I believe, Help my unbelief (Quality: Good)

[0:00] Mark, part of chapter 9. Mark, chapter 9, reading from verse 14 to 29.

[0:19] Verse 14. And when he, Jesus, he came to his disciples, he saw a great multitude about them, and the scribes questioning with them.

[0:38] And straightway all the people, when they beheld him, were greatly amazed, and running to him, saluted him.

[0:51] And he asked the scribes, What 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.

[1:11] And wheresoever he taketh him, he teareth him, and he foameth, and gnasheth with his teeth, and pineth away.

[1:24] And I spate 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?

[1:42] How long shall I suffer you? Bring him unto me. And they brought him unto him.

[1:55] And when he saw him, straightway the spirit tear him. And he fell on the ground, and wallowed, foaming.

[2:07] And he asked his father, How long is it to go since this came unto him? And he said of a child.

[2:19] 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.

[2:39] Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.

[2:52] And straightway the father of the child cried out and said with tears, Lord, I believe, help thou mine unbelief.

[3:10] When Jesus saw that the people came running together, he rebuked the foul spirit, saying unto him, Thou dumb and deaf spirit, I charge thee, come out of him, and enter no more into him.

[3:32] And the spirit cried and rend him sore, and came out of him, and he was as one dead. In so much that many said, He is dead.

[3:49] But Jesus took him by the hand, and lifted him up, and he arose.

[4:00] And when he was come into the house, his disciples asked him privately, Why could not we cast him out?

[4:10] And he said unto them, This kind can come forth by nothing, but by prayer and fasting.

[4:25] Seeking the help of God, I venture to draw your prayerful attention to this portion, And we will name verse 24 and the last clause.

[4:41] Verse 24 and the last clause. And said with tears, Lord, I believe, help thou mine unbelief.

[4:59] What a great contrast is presented before us at the beginning of this chapter. As the Lord Jesus had gone up into the mount with Peter, James, and John, And there was transfigured before them.

[5:19] And there these three were overwhelmed with the sight of the glory of the Son of God. And the voice of heaven speaking also, This is my beloved Son, hear him.

[5:35] And a beautiful word of the close of this little portion is this, That they saw no man anymore, Save Jesus only with themselves.

[5:49] Jesus only with themselves. But coming down. What a sight. The devil's walk.

[6:02] Awful power. Inability of the disciples. And the poor father. In terrible distraction.

[6:12] And yet, Pleading, Coming to Jesus. Pray that yet, He will have mercy And help.

[6:23] Describing, The solemn state, Sad condition, Of this poor man. Of the power, Of the evil one in him, And the effect of it.

[6:36] And how, That even as they brought him unto Jesus, That the spirit tear him. The devil, Will ever attack, A coming sinner to Christ.

[6:50] A sinner crying, God be merciful to me, A sinner. Oh God, Lord help me. Oh venturing, Pleading the blood.

[7:02] Oh the devil often attacks, Even when a poor sinner is on his knees, Praying to his God. And how, The father then said, And perhaps some of us have said it too, If thou canst do anything, Have compassion on earth.

[7:23] And help us. If only thou wilt do something, Lord. Oh, The case is hopeless, It is beyond us, We know not what to do.

[7:36] Won't thou have compassion? If thou canst believe, All things are possible to him that believeth. Now what's the answer? The dear father of the child cried out, And you notice, With tears.

[7:53] Oh, Oh, Oh, The anxiety. Oh, The concern. Oh, The burden. Oh, The loss that this father had to his poor, Afflicted, Devil-possessed child.

[8:10] And he breaks out and says, Lord, I believe. But, Lord, There's something else. Help thou, My unbelief.

[8:23] Well, We know how, That the Lord had mercy, And cast out that evil spirit, And how they thought, The result was, The poor man or lad, Was dead.

[8:38] But beautiful are the words that follow, But Jesus. And that's another little subject, Isn't that? You go back in your life, When things were so dark, So black, So hopeless, So helpless, You didn't know what to do.

[8:56] And yet, But Jesus. He came, Helped you, Spoke a word, Said, Peace be still. But Jesus, Took him by the hand, Lifted him up, And he arose.

[9:11] And sometimes, We've known, When we've been, Brought right down, No strength, No power, And he's, Lifted us up, With a word from heaven, With the power, Of his love and grace.

[9:28] Now, Let us try and look at these words, As we may be held. Lord, I believe, Help thou my unbelief. First, Examine yourselves, Whether ye be, In the faith.

