I brought him to Your disciples, but they could not heal him." Sermons I. ONE GREAT CAUSE IS SELF-CENTREDNESS. This is the mood which is indicated by their question, "Why could not we cast him out?" It really was not a question of their casting out. It was a question of their Lord's power to cast out, and of their Lord's gracious willingness to make them his agents in the casting out. They had come to be interested in what they could do; and, like the man who walks on a giddy height, they began to turn giddy as soon as they looked down to watch the goings of their own feet. The greatest secret of failure in spiritual power is still the growing up of self-centredness; the turning of our eyes in upon ourselves; the supreme interest in what we can be, or in what we can do. If these disciples had been able to cure, they would have been proud of their power; and that would have been ruinous to their Christian standing. Humbling lessons of failure are necessary to break us off from dangerous self-centralizing. II. ANOTHER GREAT CAUSE IS UNBELIEF. But this is not to be taken in its active form. What is meant here is weakness, ineffectiveness of faith. It was not there, ready for an emergency. An unexpected demand was made on faith, and faith was caught at unawares. It was no question of denying truths. It was a question of daily reliance, mood of trust, the life of faith, the state of mind and heart that finds such noble expression in St. Paul's words, "I can do all things through him who strengtheneth me." These disciples should have had an established faith which linked them to the Divine power of their Master, and would have given them power to use his power to heal. - R.T.
And when they were come to the multitude. I. THE DIVINELY APPOINTED ALTERNATIONS OF THE CHRISTIAN LIFE. (Mark 9:2, 17).II. SPIRITUAL WORK CAN BE DONE ONLY BY SPIRITUAL MEN (Mark 9:28, 29; Acts 19:13-16). Correspondence in the worker to the work to be done is never overlooked in any other department of activity. Who employs a plague-stricken nurse to tend a plague-stricken patient? Christ's own argument (Matthew 12:25-28); Satan will not cast out Satan. III. THE WEAKNESS OF THE CHRISTIAN APART FROM CHRIST. IV. THE ABSOLUTE NECESSITY OF FAITH. 1. The disciples could do nothing without faith. 2. The father of the lunatic child could receive nothing without faith. How this is to be explained. Faith is more than belief; it is a consequent putting of ourselves into connection with God. The wire must be brought into connection with the battery before it can be charged with electricity. The pitcher must be placed in connection with the fountain before it can be filled. V. THE OMNIPOTENCE OF FAITH. By believing we place ourselves in connection with Almighty God. What pool cannot the ocean fill? What earthly space cannot the sun illumine? No man, then, who desires to be saved, need despair. You cannot expel sin from your own heart; but the word of Christ is omnipotent. (Anon.) Life is full of changes and contrast. The best of man's quality and character is what he is in, and how he meets these abrupt and broken changes.I. CHRIST'S LIFE WAS MADE UP OF CONTRASTS. NOT ONE MORE, MARKED OR EXTREME THAN THIS, AND NOWHERE IS CHRIST SO FULLY AND TRULY SUPREME AND SUBLIMELY HIMSELF. The contrast was painful to Him, painful to all His soul in its love of the beautiful and true and right. What a descent it was! Every true life has such contrasts, and in them the true man is revealed. Christ found His lifework, not in His glory, but in the valley, and was there truly and fully the Messiah. The value of the vision and glory is but their gift of fitness for work and endurance. II. THE CONFUSED SCENE WHICH GREETS CHRIST IS A TRUE PICTURE OF LIFE, INTO WHICH WITH HEALING AND ORDER MAKING, CHRIST IS EVER ENTERING. 1. A sad picture of the world to-day. We are perplexed and almost despairful. 2. A sad picture of our own inner life. the home of so much strife, of so much unbelief. Our wondering question is often, Why could we not cast them out? (S. D. Thomas.) "Bring him hither to me."1. Whose words are these? 2. To whom are they spoken? 3. Concerning whom are they spoken? 4. What do they teach us?(1) Something as to Christ. He is the great Healer, the sinner's one Physician.(2) Something as to ourselves. Contact with Him is health, and life, and warmth. Into this close contact He invites us to bring others. And was any "brought one" ever sent away? (H. Bonar, D. D.) The boundaries of the province of faith.I. FAITH'S LIMITATIONS. 