Once again, the help of God.
I'd like us to turn together to the chapter that we read,
Mark 9, and the text you'll find in verse 24. And straightway
the father of the child cried out and said with tears, Lord,
I believe, help thou mine unbelief. Encouraged by the hymn that we
have just sang, In Gatsby's Lord is my chief
complaint That my love is cold and faint Yet I love thee and
adore O for grace to love thee more Many believers I think can
join in with the verse of that hymn. It is our chief complaint. We often focus on our own lukewarmness,
our own coldness, our own hardness of heart. We often focus upon
our own unbelief, our doubts and fears and often our lives
are often clouded by self-examination and when we self-examine we see
no good thing. We see that we wonder why the
Lord Jesus Christ would really have anything to do with us when
we just are cold and faint and our belief is just like this
man's I believe but help thou mine unbelief. We see even when
we are trying to believe We are trying to trust. We see
that there is that doubt, there are those evidences of weakness,
there is that unbelief that stirs within our flesh and it is a
complaint, it is a burden to the Lord's people. And we see
in this man who brings his son to the Lord Jesus Christ, we
see that he is very honest. He unburdens his whole heart
to the Lord Jesus Christ. He brings before the Lord Jesus
his son who is grievously vexed with a devil, a devil that has
stopped his ears, a devil that has caused him to be dumb, a
devil that causes him to foam and gnash at his teeth as he
undergoes fits. It's been a long time for this
man. Jesus asks him, how long has it been? And he says, of
a child. It's been a long time that the
man has been burdened with this condition, with his son, and
no doubt he has tried many things to seek to relieve his son of
the oppression that he was feeling. and what he was seeing and it
is a great burden isn't it that when
we see our children yet they are burdened they are hurt but
even more when we see them having left the things of God having
gone out into the world and having listened to the lies that this
world has to offer and they're drawn out like the prodigal son
going spending their money their lives on on riotous living No
doubt the man felt his son to be a hopeless case. This demon
that had entered him was causing him to be cast into the fire,
casting him into the water and was seeking to destroy him. But he brings him to the Lord
Jesus Christ. First of all he brings him to
the apostles. And the apostles are unable to do anything to
help. They could not cast out this
demon. Jesus tells them that this type
can only come out by prayer and by fasting, by dedication and
commitment at the throne of grace and trusting in God. This was
the only way that this child could be delivered from this
demonic possession. And so he brings him to the Lord
Jesus. And he asks him a question. How long is it since this came?
And he says, of a child. And oft times it 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. You see the
desperation in his voice that he needed help. He needed the
help of the Lord Jesus. If thou canst do anything, doubt
he had heard and seen all the things that the Lord Jesus Christ
was doing, those miracles, the raising of the dead, the feeding
of the 5,000, the others who have had demons cast out and
if thou canst do anything And we know that the Lord Jesus can
do everything. He has all power and all authority
over heaven and earth. The unclean spirits are subject
to him. He is able to do far more than
we can ask or think. Those things have to be brought
to him. so this man brought his son to
the Lord Jesus Christ in the hope that the Lord Jesus Christ
would be able to heal him and deliver him and how often it
has been I doubt with you that you have brought your loved one
to the throne of grace you know that the Lord Jesus Christ is
the only one who can help you You know that the Lord Jesus
Christ is the only one who can do anything and he is full of
compassion, full of mercy. He is long-suffering and he is
able to help unto the uttermost those that come to God through
the Lord Jesus Christ. And so there you have been striving
at the throne of grace just like this man for your loved one. Oh that the Lord would deliver
them. Oh that the Lord would bring
about salvation. Oh that the Lord would bring
about that true healing of the soul. And Jesus gives him this
statement. If thou canst believe all things
