Help Thou My Unbelief

I'm reading from the book of
Mark, the 9th chapter, verses 23-24. 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, Lord, I believe, help thou mine
unbelief. Now these are the words of a
father who had brought his sick child to the Lord Jesus Christ
to be healed. And our Lord had looked upon
this father and said to him, if you can believe, all things
are possible to them that believe. And what a sincere, honest, and
open confession and plea from this father. He said to the Lord,
Lord, I do believe. I do believe as best I can. As
I am able, I do believe. Lord, help my unbelief." Well,
my friends, I can truthfully say these words. Do you dare
to be totally honest with God and say, Lord, I do believe?
I know that I'm a sinner. I know that I need thy mercy
and thy grace. I know that. I know that I need
a Redeemer. There is no power in me or in
any human to save a soul. I know that Jesus Christ is your
gift to sinners. I know that he died to redeem
sinners. I know that he came to this earth
to bear the shame and sin and guilt of those who believe. I
know that. And Lord, I do believe. I believe
that he's able to save. I do believe. He is the only
mediator between God and me. And Lord, I do believe. But like
this Father, like this man, I'm given over to a lack of faith. And I find so often doubts and
fears and unbelief. Do you? Are you a victim of depression,
despondency, doubt and fear? Can you really say with this
Father today, Lord, I do believe, and the Lord knows our hearts.
We might put up all kinds of professions and fronts before
people, but God looketh on the heart. He looketh not on the
outward countenance, and God deals with honest people, and
honest people deal with God. Lord, I do believe. And you know
the extent to which I believe and the degree of my faith, but
I must confess, Lord, I need help. I need help because of
my unbelief. Now, I want to deal in this message
today with the subject of faith, faith in Christ, the faith that
saves. And I want to see if we can do
something about our unbelief and about our lack of faith.
You know, the Scripture says, take heed, brethren, and Paul
is talking to believers. Take heed, brethren, lest there
be found in you an evil heart of unbelief." You know, he said
Israel could not enter into the land of promise. They never did,
most of them, because of unbelief. Now, you be careful that God
doesn't find in you that same unbelief. My friends, everything
that goes by the name faith is not saving faith. Everything
that goes by the name faith is not redeeming faith. Over there
in the book of John, chapter 2, it says, In that day many
believed on him. That's some kind of faith, isn't
it? Because of the miracles. When
they saw the miracles which he did. But Jesus did not commit
himself to them. Because he knew what was in them.
He didn't need that anyone tell him what was in a man. He knew
what was in them. And he never did commit himself
to these people. Though they had some kind of
faith. Now, the religionist, the professor of faith, can produce
many things that resemble saving faith. The religionist can produce
many things that resemble saving faith and can deceive people,
even themselves. Let me give you some examples.
First of all, religious professors can reform the outward man. The
Pharisees did. Our Lord said they were very
careful. They were very careful to cleanse the outside of the
cup, that part that people saw. But the inside was full of extortion
and excess. He said they were like a beautiful
grave with grass and flowers. On the outside it appeared beautiful
to men, but inside that grave was nothing but dead men's bones.
And the religionists can reform the flesh and do many good deeds
that deceive many, even themselves. And then they speak well of Christ.
Nicodemus did while he confronted the Master, and he said, I know
that you are from God. Whoever you are, you are from
God, because no man can do what you do except God be with him.
You can go through the New Testament and find many unbelievers who
spoke well of Christ. Gamaliel did. He defended the
disciples. And many others who spoke well
of Christ. Even Herod, who killed John the
Baptist, liked him. He did many things. He admired
John. And then unsaved religionists can experience great sorrow over
sin. Judas sold the Lord for thirty
pieces of silver, but we find him coming back to the temple,
bringing the money, and offering it back to the priest saying,
I've done wrong, I've betrayed innocent blood. There was some
remorse there. There was a feeling of guilt,
and there was sorrow. And then unsaved religionists
can do great works. Don't we hear people at the judgment
saying, Lord, we prophesied in your name and cast out devils
and did many wonderful works in your name. And Christ said
to them, I never knew you. So these people produced some
works in the name of Jesus Christ. And yet they were unsaved. They
didn't know God. And then also they can be baptized
and join the church. Simon Magus did, Ananias and
Sapphira, they even sold a piece of property and brought most
of the money and gave it, put it at the feet of the disciples,
and God struck them dead for their faults and wrong motive
and for lying to God. Their hearts were not right.