1. The different ages of the Church have called for different kinds of faith. The faith of a miraculous age would not be the same with the faith of a period when God worked by ordinary operations. But even in the same period, and at the same moment, not only the measure, but the character of the faith of different men must vary. A common man at the time of Christ would not have been reproved as the apostles were for not being able to cast out an evil spirit, because it was an authority only given to the apostles. 3. Faith and its achievements must be as God is pleased to give it to every one. It is a pure creation of God in man's soul. 4. Every man's responsibility is just to use the faith, whatever its measure may be, which God has given him; he cannot go beyond it. Nevertheless within this the state of every man's faith depends upon the condition of his heart, and the life which he is leading. II. THE RANGES OF FAITH. 1. It is plain that everything hinges upon faith, that the success of faith does not depend upon the quantity, but upon the quality — "A grain." You may not be able to remove material mountains, but you can spiritual mountains of sin, care, and difficulty. God puts it into a man's mind to believe what He intends that man to do. But may we not mistake the leadings of faith? Yes: just as we may mistake the leadings of prayer and providence. The security is, in a scriptural mind, disciplined to know the still small voices of God. (J. Vaughan, M. A.) I. That the honest efforts of God's servants MAY SOMETIMES END IN FAILURE. As Christian workers, we often think we succeed when we in reality fail, and the reverse. But in this case there could be no mistake.1. It was a conscious failure — "Could not." 2. It was a failure without a redeeming feature. In the pulpit we sometimes partially atone for failure in the end by the good impression we made at the beginning, and the reverse. The demon was only exasperated to ten-fold fury, till the "lad" was flung " to the ground, and wallowed foaming." 3. It was a public failure. It was witnessed by the multitude, and among them the vindictive, sarcastic scribes. 4. It was a humiliating failure. This devil in the "lad" was too much for nine men, who were the divinely-credentialed ambassadors of Christ. II. That the failure of Christian workers MAY SOMETIMES BE A MYSTERY TO THEMSELVES — "Why could not we?" They had honestly tried; had no doubt done the like before; certainly they did it afterward; why not now? Everything appeared to justify them in looking for success. 1. They were Christ's chosen disciples. 2. They were His recognized ambassadors. He had confirmed their call by giving them the Divine gift of miracles. 3. They had not put their hands to a work which God designed for others. The very terms of their commission specified the work which they had tried to do and failed — "raise the dead, cast out devils." 4. No reason to believe they used their own names instead of Christ's on this occasion. No wonder they were humiliated and thunder-struck at such a failure. There is comfort here for all disappointed workers. The feeling of disappointment which prompted this question was a hopeful feature in their case. What we should be most concerned about is, not success, but downright honesty in our work. III. THE FAILURE OF MANY MEN IN THE PULPIT AND OUT OF IT .NEED BE NO MYSTERY EVEN TO THEMSELVES. Many of us fail because we forget to take aim. Have you tried to " cast out devils," and failed? Tell Jesus about it. (T. Kelly.) I. THE DETAILS OF THE DEPLORABLE CASE BEFORE US. Physical miracles of Christ typical of spiritual works.1. The disease appeared every now and then in overwhelming attacks of mania, in which the man was utterly beyond his own control. So we have seen melancholy persons in whom distrust, despair have raged at times with unconquerable fury. 2. The patient at such times was filled with a terrible anguish. 3. The evil spirit sought his destruction by hailing him in different directions. So with distressed souls; fly to extremes. 4. This child was deaf. 5. He was dumb. 6. He was pining away. Men are a prey to their own unbelief. 7. All this had continued for years. 8. The disciples had failed to cast out the devil. II. THE ONE RESOURCE. 1. Jesus Christ is still alive. 2. Jesus lives in the place of authority. 3. Jesus lives in the place of observation, and He graciously interposes still. 