Help My Unbelief (Mark 9:14-29)- Pastor Kenneth Collins Maple

Let's take our Bibles and open up to the Gospel

according to Mark. Mark chapter 9 looking at

Mark 9 · chapter mention

verses 14 through 29 as we continue our sermon

series through some of the miracles of Jesus.

We're not covering all of them. That would take

a very long time. But we're seeing several of

these and this one that we look at today This

is a remedy for the weak heart. And so if your

heart is weak, if there are things that are weighing

you down today, I pray that you would be strengthened

by God's Word. And so would you give an ear to

it now? Mark chapter 9, verses 14 through 29.

Mark 9:14–29

And when they came to the disciples, they saw

a great crowd around them. scribes arguing with

them and immediately all the crowd when they

saw him were greatly amazed and ran up to him

and greeted him and he asked them what are you

arguing about with them and someone from the

crowd answered him teacher I brought my son to

you for he has a spirit that makes him mute and

whenever it seizes him it throws him down And

he foams and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid.

So I asked your disciples to cast it out. And

they were not able. And he answered them, oh,

faithless generation, how long am I to be with

you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him

to me. And they brought the boy to him. And when

the spirit saw him, immediately it convulsed

the boy and he fell on the ground and rolled

about, foaming at the mouth. And Jesus asked

his father, how long has this been happening

to him? And he said, from childhood. And it is

often cast him into fire and into water to destroy

him. But if you can do anything, have compassion

on us and help us. And Jesus said to him, if

you can, all things are possible for one who

believes. Immediately, the father of the child

cried out and said, I believe, help my unbelief.

And when Jesus saw that, a crowd came running

together. He rebuked the unclean spirit saying

to it, you mute and deaf spirit, I command you,

come out of him and never enter him again. And

after crying out and convulsing him terribly,

it came out and the boy was like a corpse. So

that most of them said, he is dead. But Jesus

took him by the hand and lifted him up and he

arose And when he had entered the house his disciples

asked him privately Why could we not cast it

out? And he said to them this kind cannot be

driven out by anything but prayer This is God's

holy word Let's pray Father we we bless you and

we thank you for your infallible word. And we

ask today that as we look at this text that you

would strengthen our faith just like you strengthen

the faith of this man within this text. This

we ask in Christ's name. Amen. I know that I've

shared this illustration before, but maybe you'll

hear it like it's the first time. You might remember

the great preacher Charles Haddon Spurgeon. Spurgeon

was the pastor of a very large church in London

called the Metropolitan Tabernacle. It was very

impressive, just lots and lots and lots of people

worshiped there Sunday after Sunday after Sunday

and showing up throughout the week for Bible

studies and for prayer and things. And people

in London would often ask Spurgeon, How do you

keep this church going? How is the ministry here

so successful? And on more than one occasion,

he said, you want to know? Come with me. And

he would take those visitors down into the very

basement of the church. And he would say, I owe

the success of this church to our heating apparatus.

You want to see? And they would say, what are

you talking about? I don't need to see that.

But in the basement, there was a room. And it

wasn't so much a physical heating apparatus as

it was a place that was filled with people praying.

And he would say, this is the engine room of

the church, the prayer meeting. And that's what

we see from this text. We see how important,

how crucial, how powerful prayer is and how Christians

have to be men and women, boys and girls of prayer.

But we also see the necessity of faith in here.

So that's what we're looking at today, faith

and prayer. But we also must note the context

of this episode. If you have your Bible still

open, which I hope that you do, look at just

what happens prior to this episode in Mark chapter

nine. This is the transfiguration. It's very

important to note that. It's also to note who

is actually involved in this episode. Verse 14

says, and when they came to the disciples, who

is they within this text? It's Jesus and it's

his inner circle of disciples. Peter, James,

and John come with Jesus to see this great crowd.

What were those three doing with Jesus? Well,

we know from that context that those three were

on the mountain with Jesus They have seen Jesus

there with him and they come down from that mountain

and they see this great crowd and these disciples

and there is some sort of commotion that is happening

and It's a commotion of unbelief This should

remind us of the time that Moses was on Sinai

You remember when Moses spends a long time on

Mount Sinai, such that the Israelites down below

are like, we don't know what happened to him,

let's make a god. And they make an idol, the

golden calf. And Moses is on the mountain, and

he hears the commotion. And this grieves him

to the core, for he sees the unbelief of the

people. This is a situation that Jesus and the

disciples see. They come down from this mountain.

and they see what's before them, and they see

the scribes arguing with them. And in the midst

of all of this, somebody comes up to Jesus and

says, teacher, I brought my son to you, for he

has a spirit that makes him mute. And so we have

this man who is desperate for help for his son.

