Now let's turn in our Bible to
Mark chapter 9. And this is the same story that
we read about in Matthew 17. But I want to use a phrase for
a title that's found in Mark chapter 9. I used a phrase for
the title of the message. In Mark chapter 9, the Lord Jesus
Christ said to this weeping, desperate father, If thou canst
believe, verse 23, all things are possible to him that believeth,
to him that believeth. And straightway the father of
the child cried out and said with tears, Lord, Lord, I believe,
I believe. Help thou my unbelief. Help thou my unbelief. Now this
statement is true about every true believer. We do believe
the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. We do look to the Lord
Jesus Christ as everything in salvation. We do look to Him
for all of our righteousness and all of our pardon before
God. And we look to Him and we find
in Him everything we need. We find in Him pardon, we find
in Him righteousness, we find in Him everything we need. But
we also see in us, we also see in us our old sinful nature that
is still plagued with unbelief. Lord, I believe. Have mercy on
my unbelief. Have mercy on my unbelief. Now
this story, isn't it a marvelous story? It's similar to what we
studied in Matthew chapter 15 with the woman of Canaan who
had a daughter that was demon possessed, and she brought her
daughter to the Lord, and the Lord did heal her too. The Lord never turned the mercy
beggar away. This marvelous story of the mighty
healing power of God our Savior, our Lord Jesus Christ, is given
to us in Mark 17, Mark 9, and in Luke 9. And each of these records add
a little more information to us about the marvelous healing
power of our Lord Jesus Christ. And He's the same today. He's
the same today. The healing of this poor pitiful
child that was demon-possessed, and it was said in Luke 9 verse
38, this was the only son of this Father, the only child,
and this little child was so possessed and so sick. The story
of this young child who was demon-possessed and being completely healed,
being completely cured with the Word spoken by our Lord Jesus
Christ is also a picture of the Lord saving power toward us,
who are by nature dead in sin, not only dead in sin, but demon-possessed
and sin controlling us apart from the sovereign mercy and
grace of God. By nature, we are sinners through
and through. We've all sinned and come short
of the glory of God. But when the Lord Jesus cried
in His marvelous power through the gospel and through the preaching
of the gospel, when He speaks the word of salvation to us,
We are healed. You hath He quickened who were
dead. God who is rich in mercy for
His great love wherewith He loved us even when we were dead in
sin. He quickened us together with
Christ Jesus. In Romans 5, we had some of these
verses on the radio program this morning. In Romans 5, verse 20 and 21, it says, where
sin abounds, grace does much more abound. That as sin has
reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness
unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. It's said in Matthew
17, 18, the Lord Jesus Christ rebuked the devil and he departed
from this child and the child was cured that very hour. Instantly. Instantly. And we know by reading the gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ and knowing the power of the gospel
of God, the power of God into salvation, with His stripes,
with the shedding of His blood, we are healed. We are healed
in Him. Now when, it says there in Mark
9 verse 14, when He came to His disciples, He saw a great multitude
about them and the scribes questioning with them and straightway all
the people when they beheld him were greatly amazed, running
unto him, and saluted Him. Now remember, the Lord had taken
Peter, James, and John up on the mountain. And there upon
that mountain is called the Mount of Transfiguration. The Lord
was transformed before them, and the glory of God was shining
in His face, and they had such a blessed meeting, and the Father
speaks from heaven and said, This is My beloved Son, in whom
I am well pleased. Hear ye Him. Now the Lord, with
Peter, James, and John, have come down from the mountain,
And they find these other nine apostles surrounded by these
religious scribes who were disputing and really probably making fun
of them because this father was seeking mercy for his son through
the healing of these apostles and the apostles couldn't do
anything. And no doubt these self-righteous religious men
were disputing with them and making fun of them and mocking
them. What a contrast though, think
about this, from the mountain scene of hearing the Father speak
from heaven, this is my beloved Son in whom I'm well pleased,
from the vision of Christ's glory, to see this sad influence of