4. Jesus expects us to treat Him as the living, powerful, interposing One, and to confide in Him as such. III. THE SURE RESULT. The word of Christ was sure; was opposed by the devil. (C. H. Spurgeon.) None of them more marked and extreme than this; and nowhere is Christ so fully and truly supreme and sublimely Himself. He needs no pause to fittingly enter the clanging discord of anger, despairing sorrow and rude scorn. He is alike supreme, touching manhood's apex in the mount, and mingling with manhood's depravity in ignorance and evil in the valley. And that not because He lived above and indifferent to each, but because, identifying Himself with each, He was true and great enough to subordinate all to His life's mission. The contrast was painful to Him, painful to all His soul in its love of the beautiful and true and right. From the peace of the Transfiguration glory — the heart's ecstasy touching heaven; touching God in its fellowship; the glad satisfaction of an ideal realized, His life's meaning and appointment found, all Moses promised and Elijah wrought for consummated — to the discordant throng of- unhallowed passion and faithless failure. What a descent it was! And this even in a moment, as abrupt as from dream to waking. The change and contrast is infinitely sad. Suddenly Christ, from calm vision and peaceful vow, descending with the glory yet about Him, mantling face and form, is greeted with taunt and scorn, and the bitter cry of shame and despair. Hardly the cross was a sorer trial to the patience, earnestness, and love of Christ. Yet, in the midst He stands, all calm and good, all patiently laying aside His own pain to minister to others — His one concern the honour of the kingdom of man and God. Every true life has such contrasts, and in them the true man is revealed; they compel to the surface that which is most of a man — good or bad, weak or strong. In them we have the gauge of a man's piety and true devotion. It is easy to serve and worship and to be strong in our moments of vision and conscious contact with God, when His Spirit thrills us with joy and faith. It is possible even to brace ourselves up with ardour and enthusiasm for some notable and well-defined task; but to find swift following (all discordant) our vision, a bitter trial, and wake from peaceful resolve to stern reality of strife, and still be true, needs all our faith. It is possible only to the Christ-like man, and should be our aim and glory.(S. D. Thomas.) When man has faith in God his nature so opens itself to be filled with God, that God and he make a new unity, different at once from pure heavenly divinity and from pure earthly humanity, the new unit of man inspired by God; and by that new unit, that new being, it is that the evil is to be conquered and the world is to be saved. Can we understand that? Let us take two simple illustrations which may make it plain. Look at the artist's chisel. Most certainly it carves the statue. The artist cannot carve without his chisel. And yet imagine the chisel, conscious that it was made to carve and that that is its function, trying to carve alone. It lays itself against the hard marble, but it has neither strength nor skill; it has no force to drive itself in, and if it had it does not know which way it ought to go. Then we can imagine the chisel full of disappointment. "Why cannot I carve?" it cries. And then the artist comes and seizes it. The chisel lays itself into his hand, and is obedient to him. That obedience is faith. It opens the channels between the sculptor's brain and the hard steel. Thought, feeling, imagination, skill, flow down from the deep chambers of the artist's soul to the chisel's edge. The sculptor and the chisel are not two, but one. It is the unit which they make that carves the statue. Then again, look at the army and its great commander. The army tries to fight the battle, and is routed. Then its scattered regiments gather themselves together, and put themselves into the hands of the great general, and obey him perfectly, and fight the battle once more and succeed. "Why could not I succeed?" the army cries; and the general answers, "Because of your unbelief. Because you had no faith. You separated yourself from me. You are but half a power, not a whole power. The power which has won the battle now is not you and is not I; it is made up of you and me together, and the power which made us a unit was your obedient faith.