Mark's Gospel

Thanks, Rich. Well, I'm very leaving. It's great to see you all here. My name is Ben, and I'm gonna be looking at this passage in Mark. And we've had read to us Mark 9, and I'm gonna focus on first 14 to 29.

And it's gonna give us an overview of this passage, the healing of a boy with an evil spirit. And if you've been here, you've known me working our way through this mark series. We've been chugging away through for 2 years now. Maybe you'll finish in 10 years time or something, get to the end. The pinnacle of the book at some point.

But I'm I'm really excited to be stuck into this book. And if you've been with us so far, we've been going through Mark 1 to 9 Looking at who is Jesus. That was the big question we were trying to answer. Who is Jesus? And we've just had the revelation that Jesus is Christ.

That's where the book's been going. That's where it's been building up to. And you can catch those settlements online. You can listen to them. And last week, it was Paul Langman.

We were looking at the transfiguration. We've just had that reds. And it's a fascinating events in history, the transfiguration of Jesus, a massive event in history, a massive of event in the book of Mark, and we're moving on to another event as well, moving to this event with evil spirits, a bloody a less known event. Nonetheless, very important for teaching us. And there's so much going on.

There's quite a few verses. So I'm gonna pray before we get stuck into these verses. Well, we we thank you for your word. It teaches us so much. We thank you that you have you have spoken in this way and explain things so clearly.

But we thank you that there's a series of Mark's been teaching us about your son, Jesus, And we saw last week how glorious he was, how great and majestic. And, Lord, this week, we see the percent of that. We see Satan. So it'll all be prayer. You would you would remind us of what we hear.

You would gear us up for what we're about to hear. And may you teach us and grow us in maturity in you. What we saw last week at the transfiguration a massive event and we move this week on something a bit smaller. But I wonder if you've ever had that moment of a revelation suddenly you realize something and see it for what it really is. Those easy wear glasses will know exactly what I mean.

It's that moment where you have the glasses on for first time and suddenly you see. I mean, it's not that you're surrounding to have changed. They they were there all the time. It's not that just that the glasses have helped you to see things differently. I remember when I was a young guy, grommet's fitted.

Now those tiny little things they in your ears to help you hear better. And it was a shock in the morning when I woke up the day after the operation. So I could hear, I could hear everything. That the bed sheets even crinkled. The bed sheets had never crinkled before and now they were crinkling.

And my wardrobe door, that now creaks. That had never creak before. And now it creaks. And I remember coming down to breakfast. My man, why is my covered door creaking?

Door bed sheets creak, Now it's not that those things didn't creak and make noises. It's just that I couldn't hear them. I didn't know they were there. Suddenly the veil was removed and I could well, in my sense, I could hear. And in this passage, the veil will be removed.

And we will get to see. We will get to see Jesus for who he really is. We will get to see Satan. For who he really is. And by the power of the Holy Spirit, we'll see ourselves.

Now I've got some slides for those that you like taking notes And there's 3 simple points. There's firstly, the glory of Jesus. There's secondly, the destruction of Satan, which I've changed the the destruction caused by Satan. And then thirdly, the faithlessness of men, the 3 point Now if you're here last week, Paul, you'd you'd have seen that the veil was drawn back on Jesus. No longer was he the carpenters son as before.

Suddenly we see Jesus as God's son, God's only son, no longer will be guessing, trying to work out who he was, Any doubt we might have had was removed. The transfiguration revealed everything and clarified who Jesus was. So Jesus takes Peter James and John up the mountain. He takes him up and reveals who he is. Do you remember it is in verse 7 God says God says this.

This is my son who my love. Listen to him. The veil has been drawn back from Jesus. It's been drawn back between us and Jesus. And we get to see the real Jesus, the son of God.

This is quite dramatic. Peter, James and John haven't seen this before. They wouldn't have really known this. He's God's son, fun is revelation. Comes to them.

And we've told, aren't we to listen to him? Listen to Jesus. I mean, Paul bought this out last week, but it's so important to know this, that this man is really Jesus. And if that is the case, if he is God's son, that he is worth listening to. And as so as Jesus speaks in his verses, it's gonna be well worth listening to.

It would be good for us to listen and to hear. And all this is gonna fall under my first point and the second slides. The glory of Jesus. At the mountain, we we see Jesus. He gives us a 4 waste of heavenly glory.

