"And
straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, 'Lord I
believe; help thou mine unbelief.' " (Mark 9:24)
Here
we have a marvelous account of our Lord casting a foul spirit out of a
youngster, for whom the father pled. When the Lord told the anxious father that
his son would be healed if he believed, the man cried, "Lord I believe;
help Thou mine unbelief"!
We
learn from this passage that true faith is often mixed with doubts and fears.
None of a Christian's graces are perfected in this life, including faith. True
believers are not cock-sure like false professors. True believers struggle with
remaining corruptions within themselves, including the awful sin of unbelief.
The believer in Christ looks forward to the Great Day of the Resurrection when
he will be perfected in glorification in soul and body. Then he will be
perfected. As long as we are in this flesh we will struggle with sin, including
unbelief as the dear saint in our text this week.
Now,
believers have no doubt as to Christ (although the world and the devil will
tempt us so to do), but our doubts are concerning ourselves. We often doubt as
to the genuineness of our faith. After
all, the Lord often exposed many who claimed to believe as imposters. And we
know that at the Final Judgment many who profess to believe in Christ will be
cast into hell. Sometimes dear children of God fear that they have deceived
themselves and the Church and are not truly saved. Now again, false professors
seldom have such doubts and fears. They will tell you quick ,"I know I am
saved." So I want to comfort the struggling child of God who is painfully
aware of the corruption within himself. If you are trusting in Christ alone for
salvation you are truly saved, though your faith be mixed with unbelief. Faith
in Christ will save even if it is mixed with doubts and fears.
But
note well, a true child of God hates the sin remaining in him, including (maybe
I ought to say 'especially') the sin of unbelief. As the man in our lesson this
week, we cry out in tears when we detect unbelief mixed with our faith. A child
of God is always repenting of his prayers, and praying over his repentance. The
children of God have a strange course. Though their faith is mixed with doubts
and fears, they keep on trusting in Christ, and doubting themselves.
What
should we do in such a case? First of all keep trusting Christ and keep
clinging to Him by faith. Never think of giving up your hope though it be small
and mixed with unbelief. Cry out to the Lord to increase your faith. He Himself
has said though it be small as a mustard seed, it will move mountains, if it be
true faith. Secondly, despise the sin of unbelief. Resist it and cry to Christ
for help to be rid of it. That is what the man in our lesson did.
Finally,
we can rejoice that Christ does not despise us nor reject us when are guilty of
unbelief. The man's son was healed though the father's faith was imperfect. And
we may learn from this that saving faith mixed with unbelief still joins us to
Christ. May the Lord help our unbelief.
No comments:
Post a Comment