Outwardly, they would do what everybody else did, looking like
everybody else. Even when our Lord announced
that one of the disciples would betray him, the others didn't
know who it was. They didn't suspect Judas. That's
why they sat around there saying, Lord, is it I? And then they
talk about a kingdom. When our Lord came into the city
riding on the donkey, you know, and the people were throwing
palm branches in front of him, crying, to the King that cometh
in the name of the Lord, oh, my goodness, they were really
praising him. A few days later they were crying,
Crucify him, crucify him! Same people, same people. Yes, the professors of religion
can produce a lot of outward signs that resemble faith, but
are not faith. Now, there are some things that
false religionists can never False faith can never produce.
There's some things that nature cannot produce. These are works
of God's grace. These are gifts of God's grace. These are an operation of the
Holy Spirit. Let me give them to you, the
five of them. These are five things that false faith cannot
produce. No way. First of all, a false
professor, a false religionist, a man who does not have saving
faith can never, he can never produce a heart. that is genuinely
broken over his sins. He can't do it. He might talk
about sin in general. He may talk about the sins of
nations and sins of neighbors and sins of people, but not his
sins. He never has a heart before God
that is genuinely broken over his sins. He never grieves over
his sins. He never says with David, O God,
Psalm 51, have mercy upon me, O God. Not us, me. According
to thy lovingkindness, according to thy tender mercies, not justice,
mercy, blot out my transgressions. O God, I acknowledge my transgressions. My sin is ever before me. No unsaved, no false religionist,
no false professor prays like that. He prays like the Pharisee. I thank you, Lord, that I'm not
like other men. I've tithed, and I give alms,
and I fast, and I pray, and I go to church on Sunday, and I've
been baptized, and I made a profession, and all these things, you know. Psalm 51, 17, the sacrifices
of God are a broken heart and a contrite spirit. How many broken
hearts do you know? How many contrite spirits? This
is a proud day we're living in. Proud flesh, arrogant flesh,
haughty spirit. And God always says that goes
before the fall. pride of race, pride of faith,
pride of place, even, God help us, pride of grace in that tragedy. And Psalm 34, 18 says, The Lord
is now unto them of a broken heart. The Lord saveth such as
be of a broken heart. I don't care what a man, a false
professor, produces, he can't produce that. The Holy Spirit
has to do that. And secondly, the false professor
He can never, watch this now, number two, he can never, whatever
else he does, he can join your church and tithe and preach and
hold office and bid deacons, he can never do this. He can
never justify God in condemning him. He can never justify God
in condemning him. He can never say God has a right
and God ought to send me to hell. I deserve to be damned. And if
God Almighty condemned me and separated me from his presence,
he'd be doing just exactly what's right. No unsaved religionist
can ever say that. David said it. The unsaved religionist
can think of a thousand reasons why God should save him. Him
and his wife and his children and his grandchildren and his
brothers and sisters and his denomination, the whole clan.
But he can't think of any reason why God should not save him.
He stands up for the rights of the creature, but David didn't. David said in Psalm 51, against
thee and thee only have I sinned, O God, and done evil in thy sight,
that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear
when thou judgest. O God, I am a sinner, and when
you speak, and when you judge, and when you condemn, you are
right in every charge that's brought against me. I have no
defense. And I'll tell you, when the law
comes in the hands of the Holy Spirit, you read Romans 3.19,
what the law says, it says to them that are under the law that
every mouth may be stopped, and all the world become guilty before
God. Do you know what that means? That means when God really convicts
a man of sin and brings him to see Christ, God shuts that man's
mouth. And the first thing that he shuts
his mouth in reference to is his own goodness and his own
righteousness and his own rights and his own He shuts his mouth. He stands speechless before God,
dumb, like a sheep before her shears. He opens not his mouth. Now, an unsaved religionist,
he's all talk. He talks about his consecration,
his dedication, his good works, and all of these things. But
the man whom God has whittled down and broken and stripped
and is the slain of the Lord, he says, like the publican in
the temple, God be merciful to He justifies God. And that's
what the thief on the cross did. He said to the other thief, he
said, don't you fear God? Aren't you afraid of God? Why,
he said, seeing we're in the same condemnation and we indeed
justly, we're getting exactly what we deserve. But this man
had done nothing amiss, and he turned to Christ and said, Lord,
remember me when you come into your kingdom. And our Lord said
today shall thou be with me in paradise." You find me a sinner
like that, and I'll find you one God's going to be merciful
to. Yes, sir, a man who justifies God in his condemnation, I'm
getting what I deserve. I'll tell you the third thing. An unsaved man can do a whole
lot of things. False faith can produce a whole
lot of things. But false faith can never bow to the sovereignty
of God in salvation. It won't do it. No way. Although
the scripture declares over and over and over and over again,
salvation is of the Lord. The salvation of the righteous
is of the Lord and of him only. For by grace are you saved through
faith, and that's not of yourselves, it's the gift of God. This thing
of salvation is not of him that willeth, it's not of him that
runneth, it's of God that showeth mercy. This thing of salvation,
God said, I'll be merciful to whom I will be merciful. I'll
be gracious to whom I will be gracious. Can I not do with my
own what I will? Before the children were born,
Jacob and Esau, both born of Rebekah, twins in the same womb,
sired by the same father, it was said to her, the elder shall
serve the younger. Jacob, have I loved, Esau, have
I hated?" Although the scripture says that. And our Lord Jesus
Christ said one day, as he paused and lifted his eyes to heaven,
he said, Father, I thank you, your Lord of heaven and And you've
hid these things from the wise and the prudent, and you've revealed
them to babes, for even so, Father, it seems good in thy sight."
