Today’s sermon text comes to us from the Gospel of
Mark, the ninth chapter, verses 33-35.
But our Text for today fits into the lives’ of the
disciples only after 3 prior events.
1.
The first
is as we had discussed in our Sunday Evening Class last week, In Mark 6:7-13.
This is
when we find Jesus sending his disciples out into the world 2 by 2. It reads:
“And He called the 12 disciples together and began
sending them out 2 by 2, giving them authority to cast out evil spirits. He
told them to take nothing for their journey except a walking stick – No Food,
No Traveler’s Bag, No Money. He allowed them to wear sandals but not to take a
change of clothes.
10) “Wherever you go, he said, stay in the same house until
you leave town. But if any place refuses to welcome you or listen to you, shake
its dust from your feet as you leave to show that you have abandoned those
people to their fate.”
So, the disciples went out, telling everyone they
met to repent of their sins and turn to God. And they cast out many demons and
healed many sick people, anointing them with olive oil.”
2.
And the 2nd
Event is that of the Transfiguration.
That was when Jesus took only Peter, James and John up the mountain with Him
and Jesus turned into His God Form, RIGHT There before their very own eyes and then
to top that off, Elijah and Moses came and talked with Jesus.
And of course, that is when Peter was Peter. He
shouted that it was so Great that they were there and he wanted to build 3
shelters to honor Jesus, Elijah and Moses.
And that is when they heard God the Father speak. “This
is my Dearly, Loved Son. Listen to Him.”
And then, as quickly as it started, it was over. There stood Jesus,
now back in his Jesus form once again and the 4 of them came back down the
mountain.
3. That is
where we find the 3rd event that comes directly before our Text for
today.
They came down from the mountain to find the other 9
disciples in a huge argument with the Pharisees about their inability to heal
this boy who had a demon inside of him.
And It is Right Here when we see something strange.
·
In verse 20, When the
demon saw Jesus, the demon made his biggest effort to show-off his stuff. He
began making this boy suffer one more time, throwing the boy to the earth,
rolling him violently around, causing him to moan loudly and foam at the mouth.
·
But it is within
this very moment when we find Jesus doing something that I believe we would not
expect.
o
Jesus chooses this very
moment to ask the father a question.
·
“How long has this been happening?”
The father explains that it has been going on for a very long
time.
·
Then the father goes on and
explains what the evil spirit does to his son. How it has ruined the boy’s life
and how the demon just keeps on trying to kill his boy.
·
And at the end, you can almost hear
the father’s voice as if he is looking at his suffering son who is in total agony,
“Have mercy
on us –
And
help us -
-
If you can.”
·
Then Jesus replies,
·
“What do you mean, ‘If I can?’
Anything is possible if a person believes.”
That is when
you can hear the father hit his knees before the Lord and his son, as he cries-out
his plea,
“I
do believe,
but help me overcome my unbelief!”
Now
– I have to say – there is a BELIEVER!
1st
He says He Believes
But
then he backs himself up by saying, JUST
IN CASE,
·
IF there is some part of me where I don’t believe,
·
Please Help me with that Part.
This
leads me to my very 1st as well as what-will-be-my-last question for
you today.
“I do
believe
But Help
Me overcome my unbelief?
While you ponder your answer for that question,
let me give you another:
IF – Now That is IF God came to you and He Told You
that you are in the position where:
·
You could
tell Him of one evil that is living within our world today,
·
And by
telling Him of this evil, God would remove it from all eternity,
·
What evil
would you choose?
Now, lets change that question just a
little. If God was going
to choose ONE Sin,
and remove it
from the Earth for all eternity, what SIN do
you think God Himself would choose?
Now, lets read our Text for today.
Mark 9:33-37 (NLT)
“After
they arrived at Capernaum and settle in a house, Jesus asked his disciples, “What were you discussing out on the road?”
But
they didn’t answer, because they had been arguing about which of them was the
greatest.
