Now turn again in your Bible
to Mark. The 9th chapter of Mark. 2nd
verse 14 of Mark 9. The Lord hath been on the mount. Transfiguration is called. And
there he was transfigured before Peter, James, and John. Glorious
sight, glorious sight. And when that had ended, verse
14, when they came to the disciples, came down off that mountain,
back down to those remaining nine disciples, he saw a great
multitude surrounding them, and these self-righteous, self-seeking,
self-loving scribes questioning with them. They were in the middle
of a debate between the disciples of the Lord and these noted lawyers,
scribes, students of the Scripture. And straightway all the people,
when they beheld Him, Seeing the Lord coming on this scene,
I'm sure someone probably said, there's the Lord! All the people, when they beheld
Him, were greatly amazed. Some think that His face was
still aglow from that experience there on the mountain. Remember
when Moses came down from the mountain, his face did glow and
he put a veil over his face because the people were so afraid. And
it could be that the Lord of glory here was still shining
in his facely features and the people were amazed, running to
him and embracing him, bowing to him. And then the Lord points
his fingers at these self-righteous. And I can just imagine this scene,
can't you? The Lord of glory, the author
of the Scripture, the writer of the Scripture, God who is
eternal. What is your debate now? What is your question now? What's your argument? What's
your quarrel? Your debate and quarrel is not
with them, my disciples. If you have a debate and if you
have a question, you come see me about it. He's the authority. He's the final authority. And
one of the multitude said, Master, I brought unto thee my son, which
hath a dumb spirit. Now, the title of the message
today is taken from verse 24. The title of the message is,
Lord, I Believe, Help My Unbelief, Help My Unbelief. Now, there's
a great contrast between these verses and the preceding verses
in the beginning part of this chapter. Most remarkable, is
it not? What a contrast. We pass from
the glorious mounted transfiguration to the malicious and evil work
of demon spirits. What a contrast. We come down
from the vision of glory to the conflict between the disciples
and the scribes. The Lord called them, you faithless
and perverted generation. We leave that mountain scene
of worship and heavenly glory with the Father speaking from
heaven, declaring, this is my beloved Son, hear Him. The Father speaks with utmost
satisfaction of all that Christ is in His person and His work
and said, I am well satisfied with Christ. Leaving that mountain
scene of worship and glory now, down in the valley of sorrow.
to a scene of pain, agony, weakness, and misery, beholding this loving
father agonizing over his demon-possessed son. You see the contrast? Oh, what a contrast. In this
story of the Lord healing this demon-possessed child, I think
we can learn some lessons to our benefit And I pray God will
bless us just now as we look at this story. Here's the first
point. How totally dependent are we
upon the Lord of glory at all times for our daily grace and
strength to help in time of need? Our Lord being that great high
priest, he said, come unto me. Come unto me. He said come boldly
unto the throne of grace that you may obtain mercy and find
grace to help in time of need. How totally dependent we are
upon our blessed Lord. Totally. Like Moses when he came
down from Mount Sinai. Our Lord found the disciples
in a state of complete confusion. And under the attack of the enemies
of the gospel, the disciples were embarrassed and run aground
by the scribes who were sworn enemies against Christ. They
had gained an advantage over them because they were unable
to help this desperate father. This man brought his son to the
disciples and they felt, because of their unbelief and because
of his terrible condition, unable to do anything. And the scribes,
knowing that and seeing that, took advantage and started accusing
them. We read in Matthew 17, this father
said, I brought him to thy disciples and they could not cure him.
Well, the Pharisees and the scribes and these self-righteous religious
people said, aha, I got you now. And they started this debate
and wrangle with the disciples. And the Lord of glory comes to
the rescue. These are the same men who just
a few weeks ago cast out demons and had done many miracles. Now
they stand helpless. Turn back over here to Mark chapter
6. Remember we read this verse? Mark chapter 6 verse 12. And
they went out and preached that men should repent. And they cast
out many devils and anointed with oil many that were sick
and healed them. Now they stand helpless, like
whipped pups. What a humbling lesson. What
a humbling lesson. Very needful for them and for
us. To teach us that we are totally dependent upon the Lord of Glory. Our Lord declared in John 15,
He said, I am the vine. I am the true vine. You are the
branches, he that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth
forth much fruit, for without me you can do nothing." Let us
learn a lesson of humility from the failure of these disciples,
and let us learn to daily seek His strength, His presence, His
grace to help us in our time of need. When is that? All the time. All the time. With Him, let us learn to trust
Him at all times, you people. It says in Psalm 62. Trust Him
at all times, you people. Pour out your heart before Him.
