determined than others. There is a hierarchy of strength in the underworld. Not all demons have the same strength or the same determination. We find a commentary by the Lord Jesus explaining the phenomena of apostate when He said in Luke 11, 26 about this man who becomes repossessed with demons, with a demon that had left its home. Then goeth he and bringeth, notice this, seven other spirits more wicked than himself. Degrees of wickedness. And they enter in and dwell there. We find that that's so in the Gospels. Some demons, upon seeing Jesus Christ, immediately cowed down and started, as it were, plea bargaining. And this kind, upon seeing Jesus, only manifest the gravest contempt and insubordination by Christ by demonstrating His malicious powers and blowing the child down and saying, look what I can do. And it doesn't start plea bargaining at all. Now, indeed, this is a deeply mysterious subject, but we can learn from the Scriptures as well as from experience. Some of the cases that you're dealing with with your children are particularly hard. Some of the cases that you're dealing with your loved ones or your friends are particularly difficult, unusually grievous, horribly hard, terribly destructive, incredibly perplexing. not quickly solved. Do you believe that? That's my point. All cases with lost men are hard, but some cases are harder than others. Cases where nothing you do or say seems to change it for the better, and the situation is utterly desperate. I speak this again to you, either have ears to hear or let them hear. The second point from the text is, if you have been given by God a desperate case, how are you dealing with it? There are plenty of cases that are desperate and wretched in this world, myriads of cases that are desperate and wretched where no one cares, no one's burdened, no one prays. and they're running their natural course and they're going to end tragedy. We have actually in the gospel account that I've read to you two cases that's focused upon. We have the tired, bewildered father is just as much in view as the beleaguered son. in this case, is being dealt with and taught as much as with a son. If you've been given a hard case, how are you dealing with it? Whatever your case is, it may be with a hard son, a hard daughter, a hard loved one, a friend that you've taken a particular interest in. What kind of impact? I'm asking you, what kind of impact is it having on you? How is the sinful, insubordinate, rebellious, wicked, miserable state of your loved one affecting you? Is it just irritating you? Is it just making you mad? Is it getting in your way? Is it inconveniencing your life? Is it just embarrassing you among friends? Or is it really driving you to desperate straits to where you must have a solution? I have run across people that I know that are determined not to let themselves be bothered too much with their lost children. I've had actually people say, well, my children are lost, but I'm not going to be bothered about it too much. If they're elect, they'll be saved. But if there's Esau's, there's nothing I can do about it anyway. Have you seen that attitude? My point is, how is your hard case affecting you? Yes, there are plenty of cases where people stand aloof from those cases and say, well, whatever will be, will be. But then there are those rare and good occasions in which those who have a suffering loved one who, suffering the wretchedness and the works of the devil to the extreme, are vicariously suffering in the place of their sinful, lost, evil loved one. And how a blessed situation this is when there is someone on hand with a relative or a friend who suffers in his heart deeply because of his loved one's troubles. The most godly and spiritual thing you can do in this world, the most Christlike thing that you can do in this world is to vicariously suffer. What do I mean by that? I mean, in the Scriptures, vicarious. That is when you find a case where there's chronic need, a case where there's foul works of the enemy, a case where there's demonic oppression, a case where there's a need of deliverance and salvation. There is someone on hand who takes that case to heart and is burdened and bewildered and suffers. Do you not hear in Mark 9, verse 22, the pitiful distress in a man's voice when he says, if thou can do anything, have compassion on us and help us? Now folks, I'm going to tell you this. When individuals start vicariously suffering in the place of their loved one, That begins to move and catch the ear of the Almighty. The degree of your grief in a bad situation may very well be an indication of the nature of the outcome in that particular situation. There seems to be in Scripture a very close connection to the burden carried by a parent or a friend or a concerned individual, and the healing or the deliverance of that son or daughter or friend or individual. You find it all through the Gospels. In Matthew 8, 5 and 6, the Roman centurion, who was empathetically and vicariously suffering in the place of his own servant, who came and besought the Lord for a miracle. You find it in Mark 9, the Gospels. Chapter 5, 22 and 23, with Jairus, the ruler of the synagogue, who had a daughter that was at the point of death, who came pleading for the help of Christ. You find it in Matthew 15, verse 22, with a Grecian-Syro-Phoenician mother who came and sought Christ out, and she said, Lord, have mercy on my daughter, for she is grievously vexed with a demon. You find in Mark chapter 2, verse 3 through 5, with the four friends of the paralyzed man who broke up the roof to get their paralyzed friend that they loved down in the presence of the Savior. And the Scripture says, when Jesus saw their fate. My point is, what kind of problem is it to you to have a problem child? What kind of burden is it to you to have a lost friend, a loved one? Is it just a little irritation? Or is it a