 Now, we're in chapter 9 here in the gospel of Mark. We're going to be looking today at verses 14 through 29. I chose to entitle this particular installment of our Bible study, Help My Unbelief. Many years ago, I can't even tell you how long ago, it's been quite a number of years. Over 40 years ago, there's a comment that is made, and we'll be seeing that in just a moment in verse 24 here of chapter 9, where the Father cries out with tears to the Lord Jesus Christ. And he said, Lord, I believe, and I memorized it in the King James Version. He said, Lord, I believe, help thou mine unbelief. And so we're going to be looking today at that cry of the Father, Help My Unbelief. That's a cry I believe that many fathers in this place today watching online. It's a cry that many of us who are fathers might have made ourselves in the past. And so what I'm going to do is I'm going to give an introduction. We'll be looking at verses 14 through 16, and then I'm going to lay a foundation and introduction. I want to stress in my introduction about the importance of faith and things that relate to it so I can lay this for us as we get to the point where the man is saying, I do believe, but it's unbelief I'm dealing with. And that's something that I believe is a very, very common phrase that many believers might be able to make themselves. And so we're looking at the subject of this man's unbelief. So let's begin reading together here in chapter 9 of Mark's Gospel. At verse 14, we'll read to verse 16, and then we'll get into our study. Mark chapter 9, beginning at verse 14, reading to verse 16. Mark writes, when he came to the disciples, he saw a great multitude around them and scribes disputing with them. Immediately when they saw him, all the people were greatly amazed and running to him, greeted him, and he asked the scribes, what are you discussing with them? Now I mentioned recently that there are various ways that Christians are referred to in the New Testament. We have a tendency of speaking of us now simply as being believers or Christians. We especially say, well, that person's a Christian. I was mentioning that there are various ways that Christians are referred to in the New Testament, and I was sharing with you that the most common word in Scripture to refer to a Christian was the word disciple, and we spoke of that. The word Christian was not necessarily commonly used to speak of followers of Jesus. Even believers or Christians were simply referred to as the church, and that term, the church is used in the New Testament around 114 times. So that was a very common way to speak of believers, a community or fellowship of those who have committed themselves to Christ. And so believers are referred to as the church and are called Christians, but even as I just said, they are often referred to as simply believers because that's how we were saved. We believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and that's how you're saved. Acts records that when Paul and Silas were jailed in the city of Philippi in northern Greece that they had been jailed because he had cast out a demon from a fortune teller, and when that happened that provoked a near riot. While in jail Paul and Silas were praying and the Scripture says they were singing hymns and the other prisoners were listening. At midnight there was an earthquake and the prison doors were opened. Well when that happens the jailer awoke and he saw the cell doors were opened and he thought the prisoners undoubtedly had all escaped and was about to kill himself. He was going to kill himself because he would have been sentenced to death for losing these prisoners so he's going to take his own life. But when he was about to kill himself Paul said, we are here, don't harm yourself. Well this jailer was so amazed that he said, sirs what must I do to be saved? And that's where Acts 1631 all of us have heard this Scripture. They said believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you'll be saved you and your household. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. Believers are what we are to be but believers is a common way to speak of us. This is because we are known by whom we believe in and what we believe and believers are those who have trusted in Jesus Christ and have become part of the Christian community. In John's Gospel John records that after Jesus' resurrection that Jesus appeared to some of the disciples and Thomas wasn't present when he did and he didn't believe when they told him that Jesus had appeared. In John 20 verse 25 the second portion of that Scripture he said to them unless I see the nail marks in his hand put my finger where the nails were put my hand into his side I will not believe. Well a week later Thomas was with the apostles when Jesus came and he stood amongst them and he said to Thomas touch me see that it is me and stop doubting he said and believe. In response to this Thomas said my Lord and my God and then John 20 verse 29 Jesus told him because you have seen me you have believed blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed. Now there's an old saying all of us are familiar with seeing is believing but in Christianity believing is seen. This is because as believers we live a life that is built on faith. We believe in God we believe in Jesus we believe in the Holy Spirit all of whom we haven't seen the whole foundation of our lives is built on faith in God and what he has said. In 2 Corinthians chapter 5 verse 7 Paul said that we walk by faith. Peter said in 1 Peter chapter 1 though you have not