(Phillips Brooks, D. D.) It may be interesting and useful to consider in what way the apostles actually worked out the lessons which our Lord gave them concerning faith. The lessons which Christ gave them while He was yet with them were, doubtless, intended to guide them when they were left to themselves; He dropped into their minds many maxims, and precepts, and seeds of thought, which He knew that they would not understand at the time, intending that the things said should be brought to remembrance by the power of the Holy Ghost, and should then be comprehended in all their fulness, and be guides to their feet and lanterns to their paths. Well, then, how did they deal with the mountains of difficulty which they had to remove in order to lay the foundations of the Church? How did they put in practice the precept of their Lord, that they should command the mountains in faith to be removed? and in what way and to what degree did they realize the fulfilment of the promise that a command so given and backed by prayer should be forthwith obeyed, and that nothing should be impossible? It is plain that you may easily conceive a very wild and fanatical system of attempts to propagate the gospel being based upon our Lord's words literally taken. You may conceive, e.g., of St. Peter on the Day of Pentecost, instead of arguing calmly with the people and declaring the facts connected with the life and death of Jesus of Nazareth, attempting some striking miracle which would batter down all opposition; or you can conceive of St. Paul at Ephesus, instead of pleading his cause in the theatre, commanding the great Temple of Diana to be removed and cast into the sea; in fact, you may conceive of a course of conduct as different as possible from that which the apostles with one consent and in their corporate capacity actually adopted. Look at the history contained in the Book of Acts, or at the incidental living history which comes out in the Epistles, and you will see that the whole work of the apostles is a combination of faith and prayer with judgment and calm, quiet, good sense; they were conspicuously what we should call good men of business; like all such men, they attended to small matters as well as great; when difficulties arose, they took counsel together, and discussed the difficulties at a general meeting; they framed rules when rules were necessary; they never forgot that in this world prudence is as necessary with regard to the kingdom of God as it is with regard to mere worldly success; this was the way in which the apostles founded and governed the Church of Christ. And yet the apostles would have been the last men to put trust in their own wisdom, or their business capacity, or their powers of organization. At all times of their ministry, in bright days and in dark, in the council chamber at Jerusalem or in prison for the name of Christ, in legislating for the churches or in dealing with individual hearts and consciences, in striving by all manner of means to cast out the legion of devils by which mankind was possessed, they would have in their minds such words as these.(Bishop Harvey Goodwin.) How the whole story of humankind is like that scene which took place at the foot of Tabor, while Jesus was being transfigured on the top. You remember how, in Raphael's great painting, the whole story is depicted. Up above Christ is hovering in glory, lifted from earth and clothed in light and accompanied on each side by His saints. Down below, in the same picture, the father holds his frantic child, and the helpless disciples are gazing in despair at the struggles which their charms have wholly failed to touch. It is the peace of Divine strength above; it is the tumult and dismay of human feebleness below. But what keeps the great picture from being a mere painted mockery is that the puzzled disciples in the foreground are pointing the distressed parents of the child up to the mountain where the form of Christ is seen. They have begun to get hold of the idea that what they could not do He could do. So they are on the way to the faith which He described to them when they came to Him with their perplexity. Let the picture help to interpret them to us, and is not the meaning of Christ's words to His disciples this? He claims the disciples for Himself. He tells them that the reason of their failure is that they have been trying to do by themselves what they can only do when He is behind them, when their natures are so open that His strength can freely flow out through them. That, I think, is what He means by faith. The man who is so open Christward that Christ is able to pour His strength out through him upon the tasks of life has faith in Christ. The man who is so closed Christward that nothing but his own strength gets utterance upon the tasks of life has not faith, and is weak because of his unbelief.