consuming motivation to find a real, authentic, divine solution? The sincere, empathetic, vicarious sufferings of this Father were not in vain. It led to Christ. Eventually Christ did call, bringing to me good news. And it turned out good. But I want you to notice something. Notice how this father was questioned by the Lord, as though the Lord was bringing out an honest confession. This is your child? You mean you've got a child that this is your child? This child that falls down foaming? This child that is bad? This child that is lunatic? This child that is sorbic? This child that is embarrassing you? You mean that's your child? How long has he been this way? Notice how open and honest the father is about his son's condition. There wasn't anything to be proud about about the condition of this child, but the father was willing to expose this hard case to the Lord, to the disciples, and to everybody else in order to get help. I found out something, folks. As long as we're secretive, as long as we're too embarrassed and got too much pride, to really admit how painful and deep and serious the problem is, it's doubtful that there's going to be any change for the better. For you see, in our cases, often God is getting at our pride and vanity through our problem and through our troubled loved one that we are forced to deal with. Is our grief, our love, our burden, our compassion outweighing our pride in these manners? Or are we tempted to varnish over, well, Lord, he's not that bad? A fault not confessed, a need never exposed, a state not honestly faced rarely finds correction. Thirdly, in hard cases there's usually a prolonged disappointment, letdowns, heartbreaks when doing good things. Now get this, in hard cases there's usually prolonged disappointments, letdowns. Verse 18, Mark 9, And whithersoever he taketh him, he tareth him, and he foameth and gnasheth with his teeth, and pineth away. And I spoke to thy disciples, that they should cast him out. And they could not. This man, how did he come to know that he should bring his son to the Lord and to these disciples? Well, they see they had a Palestinian ministry in which already multitudes were delivered of the demonic spirits. And so he comes. And what does he come? He comes to find more disappointment. He was doing all the spiritual good and godly things he knew to do, but he was meeting with disappointment. This is not rare in hard cases. Remember the Syrophoenician woman whose daughter was grievously vexed and she knew the Lord could heal her daughter. Would you remember what the Lord said to her? Called her a dog. Then she cried out to the disciples and the disciples said, send her away, she's bothering us. Disappointment. And that's what's so hard and bewildering about these cases. You try praying, you pray, but there's no change. You've tried talking to the person, it doesn't seem to work. You've preached to them, it doesn't seem to work. You've threatened, it doesn't seem to work. You've tried psychology, and it only gets worse. You've tried the experts trained to deal with hard cases, and there's no improvement. You've tried the spiritual principles from the Scripture that you know. I'm asking this in your particular hard case. Have you exhausted the gamut of conventional and spiritual good solutions, all to no avail? He said, well, I've been praying for years and nothing's happened. What are you going to do? Have you exhausted the arm of the flesh? Have you exhausted everybody else's arm? Have you used up all of your strength and wisdom in trying to find an answer? You're exhausted. You're frustrated. Your faith is shaken to the roots. You're doing everything right and good. What else can you do? What else can you do? You've been doing good things. No change. Nothing happening. You'll have to wait on God to show up. You see, in this day when we are accustomed to quick things and quick fixes, it's hard to have to wait on God. But this is often exactly the case. God makes us wait. And sometimes he has us to wait a long time. My point also is in waiting, in exhausting the gamut of good resources, have you learned in your particular hard case, have you experienced the impotency of Christ's disciples? Verse 18, I spoke to thy disciples that they should cast him out and they could not. Have you experienced that in your hard case? that you've had the evangelists or you've had the preachers preach and you've had your children listen to them and no change? You've looked to the church or fellow Christians to pull you through and pull this situation through? You've looked to good men, favorite preachers to say the right things? You've even sought out men of reputation, men whom you know who have been instrumental in other cases and situations? And you're learning the impotency of Christ's disciples? Beloved, it's so easy to think of ministers and men of God and other Christians. It's easy for us to think that there's other Christians and that there's other preachers and that there's other servants of the Lord that have more influence with God than I do. That is a lie. Men can and are used of God, but human instrumentality is very delicate, very volatile, and very conditional. Men that may be used in this case are not used in this case. Have you learned the impotency of the church to help you? Have you learned the impotency of the preacher to help you? When we trust flesh and blood in any degree, we're going to be disappointed. Jeremiah 75, Thus saith the Lord, Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, whose heart departeth from the Lord. This brings me to my next point. Have you run the gamut of solutions with no change? It is common in hard cases to suffer many disappointments, many letdowns, many heartbreaks with absolutely no change. My next one is this, be there nothing good or encouraging in your hard case at the present. Don't give up hope. Now let me