Mountains or Valleys, Jesus is There | Mark 9 | Gary Hamrick

[Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] for this morning we are in mark's gospel chapter 9. and i'm going to read verses 2 to 29 a little bit lengthy but i want to read these two stories back to back here in mark's gospel chapter 9 starting at verse 2. now after six days jesus took peter james and john and led them up on a high mountain apart by themselves and he was transfigured before them his clothes became shining exceedingly white like snow such as no launderer on earth can whiten them and elijah appeared with them with moses and they were talking with jesus then peter answered and said to jesus rabbi it is good for us to be here and let us make three tabernacles one for you one for moses and one for elijah because he did not know what to say for they were greatly afraid and a cloud came and overshadowed them and a voice came out of the cloud saying this is my beloved son hear him and suddenly when they had looked around they saw no one anymore but only jesus with themselves now as they came down from the mountain he commanded them that they should tell no one the things they had seen till the son of man had risen from the dead so they kept his word to themselves questioning what the rising from the dead meant and they asked him saying why do the scribes say that elijah must come first and then he answered and told them indeed elijah is coming first and restores all things and how is it written concerning the son of man that he must suffer many things and be treated with contempt but i say to you that elijah has also come and they did to him whatever they wished as it is written of him verse 14 and when he came to the disciples he saw a great multitude around them and scribes disputing with them immediately when they saw him all the people were greatly amazed and running to him greeted him and he asked the scribes what are you discussing with them then one of the crowd answered and said teacher i brought you my son who has a mute spirit and wherever it sees him it throws him down he foams at the mouth gnashes his teeth and becomes rigid so i spoke to your disciples that they should cast it out but they could not he answered him and said o faithless generation how long shall i be with you how long shall i bear with you bring him to me and then they brought him to him and when he saw him immediately the spirit convulsed him and he fell on the ground and and wallowed foaming at the mouth and so he asked his father how long has this been happening to him and he said from childhood and often he has thrown him both into the fire and into the water to destroy him but if you can do anything have compassion on us and help us and jesus said to him if you can believe all things are possible to him who believes and immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears lord i believe help my unbelief when jesus saw that the people came running together he rebuked the unclean spirit saying to it death and dumb spirit i command you come out of him and enter him no more and then the spirit cried out convulsed him greatly and came out of him and he became as one dead so that many said he is dead but jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up and he arose and when he had come into the house his disciples asked him privately why could we not cast it out and so he said to them this kind can come out by nothing but prayer and fasting let's pause there and pray lord we thank you that you love us so much that you would send jesus to die on a cross for us and that you would reveal this story through the pages of the bible and as we come to this particular story these two stories together we ask lord that you would speak to us today minister your grace to our hearts we're needy hungry thirsty people and we thank you lord that you're so faithful to meet us here time and again so we draw near to you lord we ask you to use this passage these two stories to speak to us today we praise you in jesus name and everybody said amen well here in matthew sorry mark chapter nine i wanted to share these two stories back to back as they are written for us back to back because they are a picture of two opposite extremes the first part of this ninth chapter starts out with a literal mountaintop experience where jesus displays his glory and then they move from the mountain down to the valley and you go from this mountaintop experience to this very low valley experience where you see this desperate father and a demon-possessed son and really when you look at these two stories back to back it is somewhat of a picture of our lives in that there are some times when we feel like we're on top of the mountain and everything is going well and life is wonderful and the highs can be really high and then there are times we find ourselves in the valley and it is desperate and things are discouraging and the lows can be pretty low now while the majority of life typically happens somewhere in the middle of these two extremes the fact of the matter is that because we do live in a fallen sinful world it is more common for us to find ourselves living in or near the valley than it is to always be having mountaintop experiences that just isn't realistic that we go from mountain top to mountain top to mountaintop that does not exp express life in in reality okay nobody lives like that there are plenty of times that we do get a glimpse of wonderful things that we would say this is a mountaintop experience but most of life the common part of life happens in or near the valley um life is not