He
sat down, called the twelve disciples over to him, and said, “Whoever wants to be first must take last place and be
the servant of everyone else.”
Then
he put a little child among them. Taking the child in his arms, he said to
them, “Anyone
who welcomes a little child like this on my behalf welcomes me, and anyone who
welcomes me welcomes not only me but also my Father who sent me.”
#1
As we discussed during last Sunday Evening’s “Growing Deeper with God”,
From the time the disciples were sent out 2 by 2 within
The Book of Mark, Chapter 6,
·
Where they couldn’t
take any night bag,
·
Not even a change of
clothes
·
And most certainly
not any money
·
And why does it say
that they can take their sandals?
·
Isn’t that
kind-of-like saying that we sent our child to school today with his shoes?
So I believe we can firmly grasp here by Jesus
sending them out this way, the disciples had to totally, and I mean totally dependable
upon God for everything.
#2
Then Coming from that HIGH with all of that healing
and helping others straight into
·
The Transfiguration
HIGH,
·
Which just has to be
that much BIGGER of a HIGH!
·
Here we find Jesus
taking only Peter, James and John,
·
Once again, Separating
them from the rest
·
And then they got to
see:
·
Not only An Insight
into the Risen Lord,
·
But also Seeing First-Hand
that there is truly Life after death,
·
And then to top it that
all off, they heard the Father Himself.
Now, Even though they are ashamed of how they messed
up,
·
It still had to be
one of their Best Days Ever, wouldn’t it?
#3
And then when they came down from the mountain, to
see that the other 9, who couldn’t remove the demon from the boy, but rather again
it took Jesus to come and save the day.
And then later, when they asked Jesus why they couldn’t
remove the spirit, Jesus offered just a few words to them, “This
kind can be cast out only by prayer.” verse 29
And there are some translations which actually say, “Only by Prayer and
Fasting.”
Now this just has to set off one’s imagination as it
begins to run with those few words of Christ.
And it most likely wouldn’t have taken them long
before they began to wonder about those few words of Jesus.
What does Jesus mean, “Cast out only by prayer”?
·
Don’t
we pray?
·
And
there is no-one, and I mean No One who can say that we don’t fast. For Goodness
Sakes!
Isn’t it easy to pick out Other People’s Faults?
·
What is going on
here?
·
Do we see the SIN of Pride?
On
a personal note;
·
I really am so thankful that God allows me to forget
a lot of my past through my memory problem.
·
But, the Good and Bad side of that is that I can
still pull up way too many images of my past where I was/am Way-Too-Boastful.
And
it is in these moments where I am the least proud of who I was or who I am
still.
Pride was the
·
Very First Sin of all time
·
and it is still the Greatest SIN of all
Time.
But when we are in the midst of it,
·
Sinning within our
own Pride,
·
The funny thing about
this is,
·
When we are in it,
o
We are unable to see
our Sin Ourselves.
Just like it was with the disciples.
“What does He mean, cast
out only by Prayer?”
“Oh; Now I get it.”
When Jesus said “This KIND”, He
must have been talking about what KIND of demon it was!
Meaning that it must have been this TYPE of demon
may have been a higher Sphere type of fallen angel.
·
1st Sphere
o
A Seraphim
o
Or a Cherubim
o
Thrones
·
2nd Sphere
o
Dominions or Lordships
o
Virtues or Strongholds
o
Powers or Authorities
·
3rd Sphere
o
Principalities or Rulers
o
Archangels
o
Plain Angels (Guarding Angels)
There
are some who believe this is what Jesus
was meaning but I have to second guess that. But, I could see this could be
what the disciples were thinking. Surely, Jesus’ comment was not directed to
them.
#4
But coming back to the Text for today:
33b) Jesus asked his disciples, “What were you discussing out on the road?”
But
they didn’t answer, because they had been arguing about which of them was the
greatest.
He
sat down, called the twelve disciples over to him, and said, “Whoever wants to be first must take last place and be
the servant of everyone else.”