(Phillips Brooks.) Whence comes it that, when assailed by temptation, we so seldom conquer and so often fail? It is because of our unbelief — because we are fools, and slow of heart to believe all that God Himself has told us. We do not go to Him first of all; we do not take His instructions, do not consult His revealed will as our first rule of action. Is it not so as regards that evil spirit whose name is Legion, whose accursed power we meet everywhere — not only in our streets, but in some of its manifold influences in our homes and hearts — the spirit of selfishness and sensuality, lust, intemperance, sarcasm, spite, hypocrisy, cheating, lying, meanness? We do not say, we have not faith to say, "I command thee in the name of Jesus Christ to come out." We dare not say to impotence, "In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk." We have more faith in ourselves; in clever legislation, compulsory education, commercial prosperity, in what we call "progress," in the discoveries of science. We will not read, or we forget, history — how all the great empires of the Nile, the Euphrates, the Tiber, and the Tigris rose and fell as they realized that which was true and right hi the religion they professed; how the golden glory of Babylon, the silver sheen of Cyrus the Persian, the brazen splendour which gleamed on the victorious arms of Alexander, the iron strength of Rome, were ground into powder as the stone fell upon them, the stone which the builders rejected, but which became the head of the corner and the shadow of a great rock in a weary land — the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ; and when in this season of decadence, and in the time of their visitation, they heard the war-cry of their conquerors, and staggered from the wine-cup and the harlot's lap to put on the armour which they could hardly bear, and the sword which they could scarcely wield, it was as they asked in their defeat, "Why could not we cast them out?" that the answer came, "Because of your unbelief; because you have ceased to believe in righteousness, and 'righteousness exalteth a nation.'"(S. R. Hole, M. A.)Had these disciples been not faithless but believing; had they prayed more frequently and earnestly; had they shown more of that self-denial which He taught and set before them, distrusted themselves and humbled themselves instead of disputing which should be the greatest, they would Lave east out that evil spirit. But he perceived, and prevailed over, their want of faith. He said, "Jesus I know, but who are ye that utter His name, but do not believe in its power?" Perhaps the absence of the Master from those nine apostles made them doubtful and fearing among the unbelieving Jews; just as you and I, when we leave the church, or our place of prayer at home, or the company of those whom we most revere and who influence us most for good, are tempted to forget the omnipresent God, to be of the world worldly, and to set our affections upon the things of the earth. So to lose the power, the only true power over ourselves and others, which we have in exact proportion to our faith, our prayers, our self-denial; for they are inseparable, these three — trinity in unity. I. It is impossible to believe in our heavenly Father AND NOT TO GO TO HIM ALWAYS AS CHILDREN TO REJOICE IN HIS LOVE, to thank Him for His gifts, to be protected in danger, taught in ignorance, relieved in pain, and forgiven when we have done wrong. II. WE CANNOT REALLY BELIEVE IN HIS POWER AND LOVE WITHOUT GOING TO HIM AND PRAYING TO HIM OFT AND EARNESTLY; NOT FROM A MERE IMPULSE OF FEAR, in some sudden terror, in the great storm, carried up to heaven and down again to earth, in the valley of the shadow of death; but always out of a pure heart and faith unfeigned. And this true prayer does not begin when we kneel, nor cease when we rise. God has not only given us a voice to pray with, but a mind with which to think about our prayers, and capacities, and means, and time, and money, with which we may fulfil them. True prayer is prayer in action. Duty is prayer, and work is worship. III. So IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO BELIEVE REALLY IN CHRIST, AND NOT TO PRACTISE SELF-DENIAL. To believe is to love, and to love is to obey. (S. R. Hole, M. A.) NOTHING CAN BE BETTER THAN TO BEING OUR SPIRITUAL FAILURES TO CHRIST HIMSELF, AS DID THE DISCIPLES. "Why could not we cast him out?" So asked the baffled, eager disciples of old, and got their answer. So let us ask, and hear what Christ will say to us.I. CAUSE OF SPIRITUAL FAILURE. 1. Whatever the peculiar character of the malady, the disciples had bad power given them to heal it (Matthew 10:8), which they had already freely and successfully put forth (Luke 10:17). This power was not unconditionally exercised. Some of the conditions of success depended upon the sufferers, some upon themselves. The cause of failure lay, not in forms or methods, etc., the mischief lay deeper down — "unbelief." 