The believer's unbelief. Now that sounds like a contradiction
in terms, doesn't it? Sounds like an oxymoron. The
believer's unbelief. But whenever I hear the gospel,
how that I stand without God, without sin before God, But I
am sinless, perfectly righteous in the righteousness of Christ,
lacking nothing. There's a voice that comes up
in my heart saying, dare you believe that with regard to you? Look at yourself. That's the
problem. That's the problem. Look at yourself. the believers unbelief. Now this is Mark's account of
the appearing of the Lord to the 11 disciples and it was a
strong rebuke. Verse 14, afterward he appeared
unto the 11 as they said it meet and upbraided them. That's strong language. That's
a strong rebuke. He upbraided them with their
unbelief. And what always comes from unbelief,
hardness of heart. He upbraided them for their unbelief
and hardness of heart because they believed not them, which
had seen him, after he was risen. Now we know from the other accounts
that these were not the first words he spake to the disciples. This was at the end. Turn to
Matthew's account, Matthew 28. Verse 16. Then the 11 disciples went away
into Galilee, into a mountain where Jesus had appointed them. And when they saw him, the 11,
when they saw him, they did what everybody who ever sees him does,
they worshiped. You see him. You will worship. But look what it says next. But
some doubted. Now does that mean some doubted
and others did not? I hesitate to do this, but I
think it's important to do this with this particular message.
The pronoun some is not found in the original. Every English
version has it, but some doubted, but that some is not found in
the original. Now somebody says, does that
mean I need to understand the original languages to understand
the gospel? Not at all. Not at all. I mean,
it's, it's a beautiful translation, but here, for some reason, the
translators put something in that is not in the original.
I know somebody could think, well, how do you know? We don't
even have a copy of the original original. I know, I know we have
copies of the original. If we had a original copy, guess
what would we do? We'd be worshiping it. Without
question, we'd be worshiping it. And the Lord, in his mercy,
has given us copies of the original, and these are translations. King
James, I love the King James. It's a translation, though. Just
like every other thing is a translation, and there can be men making mistakes
in translation. They shouldn't have translated
this, but some doubted. That would be to imply that,
well, some doubted and others did not. But this reads literally,
and it's the same grammatical construction in they worshiped
and they doubted. They worshiped and they doubted. Have you ever done that? Have
you heard the gospel and believed it and doubted? Sure you have. This really is in line with the
two natures, isn't it? The new nature worships. The old nature doesn't worship,
it's incapable of it. The old nature doubts. They worshiped him and even while
they were looking at him, resurrected in a glorified body, they doubted. Don't think for a second that's
not the case with you and me right now. They saw him, they
worshiped him, and they doubted. I think of what that man said
in Mark chapter nine, and this is always our prayer. Lord, I
believe. Help thou mine unbelief. Now is there ever a time in your
experience when you don't have to pray that prayer? Lord, I do believe, I do. Help thou mine unbelief. Look in Luke's account in Luke
24. Now we considered this last week. And we ended up, and they
told, verse 35, they told what things were done in the way and
how he was known of them and breaking of bread. Remember the
two disciples on the road to Emmaus and the Lord coming to
them and teaching them the gospel. And they told the disciples about
this. And we know from Mark's account,
the 11, neither believe they then. And I think right in the
midst of their unbelief, the Lord appears. Isn't that glorious? We don't believe you. The Lord appeared. Verse 36, and as they thus spake,
Jesus himself stood in the midst of them and saith unto them,
peace, peace be unto you. But they were terrified and afraid
and supposed they'd seen a spirit. And he said, why are you troubled?
Why do your thoughts arise in your hearts? Behold my hands
and my feet. He showed them his scars. And right now in heaven, he possesses
those scars. In his glorified body, he possesses
those scars. And I love remembering this.
That's going to tell us even when we don't have any, I don't
understand how this is so, I don't. But we will not have any consciousness
of having ever sinned when we're in heaven. You won't remember
sin. But those scars will be a continual
reminder to you that the only reason you're there is him. No
other reason. And he showed them his hands
and his feet. Behold my hands and my feet that
I myself handle me. And see, for a spirit hath not
flesh and bones as ye see me have. And when he thus spoken,
he showed them his hands and his feet. There it is again.
And while they yet believed not for joy and wondered, he said
unto them, have you any meat? And they gave him a piece of
broiled fish and a honeycomb. And he took it and did eat before
them. He demonstrates to them, I am the resurrected Christ. And his message was one of peace.