His son has been sick since he was very young

as a boy. And he's got these seizures, right?

And more than that, he's got this demon possession

that's happening that has many times tried to

cast the boy into the fire or into the water

seeking to destroy him. And so this man is truly

desperate here, but there is a big crowd around

him. And Jesus offers this rebuke, doesn't he?

Look in verse 19. Oh, faithless generation, how

long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear

with you? Why is Jesus offering this kind of

rebuke? What's going on? Well, some have had

difficulties trying to understand who is Jesus

rebuking here? Is he rebuking everybody who's

listening, the whole crowd? Well, I don't think

that that's the case, because the whole purpose

of this has been that there is this boy who's

got this demonic spirit and nobody has been able

to do anything about it. So we wouldn't expect

the crowd to do anything about this. Perhaps

it's the scribes, those religious leaders. They

can't do anything about this either. They may

try, but I doubt it. What I really think is going

on here is that Jesus is rebuking his disciples.

He is lumping them in with the, oh, faithless

generation. as if to say, you must trust me.

You must depend upon me in order to do anything.

Now, we might say to Jesus here, this this sounds

a little harsh. Lighten up, Jesus. Why? Why are

you getting onto their case? But you must see,

friends, that the entire ministry of the disciples

will be contingent upon faith. They won't be

able to do a single thing for Jesus. without

faith in Him. Without faith, they, we are unable

to accomplish anything. And what is Jesus doing

but training them, preparing them for the opposition

that they will face? The context shows us this.

What immediately follows this episode? Look at

verse 30 and on. They went on from there and

passed through Galilee. he did not want anyone

to know for he was teaching his disciples saying

to them the son of man is going to be delivered

into the hands of men and they will kill him.

That's what follows. Also look at what precedes

this episode in chapter 8 verse 31. and began

to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer

many things and be rejected by the elders and

the chief priests and the scribes and be killed.

Jesus knows one day he's going to the Father.

He's preparing them for this. But if they don't

have faith to trust in God, they will not have

a ministry and it will not continue. And so Jesus

is giving them on the field training right now.

That they will be able to do teaching, they will

be able to do healing, they will be able and

have been able to cast out demons. But friends,

we cannot do anything for God without trusting

in him. We cannot. If you will, just listen to

this from Matthew chapter seven. Matthew seven,

21 through 23. And these are words we need to

pay attention to. Matthew 721, not everyone who

says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom

of heaven, but the one who does the will of my

Father who is in heaven. On that day, many will

say to me, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in

your name and cast out demons in your name and

do many mighty works in your name? And then I

will declare to them, I never knew you. Depart

from me, you workers of lawlessness. Friends,

faithlessness and ministry don't mesh. Faithlessness

and ministry, they don't work. True disciples

of Jesus trust Jesus and true disciples of Jesus

feed their faith as the Holy Spirit sanctifies.

So you might say, well, how is that? How can

we grow in our faith? I don't have an exotic

answer here. It's really quite simple. H .B.

Charles Jr. says, it's scripture intake. Scripture

intake. It's kind of like exercise. Pretty much,

I think everybody in here would say, yeah, I

want to be in good shape from our oldest to our

youngest and in between, right? We want to take

care of our bodies, right? But if you never go

for a walk. If you don't eat well, you're not

going to see that progress, right? We really

have to take in the good and cast off the bad,

right? And that's the way it is with our faith.

If you will, just listen to 1 Peter chapter two,

verse one. So put away all malice and all deceit

and hypocrisy and envy and all slander. So put

those things away like newborn infants long for

the pure spiritual milk that by it you may grow

up into salvation if indeed you have tasted that

the Lord is good. So we have to put off those

things which do not help our faith, which hinder

our faith and put on good things like scripture.

And so friend, have you tasted that the Lord

is good? Have you? And if so, you might say,

well, how do I have more? Again, it's the very

word of God. This is the time of year when people

make resolutions. Why not make a resolution that

you can actually keep by the power of the Holy

Spirit helping you, that you can give yourself

to the word of God? Now, maybe you're out of

the habit, kind of like exercise. You're out

of the habit. That doesn't mean that you should

go run a marathon right away. It doesn't mean

that you go to the gym and you You know, you

get on the bench and you try and bench press

whatever the previous person had before you.