And Peter, he's loving it so much. He wants to stay up there. He's loving it. Even stress putting up 3 shelters or 3 monuments for Jesus, Moses, and Elijah. He likes it so much wants to stay longer.

Why not make camp there? This isn't your everyday occurrence, is it? And Peter wants to make the most of it. He's caught up with the glory of Jesus. And why don't we for a second gaze upon that scene, the the glory of Jesus Can you see God's son there?

Finally, we see him in all his glory. In dazzling white, he's there. Why to then Why isn't any bleach could make anything? And I'm repeating Paul, but this is so important to get. This is Jesus.

How glorious, how pure, how radiant, how majestic, and holy he is. Shortly of Peter's writer, isn't he? Let's stay as products from shelters get to monuments built. Create 3 homes with Jesus Moes and Elijah. But no.

Jesus says no. That's not the plan. That's not what he's come for. He's announced that he's going to die. He's gonna suffer in the hands of the ones he came to save.

Jesus knows that the mountain is just a reminder. It's a reminder of a foretaste of what's to come. His work on Earth is is not yet complete. His time is not up and the day is approaching for his for his trial and for his death. And so the 4 of them come down from the mountain.

They come down from the mountain and we come into verses 17 and 18. Follow that with me. A man in the crowd answered, teacher, I brought you my son who is possessed by a spirit has robbed him of his speech. Whenever it seizes him, it throws him to the ground. He foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth and becomes rigid.

I asked your disciples to jive the spirit out, but they could not. Do you see there? The contrast? Do you see the contrast from the splendor, the purity and the wholeness of the mountain? And now the destruction the possession and the darkness of the valley.

See the change there. It it satan at work here. Satan working through the evil spirit to control this boy. And the contrast between gods and of Satan is clear to say, isn't it? As the veil was drawn back from Jesus, we saw we saw him dazzling white in always glory, the son of God.

But as the mayor has drawn back between us and Satan, it's not a pretty sight. It It's an x rated horror movie. It it's an ugly view of destruction we're seeing here. And this moves on to my second point that the destruction caused by Satan. And this is where I'm gonna spend most of my time tonight.

The destruction caused by Satan. Next slide. Mark goes into into loads of detail about the evil spirit. You can you can see that evil spirit is seeking to physically destroy the boy. He's been robbed of his speech, unable to talk.

The boy is often thrown to the ground and and foam is seen coming from his mouth. His teeth begin to gnat and his body becomes rigid all of this boy is just consumed by this evil spirit. And I imagine for a moment that this is your son. And you I mean, you and your wife had just helped us to a situation. And all you can do is look on in in desperation.

I'm sure this man would have taken his son to the doctor, but that that's been their help. And now he comes and begs, he falls at the feet of the disciples. But nothing, all he gets there is squabbles and arguments. Nothing. And now, with some hope, he comes to Jesus.

Cycles couldn't do it, but could Jesus? But things get worse. Have a look down at verse 20 and 21. The boys suffers from convulsion is often thrown him into fire or water to kill him. This must have been a horrifying scene to watch Isn't it?

Imagine this play down in front of you, this boy rolling around in agony. It's a graphic portrayal of who Satan really is. And in verse 26, it demonstrates how bad it must have really been. Many in the crowd are convinced that this boy is dead because it's so much like a corpse. Satan has almost killed the boy That's how bad things are.

And I'm not even exaggerating here. This is a this is a true real event in history. Just as true as the transfiguration. So you so too is this. It's not a parable.

It's not a story. This is true, and it's satan at work here. That's what we're seeing. But there's something more. There's something more than just the physical destruction.

There's something more than just the physical pain as well. It's spiritual. It's spiritual destruction. That's what's going on. This boy is being spiritually destroyed.

I don't know if someone's phrases reminded you of something. The gnashing of teeth and being thrown into fire and water that. It's hell, isn't it? As the picture again here, it's a picture of hell. Matthew 8 and verse 12 says it like this.

The subjects of the kingdom and astrophone's the kingdom of darkness. Will be thrown outside into darkness, where they will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Some commentators describe these verses as a glimpse of hell. That's what we're seeing him and read this. The veil is drawn back from the situation in the world and we get to see the problem of evil.

That's what we're seeing here. And it's not just a veil. I think it's covering Jesus. Sorry, Satan up it. It's more of a black cloth.