Now look in John chapter 20. John chapter 20. Then the same day at even being
the first day of the week, verse 19, John chapter 20, verse 19,
then the same day at even being the first day of the week when
the doors were shut, where the disciples were assembled for
fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst and saith
unto them, peace. That's what the Lord says to
every one of his people, peace. And when he had so said, he showed
them his hands and his side. Now, the ground of peace is what
the Lord accomplished on Calvary Street. That's why I have peace. Because he made my peace. He is my peace. Now that's how this appearance
begins. Peace by Jesus Christ. Now it was after that that he
gives this rebuke that Mark recorded, and it was not a gentle rebuke. He upbraided them. Strong word. He upbraided them for their unbelief
and their hardness of heart. You see, unbelief is the mother
of all other sin. Now think about that. Unbelief. Every other sin comes from unbelief. I have no doubt that it's what
the writer to the Hebrews said, the sin that doth so easily beset
us. Someone says, well, my upsetting
sin is some kind of vice or something. Well, it may be, but that's not
what the writer of the Hebrews is talking about. Unbelief is
the sin that doth so easily beset us. What did Satan use with Eve? Yea, hath God said? Did he say it? Did he mean that? Could it have meant something
else? His agenda, and it worked, was
to get Eve to doubt what God said. You shall not surely die. And she believed him. That was
the fall of our first parents in the garden. Now, unbelief
is evil. Amen? Unbelief is evil. It fails to believe what God
has said. It's the mother of all other
sin, and there's no excuse for it. There's no ground for it. It's dishonoring to God. It's
dishonoring to Christ. It's dishonoring to the spirit
of truth. It's the biggest sin we commit,
and it's the biggest problem we have. And the problem is,
I don't know whether any of us really believe that. I said this
not too long ago, if I would tell you that I have great sin
in my life, I know you all would not be thinking, well, he must
be guilty of unbelief. You'd be thinking of some kind
of real scandalous sin or something like that. That scandalous sin
comes from unbelief. The Lord does not say to the
disciples, it's excusable because of the sinfulness of your old
nature. He upbraided them. He strongly rebuked them. It
was unbelief that created this hardness of heart. Now this same
word, hardness of heart is used by the Lord when he had the Pharisees
come up and say, this is lawful to divorce. And he said, God
made them from the beginning to be one flesh. No, it's not. And they said to him, well, why
did Moses say Give her a bill of divorcement. If it's wrong,
why did Moses say that? And the Lord replied, because
of the hardness of your heart. That person would be miserable
that was living with that person who wanted the divorce. They'd
mistreat him. They would be mean to him, evil to him, wicked to
him. And the Lord said, this is because of the hardness of
your heart. Unbelief creates hardness of
heart. You can't hear the way you would. Hardness of heart. Now, unbelief is different in
a believer than it is in an unbeliever for this one singular reason. A believer does believe. An unbeliever doesn't. There
are two kinds of people in this world, those who believe and
those who believe not. The believer does believe. He cries out, I believe. Help thou mine unbelief. A believer does believe to this
extent, he cannot not believe. Even when he's not believing,
he cannot not believe. Now, an unbeliever can say, I
believe, they always do. But believe what? Believe the gospel. He can say,
I believe, but he doesn't. He doesn't believe the gospel.
Remember when you're thinking about this thing of believing,
never separated from believing the gospel, the gospel of what
the Lord Jesus Christ actually accomplished. A believer may
say, I believe, he doesn't believe the gospel. But a believer does
believe. Now he that believeth not, the
Lord said, is condemned already Because he has not believed on
the name of the only begotten Son of God. Now I want you to
think about what a crime that is. To not believe on his name?
His name's who he is. His name's his holiness. His
name's his righteousness. His name is his love. His name
is his sovereignty. His name is his justice. His
name is his immutability. To not believe? What greater
crime could there be than to not believe on his name? To think
you could come waltzing into God's presence in some other
name than his name. What greater crime could there
be? To not believe on his name. What remarkable wickedness. He that believeth not God hath
made him a liar. To believe not is to say God
is not trustworthy. He can't be trusted. He's a liar.