like one continuous ride on magic mountain at disneyland okay it's more like a continuous ride on the scooby-doo roller coaster that gets stuck halfway on the track that's more realistic about what life is like the good news is though that whether we find ourselves on the mountain at those times or somewhat more often in the valley jesus is there in both places see that in these stories he is both on the mountain and he is also in the valley he's there with us regardless there's a popular song right now zach williams and dolly parton there was jesus and part of the chorus of that song goes on the mountains in the valleys there was jesus in the shadows of the alleys there was jesus in the fire in the flood there was jesus always is and always was no i never walk alone never walk alone you are always there so i have titled today's teaching mountains or valleys jesus is there and we're going to talk about all this but before we do let's look at the actual events in these two stories in our bibles so again you have two scenes you have the first part of mark chapter nine the scene on the mountain second part of chapter nine is the scene in the valley when they come off of the mountain but let's first talk about what happens here on the mountain if you look again in your bibles in verse 2 it says now after six days jesus took peter james and john and led them up on a high mountain apart by themselves so they leave the other nine disciples out of the twelve jesus takes just three peter james and john you often see in the bible where jesus does some exclusive things with those three peter james and john and it's not that he's showing favoritism it's never good to show favoritism to people parents to kids or employer employers to employees or whatever the case might be but the reality is that some people you're going to feel closer to than others out of the 12 jesus felt closer to these three than he did the majority of them and so he does some things exclusively with them peter james and john were part of what we would call jesus's inner circle and he takes them it says after six days up at a high mountain now what does it mean by after six days it refers to the events previously that we didn't read and what we find before the story of the man of transfiguration is that's when jesus takes his disciples all 12 12 of them up to caesarea philippi north of the golan heights and it is there that jesus asks them who do men say that i am what is the word on the street about my identity and it is there that peter makes this great profession of faith you are the christ the son of the living god after they say well people say you're john the baptist some say you're jeremiah some say elijah another prophet it is peter who makes that bold declaration when jesus says okay but who do you say that i am peter says you're the christ the son of the living god they're there in caesarea philippi and then six days later jesus takes the three peter james and john up on a high mountain now tradition says that the high mountain was mount tabor but mount tabor in israel would be a hard hike to make in six days from caesarea philippi plus it's not really a high mountain it's only 1800 feet it is more likely that this story takes place on mount hermon or mount hormone because that's where they are caesarea philippi is at the base of mount hermon it makes more sense and so bible scholars are divided is this mount tabor is this mount hermon but it makes more sense that they're already in that area that they would hike up mount hermon it's 9 000 feet mount hermon is the place where they have the only ski resort in israel i've been there in the in in the thick of summer and you can see still snow on the peak of mount hermon even in the in the summertime and when it is open as a ski resort during the winter months it's kind of an amazing thing you could actually in israel drive from the desert to ski within two hours so this is mount hermon this is probably where the story takes place but it's not all that you know necessary to you know be certain because the bible doesn't say exactly where they are this much we do know he takes peter james and john with him up on a high mountain at some place and then it says in verse 2 that jesus was transfigured before them transfigured before them the greek word of the new testament here for transfigured is metamorpho metamorph is where we get our english word metamorphosis there's a transformation that happens here with jesus he is changed before them it's temporary but there's this temporary um pulling back of the veil so that peter james and john can see a glimpse of the glory of god jesus is transfigured before them there's this metamorphosis that happens and mark describes in verse 3 this this transformation as bright and white like this glow around jesus both his countenance and his clothing and you get the idea that mark is struggling trying to find words to communicate just how bright and white this is so the only thing he can compare it to because it's it's incomparable to anything else on earth so mark says well it's kind of like as white as snow all right thanks mark and then he adds ore is and his clothing was as brilliant as what any launderer soap could possibly clean clothing so that's the best he can do and of course you know if he were writing today maybe he would say bleach white i don't know but the bleach wasn't around in the day he's trying to describe just how brilliant and white and glowing the countenance in the clothing of jesus was jesus is transformed here now what jesus is showing them is a glimpse