WWUTT 2193 Lord I Beleive, Help My Unbelief (Mark 9:20-29)

The Father’s Plea and the Meaning of “Help My Unbelief”

A father brought to Jesus his son, who had been possessed by an unclean spirit. And he said to Jesus, Lord, I believe, now help my unbelief. That should be a relatable statement to all of us when we understand the text.

This is When We Understand The Text, a daily Bible commentary that we may be equipped for every good work in Jesus Christ our Lord. Please tell others about our ministry at www .utt .com. Here once again is Pastor Gabe.

Thank you, Becky. In our study of the Gospel of Mark, we continue in chapter 9 with this account of a father who has come to Jesus and asked him to cast a mute spirit out of his son. I'm going to read this narrative once again, verses 14 to 29 out of the Legacy Standard Bible.

Hear the word of the Lord. And when they came back to the disciples, they saw a large crowd around them and scribes arguing with them. And immediately when the entire crowd saw him, they were amazed. And as they ran up, they were greeting him.

And he asked them, What are you arguing with them? And one of the crowd answered him, Teacher, I brought you my son, possessed with a spirit which makes him mute. And whenever it seizes him, it slams him to the ground and he foams at the mouth and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid.

I told your disciples to cast it out, and they could not do it. And he answered them and said, Oh, unbelieving generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring him to me.

And they brought the boy to him. When he saw him immediately, the spirit threw him into a convulsion and falling to the ground. He began rolling around foaming at the mouth. And he asked his father, How long has this been happening to him?

And he said, From childhood, and it is often thrown him both into the fire and into the water to destroy him. But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us. And Jesus said to him, If you can, all things are possible to him who believes.

Immediately the boy's father cried out and was saying, I do believe. Help my unbelief. Now, when Jesus saw that a crowd was rapidly gathering, he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, You mute and deaf spirit, I command you come out of him and do not enter him again.

And after crying out and throwing him into terrible convulsions, it came out and the boy became so much like a corpse that most of them said he is dead. But Jesus took him by the hand and raised him and he stood up.

And when he came into the house, his disciples began questioning him privately. Why could we not cast it out? And he said to them, This kind cannot come out by anything but prayer. Now, as we consider this account, once again, we are we're going to talk some demon possession a little bit.

Why is the demon acting in this particular way? And why is it that the disciples were not able to cast it out? What did Jesus mean when he said this kind cannot come out by anything but prayer? And first of all, let's come back to, well, we'll pick up where we left off yesterday.

So what we considered yesterday versus 14 to 19, this was the dispute. You had the scribes that were disputing with the disciples. You had the problem that was going on here with the man coming to Jesus and saying, I brought my boy to your disciples and they were unable to cast this spirit out.

And Jesus even rebukes his disciples and the crowd, including the father, by saying, Oh, unbelieving generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring him to me. Then in the next part, which we look at today, verses 20 to 24, we have the desperation.

So first of all, you have the dispute. Here's the desperation. And it's in the father's desperation that he cries out to Jesus. I do believe help my unbelief. And this is really the focus of the passage.

This is going to be the part that we are most able to relate to and where we can find application in this particular account. And then finally, verses 25 to 27, you have the deliverance. Jesus casting out the spirit and even explaining to his disciples why they weren't able to cast it out.

The Deaf and Mute Spirit and the Boy’s Suffering

Now, as we consider these things, think about the elements of the spirit here. What is it that this unclean spirit is doing to the boy? Yes, he is doing some violent things to him, throwing him on the ground, throwing him in the fire, throwing him in the water.

But what is what are the characteristics of this evil spirit? He makes the boy what he makes him mute and apparently also deaf, because when Jesus rebukes the spirit, he says, you mute and deaf spirit or dumb spirit in some translations.

So the spirit is making the boy unable to speak and even unable to hear. Do you remember the miracle that we had just a couple of chapters before where Jesus heals the blind man outside of Bethsaida by spitting on his eyes?

And then he opens his eyes. He's able to see or even heals his mind so that he can perceive what it is that he is seeing. And then yet that was contrasted with the fact that the disciples were not able to see what it was that Jesus was doing or the meaning and the purpose of the miracles that he was.

Performing.

No one is able to see unless God makes them see. And here we have with the casting out of this particular spirit, we have even the ability to speak or the ability to hear. And the disciples spoke to this spirit, but they were unable to have any power over the.

Spirit.

So again, the power to accomplish the will of God will come from God. That's what we're meant to see here as Jesus cast out this spirit. So again, we've got the dispute. We've been through the dispute as yesterday versus 14 to 19.

And now here is the desperation. Verse 20, they brought the boy to Jesus. And when he saw him immediately, the spirit threw him into a convulsion and falling to the ground, he began rolling around and foaming at the mouth.

Now again, the father's explanation of this spirit is that he also will throw himself into fire and throw himself into water. Why would an evil spirit mean to harm its host? We say the same sort of a thing about a virus or some sort of disease and that it harms its host so that if the host dies, well, the virus dies as well.

So why would the virus harm the host? Well, the virus doesn't have any intelligence. So it doesn't know what its outcome is going to be. If the host dies, it's doing what it's in its nature to do. What about an evil spirit?