God is our refuge and strength in time of need. Without Him, we can do nothing
at all. With Him, we may overcome the
greatest temptations. He said, My grace is sufficient.
Without Him, the least temptation will overcome us. and overrun
us. My prayer is this, Lord leave
me not to myself. Moses said this to the Lord in
Exodus 33, he said if thy presence go not with me, don't let us go anywhere. If
you don't go with me, let's just stay right here, let's not move
an inch. How totally dependent we are upon the Lord. They were,
then So are we now, totally dependent upon the Lord. We're helpless
in ourselves. The second thing we can learn
from this, the second lesson, we can learn something about
the reality of Satan's destructive influence and the evil of sin. Something
about the nature of sin, the evil of sin. Now clearly this
young man, the son of this father who sought his salvation, clearly
this young man was demon possessed. He had an evil spirit. He had
an unclean spirit. The scripture said he had a foul
spirit. The spirit which caused him to quit speaking, to quit
hearing. Dumb spirit. Unable to speak
or to hear. In Matthew 17, the father said
to the Lord, have mercy on me, my son, he's a lunatic. He's
crazy. Out of his mind. Desperate. When they brought him to the
Lord to be healed, it says in Luke 9, 42, the devil threw him
to the ground. Demon possessed. This man was
helpless. He couldn't help his son. Son
couldn't help himself. Notice this sad condition. In verse 18, the Father declares,
He said, Worse than whatever this spirit, this evil spirit
taketh in me, it tears him, it dashes him down. He foams at
the mouth like a wild, crazy dog. He gnashes with his teeth,
writhing with pain and anguish. His health is so poor that he
pines away. He's just skin and bones. He's dying. He's walking death. I spake to your disciples and
they couldn't help Him. And they could not. I spake to
your disciples and pleaded with them to cast out this demon spirit
and they were helpless. The Lord declared in verse 19,
O faithless, perverted generation, How long shall I be with you?
How long shall I suffer? You bring him here." And they
brought him to the Lord, and when he saw him straightway,
the Spirit tear him. He fell to the ground, wallowed
and foaming. Oh, such a sad, sad condition. You kind of get in your mind
with the descriptive language of just how pitiful this situation
is. Sad condition. It says in verse
22 that oftentimes this demon spirit cast him into the fire
and into the waters to destroy him. And that's the devil's intent. Satan never seeks our good. He's
a roaring lion going about seeking whom he may devour. Now you put yourself in the situation
of that parent, of that father, that mother, seeing his son before
his eyes dying, demon-possessed. Let us beware, as parents, grandparents
of young people, beware of the evil, the influence of evil over
the hearts of our children. And let us, as this father did
seek mercy of the Lord, save Him, to save them by His grace. We see something in this condition
of this child. We see something of the vile
nature that we are all born with. By nature, we're all faithless. By nature, we're all perverted. By nature, we all have a corrupt,
evil spirit. It's called the nature of sin.
And this is a very stark and real picture of all of us born
in sin, shapen in iniquity, helpless before God, dead in sin. David said, I was
born in sin, shapen in iniquity. God help us as parents who believe
and love and know God in the gospel. God help us to beware
of the state of our children by nature. Our loved ones and
our neighbors who were ungodly, unbelievers. We are instructed
to bring our children up in the nurture and admonition of the
Lord. Chris and Kendra have that beautiful
little baby. I'm so thankful. She has that same vile nature
that all of us have. And because of that, we need
to instruct them in the way of grace. We are instructed to bring
our children up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Let
us instruct our children in the scriptures, the blessed doctrines
of the gospel, which are able to make them wise unto salvation.