of his glory the hebrew word is shekinah the very presence of god jesus is god and flesh and for this moment temporarily jesus is showing peter james and john just the manifest brilliant white glow of the glory of god no doubt it's not the fullness or else these guys eyes eyeballs would be burned out right seen from raiders of the lost ark but anyway some of you too young to know what i'm talking about so no doubt it's just a glimpse but they're seeing this wonderful display of the brilliant white illuminating glory of god and peter james and john are amazed at this and if that wasn't enough who should appear on the scene but the prophets elijah and moses elijah and moses standing there the bible says talking with jesus and so peter starts to freak out he's like whoa look at this elijah and moses with jesus here now listen elijah had been dead for more than about 900 years at this point moses had been dead for about 1400 years by this point so it means that those two prophets had appeared with jesus somehow by god's providence departing for the moment from paradise to be in the presence of jesus either just their spirits or perhaps they retain some kind of you know glorified body for this scene here on this man of transfiguration but here they are they've been dead for centuries and why elijah and moses of all the people who could have appeared with jesus well because elijah represents the prophets and moses represents the law and jesus came to fulfill the law and the prophets so it makes sense that these two would be there speaking with jesus because jesus is about to fulfill on the cross a little while later the the purpose of his coming a fulfillment of the law and the prophets and so there they are with jesus elijah and moses and by the way i think we're going to perhaps at some point see elijah and moses make another appearance in the future because if you know your bible's from revelation chapter 11 it talks about two witnesses who come during the tribulation period in the future to proclaim the good news of jesus as witnesses and when you look at what the the witnesses do in terms of their miracles it parallels the miracles of elijah and the miracles of moses so that people like myself believe and i'm not the only one i'm talking about you know bible scholars and different people believe that in revelation 11 the potential for those two witnesses to be moses and elijah who will yet appear again on the earth but that aside back to our story when peter sees them it's he says in verse five rabbi he says to jesus rabbi it is good for us to be here you know this this is a good day it's good for us to be here and let us make three tabernacles one for you one for moses and one for elijah and i love verse six because he did not know what to say he didn't know what to say for they were greatly afraid now i'm going to comment on that a little bit in a moment but first a couple of observations question how was it that they recognized elijah and moses these guys have been dead for centuries how did they recognize that they were elijah and moses except that either god had revealed it to them or more likely this is a biblical proof text for the fact that someone in their spirit or in their glorified body still bears their physical likeness even after they die why is that important to know i can't tell you how many times i've gotten the question will i recognize my loved one in heaven will they recognize me it is clear here that centuries after these guys had died they were still recognizable because something about their appearance in their spirit form or whether or not they had temporarily some kind of physical form they still bore a resemblance to their physical identity such that they were recognizable you will be able to recognize your loved ones they will be able to recognize you in heaven consider if nothing else when jesus appeared to his disciples post-resurrection from the dead having a glorified body they still could recognize him so we do bear a resemblance to our likeness now when we are in heaven no doubt it's going to be a more improved likeness of who you are okay in the first service i had this guy in the third row go amen i don't know if he was talking about him or his wife but anyway i'm sure it'll be a better likeness than the one we have now but you'll still be recognizable another observation here is back to this thing about when peter makes this suggestion to build three tabernacles or shelters one for jesus one for elijah one for moses that i i love the way it just says he didn't know what to say in fact in some translations of your bible it's it's verse six is actually a parenthetical comment it's it's written in parenthesis because the writer is basically saying you know i'm just letting you know peter had no clue why he said that you know this is the guy who's like you know a few you know chapters earlier you're the christ the son of the living god you know what a bold declaration and then he's saying some numbskull thing like how about we build three tiki huts for you guys like why do we need why do we need tiki huts well i don't know you know i just i just thought it was a good idea you and i can relate to this you have you ever been in the moment of like real excitement or whatever and and then you say something awkward and you're like ah why did i say that it happens it happens and so peter's like well you know build these little huts here for goodness sakes this is jesus the son of god all right he doesn't need a hut to hide out in you know people come by and visit him on this mountain what are you talking