And that is to choose:
As to Live
Within the Teaching of Jesus:
“You
must take last place
and
be the servant of everyone else.”
Yes
– The SIN of Pride!
James 4:6
God
Opposes the Proud!
But
(He) gives Grace to the Humble.
Isaiah 2:11-21 (NLT)
“Human
pride will be brought down,
·
And human arrogance will be humbled.
·
Only the Lord will be exalted on that day of
judgement.
For
the Lord of Heaven’s Armies has a day of reckoning.
·
He will punish the proud and mighty
·
And bring down everything that is exalted.
He
will cut down the tall cedars of Lebanon
·
And all the mighty oaks of Bashan.
He
will level all the high mountains
·
and all the lofty hills.
He
will break down every high tower
·
And every fortified wall.
He
will destroy all the great trading ships
·
And every magnificent vessel.
Human
pride will be humbled,
·
And human arrogance will be brought down.
Only
the Lord will be exalted
·
On that day of judgment.
Idols
will completely disappear.
When
the Lord rises to shake the earth,
·
His enemies will crawl into the
·
Holes in the ground.
They
will hide in caves in the rocks
·
From the terror of the Lord.
·
And the glory of his majesty.
On
that day of judgment, they
·
Will abandon the gold
·
And silver idols
·
They made for themselves to worship.
They
will leave their gods to
·
The rodents and bats,
·
While they crawl away into caverns
·
And hide among the jagged
·
Rocks in the cliffs.
·
They will try to escape the
·
Terror of the Lord
·
And the glory of his majesty
·
As he rises to shake the earth.
PRIDE
– The SIN of PRIDE
Isaiah 57:15
“The
high and lofty one who lives in eternity,
·
The Holy One, says this:
·
“I live in the high and holy place
·
With those whose spirits are
o
Contrite and humble.
·
I restore the crushed spirit of
o
The humble
·
And revive the courage of
o
Those with repentant hearts.”
Did you catch
ALL OF That?
The
High and Lofty One
Who
lives in Eternity,
The
HOLY ONE, says this:
·
“I live in the High and Holy Place
o
With those whose spirits are
§ Contrite
and Humble.
(With those who live Remorsefully,
Repentantly, and Modestly, Unassumingly)
·
I Restore the Crushed Spirit of
o
The Humble
·
And Revive the Courage of
o
Those with Repentant Hearts.”
God is telling us that He is Living in such a different place than
of where we live.
That it is so High and Lofty of a place.
And He Lives in Eternity.
·
God Inhabits Eternity.
·
God Dwells In Eternity.
·
God Occupies Eternity.
·
God Resides In Eternity.
·
God Populates Eternity.
How can we describe that?
How can we Put that into Our Understanding?
·
God Owns Eternity?
o How do you do that?
We accept it by saying that He is God.
·
And that there are many things that
we don’t,
·
We Just Can’t Understand.
·
And God lives in this place where
we Can’t Understand.
·
And those who live humbly live will
live there with Him.
PRIDE,
the SIN of PRIDE
I have found 99 Verse in the Bible that all tell what God thinks
of the Sin of PRIDE.
And I can tell you, God
HATES It!
He Hates it
Because of what it does to our relationship with Him.
Isaiah 66:2
“I
will bless those who have
·
Humble and Contrite hearts,
·
Who tremble at my Word.”
You know something.
·
My Dad points out to me from time
to time that a Sermon Message doesn’t need to be any longer than 5 minutes.
·
And he is almost right.
·
It really doesn’t need to be any
longer than 2 minutes.
That is IF within those 2 minutes
·
You Can ACCEPT It
·
and You Can UNDERSTAND of How
·
And Why
·
And in What Way that message Has
for You
·
In Your life for Today.
And Yes, that 2-minute sermon for You today would be:
“I
will bless those who have
·
Humble and Contrite hearts,
·
Who tremble at My Word.”