seen him you love him even though you do not see him now you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy. And so this is a subject of belief we're going to be looking at at a father in a moment who says I believe but I'm having a problem with unbelief. You see at this point Jesus has been with his disciples for over two years they've been with him they were taught by him they've seen his miracles they served with him but he's about to depart he's finalizing his ministry to them they'll they'll soon be entrusted to take the message of the gospel not just to Jerusalem or Judea or Samaria but unto the uttermost parts of the earth and he's no longer going to be with them and they're going to have their world rocked because Jesus is going to die they have critical things to learn from him especially in the realm of faith and what he's going to be teaching them in just a moment once again is a lesson concerning the power of faith. And so it begins at verse 14 in this way when he came to the disciples he saw a great multitude around them and scribes disputing with them. Now remember with me that Jesus had camped overnight in the mountain Peter James and John had been with him. Luke chapter 9 verse 37 says the next day he descended the mountain and rejoined his other disciples as he's descending this mountain there's a great multitude that has formed below and now as we see it his men are surrounded by a crowd and religious experts are called the scribes are arguing with them. Now as is so often true mountaintop experiences are often followed by valleys it seems to me that the enemy likes to stir up problems after God blesses us. We used to go to our men's retreats and perhaps in the future when everything flows again we'll do it again but we used to go to a mountain for our men's retreat and I would tell the guys I would say okay guys we're about to go home you've been in the mountain and the Lord has met you in a mountaintop experience. I said but don't be surprised when you leave the mountain you go back down don't be surprised if the devil begins to attack you sometimes he's wearing your wife's dress just kidding I see those claws I'm just kidding but the fact is we need to take our mountaintop experiences and put them into practice when we're in the valleys and that's what the Lord is going to teach these men because the lessons that are learned on mountains are lived in valleys. Jesus arrives as he arrives there's a multitude but notice with me there are also those who are called scribes arguing with him the scribes were the experts of the law of Moses and they were the ones who pronounced doctrine and teaching and all very respected and there they are arguing with his men now these religious leaders were often looking for something to discredit Jesus with and in Luke chapter 11 verses 53 and 54 Luke writes as he said these things to them the scribes and the Pharisees began to assail him vehemently and to cross examine him about many things lying in wait for him and seeking to catch him in something he might say that they might accuse him well since Jesus wasn't there they took opportunity to argue with this men and they would do that because they wanted to undermine these men's trust in Jesus Christ as we saw in an earlier passage we saw this happening in Matthew at Matthew's house when Jesus had gone there for supper Matthew had invited his friends who were tax collectors and sinners and this bothered these religious leaders in Matthew 9 verse 11 it says when the Pharisees saw it they said to his disciples why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners so this is an old tactic if you can't defeat the teacher undermine his students trust in him in Mark 3 25 it says if a house is divided against itself that house cannot stand so this is a common tactic Jesus isn't there so the scribes begin to argue with Jesus as men the nine who had remained behind well in verse 15 it says immediately when they saw him all the people were greatly amazed and running to him greeted him when Jesus arrived on the scene the people saw him they came and greeted him and this has become common because of his amazing works and his teachings but as they're greeting him Jesus immediately approaches the scribes in verse 16 it says he asked the scribes what are you discussing with them now that word discussing is a Greek word that means to debate or argue they weren't just having a conversation they were arguing disputing they were causing problems with his men and so Jesus as a shepherd immediately protects his disciples from the onslaught of these religious leaders your bible teaches you that that Jesus is the good shepherd and as a good shepherd he watches over his sheep in Psalm 91 14 it says because he loves me says the Lord I will rescue him I will protect him for he acknowledges my name in Psalm 121 verse 8 the Lord keeps watch over you as you come and go both now and forever he's a good shepherd watching his sheep and so his question reveals to us that he takes the tax on his disciples very personally now we see an example of this when when Jesus confronted Saul before he became Paul I was mentioning this to you recently this man Saul who later is the apostle Paul Saul had received authority to bring believers to Jerusalem that he might try them as religious heretics and he was on his way to a place called Damascus and the bible tells us in Acts 9 3 through 5 as he journeyed he came near Damascus and suddenly a light shone around him from heaven and he fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him