You can't count on what he says. That's what the scripture says. Because he has not believed the
record that God gave of his son, unbelief is rejection of God's
record. Now I'm completely dependent
upon his record being so. For instance, justification. need being justified. The only
way I can depend on that being true is because God's record
says it. It says what Christ accomplished. The unbeliever does not believe
God's record. It's a rejection of God as he
is. It's a rejection of Christ as
he is. Unbelief says we will not have this man reign over
us. What an unfathomable evil. is unbelief. Men are by nature
so evil that they will not believe. And that's why they cannot believe. They will not believe. But the believer says, Lord,
I believe. I believe that the Bible is the
inspired, inerrant Word of God. I believe every word in it, and
I love every word in it, and I bow to every word in it. I believe that Jesus is the Christ,
God's Christ, the Son of the living God. I believe Jesus Christ
is God the Son, the God-man, the creator of the universe,
the one who is controlling everything, who is ruling and reigning in
every event, seated at the right hand of the Father. I believe. I believe God is as he says he
is in his word. I believe there's one God in
three distinct persons. I believe that. God the Father,
God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. I believe all that he
reveals concerning himself. I believe he's holy. I believe
he's sovereign. I believe he's independent, he
has no needs outside of himself. I believe he's immutable, he
cannot change. I believe he's absolutely just,
shall not the judge of the earth do right? I believe everything
he has revealed concerning himself. I do believe. I believe that
Christ is altogether lovely to the Father. I believe that the
Father is pleased with the Son. I believe that all I need to
make me accepted before God is Jesus Christ representing me.
I believe there's such power in his blood that my sin was
put away by what he did. I believe his personal righteousness,
I believe his personal righteousness is my righteousness before God. I do believe. I believe man in general and
me in particular, I believe man is as the Bible says him to be. When it says, God saw the wickedness
of man was great in the earth and that every imagination of
the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. You know
I believe that? I really do. When Paul said,
I know that in me that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing,
me too, I believe that. I believe when Paul says there's
none righteous, no not one, there's none that understands, there's
none that seeks after God, they have all together gone out of
the way, they've together become unprofitable, there's none that
doeth good, no not one, I believe that. I believe that. I believe Jesus Christ is the
God-man that he is eternal God that the Father sent him to this
planet and he did what the Father sent him to do. I believe that. What'd the Father send him to
do? Thou shalt call his name Jesus for he shall save his people
from their sins. I believe he saved his people
from their sins. I stand before God. by virtue
of what he did for me without guilt. I believe. When he said, I've glorified
thee on the earth, I have finished the work thou gavest me to do.
I believe. I do believe. Here's my testimony. Here's my
personal testimony. Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners, of whom I am chief. I'm a sinner. I know I'm
that. He came to save me. And you know
what? He never fails. I do believe. I'm relying on this. When he
said it is finished, I was saved. When he was raised from the dead,
Because I was justified, standing before God without guilt. I believe,
I believe I'm the very righteousness of God in Him. And even when
I say that, there's a voice that comes into me and says, what
if you're not? What if it's pie in the sky? What if this is not
true? Look at you. I believe, help
them. by an unbelief. Faith is believing
God, it's believing what God says in the scriptures, it's
believing that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. Listen to this,
to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth
the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. Now, when I preach, I never assume
everybody I'm preaching to is a believer, but I believe many
of you believe. I really do. I believe many of
you believe the gospel sounds like mine. Listen to this, um, acrostic.
I think, uh, is that, I think that's the way you say it. Acrostic
faith. forsaking all, I trust him. F-A-I-T-H, forsaking all, I trust
him. Lord, I believe, help thou mine
unbelief. Every problem, every doubt, every
worry, every anxiety, every sin, everything lacking in me has
this as its root. unbelief, the sin of sins. Now, the man that cried out,
Lord, I believe, help thou mine unbelief. You know what happened?
He'd taken his son to the disciples and they commanded the demon
to come out. Nothing happened. They failed. The Lord comes down
and he casts him out. And the disciples said, you read
this for yourself in Matthew chapter 17, I think it's verse
20. Why couldn't we cast him out? Because of your unbelief. The Lord Jesus Christ does not
work through unbelief. Saidst thou, Says I not to thee
that if you would believe, you'd see the glory of God? The writer
to the Hebrews said in Hebrews chapter three, verse 12, take
heed brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of
unbelief in departing from the living God. When Paul said, demons
hath forsaken me, having loved this present world, It was unbelief
that caused him to depart. Now I want to close by looking
at a few scriptures in the book of Mark. Turn to Mark chapter
six. And he went out from thence,
verse one, and he went out from thence and came into his own
country and his disciples following. And when the Sabbath day was
come, he began to teach in the synagogue and many hearing him
were astonished, saying, from whence hath this man these things?
And what wisdom is this which is given unto him that even such
mighty works are wrought by his hands? Is not this the carpenter? The son of Mary, the brother
of James and Joseph and Judas and Simon are not his sisters
here with us. And they were offended at him. But Jesus saith unto them, a
prophet is not without honor, but in his own country and among
his own relatives. and in his own house. And look
at this next word. He could there do no mighty work. Now the reason he could do no
mighty work is because he would do no mighty work. Don't think
his power is restrained because of somebody's unbelief. He could
do no mighty work, because he would do no mighty work, save
he laid his hands upon a few sick folk and healed them. And
look at this. The Son of God marveled because
of their unbelief. He was amazed. It's so unreasonable. It's so evil. He looked at these
people not believing, and it said the Son of God marveled
at their Unbelief. Look in verse 48 of this same
chapter. And he saw them tolling and rolling,
for the wind was contrary unto them, and about the fourth watch
of the night he cometh unto them, walking upon the sea, and would
have passed by them. But when they saw him walking
upon the sea, they supposed it had been a spirit, and cried
out, for they all saw him, and were troubled. And immediately
he talked with them, and saith unto them, Be of good cheer.