That has to be pulled away, ripped away. For us to see Satan. Well, Jesus with him dazzling white and pure. Satan is not like that Satan is dark and vicious. John 8 describes Satan as a liar of read to you verse 44.

He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, but there is no truth in him. Did you hear that? He he's a murderer from the beginning. In a situation we we get to see Satan because of this boy. He's working in this boy to destroy him.

The evil 1, the murderer, is at work here. It's an ugly view, but but nonetheless, it is reality. And this is worse than any documentary you'll see. This is worse than any crime you'll see on crime watch. Can you see Satan here?

I don't know if you've if you've watched those documentaries in Channel 5 or Channel 4, often with amusing titles, the world's tourist man, the the man whose skin fed off the family with 5000 daughters, the kid with 5 heads that could go on. I'm I'm sure that made up most of them. But this that this isn't made up. This is real. This event really happens.

And I think it's actually closer to home than we might think. I asked you a minute ago to put yourself in the shoes of the boy's father. But now let's pause again and imagine yourself as the child. Spiritially dead. Like the boy, we're we're deaf, the God's choose.

We just can't hear. We're true. Having captured by Satan since birth, we've been tricked and deceived by the evil 1. And he's got a hold of us. He's dragging us down.

He's tempting us. And his plan is to ultimately destroy us. But don't be mistaken yet. This is not a game for Satan. This is spiritual warfare.

And Satan is trying to kill us spiritually. What does that mean? What does that mean for you and me? What does that mean for us? Are things really that bad?

Is that really the state of play? I mean, think back to when these verses were read to us by Rich. Is that what we were thinking? Do we immediately identify ourselves with the boy in the floor? But the Bible is clear.

We our sinus. And it it's made clear in the book of Ephesians chapter 2. If you look that up, I think it's so it's so important to see It's on page 825. There should be any bit of flicking you've got to do. Ephesians 2, and it's versus 1 to 3.

And Paul just sums up our situation so clearly. Saphhsians 2 versus 1 to 3. As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins in which you used to live when you furthered the ways of this world and the ruler of the kingdom of the air. The spirits who is now at work and those who are disobiliations. All of us also lived among them at 1 time, gratifying the cravings were a flesh and following its desires and thoughts.

If you call yourself a Christian tonight, then you can look back on your old life. You can look back on when you are following the ways of the world. When you are distracted and and you were following the Kingdom of the Air, Satan. We were disobedience. And Satan was working in our lives was an age, you remember that?

We were being encouraged to gratify the desires of our bodies and and the thoughts and of our minds. And we chose to go with it. Seating the houses images thrust towards us all the time and we just give in than we. Way too often, we just give in. We turn our back on the glory of God, and we immerse ourselves in the destruct of Satan.

I found this quote about 2 weeks ago about about sin and it just struck a chord It's just so simple, but speak so much. Send first chords and then betrays. And then kills. I read that again first, send the first courts, and then retrace and then kills. Let's not underestimate sin.

It will kill us. Jesus gives us a warning to avoid sin, to abandon Satan. Don't date sin. Don't play around with it because sin will kill. But if you refused to put your trust in Jesus.

If you choose not to go with him and you're sitting 1 of these chairs tonight and I pray that you would you would change your mind that you would you would have the way over move from yourself so that you may see yourself clearly. That you may see the problem of sin in your own life because if we're not followers of Jesus, this passage here and the passage in Ephesians is telling us that we are followers of Satan instead. We may not know it or we may not see it, we may not realize it, but that's what he's saying. We saw in in Ephesians this that you were or we were dead in our transgressions and sins. Our transgressions is just another word for violating or breaking god's laws.

We were spiritually dead. And this boy in these verses in mark shows us our sin. It's it's a picture of what we like inside. The child demonstrates the problem caused by sin. And that's death.

I don't know about you, but I I find myself commencing myself that I don't need forgiveness. That I'm I'm not actually a sinful person. That I don't have a sinful heart. I don't need Jesus. My actions aren't that bad.

My sin isn't that bad. I don't know if you've seen those M and S efforts. They're around a a watergate of these amazing products. All kind of made look even better than they actually are. And imagine a crisp apple on there, all shiny and green.

It looks great from the outside, but as soon as you cut it open, the core is rotten. And that starts, isn't it? I need to remind myself about the fact that my core is rotten, that we might regret on the outside. That's true, maybe. But on insides, we are sinful.

