Turn to Acts chapter 16. We'll turn back to Mark here shortly, but in Acts chapter 16, we looked at this passage last week, verse 30. The jailer asked a question. And he asked this. He said, sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they spoke to him. The disciples spoke to him. And they said, believe. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved in thy house.

What must I do? What must I do to be saved? The answer is clear in scripture. Believe. Believe. The Lord in Mark 16, he said, go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He that, what? He that believeth. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, but he that believeth not shall be damned. In John chapter three, verse 15, we read this. God's word declares, whosoever believeth in him shall not perish, but have eternal life.

to believe. Maybe you've asked yourself that question on more than one occasion. Do I believe? Do I truly believe? Three times in scripture, God's word declares this of Abraham. It says, Abraham believed God. Abraham believed God and it was counted to him for righteousness. Does that mean Abraham never had any doubt? He doubted having a son. Remember that? Abraham questioned, he said, how can I become a great nation without a son? He even suggested at one time his son, or not his son, but his servant. He had a son named Eleazar. And the thought was, well, since I don't have a son, maybe my servant could be my heir. He had doubts about possessing a land that God had promised him. God promised Abraham a land. And yet he had doubts, didn't he? In fact, he asked God, he said, would you show me a sign? Would you give me a sign to prove this to me? In Genesis 16, Abraham's doubt led him to have a child with Hagar, Sarah's maidservant. You know, that sounds more like an act of desperation than faith, doesn't it? In Genesis 17, after God again promised a son through Sarah, Abraham, he laughed. Is that even possible?

I have fears and doubts, and I suspect Most of us, if we're honest, we all do. We all have fears and doubts. Abraham did too. Yet, scripture declares Abraham believed God. Romans 4 verse 3. What sayeth the scriptures? The scriptures again say Abraham believed God and it was counted. It was imputed. It was reckoned unto him for righteousness. Over and over again in scripture we read that he believed God. Not that he believed in God, or he believed that there was a God. Abraham believed God.

That leads me to the title of the message this morning. Do I believe? Do I believe? Turn again to Mark 9. Mark 9. Let's read this again.

One of the multitude answered and said, verse 17, one of the multitude answered and said, Master, I brought unto thee my son, which hath a dumb spirit, and wherever he taketh him, he teareth him, and he foameth, and he gnasheth with his teeth, and pineth away. And I spake to thy disciples, and they could not cast him out.

And he answered him and said, O faithless generation, How long shall I be with you? I wonder how many times our Lord's repeated that, even when it wasn't written. I wonder in a week's time how many times he could say that about me. Old faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I suffer you?

Bring him unto me. And they brought him unto him. And when he saw him, straightway the spirit tear him. And he fell on the ground. And he wallowed foaming. And he asked his father, how long ago since this came unto him? And he said, of a child.

The burden within us has been here since we've been a child, hasn't it? Sin. Sin. We're born into this world in sin. And sin did my mother conceive me, since a child, since a child. And oft times it hath cast him into the fire and into the waters to destroy him.

But if thou canst do anything, have compassion on us and help us. And Jesus said unto him, if thou canst Believe. If thou canst do this one thing, if thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.

Now just a few things from this short passage of scripture. First, can you see this loving father that we read of here? With little faith, with little faith, he brings his child to Christ seeking a cure for him. This child under an evil spirit, and he first brought this child to the Lord's disciples, who had before, through the name of Christ, by the authority of the Savior, they had healed others. But in this case, they failed. Why is that? Well, other than it pleased the Lord, we don't know, do we? For the glory of God, it pleased the Lord for the glory of Christ, maybe for the humbling of these apostles. To try the faith of this father and his child in his providence, he ordered this. to take place.

This poor man, but he comes in need. He came knowing his need. He must have known something of the Savior, but yet he comes with fears, he comes with doubt, and he says this, he said, If thou canst do anything, have compassion upon us and help us. Maybe in seeing the Lord's disciples fail, he thought maybe the Lord would fail as well. We should never judge our Lord based on the actions of any of his disciples, any of his servants. This man had a need, and he had a need that no other could help him with. And he said to the Lord, again, he came in weakness, but listen, he did come, didn't he? He came to the right person. Verse 22, he said, if thou canst do anything, have compassion on us and help us. Again, he came, but he came with doubts. Do you ever look at your sin? Do you ever look at our condition? and wonder, as great as our Lord is, could he truly save me? Could he truly be merciful unto me? Given the greatness of my sin, does he really have power to take that away? Could he really save me?