Why, a natural man will let God sit on the throne in creation,
he'll let him sit on the throne as far as the weather is concerned,
he'll let him sit on the throne in dispensing alms and good things,
but God's not going to sit on the throne in salvation. He's
going to put man there. That's man's throne. Man saves
himself. And he insists that God owes
man something. He insists on the rights of the
creature, the natural heart does, the rights of man. Everybody
ought to have a chance. But I'll tell you this, salvation
is not by chance, it's by grace. Salvation is of the Lord. And
God Almighty will be merciful to whom he will. But unsaved
men, unsaved religionists, unsaved professors, they will not, they
cannot, their natural hearts won't let them bow to the sovereignty
of God and the Lordship of Christ in this matter of redemption.
False faith won't let you do it. And that's one of the marks
of false faith. An unbroken heart, justifying
yourself in your sins and not bowing to God's sovereignty in
this matter of salvation. I'll tell you this, the God of
the Bible is sovereign, almighty, in creation, in providence and
in salvation, and in all things. He's Lord, he's God, he's boss,
he's on the throne. He'll do what he will, with whom
he will, for his own glory. Hath not the potter power over
the clay to make of the same one one vessel unto honor and
another unto dishonor? God says, Can I not do with my
own what I will? Who art thou that replyest against
God? Shall the thing formed say to
him that formed it, Why did you make me like this? I'll tell you the fourth thing.
False faith can never, now listen to me, it can never receive Christ
alone, Christ alone as the way to God, as the truth of God,
and as the life of God. The false religionist will take
Christ along with his faith. He'll take Christ along with
his works. Or he'll take Christ, he'll believe
on Christ, he'll receive Christ along with his morality. Or he'll
receive Christ, he'll believe on Christ along with his baptism,
along with his church membership, along with his belief, along
with his obedience. Never Christ alone. He can never say, the dying thief
rejoiced to see that fountain in his day, a man who couldn't
walk, who couldn't work, who couldn't wash, who couldn't witness.
And there may I, though vile as he, though vile as he, wash
all my sins away. He cannot say, in my hands no
price I bring, because he's bringing something. Oh Lord, here are
my works, now you supply the rest. Lord, here's my righteousness,
you make up where I come short. Lord, here's my payment, and
you make up what I lack. He can't say in my hands no price
I bring. Simply to the cross of Jesus
Christ I cling. Could my tears forever flow?
Could my zeal no longer know? These but sin could never atone.
If I worked as long as Methuselah lived, if I labored harder than
all the saints that God put together, if I wept and prayed and cried
more than the greatest man who ever lived, I couldn't put away
one transgression. It's got to be Christ alone.
And the natural man can't see that. He can't submit to Christ. He can't come as a beggar. He
can't come empty-handed. He can't come stripped, broken,
crying, Oh God, save me or I'll perish. I've got nothing to offer. And then fifthly, natural faith,
unsaved people, false religions, false faith can never, now watch
this, this is important. You might see yourself here.
He can never fully understand the relationship between faith
and works. Never can. He never can understand. He's always confused. Always
confused. He sets one scripture against
another. He reads this scripture and it looks like it's teaching
that, and he reads another and it looks like it's teaching the opposite.
He's confused. He sets one scripture against
the other. He can't reconcile sovereignty and responsibility,
faith and works. He can't do it. He's confused. He reads Romans 4, where Paul
said Abraham was justified by faith without works. Then he
turns over and reads James 2, and James says, Was not Abraham
our father justified by works? Uh-oh, he's confused. Well, Paul
said Abraham was justified by faith without works, and James
says Abraham is justified by works. Looks like Paul and James
got a contradiction there. Not in the mind of a redeemed
man, he understands both, and he knows they're saying the same
thing. And then he turns over to the book of Hebrews and he
reads, By faith Rahab perished not, faith alone. And then he
returns to James 2 and James says Rahab was justified by works,
and he's confused again. Contradiction. No, there's no
contradiction. Paul is talking about in Romans
and Hebrews when he said Abraham was justified by faith without
works. When he says Rahab was justified
by faith without works, he's talking about the justification
of the soul before God. And we are justified by faith
totally by believing on Christ, receiving Christ without any
works at all. We're totally passive in the
justification of our souls. You don't justify your souls
by works, if so, how many works? Whose works were justified by
Christ? Christ is our justification before
God, before the holy throne of God, the courts of God, the law
of God, the truth of God. Christ reconciled us to God.
