I want you to open your Bibles
to the book of Mark, chapter 9. My subject tonight is how
much faith is saving faith. How much faith is saving faith. In Mark 9, let's read beginning
with verse 14. Christ came to his disciples. He saw a great multitude about
them, about the disciples, and the scribes questioning with
them. And straightway all the people,
when they beheld him, were greatly amazed, and running to him, saluted
him. And he asked the scribes, Why
question ye with them? And one of the multitude answered
and said, Master, I have 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. He answered
him and said, O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you?
How long shall I suffer you? Bring him unto me. And they brought him unto Christ. And when he saw him, straightway
the Spirit tear him, and he fell on the ground and watered foaming. And the master asked his father,
How long is it ago since this came upon him? And he said of
a child, And oft times it hath cast him into the fire, and into
the waters to destroy him. But if thou canst do anything,
have compassion on us, and help us. And Jesus said unto him,
If thou canst believe all things are possible to him that believeth. And straightway the father of
the child cried out and said with tears, Lord, I believe,
help thou mine unbelief. Now here's a desperate man. Here's
a man in great need. He has a son in a desperate situation,
possessed with demons. foaming at the mouth, going into fits, almost destroyed
on several occasions. He's desperate. Here's a helpless
man. There's nothing he can do for
his son. He may be a rich man, but his
money won't buy healing. He himself may be a physician,
but he can't heal him. Nothing he can do, and nothing
anyone else can do to help his afflicted child. He's not only
desperate, but he's helpless. But here I find a seeking man.
It says he brought his son to the Lord Jesus Christ. He brought
him to Christ. And he said to the Savior, and
you can hear the urgency in his plea, and you can hear the sincerity
in his cry. and the desperation, as he says
to the Master, have compassion on us, have mercy on us, and
help us. And the Master said to him, if
you can believe, if you can believe, everything's
possible to him that believes. To which the man replied, Lord,
I do believe. I do believe. There's much to
say, and that's why I'm here. That's why I brought him to you,
because I believe. I do believe. And then he added,
help my unbelief. I do believe. Lord, help thou
my unbelief. How many of us can identify with
this particular man? As I prepared this message for
you tonight, I thought about myself. Can I identify with this
man? I believe I can. In the first
place, I'm a desperate man. My sins are ever before me. By
nature, by birth, by choice, by practice, I am literally overwhelmed
by the greatness of my guilt. My sins, David said, are ever
before me against thee, and thee only, O God, have I sinned, and
done this evil in thy sight." I believe I can say with every
writer of old, as I think about every confession of sin, Isaiah,
woe is me. Woe is me. I'm undone. I'm a
man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean
lips. There's none good, no, not one.
There's none righteous, there's none that understandeth, there's
none that seeketh after God. We're all together become unprofitable. I can say with David, if thou,
Lord, shouldst mark iniquity, who shall stand? I can't stand. If God should charge every offense
and every imagination and every thought of evil, who would stand? I can say with the Apostle Paul,
the things I would do, I do not, and the things I would not do,
I do. I love the law of God, but I
find another law raging within me, a law of sin, bringing me
into captivity to sin. O wretched man that I am, who
shall deliver me from this body of death? I can say with the
publican of old, Lord be merciful to me, a sinner. I'm a desperate
man. I have a disease that's incurable
called sin. I'm not only a desperate man
like this father, but I'm a helpless man. And really helpless is not
a strong enough word to define my state. Inability is a weak word to define
my state. Paul came closest to it in the
book of Ephesians when he says we're without hope, without help,
and without God in this world. Dead and seen only partly describes
our nature and our plight. We can say demons, disease, and
death not only inhabit but control our natures. Helpless. We can't help ourselves and no
one else can help us. As the writer said, we're at
our wits end. Desperate. Helpless. But I believe
like this father, I can say honestly before God, I'm a seeking man. I'm a seeking man. Here this
father, desperate and helpless, brought this lad. Since a child,
he's been in this condition. And even as he brought him to
the master, it says here, they brought him to the master, and
when he saw him straightway, the spirit carried him again,
and he fell on the ground and wallowed, foaming. Here he is
in front of the master, wallowing on the ground, tumbling and foaming
at the mouth, and going through all sorts of contortions. Look
what a creature. This man's brought to the master.