Now with sin, it's just a sign of what's going on within sometimes, isn't it? But let's come back to mark. Flip flick back to those versus a mark. And as we watch the the boy in the floor in agony, about to die. Remember that is a picture of us.

It's a picture of what sin does to us spiritually. And this boy is just a massive teaching illustration, and don't miss this. Remember, listen to what Jesus says. He's showing us that this is a destruction that Satan causes. But please don't get confused.

I know that it's an easy conclusion to jump to. This boy's illnesses and and sufferings are not caused as a direct result of a sin he's committed. The 2 are not directly was linked. Jesus is using his boy as a massive teaching illustration. And it leads us to realize that sin ultimately leads to death.

Roman 6 says this. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life. In Christ Jesus our lords. Satan wants us spiritually dead. Lisa 1 said this, Satan doesn't care which sort of the horse we fall off, as long as we don't stay in the saddle.

Satan doesn't have a day off. He hasn't got annual leave. He's not on holiday anywhere. He doesn't have bank holidays. He doesn't give up.

He's persistent. He wants us to fall, that's his constant mission, to decimate our spiritual lives, to pass away from god at all opportunities, and his destruction is so vast and so great. Can you imagine Jesus there? This boy in front of him is surrounded by Satan's work, but also by unbelievers. Verse 19, Jesus says that You unbelieving generation.

You unbelieving generation. He has taught them so much but they still haven't got it. They still haven't realized. And this is my last and and final point, the faithlessness of men. And the boy's father is in the same boat too.

If you can't do anything, say much unbelief around, isn't there a time where all that's required is belief and trust in the 1 who can save. Jesus comes down into the valley. Down from the mountain where you'd expect he belonged with you. He comes down into the valley and headlong in into a situation. Now whether you caught That's right.

Now now whether you really feel gripped by satan whether you feel like he's ripping you apart or maybe you feel that you just have a lack of trust, a lack of faith in the 1 that you can save. Still, Jesus comes. He's there on the mountain and he's here in the valley isn't he? He comes to our rescue. Christians, we we do not live up the mountain.

We do not live there now. This is not our home. We belong here. We belong here in the valley where chaos a mayhem reign where we continue to joust with Satan to fight with him. That that's where we belong now.

And our plea as we're jousting of states, Satan, should be exactly the same as the boy's father. If you can't do anything, If you can dreading, should be our pleasure, shouldn't it? So that our father who can help. As we're attacked by Satan, as we hear and see Satan prowling round us like a hungry lion, circular just just waiting to devour us. Let that be our cry.

If you can do anything lords, let's trust in the 1 who can save. See that in a minute, but we'll stay here for a second. He's response. Do you see that? If you can?

If you can, you see Jesus hasn't got a problem as he. He's got proven track records. He can do the miracles. He can do the healings. The problem instead lies with the boy's father.

A problem of unbelief for a problem of lack of trust. Verse 24 is a bit of a change here. Immediately, the boys father exclaimed, I do believe help me overcome my unbelief. Shouldn't that be the cry of every Christian? I do believe help me overcome my unbelief lords.

Now this statement may seem like an oxymoron. I mean, how can he believe? But yet, needs help to overcome his unbelief. But instead, let's look at it as the start of this man's faith, the start of this man trusting in Jesus. There's no measuring stick there's no yardstick for faith you measure by.

There's no target to reach of faith before Jesus responds. What's required? His faith, his belief in the 1 he can save. Way too often, we underestimate gods. We we forget who he is.

We forget that he is the son of God. We forget what we saw at the mountain. That that's been announced that he is the son of God. And haven't we realized that men just can't save men? It's impossible.

We we just can't do it. It's only God that can do that. We were dead, but Jesus saves. I don't know if you've noticed the pattern in his verses, The 3 points we've been looking at are repeated throughout the bible and is clean is seen most clearly in Genesis. We're looking for the glory of God's the destruction of Satan and the the phiphases of men.

And it's all found in the first few chapters. If you remember in creation, We see the glory of Jesus. We see the glory of creation. But then we see the destruction caused by Satan through the snake. Then we see the full of mankind through the faithlessness of men.

The pattern was started right now in Genesis, though pattern is here in this passage and way too often is continuing in our lives, isn't it? In our hearts, we know that there's a gods. We can feel temptation around us in Satan's pulls. And we know our failings and our faithlessness and how untrusting we are. That's the health check We get.

