Let's open tonight's service
with hymn number 37 in your Spiral Gospel Hymns hymnbook, a familiar
hymn. Let's all stand together. Approach, my soul, the throne
of grace in every time of need. There's mercy for the needy one
who Jesus' name shall plead. Though I'm a weak and sinful
wretch, I will approach the throne. I'll lean upon Christ's mighty
arm and plead His blood alone. The blood, the precious blood
of Christ has opened up the way by which I can draw near to God
and to my Father pray. Though Satan tempts my heart
to sin, I'll call upon my God. And if I fall, he'll lift me
up and cleanse me in the blood. The way is open, God will hear
my groans and cries of grief. Nothing can keep me from His
throne but my own unbelief. Lord my unbelief remove and turn
my heart by grace compel me to approach your throne and there
spread out my case. Please be seated. Nothing can keep me from his
throne but my own unbelief. O Lord, my unbelief remove and
turn my heart by grace. We're going to be looking at
that miracle tonight in Matthew where the father cries out, Lord,
I believe, help thou mine unbelief. Those words we just sang really
encouraged my heart. Let's open our Bibles together
to Psalm 31. Psalm 31. Just want to read the last four
verses of this Psalm, beginning at verse 21. Blessed be the Lord. For he showed me his marvelous
kindness in a strong city. The margin of my Bible, that
word strong is translated fenced. And the Lord has hedged us about,
but with his grace. And we live in a strong city,
a fenced city. For I said in my haste, I am
cut off from before thine eyes. How oftentimes we thought that.
Thought there's no way I could be saved. Surely I'm gonna be
cut off. Nevertheless, thou heardest the
voice of my supplications when I cried unto thee. Oh, love the
Lord, all ye his saints. For the Lord preserveth the faithful,
and plentifully rewardeth the proud doer. Be of good courage,
and he shall strengthen your heart, all ye that hope in the
Lord. Let's pray together. Our gracious, Loving Heavenly
Father, thank you for your word. Thank
you for leaving us with the testimony of your grace. Thank you for
your Holy Spirit that takes your precious words and makes them
come alive in our hearts. Thank you for the revelation
that it gives us of thy dear son, the living word of God. We asked Lord tonight that once
again that you would be pleased to to reveal Christ to our hearts
and increase our faith and cause us Lord to to cry out to him,
to look to him, to rest in him, to believe on him. Forgive us for our unbelief for
Christ's sake. Amen. Number 235 in the hardbacked
hymnal. Let's all stand together. 235. Pass me not, O gentle Savior,
hear my humble cry. While on others thou art calling,
do not pass me by. Savior, Savior, hear my humble
cry. While on others thou art calling,
? Do not pass me by ? Let me at the throne of mercy ? Find
a sweet relief ? Kneeling there in deep contrition ? Help my
unbelief Hear my humble cry. While on others thou art calling,
do not pass me by. ? Trusting only in thy merit
? ? Would I seek thy face ? ? Heal my wounded, broken spirit ? ?
Save me by thy grace ? ? Savior, Savior, hear my humble cry ?
While on others thou art calling, do not pass me by. Thou the spring of all my comfort,
more than life to me Whom have I on earth beside thee? Whom in heaven but thee? Savior, Savior, hear my humble
cry. While on others thou art calling,
do not pass me by. Please be seated. Let's open our Bibles to the
9th chapter of Mark, Mark chapter 9. Just by way of being reminded
what John said when he closed out the Gospel of John, he tells
us many other things did our Lord that are not written in
this book But these have been written in order that you might
believe that Jesus is the Son of God and that believing you
might have life through his name. On Wednesday nights we've been
looking at the miracles of Christ and the greatest miracle of all
and the purpose of all the physical miracles is the miracle of faith. That the Lord would would give
a dead sinner the ability to believe on Christ and to have
life through His name. That is the greatest miracle.