sin and Satan. Remember what we read in Matthew
17? 17, he said, oh, faithless and perverse generation. That pretty well describes humanity,
doesn't it? We're faithless and we are all
perverted because sin has entered into us and death by sin, the
wages of sin is death. Now they're back down in the
valley of turmoil, the valley of sorrows and woes. Is not this
the life of every believer? On the mountaintop one day of
joy and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and then the next day
down in the valley of sorrow, unbelief, and turmoil, up and
down, up and down. But always remember, whether
on the mountaintop of joy or in the valley of sorrows, the
Lord is always with us. He'll never leave us. He'll never
forsake us. When we end up our study, we
end our study in Matthew 28, it ends with these words, the
Lord said, and lo, I'm with you always, even to the end of the
world. Now, four lessons we see from
this story. Number one is this, how totally
dependent we are upon the Lord at all times for daily grace,
daily mercy, and strength to help in our time of need. We're in constant need and totally
dependent. Like Moses of old, when he came
down from Mount Sinai after receiving the law, our Lord found his disciples
in a state of complete confusion and under attack by the enemies
of the gospel. These disciples were embarrassed
and run aground by these scribes who were the sworn enemies of
the Lord Jesus Christ. They had gained advantage over
them because they were unable to help this desperate father. The father said, I brought him
to thy disciples and they could not cure him. Mark Matthew 17. And here in Mark 9, I spake to
thy disciples and that they should cast him out, verse 18, and they
could not. You see that in the last part
of verse 18 in chapter 9 of Mark? I spake to thy disciples that
they should cast him out, and they couldn't. They could not. These apostles are the same men
who just a few weeks ago cast out demons, and had done many,
many miracles when he sent them out to preach the gospel. He
gave them power. He gave them power to do these
things, but now we see them helpless. What a humbling lesson it is
for us, but a needful one for them and for us too. Here's a
lesson. Without him, We can do nothing. We can do nothing. Our Lord said,
I'm the true vine, you're the branches. He that abides in me
and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit. For without
me, you can do nothing. Let us learn the lesson of humility
from the failure of these men and let us learn to daily seek
his strength, his presence, his grace to help in our time of
need. Our Lord said, come unto me,
come unto me and I'll give you rest. Let us therefore come boldly
unto the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find
grace to help in our time of need. With Him, we do believe all things
in believing the Gospel. With Him, we do believe. With
Him and by His grace, we do believe. But without Him, we can't do
anything. We can't even believe the Gospel.
Faith is a gift of God. With Him, we may overcome the
greatest temptation. Without Him, the least temptation
may overcome us. That causes me to cry this, Lord,
don't leave me alone. Don't leave me to myself. Moses
said this, if thy presence go not with me, don't let me go.
Lord, go with me, be with me, bless us. So that's lesson number
one. These men were totally dependent
upon the Lord Jesus Christ, his word, his power, his gospel.
How much more in our day are we totally dependent upon him
for all things in salvation? Here's a second thing we can
learn. We learn something of the reality of Satan's destructive
influence of evil over sinners. In verse 18, it says, well, let's
read verse 17. One of the multitude answered
and said, master. Notice how he addresses him here,
first of all, as master, teacher, teacher. Excuse me. He said, Master, I brought unto thee my son, which hath a dumb spirit. And whithersoever he taketh him,
he teareth him, and he foameth and gnashes with his teeth, and
pines away. And I spake to thy disciples,
but they could not cast him out. Now we see something of a desperate
condition, the desperate condition of the destructive influence
of Satan over sinners. Clearly this young man, this
young child was demon possessed. He had an unclean spirit. He
had a foul spirit. He had a dumb spirit. The father
said in Matthew 17, 15, he's a lunatic. He's crazy. He's crazy. And when they brought him to
the Lord to be healed, The devil threw him to the ground, as it
says there in verse 20. And they brought the Lord and
said, O faithless, verse 19, Mark 9, verse 19, O faithless
generations, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I suffer?
