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Gospel of Mark
Part 52: The Unclean Spirit
By Rev. Bruce A. Shields
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SERMON TIMELINE
1. Introduction
5. The Preaching Ministry of Jesus I
6. The Preaching Ministry of Jesus II
9. At the Home of Simon and Andrew
12. Jesus and the Tax Collector
13. Jesus Questioned About Fasting
15. Jesus, Lord of the Sabbath & Resurrection Sunday 2025
16. Hard Hearts and Hard Thoughts
18. Jesus Appoints the Apostles
24. Parable of the Growing Seed
25. Parable of the Mustard Seed
26. Benefits of Private Teaching
30. When Familiarity Breeds Contempt
32. Weakness in the Seat of Power
34. Feeding 5000
38. The Source of True Defilement
39. Gentile Blessed for Her Faith
40. He Has Done All Things Well
41. Jesus Feeds 4000
42. Jesus Sighs
43. Beware of Leaven
44. The Blind Man at Bethsaida
45. Who Do You Say That Jesus Is?
46. Mindful of the Things of God
49. Ashamed of Jesus and His Word
51. The Disciples ask Questions
52. The Unclean Spirit
SCRIPTURE REFERENCE
The Transfiguration just took place before them.
Mark 9:14-29 “And when they came back to the disciples (just after the transfiguration), they saw a large crowd around them, and scribes arguing with them. 15 And immediately, when the entire crowd saw Him, they were amazed. And as they ran up, they were greeting Him.
16 And He asked them, “What are you arguing with them?” 17 And one of the crowd answered Him, “Teacher, I brought You my son, possessed with a spirit which makes him mute; 18 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.”
19 And He *answered them and *said, “O unbelieving generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring him to Me!”
20 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.
21 And He asked his father, “How long has this been happening to him?” And he said, “From childhood. 22 And it has 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!”
23 And Jesus said to him, “‘If You can?’ All things are possible to him who believes.”
24 Immediately the boy’s father cried out and was saying, “I do believe; help my unbelief.” 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 [Myself] command you, come out of him and do not enter him again.”
26 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!”
27 But Jesus took him by the hand and raised him; and he stood up. 28 And when He came into the house, His disciples began questioning Him privately, “Why could we not cast it out?” 29 And He said to them, “This kind cannot come out by anything but prayer.”
NOTE: If Mark 9:29 in your bible says “prayer and fasting,” that is an incorrect translation.
The original Greek text uses the noun προσευχή (pros-yoo-khay'), which means “pray” or “earnestly pray.”
Praying earnestly in scripture is the “effective prayer of a righteous man that accomplishes much.” In James 5:16
INTRODUCTION
Peter, James, and John return with Jesus from the mountain where they witnessed the transfiguration to find the other disciples in a heated debate. They were surrounded by a multitude, disputing with the scribes.
The controversy? A failed attempt by Jesus’ disciples to heal a young boy who was a deaf-mute. Prone to seizures, convulsing, falling to the ground, rolling around, in fact, in Matthew 17:15 account of this event, Matthew records the father saying that his son was σεληνιάζεται (sel-ay-nee-ad'-zom-ahee), or “moon-struck,” acting like a lunatic, which means literally “controlled by the moon” rather than reason.
The boy’s father desperately wanted him healed. The disciples were unable to heal him, thus the controversy.
This account of a miracle in scripture is one of the most detailed from the gospels. We can learn a lot from it if we examine it in light of scripture carefully.
I. THE NARRATIVE
a. The failure of the disciples
i. Jesus finds the disciples in a dispute with the scribes because they could not heal the young deaf-mute boy.
ii. Jesus rebukes his disciples in verse 19 for their lack of faith
iii. When they brought the boy to Jesus, the moment the boy looked at Him, the spirit within the boy immediately threw the boy into another convulsion.
1. A spirit-induced seizure
iv. The father tells Jesus this has happened often since birth
v. The father begs for compassion and says, “…if you can do anything…” in verse 22.
b. Jesus succeeds where the disciples failed.
i. Jesus first responds to the father, saying, “…if I can?” in verse 23
ii. Jesus then does the one thing we all need most for the father, Jesus corrects the father’s thinking by saying, “All things are possible to him who believes.”
1. Scripture speaks repeatedly about our hearts and minds being corrupt, and we need to change the way we think.
a. Jeremiah 17:9, our hearts are more deceitful than anything else, and desperately sick
b. The following verse says God tests our minds and gives to each of us according to our ways and according to the “fruit of our deeds.”
c. We are our own worst enemy.
2. Proverbs 28:26 whoever trusts his heart is a fool
a. “I listen to my gut,” well, don’t
3. Remember Mark 7:21-23 “For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, sexual immoralities, thefts, murders, adulteries, deeds of coveting and wickedness, as well as deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness. All these evil things proceed from within and defile the man.”