[9:44] Many profess, To be believers, But I fear, They are, As the stony ground hearer, That they make, A great profession, A great show, Of faith, And joy, And peace, And peace, But when, Trials come, Testings come, Tribulations arise, And they fall away, There's no root, No life, No endurance, But my friend, Faith, Is the, Gift of, God, Wrought, By the, Spirit, In, Every, Sinner, Born again, As the, Word says in, Ephesians, For by grace, Ye are saved, Through faith, And that, Not of yourselves, It is the, Gift of God, A born, Again, Sinner, Is the, Possessor, Of precious, God,

[10:44] Given, Faith, Now, I want to try and speak of this as we may be held, A faith, That is exercised, A faith, That is fed, And the provision of this faith, Is of God, And that provision, Is the finished work of Christ, On the cross at Calvary, Faith, Looks to, Pleads, Runs to, Holds on to, The precious blood, Of Jesus Christ, Oh, You see, It's, I have often said, Or tried to speak in my ministry, A born again sinner, Is a new creature in Christ, So he's got, New eyes, He sees what he never saw before, He saw the preciousness of Christ, He saw the way that sin is forgiven, He saw the blood,

[11:46] And though at first, He's not received the blessing, But it's that which he's after, And it's that which he's looking to, He doesn't look at anywhere else, He doesn't look at his good deeds, He doesn't look at his denominational name, He doesn't look at his sovereign goal, No, And yes, He turns even from his sin, And looks, And to that precious blood, And the risen Christ, And oh my friend, And as he looks, And also, He's given new ears, He hears the gospel, He knew much about the gospel, He could speak about Jesus coming, He could speak about the death of Christ on the cross, But now, It's a vital matter to this man, And this woman, Or a child, That is a believer, In the beginnings of that spiritual experience, It means everything, And it's narrowed down to that, He doesn't look anywhere else, And then again, As I think of this, He's got a new heart,

[12:48] New panting desires, New love and affection, New new feet, He flees from the wrath to come, This is the faith, That leads them to the cross, Leads them to the Saviour, Oh my friend, Lord, I believe, Lord, I believe, This is the way I come, Thou knowest it, Lord, Thou that searches the heart, And knows all that is in me, And all that I think, Yet thou knowest, That this is the only hope I have, And this is where I come, And this is where I look, And this is where I cannot leave, When I cannot give up, But Lord, I know, There's a battle, There's something else in me, And it's this unbelief, Oh, And I fear it's going to gain the victory, Will it destroy this faith?

[13:37] Will it gain the victory over this faith? No, It seems to almost, One that says, Where is thy faith? But Lord, Help me to believe, And then a new hand, I have to name it, You've heard me many times on this, The woman with the issue of blood, She ventured, Her feet, Tremblingly went, To the Saviour, With the issue of blood, That had got worse, And worse, And all her money gone, All hope gone, But not the issue of blood, And there she trembled, And there, If only, If I can touch him, If I can lay my hand upon him, And that virtue, That power is in him, And that's what my soul needs, That's what I want, And I'm going to venture, And she does, And to bend right down, And touch the hem of his garment, One has said, The finished work of Christ, Often seemed to be set forth there, That I must leave, That, Oh, How the virtue went forth,

[14:40] How the Lord said, Somebody touch me, Are you that somebody? You've heard me say it many times, But I say it again, A crowd about him, But the one somebody there, Not a somebody of proud, Not like the proud Pharisee saying, God, I'm not, Not that somebody, A poor sinner, Unworthy, Vile, Perishing, Lost, Condemned by the law, Everything against her, But she's that somebody, And she's that somebody, That's come, And touched the Saviour, And drawn from the Saviour, The virtue, That had cleansed her, The issue of blood, Oh, Beloved friend, Lord, I believe, Help thou, My unbelief, Oh, We know something of these things, With tears, Sometimes, It's such a vital matter, Between our soul, And God, And how, Yes, Even though we taste these blessings,

[15:41] And receive them, Yet, Faith is tried, We have to come again, And again, But the mercy is this, Faith, Though, It is tried, Can never, Not God-given faith, Can never be destroyed, It's indestructible, But there are degrees of it, There's great faith, Oh, Woman, Great is thy faith, Be it unto thee, Spoken of the woman, That came from the canyon, And from the coast of Tyre, And Sidon, And then, We also think, Of those, That small faith, Oh, Little faith, I've read somewhere, Little faith, Will carry us all to heaven, Great faith, Will bring that heaven, Down into the soul, Sometimes we wonder, Where faith is, There are a few times, Maybe, When we are enlarged, And when faith is enlarged, And we lay hold, And we receive, The blessings, Of his love, And grace, And mercy, And then as I,