The spirit surely has to know that if I cause this boy to die, then that is going to bring harm to me. Well, the spirit is going to go on living even without the boy. Why would a spirit possess the boy for any reason other than to harm him?

That's really the question. So that's the whole reason that the spirit has possessed this boy is to harm him. And this is the reason why any evil spirit or unclean spirit would possess or oppress anybody.

It would be to do them harm. And so seeing Jesus, he throws him into a convulsion and falls to the ground and begins rolling around and foaming at the mouth. Now this could be because this evil spirit recognizes his time is limited.

It's about to be over for him because now he is faced with the very son of God. Back in Mark, chapter five, where you had the demon legion that Jesus cast out into the herd of pigs, which ran down the hill into the water and were drowned.

Remember that legion came to Jesus through themselves before Jesus and said, what would you have to do with me, O son of the most high? So they recognize the son of God and the demons know that their time is up.

So that's probably why the demon reacts in this way before Jesus. And Jesus says to the father, how long has this been happening to him? And the father says from childhood, and it is often thrown him both into the fire and into the water to destroy him.

But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us. Now Jesus asked this question, not necessarily because he doesn't know. He asked this question so that the rest of the crowd can hear and that even the disciples would know.

How long has this been going on? It's been the whole time and from childhood, also meaning to say that the boy here is probably a teenager and it's, this has been going on for years. This has been a consistent problem with this boy and anyone who knows the father and this boy would be familiar with this.

But at the conclusion of explaining this to Jesus, he says, if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us. Now understand God has never tried to do anything. Whatever God will do, he does. He's never tried to save a soul.

He saves a soul. Jesus has never tried to cast out a demon. He casts out a demon. The disciples have tried to cast this demon out and they have not succeeded. But Jesus is going to do it and it will be accomplished.

In fact, he sort of rebukes the father here for even saying such a thing to say, if you can do anything well, then maybe you don't really believe. Maybe you don't believe Jesus is who he says he is. And so maybe Jesus won't do anything at all.

Remember that before when he had gone back to his hometown, he didn't do, he didn't do any miracles there because of their unbelief. No matter what he did, he was not going to be able to convince them and they were not going to come to faith.

He did heal some people while they were there, but did not perform any great sign or wonder. So if this man's not going to believe, maybe Jesus doesn't need to do anything. So really puts him to the test with this statement.

If you can, all things are possible to him who believes. And he's really saying that to the father as well. If you believe this can be done, then it will be done for you. All things are possible. But if you don't believe, maybe this isn't going to be the result of your request.

And then verse 24, immediately the boy's father cried out and was saying, I do believe help my unbelief. So those parts were, I doubt it's a very humble statement from this father to say, this is the whole reason why I brought him to you is because I do believe, I do believe that you can cast out this spirit, but I still have my doubts.

I am weak.

I don't know the future. I don't know your power. I don't even know what's wrong with my son. But if you can do this, I believe you can. And where I don't believe, where I doubt, where I lack faith, help my unbelief.

Show me, open my ears, open my mouth that I may speak what I need to speak in order for God's will to be accomplished. We kind of set this in comparison with the evil spirit that has come upon this boy and has caused him to be deaf and mute.

The father doesn't want to be deaf and mute spiritually. Show me that I may see, that I may hear, that I may understand, help my unbelief. This is a humble request that any one of us can be making of God.

From one day to the next, we have faith, we believe, we trust God. You know that whatever happens today is in the will of God, but I don't want to have any doubts. I don't want there to be questions. I don't want anything that would cause me to distance myself from my Lord in any way.

I don't want there to be any sort of hesitation that would cause me to go after sin. And then the sin surely would put separation between me and God. And so what a humble thing for any one of us to come before God today and say, God, I believe in you.

Help my unbelief. Where am I lacking in faith? Where do I still need to grow? What do I have yet to see? What can you show me today that will help me to see Jesus all the more, that will help me to see the Father's love for me today, that will help me to see why I need to take this path and not that path?

What do my eyes need to be open to see? What do I need to hear? What do I need to say? These are the humble things to confess as we come before God and say, I do believe. Help my unbelief. Now this is the desperation.

This is the desperation of this father pleading for his son. And it is our desperation as well. May we be this desperate every day. Remember what Jesus said in the Beatitudes in Matthew chapter five, blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of God.

To be poor in spirit is to be a beggar. It is to come before God and even shield your eyes, hide your face from him, but hold your hand out. I am unworthy to even look at you to even lift my face. But God, I have nothing.

Please give to me what you will lift me up. Have mercy on this sinner. Forgive me and set me in the way that is pleasing and right and leads to you. This is the way out of our desperation. We should be before God each and every day and he will lift us up just as Jesus lifts up this boy at the end of the deliverance.

So now we get to the deliverance portion in verses 25 to 29. Not to be confused with deliverance ministry for there really is no such thing. A lot of the guys that you see out there doing their deliverance ministry and casting out demons and all this kind of stuff doesn't look anything like this, does it?