about elijah and moses have just come from the dead do they do they need a hut to hang around in i don't think so they're heading back to paradise thank you pete i just put up a parking lot you know if you anyway um it's all right it's okay i just i digress i tell you what peter is really doing here i mean you know he's he's nervous but he's genuine in that he wants to preserve the moment he wants to preserve the moment i mean all of us can relate to this you have some special event in your life a honeymoon a a special vacation a family event you you don't want to end if it's a if it's a wonderful thing you don't want it to end and you're you're taking pictures and selfies and you're you're wanting to capture the moment and you don't want it to end i get why he's saying this there's a lot of us when you're on the mountaintop and you're having some wonderful experience you wish it would never end and you want to preserve it and it highlights the fact that everybody is like that really everybody loves to stay on the mountaintop experience but you can't live there because reality is in the valley and before they leave and climb down from the mountain it tells us in verses 7 and 8 that god speaks it says in verse 7 and a cloud came and overshadowed them and a voice came out of the cloud saying this is my beloved son hear him and suddenly when they had looked around they saw no one anymore but only jesus with themselves see it's like as soon as they tried to preserve the moment god said i want you to listen to my son but now i want you to move on heaven will be a mountaintop experience that will never end but this is not heaven right now and everybody has to come off the mountain at some point oh you might get a glimpse of god's goodness and of his glory from time to time with certain experiences that you will live out in the course of your life here on earth but much of life takes place in the valley of reality where there are demonic influences and sometimes unanswered prayer and helpless parents and tormented children and frustrated disciples because all of that is what they find when they get back to the valley because in the valley is where faith and reality meet anyone can enjoy the mountaintop and feel really cozy while you're there meanwhile the world also needs jesus in the valley and because that's where you and i spend a considerable amount of our time we need jesus in the valley too and so verse 9 in our in our text here says now as they came down from the mountain they came down from the mountain and scene two now is the valley and when they come down from the mountain here's what they encounter jesus notices the nine disciples who were left back right out of the twelve the nine were still left out of the base of the mountain he notices them disputing with some of the scribes now scribes were religious leaders of the day they were considered legal experts they were the ones who would transcribe the hebrew text and jesus sees his nine disciples disputing with the scribes i wonder if jesus is looking at this as he's walking towards them going oh you've only left you for a couple hours goodness sakes but here they are disagreeing disputing and so jesus asks the scribes in verse 16 when he gets down off the mountain he sees them disputing and he says in verse 16 he asked the scribes what are you discussing with them and what happens is a dad in the crowd speaks up and he says listen they're debating my situation and here's my situation verse 17. he says to jesus teacher i brought you my son who has a mute spirit and when wherever it sees him it throws him down he foams at the mouth gnashes his teeth becomes rigid so i spoke to your disciples and that they should cast it out but they could not and so this dad has a son here and the son is possessed by a demon now we know it's possession because at the end of the story jesus cast the demon out of him we don't know what the background we don't know how young this boy is is he is he like a child is he like a young adult we don't we don't have any mention about the guy's life but we know that he's possessed by a demon and this demon is doing violent things within him possessing this boy such that he exhibits uh almost like epileptic-like symptoms and seizures and and he can he convulses and he foams at the mouth and and and the dad says sometimes this demon tries to throw my son into the fire like at a campfire to kill him or drown him in water and this dad is desperate this dad is like i i don't know what else to do and what we also find here is that apparently while jesus was up on a mountain with peter james and john that the dad brought his demon-possessed son to the nine it tells us later because he says there the the man says i brought him to your disciples that they should cast him out and they could not so here's where my mind goes what did those guys try i start imagining the conversation this dad is like my son is demon possessed where's where's jesus well he's up on the mount with peter james and john all right all right then you got you guys are like the b team right well and we think we're the a team well yeah but peter james and john they're up there so they're 18. you guys are bt but can't you can't you at least try to cast the demon out of my son you guys are also followers of do something so this is not in the bible okay don't anybody email me but i i'm just thinking you know so then so andrew's like well you know i mean there was a time when i've seen jesus smear mud on somebody let's try that so they're like all smearing mud on this kid maybe they'll stand