Baby steps. And so if you're out of the practice

of reading scripture or listening to it, just

take a verse a day, at least a verse a day, just

to listen, to read it, to meditate upon it, hide

it in your heart. Recently, I've begun a practice

of taking one scripture, usually the scripture

for Sunday. and I print it off on a note card,

just very small, and I put it in my pocket, or

I put it in my bag, such that everywhere I go,

I have immediate access, can pull that card out

and look at it and reflect upon it. Do something

like that, small steps, to begin absorbing more

and more of the Bible. But we also recognize

that we need the ministry of the word. I'm preaching

to the choir here, because you are here, but

we need the preaching of the word. But we also

need time of strengthening from other believers.

And so make this the year in which you say, yeah,

I'm planning to be there for Sunday school. I'm

planning to be there for Wednesday nights. Join

in with our wick or our men of the covenant or

children taking part in those programs that we

have. Times together of learning scripture. But

not only that, we need times together of prayer.

Right? We all need to be people of prayer and

that's really what Jesus is teaching here So

we've seen Jesus offer that rebuke, right? But

then what does Jesus do? He asked for the boy

And so as they bring the boy to him who's got

this Demonic spirit within him as soon as that

spirit is into the presence of Jesus near him

It sends the boy into convulsions Translations

will say that this is epileptic seizures, and

while that's true, it all happens because of

demon possession. And so the demon possesses

and makes the boy mute and makes him deaf, and

yet those things do not hinder Jesus from speaking

right to that spirit and saying, get out of him.

Look in verse 22. You can see how desperate the

father is. It's often cast him into fire and

into water to destroy him. But if you can do

anything, have compassion on us and help us.

Here, we might look at that and say, well, probably

shouldn't have said it like that, if you can

do anything. But before we begin to criticize

this father, Let's think to ourselves, do we

struggle with unbelief? Do you ever struggle

with unbelief? I would say that you do, because

I know at times that I do. Calvin said of this

passage, he declares that he believes and yet

acknowledges himself to have unbelief. These

two statements may appear to contradict each

other, but there is none of us that does not

experience both of them in himself. And so the

Christian can say the very prayer that this man

offers, help my unbelief. And we know this to

be true not just of ourselves, but of faithful

men and women throughout scripture. Perhaps you

remember Hebrews chapter 11, what's called the

Hebrews 11 · chapter mention

hall. of faith where you have this listing of

faithful men and women who loved God and yet

struggled with sin. People like Noah and Abraham

and Moses and Samson and Rahab and Samuel and

David. And yet when we struggle with unbelief,

is not Jesus compassionate with us? He certainly

was towards this man because he corrects the

man But he doesn't offer a rebuke here. Look

in verse twenty three. Jesus said to him, if

you can. All things are possible for one who

believes. This has me reflecting upon Christmas.

For you remember when Gabriel speaks to Mary

and she's wondering, how is this whole thing

going to work? Because I'm a virgin. And Gabriel

says nothing will be impossible with God. You

see, friends, nothing can stand in the way of

what Jesus wills to do. All things are possible

for the one who believes. And so we need to check

ourselves here. Do we really believe that? Do

we really believe that Jesus can do all things?

Well, if you struggle with that answer, please

see the remedy here. God gives the remedy within

the text, prayer with repentance. For you see

in verse 24 the word immediately the man wastes

no time Confessing his unbelief. He says I believe

help my own belief Somebody once said that living

without faith is like driving in the fog I Would

say living without faith is like driving 90 miles

an hour in the fog. It's the most dangerous thing

you can do to try and live without faith in Jesus

Christ. We need to read this man's words as prayer,

because while there were others who could perform

exorcisms, and there were others who could perform

healings, who else could help a man with his

unbelief but Jesus? And so this man now sees

Jesus as the Savior, as the Messiah. This is

his prayer, help. my unbelief. And this needs

to be our prayer, too. For we can do nothing

to help ourselves here. It must all be from Jesus.

You cannot help your unbelief anymore that you

can save yourself. And so friends who struggle,

friends who struggle with unbelief, have this

prayer on your lips. Have it at the ready. Memorize

just this short phrase. I believe. Help my unbelief.

You've heard Brittany already saying these words,

I would but can't repent, though I endeavor oft.

This stony heart can never relent till Jesus

makes it soft. Help my unbelief. My help must

come from thee. And so the man needs help, the

disciples need help, and here is Jesus to help.

with this boy he casts out this demon and it

reacts violently such that the boy is laying

there and people are saying he must be dead but

remember the compassion of Jesus to reach down

to stoop down with his hand and to raise the

boy and everybody is in amazement including the

disciples but what do the disciples want to know

they want to know why couldn't we do that We've

done this before. Why couldn't we do it this

time? And so you see here their problem. You

see the disciples have been well trained by the

master. They have authority over these kind of

things, but it's ineffective without prayer.