[16:42] Looked at this, I see what a comfort, That faith is, In dark hours, And my mind, Went in meditation, To Acts chapter 7, It's often been a comfort to me, I just named three little things, Quickly, One was, Abraham being called out, And he went for, And to that land, And yet, He hadn't got a foot's breath, To call his own, Yet God said, It would be yours Abraham, It would be your seed, And he hadn't got a son, He hadn't got a foot's breath, To call his own, Yet, He promised, Faith lays hold on that, But he doesn't mean, To say to be done at once, It's the testing of faith, The trial of faith, Waiting upon God, To fulfill his word, Then Joseph, In all his changes, And yet, God was with him, The secret, Oh, It wasn't easy,

[17:43] Some people think that, Oh, He just, As it were, Went through without any doubt, My friend, We read in the, Book of the Psalms, How that, Iron, Entered into his soul, My friend, He went through deep waters, And yet, At the end, As I said, At home on Monday, Tuesday morning, He could say to those brethren, Ye meant it unto evil, But God, Meant it unto God, And then, The time when, The children of Israel, Were in Egypt, And that wicked Pharaoh, And the bondage, And all the darkness, And all the hopelessness, In which time, When they were selling the babies, As they were born, The baby boys, In which time, Then, In the time of danger, The time of death, Moses was born, And watched over, And preserved, God's gift, My friend, Faith, Cleeds these things,

[18:45] I love the Bible, Because it doesn't speak, Of everybody being on top, Of the mountain, All the life, I'm through, It speaks of sinners, Struggling, It speaks of sinners, Finding the tide going, The wind boisterous, And they find the night long, And the trial, And the difficult, And the burden so heavy, But my friend, Faith, Pleads on, Struggling, They went that in, Reference was made in the prayer, Of the Lord, Of the water, You know, As the Lord went to, They hadn't turned the boat round, They kept struggling, And so do we, And yet we find, Oh, It seems this awful unbelief, I'm ashamed of myself, Lord, Help me, Help me, With tears, It's agony sometimes, These things are real friends, These things are vital, Oh, I know, How we need, Much grace, Much patience, And then, I was thinking of the trial of faith,

[19:45] Bringing this in, God will test faith, It will have to go through the fire, It will have to go through deep waters, It will have to go through dark paths, It goes through the valley of the shadow of death, Oh, But my friend, It's not destroyed, It hasn't gone, It's going to carry you through, But I must soon come to a close, We need a time for more prayer, But my friend, Here the simple word is, The dear man said, Lord, I believe, Help thou my unbelief, I just want to refer, To Peter for a moment, Simon, Simon, Satan, Hath desired to have thee, That he may set thee as weak, But I prayed for thee, That thy faith fail not, And when thou art converted, Strengthen thy brethren, My friend, Peter was assured of himself, He thought he was strong in faith, My friend, He had to be stripped of his own strength, And to be shown how weak he was, And there he was, You know the case,

[20:46] Three times, And do remember, Those three times, Didn't come suddenly, There was a respite, I think, An hour later, So he had time to think what he was doing, Now you might say, He's finished, The Lord will have no more to do with him, Have you felt that sometimes, I have, I've been so ashamed of myself, I thought, Lord, They'll cast me off, I deserve it, I deserve it, And he turned, He looks, And oh, We know what it is to mourn over sin, And we know that little look of love, My friend, It touches the heart, It breaks the heart, It moves us in love, To the dear Savior, And then just remind you of this, You know, When the women went early morning, To the sepulchre, And the stone was rolled away, And they were told, Go and tell his disciples, And then two words, And Peter, That's wonderful,

[21:48] I thank God for those two words, Peter, He's forgiven, Peter, He's restored, My friends, Think on these things, Lord, I believe, Help thou, Mine unbelief, And so, I must come to a close, In faith, We read, In the close of the, Eleventh of the Hebrews, You see, What looks like, A complete contradiction, They, They, They, They, They, They, They, They, They were slain by the sword, And yet, They were all by faith, How can you reconcile it, How can you put it straight, My friend, There's enduring faith, Think of the martyrs, Think of those that, Like, James, In prison, He was beheaded, Faith, Did not die in them, Though they died in their body,

[22:49] And suffered, But it carried them through, But there's overcoming faith, And my friend, There's a mingled cup sometimes, Sometimes we're knocked down, Not knocked out, Gad, A troop shall overcome him, But he shall overcome, At the last, My friend, This is vital, Living, Precious, Faith, And believing, Is also, Behaving, I leave that, God bless his word, Amen, Amen, Amen, Amen, Amen, Amen, Amen, Amen, Amen, Amen, Amen, Amen, Amen, Amen, Amen, Amen, Amen, Amen, Amen, Amen, Amen,