back now all right demon come out that's not it philip goes you know what come to think of it i've seen jesus use spit how about we try that now you know they're spitting on the guy trying to judas is standing off on the side going you know what we should be charging the dad right now we should be charging the dad they're asking thomas thomas what do you think we should do tom was like i doubt anything will work so that's the scene just now you know how to pray for me i'm thinking that kind of stuff and jesus comes upon them he's like what in the world what are you guys trying to do here the kids all smeared with mud and spit you know jesus shake at his head that's why in verse 19 he calls him a faithless generation what what are you guys doing here and so the dad brings the boy to jesus and the dad says in verse 22 if you can do anything have compassion on us and help us and jesus said to him verse 23 if you can believe all things are possible to him who believes and i love verse 24 as it just shows the vulnerability and desperation of this dad and it says immediately the father the child cried out and said with tears he's crying he's weeping he says lord i believe help my unbelief i love that honesty he says i believe but i have some unbelief too i have faith but i have some doubts too there's times i feel strong and there are times i feel weak and jesus doesn't shame him and jesus doesn't say well until you really get your faith act together i'm not doing anything for your son no jesus still heals the boy and delivers them from this demon when you're in the valley sometimes you're just too weak to have all the kind of faith in the world and jesus knows that sometimes all you can muster up is a little but jesus will take our little and use it for his glory to help us now just when you think the story's over it tells us at the end here that in verse 28 his disciples pulled jesus aside in private and they asked him why couldn't we cast that demon out and jesus says in verse 29 this kind can come out by nothing but prayer and fasting i want to share four quick bullet points with you it's going to be very rapid fire four quick things i think we can learn from this story the first is what we've been talking about throughout this whole thing jesus is with us on the mountain and in the valleys it's important to remember this david would write in psalm 139 verses 7 to 10 where can i go from your spirit where can i flee from your presence if i go up to the heavens you are there if i make my bed in the depths sheol is the word hell you are there if i rise on the wings of the dawn if i settle on the far side of the sea even there your hand will guide me your right hand will hold me fast david's like i can't go anywhere and escape your presence because you're always with me in psalm 46 1 it says god is our refuge and strength and ever present help in times of need whether you're on the mountain or in the valleys and david in psalm 23 reminds us that he's with us in the valleys when he writes yea though i walk through the valley of the shadow of death you are with me that's why i will not fear god is with us on the mountains and in the valleys number two you always have to come down off the mountain real life happens in the valleys i first started off in full-time ministry and youth ministry did that for the first four years before coming here to help plant cornerstone and um i can tell you i always had a mixture of joy and sorrow in youth ministry every year at summer camp because i would see teenagers who would get away literally in a mountaintop experience go away to summer camp you know start to allow the lord to do a good work in their hearts they they get broken they get emotional they they humble themselves they many times we get saved many times rededicate their lives and it would just be these wonderful summer camps of just you know getting close to god drawing near to him getting their hearts right all of this good stuff right but then i always knew last day of summer camp you got to go off the mountain you got to go back home where reality is and i knew that sometimes they were going back to families where mom and dad would be hostile to christianity they would they would be mad that they got saved or at the very least not really excited for them and they would go back to their friends and they'd go back to their schools and i always had this ongoing tension in my heart of joy what god did and then this angst about now how they have to face reality but that is reality you can't stay on the mountain forever real life happens in the valleys this is where faith and life merge this is where we invite jesus into every dark day into every unexpected disappointment and we say lord you are the same god of the valleys as you are of the mountains and because you are the god of the mountains and the god of the valleys i'm gonna trust you even in my real life situations this is not just ethereal stuff you know faith is not supposed to be just this you know cosmic head knowledge this is supposed to be where real life and real faith intersect in the valley of reality and every single one of us live there where we invite jesus into every part of this you know we sang earlier in our worship time the song graves into gardens and part of that song i didn't even ask michael to do it you know i already had this in my notes and i thought it was timely that he chose to sing it this morning because part of the chorus goes because the god of the mountains is the god of the valley and there's not a place your mercy and grace won't find me again number