And so when we look at these physical miracles, let us be
reminded that that's the miracle that we're in need of. What believer has not cried with
this father and said, Lord, I believe, help thou mine unbelief. So many people think that faith
is the contribution that they make to their salvation. But those who have been given
faith know that the only contribution that they've ever made is their
unbelief. that whatever faith they have
was a gift from God and that it was a miracle of grace in
the heart enabling them to believe on Christ. And yet, even while
they still believe, while they do believe, they're grieved. They're not surprised that other
people don't believe, they're most surprised that they do believe. and they're most grieved by their
unbelief. Those who have faith see more
of their unbelief than they do of their faith. And they're brought
to where the disciples were so many times, Lord, increase our
faith or give us more faith. Forgive us for our unbelief. It's been said that we come to
God for faith, not with faith. And though I understand that
statement, I believe we come to God both with faith and for
faith. But if we come to him with true
faith, We know that the faith that we're coming to him with
is the faith that he gave us. We can take no credit for that. Matter of fact, the very nature
of saving faith is that it excludes all boasting. It's the absence of works. It's the It's the complete denial
of any participation that we have made in our salvation. It's looking to Christ alone.
And Matthew, Mark, and Luke, all
three record this miracle. Mark gives us more detail. as to what was happening, and
I want us to read these verses from the Gospel of Mark, chapter
9. When the disciples ask the Lord,
Matthew tells us this, Mark doesn't. But at the end, when the disciples
go before the Lord and they say, Lord, why could not we cast him
out? The Lord says to them, because
of your unbelief. because of your unbelief. And so, at the end of this miracle,
it wasn't just the Father that was saying, Lord, I believe,
help thou mine unbelief. The disciples were saying the
same thing. And so it is with every born-again
child of God. Mark chapter nine, verse 14.
And when he came to his disciples, he saw a great multitude about
them and the scribes questioning with them. So the disciples have
been given power to heal and they've been out preaching and
ministering. And now they've come back together
and the scribes are interrogating them. And I love the way the Lord defends
his disciples. He just steps in right between
those self-righteous scribes and Pharisees and his humble
disciples. In straight way, all the people
when they beheld him were greatly amazed and running to him, saluted
him. And he asked the scribes, what
question you with them? These are my disciples, what
do you want to know? And one of the multitude answered
and said, master, I have brought unto thee my son, which hath
a dumb spirit. Now, I'm not sure if this father
wasn't in part siding with the scribes in their, in their, questioning the authority of
the disciples. The father had brought his son
to the Lord to be healed to the disciples and the disciples couldn't
do it and so this father, I think, is beginning to sympathize with
the accusations that the scribes are making about the disciples. In verse 18, and wheresoever
he taketh him, he tareth him. I'm sorry, did I read verse 17?
One of the multitude answered, Master, I brought unto thee my
son, which hath a dumb spirit, and wheresoever he taketh him,
he teareth him, and he foameth and gnasheth with his teeth and
pineth away. And I spake to thy disciples
that they should cast him out, and they could not. And he answered
him and saith, O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you?
How long shall I suffer you? to bring him unto me. Now I don't
believe the Lord was saying that to his disciples. I think he
was saying that to those scribes and Pharisees. He calls them
faithless. The disciples weren't faithless.
Their faith may have been small, but they had faith. Verse 20. And they brought him
unto him. And when he saw him, straightway
the Spirit tear him, and he fell on the ground and wallowed, foaming. And he, the Lord, asked his father,
How long is it ago since this came unto him? And he said, Of
a child. The Lord never asks questions
because he doesn't know the answer. He asks the question to exalt
himself. and to glorify what he's about
to do. And oftentimes it would 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. This father's heartbroken and
yet he's filled with doubt and unbelief. And if there's anything
at all that you can do, would you help us? And Jesus said unto him, if thou canst believe. The if is not in my ability to
help him. The if is in your ability to
believe. All things are possible to him
that believeth. And straightway, now the father's
heart is changed. And straightway, the father of
the child cried out and said with tears, Lord, I believe. Help thou mine unbelief. When Jesus saw the people came
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 in so
much that many said he is dead. But Jesus took him by the hand
and lifted him up and he rose. And when he was coming to the
house, His disciples asked him privately, why could not we cast
him out? And as I said, Matthew, the Lord
says, because of your unbelief. And then he said this, this kind
come forth by nothing but by prayer and by fasting. When God gives Saving Faith. Turn with me to Ephesians chapter