I believe we ought to teach our children the truth, and God will
use that truth and that blessed word to call them and quicken
them by His grace. You remember Paul when he wrote
to Timothy, he said, from a child you have known the scriptures
which are able to make thee wise unto salvation. God help us to
do as this father did. This loving father brought this
child to the Lord's disciples for help. And through that to
the Lord himself. God help us to labor to do our
children good, to serve the spiritual interest of their souls. I know
in this day we put a lot of emphasis on the young people about their
education. And I'm for good education. We ought to have good schools,
good training. But unfortunately, there's a
lot of people who neglect the spiritual need of our children. They're lost. They're dead in
sin. They need God's mercy. God help
us to seek their salvation. and to put them under the preaching
of the gospel. If God's going to save him, he's
going to do it with the gospel. Proverbs 22, 6. Train up a child
in the way that he should go. When he's old, he'll not depart
from it. So let us beware of the need
of our children. The need of those who don't believe
the gospel of God's grace. They're possessed with an evil
spirit of self-righteousness and sin. They need to be liberated
and set free by God's grace. The third lesson is this. We
can learn something, and we can learn some vital lessons about
faith. In verse 21, or, yes, verse 21, down through
verse 24. Let's read these verses. He asked
his father, Well, how long is it ago since this condition came
on this young boy? And he said, of a child, of a
child. And oftentimes it cast him into the fire and the water
to destroy him. But if you can do anything, have
compassion on us and help us. And the Lord said to him, verse
23, if thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that
believeth. And straightway the father cried, the father of the
child cried and said with tears, Lord, Lord, I do believe. I believe. Help my unbelief. Every true believer can identify
with this man. Lord, I believe. I do believe. But yet I find within my heart
this sin of unbelief. He believed, yet he had some
doubt. He brought his child with hope, yet he was fearful. In
Matthew 17, verse 15, it reads, Lord, have mercy on my son. That's
a cry of faith, isn't it? Yet here in verse 22, he expressed
his unbelief. If you can do anything, have
compassion on us. This man seemed to put an if
on the Lord's power and ability. Did he not? If you can. Turn over here to Matthew chapter
8. Let me show you something that contrasts here. Lord, have mercy on my son. If you could do anything, help
us. Remember when the leper came
to the Lord Jesus Christ in Matthew 8 verse 1. When he was come down
from the mountain, great multitudes followed him. And behold, there
came a leper and worshipped him, saying, Lord, not if you can,
if you will, you can make me clean. You see, he didn't question
his authority and power. He said, it's a matter of your
sovereign will. If you're willing, you can. And
the Lord put forth his hand and touched him, saying, I will,
I will be thou clean. And immediately his leprosy was
cleansed. Now look back to the text. Now notice in verse 23, the Lord's
answer. This man put a question mark
on the Lord's authority and power. If you can do anything, have
compassion on us, help us. You know, the Lord in strict
justice could have said, I don't have anything for you, go away.
But the Lord is so long-suffering and compassionate. The Lord to
help this man. Verse 23 said, the problem, 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 and said with tears, Lord, I believe,
help my unbelief. Now, several things here. The
Lord calls attention to this man's unbelief. Problem is not
in my power, our Lord said, not in my will. I have the power
and I have the will. The problem is your lack of faith. If you can believe, You can believe. All things are possible to them
that believe. Turn back to Matthew 17. Remember
what the Lord said here to His disciples? Matthew 17, verse
19. When the Lord rebuked that demon
spirit, the devil, the child was cured. Verse 19 of Matthew
17. Then came the disciples of Jesus
apart and said, Why could not we cast him out? And the Lord
said, Because of your unbelief. Your unbelief. For verily I say
unto you, If you have the faith as a grain of mustard seed, you
shall say to this mountain, Remove the fence to yonder place, and
it shall be removed, and nothing shall be impossible unto you.