Turn to Romans 5. Hold your place there. Turn to Romans 5. Look at verse 20. Romans 5, verse 20. The law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound. That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. Sin has such power over us, such power over the natural man that it is said to reign, reign unto death. It has dominion, it has control, commanding power over many. But listen, where sin abounded, where sin reigned, reigned unto death, grace did much more about. His grace, that's sovereign grace. Grace that is greater than all, we sing that, grace that is greater than all our sin.

Well, back to our text, again in Mark 9. This father says, if thou canst do anything. Now again, he comes knowing his need. He comes with weak faith. But listen, weak faith is still faith. And that's not the only question he asks here. He also asks the Lord, he says, Compassion. Have compassion on us. How many times in scripture do we read that the Lord was moved with compassion? Moved to pity. Lord, you've had compassion on others. Would you have compassion? On me? This dad, he asked the Lord to have compassion, but he also asked the Lord this, he says, help us. Would you help us? It means to help, it means to succor, it means to come to someone's aid. Back in Matthew 15, 25, that Canaanite woman, she came to the Lord and she asked this. She said, help us. Isn't that a simple cry? Help us. If you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us. Again, weak faith, but faith.

In Matthew's account, our Lord told his disciples, he said, he said this, he said, if you had faith, if you had faith as a grain of mustard seed, that's a really tiny seed, he said, if you had that much faith, you could say unto this mountain, remove yourself hence and go to a yonder place and that mountain would remove itself and go. Isn't that, he said this, and then he said this, he said, and nothing, if you had faith as a grain of mustard seed, nothing shall be impossible to you. Weak faith. But weak faith is still faith.

Do you still have Mark 9? Look at verse 23. Here's the second point. Listen to the Lord's reply. Jesus said unto him, again speaking to this father, he said, if thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth. If you can what? If you can believe. You know, the father of that child, he had put, he put an if on the power of the Lord. He said, if you can do anything. But when our Lord responds, He said, if you, if you can believe. The power to heal, the power to save, it's not lacking in our Lord. It's lacking in us. We should never doubt His power. He puts this question to this man. And listen, this question is put to all of us. Do you believe? The Lord confronts the weakness of this man's faith. He said, if you can believe. All those other, I don't know how many other people were standing around, but this has happened between the Lord and this man, and he says, if you can believe. That's a good question, isn't it? I ask you this morning, what think ye? What think ye of the Christ? Do you, do I believe?

Listen to the gracious words of our Lord before this man can say a word. He says, all things are possible to him that believes. To him that believes the almighty power of God, of which all things are possible. All things are done by His grace to them that believe His promise, even for something that seems utterly impossible. Much is put on our believing, and very much is promised. Can thou believe? All things are possible. to him that believes." A simple command. What is it? Believe. Believe. We sing these words, all things are possible, only believe. We read earlier where Abraham believed God and it was counted to him for righteousness. And then that command of that Philippian jailer we looked at last week, he said, What must I do? What must I do to be saved? And Paul and Silas, they gave him one answer. What was it? Believe. Believe. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.

Abraham, we talked about, Abraham was known as a friend of God. He believed God. Again, in Romans, Paul wrote that Abraham, he staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief, was strong in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully persuaded that what God had promised, he was also able to perform. And it was imputed to him for righteousness. Do you believe? Do you believe that He is able to save you? That He's able to perform all that which He promised in the scriptures? That He's able to save to the uttermost them that come to God by Him? To the uttermost? Young, old, even the chief of sinners. able to keep you from falling. David said, he said, when my father and my mother forsake me, then the Lord will take me up. Do you believe he's able to keep you from falling? God's word says he is.

Paul writing to the Philippians, he wrote, he's gonna change our vile body, that it may be fashioned, like to His glorious body. According to the working whereby He is able to subdue all things unto Himself, He's able to change our vile body, this sinful body, and make it like His glorious body. That He's able.