What a creature he brought to the master. What a helpless creature
he brought and cast at the feet of the Son of God. Here's perfection
looking upon imperfection. Here's health looking at disease. Here's life looking at impending
death. Talk about worlds apart. And
yet he brought him to the right place. He brought this creature to the
master, and I'll tell you this, that's the kind of creature that
I brought to the master, a desperate, wallowing, foaming, vile, filthy,
guilty creature. And all stand by, helplessly
by, as I lay this worthless, unprofitable mess of fallen flesh
at the feet of Christ. And as he watered on the ground,
the father looked from the boy to the master, and back to the
boy, and back to the master, and he said, have compassion on us, and help
us. And that's where I am tonight,
as I lie at the feet of Christ, desperate, helpless, seeking. And I look to Him, and I say,
have mercy on us. can help us. And you know what
he says to me? He looks at me and says the same
thing he said to that man, if you can believe. Can you believe? Can you believe
all things are possible, even this, even this? Even this helpless, desperate,
hopeless, wandering mess of flesh, even this, if
you can believe. He that believeth on the Son
hath everlasting life. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,
and thou shalt be saved. All these things are written,
if you may believe on Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and believing,
you'll have life through His name. Believing! Can you believe? Can you? Is there a person here tonight
in this prayer meeting of professed Christians who cannot say with
that father, Lord, I believe. I do believe. I do believe. Yes, I do believe. I believe this Bible is the Word
of God. I believe that Jesus Christ is the everlasting surety
of an eternal covenant. I believe that. I believe that He is the God-man.
I believe He's eternal God, and yet He is perfect man. He's bone
of our bone and flesh of our flesh. I believe that. I believe
what He did was come down into this world and clothed Himself
in the likeness of my flesh, and took upon Him the form of
a servant, and became obedient unto death, even the death of
the cross on my behalf. I believe that. I believe He's the Lord, our
righteousness. I believe there's to be found in Him all healing
and all holiness. I believe He's the Lord, our
scapegoat who bears away our transgressions. I believe He's
the Lord, our sin offering, who offers an effectual sacrifice
to the Father and enables Him to be just and justifier of all
who believe. I believe that. I believe that. Yeah, I do. Yes, I do. I believe
that all fullness dwelleth in Him, and I believe that those
who are in Him are as full as He is, complete in Christ. I believe He arose from the grave
and ascended to glory, where He sits at the right hand of
God in splendor, acceptance, and majesty, interceding for
all who believe, interceding, calling our name. I believe that. God knows I believe that. I believe
that. But I have to add, God helped
my unbelief. Helped my unbelief. Because, you see, my thoughts
are not always of Christ. I do think of Christ, but not
always. Do you? I'm plagued with thoughts
of self and sin and pride. My thoughts are not always of
Christ. I believe, but I have an awful lot of unbelief. And my soul does not always rest
in His good providence. Not at all. I fret, and I worry,
and I find fault with God's providence, and I find myself anxious about
many things. After they're over, I rest pretty
good. My mouth does not always speak
graciously or of grace. My mouth does not always speak
edifying things, and my language is not always seasoned with grace,
is yours? And my heart cannot boast of
perfect love for Christ. My heart says, Lord, I believe,
help my unbelief. John Newton said, if I pray or
hear or read, sin is mixed with all I do. And my will certainly
is not always in subjection to his will. He always has to make
me willing. Sometimes it takes different
ways, but he'll make me willing. And I'll tell you this, preachers
don't always help me. Sometimes I hear them and I leave
doubting them and myself. And books don't always help me,
and testimonies, and biographies. When these people speak of their
devotion and dedication, their victories, they just send me
away awfully empty. But thank God there's light in
this darkness. Thank God there's a calm in this
storm. Thank God there's rest in my
unrest. And thank God there's peace for
my trouble, and it's found not in the words of men, or in the
encouragement of men, or the example of men, or the testimony
and writings of men. It's found in His Word. There's
the foundation of my faith. There's the strength of my faith.