Believe God. How many times the Lord told
his disciples, O ye of little faith. Turn back here to Mark chapter
4. Remember when the Lord came to the disciples that night when
they were out in the ship and the sea was boisterous and waves
were high and they spotted the Lord Jesus Christ coming, walking
on the water? And Peter ventured to get out
of the ship and walk on the water? And as long as he kept his eye
on the Lord, believing, looking to the Lord, he walked. Peter
did on the water. But when he saw the waves, he
began to sink. And the Lord reached out and
caught him. Do you remember what he said?
Oh, ye of little faith. In Mark chapter 4, verse 40, on another occasion,
the disciples were in a ship with the Lord. And the wind arose
and the ship began to sink. In Mark chapter 4 verse 39, he
arose and rebuked the wind and said to the seas, Pete, be still
and the wind seeth. There was a great calm and he
said to them, why are you still fearful? How is it you have no
faith? And they feared exceedingly one
to another. What manner of man is it that even the wind and
seas obey him? Oh, ye of little faith. Peter,
do you believe? Thou art the Christ. And he turned
right around when the Lord said, I must go to Jerusalem and die
for your sin. He said, far be it. Unbelief. The second thing is this. The
Lord encourages his faith. He said, 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. Saving faith
looks to the Lord Jesus Christ. David cried this in Psalm 46,
The Lord is my refuge and strength. Very present help in trouble. Paul preached that gospel message,
said, By him all that believe are justified from all things
which could not be justified by the law of Moses, all things
are possible to him that believeth. Thirdly, in verse 24, And straightway
the father of the child cried out with tears, and said with
tears, Lord, that no longer master, yet Lord. Lord, I believe. I believe. Help my unbelief. Help my unbelief. Lord, I believe,
but I still need help. Now listen to me. Every honest
believer can identify with this man. Lord, I believe Thee. Your word, your truth, Christ
is all my salvation. He's all my hope, all my peace
before God. I do not doubt Him, His power,
His grace, His salvation. He's all my righteousness before
God. I can say with the Apostle Paul, I know whom I have believed.
I'm persuaded that He's able to keep that which I've committed
unto Him against that day. Christ has made to me wisdom,
righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. Yet I find in
my old sinful nature unbelief, self-righteousness, self-love,
pride, and unbelief. In the heart of every believer,
and I'll be honest, there's trust and doubt. I'll show you from
Scripture in just a minute. There's hope and fear. There
is faith and yet unbelief. There is great assurance and
confidence in Christ. Yet there is a conflict with
this old sinful nature that would accuse us of being a hypocrite. No wonder the Apostle said, examine
yourself whether you be in the faith. Prove your own self. Don't you know if Christ is in
you, lest you be a reprobate? I much rather a person prayerfully
reverently examine his faith, whether he be in Christ, than
to be so presumptuous. Well, I know when I was saved.
Y'all prayed through. I went forward, made a decision. My friend, examine yourself whether
you be in Christ. There is a warfare in the heart
of the believer. Lord, I do believe, yet I see
that old rotten nature of unbelief. Nothing is perfect in the child
of God so long as he is in this body of flesh. We do not possess
perfect faith. Though one of the apostles said,
the same man who said, I know whom I have believed, the same
man cries out, O wretched man that I am. Who shall save me
from this body of death? We do, by His grace, possess
faith. By His grace, it's His gift,
but not perfectly. You see, it's not the strength
of faith that saves, it's the object of faith, the Lord Jesus
Christ. Now let me show you something.
In the heart of the believer, you find Psalm 77. David, the
psalmist, You can see this all the way
through the scriptures in the heart of Abraham. Oh, he believed
God, yet he lied about Sarah being his wife. Jacob, Abraham,
go on and on through the scriptures. The sweet psalmist of Israel,
you all know Psalm 23. I told you to turn to Psalm 77. We can see this in the heart
of David, a man after God's own heart. I believe, Lord help my
unbelief. The sweetest psalmist wrote,
The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me to lie
down in green pastures. The same man wrote Psalm 77. Look at verse 1. I cried unto
the Lord with my voice, even unto God with my voice, and He
gave ear unto me. In the day of my trouble I sought
the Lord, and my sore ran in the night. It ceased not. My
soul refused to be comforted. I remembered God and was troubled.
