TOPIC: Help Thou My Unbelief       HYMN: # 330--Take My Life    PASSAGE: Mark 9:14-29

“Help Thou My Unbelief” 

“On the mount of the transfiguration the disciples beheld humanity transfigured into the image of God, and at the foot of the mountain, humanity debased into the likeness of Satan.” (DA 429) a sad depiction of the degradation of humanity indeed, Jesus had just been transfigured and had on display the glory of heaven and the perfect form which humanity possessed before sin and what they will be like after sin. It would be hardly imaginable by the disciples that after witnessing such an amazing scene that anything else could go wrong in the world or they would have to be faced once again with the evils and suppression of sin in the world. They even suggested to Jesus that they should make three altars and worship. Such response adds to the thought that they wanted to stay.  However, life in this sinful world is marked by mountain top glory and valleys of shame and depression. We are today, due to the changing influences around us, are bombarded with the depressions of this life and sometimes lose the faith that we once relied on. This sometimes causes us to wonder if God really exists or even cares. Our faith is tested and we start to lose our belief in him; but this reaction speaks to our helplessness that we are pitiful and weak, unable to exercise the strength of character on our own; we stand on the foundation and the strength of almighty God.  The purpose of this sermon is to help us understand that, no worldly wisdom can help us overcome life’s challenges, we must not leave ourselves open to the influence of Satan and it is our aided belief in God that will bring us through our valley moments.

Illustration:

Our society today is being plagued by those who are depressed and overwhelmed by the forces of darkness, wiping out lives as if they are of no value to God or to humanity. We hear so often over the past few months of murder-suicide cases or attempted suicides and those who have committed suicide, which does not cover the fact that we are still struggling with the label of being the murder capital of the world. It is the burden of the Christian to rise up and see the dreadful times that we are living in and say to God “hear from heaven and heal our lands”. 2 Chronicles 7:14

Body

1. 1.      Worldly wisdom cannot help our condition
   1. The Scribes argued about tradition and logics; seeking to disprove Jesus

• The titles “scribes” and “lawyers” (q.v.) are in the Gospels interchangeable (Matt. 22:35; Mark 12:28; Luke 20:39, etc.). They were in the time of our Lord the public teachers of the people, and frequently came into collision with him. They afterwards showed themselves greatly hostile to the apostles (Acts 4:5; 6:12). ^[1] .
• A class of scholars who devoted themselves assiduously to the Law.

1. Jesus distinguish himself from the lifestyle of the Scribes

Jesus vs. the Scribes

JESUS                                                                     SCRIBES

1. 2.      Be careful of the devil’s influence
   1. Take our burdens to Jesus; demon possession and all; abide in God’s presence

                                                              i.      His burden was that of a “dumb spirit”

                                                            ii.      Ellen White says,

1. “None who choose the service of God will be left to the power of Satan (MH 93; cf. DA 38).^[2]
2. Fortified by divine power, they become invulnerable against the assaults of Satan (DA 209, 324).^[3]
3. We leave ourselves open to demonic influence when we rely on our own strength

                                                              i.      “At times Satan can accomplish his sinister purposes more effectively by letting his victim retain his mental and physical faculties quite intact and simulate piety…. The same evil spirit that possessed the maniac of Capernaum also controlled the unbelieving Jews ” (Desire of Ages, 256, 760)

                                                            ii.      LISTEN TO THIS

                                                          iii.      Demon Possession and the Human Nervous System.—To whatever degree or in whatever form demons gain control of a human being, they do so through the sensory nervous system. Through the higher powers of the mind—the conscience, the power of choice, and the will—Satan possesses the person. … Demon possession cannot occur except through the nervous system, for through it Satan gains access to the mind, and in turn controls the body (cf. Luke 8:2; DA 568). Inasmuch as the nervous system itself is the first part of the being to be affected, various nervous disorders, such as epilepsy and psychoses of various kinds, are to be expected in connection with demon possession. Such disorders are often the result of yielding, in one way or another, to the influence and suggestions of Satan. However, these disorders do not necessarily accompany demon possession, nor are they necessarily a mark of demon possession any more than deafness and dumbness, which also, at times, accompanied demon possession.^[4]

1. 3.      We must believe
   1. Israel struggled with it for centuries

                                                              i.      “It does not seem likely that Jesus had the father of the demon-possessed boy in mind as He spoke these words, for the father’s faith was not the only obstacle in the way of the healing of his son. Because the disciples themselves were primarily at fault”^[5]  READ Heb. 3:17-19

1. The young man had a life-long problem

                                                              i.      Some persons saw lifelong challenges as hopelessly irremovable:  “They had imbibed an old pagan idea (an Old Babylonian omen, naming certain symptoms, apparently of leprosy, as meaning abandonment by God and man). Hence they made no efforts toward alleviation or cure”^[6]

1. It was virtually impossible to free him

                                                              i.      The scribes had attributed the helplessness of the nine disciples to the presumed superior power of the demon, asserting that Jesus’ control was limited to the less powerful demons (cf. DA 427). The real trouble, however, lay not in the power of the demon, but in the spiritual impotence of the disciples.

1. Jesus calls us to a lifestyle of prayer
2. 4.      Conclusion