Do you believe He's able to keep that which you've committed unto him. Again, our Lord says to this man, if thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth. He didn't say all things are possible to him that pays his tithe. He didn't say all things are possible to the person that'll walk up to the front of the church. He didn't say he's able to save that one that will pull himself up by his bootstraps. He didn't say he's able to save him if he'd just get his life in order. What'd he say? All things are possible to him that, what? Believeth. That believeth.

In the book of John, John 6 29, you know this religious world talks much about works, about man's deeds, about what man needs to do. Turn there with me, turn to John 6. John chapter 6, look at verse 29. You have it, John 6, 29. Jesus answered and said unto him, this is the work of God. That's the work we need to be interested in, the work of God. You wanna know what the work of God is? Look at it here, here it is. This is the work of God that you believe. That you believe on him whom he hath sent. This is the work. Faith. The owning and acknowledging of him. He's the true Messiah. He's that one scent of God. To receive Him as the only Redeemer, the only Savior of sinners, and to trust Him with the salvation of my very soul. This is the one thing. This is the one thing. God requires of sinners to believe. For by grace are you saved through what? Faith. Where'd that come from? It's the gift of God. Even faith is the gift of God. that they might believe on the one whom he hath sent in the world to save them." To believe Him. Not by the works of the law, not by ceremonies, but faith. Faith in Christ.

Well, third, quickly, turn back with me to Mark 9. Listen to this man's reply. Mark chapter 9. Verse 24. This is a profession of faith right here. He cried out, Lord, I believe. I'm persuaded of thy power. I'm persuaded of thy pity upon me. I'm weak, but I come knowing, I come believing. believing that your grace is sufficient for me, that your strength is made perfect in my weakness. What's his reply? I believe. The Lord calls me to rely more on thee. I know you're willing to save. I know you're able to save. I believe. Help thou mine unbelief. Help my unbelief. Pardon me from it. Help me with thy power against it. Supply that which is wanting in me by thy grace. I believe. Help thou mine unbelief.

Lord, make that my prayer. John wrote this, he said, these are written, these words I've written under the power of thy spirit, the influence of the spirit of God, written that ye might, what? Believe. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. To believe that Jesus is the Christ. That one promise, that one prophesy, that one picture throughout all the Old Testament scriptures, that He is Emmanuel, that He is God with us. He said, these things are written that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, that He is the Son of God, and that believing, you might have life through His name. I believe. Help thou mine unbelief.

Quickly, look at verse 25. It says, when Jesus saw the people come running together, he rebuked the foul spirit, saying unto him, thou dumb and deaf spirit, I charge thee, come out of him and enter no more into him. And the spirit cried and rent him sore and came out of him. And he was as one dead insomuch that many said, He's dead. But Jesus, the Lord Jesus, took him by the hand, and he lifted him up, and he arose.

Do you believe? You know, probably one of the most famous hymns and most recognized hymns that we sing was written by John Newton. Do you recognize this song? Amazing Grace. Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now I'm found. I was blind, but now I see. I sing that song and listen to those words, and I mean, is there any doubt in our mind that that man believed God?

The same year, John Newton wrote a poem. Listen to these words. Same man. He said,

"'Tis a point I long to know. Oft it causes me anxious thought. Do I love the Lord or no? Am I His or am I not? If I love Him, if I truly love Him, why am I thus? Why this dull and lifeless frame? Hardly sure can they be worse who never even heard His name. Could my heart so hard remain A prayer, a task, and a burden prove. Every trifle give me pain if I knew the Savior's love. When I turn my eyes within, all is dark and vain and wild, filled with unbelief and sin. Can I deem myself His child? If I pray or hear or read, sin is mixed in all that I do.

You that love the Lord, tell me, is this thus of you? Is that true of you?

Do I believe? Do I believe?

Turn with me to Romans 10. Romans 10. Look at verse 8. What saith it? What saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth and in thy heart, the word of faith, which we preach, that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shall what? Believe. If thou shalt believe in thine heart that God raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

I believe. By thy grace, I believe. Help. Help thou mine unbelief.

All right.