Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we come before you this morning from many different places. Wherever we are, we ask that you meet us here now.
Help us to see our own struggles and our own need for a faith that depends utterly on you. Quiet the arguments in our minds and the distractions in our spirits, that we might hear from you today. We ask this in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.
The title of the sermon this morning is “The Power That Overcomes.” Scripture Reading: Mark 9:14-29
Introduction: The Argument in the Valley
Good morning, church. If you have your Bibles, please turn with me to the Gospel of Mark, chapter 9.
Just before our passage today, we have one of the mountaintop experiences of the Bible. Jesus took Peter, James, and John up a high mountain, and He was transfigured before them. His clothes became dazzling white, and He spoke with Moses and Elijah. It was a moment of divine confirmation, glory, and awe.
But now, in verse 14, they descend from that mountain-top glory and immediately step into a scene of chaos, confusion, and conflict. They find an arguing crowd, frustrated disciples, and a desperate father with a suffering son. It’s a stark reminder that our Christian life isn't lived only on the mountaintop; it’s lived in the valleys where real human suffering and spiritual battles rage.
I. The Reason for the Argument (v. 14-18)
The text says that when Jesus arrived, He saw a great crowd around His disciples, and the teachers of the law were arguing with them. What was the argument about?
The context tells us. A man had brought his demon-possessed son to the disciples for healing, and they had utterly failed. The argument, therefore, was almost certainly about authority and power.
The crowd was amazed when Jesus arrived, but the father was desperate. He steps through the controversy and gets to the heart of the matter: "I brought my son to your disciples, but they could not heal him."
II. The Nature of the Battle (v. 17-22)
What kind of evil spirit are we dealing with here? This wasn't a minor affliction. This was a powerful, destructive, and violent evil spirit.
• It robbed the boy of his speech.
• It threw him into convulsions.
• It made him foam at the mouth and gnash his teeth.
• It tried to destroy him by throwing him into fire or water.
This spirit was characterized by its desire to cause the boy to lose the power of hearing, it desire to distort, and destroy. It sought to isolate the boy from communication, to twist his body and life, and ultimately to annihilate him. This is the ultimate aim of the enemy in our lives: to isolate us, distort God’s truth and image in us, and steal, kill, and destroy (John 10:10).
The father’s plea is one of the most saddening in Scripture: "But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us." He’s saying, "I’ve almost lost hope, but if there’s any possibility… please."
III. The Source of Authority (v. 23-27)
Jesus’ response is breathtaking. He doesn’t say, "Well, let’s see what I can do." He immediately reframes the entire issue from the man’s "if you can" to the real question: " ‘If you can’? Everything is possible for one who believes."
Jesus redirects the focus from His ability—which is absolute—to the man’s faith. He is inviting the father out of the paralysis of doubt and into the possibility of belief.
The father’s beautiful, honest cry becomes a model prayer for all of us: "I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!" He confesses the little faith he has while asking Jesus to fill the gaps. And Jesus honors that honest, struggling faith.
What happens next is a masterclass in authority. Jesus doesn’t perform a long ritual. He doesn’t plead with the spirit. He simply commands it. "You deaf and mute spirit," he said, "I command you, come out of him and never enter him again."
Did Jesus have the authority? Absolutely. The spirit has no choice but to obey its Creator. It shrieks and convulses the boy one last time, a final act of malice, and then it leaves. The boy lies so still that the crowd thinks he’s dead. But Jesus, full of compassion and power, takes his hand and lifts him up—whole, free, and restored. Where the spirit brought death, Jesus brings resurrection life.
IV. The Secret of Their Failure (v. 28-29)
Later, in private, the disciples ask the question, "Why couldn’t we drive it out?"
Jesus’ answer is simple and profound: "This kind can come out only by prayer."
