Day 10: The Author and Perfector of Our Faith (Mark 9)

Welcome to day 10 of our study of the book of Mark. And if you're with us yesterday, wow, what a, strong, strong challenge, right? If you're ashamed of Me, I'll be ashamed of you before the holy angels. If you try to save your life, you're going to lose your life. The call to follow Jesus, absolute loyalty, no other relationships, nothing, no idols, deny yourself, take up your cross, follow Me, you know, that takes a lot of faith.

And it's interesting, as, Chapter 9 opens up, which we'll cover today, it is though Jesus understands that when He makes these huge demands, He needs to do something to bolster our faith. And so, right after He says, you know, if you're ashamed of Me, I'll be ashamed of you, when My holy angels come in the Father's glory.

And then He said to them, I tell you the truth, some of you standing here, will not taste death before they see the Kingdom of God come with power.

So, to that group, He's saying there's some of you that everything I've talked about, I am the King, I am coming, right now it is an invisible Kingdom, it is really here, it's come in part, it's all ready but it's not yet in its fullness. I've called you to follow Me as the number one priority, holding nothing back. And then He says, some of you are going to actually see God's Kingdom and its glory and its power, before you die. And then notice how Mark connects this in verse 2.

He says, After six days, Jesus took Peter, James, and John with Him and led them up a high mountain - many think probably Mount Hermon, about 9, 000 feet - where they were all alone. There He was transfigured before them.

His clothes became dazzling white, whiter than anyone in the world could bleach them. And there appeared before them, Elijah and Moses, who were talking with Jesus. Peter said to Jesus, Rabbi, it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three shelters, one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah. He did not know what he was saying, and they were so frightened. Then a cloud appeared and enveloped them, and a voice came from the cloud, This is My Son, whom I love, listen to Him. Suddenly, when they looked around, they no longer saw anyone with them except Jesus.

And as they were coming down the mountain, Jesus gave them strict orders not to tell anyone what they had seen, until the Son of Man had risen from the dead. They kept the matter to themselves, discussing what rising from the dead meant. And they asked Him, why did the teachers of the law say Elijah must come first? Jesus replied, To be sure, Elijah does come first and restores all things. Why then is it written that the Son of Man must suffer much and be rejected? But I tell you, Elijah has come and they have done to him everything they wished, just as it was written about him. And later, we know from the other gospel writers, that they understood He was talking about John the Baptist.

Now let me get back to this unbelieving, this high call, and they need more faith. What does Jesus do? Can I just remind you? I mean some of us think the bar is so high and the expectations are so high. He's so understanding, He's so patient. He realizes that He just gave them, I mean, the biggest call, deny yourself, take up your cross, follow Me, or you can't even be My disciple. And then He says, some of you haven't tasted death, and so He takes them up on this mountain. And it says Me's transfigured before them. The word is metamorphosized.

They're seeing Jesus in His fullness, in His glory, and in power. And then He wants their faith to be strengthened, so who is He talking to? Moses, the giver of the law, and Elijah, who was the greatest of all the prophets, and by the way, one of the only two people, remember he didn't die, he was taken. And so, the greatest testimony, am I right? The testimony of two or three, here's Peter, here's James, here's John, they're going to be the leaders of the Church. And they have this experience.

Well, what's their problem? Their problem is believing. I mean, if you really believed, 100 percent, that everything Jesus told them was true, if you, you know, give your life away, you'll find it, and if you, you know, try to keep your life, you'll lose it, and if all that is true, this is the greatest deal ever. Now, the process stinks, right? No one wants the cross to get the crown, but if that's the road, if that's the path, if that's what it means to follow Jesus, if everything He said is true, and that's who He really is, then great, we'll go for it.

See, what, Jesus was saying is, this process is going to be painful, but if you could see the reward, if you, if you could taste it, if you could just know for sure, and so He takes His three core leaders, and He says, let me give you a taste. This is who I really am. And by the way, this isn't an illusion. So, I had Moses come. Here's Elijah. I wanted you to hear from the greatest prophet and the greatest law giver, that I am who I said I am. You can trust Me.

As they're coming down the mountain, Jesus warns them, don't tell anyone until I've risen from the dead. And they still don't get it. It's like, rise from the dead. Now, theoretically, right, theologically. They believed in the resurrection. Absolutely. Old Testament teaches that. Psalm 16 teaches that. Jesus already had some discussions about those things. But they don't get it, right? It doesn't connect. But here's what I want you to get.

What they needed was their faith to grow. And the way your faith grows is not by how much faith you have, but by the object of your faith. That is a crucial truth, before I explain that, I want to read the next story, because they've seen Jesus glorified, they've got the testimony of Moses and Elijah, they've got this warning not to talk about this, and privately they're going, do you know what He means?

No, I don't know what He means. James, do you know what He means? I don't know what He means. What's this rising from the dead? I don't know, but I don't think I'm going to ask. It says they were afraid to ask. And so, now, they come down from this mountain, and they encounter a problem, and the issue is faith, again.