are possible to him that believeth. This is almost a hard statement because the man responds in the
way that we would expect. If my son is going to be delivered
on the strength of my belief then he will never be delivered. so that's why I think he says
help thou mine unbelief but Jesus says if you can believe if you
can have true faith a hundred percent without doubt then anything
that you ask it's possible and so the father in desperation
and honesty lays it all out before
the Lord Jesus Christ. I do believe that you can do
anything. I've seen it, I've witnessed
it but in my belief there is unbelief. So can you help me with my my
unbelief? I do believe I do want my son
to be healed. I do want my son to be delivered
of this demon. I know that you're able to do
it. Yet there's still doubt within my mind, still doubt within my
heart, still doubt within my soul. But I know that you're
able to deal with that doubt. You're able to deal with that
unbelief as well. And so he lays it all out before
the Lord Jesus Christ. He acknowledges that his faith
is weak. And he sees that if the healing
of his son was to rest on his faith he knew that it would all
fall apart. None of us have 100% faith. We may have times of when we experience great faith
and great trust. But then we begin to reason,
use logic, doubts come in. The apostles when they're on
the boat, on the storm, Jesus says to them, O thou of little
faith, why did you doubt? And this man He believed. But there was a shadow of unbelief
in that belief. And he asked the Lord Jesus Christ
to make up where I fail. If thou canst believe, all things
are possible to him that believe. And straightway the father cried
out and said, with tears, Lord I believe help thou mine unbelief. We looked at this morning Thou
believest that there is one God. Thou doest well. The devils also
believe and tremble. And we saw there that there are
those degrees of belief. There is a nominal belief. There is the belief that the
demons have but also there is a saving belief. of those who
have been given faith to trust in the Lord Jesus Christ as their
only hope of salvation and who walk in obedience to the Lord
Jesus Christ. And in those people who have
trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation there is this constant
battle that this man is experiencing. There's this constant, I believe,
I do believe. But then there's also this, I
don't believe, I'm filled with doubts, I'm filled with fears.
There's this constant conflict going in in the lives of the
believers, striving after the things of God and yet feeling
oppressed with the things of this world and with sin that
seeks to buff it and to annoy. book of Romans, the apostle there
speaks of the same feelings. One of the greatest evidences
that we can look at within ourselves as someone who has been saved
is, is this conflict there? Is this conflict going on within
our flesh day by day? we experience what this poor
man has experienced? A belief and an unbelief at the
same time. That Paul says even when I do
good, evil is present with me. In Romans 7 the from verse 15 which is the
very complicated way of writing but for that which I do I allow
not for what I would that I do not, that do I not, but what
I hate that I do. And so here we see this battle
he's striving to do what is right what is pleasing to God and yet
even when he does or seeks to do that which is good he finds
himself doing that what he hates. There's this constant battle
or pulling and pulling left and a pulling right as it were. He's
designed to go this way and he's finding that he's being pulled
the other way. He does that what he hates to
do. If then I do that which I would
not, I consent unto the law that it is good. Now then, it is no
more I that do it but sin that dwells in me. So though the believer
who has come to the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation, he has
been justified before the law of God. There is no condemnation
to those that are in Christ Jesus. Christ Jesus has done away with
their sin once and for all, both past, present, and future. They
stand holy before the throne of grace, before the throne of
God, as children of the heavenly King. But they are housed in
a body that is still sinful. There is the conflict and Paul
says that I know that in me dwells sin. Sin causes unbelief. Sin causes doubt. Sin causes
fear. If we were full of faith we would
never experience anxiety. We would never experience fear.
