The Prominence of God's Servant
Book of Mark Chapter 9
Prominence means something or someone who stands out above all others.
The problem with humans is, just about every one of us think we are better than anyone else and this is a great sin.
When we compare ourselves to other people, we will always get a false result.
When we compare ourselves to the Lord Jesus, we will find that we always come up short!
We must understand that the Lord Jesus, the true Messiah, is exalted above all others whether they are prophets, priests, preachers, millionaires, billionaires or even angels.
We must exalt the Lord Jesus Christ in our lives in order to be saved!
In the time of Jesus, the Pharisees were guilty of exalting themselves above all others including the Lord Jesus Christ.
What were some of the things that they did?
Luk 11:43 Woe unto you, Pharisees! for ye love the uppermost seats in the synagogues, and greetings in the markets.
Luk 11:44 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are as graves which appear not, and the men that walk over them are not aware of them.
Those that exalt themselves are all hypocrites.
We see it in the government we have today that many of them have exalted themselves above all the common people, and it seems we are content in our roles of deplorables. When Hillary Clinton said this thing, she was referring to our stupidity to allow us to place ourselves in that position.
In other words, we are the contemptible lowlifes who have messed up our nation and our own lives and we need people such as her to take care of us.
I agree on one point only. We have voted for the wrong people to run our government. In this we have been very stupid!
She is no more than some wicked witch!
I was dumb at one time but since I gave my life to Jesus, I have the mind of Christ!
We have allowed corrupt politicians and the hoax of evolution to dictate the rules of science so long, that the common people have not realized that every so-called proof of evolution has been shot down by true science but they will not change what is written in those books.
The Bible is a Book of Faith and if we do not soon push our faith in the truth of God, we may not be able to.
A lack of faith in the Word of God is moving through the Church so fast, that many do not know what to believe anymore and they listen to the secular world for answers and to false preachers who have become millionaires off the pocketbooks of gullible people.
These false preachers will not take a stand on the truth of God and this is what the world wants to hear.
*****Mar 9:17 And one of the multitude answered and said, Master, I have brought unto thee my son, which hath a dumb spirit;
Mar 9:18 And wheresoever he taketh him, he teareth him: and he foameth, and gnasheth with his teeth, and pineth away: and I spake to thy disciples that they should cast him out; and they could not.
The Lord Jesus along with Peter, James, and John had just come down from the Mount of Transfiguration.
The Lord had shown these disciples how He would appear if He removed His humanity from His being.
We call it a "glorified body"!
Mar 9:3 And his raiment became shining, exceeding white as snow; so as no fuller on earth can white them.
Not only did the transfiguration show the disciples how the Lord Jesus appeared without His humanity, but it also showed them what all, we that are saved, will appear like after the Rapture or after our death.
Rom 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
Rom 8:29 For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.
Rom 8:30 Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.
What will we go through to get this glorified body?
Php 3:20 For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ:
Php 3:21 Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself.
Praise the Lord, this is the promise God is giving to the true Church.
The true Church are all those who follow in the steps of Jesus Christ!
As the Lord reached the bottom of the mountain, one of those who had been following Jesus and had remained at the bottom of the mount with the other nine disciples of Christ.
These disciples had performed miracles before, especially of healing.
This was not a power they had but a power that the Lord Jesus had allowed in His name.
This man was describing some terrible things his son had been going through all his life.
We know there are many out in the world today that are called deaf and dumb and it appears that this young man was listed as dumb.
Dumb means he could not speak and I believe he could also not hear.
How did this happen? He had a dumb spirit living within him!
Now we have the power of the Holy Spirit within us once we are saved, but we are not complete without the Lord Jesus.
Col 2:9 For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.
Col 2:10 And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power:
I believe that this is the condition of being saved, but not being Christian.
To be Christian is being like Christ!
It is a terrible situation to be like this young son and not be able to take care of yourself, but also needing someone near all the time to keep him from causing harm to himself.
No matter what we think of this thing and how it began, the one good thing was the fact that because of his condition, he was brought to the Lord Jesus Christ.
Had he not been in this condition, he would have never met Jesus, nor his father and nor could his family see what can happen when we meet Jesus.
This young man was about to be "Born Again" to new life.
None of the disciples of Christ had been able to help this young man.
The first problem I see is, that this father knew Jesus was near and he should have waited on Him before going to His disciples.
He had no faith in the followers of the Lord.
All he needed was a little patience and a lot of faith!
When Jesus came down the mountain, He had seen this great crowd that had gathered, but He had also seen that a group of scribes were questioning His disciples and He knew this was not good.
We would probably call this intimidation and ridicule, and Jesus first delivered His disciples from this intimidation.
Before the scribes answered Jesus, this father came with his great need for his child, his son.
We should understand evil spirits did exist in the time of Christ, and they still exist today and the answer to rid them is to be saved.