Saul Saul why are you persecuting me he said who are you Lord the Lord said I am Jesus whom you are persecuting it's hard for you to kick against the goats when you're hurting one of mine Jesus was saying you are attacking me he takes it personally he took it personally then by the way he still does to this day these religious leaders were undermining their faith provoking Jesus to action in Matthew 18 verse 6 he said whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he was drowned in the depth of the sea when you go to Israel we have an opportunity to go to a place called Capernaum and while you're in Capernaum there is a millstone that's on display there it weighs several hundred pounds it looks like a a large wheel and that was the picture Christ was giving he said it would be better for you if this several hundred pound stone was tied around your neck and you were dropped in the midst of the sea of Galilee for offending one of these little ones who believe in me he takes it personally and so Jesus challenged the scribes to answer but they didn't have a chance to response notice what happens in verse 17 he had just said what are you discussing with them then when in the crowd answered and said teacher I brought you my son who has a mute spirit wherever it seizes him it throws him down he foams at the mouth he gnashes his teeth he becomes rigid I spoke to your disciples they could not cast it out to cast it up but they could not and so he answered him and said oh faithless generation how long shall I be with you how long shall I bear with you bring him here now I want you to notice something here Jesus had challenged the scribes but they didn't have a chance to respond because someone from the crowd cried out I brought you my son so when you combine other accounts of this event we get a better picture again Matthew 17 verses 14 15 speaking of the same thing Matthew writes when they had come to the multitude a man came to him kneeling down to him and saying Lord have mercy on my son for he's an epileptic and suffers severely for he often falls into the fire and often into the water the word epileptic is actually word that is translated moonstruck it also could be translated lunatic it was not specifically the disease of epilepsy but the symptoms of it that are being described here but he's falling into the fire and often into the water in Luke 9 38 suddenly a man from the multitude cried out saying teacher I implore you look at my son for he is my only my only child and so that adds a layer of emotion for us this father's frantic he knows that this isn't simply physical he knows that what's taking place is spiritual he knew his son was demon possessed and was under incredible attack by demons in Luke 9 39 it says the spirit seizes him and suddenly he suddenly screams it throws him into convulsions so that he foams at the mouth it scarcely ever leaves him and is destroying him that word destroying literally means crushing or mollying him he's abusing him is what he's saying this is what has taken place Matthew 17 15 again says he often falls into the fire and often into the water so the demon is abusing this little boy driving him to kill himself and in the hurting of the son there's a hurting of the father because any man who has a son and loves his son if something happens to the son it's something that guess it hurts and affects the father we're very protective i'm going to talk to you as a father for a moment i'm going to share some things but i can tell you this that i have two sons my biological boys and i can tell you that they're men now they're not children in any way except emotionally no they're not they're not children anymore but i can speak to you and this to me is a highly personal highly personal passage because i began to learn this in layers many years ago prior to being saved having small sons and being where i am now so i've learned layers of things as i've gone through this particular passage many times in the years that i've i've ministered and been a believer and i can tell you that you have a very protective feeling for your son and when your son gets hurt in any way it hurts you i still remember when my daughter Corinne came running into the house Corinne was just a few years old she wasn't that old my son joseph was maybe four years three or four years old at the time and she came running into the house and she said daddy daddy the next door neighbor just hit joseph and the next door neighbor was in high school and hit him in the stomach and my son was about four years old and i went out like a lion i have to be honest with you i was going to kill that kid and i was going to take his father too i mean i was saying i'm telling you the truth marie can tell you that you know so i understand when you see your child hurt you know i talked to the mother settled the problem god was very gracious kept his father didn't come out because i was really going to take him out i'm not kidding because the guy had been acting the punk for a long time but that's a different story i shouldn't even shouldn't even bring that up pastor dave you had a temperate well that was many years ago you get protective every daddy knows this you get protective that's my baby that's my baby you get protective it's just there if you don't get protective ask that god will give you a heart for protection for your kids you get it's natural it's something god builds into a man that's the way it is and when my child's hurt i get hurt when i can't do something i get hurt i want to take that on myself