tell you something God loves. I know He does. I read it in the Word. He loves, loves, loves to look down into your heart and see this energy, this intrinsic thing called trust and faith. and reaching out for Him and holding on to Him. He loves that. God loves to see hope alive in our hearts. Things looked the worse. Things looked the worse when this child was close to being delivered. Know this verse 20? Mark 9. And they brought him unto him, and when he saw him, straightway the spirit tear him, and fell on the ground, and wallowed. And he fell. Pretty bad state. Things looked very bad. But Jesus was at hand. The darkest hour, in most hard cases, is just before daybreak. Now what are you going to do? Now what I'm saying is this. What are you going to do when you've got a hard case and you're going through some prolonged disappointment? Are you going to give up your hope in God? Are you going to quit trusting God to save and deliver? Are you going to concede this bad situation to the devil? That's what you're doing when you're giving up hope in God. When you give up hope, you're ready to say that the powers of darkness are too strong in this particular case. that they're going to win. Is that the way you want it? I'm saying, he that hath ears to hear, let him hear. Is sin, hell, confusion, rebellion, death, the will of the wicked one going to be bowed to? Giving up hope is like saying, God can't. Devil, you can. Or are you beginning to console yourself in your hopeless, prolonged disappointment by thinking a bad ending is the will of God. It's easy to reconcile yourself when you've got a hard case to deal with, but there's never going to be any change. So therefore, this must be the sovereign will of God. We don't like to carry any responsibility here, do we? We like everything to fall on the sovereign will of God. They're never going to be saved. They're not among the left. Well, my question tonight, if you've got a hard situation, are you content? Are you ready for that situation to have a bad ending? Are you ready to accept the darkness, the evil, confusion, the disappointment, the disobedience, the devilishness, the death, the hell, the destruction of your loved one as the sovereign will of God? Don't let the doctrine of God's sovereignty make you indifferent as how this matter ends up. When you give up hope, you're saying, Well, all of my previous hope in God, all my previous prayers, all my previous expectations was a lie, was a delusion, was a waste of time. Are you ready to conceive that all of your prayers, hopes, concerns, burdens and worries were all for nothing? See, I'm putting you in a box. If you've got a hard case, you've got to continue to hope. Or you ain't got any hope. And if you ain't got hope, what have you got? Are you ready to be of the opinion? My dear fellow saints, are you ready in your hard case to be of the opinion and of the persuasion that the heathen parent who knows nothing, believes nothing, cares nothing for the outcome of his family or loved ones is on the same ground as you? Just as well off as you? Seeing that when you give up hope, You're conceding that the outcome is going to be bad. It brings me to my final point. In hard cases, friends, the issue is not sovereignty, not depravity, not the devil's power. Are you ready for a little dose of responsibility? The issue in hard cases is your faith, your continued prayers, and your fasting. Mark 9, 22 through 24, Matthew 17, 20 and 21. For the Lord said here in this text, if I did not read him wrong, Lord Jesus, I hope I'm not misrepresenting what you said. If I heard my Lord in this passage, he says, nothing is impossible. Nothing is too hard. Nothing is hopeless. Christ can change things within an hour. Do you believe He can? Do you believe He will? Is your case more extraordinary? Is your problem more complex? Is your case too far gone? Folks, I'm telling you here, I'm here appointed by God to tell you that yes, even in your case, it is possible for a good outcome. Brother Don, I just can't believe it. That's your problem. He that hath ears to hear. The difficulty doesn't matter. The probability doesn't matter. The depth of sin doesn't matter. the years gone by without change doesn't matter, he can do the impossible. He can save for the uttermost. He is a sovereign Lord of all spirits and all men and all flesh and everything is under his authority and he specializes in impossibilities. Don't even think, my dear friends, about giving up hope. Whatever your case, Because you're locked to deal with it, if you're dealing with it, and you're suffering, and you want an authentic divine solution in it, don't even think. Don't even think about giving up hope. I ask you tonight, does the healing and health recorded in this passage, is it simply cold theological history? Or is it given in the Word of God to be a living word to encourage modern Christian parents, modern Christian servants? So, which is the real culprit when situations are unsolved in man? Is it depravity, sin, the devil, sovereignty? Our Lord identified the real culprit when the disciples Why could not we cast him out? The real culprit was identified as rank unbelief, neglect of prayer, and neglect of fasting. Now, right now you're preaching legalistic things. I don't know if they're legalistic or not. But I know this, this kind goes not out. with my prayer and fasting. What is fasting? Not hypocritical, just religious show, but when you're so burdened about a matter and so concerned about it that you're leaving off eating, it's consumed you, and you're pouring everything you've got into prayer. There's a mysterious connection existing in the Bible between our faith and our health. There's a relationship between our dedication and discipline, our fasting, our determination, and the outcome. Victorious endings in the scripture are not emotionless, effortless, prayerless affairs.