2. I'm sorry, yeah, Ephesians 2.
Very familiar passage but I want us to look at it for a moment. This thing that we call faith, it's a gift from God But we need
to remember that it's not our faith that saves, it's Christ
that saves. Faith is the anchor that connects
the boat, the rope that connects the boat to the anchor. It's
the anchor that holds fast. It's faith that holds to the
anchor. Christ, the scripture tells us,
is the anchor of our soul and he's given us faith to trust
him. Faith is the empty glass that,
or it is the glass that holds the life-giving water. It's not
the glass that quenches our thirst, it's the water that's in the
glass. Faith is the empty hand that receives the free gift of
God. This manner of faith is a means to an end, the end is God. He's the one who does the saving.
For by, notice in verse 8, for by grace are you saved. Sovereign
grace. Electing grace. Free grace. That's the first cause of our
salvation, the original cause of our salvation is the grace
of God, not our faith. For by grace are you saved through
faith. Now there's an original cause
to salvation which is the sovereign electing grace of God, the first
cause of all things And then there is the effectual cause
of our salvation which was the redemptive work of the Lord Jesus
Christ. When he died on Calvary's cross,
he purchased the salvation of his people and he became their surety. All
that he died for were justified before God by his death on Calvary's
cross. That's the effectual cause of
our salvation. And then there's another effectual
cause of our salvation and that's regeneration. And that's a sovereign
work of grace when the Lord breathes life into our hearts and enables
us to have faith. So when we talk about the causes
of salvation, there's an original cause, there's an effectual cause,
and then there's an instrumental cause. And the instrumental cause
is faith. Let me show you that. For by
grace are you saved through faith, the instrument, the means, and
that not of yourself. It is a gift of God. not of our
works so that no man can boast. We can't boast in having faith.
The Lord, through the regenerating power of the Spirit of God and
by the result of the sacrificial death of Christ, breathed life
into my heart and enabled me to believe. That's the greatest
miracle of all. for we are his workmanship, created
in Christ Jesus. You know, when God creates something,
he creates it out of nothing. He makes something out of nothing.
That's the way, well, we could, a more accurate way to say that
was that everything that he creates, he creates out of himself. He
creates out of himself, but he has no, He has no secondary materials
that he's using. He just creates it out of himself.
So when he created light, he said, let there be light. When
he created the heavens and the earth, he said, he just spoke
it and it all came to be out of himself. And so it is with
the new birth. When he creates us in Christ
Jesus, we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus. He makes
us out of himself. So the instrumental cause of
our salvation is faith. Turn with me to Romans chapter
three. Romans chapter three. There's no salvation apart from
faith. But as we've already said, the
nature of saving faith is the absence of any boasting. It's
the absence of all works. It's a confession of Christ be in all and in all and
he gets all the glory. That's what faith does. Look at Romans chapter three,
verse 28. Therefore, we conclude that a
man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law. He said,
well, we thought we were justified in Christ as a result of his
death on Calvary's cross. Yes, that's the effectual cause
of our justification. I thought we were justified in
the covenant of grace by the sovereign electing work of God's
grace. Yes, that's the original cause
of our salvation, but there is an instrumental cause. that's faith. For without faith
it is impossible to please God. He that cometh to him must believe
that he is and that he's the rewarder of them that diligently
seek him. Now what's my point? If we have God-given saving faith,
we're so much more aware of and ashamed of our lack of faith. You see, it takes faith to recognize
the lack of faith. Why? Because it takes the new
man to see the old man. When this father cried, Lord,
I believe, he's confessing the new nature. Help thou mine unbelief,
he's talking about that old man who's just full of unbelief.