It is I. Be not afraid. And he went up
into the ship, and the wind ceased. And they were so amazed in themselves,
beyond measure and wonder. Now this was not saying amazing
grace. This speaks of their unbelief. Verse 52, for they considered
not the miracle of the loaves, for their hearts were hardened. Look at Mark chapter eight. They've already seen him feed
5,000. Mark chapter eight, verse two,
I have compassion on the multitude because they have now been with
me three days and have nothing to eat. And if I send them away
fasting to their own houses, they will faint by the way, for
divers of them came from far and his disciples answered from
whence can a man satisfy these men with bread here in the wilderness?
Isn't that amazing? They just saw it happen. From whence can a man do this? Look in verse 14 of this same
chapter. Now the disciples had forgotten
to take bread. Neither had they in the ship
with them more than one loaf. They didn't have enough for everybody
to eat. They forgot to take bread. Now remember they'd seen the
Lord feed 5,000 people with bread and then 4,000 people with bread.
Bread wasn't an issue with him if they didn't have it. And he
charges them saying, take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees
and of the leaven of Herod. And they reason among themselves
saying it's because we've no bread. He's talking about leaven. We have no bread. We forgot to
bring bread. We're going to be hungry. He's going to be mad
at us because we don't have enough to eat while we're here on the
boat. He's talking about bread. And when Jesus knew, he saith
unto them, why reason ye, because you have no bread. Perceive ye
not, neither understand, have your hearts yet hardened? Having
eyes, see ye not, and having ears, hear ye not, and do ye
not remember? When I break the 5,000 among the, how many baskets
full of fragments took ye up? And they said, and him, 12. And
when there were seven among 4,000, how many full of fragments took
ye up? Baskets full of fragments, and
they said, seven. He said, how is it that you don't understand? Now, I realize that the Lord
cannot get exasperated. He's God. But he almost appears
to be exasperated at this time, doesn't he? How is it that you
do not understand? Kind of like when he said to
Philip, have I been so long with you? And yet hast thou not known
me? Now in our text, after he spoke
peace, and aren't you thankful for that? He spoke peace to him.
I've got to hear him say peace to me. It won't do me any good
for anybody else to say peace to me. I have to hear his word
in the gospel every time I hear it. I want to hear the gospel
every time I hear it. Peace. Peace by what he accomplished. And then he gives these rebukes. Here's my closing statements.
Number one, faith is the gift of God. You
know that, don't you? By grace are you saved through
faith, that not of yourselves? It's the gift of God. And everybody
knows that's a believer, that they're not gonna exercise faith
unless God gives it to them. You know that. Number two, unbelief
is infinitely evil. The scripture says they could
not enter in because of unbelief. Unbelief is insulting to the
Lord Jesus Christ. It's saying he's not trustworthy.
It's saying you can't believe his word. Unbelief is infinitely
evil. Third statement is, as long as
we're in the flesh, we will continue to cry out with that man, Lord,
I believe. Help thou my unbelief. Always. There's never a time
when that is not my prayer. Lord, I believe, I do. Help thou mine unbelief. Now here's something very encouraging.
Their wretched unbelief did not disqualify them from verse 15. After he rebuked them for their
unbelief, he said unto them, in verse 15, go ye into all the
world and preach the gospel to every creature. This same ragtag
group of believers who have unbelief,
He said to them, go ye, them, go ye into all the world and
preach the gospel to every creature. He didn't disqualify them. And the last thing I would like
to say is one of the most glorious things about heaven is there
will be no more unbelief. No unbelief up there. Even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus. Let's pray. Lord, we're so thankful for your
word. We're so thankful for the rebukes of your word. For Lord,
we find in us that continual unbelief raising its ugly head. And Lord, we confess that it's
so unreasonable, it's so sinful, it's so contrary. Lord, how we
thank you that our unbelief cannot prevent the gift of faith and
the gift of your grace and the power of your son's blood. And Lord, we ask for Christ's
sake, Lord, we believe, help thou our unbelief for Christ's
sake. In his name we pray, amen. Drew,
come lead us in closing in.