Sinclair Ferguson says, Jesus is emphasizing

to them the danger of thinking that because God

has called you to a certain kind of ministry,

that you are therefore simply by that call and

able to fulfill that ministry. You can only fulfill

that ministry by constant dependence on the Lord

in prayer to him. Friends, I know many of you,

you made some really good food over the last

week for Christmas. In my house, we had a ton

of cookies, a lot of sugar cookies. What happens

if you leave the sugar out of a cookie? It ain't

good. It's not a good cookie. It's barely a cookie.

Friends, if we attempt ministry without the ingredient

of prayer, it won't be ministry. It will not.

Disciples could have done everything right. They

could have been gentle. They could have been

pastoral. They could have been confident. They

could have done everything just like they saw

Jesus to do. But if they were not dependent on

God exercising prayer, it would not have been

effective. And so this is a lesson for them.

But it's not just that Jesus tells them to pray.

Jesus has also shown them his own prayer life.

You might remember how Jesus, ahead of turning,

ahead of multiplying the loaves and the fish,

what did Jesus do? He prayed. You might remember,

and we haven't looked at this one yet in the

miracles of Jesus, but you might remember Jesus

raising Lazarus. Before he does that, what does

he do? He... Praise There's also good news here

though For the disciples, I think they take this

to heart because in Acts chapter 4 We see some

Acts 4 · chapter mention

of them praying Before they can do anything so

in Acts chapter 4 Versus 29 and onward we see

Acts 4 · chapter mention

their prayer and I'll read just part of it And

now Lord look upon their threats and grant to

your servants to continue to speak your word

with all boldness. So this is their prayer. While

you stretch out your hand to heal and signs and

wonders are performed through the name of your

holy servant Jesus. And when they had prayed

the place in which they were gathered together

was shaken and they were all filled with the

Holy Spirit. and continue to speak the word of

God with boldness. It's like I've said many times,

quoting John Bunyan, you can do nothing until

you have prayed. And so did they forget prayer?

Perhaps in Mark chapter six, Jesus gives authority

to them over the unclean spirits. And so perhaps

the disciples thought, this is sufficient. I

have authority from Jesus so we can do this thing.

They sought to tough it out. on their own. And

as Americans, I think we like these kind of people.

We like tough people, gritty people, people who

can pull themselves up by their bootstraps. In

a lot of ways, that's an admirable quality. But

not in your walk with Jesus. Not in your walk

with Jesus. You must depend upon Jesus. Indeed,

many of you have been gifted beautifully. by

the Holy Spirit with gifts. Every believer has

a gift to exercise, but the gift alone is not

enough. You must depend upon Jesus to exercise

that gift, whatever it is. Maybe you're a teacher

within the church of children or of adults. Maybe

you have musical abilities and you sing in the

choir. Maybe you're an evangelist and you love

to tell people about Jesus. Maybe you're an officer

within this church. These things are wonderful.

Praise God for them. But you must exercise faith

in prayer in order to perform those responsibilities.

And so whatever your gift is, there's something

you must understand. You can only use your gifting

with prayer. There is a direct connection between

unbelief and prayerlessness, right? But prayer

is an expression of our faith. Prayer is an expression

of our faith. It puts our faith to words whenever

we pray to God in the name of Jesus. But you

might say, well, prayer is difficult for me.

I really struggle with that. What kind of practical

help is there for me? Well, from this text alone,

we see something beautiful. We see something

very helpful that you can be honest within your

prayer life. This man is honest because he knows

that Jesus knows I believe help my unbelief We're

probably not all that eager To express to one

another that we struggle with unbelief But you

can certainly express that to Jesus you must

express that to Jesus and know That he helps

those who ask right and so be honest in your

prayer, pray about prayerlessness and unbelief.

In the case of this father, something very unfortunate

led to the recognition of his unbelief. But it's

the kindness of God to even use the difficult

things in our lives to draw us back to him. And

so friends, I know the things that you go through

are painful, the suffering, the illness, the

job loss, whatever it might be, but do not waste

the sufferings that you go through. but instead

see them as opportunities to draw near to God

in prayer. This man asked for help and unbelief

and what did Jesus do? He helped him. Will Jesus

not also do the same for you? Of course he will.

And so what's weighing on you today? What is

too heavy for you? What has you saying, I don't

think I can go on? You feel like your faith is

weak. But friend, don't you know that God is

near? He's nearer than the fog, and He listens

to your prayer. Don't you know that Jesus is

the author of your salvation? Don't you know

that you can call upon God in prayer at any moment,

at any time of day or night, that God is listening

for His children? And He, as you pray, He will

strengthen you, and He will help you, and He

will help your unbelief.