2. Are there none possessed with evil spirits within our ken? Do we not in this description recognize phenomena of our own life? 3. There are fair excuses enough; undue dwelling upon the evil to be cured; mere reasoning on the causes of evil; reserve and fastidiousness in dealing with religious topics; perfunctory methods of using the gospel means. II. CHRIST'S CURE. There is no unnecessary upbraiding in our Lord's answer, no dwelling on the merely negative side of truth. From the mention of unbelief He passes at once to the power of faith. 1. Faith needs to be cultivated. In the Revised Version Christ's answer reads, "Because of your little faith." You may trust doubt to spring up readily and flourish easily, but the power to discern the invisible, and hold fast amidst a thousand discouragements our confidence in an unseen God, an unseen Saviour, and in the power of truth which as yet far from prevailing must receive due cultivation if it is to conquer. 2. Let it be clearly understood that while God's power in Christ works the miracle, our faith in that power is a condition of its operation and success. 3. This is no question of fervid enunciation, excited gestures, display of emotion. Faith may be small at first. 4. Our Lord's addition to this main answer to the disciples' query has an importance of its own. Faith in all cases needs to be sustained, but in special cases it needs to be specially sustained by (1) (2) (W. T. Darison, M. A.) (W. T. Darison, M. A.) (W. T. Darison, M. A.) (W. T. Darison, M. A.) (S. Robins, M. A.) I. WE HAVE AN UNVARYING POWER. A gospel which never can grow old. An abiding spirit. An unchanging Lord. II. THE CONDITION OF EXERCISING, THIS POWER IS FAITH. The Church to-day is asking the same question as the disciples. What is to blame? .Not our modes of worship, etc. While leaving full scope for all improvements in subordinate conditions, the main thing which makes us strong for our Christian work is the grasp of living faith, which holds fast the strength of God. Faith has a natural operation on ourselves which tends to fit us for casting out the evil spirits. Faith has power over men who see it. III. OUR FAITH IS EVER THREATENED BY SUBTLE UNBELIEF. All our activity tends to become mechanical, and to lose its connection with the motive which originated it. The atmosphere of scornful disbelief which surrounded the disciples made their faith falter. So with us. IV. OUR FAITH CAN ONLY BE MAINTAINED BY CONSTANT DEVOTION AND RIGID SELF-DENIAL. (Dr. A. Maclaren.) (S. D. Thomas.) (Dr. Thomson.) (George Macdonald.) (George Macdonald.) (Dr. J. L. Porter.) (E. Polhill.) (Almoni Peloni.) (Almoni Peloni.) 1. The sphere of faith. Faith has relation to man's spiritual needs; temporal needs not overlooked. The boundaries of faith are to be looked for in the promises. 2. How faith operates. By laying hold on God's power. To make His work serviceable to us it must be done in some way through our instrumentality. But the excellency of the power is His. 3. Its necessity. God's work cannot be done without our faith, He has so appointed. II. OF COMFORT TO THOSE OF LITTLE FAITH. 1. It may be little in two senses: in its object, or in its intensity. 2. Weak faith is faith. It lays hold on God like a thin wire touching a strong battery. 3. It can remove mountains. God will honour faith as such and not because of its strength merely. (G. T. Horton.) (G. T. Horton.) 5354 invasions 4132 demons, malevolence 1418 miracles, responses The King in his Beauty The Secret of Power The Coin in the Fish's Mouth Again on the Words of the Gospel, Matt. xvii. , Where Jesus Showed Himself on the Mount to his Three Disciples. On the Words of the Gospel, Matt. xvii. 1, "After Six Days Jesus Taketh with Him Peter, and James, and John his Brother," Etc. On the Words of the Gospel, Matt. xvii. 19, "Why could not we Cast it Out"? Etc. , and on Prayer. On the Words of the Gospel, Matt. xvii. 21, "How Oft Shall My Brother Sin against Me," Etc. A Desperate Case --How to Meet It Jesus Only The Transfiguration 1 to Pray is as it were to be on Speaking Terms with Me... Return to Galilee. The Passion Foretold. Jesus Pays the Tribute Money. The Transfiguration. The Last Events in Galilee - the Tribute-Money, the Dispute by the Way, the Forbidding of Him who could not Follow with the Disciples, and The On the Morrow of the Transfiguration William Ellery Channing. Thirteenth Lesson. Prayer and Fasting;' Instructions for those who have Attained to the Prayer of Quiet. Many Advance So Far, but Few Go Farther. A Homily Delivered on the Saturday Before the Second Sunday in Lent --On the Transfiguration, S. Matt. xvii. 13-Jan Fourth Sunday after Epiphany Letter Lvii to the Duke and Duchess of Lorraine |