This young son seemed to be deaf and dumb, but also had epilepsy and was demon possessed.
It seems that this evil spirit had made these things worse because it was in the presence of Jesus.
How did Doctor Luke see this thing?
Luk 9:38 And, behold, a man of the company cried out, saying, Master, I beseech thee, look upon my son: for he is mine only child.
Luk 9:39 And, lo, a spirit taketh him, and he suddenly crieth out; and it teareth him that he foameth again, and bruising him hardly departeth from him.
How did the Lord Jesus respond to them all?
*****Mar 9:19 He answereth him, and saith, O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? bring him unto me.
With all the things that the Lord has done for us, "how can we not have faith".
Without faith we cannot be saved!
Php 1:19 For I know that this shall turn to my salvation through your prayer, and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ,
It is not so much the amount of faith we have, as it is the kind of faith that we have and the fact that we have that faith!
Mat 17:20 And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.
Mat 17:21 Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting.
The lack of faith "grieves" the Lord Jesus Christ.
Since we have the Spirit of Christ in us, then it grieves the Holy Spirit.
Eph 4:30 And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.
When we upset the close connection we have with the Holy Spirit, how can we expect our relationship to the Lord to get closer or get better?
This shows us how affectionate the Holy Spirit is toward us if He can be grieved by our lack of faith.
Our lack of faith shows our lack of love for our Savior!
The job of the Holy Spirit is to keep us upon that path of righteousness, that righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Lord Jesus casts out demons by the power of the Holy Spirit!
Without faith, we have no power in our lives!
The lack of faith means that the Church has no power and I believe this is the biggest problem in the modern Church today.
The Church lacks the power to stand up to this world, so the Church compromises with the world which is compromising with the Devil!
There was a multitude that followed Jesus and there was not one among them, that had the power to cast out this dumb spirit, this demon.
Not the father, not the crowd, not the disciples and not the Jewish religionist.
There was a lack of faith in this entire crowd!
The Lord was grieved at the condition of this young boy who was helpless, under the power of this evil spirit.
You see, John 3:16 describes the love Jesus Christ has for us and it is because of this great love that His heart is touched as He witnesses our suffering in this world.
Jesus cared for this father as much as He cared for his son and He knew this father was also suffering for his son, yet this father did not have enough faith that the Lord could heal his son.
Jesus asked this father all these questions to get this father to focus on his dilemma.
To focus upon his need
To focus upon Jesus who could fill his need.
To focus on Jesus so much, that his faith would increase enough that his son could be healed.
We should ask ourselves these questions every time we put a name on the prayer list.
"Do we have enough faith that Jesus can heal these people"?
So they brought this son to Jesus.
*****Mar 9:20 And they brought him unto him: and when he saw him, straightway the spirit tare him; and he fell on the ground, and wallowed foaming.
We must understand that the earnest Love that Christ has for us is also the key to His miracles!
2Co_7:10 For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death.
We must understand that as Christians we are representatives of the Lord Jesus Christ!
If we cannot represent the truth of Christ Jesus then, we are not Christians and we do not reflect the truth of God!
It is really that simple!
We do not have the power of Divine healing as an individual!
We do claim the presence of Divine power in the Church!
When the Church has lost the presence of Divine power then mankind will question and despise Christianity, and we see some of this today.
The Holy Spirit has never left the true Church, but we must realize we have grieved the Holy Spirit and we must return to the Lord for Divine power to be restored to the Church.
This is why fasting and prayer is much needed in the Church today!
We must fast and pray until the Divine power of the Lord has been restored to the Church.
As Christians, we must make the world to know that we are not going to give up the raising of our children by our own standards and the standards of this wicked world.
As Christians, we must also not assume so easily that our children are innocent, good, and harmless, as they are under the control of Satan until they are led to the Lord.
Jesus Christ rebuked this entire crowd for a lack of faith just as the Holy Spirit is grieved at the entire Church for a lack of faith today!
How long had this young son been in this condition?
*****Mar 9:21 And he asked his father, How long is it ago since this came unto him? And he said, Of a child.
Mar 9:22 And ofttimes it hath cast him into the fire, and into the waters, to destroy him: but if thou canst do any thing, have compassion on us, and help us.
Obviously, the Lord Jesus knew the answer to the questions He was asking, but he was asking these questions of the father to inspire hope and confidence in the work of the Lord.
You see, if we have faith as that of a mustard seed, then we will cry out for God's mercy and God's compassion.
There is no way that the Lord Jesus will turn away from a cry of mercy and compassion!
These are the traits of God that brought Jesus to us to begin with!
Luk 18:13 And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner.
As we see what is going on in our world, we should be grieved to a point that we act and minister just as our Lord Jesus did!
We need to show His compassion.
We need to show His mercy.
We need to show His forgiveness.
We need to show His grace.
We need to show His love.
We need to believe in all these things.