And who doesn't do anything but try to, but, but, but hinder
the, the, the work of, of faith in the new man. He just, he's
always in my way. I mean, he's carried around this
dead body. Is that your experience? Lord, I believe. Help thou mine
unbelief. true saving faith has with it
an unbelieving old man. Lauren, there's nobody here that
can understand what you're going through, having twins in your
womb, but Rebecca did. And I think that maybe Maybe
you could get some encouragement from her experience because Jacob
and Esau were fighting in her womb. They were striving against
one another in her womb. Can't even imagine what that
would be like. So that she cried out to the
Lord, why am I thus? Why am I thus? And what did the
Lord say to her? Because there's two nations in
your womb, there are two people, two different kinds of people
in your womb. And then he went on to say this, the older will serve the younger. The older was Esau and he's the
red man, he's the man of flesh. He's the one who came out first.
And he's a picture of our first nature. We're born first physically
in this world. And then there's the new man,
Jacob, who's holding onto the heel of Esau as he comes out. And the older serves the younger
in that that unbelieving spirit that we all wrestle with drives that man of faith again
and again and again back to Christ so that we're always crying,
Lord, I believe, I believe. Help thou mine unbelief. The
cry of faith is the believer's life. It's our experience. The cry for faith. It's not faith that saves, it's
the object of our faith that saves. Faith is that seeing eye that
looks to the serpent on the pole, but it's the serpent on the pole
that does the saving. Look and live. It's not the strength or the
amount of our faith that saves, it's the object of our faith
that saves. It's the water in the glass, it's not the glass.
It's the anchor, not the rope. It's the... It's the gift, not
the hand. Christ does the saving and yet
he provides this instrument of means by which we're able to
hold on to the one who is able to save. Turn with me to 2 Peter. Chapter
1, 2 Peter chapter 1. All believers have faith. And the gifts of God are without
repentance. He doesn't take them back. Now
our faith may waver, and the Lord's going to try it and test
it and prove it and strengthen it and prune it to make it more
fruitful, but it never goes away. That's the encouragement that
we have, brethren, that when the Lord gives faith, even though
we're filled with so much unbelief and know we We're grieved over
how little our faith is. A drop of water and a river of
water is still water. It's two-part hydrogen to one-part
oxygen, it doesn't matter what the quantity or quality of it
is, water is H2O. And so it is with saving faith. The faith that we have in our
own experience wanes and grows, doesn't it? Look what Peter says in 2 Peter
chapter one, verse one, Simon Peter, a servant and apostle
of Jesus Christ to them that have obtained like precious faith. Now your faith and my faith is
exactly the same in terms of its object. We may vary in degrees and understanding
but the object of our faith is the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the
one who does all the saving and he's the one who we all commonly
profess is all, he's all. He's the Christ, he's the son
of the living God, he's all and he's in all, he did all the saving
all by himself, he put away all the sins of his people once and
for all. Like, common, look, you know Peter, when he's writing,
and he writes this in 1 Peter when he talks about the trying
of your faith. You know he's being reminded
of that time when his faith didn't, wasn't what it's supposed to
be, wasn't what he wanted. I mean, he denied Christ. Look at, servant and apostle of Jesus
Christ to them to all of them that have obtained like precious
faith with us through the righteousness in the margin of my Bible it
says of our God and Savior Jesus Christ I think that's a better
rendering of that of that verse of God and our Savior Jesus Christ
of our Our God and Savior, Jesus Christ. He's our God and he's
our Savior and he's our confession. And in that regard, we have the
same object of faith. Our faith is the same. And it's precious. It's precious, Peter talks about
it being more precious than gold. Look at chapter one of 1 Peter
chapter one. Verse five, we are kept by the
power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed,
in the last time, wherein you greatly rejoice, though now for
a season. If need be, you are in heaviness
through manifold temptations. that the trial of your faith,
being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though
it be tried with fire, might be found under praise and honor
and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ, whom having not
seen, you love, in whom though now you see him not, yet believing,
you rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory, receiving
the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls." This faith is so precious. So valuable. Nothing can substitute it. It can't be taken away. It's
going to be tried. The Lord's going to prove it.
James talks about that. The trying of your faith worketh
patience and patience when it is complete makes you perfect
and entire lacking in nothing. When are we ever perfect and
entire, lacking in nothing? I tell you, only one time. When
we're able, through faith, to look to Christ, to rest in Him,
to believe on Him. Only then are we perfect and
entire, lacking nothing. I have everything I have. You know, it was covetousness
that convicted the Apostle Paul of him being a lawbreaker. When he said, he said, you know,
before the law, I was blameless, but when the commandment came,
sin revived and I died, thou shalt not covet. And we all understand what covetousness
is, it's really kind of the overarching commandment of all commandments.