There's where my faith is comforted and my faith grows. I go to the
Word, and I find these things in God's Word. Sure, I find conviction
of my sins, but I also find comfort, hope, and assurance. Do you? I leave the sermons of men disappointed. I never leave the Word disappointed. I close the books of men and
wonder how they could have written them. I never closed this book
except with one thought. Thank God he wrote it. On reading his word, I find the
many times that our Lord had to rebuke his own disciples,
this chosen few, this inner circle. In the book of Matthew alone,
so many, many times he had to rebuke them and rebuke them for
their heartness of heart and for their unbelief and for their
lack of faith. He rebuked them, but he never
disowned them. That helped me. He rebuked them like I rebuke
my son, but I never disowned them. He chastened them, but he never
disowned them. Do you know, I didn't know this
until just recently. I read it so many times and just
skimmed over it. Do you know who said Can any
good thing come out of Nazareth? Do you know who said that? One
of his disciples said that. He did. Nathaniel said that.
Nathaniel said that. Boy, he was a smart aleck, wasn't
he? I wonder where he came from. But that's us. Can any good thing
come out of Nazareth? I found the Messiah. Who is it?
He's from Nazareth. Can any good thing come out of
Nazareth? That's one of his disciples. If we'd have been the master,
we'd have cut him off for hometown pride, wouldn't we? Especially
if it had been Nazareth, Kentucky, I can tell you that. Big blue
country. Was it not Thomas the disciple
who said, I don't believe? They said, the master's risen. Three and a half years he'd been
with him. He'd listen to him say it over
and over again, I will rise again. I'll leave you, but I'll come
back to you. Destroy this temple in three days, I'll raise it
up. As Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of
the whale, so shall the Son of Man be three days and three nights
in the heart of the earth. I don't believe it. He's risen. I don't believe it. You have to prove it to me. And
I'm not going to believe it unless I put my finger in his side.
That's Thomas. Do you need me to remind you
of the many doubts and fears and failures of that old brash,
bold, hasty codger named Simon Peter? Oh, my, my, my. Peter was never balanced. He was always on a mountaintop
or just as far down in the valley as a man could get. And yet when
our Lord arose from the tomb and told the women to go find
the disciples, He said, and Peter. And did not even John the Baptist,
the loner, John the Baptist, the fearless, John the Baptist
who could meet a king eyeball to eyeball and not blink one
time, and charge him with adultery
and stealing his brother's who could look at the Roman soldiers
who stood there with their spears and swords and tell them that
they better straighten up and bring forth fruit meats for repentance. Who called the Pharisees a bunch
of snakes. What a bold, courageous, daring
servant of God. And yet in his last days when
he sat in the prison, He said to two of his disciples,
he said, why don't you go find this Jesus
of Nazareth and ask him if he's really the Messiah? Or is it, we look for another? Help my unbelief. Huh? Did our Lord ever deny one of
them? Come on, did he? They denied Him. He never denied
them. There's your hope. There's your
stay. There's your help. He never denied
a one of them. Did our Lord ever forsake a one
of them? Just any of them. They forsook
Him. It said they all forsook Him
and fled, didn't it? All of them. And you and I have too, on one
occasion or another. All of us. Don't tell me you
haven't. But he never forsook them. Did he ever fail one of
them? He said, I'll never leave you.
I'll never forsake you. I'm with you always, even to
the end of the earth. Did he ever fail one of them?
Oh, they failed him. Surely you can see from this
that faith may be small indeed. Our Lord said, yea, as a grain
of mustard seed. That's put a little in it, John. It may be small indeed, it may
be weak indeed, it may be a doubting faith and a failing faith and
a tender faith and a sensitive faith. But when faith is present
and when faith is exercised, God saves a soul. After all, it's my blessed Lord
who gave me that faith. Faith is not a product of my
heart. I didn't produce it. Both faith and repentance are
the gifts of our sovereign Lord bestowed upon those whom he chooses. And it's not the strength of
the faith, it's the object of the faith that saves. It says,
he that seeth the Son. Not he that seeth his faith,
but he that seeth the Son. Not he that seeth some evidence,
but he that seeth the Son. Not he that seeth his name in
the Lamb's book of life, but he that seeth the Son, and believeth
on him, hath everlasting life. I boldly say unto you that the
moment a sinner sees Christ, and I'm not talking about a vision
at the foot of the bed, and I'm not talking about a picture drawn
by some artist, And I'm not talking about an imaginary vision that
is conjured up in your mind by some description given by a preacher. I'm talking about He that seeth
the Son with a heart of faith as He's revealed in the Word
of God, our Creator, by whom and for whom all things were
made. He that seeth the Son as that
everlasting surety, that Lamb slain before the foundation of
the world, that blood of the everlasting covenant, he that
seeth the Son as incarnate in human flesh, as the second Adam,
he that seeth the Son as our perfect righteousness, the Lord,
our perfect righteousness, he that seeth the Son as our sin
bearer, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God.