Bring him to me. And they brought him. And when
they brought him unto the Lord, and when he saw him, straightway
the Spirit tear him, and he fell to the ground, wallowed and foaming. When the demon-possessed child,
and that demon was before the Lord, he had to hit the ground. He couldn't stand before the
Lord. He had to hit the ground. And here's the point, Satan never
seeks our good, but rather our destruction. Rather our destruction. Let us beware as parents and
grandparents of young people, let us beware as parents and
grandparents of young people to beware and to warn them of
the evil influence that Satan has over unprotected, unguarded
hearts. Let us, like this father did,
seek mercy of the Lord to save them by His grace. It has to
be the grace of God that saves our children. We're to instruct
our children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Let us
instruct our children in the scripture and the blessed doctrines
of the gospel that are able to make them wise unto salvation.
Let us do as this father did. This father brought this child
to the Lord for mercy. And that's what we should do.
God help us to labor to do our children good, to help and aid
the spiritual interest of their soul. And the promise is in Proverbs
22, train up a child in the way he should go when he's old, he'll
not depart from it. So we're to bring our children
up with the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Now here's a third
lesson we can learn. We learned something about the
vital lessons of faith. He asked the father in verse
21, Mark 9 verse 21. He asked the father, how long,
how long is it ago since this came unto the child? He said unto him, he said of
a child, of a child, oftentimes it cast him into the fire and
into the waters to destroy him. But if, now underscore that,
but if thou can do anything, have compassion on us. and help
us. He doubted the Lord's power to
heal. And the Lord said to him, if you can believe, all things
are possible to them that believe. And straightway the father of
the child cried out with tears and said, now he's not calling
him master. Notice the difference here. Lord,
Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief. Unbelief. When Jesus saw that the people
came running, 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. If thou can't believe, all things
are possible to those who believe the gospel. Some lessons about
faith. By nature, we have no true faith. We have no true faith in the
true and living God. Not the faith of God's elect
that loves the truth of God that rests in the Lord Jesus Christ
alone. Faith, we know, is the precious gift of God obtained
by the blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ. But every true
believer can identify with this man. Lord, I do believe. We believe by the grace of God.
Lord, I do believe, help thou my unbelief. He believed, yet
he had some doubt. And he brought this child with
hope, but he was yet fearful, wasn't he? Lord, he said, have
mercy on my son. That's faith. Lord, have mercy
on my son. He also expressed unbelief. There it says in verse 22, But
if thou canst do anything, have compassion on us and help us."
There's unbelief, isn't it? He expressed his unbelief. If
you can do anything, have compassion on us. This man puts an if on
the Lord's power, on the Lord's ability. Now here's a big difference
I'll point out to you. Remember when the leper came
to the Lord? and fell down and worshipped
him. Remember what the leopard said to the Lord? Lord, if you
will, you can heal me. He didn't say, if you have the
power, you can. No, it's all about your will.
You have the power if you have the will. If you will, you can
make me clean. You can make me whole. This man
said, but if you can. He doubted the Lord's power to
heal, didn't he? That's unbelief, isn't it? This
man puts an if on the Lord's power. The leper came and said,
Lord, if you will, you can. Now notice the Lord's answer
in verse 23. He said, if you can believe,
all things are possible to those who believe. If thou can't believe. You see, with God, All things
are possible. With God, nothing shall be impossible. Who then can be saved? The apostles
asked. He said, with men it's impossible,
but with God, all things, all things are possible. The Lord
calls attention to this man's unbelief. The problem is not
in my power or my will. The problem is your lack of faith. If you can't believe, we know
that faith is the gift of God. His word to His disciples. How
many times did the Lord say to His disciples? You remember?
In the ship, when the ship was sinking? O ye of little faith. O ye of little faith. The second
thing, the Lord encourages His faith. He says, all things are
possible to them that believe. All things are not possible to
be done by the believer, but all things are possible to be
done for him by the almighty sovereign Lord. You have not
because you ask not. The Lord said, seek mercy where
it's found. Anything too hard for the Lord?
Anything too hard for the Lord? Jeremiah 32, behold, I am the
Lord, the Lord God of all flesh. Anything too hard for me? Saving faith always looks to
the Lord for help. Without faith, it's impossible
to please God. He that cometh to God must believe
that He is, that He is rewarder of them that diligently seek
Him. By Him all that believe are justified from all things
which could not be justified by the law of Moses. Lord, I
believe, help my unbelief. Every honest believer can identify
with this Father. Lord, I do believe the gospel
is the power of God and the salvation. We do believe, don't we as believers? What do believers believe? All
things written in the word of God. We do believe that this
word is inspired, God-given, and it tells us the way of salvation
in Christ. We do believe the Lord Jesus
Christ is the way, the truth, and the life. We do believe.