Verse 14, When they came down to the other disciples, they saw a large crowd around them, and the teachers of the law arguing with them. As soon as the people saw Jesus, they were overwhelmed with wonder, and they ran to greet Him. What are you all arguing about? He asked.

A man in the crowd answered, Teacher, I brought You my son, who is possessed by a spirit that 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 drive out the spirit, but they could not.

Notice the issue. Oh, unbelieving generation, Jesus replied. How long will I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy to Me. So, they brought the boy to Him. When the spirit saw Jesus, it immediately threw the boy into a convulsion. He fell to the ground, rolling around, foaming at the mouth. Jesus asked the boy's father, How long has he been like this? From childhood, he answered. It often throws him into the fire or water to kill him.

But if you could do anything, take pity on us and help us. Notice His response. Jesus is almost like, really? If? If I can do anything? You know, have you been hiding under a rock? He says, If you can, said Jesus, everything is possible. For who? For those who believe. Immediately the boy's father exclaimed, I do believe. Help me overcome my unbelief. I've been there. You've been there? I mean, hey, yeah, I believe, I believe, I believe, uh, help me overcome my unbelief.

When Jesus saw a crowd was running to the scene, He rebuked the evil spirit. You deaf and dumb spirit, He said, I command you, come out of him and never enter him again. And the spirit shrieked and convulsed him violently and came out of him. And the boy looked so much like a corpse that many said he's dead. But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him to his feet, and he stood up. After Jesus had gone indoors, His disciples asked Him privately, Why couldn't we drive it out? Then he replied, This kind can come out only by prayer.

They left that place and passed through Galilee. Jesus didn't want anyone to know where they were. Because He was teaching his disciples, He's teaching them about faith. He said to them, The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of men. They will kill him and after three days He will rise. But they did not understand what He meant.

Now, let me go back to what the big lesson is. There was this call to commitment of absolute lordship and discipleship. Jesus takes the three because their faith needs to grow. And as their faith grows, more is caught than taught, the other disciples will continue to catch it.

When I said, you don't grow your faith by getting more of it. Your faith grows by the object of your faith. In other words, remember when Jesus said if you have the faith of a mustard seed, very small, you can say to that mountain, be moved and cast into the sea.

See, the object of our faith is the key. And what Jesus wanted those three to see is the object of their faith in His glory, His power, the testimony of Moses, of Elijah, of all those Old Testament miracles. He's the One. He's the Messiah. When we see who Jesus is. And we realize how strong He is, how powerful He is, how compassionate He is, then you can trust Him.

And so, that's the very thing this man, now they come down, it's an evil world, and they've had experience before. We've had Your power. We cast out demons before. Why can't we do this one? He says, this one comes out only by prayer. And the other gospel writers say, By prayer and fasting.

Well, what's prayer all about? What happens when you pray? And what happens when you fast? Those are times where you come into the presence of God and as you come into the presence of God, through His Word, and as you pray, what do you do? You meet Him. You experience Him. You see who He is.

Let me give you an illustration that may be helpful. Let's say, I have a friend and he's a billionaire. And, I happen to have a, uh, an opportunity where, his son was in a very bad place. He had a huge addiction. And I was able to get him out of that, get him into addiction center. I invited him to move into my house. We worked with him for a year or two. He's clean, completely restored to his father.

And then I say to the father, I say, I hate to ask you this, but I need a hundred dollars. I don't have my wallet on me, and you know, I need to pay for these meals and do a couple things. Could, not borrow, could you give me a hundred dollars?

Do you think I could believe that he would give me a hundred dollars? I mean, he's a billionaire, right? It's nothing. Now, let's pretend instead of that, that same story, and it's a person who's homeless. Same story. I got to help his son, blah, blah, blah, and I come to him. He's homeless. He looks like he's got like maybe 30 cents in his pocket, and I say, you know, I really helped your son. He's really doing well, but I don't have my wallet on me.

Could you give me 100 dollars? Well, I don't believe they can give me 100. Why? It's the object of my faith. He doesn't have the ability. But a billionaire has the ability, he could give me a million dollars and wouldn't even miss it. Jesus is saying to you, and He's saying to me, If you want to have greater faith, it's not, I want to have greater faith, I want to have greater faith, I want to believe, I want to believe, I want to believe, I know You're the best way, I know I want You to be Lord, I want to deny myself, I want to quit sinning.

I tried all that stuff. And what I learned is, when you get into God's Word, and do like what we're doing, I mean real study, and following along and see how it's all put together and then you respond to it, actually act on it, and then you spend time in prayer where, yes, God is invisible but if you're a follower His Spirit lives in you and His Spirit lives in other believers, When you hang around other believers that have faith, when you get into His Word on a real regular basis, if you don't know how to pray don't worry about it. Just talk from your heart the way you would talk to another person.