three the most difficult challenges in the valleys must be met with prayer and fasting i will tell you you read any bible commentary it is unknown why this particular demon was so difficult to cast out but it was in this particular case his disciples were unable to cast out the demon and they asked him privately why couldn't we do this because they had done this before jesus sent them out two by two they had already been in the name of jesus casting out demons but this time they couldn't and when they asked jesus says in verse 29 this kind what makes it different from the others it doesn't tell us but jesus just says this kind of demon would only come out with prayer and fasting well then the question becomes is it that prayer and fasting makes me more powerful in my spirit to do things that are that are more uncommon maybe but i don't really think that that's what he was trying to teach us here i think simply what he's trying to teach us is that through prayer and fasting through the disciplines of prayer and fasting my life is more faith-filled and less fear-filled the more i seek him through prayer and the more through fasting i deny the physical part of my appetites so that i can then grow in a deeper way with the lord in moments when difficult things demand them then i need to practice those disciplines because some things in your life i'm not talking about demon stuff although you know demonic possession is a reality but that aside for the moment i'm just talking about some of you are going through very very difficult situations and and you're trying to find solutions and you're trying to figure out how how to how to make this better maybe this kind will only get better through prayer and fasting you've tried everything else but now maybe it's time for some prayer and fasting and maybe then as your heart is filled more with faith and less with fear you'll see the mighty hand of god at work last one number four i like this about the story even a little belief with unbelief is better than no belief at all this is the story here of the dad he was honest enough to admit that he had some unbelief but jesus was honorable enough to give the dead what he needed anyway the mighty hand of god is not dependent on the mighty faith of man i'm going to say that again the mighty hand of god is not dependent upon the mighty faith of man if you think god will only move based on your level of faith you've put yourself in charge of god you are manipulating the hand of god if your theology says the more faith i have then god will do more for me no wait a minute god wants us to exercise faith god wants us to enter into what he is wanting to do with belief but it's okay to say i got some unbelief and i got some doubt and god's mighty hand will still move because god is the one who is sovereign and god is the one who is powerful and god knows that there are times that we're just so weak and weary and discouraged that we can't muster up more than a tiny bit of belief and then say to him but i got some unbelief can you help me with that too and god will show himself strong because the mighty hand of god is not dependent upon the mighty faith of man thank god that he knows sometimes we're just too weary or tired to have much faith but when we just open ourselves to jesus say but lord i'm yours please do your good work that you know i need in his mercy god does exceedingly abundantly beyond what we could hope ask or imagine because that's god i believe lord but help my unbelief amen amen let's pray together father we thank you that you are good and awesome and powerful and mighty and you are the same god of the mountains as you are of the valleys and there are times lord that in life we will get a glimpse of your glory and goodness and we love those mountaintop experiences but we know lord because we live in a fallen sinful world that most of life is lived near or in the valley but you're there too so help us to live well to trust you to seek you yes maybe sometimes even through prayer and fasting when things are difficult and dark but we love you lord and we thank you that you love us so much you're with us whether on the mountain or in the valley to do your good and powerful work lord i pray right now for those who are finding themselves right in the darkest valley and feeling like things are hopeless that you would show yourself strong to them right now lord yea though i walk through the valley of the shadow of death i will fear no evil for you are with me you are with them lord where can i go from your spirit where can i flee from your presence you're with us everywhere if i rise on the wings of the dawn if i settle on the far side of the sea even there your hand will guide me your right hand will hold me fast hold us fast lord sheltered in the palm of your hand so whether good days or bad days we will know your abiding presence your power at work even when we feel like we have very little faith lord thank you for showing yourself strong do your good work where it is needed most right now you know lord you know your people you know the sheep of your pasture you know those who really need you in desperate ways with tears they would cry out like this dad show compassion and help me lord i pray you would do that lord glorify yourself in the process strengthen our hearts lord we're needy people we love you we praise you together in jesus name and everybody said amen and amen god bless you all

Channel: Cornerstone Chapel - Leesburg, VA

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Length: 38min 37sec (2317 seconds)

Published: Mon May 24 2021