We would never experience doubt. We would never experience unbelief. We would be like the Lord Jesus
Christ. Perfect. because we are housed
in a corrupt body we experience a battle sin dwelling within
and so he says I know that in me that is in my flesh dwells
no good thing For to will is present with me. The will has
been changed. The will has been worked on by
the Holy Spirit of God. We desire to do that which is
pleasing and right in the sight of God. Our wills have been made
alive. But the will is there to do what
is right. But the flesh is like the baggage,
the weighing down, needs to be crucified that needs to be sanctified
and so he says but how to perform that which is good I find not
for the good that I would do for the good that I would I do
not but the evil which I would not that I do. In other words,
the things that I don't want to do, I do. And the things that
I do want to do, I don't do. And so I'm constantly struggling
and battling within myself to seek to obey the word of God,
to seek to obey the Lord Jesus Christ, to conform my life, to
make it pleasing and acceptable to God. But I find this constant
battle of sin and oppression dwelling within me. He says, for I delight in the
law of God after the inward man, O wretched man that I am, who
shall deliver me from the body of this death? And that's where
he came to and I think that is where what all believers see
in themselves We come to the end of the day and we think,
oh wretched man, oh wretched woman that I am, how I have failed. How I sought to, at the beginning
of the day, to do this, to do that, to do that. I prayed, Lord,
please give me an opportunity to speak to someone of the Lord
Jesus Christ and the opportunity was presented. And I backed out
in fear. I thought I was going to pray,
maybe in my lunch break, and I was distracted. I was going
to read the word. I was going to not do this or
to do that. I find I've failed, I've failed,
I've failed. And we come to the end of the
day. O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the
body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ
our Lord. So then with the mind I myself
serve the law of God but with the flesh the law of sin. And
he encourages himself therefore there is no condemnation to them
which are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the flesh but
after the spirit. So this man is experiencing this
conflict that is going on within every single Christian. Everyone
who has been born again of the Spirit of God knows in our flesh
is these two armies, this desire to believe and to trust in the
Lord Jesus Christ, yet this desire to be, not desire, this weakness to
be filled with unbelief. Notice how merciful the Lord
Jesus is. He does not focus on the man's
unbelief. He does not say because you have
unbelief I'm only going to half heal your son. I'm just going
to cast out the dumb spirit but I'm going to leave the deaf spirit.
Because you didn't have enough belief, you didn't have enough
faith I'm not going to do all that you wanted me to do. There are those aren't they who
focus in the health and wealth ministry and they focus on it's
your faith. If you don't have enough faith
then God is not going to bless you with sufficient money. If
you give say £100 if you don't have enough faith then you're
not going to receive £100 back. It's all to do with you and your
faith. Everything relies on how good
and how great your faith is. But it's
a little faith. in a great God, a little faith
in the great the Lord Jesus Christ. And so the Lord Jesus covers
over his unbelief. He focuses on his belief. He says, I believe. Then he asks for help in the
unbelief. And the Lord Jesus helps him
in his unbelief. As you read through the Bible
we read of the holiness and the greatness of God. We read that
God is a just God who hates sin. We read that the Lord is also
kind and merciful, long-suffering and patient. We read that he
is slow to anger and abounding in mercy. We read that he doesn't
always discipline read that he passes by the iniquity of his
people. You look at Abraham. We look at his life. Yes he was
a man of God, he obeyed God but he also committed sin. He also
did things that would be classed as unbelief by going down into
Egypt with his adultery, unbelief but he's still
referred to by God as the friend of God. God does not focus on
his weakness, he knows that he is a man, he knows that he is
made from dust, he knows that he's a sinner but you could say
he focuses on Abraham through the Lord Jesus Christ that he
focuses on what Christ or his object, Abraham's object was
that perfect sacrifice. And so God understood the weaknesses
of Abraham and he still called the friend of God. It's us who
focus on our sin. It's us who focuses on our doubts
and our fears and our anxieties. It's us who pull ourselves down. It's us who listen to the voice
of Satan or the voice of the flesh and we walk in that despondent way. Look at David. David a man after
God's own heart yet He committed murder, adultery, lies, deceit yet he was forgiven. His sin brought him despair but
he took his sin to the Lord. he knew the Lord would be able
to forgive him and to cleanse him. Just like this man he took
his unbelief to the Lord Jesus Christ. I do believe but please
help my unbelief. Instead of just focusing on his
unbelief he takes that unbelief to the Lord Jesus Christ. He
doesn't bear that himself but he takes it to Christ and Christ
that heals him. Moses. Moses is described as
we looked recently as the meekest man that ever there was. That
he was angry. That God punished him and stopped
him from going into the promised land. But he's still referred
to as a meek man. One of the Lord's prophets. God doesn't focus on that weakness. He understands our frame. He
remembers that we are dust. And so our salvation does not rely upon the strength
of our faith. Just as this the healing of the
man's son did not rely upon the strength of the man's belief
and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ made up for that weakness
because he asked for that help to be given to him. It's weak faith. Someone who's drowning has no
strength but they may just be able to lift their arm enough
out of the water for somebody to grab it. So weak faith is
just like that. Just lifting the arm of faith
so that the strong Lord Jesus can grab it and you can be delivered. Like a weak person crying out
Sometimes if you go and visit somebody on a hospital bed you
can hardly hear what they're saying. You have to go so close.