But we can also say, Lord, help my unbelief. We do believe that
Jesus Christ is all of our salvation. We do believe that Christ is
all of our hope. Christ in you is a hope of glory. We do believe as believers that
Christ is all of our righteousness before God. We do believe that
Christ made peace for us with his own blood. We do believe. I don't doubt him, his power,
his grace, his salvation. We know, as the Apostle Paul
said, that the gospel's the power of God and the salvation to everyone
that believe it. Yet, I do believe. I do believe Christ is everything
in salvation. Yet, I find in my old, sinful,
fallen, Adam nature, unbelief. Self-righteousness, self-love,
pride, and unbelief. In the heart of every believer
there is trust and there is doubt. There is hope and there is fear. There is faith and there is unbelief. There is great assurance and
confidence in Christ, yet there's a conflict with that old sinful
nature that would accuse us of insincerity and hypocrisy. We worship God in His Spirit.
We rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh.
That's what believers believe. Yet there is a warfare and a
conflict between His flesh and the Spirit. Between that old
Adam nature of sin and that new nature given in a new birth.
That which is born of the flesh is flesh. That which is born
of the Spirit is Spirit. There is nothing perfect in this
body of flesh. We don't possess perfect faith. We possess faith, but not perfectly. We say with the Apostle Paul,
O wretched man, O wretched man that I am. We do possess faith
by his grace as a gift of God, but we don't possess it perfectly,
do we? But thank God for this. It's
not the strength of our faith that saves, it's the object of
our faith that saves. It's the object of our faith
that's looking unto the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the object
of faith. His word is the foundation of
faith. He said, look unto me and be ye saved. That's what
saving faith does. Well, how do I know if I have
saving faith? Where do you look for pardon, forgiveness? Christ
alone, don't we? And that brings me to that song
we just heard a moment ago. John Newton wrote, amazing grace,
how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was
lost, now I'm found, blind, blind, but now I see. You reckon John
Newton who wrote that song ever had anxious doubt and fear? pick up on the table out there
this song. He also wrote this song. To the
point I long to know. and often causes anxious thought. Do I love the Lord or no? Am
I his or am I not? When I turn my eyes within, all
is dark and vain and wild, filled with unbelief and sin. Can I
deem myself a child? Lord, decide this doubtful case. Thou art the people's son. Shine
upon this work of grace, if indeed the work has begun. The same
man who wrote Amazing Grace, that disappoint I long to know.
These are the experimental truths that this religious world is
totally ignorant of. And it's the utmost importance
to comfort the believer to know about this inward warfare as
well as this inward peace. There is that old nature, and
there is that new nature, and there is a constant battle. The
old nature of unbelief and sin, we have that, and we still have
that. And we have yet that new nature, given in a new birth,
that loves Christ and believes Christ. Now, you can go back
and read the patriarchs of the past. was strong in faith, giving
glory to God, being fully persuaded, all that God promised he was
able to do. But also, Abraham had times of
doubt and fear. I'll give you an example. Abraham,
you're going to have a son. Well, they waited and they waited
and they waited. And finally, Sarah said, well, maybe you ought
to go into Hagar and we'll have a child. You can have a child
by Hagar. Did he believe God? Yes. Did he have unbelief and
doubts? Yes. The same man. David, the sweet psalmist of
Israel. And you can go through all the old writers, all the
old prophets. David, the sweet psalmist of
Israel. The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. He makes me
to lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters.
Psalm 23. We all know that psalm well,
don't we? The same man also was inspired of God to write these
words in Psalm 77. Lord, will thou cast off forever
and be unfavorable to me no more? Is his mercy clean gone forever?
Doth his promise fail? Hath God forgotten to be gracious?