Their failure was not a lack of technique. It wasn't that they forgot the right words. Their failure was a lack of a dependent relationship. Perhaps they had begun to trust in the gift of authority rather than the Giver of that authority. They had been sent out and given power (Mark 6:7), but they may have started to rely on that past commissioning rather than on a present, moment-by-moment dependence on God.
Jesus says this kind of deep-seated, powerful stronghold of evil only submits to a power greater than itself—the power of God, accessed through prayer. Prayer is the posture of total dependence. It is the declaration that "I cannot, but God can." The disciples had likely moved from prayerful dependence to a self-reliant habit.
Let me give an Illustration: Imagine a skilled surgeon or doctor. She has all the right tools: a scalpel, clamps, and monitors. She even has the textbook knowledge of anatomy and procedure. But one day, in the middle of a complex operation, the power goes out. The lights go dark. The life-support machines flicker and die. In that moment, her tools and knowledge are rendered almost useless. Why? Because she has been severed from the source of power that makes everything else work.
This is what happened to the disciples. They had been given the tools—the authority to drive out demons. They had seen the procedure—they had watched Jesus do it. But in this moment, they were operating in their own strength, disconnected from the ultimate source of power. They had the tools, but they had forgotten to plug into the power source of prayer.
Application: For Our Lives Today. So, what does this mean for us?
1. Should the church continue to drive out demons? Yes, but we must understand our role. Our authority is not our own; it is derived solely from Jesus Christ. We do not command in our name; we command in His name and under His authority. The church is called to continue Jesus' ministry of setting the captives free (Luke 4:18). This involves both the proclamation of freedom from the guilt of sin and, at times, the demonstration of power over spiritual oppression.
2. How do we apply this to our daily lives?
• Cultivate Honest Faith: Like the father of that boy, bring our mixed-up faith to Jesus. "I believe; help my unbelief!" is a prayer He will always answer. He honors honest struggle more than pretended certainty.
• Rely on Prayer, Not Formula: We must fight the temptation to reduce our faith to a formula. The power is not in our methods, but in our connection to the Source. Stay rooted in prayer—not as a last resort, but as a first response.
• Bring our Battles to Jesus: Whatever "spirit" we are facing—be it addiction, despair, anxiety, bitterness—it is a spirit that seeks to deafen us to God’s voice, distort our identity, and destroy our life. Do what the father did: bypass the arguing crowd and bring our problem directly to Jesus.
• Point to the One with Authority: When we experience victory, we must be like Jesus: we take the hand of the broken and lift them up. We point them not to our power, but to the power of Christ. We are merely the channel of His grace.
As a conclusion: The argument in the valley was settled not by a better theological debate, but by the powerful, compassionate authority of Jesus Christ. The disciples’ failure was cured not by a new technique, but by a call back to prayerful dependence.
Church, we live in a world full of arguments and deep suffering. The answer to both is the same: bringing people to a direct encounter with the living Christ. He is the one with all authority. He is the one who commands the waves and the demons, and they obey. And He invites us, His often-failing disciples, to partner with Him in His work—not from a place of our own strength, but from our knees, in prayer, fully dependent on Him.
Let us pray: Lord Jesus, we thank you for your Word. We thank you that you are not a distant God, but one who steps into the chaos of our lives with authority and compassion.
Today, we confess that so often, we are like the disciples. We try to fight our battles with yesterday’s faith, relying on our own strength and understanding. Forgive us for our self-reliance. Forgive us for our prayerlessness.
And so, we echo the cry of the father in this story: “We do believe; help us overcome our unbelief!”
Fill the gaps in our faith. Bring us back into the power source of a living, moment-by-moment relationship with you.
We bring before you now the specific “evil spirits” in our lives—the addictions, the despair, the anxieties, the pride that seeks to distort and destroy us. We command them to flee in the mighty name of Jesus, and we ask for your healing hand to lift us up, to make us whole, and to set us free. Send us out from this place, not in our own power, but in yours, empowered by your Spirit and dependent on your strength. It is in your victorious name, Jesus, we pray. Amen.