I mean like, God I'm messed up. I'm really struggling. This marriage isn't working. I got a bad attitude. I'm trying to break this addiction. Or, I hate this job. And, you know, I've been asking, would You help me? Those are the kind of prayers your Heavenly Father wants to answer. You know, not these hitherto, until now, Bible verse, Bible verse, another Bible verse, until Thy divine majesty, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

Come on. You know what Jesus wants? He wants to be your Friend. And He demands to be your Lord. And what He's teaching these disciples is, if you could see who I really am. So, the reason it comes out by prayer and fasting is, that's how your faith grows. Because prayer and fasting puts you in the presence of God. And when you're in the presence of God, you see Him for who He is. And the more and more you see Him for who He is, He's way more than a billionaire.

If He can speak planets into existence, universes into existence, speak and waters calm, demons flee, what issue in your life, if you could see Him as He is, can't He handle? To the point that you act on it. Not just intellectually, Oh, I recognize that's true. Faith is believing in the character of God, and the promises of God, to the point of actually acting on it.

And this is what He's teaching the disciples. Now, as this happens, something happens. They start thinking, He's really God. He's really got power. And when He comes into His Kingdom, because they still think it's going to happen immediately, they're thinking about positioning themselves.

Notice, we pick up the story. They came to Capernaum, which is kind of their headquarters. When He was in the house, He asked them, What were you arguing about on the road? But they kept quiet. Because on the way, they were arguing about who was the greatest.

And then sitting down, that's the role when a rabbi sat down, it's a position of authority. Jesus called the 12 and said, If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last and the servant of all. And then He took a little child. The word means a small child, and He had him stand among them. And taking him in His arms, He said to them, Whoever welcomes one of these little ones in My name welcomes Me. And whoever welcomes Me does not welcome Me but the One who sent Me.

Did you notice He didn't say, You are terrible disciples and followers to want to be great. What He said was, You want to be great? The Kingdom has different rules. Different paradigm. Very counterintuitive. You want to be great? Guess what? I want followers to be great. So, be the servant of all. See this child? Can't pay you back. See this child? They believe whatever you tell them. See this child? When you come to Me like a little child, and you do, and walk with Me with this innocence, and pure motives, that's how I measure greatness in the Kingdom.

Well, then they start thinking about, what about some of these other people that are starting to use Your name? They're not really on the team. They didn't get a uniform like us. They haven't been hanging around with You. And they're starting to do stuff like You. And, you know, we, we want to make sure that we're number one.

Verse 38, Teacher, said John, we saw a man driving out demons in Your name, and we told him to stop because he's not one of us, right? He's Baptist, or he's Pentecostal, or he's one of those traditional churches, right? You know, he's a Methodist, you know he, right? You know, he's one of those, well He's a white pastor. He is a black pastor. They're an Asian p -, right? He's not one of us. Gosh, don't we do that?

Notice what Jesus is going to say. Do not stop him, Jesus said. No one who does a miracle in My name can, in the next moment, say anything bad about Me. For whoever is not against us is for us.

I tell you the truth, anyone who gives you a cup of cold water in My name because you belong to Christ will certainly not lose their reward. And what He's saying is, This isn't an exclusive club. I came for everyone. And the smallest things done in My name. You are My key disciples. Yes, you have a very specific role. You've had more access. But other people are believing. And they're going to do it a little bit different. And it might look a little bit different. But if they're for us, hey, we're all on the same team.

And then finally, a big, big warning. And if anyone causes one of these little ones, new believers, who believes in Me to sin, it would be better for him to be thrown into the sea with a large millstone tied around his neck.

And this is a warning to them. He's now talking about, as you do ministry, not only is greatness servanthood, not only are there other people who are going to be involved in this, but this is a warning about when you do ministry, in your own personal life and the impact.

He says, if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It's better for you to enter life maimed, than with two hands to go into hell where the fire never goes out. And if your foot causes you to sin cut it off. It's better for you to enter life crippled than to have two feet and be thrown into hell. And if your eye causes you to sin pluck it out. It's better for you to enter the Kingdom of God with one eye, than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell where the worm does not die and the fire is not quenched. Everyone will be salted with fire. Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can you make it salty again? Have salt in yourselves and, guys, be at peace with one another.

Fire does two things. It destroys the perishable and it refines the imperishable.

I got news for you. If you struggle, as I have at different times in my life, with lust, if you poke out your right eye, you can still lust with your left eye. Here's what He's saying. Be as drastic as you need to be to deal with any sin in your life, because your sin doesn't just impact you. Your sin causes other people to stumble. And so, as we close our time, here's what I want you to know. You can come to God and say, Oh God! I believe! Help my unbelief about the biggest, most challenging area in your life.

The second thing you can do is say, And Lord, I want to have a transformational experience like Peter, James, and John did. Because they actually walked with You and changed the world and suffered much and gained great reward. Not because they were better than anyone else, but they saw You for who You really were. And if I saw You more and more for who You really were, I'll have a bigger and bigger faith.

And if I have a bigger and bigger faith, the challenges that come my way and the suffering that I might endure will really not be that big a deal. Because You will be with me and I will be aware of who's really with me.

You need to get to know Him. You need to come into His presence. You need to be in His Word. You need to be in community, and then you need to just take baby steps to serve and care for others. And as you do that, you will experience the power, the love, and the taste of glory like those disciples.