Hath he in his anger shut up his tender mercies? That's David. And then he writes, this is my
infirmity. The problem's not with the Lord,
the problem's with my unbelief. My unbelief. So, when you're honest before God,
we can say, Lord, we do believe. I do believe. But we're to examine
ourselves too, whether we be in the faith. there is also doubt. Now I don't doubt him, I doubt
me. The problem's with me. Now here's the last thing I want
us to see. One more glorious thought. The
Lord's absolute dominion and power to heal. What would I believe
to help my unbelief? Look at verse 25. Mark 9. When Jesus saw the people came
running together, He rebuked the foul demon devil's spirit
saying unto him, Thou dumb and deaf spirit, I charge thee, I
command thee. It wasn't an invitation. I command
thee, come out of him and enter in no more. Now what's going
to happen? Even the demons obey him. The demons know who the Lord
is and they tremble. And the spirit cried out and
rent him sore and came out of him. And he was as one dead. in so much that many said, who
were watching this, they heard the Lord command that demon spirit
to leave that young child, and many of them said when that child
was motionless on the ground, they said, He's dead! He died! Look at verse 27. Jesus took
him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose. And when he
was coming to the house, his disciples asked him privately,
why could not we cast him out? Now, turn over here to Luke chapter
9. You can find that easily. Luke
chapter 9. Let me show you something else here. I'll let you go with
this. Luke chapter 9. Luke chapter 9, begin at verse
41, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I
be with you and suffer you? Bring, bring thy son hither.
And as He was yet coming, the devil threw Him down and tear
Him, and Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit and healed the child and
delivered Him to the Father. Look at verse 43, They were all
amazed at the mighty power of God. But while they wondered,
everyone at all things but Jesus did, He said to His disciples,
Let these sayings sink down into your ears, where the Son of Man
shall be delivered into the hands of men." What did they do when
this child was healed? Verse 43, they were all amazed
at the mighty power of God. He has all power, doesn't He?
Don't you find the Lord's power to save sinners almighty? It
takes the almighty power of God to save sinners, to raise up
a dead sinner. Who is this coming from Edom?
with dyed garments from Basra, Isaiah 63, 1. This that is glorious
in his apparel, traveling in the greatness of his strength.
I that speak in righteousness, mighty to save. He's almighty
to save. He's able to save to the uttermost
all that come to God, all that come to God by him. If God be for us, who can be
against us? Satan is strong and busy and
active and malicious, but he's no match for the Lord Jesus Christ.
Our Jesus Christ is Lord over all. The devil cannot act without
the Lord's decree. Satan couldn't touch Job until
God allowed it. Our great God, Lord Jesus Christ,
able to save. He has all power in heaven and
earth to save sinners. Our great God and Savior reigns
and rules over all things. There's nothing that's not under
His absolute, sovereign control. Whatsoever the Lord please, that's
what He does in heaven, earth, sea, and all deep places. Never
despair of anyone's salvation. If God saved a sinner like me,
He can save anyone. He can also save you. He can
also save your children. And why not you? There's another
story that I often am told about John Newton. John Newton, a famous,
famous, well-known preacher in England. He had another very
well-known preacher, preacher friend in England named William
Jay. And William Jay came to Brother
Newton one day and said, well, I've got good news. A certain
notorious wretched sinner down in Bath County, the Lord had
arrested that man, the Lord had saved that man, the Lord made
that man an object of the Lord's mercy and saved him. And Brother Newton said, and
William Jay said, well, I'll never despair of the Lord's mercy
saving anyone since He saved that man. And Newton said to
his friend, Brother Jay, he said, I've never despaired of God's
mercy to anyone since he saved me. Oh, wretched man that I am. God can save a wretch like me.
Why not you? Why not you? The Lord tenderly lifted that
man up. When the Lord in grace and mercy
saves sinners, there's a resurrection from the dead. He that heareth
my word and believeth on him that sent me hath everlasting
life, as shall not come into condemnation, but is passed from
death unto life. May God bless his word to our
heart. May God grant us faith. And then
may we pray with the disciples, Lord, increase our faith. Increase
our faith. Lord, I believe. Can't you say
that in your heart? Lord, I do believe. Christ is
everything in salvation. Lord, help my unbelief. Help
my unbelief.