i want to do something and that's what the father's feeling i want to build this with you because that's what's going on right now with this man my father the father's saying my son is very ill he gets thrown into the into the fire he gets thrown into the water he convulses and and when you start looking at all of the things and i read this to you but i'm going to point them out again you'll see what's going on because there's a situation taking place and and it's something that is is beyond their ability to to handle these men can't do it when when peter james and john were on a mountain these men these others were involved in warfare and their lack of success reveals that they're still unprepared to handle this kind of attack you see when people think that that's serving satan is good this is how satan treats his subjects and i want you to see this look at how the demon abuses this little guy the spirit makes him mute robbing his speech so he can't call for help it seizes him which speaks of eagerly taking him and possessing him it hurls him to the ground which causes bruising and cutting he foams at the mouth which causes dehydration he gnashes his teeth he's grating his teeth causing bruising of his mouth and his gums his body becomes rigid the word rigid speaks of being withered or dried up causing cramps he suddenly screams because he senses the demon shrieks and there's nothing the father can do it causes violent convulsions causing him to choke on his own saliva it scarcely ever leaves him which means he's hurt and tortured night and day he's he's he's got a sense of isolation because he's looked at as being a lunatic and he has no friends he throws him in the water to drown him the fire to burn him tries to kill him the fire burns him and because the fire has burned this little guy's skin he may very well have become scarred this is my son shrieks isolated in pain possibly scarred bruised gums teeth that have being are being worn down by his grating constant gnashing isolate no friends nothing listen i i spoke to your disciples that they should cast them out but they could not i brought my boy to you but you were on the mountain so i brought them to your men but they couldn't help him and jesus has answered verse 19 it's interesting because he says oh faithless generation how long shall i be with you how long shall i bear with you bring him to me he answered faithless generation the word faithless is unbelieving that's what the word means it means those who are not trusting god interestingly enough he's not primarily rebuking the crowd he's speaking first and foremost to his men his disciples their unbelief actually causes him anger and is frustrating and even painful to him this is really what would be called an expression of exasperation and he's exasperated frustrated with his men remember he had sent them into ministry he had already in chapter six sent them out to minister it says that they had in verse 13 of mark 6 they had cast out many demons anointed with oil many who were sick and healed them they had already cast demons out this is something done they had done they they they failed this time but they done it in the past and so he says how long shall i bear with you how long must i put up with your lack of faith why are you not learning the lessons i've been teaching you and then in verse 19 he gives a command a simple command bring him to me well it says in verse 20 they brought him to him and when he saw him immediately the spirit convulsed him and he fell on the ground wallowed foaming at the mouth he asked the father how long has this been happening to him he said from childhood and often he's thrown him both into the fire and into the water to destroy him but if you can do anything have compassion on us and help us jesus said to him if you can believe all things are possible to him who believes and immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears lord i believe help my unbelief this is the part where i can get emotional i know you've never seen that here these this is one of those portions of scripture that i've been aware of for a long time i've been aware of this scripture for over 50 plus years now when you're young and the lord i was unmarried you you read it in one way and you highlight certain things as you grow older your life continues to blossom various experiences occur you get married you have your children things of that nature ultimately for me you your grandchildren and and so layers of experience begin to occur as you grow older in the lord so there are levels that i've personally seen the lord do things in my own life and so because of that it's i have emotion that's attached to that so i'm going to try my best not to make this about any emotion you might see come out of me hopefully it'll make some sense to you as i'm trying to share these things i want you to notice in verse 20 they brought him to him and immediately the spirit begins to tear on him convulsed him begins to tear him the the bible tells us here that the spirit convulsed him and he felt the ground the spirit within the boy recognized jesus and knew what was about to take place so when he saw jesus he tore the boy he convulsed him now we saw this kind of thing when jesus had cast out a demon of a man in a man in a synagogue in mark 126 it says when the unclean spirit convulsed him and cried out with the loud voice he came out of him well the boy fell on the ground he began to wallow he was foaming at the mouth and the spirit made one more effort to destroy this boy he'd been