Because it's the sin of the heart when we covet, desire what we
ought not to have, we don't need, and what God hadn't given us.
What is the one thing that cures covetousness? Well, if you have
everything, then you have nothing to covet. Isn't that true? If you have everything, then
you have nothing to covet. The only time that we are perfect
and entire, lacking nothing, is when we have everything. And
it's through faith. that we're able to look to Christ,
and the only thing that I need, Lord, is more faith. That's the
only thing I need. I don't need anything else. I just need to see you more clearly.
I need to believe in you more truly. I need to rest. Lord, I believe. Help thou mine
unbelief. a cry for faith. And I want to
close with just looking at these words that our Lord spoke to
the disciples and that he I hope he's speaking to us back to our
text in Mark chapter 9 because Matthew, Mark, and Luke Though
their details of this miracle are different, they all three
give this testimony at the end of the miracle when the Lord
said, this kind comes out only by prayer and fasting. Now, we talked about faith. being the instrumental cause
or the means of our salvation because it is faith that enables
us to rest all the hope of our salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's the only means to
grace that there is. Sometimes preachers, sometimes
the old writers in particular, the men that I read, we'll talk
about means to grace. Means to grace. And from best
I can understand there's but one means to grace and that's
faith. Faith is the only means to grace
that there is. But there are means to faith. There are means to faith. There
are things that the Lord has given us to increase our faith
and to help us in our unbelief. And that's why the Lord said
this kind comes out by prayer and fasting. I was talking to
a man recently and he was telling me that he had gone through a
long fast as a sacrifice and offering that he had made to
the Lord. And I thought, I didn't say anything to him, I thought,
first of all, why are you telling me that you're fasting? The Lord
said, when you fast, wash your face, don't tell anybody you're
fasting, do it between you and the Lord. But second of all,
fasting and prayer are not sacrifices that you offer up to God in order
to be rewarded from him. Prayer and fasting are the means
to faith It's what God has given us to seek Him. There are other means to faith
that we have. His Word is a means of faith.
Faith comes by hearing and hearing comes by the Word of God. Worship
is a means of faith. What we're doing right now when
we worship Him, the Lord is helping us to increase our faith And
trials are a means of faith. The trying of your faith, work
with patience. You know, we just read from 1
Peter 2, where the Lord speaks of trying our faith as with fire. And so the ordinances, When we
have baptism in the Lord's table, these are all means to faith
that the Lord has given us. Why? Because we need more faith. It's the one thing
that we need more of and always will. We always will. And it comes not as a reward
for having disciplined ourselves in prayer and whatever other fasting means,
worship, scripture reading. Those are the things that the
Lord has given us. Those are the spiritual exercises. that the Lord has given us to
get our hearts and minds off of all those temporal things
and to set our affections on things above where Christ is
seated at the right hand of God. Isn't that what we're in need
of? Lord, I believe and the faith
that I have is a miracle of your grace. Help thou mine unbelief. or the only contribution that
I've ever made is my unbelief. And I need for you to conquer
my unbelief and increase my faith. All right. Number nine in the spiral hymnal.
Let's stand together. Thank you. "'Tis not that I did choose thee,
for, Lord, that could not be. ? This heart would still refuse
thee ? ? Hast thou not chosen me ? ? Thou from the sin that
stained me ? ? Hast cleansed and set me free ? ? Of old thou
hast ordained me ? ? That I should live to thee ? ? Your love had
no beginning ? No cause in me was found ? That you should choose
to save me ? A sinner strongly bound ? But grace not earned
or sought for ? Was purpose for my soul For me salvation wrought,
for Christ paid the dreadful toll. It was sovereign mercy
called me and taught my opening mind. The world had else enthralled
me to heavenly glories blind. My heart owns none before thee,
for thy rich grace I thirst. This knowing, if I loved thee,
thou must have loved me first.