I complained, and my spirit was overwhelmed. What is that? Unbelief. Thou holdest my eyes,
waking I am so troubled I cannot speak. I've considered the days
of old, the years of the ancient times. I've called remembrance
my song in the night. I've communed with my heart and
my spirit, made a diligent search. Will the Lord cast off forever? Will He be favorable no more?
What is that unbelief? Is His mercy clean gone forever?
Does His promise fail forevermore? Has God forgotten to be gracious? David, what are you saying? Hath he in his anger shut up
his tender mercies? Look at verse 11. I will remember
the works of the Lord, surely I will remember the wonders of
old. I meditate also on all thy work, and talk of thy doing.
Thy way, O God, is great in the sanctuary. Who is so great a
God as I, God? He goes from one extreme to the
other. Lord, I believe, help thou my unbelief. We sang a moment
ago, Amazing Grace, how sweet the
sound that saved a wretch like me. The old John Newton was a
great preacher of God's gospel, a great songwriter. Everyone
knows about Amazing Grace, but he also penned the words to this
song, Tis a 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? This is the same man who wrote
Amazing Grace. Lord, decide this doubtful case.
Thou art the people's son. Shine upon the work of grace.
be indeed begun? These things are experienced
in the heart of a true believer. Only a true believer can cry
out, Lord, I believe, and yet I see the sin of my unbelief.
These are experimental truths that this religious world is
ignorant of. It is utmost importance to the
comfort of the believer to know his inward conflict, his inward
warfare, as well as his inward peace. The blood of Christ cleanses
from all sin, even my unbelief. The old nature of unbelief, God
suppress it, put it down. And the new nature of faith,
Lord cause me to grow in grace and the knowledge of Christ. One last thing. Look at one more
glorious thought. The absolute sovereign power
of the Lord. Dominion of the Lord over all
spirits. Mark 9. When Jesus saw that the
people came running together, He rebuked the foul spirits,
saying unto him, Thou dumb and deaf spirit, I charge thee to
come out of him and enter in no more. And the spirit cried,
and rent sore, and came out of him. And he was as one dead,
insomuch that many said, he is dead. The absolute sovereign
power of our Lord to save. He's mighty to save. He's mighty
to save. Satan and all his demon spirits
are no rival to the power of the Lord. When the Lord commanded
the evil spirit to come out of the child, he obeyed him and
he was healed. The Lord said, bring him to me.
I have all power. It says in Matthew 17, 18, the
child was cured from that very hour. It says in Luke 9, 42,
Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit and healed the child and delivered
him again to the Father. Ah, this Father is rejoicing
now. He no longer Thinking if, but God has mercy. God before us who can be against
us. Now listen, Satan is a strong, busy, active, malicious enemy
of which we are no match for him. But our great Lord Jesus
is able to save to the uttermost all that come to God by him seeing
he ever lives to make intercession for us. Our Lord said in John
17, 2, He has all power over all flesh and He should give
eternal life to as many as the Father had given Him. Matthew
28, 18, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Our
great God and Savior reigns and rules over all things. There
is nothing that is not under His absolute sovereign control. He ordered all the events of
this occasion to teach us the gospel of God's grace. Never despair of anyone's salvation. If God saved me, a wretch that
I am, had God saved you, a wretch that you are, there was nothing
that's not under His absolute control. Why not your child?
Why not my child? Why not you? All things are possible
to them that believe Many said that this young man, when the
Spirit was cast out, he was motionless on the ground. He's dead, many
said, he's dead. 2nd verse 27, the Lord took him by
the hand, lifted him. That's a resurrection from the
dead. And that's exactly what God does for us in saving mercy. When the Lord in grace and mercy
saves us, there's a resurrection from the dead. You have he quickened
who were dead in trespasses and in sins. I pray that God will
bless his word to your heart and cause you to know something
of your own heart. Be careful now. Heart is deceitful
above all things and desperately wicked. Examine yourself whether
you be in Christ and don't be presumptuous. May God bless his word.