tormenting him for some time he didn't want to let him go as this is taking place and you can imagine i mean this taking place of father's watching his son and jesus begins to speak verse 21 how long has this been happening to him he said from childhood now he's calmly speaking to the father how long has this been happening this wasn't a way to gather information it was a way to communicate compassion jesus cared about the pain the father endured he knew that that man needed to unload how long how long and the father said from childhood that word childhood can be translated from boyhood but it's also word that can be used to speak of infancy this has been taking place all of his young life since he was an infant he's been in this condition it's often throwing him into the fire into the water to destroy to kill him and so this is where it becomes personal for me i put myself in this father's place he's desperate he's desiring more than anything that jesus would deliver his tormented son put yourself in that place if you're a father for years you haven't had peace your only son is suicidal driven by a demon my first born was a little girl whom i love with all of my heart my karin my second born was my son david we didn't know we weren't we weren't going and finding out is it male or female or anything like people do today oh we know the sex and then you have those reveals we didn't do that we just kind of wanted to just let nature have its course in boy girl and that's the way we did it now i'm kind of a traditional person in a lot of ways and one of those things about being a traditional person is i wanted a son to carry on my name maybe he'd do a better job with it right so marina we're talking my wife and who do you want to name the baby if it's a boy i said erin erin is my favorite name i love the name erin it's a beautiful name she said don't you want to name him david i said i'm not really in love with that name seriously i it's just yeah i'm gonna name him erin she said you want to call him david mentally and i said okay we'll call him erin david that was it was settled it was settled right we're gonna have erin david that's what we're gonna have and so there i am captive when marie's having the baby they force us now to be in there and i'm just waiting for whatever and the doctor says you had your boy and hands me this little boy what are you gonna name him david and that's how he got his name david erin david erin when my joseph was born my second son and the doctor delivered all four of our babies same doctor he walks up and he hands me this little baby my joseph it's the only time that i ever felt this impulse but i he handed me my my son and i looked at him and i lifted him like this and i said this one shall serve the lord this one shall serve the lord i prophesied over my son there is something every daddy has this there are dreams that you have this one shall be blessed have i got to bless you that's how i am i've been that way for a long time that's not unusual this man was the same way i'm sure when he was born he blessed god you gave me a son my my only child you gave me a son and i deeply i deeply love this this baby and you have your hopes and you have your dreams one day may this this this boy grow to be a great man but since he was very young in this man's life his dream became a nightmare and his hope was lost you are forced to watch him constantly because he may kill himself if not on the alert you look at him and and this beautiful little guy is scarred he's been tortured he screams constantly he falls he hurts himself he can't go near water and he can't go near an open fire his mouth his gums are bruised he has no friends who wants to play with a little crazy boy right who wants to play with him so he's alone and sometimes you're outside and the other children in the village are running by and they'll they're laughing and they're playing and running but your son can't join them he can't run he can't play he doesn't laugh he shrieks he's alone and it hurts it hurts your son but it hurts you because he's your only baby and the hopelessness that you live with is overwhelmed you and then one day you hear you hear of a young rabbi a man named Jesus and you heard this is a man who casts out demons and you summon everything within you and and you come to see him but he's not there you're told that he's got some men that he's training they're over here so you go and speak to them and you say can you help can you help me and they try their best but they're unable they can't and the disappointment overwhelms you causes greater pain and now you're almost completely without hope but you take one last shot because a master has come and you say I need your help can you help me he says in verse 22 he has thrown he often he has thrown you in both into the fire into the water to destroy him but if you can do anything have compassion on us help us if you can do anything and he cries this out help us because you're not only helping my son you're helping us I've given up hope and to be honest you're you're my last chance I'm at the end of my rope and I'm not even going to pretend to have faith I have it but not that much my faith is almost gone it's nearly exhausted but Jesus in verse 23 says if you can believe all things are possible to him who believes you've said if I can do anything you say if I can do anything but the reality rests on whether you can believe and by this statement he forces him to deal with this lack of faith I have enough power to do what you're asking but do you have enough