They have no strength whatsoever. They try to speak and you can
barely understand what they're saying. Weak faith. It's just like that. A little
whisper. Lord save me, Lord help me, Lord
deliver me, Lord help my unbelief. And that little whisper, that
little lifting of the arm in faith is enough for the doctor
of souls the Lord Jesus Christ to come and to deliver. That
belief that the man had, that little belief that he had even
though surrounded by unbelief was enough for the Lord Jesus
to realize that he does believe and Christ acted. If thou believest
all things are possible to him that believe. I believe help
thou mine unbelief. John Chapter 9. There's another man here who didn't fully
understand all that was taking place in his life. He had been
to the temple. The Lord Jesus Christ had healed
him. He's thrown out of the temple.
He didn't know who the Lord Jesus Christ was and so the Lord Jesus
comes and finds him. In verse 35 it says, And Jesus
heard that they had cast him out. And when he had found him,
he said unto him, Do thou believe on the Son of God? He answered
and said, Who is he, Lord, that I might believe on him? And Jesus
said unto him, Thou hast both seen him and it is he that talketh
with thee and he said Lord I believe and he worshipped him. One moment
he doesn't know who the Lord Jesus Christ is, one moment he
says whether he be a sinner or not I don't know but one thing
I know is that I was once blind but now I see and then in face
to face with the Lord Jesus Christ. He comes to realise who the Lord
Jesus Christ is and he falls down and he worships him I believe. Just a spark, just a little light
had shone into his heart and he saw Christ for who he was
and he falls down and worships him. Nobody else can be worshipped. The Pharisees and Sadducees can't
be worshipped. The only one to be worshipped
is the Lord Jesus Christ and so he sees Christ for who he
is, he believes in him, he trusts him as his messiah, as his saviour,
as the one who opened the blindness of his eyes and the one who opened
the blindness of his heart that he may see the Lord Jesus Christ
for who he is. I believe, he says, Lord I believe and he worshipped
him. John chapter 11 verse 25 after
Lazarus had died the Lord Jesus Christ comes and he meets with
Mary and Martha and he begins to tell Martha that Lazarus would
rise again. She says that, I know he will
rise again at the resurrection on the last day. And Jesus says
to her, verse 25, I am the resurrection and the life. He that believeth
in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. And whosoever
liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this? What was the question? Just like
the man. Do you believe that I am able
to do this? He says I do believe but I'm
filled with also unbelief. To Mary, to Martha sorry. He is going to rise again at
the resurrection on the last day. I am the resurrection. I am the life. And whoever lives and believes
in me shall never die. Do you believe this? And she
says then to him, yea Lord. This is her confession. This is her testimony. This is
what her faith is anchored to. I believe that thou art the Christ,
the Son of God, which should come into the world. she believed in who the Lord
Jesus Christ was. Her eyes had been opened, faith
had anchored onto him. We could say that chain of faith
had looped around the Lord Jesus Christ. He was her resurrection,
he was her life. She knew that if she died she
would rise again with the Lord Jesus Christ and she believed
that he was the Messiah, the chosen one of God, the anointed
one of God, the son of God, which had come into the world. whosoever
believes upon the Lord Jesus Christ shall be saved. Do you believe this? That was
the question given to Martha. Do you believe? That is the question
given today. Is your belief a nominal belief? A general belief? Or is it a
belief that has an effect that causes you to follow and to obey
the Lord Jesus Christ? Like Martha, I believe thou art
the Christ. Yes you may say I believe but
it's a weak belief. Where did Jesus say you needed
a strong belief? He didn't. Do you believe? Yes I believe. but help my unbelief. In John chapter 3 in those well-known
verses it says, For God loved the world that he gave his only
begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but
have everlasting life. God sent not his Son into the
world to condemn the world but that the world through him might
be saved. He that believeth on him is not
condemned but he that believeth not is condemned already because
he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. Lord I believe help thou mine
unbelief.' And so just as the response to the prayer or the
request of this man did not rely on the faith of the man but in
Christ's ability to do more than he can ask or think, our salvation
does not rely on the strength or the greatness of our faith. There's a little faith, a little
light, a little opening of the eyes that enables us to view
Christ as who he is and to lay hold of him. And the salvation
is secure in Christ Jesus. Not in our faith, not in our
belief. As we looked at the Jesus, as
we looked at the Jesus pin or the Jesus nut. Yes, in those
helicopters it can shear. And our faith can become so lukewarm
and so cold. Yet the loving Christ will never
let go of his own people. He holds them securely. He is
the good shepherd of his people. The good shepherd of his sheep.