Or if you were one of the disciples within our text of today, it would
be:
“This
kind can be cast out only by prayer.”
PRIDE,
The SIN of PRIDE!
God
Opposes the Proud!
But
God Gives Grace to the Humble.
·
God is Completely Against the
Proud!
·
God Contests the Proud!
·
God is at War with the Proud!
·
God Opposes the Proud!
Did you know, that the word “Opposes” also means
“Adversary”
·
And “Adversary” is the same word
o That God uses to describe Satan!
God is TOTALLY against the Arrogant Person
But God will Give His Grace to the humble.
Isn’t this what we want?
·
Isn’t this where we want to be?
·
To be in the presence with Our God
Himself?
·
To actually be able to lay our
heads upon His Lap!
Shouldn’t
that be enough of a Sermon?
Don’t you
think?
So, if that is enough,
Are You Good to Go now?
Are You?
If we were to ask people of how they felt about you, what would they say?
Do those around you say that you are humble?
·
See the thing is,
o The devil is very crafty
o And he hides his trademark SIN so
very well.
Just in case you didn’t know this, Pride comes in so many forms.
They say Pride is like having
Bedhead.
‘You’ don’t really know you have it
but everyone else can see it even from a great distance away!
Even with the famous 12
·
Who lived
·
And walked
·
And actually, breathed that same
air as Jesus did,
·
No, They didn’t even see it.
So, what makes you think you can
see it?
Are
you proud?
If you are sitting there and the thought has come to you that you
know of someone who should be sitting here to hear this, Then – You may have Pride!
If you are a complainer,
·
I mean you seem to always tell the
world your problems,
o That means that you are arrogant, conceited, big-headed;
o
Then - You may be Proud!
o It is because of your Pride that you feel that you deserve better.
o That is why You are always the victim.
See we normally associate Pride with the
·
One who stands up in front of
everyone
o And everything is about them
o And of what they have done.
We think it is like the Ones who
·
Stand up in a group of people,
·
Like the noisy drunk who
constantly is making toasts of everything
·
And falling over everyone,
·
And spilling his drinks
·
And making a Total fool of himself.
·
Oh, there, that is a person who is
just full of PRIDE!
Of Course, that is the “Easy to See Pride”
but there are so - so many more forms of Pride as well.
But Did you know that if you are depressed, Then - You may have Pride within you!
·
Pride is the root cause of
depression.
·
You just keep thinking about
yourself.
·
And the cure of depression is to
get your mind off of yourself and onto other people.
·
Actually getting out and helping
people is the best thing you can do.
Oh, she is Always the Quiet One.
She can’t be prideful because she never says anything.
·
If this is you, I am sorry to tell
you, that there is a good chance that the reason why you are quiet is because
you are afraid of saying the wrong thing which means – You are Proud!
Oh you say, I am not proudful, I am just stressed out.
·
Almost all of the reason for
Stress is – Because of Pride!
o You think you can change things.
o It is all up to you to fix things.
o
That’s Pride!
***************
OK – If you have escaped all of these forms of PRIDE,
Here is my last one.
Do You Seem to ALWAYS Refuse others help when they offer?
THAT’S PRIDE!!!
Just as the devil attacks us from so many angles, the same is to
be said about Pride.
Pride
takes on so many forms.
Oh, the mighty SIN
of PRIDE!
God Opposes,
God Hates the Prideful!
God will destroy the Prideful!
Have you ever cried out?
·
“I do
believe;
·
But Help
Me overcome my unbelief?
Oh Lord, we are so thankful that you are not done with us yet.
·
We are so thankful that You are
helping us with our unbelief.
·
We are so looking for
the time in our life:
·
When we are no longer
looking for the Thankyou(s)
·
When instead we can
give Thanks for our ability to help you with your work.
·
When life is less
about us and greater about us helping you.
·
That is the Life of a
Christian.
·
That is the Life of a
Servant
·
And that is who we
want to be.
Amen.