Doesn't look anything like what Jesus is doing with this boy, a legitimately possessed young man. So in verse 25, now when Jesus saw that a crowd was rapidly gathering, he rebuked the unclean spirit saying to it, you mute and deaf spirit, I command you come out of him and do not enter him again.

Now this is relevant. This is important that Jesus addresses the spirit as mute and deaf, because remember the disciples have been trying to cast it out and they have been unsuccessful. Nothing's been accomplished.

And there's even dispute that has arisen as a result of this. Remember the scribes were arguing with the disciples. The man comes to Jesus and says, I brought my son to your disciples. They were unable to cast out the spirit.

Well, this evil spirit is apparently has this ability to close its ears out. It's not that the disciples did not have any power. Remember previously in Mark, Jesus sent out the 12 apostles to go into all the towns and villages and to heal the sick and cast out demons.

That was the authority that Jesus gave to them to be able to do this. Here, it's unsuccessful. We've been able to cast out demons before. Suddenly we're not able to cast this one out.

Why?

And they're going to ask Jesus that question. But the spirit is making the boy deaf. So the spirit has even made itself so that it will not hear and definitely will not submit to the commands that have been issued by the disciples.

But Jesus has supreme authority. So even this demon's ability to close its ears won't work successfully against the son of God. So Jesus says, come out of him and do not enter him again. This is going to be a a permanent exorcism, not like the description that Jesus gives in Luke chapter 11 of an unclean spirit that is cast out of a person, goes and finds seven spirits more evil than itself.

And then they come back into the person in the state of that person is worse than.

Before.

It's not this kind of spirit that can be cast out and will come back. Jesus permanently cast this spirit out and it cannot enter him again. And after crying out and throwing him into terrible convulsions, it finally came out.

And the boy became so much like a corpse that most of them said he is dead. He's gone from all this activity, all this abuse that the demon was putting on the boy to suddenly the boy is just laying there and not moving.

So everybody thinks he's dead. But Jesus took him by the hand and raised him and he stood up and he restores the boy to his father. The boy has been delivered. The demon has been cast out. And God will deliver us from every trial as well.

Prayer, Authority, and the Disciples’ Failure

So then finally, the the resolve here, the resolution when he came into the house, his disciples began questioning him privately. Why could we not cast it out? And he said to them, this kind cannot come out by anything but prayer.

Now, that's a curious thing to say, because did Jesus pray before he cast out the spirit? No, he didn't. So Jesus didn't pray. Why is it that the disciples had to pray in order to cast out the spirit?

Well, I hope the answer would be obvious because the disciples are not God. Jesus is God. Who would the disciples be praying to? They would be praying to God. Jesus did not have to appeal to God because he is God.

Now, he certainly could have. He could have prayed to the father and then cast the spirit out. But this was to demonstrate the power that he had so that the people would see and believe that the father would see and believe the father, meaning the boy's father, not the not the heavenly father.

So the father sees Jesus cast out the spirit in fulfillment or in response, rather, to the request of the father had, I do believe now help my unbelief. So Jesus cast out the spirit so that the father would indeed see and believe and know that Jesus is the son of God who has this authority even over the unclean spirits.

So Jesus does not have to pray to cast out this spirit. But the disciples needed to. They needed to pray to God, their their own commands over this spirit, we're not going to have an effect over the spirit.

And there are occasions when we've seen other occasions like this in scripture where it's only going to be by an appeal to God that a spirit is going to be cast out or Satan's ways are going to be thwarted.

Consider in Jude nine, where it says Michael, the archangel, when he disputing with the devil was arguing about the body of Moses, he did not dare pronounce against him a blasphemous judgment, but said the Lord rebuke you.

So this was like Michael appealing to God. He did not have authority to cast out Satan from this conflict that was going on over Moses body. It was going to have to be God that would intervene. So even Michael, the archangel, appealed to God in that particular circumstance.

And that's what the disciples should have done here. It's not directly addressing the evil spirit that would not have worked because the spirit had some ability to stop up its ears and not hear them anyway.

They had to appeal to God. God was the one who ultimately had the authority over this spirit. And Jesus shows himself to be God when he addresses the spirit and succeeds in casting it out. And so it is only by the power of Christ that likewise our ears can be opened that we may understand God's way and God's will.

That our mouths can be unstopped, that we may speak things that are pleasing to the Lord and share the gospel with others, that they may come to faith and believe. But even for us, all of these things need to be bathed in prayer when we read the Bible, when we speak God's truth to others.

Let prayers to God unstop your ears and open your mouth by the power of his spirit, which he has given to you. Heavenly Father, we thank you for what we have read here. And I pray that what we have read stirs our belief, strengthens our faith, draws us nearer to you.

And Lord, where we are able to say, I believe, may we also be humble enough to say, now help my unbelief, that we grow all the more in Christ Jesus today. It is in his name that we pray.

Amen.

Ministry Schedule and Sign-Off

You've been listening to When We Understand the Text with Pastor Gabe Hughes. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, Gabe will be going through a New Testament study. Then on Thursday, we look at an Old Testament book.

On Friday, we take questions from the listeners and viewers. Tomorrow, we'll pick up on an Old Testament study, When We Understand the Text.