Enemy of the faith
Mark 9:14-29
Introduction-
Mark 9:14-29
After reading this passage, you would think this is a scene from “The exorcist” or “Intervention.”
Jesus and the disciples are right in the middle of ministry.
Ministry is not for the faint hearted.
There are two immediate keys to this verse.
One:
The disciples were asked to pray for the demonic boy by a desperate father- and they could not do it. Jesus tells them that -
“This kind can only come from pray” KJV says “By prayer and fasting”
That will be another sermon on another day on the importance of prayer and the meaning of fasting.
Second key is the father bringing a desperate situation to the disciples and ultimately to Jesus.
“I asked your disciples to drive out the spirit, but they could not”
Jesus acknowledges a generation of unbelievers, and tells the disciples and the father to bring the child to Him. Society of unbelievers today because we live in a society that does not believe in absolutes.
Jesus addresses the issue-
How long has he been like this? The father says from birth.
Father to Jesus- “If you can do anything, take pity on us and help us.”
If you can...said Jesus-
“Everything is possible for him who believes” immediately the boys father exclaimed, “I do believe Help me with my unbelief.”
The enemies of faith is doubt and unbelief. They are two separate things.
Another one is coming to Jesus with doubt that He is able to do anything.
Faith unlocks the riches of God. Doubt locks them.
“Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need” (Hebrew 5:10)
There is no doubt in my mind this morning, that most sitting here:
Believe in Jesus, Believe the Bible, Believe in miracles.
Where it gets complicated and messy is when God asks us to do something that appears too large for us to handle. Looking at the task, we begin to doubt.
Illustration- (Sermoncentral)
There is a movie clip of Star wars “Empire strikes back” to set the scene, Luke Skywalker, the hero of the story goes to seek out one who will train him to become a Jeti knight. He crashes his x-wing fighter on the swampy planet of Degobah. There he is shocked to find that the one who is to train him, is an old , small green guy named Yoda. Yodi is trying to convince Luke that he is capable to remove his craft from the swamp. Luke’s purpose and destiny in the movie is to become a Jeti Knight. In order to fulfill his destiny, he had to, as Yodi told him, “unlearn what he had learned”
We have all heard scriptures on faith, pastors that have preached messages on faith.
“Without faith, it is impossible to please God.”
“Have faith in God”.
“All things are possible to him that believes.”.
Most don’t question faith, they struggle with- How do I get it
Faith is foundational- you have to build on it. Start somewhere.
Faith is risky- God assurance, God’s redemption, God’s gifts, all equals spiritual growth.
That is why the Bible says we go from “faith to faith”. Situation to situation.
Opening the door so that we might obtain greater faith.
Worry never solved a problem.
Worry never paid a debt we had.
Worry never alleviated pain.
Worry never made an enemy a friend.
Worry never made a wrong-right.
The opposite of faith is fear some live in fear everyday.
Spurgeon says- “The snail reached the ark by crawling one centimeter at a time”
Fear is the devil’s best friend- paralyzes us, condemns us, discourages us, and steals our hope.
Illustration-
We brush our teeth everyday, but we only talk to God when we have a problem”
Fret not, Fear not, Forget not- boy that sounds east, doesn’t it?
Your life would be richer.
You would have peace.
The future would look brighter.
How do we do that?
That is the million dollar question- and most get it wrong.
Just like the father from the text this morning- “I do believe , help me with my unbelief”
Here are some things , there are more, but maybe you are willing to try some of these.
Write them down.
What unbelief does to you.
1. It causes you to lose your focus- lose your vision.
“Then the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron. “Because you did not believe Me, to hallow Me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them. (Numbers 20:12)
lose your vision- lose your focus.
Lose your focus and you are always chasing your tail.
2. Unbelief can stop a miracle from happening.
You could be one moment away from your miracle.
“And so he did only a few miracles there because of their unbelief” Mt. 13:58
We are our own worse enemy from seeing God do a miracle.
God is a rewarder of our faith- without faith, it is impossible to please God.
3. Unbelief discourages us
“But the other men who had explored the land with him answered, “we can’t go up against them, they are stronger than we are. So they speak discouraging reports among the Israelites.”
Hanging around faithless people drains us a our faith. Unbelief leaves a person with little hope.
What can I do to overcome unbelief?
1. Undo what you have learned.
Repeat- undo what you have been taught.
Yodi, teaching the Jeti fighter, undo what you have been taught.
The world says “I’ll believe it when I see it.”
There from the show me state
Seeing it isn’t as good as it is cracked up to be. Follow America’s got talent, the illusionist has tricked your eyes to see things that are not necessarily there. So it means he caused you to be blind on some other things.
“I would believe if I could see some signs and wonders” Really?
Jesus showed the people many signs and wonders and they still struggled with doubt and unbelief.
God says,
“My ways are higher than your ways, my thoughts are not your thoughts” Isaiah 55:8
God wants to turn this world upside down.
They say they will believe when they see it, God says when you believe it , your see it.
“How do you do that?
Don’t think like the world,
Don’t act like the world.
“Do not be conformed any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”
The road of doubt usually leads to a ditch of unbelief.
The thief is called unbelief. He robs us of what God wants to do in our life.
2. Read the Word of God and Act upon it.
Do what it says
We don’t know what to do because we do not read God’s instructional manual.
God teaches us if we have faith as a mustard seed we can move mountains.
Some of us need to move some mountains.
Read the Word of God. Act upon the Word in our life.
Take that mustard seed of faith- move forward.
Take that step forward That is where the Lord says “Great is your faith”
Your acting upon it.
The lady with the issue of blood, that fought her way trough the crowd to touch Jesus. Jesus says “Your faith has made you whole’
Be determined to touch Jesus with whatever amount of faith that you have.
Closing-
I’m sure most of us like being on the mountaintops. When everything is going well.
It is the valley’s that we don’t like. Those are the times that we struggle.
They saw Jesus calm the storms.
Feed 5000 people
Walk on the water.
Rise in the Transfiguration.
They should of been on the mountaintop.
We say- I do believe, help me with my unbelief”
God delights in increasing our faith
Do not let doubt rob you .
Lose focus and vision.
Rob you of a miracle.
Discourage you.
Change the things that need to be changed.
Don’t think the same way you always have.
Undo the bad habits.
Realize you cannot do it without God.
Delight yourself in he Lord- commit your way to the Lord
Ask God to increase your faith.