4. Romans 1:21 “For even though they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish heart was darkened.”
a. Did you know 62% of the U.S. identify as Christian?
b. That’s about 160 million
c. I’m not seeing it…and Romans
1:21 tells us why
5. Romans 12:2 “do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may test and approve what the will of God is, that which is good and pleasing and perfect.”
6. As we engage with the Spirit of God in our walk and we submit to the Spirit, and our Sanctification takes place, we WILL SEE TRANSFORMATION in our lives when we renew our minds, change the way we think!
iii. Jesus tells the father to think differently, and that will “help his unbelief.”
c. Jesus heals the young boy.
i. Notice what Jesus says, “I myself command you, come out of him and do not enter him again.”
ii. The boy convulses one last time as the unclean spirit leaves
iii. He appeared dead for a moment, and Jesus helped him to his feet, healed him
1. When you call on the name of the Lord, when you change your thinking and ask Jesus to heal you, He doesn’t leave you there laying on the ground where the unclean spirits left you, and even though you may appear at the doorsteps of death when Jesus breaks the bondage of sin about you, He will take your hand, and raise you up.
2. Praise God
II. What Happens Next?
a. The disciples ask Jesus in private why they failed
i. Jesus simply replies, “This kind cannot come out by anything but prayer.”
ii. Remember, they had been successful many times previously
iii. However, this “unclean spirit” was much stronger than the others and required much earnest, wholehearted prayer.
b. Warnings
i. Firstly, if anyone, be it Charismatic, denomination, teacher, preacher, church, or TV evangelist, ever tells you dancing around in a frenzied state, blabbering incoherent chatter, shaking, trembling, falling on the floor, convulsing, or any other nonsense, is the Holy Spirit, they are liars.
ii. Remember what Jesus said to the scribes in John 8:44 “You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies.”
iii. Measure all things you see, hear, experience, and believe by the Word of God to see if it is true.
iv. The ONLY time we see this in scripture is when people are filled with “unclean” spirits.
v. Their personal experience, what they have seen or heard, none of it surpasses scripture, which is our ultimate authority in all spiritual matters.
vi. Scripture is very clear about being filled with the Holy Spirit
1. Acts 2:4 they were filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke other tongues (known languages) they did not previously know, preaching the gospel to the foreigners who had come for Passover.
2. Acts 2:15 people thought they were drunk, NOT BECAUSE they were stumbling around, had slurred speech, kept falling, BUT BECAUSE of their BOLDNESS and COURAGE at what they said.
3. As far as “shaking and trembling at the power of the Holy Spirit,” we know from Acts 4:31 that the ONLY shaking happened to the environment, NOT to the bodies of the apostles.
4. We see the inward effect of having the Holy Spirit was FEARLESS PROCLAMATION OF THE WORD OF GOD.
vii. Galatians 5:22-23 makes clear, one of the Fruits of the Spirit is Self-Control…NOT shaking, trembling, falling on the ground, writhing around, barking unintelligible words, or uncontrollable laughing like a lunatic.
viii. Scripture ends this debate.
c. What about taking “all things are possible to him who believes” out of context?
i. All things are possible, but must be within God’s will
1. Jesus in the Garden (Mark 14:35-36)
2. Paul with his thorn (2 Corinthians 12:7-9)
ii. Scripture also tells us that some things are not possible because they were asked for incorrectly
1. James 4:3 for selfish or sinful reasons
2. Or you asked while you were not obedient to God 1 John 3:22
3. Or your prayer is not being answered because;
a. Unrepentant sin in your heart (Psalm 66:18)
b. Proverbs 28:9 says your prayer is an abomination if you turn your ear away from hearing the word of God
c. Or in 1 Peter 3:7, husbands who do not treat their wives properly, your prayers are thwarted
d. Matthew 6:14-15; Mark 11:25 unforgiveness or bitterness towards others
e. John 9:31; 1 John 3:22; Isaiah 59:2 lack of obedience to God's word
f. The list goes on
If we wish to have our prayers heard and answered, we must change the way we think and have a mind like Christ. In other words, think as the bible tells us so that we have a right mind.
Submit to the Spirit of God, and you will change.
Through the Holy Spirit, you will have the Fruit of Self Control, walk in obedience in your spiritual growth as you live out your sanctification, and your prayers will be heard by God.
CONCLUSION
Many have taken the truth of scripture, misinterpreted it, misapplied it, and misuse it for personal gain.
“If you believe, you will receive” (Prosperity Gospel & Word of Faith Movement)
“If you can conceive it, you can achieve it” (Power of positive thinking)
But if you were to take the words of Jesus in the CONTEXT of scripture, you would see that what we seek MUST be in keeping with the Lord’s will.
What we seek MUST NOT be for selfish purposes.
We must not lose sight of the importance of faith in God, the power of prayer to God, and the role of fasting in service to God.
With the aid of the word of God, we can better know what is in keeping with His will. Then we can make better use of our faith, prayer, and fasting as we seek to do His will as opposed to our own.
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