As I crucified, buried, risen, justified he that seeth the Son. As the Father raised him from
the grave, and took him to glory, and seated him in glory, seated
him at his right hand, enthroned him, and exalted him, and gave
him a name above every name, that at the name of Jesus every
knee shall bow, and every tongue shall confess that he is Lord
to the glory of God, he that seeth the Son. as the record
bears witness of the Son and believes, however weak that faith,
has everlasting life. And that sinner is saved forever,
and that sinner is in the righteousness of Jesus Christ, and that sinner
has every reason to rest and trust and hope in Christ Jesus. Old Pastor Weaver of London,
England, told about a believer who was very poor. He was very poor. The pastor
knew him and visited him one day and found him in very poor
circumstances. He was dressed practically in
rags. And the pastor took him home
with him. and gave him a clean shirt and a nice suit and a pair
of shoes, some socks and underwear, and told him to go in the room
and clean up and shave and put on these nice clothes and throw
his old ragged clothes in the waste can and leave them. And
in a little while he came out of the room and he was all dressed
up. And he was smiling. And he said,
Pastor, what do you think of me now? And Pastor Weaver looked at him
and he said, well, he said, you look very respectable. Very
respectable. To which the man replied, yes,
I do, don't I? But it's not me. I'm the same
man who came in here a little while ago. Really, it's your clothes that
make me look respectable. And I'll tell you this, if I
have any respectability, or any acceptability, or any capability,
it's not me. I'm the same guy he found in
the water hole, in the dung hill. It's his clothes that make me
respectable. It's His name, and His grace,
and His love. That's what Ezekiel says over
here in Ezekiel 16. Ezekiel 16, verse 14. You've read it before, but you
might read it again in connection with that illustration. Ezekiel
16, 14, the deserted, polluted, infant now bathed and cleansed
and matured and developed into a beautiful, beautiful woman. And verse 14, God says, And your
renown went forth among the heathen for thy beauty, for it was perfect
through my comeliness which I had put upon thee, saith the Lord
God. Yes, sir. This polluted, deserted infant
born in heathenism and shame, deserted, left to die, has a
beauty now and a perfection that astounds the angels and anyone
who knows something about spiritual beauty. And I say it's not me
or mine or of me, it's His comeliness which He put upon me. So then, I come to this conclusion,
if you listen to seven thoughts. It really is not how much faith
I have, it is whom do we believe. Paul summed it up, I know whom
I have believed. Not I know what, or I know when,
or even I know I do, I just know whom. I have belief, and I'm
persuaded that He is able to keep that which I've committed
to Him against that thing. And secondly, it's not what I
think of myself. I don't entertain very high thoughts
of myself. And I would caution anyone who
does. Dangerous business. It's not
what I think of myself or even what you think of me. You know
what it all boils down to? Huh? You know, don't you? What
think ye of Christ? What think ye of Christ? That's
all of it. That's all of it. People can
stand back and find fault with anyone in the 13th Street Baptist
Church. They can find fault with its
pastor and its congregation, its people, its officers, elders,
deacons, whatever. We are motley crew. But they can't find any fault
with our Lord, and He's the one we're preaching. I ain't preaching
you. And I'm sure not preaching me. I'm preaching Him. I don't say come here and worship
us. I say come worship Him. You can't
find any fault with Him. And then it's not my, thirdly,
it's not my standing before the law that determines my eternal
destiny or my righteousness. It's my standing in Christ. That's
right. It says He is able to present
you faultless and without blame before the presence of His glory
with exceeding joy. The law never presented anybody
without blame and faultless. It took God to meet that law.