*****Mar 9:23 Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.
What does our faith mean? It means we are taking God at His Word!
All things are possible to the Son of God who has all of God's Power, but we must trust that God has this power!
We have made God to be some small God, when He is truly the God of All Power!
We must believe that this world is full of sinners and we must include ourselves.
We must accept that there is a punishment for our sin!
We must accept that the Lord Jesus Christ is the only remedy for that punishment.
Heb 6:13 For when God made promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he sware by himself,
Heb 6:14 Saying, Surely blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee.
Heb 6:15 And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise.
Heb 6:18 That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us:
Heb 6:19 Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil;
Heb 6:20 Whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an high priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.
How did this man respond?
*****Mar 9:24 And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.
We see humility and faith.
Our hearts will be moved when we understand the truth of the Lord Jesus Christ!
We see His desire to have the blessings which our faith will secure.
We know that because of faith in the work of the Lord, we can flee from the wrath that is to come to this world.
We must seek forgiveness just as this man did.
We must long for the healing of the disease of the soul!
In other words, we must have a desire for salvation!
*****Mar 9:25 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.
Mar 9:26 And the spirit cried, and rent him sore, and came out of him: and he was as one dead; insomuch that many said, He is dead.
The Lord Jesus healed this boy when He saw the crowd running toward them.
We notice that the Lord Jesus had pulled this father and son aside while He led this father to the Lord.
The Lord likes to get one on one with those who doubt Him to teach them the truth.
This crowd had not only followers, but also deceivers and naysayers in the mix.
It was the Words of Christ that healed this boy.
It was the Words of Christ that broke the Devil's power.
Satan cannot stand before the Word of God!
It is the Word of God and the Divine Power of God that has spoiled the principalities and the powers of evil.
These are the same things we will war with all our days!
Col 2:13 And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses;
Col 2:14 Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross;
Col 2:15 And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it.
How will the Lord end the evil in this world when He returns?
Rev_19:15 And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.
Rev_19:21 And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth: and all the fowls were filled with their flesh.
We see that when the Lord speaks things happen!
There is nothing in all of God's creation that can disobey the Words of the Lord and get away with it!
It is only us puny humans who have tried to defy the Almighty God, the rest of His creation is in strict obedience!
Isa_40:22 It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in:
Isa 40:28 Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding.
We see this evil spirit made one last effort to disrupt and discredit the power of Jesus Christ by trying to kill this boy, but the Lord would not allow his death.
*****Mar 9:27 But Jesus took him by the hand, and lifted him up; and he arose.
Mar 9:28 And when he was come into the house, his disciples asked him privately, Why could not we cast him out?
These disciples wanted to know why they had failed, what was the cause?
The Lord Jesus had previously given them the power over evil spirits and they had been successful with it.
As Christians there is only one reason, we do not feel the power of God in our lives!
That reason is, that we are not living close enough to the Lord!
We feel like we can do spiritual things under our own power so, we see the reason the answer that Jesus gave.
They needed to pray more and fast!
These are the ways to get closer to the Lord.
Earlier, Jesus had said that His disciples need not to fast because He was with them.
The difference now was, that they had been sent out two by two and had done some things under the power of God.
They began to feel that they had this power themselves, and they began seeking things such as food before the Lord.
The modern Church is in this same rut today!
The power of the Church is almost non-existent because they have strayed from the foundation of the Church, which is the Lord Jesus Christ.
Fasting and prayer is the only solution to this problem and of course obedience to the Word of God.
God must be so important in our lives that we are willing to give up anything that could sustain our lives and give that to the Lord.
We must place our lives in the Lord's hands and let Him dictate our life as He wishes.
Deu 4:29 But if from thence thou shalt seek the LORD thy God, thou shalt find him, if thou seek him with all thy heart and with all thy soul.
When our power from being a Christian is waning it is always because our faith is lacking!
*****Mar 9:29 And he said unto them, This kind can come forth by nothing, but by prayer and fasting.
While the Lord Jesus was up on the Mount of Transfiguration, He seem to be too far from some of His disciples who felt they could do things without the presence of the Lord and this is impossible.
It was not that this demon inside this boy was so powerful, it was because the disciples of the Lord were so weak!
It is important to see here how Satan attacks.
He will tear us and cause all sorts of bodily harm.
He will cause us to fall from the "grace" of God.
He will cause changes to our language and filthy language will come out of our mouths or nothing at all.
He will send us wallowing in the foam of our own sin.
Only the Lord Jesus can restore us if our faith in Him remains!
Remember Jesus will do no mighty works if there is no faith!
What is another one of the signs of the end times?
Luk 18:7 And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them?
Luk_18:8 I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?
The Church needs to earnestly pray and fast until our faith is restored!
We will not be able to do this until we know i n our minds that the Word of God is the unchanging truth!
Amen