They are secure in him. They're secure in his sheepfold.
He lies across the door to protect them. He can never lose any of
them and he has never lost any of them. And so stop looking
at yourself. Stop looking at your weak faith,
your doubt, your fear, for you'll never find any comfort there. Look to the Lord Jesus Christ
and live, just like this man. I do believe, but help my unbelief,
even in the providential circumstances of life, not just in salvation
but for the Lord's people. Often there are times and situations
that we come into, we wonder how is this going to work out?
How is this going to help work out? And we're filled with doubts
and fears and wonder as to what's going to happen and what's the
law going to do? And we become unbelieving. by the greatness and vastness
of the situation before us and the thing that we're in. And
we find that there is a little shed of belief. We come again
to the throne of grace. Lord, I believe, but please help
my unbelief. He says again, as I've just said,
O thou of little faith, why did you doubt, as he said to Peter? And straightway, the father cried
out and said, with tears, Lord, that's where his focus was, on
the Lord Jesus Christ, I do believe. Lord, help me. Help me in my
unbelief. May the Lord give us that spirit
to trust in him and to believe upon him. Amen. Let us sing our final hymn this
afternoon, number 37, from Hymns for Worship. Number 37. Great is thy faithfulness, O
God my Father. There is no shadow of turning
with thee. Thou changest not thy compassions,
they fail not. As thou hast been, thou forever
wilt be. Great is thy faithfulness. Number
37. There is no shadow of turning
with him. Love changes not, like a passion's
ache fell not. As the hearth made of wood. ♪ Great is thy faithfulness ♪ ♪
Morning by morning new mercies I see ♪ ♪ All I have needed, thy hand hath
provided ♪ ♪ Great is thy faithfulness, Lord and Savior ♪ sun, moon, and stars in their
courses above. Join with all nature in merrily
forthwith bliss, to thine great faithfulness mercy ♪ Great is thy faithfulness ♪ ♪
Morning by morning new mercies I see ♪ ♪ All I have needed Thy
hand hath provided ♪ ♪ Great is thy faithfulness ♪ I don't give presents to cheer
up, to guide. Stay for today a bright hope
for tomorrow. Blessings all mine with ten thousand. ♪ Great is thy gratefulness ♪ ♪
Morning by morning new message I see ♪ ♪ All I have needed thy
hand hath provided ♪ ♪ Great is thy gratefulness ♪ Heavenly Father, we do thank
Thee that our salvation does not rest upon our weakness, our
weak faith. We thank Thee for the strength
of the Lord Jesus Christ. We thank Thee, Lord, that it
is by grace that we are saved through faith and we pray that
Thou increase our faith, increase our belief and trust in Thee. We thank Thee, Lord, that great
is Thy faithfulness. We thank Thee, Lord, that Thou
art faithful even unto death, that Thou bring Thy people safely
through. into a promised land. We ask
that we may be dismissed with thy blessing and to be with those
who will sit around thy table to meet with us there we pray
and to forgive us all of our many sins and do make up where
we fail. Now by the grace of the Lord
Jesus Christ, the love of God the Father, with the fellowship
and communion of the Holy Spirit, to be with us each now and forevermore. Amen. Amen.