Now, James is writing about the justification of our faith before
men. He says, show me your faith without
your works. You can't do it. The only way
to show faith is by works. The only way to show anybody
your faith, or to reveal your faith, or to know your own faith,
is by what your faith does for you, what your faith does through
you, what your faith produces. If my faith in Christ is true
saving faith, it will produce works, it will produce labor
of love, it will produce works of faith, it will produce righteousness
so that I can see a change and others can see a change. And
that's justifying my faith. Noah was justified by grace,
by Christ, but he proved he believed God by building an ark. Abraham
was justified by believing, but he proved he believed by leaving
his father's house when God told him to. You see what I'm saying? Paul says a man is not saved
because he prays, and James is saying a man is not saved who
doesn't pray. You see that? Paul says a man
is not saved, he's not redeemed because he prays. Prayer can't
save, Christ saves. But James says a man is not saved
who doesn't pray. And Paul says a man is not saved
because he's honest. That's not why we're saved, because
we're honest. But James is saying a man who's
dishonest is not saved. His faith is phony. If he's a
crook, his faith is phony. He might talk about faith all
day, believing God all day, but if he cheats people and robs
people and is dishonest in his dealing with them, he's a crook.
His faith is phony. That's what James is saying.
Paul says we're not saved because we love people. We're saved because
Christ died for us, was buried and rose again. But James is
saying a man who doesn't love people is not saved. A man who
hates is not saved. But this natural religionist,
this false professor, he can't see that. He can't justify that.
He's still confused, and you can't make him see it. And the
only way you can see it is if God reveals it to you. Those
are the five marks of false faith. Now let me say this to you. Faith
is going to be tried. God's going to try faith. In
James 1.12 it says, Blessed is that man that endureth trials. For when he is tried, he shall
receive the crown of life." You are going to be tried. Faith
in Christ is going to be tried for Christ's sake and for your
sake. God is going to try you. Untried faith may prove to be
false. Now, let's not fight against
these trials and tribulations and troubles that God sends our
way, therefore our good faith, first of all, will be tried by
the word of God. Now listen to me a moment, this
is important. Faith will be tried by the word of God. Remember
how it was often said in the scripture that those who followed
the Lord on the earth, many of them followed him, they followed
him, they followed him, but when they heard these words, they
departed and walked no more with They followed him because of
the miracles, they followed him because of the healing, they
followed him because of the good feeling, they followed him because
of all the good food, they followed him for all these reasons, but
when he started preaching, when he started teaching, when he
started telling them who he is and what he came to do, and when
he started telling them what God Almighty did to save their
souls and how God saved sinners, teaching them, they left. They
couldn't endure his teaching. They said, this is a hard saying,
who can hear it? They couldn't take his teaching,
they couldn't take his doctrine, they couldn't take his word.
And I see that today. I see folks that are hollering,
healing this and healing the body and heaven and all these
good things, streets of gold, no depression, everybody lives
happy ever after. But I'm telling you this, true
faith bows to the word of God, whatever it says. Whatever it
says. to the word of God. We believe
his word. True faith will endure the plow
of the word of God. Christ said, He that heareth
my word, and believeth on him that sent me hath everlasting
life. Not he that believeth in miracles, and he that believeth
in healing, and he that believeth in tongues, and he that believeth
in this, that, and the other. He that heareth my word. Faith
will not only be tried by the word of God, it will be tried
by persecution. Yes sir, true believers have
been mocked and ridiculed and persecuted even, not only by
the world of flesh, but the world of religion, even by their own
household. And he'll be tried by poverty and plenty. We're
prone to think that poverty is a greater spiritual trial than
prosperity, but it's not so. For every one person I've seen
fail because of poverty, I've seen twenty depart from God because
of prosperity. True faith will be tried by sorrow,
Job was. Eli was, Stephen was, true faith
will be tried by years, true faith will be tried by death.
But Paul said, The time of my departure is at hand, I have
fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith. He that endureth to the end,
the same shall be saved. We have two messages on this
cassette tape that I'm offering today. We have this message that
I preach today, Help My Unbelief. And last week's message on Amazing
Grace, if you'd like to have it, write to me. The charge is
$3 for both messages on one tape. It's been a joy to be with you.
I hope God will bless the word through your heart. Pray for
us. Until we meet again, this is Henry Mahan bidding you a
very pleasant, good day.

Help Thou My Unbelief

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Help Thou My Unbelief

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