It took God Almighty to obey that law. You want to know how
strong and severe the law is? It took God to obey it. Nobody
else has ever come close. So it's not my standing before
the law. And then, fourthly, it's not
my ability to keep myself. I must keep on keeping on. It's
not my ability to keep myself, it is His power which keeps me
in and through faith. We're kept by the power of God,
He said, through faith. He is able to keep you from falling,
ever falling. And He will do just that. And I'll tell you, this thing
of salvation fifthly is not dependent on my being free from sin. If I have no sin, I need no advocate. I need no savior. I need no mediator. But because I'm a sinner, I rejoice
in my mediator. So salvation's not dependent
upon my being free from sin, but it's dependent upon Christ
being free from sin. There's one who is. There's one
who knew no sin, who had no sin, who did no sin. and arose without
sin, and will appear the second time without sin under salvation." Watch it now, number six. Remember
this, and it's not my moaning and groaning and suffering under
the weight and conviction of my sin that saves me or that
appeases a holy God. But it's the truth that Christ
moaned and groaned and suffered under my sin. Yes, He did. He suffered for
sins that just for the unjust that He might bring us to God.
Having been brought to God, I'm not going to moan and groan and
suffer under Him. He's already done it. Sufficient
enough that He said when He finished, it is finished. How do you ever think that your
moaning and groaning is going to appease God? Or win the favor
of God? Or get you on the good side of
God, maybe? When the Apostle Paul, writing under divine inspiration,
keeps saying, Rejoice in the Lord. And again I say, Rejoice. Or, In everything give thanks.
This is the will of God concerning you. I don't think God's pleased
with our groaning. and moaning, do you? He was pleased with Christ groaning,
and this is my son in whom I'm well pleased. But it's over.
It's over. Mike sings, it's finished. There'll
be no more war. The battle is over. And last of all, I'm not accepted
for my best effort. I'm accepted in the beloved,
and I make no contribution whatever thereto. So what shall we say
to these things? I say, if God be for us, who
can be against us? He that spared not his own son,
but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not freely with
him give us all things? Who shall anything to the charge
of God's elect? It is God that justifies. Who
is he that condemneth? It's Christ that died, yea, rather,
is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who maketh
intercession for us. Who shall separate me from the
love of Christ? Shall tribulation, trouble, trial,
distress, depression, despondency, doubt, or persecution, the mockings of the multitude,
or famine, even the famine of the Word of God, or nakedness,
or peril, or sword, by its written, for thy sake we are killed all
the day long, we are counted as sheep for the slaughtered.
Nay, even in all these things we are more than conquerors through
him that loveth us. For I am persuaded that neither
death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers,
nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth,
nor any other creature," Paul said, in case I left somebody
out. shall be able to separate us from the love of God." From
the love of God. Where is love? You know, if you want to find
love, you've got to have someone who knows something about love
to seek it and find it and show you where it is. And the beloved John, sitting
on the Isle of Patmos, The beloved John found love and
marked the spot. He said herein is love, not that
we love God, but that he loved us and gave himself for us. He didn't look in his own heart
to find love. He didn't look at the church
to find love. He didn't even look at a devoted
mother to find love. He looked to the Father. You know, there's water everywhere.
Even little drops of dew on the flowers, that's water. The puddles
standing around after a rain, that's water. But I'll tell you,
when you get to the ocean, you say, here's water. Here's water. Here's water. And there's light
everywhere. There's a dim light of the moon,
there's a dim light of the stars, there's a reflection off of the
water, there's light in different places. But when you get a full
look at the sun, you say, here's light. Here's light. And there's love. There's love. You see two young people look
into one another's eyes and you kind of get just a little glimpse
of love. You see a mother sitting Hold
a newborn baby. I see you. And there's love. You see a father with his son
kind of runs his hand through his hair, you know. That's my
boy. That's love. But all that's just like the
puddle of water compared to the ocean. Or that little speck of
dew on that rosebud. Or that lightning bug. You look into the Heavenly Father
who gave the unspeakable gift of His grace, His beloved Son,
to die for this sinner, and you say, His love! And everything
else pales into insignificance. Do you think for a moment that
He'll ever desert the objects of His love? Yeah, but I... You know, I don't deserve His
love. You never did. Yeah, but I've failed him so
many times. You always will. Yeah, but I'm just not good enough. Never will be. So why don't we quit looking
to these little silly professions of faith? And why don't we quit
measuring God by our feelings? And why don't we quit being upset
by every contrary wind that blows, and let's quit playing in the
mud puddles and calling it water. Let's turn our eyes on Jesus
and look full in his wonderful face, and then all these other
things will grow strangely dim in the light of his glory. How
much faith is saving faith? Whatever faith you've got if
it's in Christ. Isn't that right, Tom? Whatever faith you've got. if
it's in Christ.