We need Jesus to put the glasses on us, to put the grommets on our ears, He's just called for trust. Trust him. And we'll see in verse 25 now what happens. You death and mute spirits. I command you, come out of him and never enter him again.

Jesus commands and the spirit leaves. Satan's reign of this boy has ended. It's come to an end. Satan no longer has control of this boy in possession. Jesus heals.

We're just a few words. Jesus heals. That's how powerfully he is. And this is who we're called to put our trust in, the 1 who can heal, the 1 who came down for the mountain and into this situation, into the valley. The evil spirit is removed by Jesus.

Like a skillful certain, it's cut out and removed. No longer are we enslaved to Satan? We're now free to serve Jesus. No longer are we owned by him. We may be sitting here tonight just feeling the weight of sin To feeling how heavy that is.

Well, let me show you Jesus. Will you put your trust in him? Or you let him rescue you? Let him remove that burden and the weight of sin. And please don't leave this room tonight.

Without a problem dealt with. Don't think you can do it yourself. We've seen that. Jesus is the only 1 who can save. And as Jesus deals with that sin, it therefore ceases to be paralyzing.

The penalty of death is removed. It's just taken away by Jesus Christ. The penalty is gone. It's it's being removed and so too is the paralysis. And the boy therefore is able to get up.

He's able to get up and walk, and it's the same for us. We're able to get up and live for Jesus. The veil is removed between us and Jesus. The veil is is drawn back between us and Satan. And faced with this, what what are we to do?

Oh, Jesus calls us to trust. You see, he's the 1 on the mountain displaying his glory, but he's also the 1 on the valley, the 1 who knows us, dealing with Satan by our sides. And that he deals with our faithlessness. How faith trusting him? But even after all this, the disciples still haven't got it.

Time off the tongue yet is they don't understand. Let's finish in verse 28. Why couldn't we jive it out? Say the disciples. Do you see that?

Why couldn't we drive it out? They're still so focused on themselves, aren't they? Jesus replies very simply verse 3 9. This kind can only come out by prayer. Uh-oh.

I'm thinking, the life was an had failed to pray. They hadn't prayed at all before they tried to cast this demon out. They'd taken the minds of their savior. And their lack of lack of prayer just alludes to their lack of trust. Jesus points out their waiving this and calls them as with us to trust in him, and he calls us to pray.

He calls us to follow him so that people may be safe. So what are we to do here at Cornerstone Church? How are we to save those thousands of people in Kingston? Who are dead, who who are lost and gripped by Satan. People who are spiritual corpses desperately in need of Jesus we to do?

Well, let's pray. Let's pray that Jesus would save these people, that he would save many in Kingston. I mean, the the pre meet the monthly pre meeting at have a cornerstone of the hub is essential to the life of this church that we would pray before we do anything. That people would be saved from satan. So let's pray on our way home, on our commutes, at work, at uni wherever we are.

Let's pray. And when I finish with this quote about prayer, because I just find it so useful and encouraging myself to do it and not stop. Aspire an author called Ollie Hasby. If prayer is the central function of a new life of faith, It is obvious that our prayer life will become the target against which Satan directs his best and most numerous starts. Satan will attack your prayer life.

So let's not stop playing. Praying. Let's earnestly pray and be on guard against Satan's attacks. Let me pray. Willoughby, thank you for your son, Jesus, and all he's done for us.

We thank you that he is glorious, that he's perfect and pure. But what we've seen tonight, the problem of sin, the problem of Satan, and the destruction that causes. Lord, please remind us of this problem. Remind us of the things we do that upset you and anger you. Lord, may we turn away from Satan and may be turned towards you.

Maybe you put behind that destruction that's in our lives. And, Lord, please rescue us. Please save us. Please bring us back to life that we may serve you and be followers of you. And that we pray for kings and so many people out there who are spiritual court who are far from you and are are doing deals and courting with Satan.

Lord, please please rescue them, please Please reach into their hearts and draw them to yourself. Show them their their failings and show them the glory of your son, Jesus. And, no, please give it opportunities. Help us to know what to say and when to say it. Help us to to be servants of you.

Nor please keep us prayerful. Please or to help us this week ahead to live for you. On him. I'm gonna hand back to Rich, but do feel free to chat to me afterwards if you have any questions.