faith to receive it the father is seeing the compassionate way that Jesus had spoken to him and now he's asking him to show compassion in a tangible way by delivering his son if you can do anything he had said but Jesus responds if you can believe you see Jesus is willing but we often simply don't believe that he will help us Psalm 50 verse 15 says call upon me in the day of trouble I will deliver you you shall glorify me so when Jesus says if you can believe immediately verse 24 the father of the child cried out and said with tears Lord I believe help my unbelief help my unbelief the word unbelief means my unfaithfulness my faithlessness my lack of faith my weakness of faith I believe I have things I believe in I believe you can do that for others I'm having a tough time believing that you can do it for me my faith isn't what it's supposed to be I I ask that you supply me with the grace to put my entire trust in you not only am I pleading for you to deliver my son but I also ask for you to deliver me and in spite of the father's plaguing doubt God is not limited by our faith Ephesians 3 20 says he's able to do exceedingly abundantly above all we ask or think and Jesus is going to move notice verse 25 when Jesus saw that the people came running together he rebuked the unclean spirit saying to a deaf and dumb spirit I command you come out of him and enter him no more and the spirit cried out convulsed him greatly came out of him he became as one dead so that many said he's dead but Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up and he arose I command you deaf and dumb spirit come out of him enter him no more you resisted my disciples but you cannot resist me in Psalm 33 8 and 9 let all the earth fear the Lord let all the inhabitants of the world standing of him for he spoke and it was done and the spirit cried out convulsed him greatly came out of him but he could not resist tearing him one last time and by the way this is how the enemy treats his victims and he still draws people to follow him the child appeared dead but Jesus gently lifted him to his feet and as this is taking place the disciples are wondering what's going on here verse 28 when he had come into the house his disciples asked him privately why could we not cast it out so he said to them this kind of this kind can come out by nothing but prayer and fasting why couldn't you do it it's interesting that they want they wondered at their lack of success while ignoring their own lack of faith they didn't see that faith in results would be linked he said it's your unbelief you only trust when i'm next to you you need to trust always faith trusts when we have nothing faith trusts when we feel forsaken when we don't know if he's listening or when we begin to doubt that he even cares in Psalm 91 verses 14 through 16 because he has said his love upon me therefore i will deliver him i will set him on high because he has known my name he shall call upon me and i will answer him i will be with him in trouble i will deliver him and honor him with long life i will satisfy him and show him my salvation why couldn't we succeed while this one doesn't come out except by prayer and fasting you relied on your previous victories and the result was relying on your own power matthew gives us more insight in Matthew 17 verse 20 he replied because you have so little faith truly i tell you if you have faith as small as a mustard seed you can say to the mountain move from here to there and it will move nothing will be impossible for you listen you need to learn that God's power is revealed in response to faith and believing prayer you relied on your prior experience but not on my present availability spiritual warfare is not momentary so be prepared for the battle remain steadfast trust God for the victory in 1st John 5 for everyone born of God overcomes the world this is the victory that has overcome the world even our faith men if you're going to be taking the word of God out you need to understand that when i'm not with you i still am with you you need to learn that you need to learn that you can do all things to christ who strengthens you you need to learn that you need to learn that it's not large faith at all it's a small faith in a great god that gets things done and if you're going to take this message out to the world you need to know that i will never leave you nor forsake you and you need to know that you can do those things because i gave you power to do those things hope fast don't let go the enemy has a way of trying to cause you to think it's hopeless that's what he does he steals your hope but jesus christ is our hope and he lives forever and some of you perhaps are going through some tough times but remember you're going through them you don't stay there you're going somewhere greater than anything that you've ever experienced you need to understand that hold fast hold fast hold fast and see what god can do these men needed to learn to trust the lord jesus christ but so do we we need to learn that he never never fails he always gives us the victory sometimes it comes in ways we didn't expect sometimes it's a different victory than we thought we were supposed to have but we always at the end of the day realize he didn't leave us he was with us and he provided for us why because he loves us he loves us don't forget that your god loves you he loves you so much he gave his son for you he loves you if you walk out with anything walk out with hope and the love of god all things are possible with jesus christ hold fast father we ask that you would