How Can I Move Past My Doubts, Uncertainties, and Unbelief?

Introduction

Go ahead – if you have a Bible nearby, turn with me to Mark, Chapter 9. Mark, Chapter 9. If you’re using of our church Bibles, you can find our text on page 932. Last week, we saw that Jesus took a few of his disciples with him to the top of a high mountain. And unexpectedly, Jesus revealed his greatness to them – he began shining with a piercing supernatural light. He gave these disciples an exhilarating view of his true divine Sonship, his glory, his power, his trustworthiness. God the Father speaks from a cloud to confirm his pleasure in the Son. Jesus gives us the chance to see him for who he is, so that we aren’t stuck in unbelief.

But immediately on the heels of this – as Jesus stops shining, and climbs down the mountain with his disciples, they’re immediately confronted with unbelief. They return to find chaos. Jesus’s other disciples and the people in the crowd around them are caught up in disagreements, disappointments, and the doubts of life. And we’ll see how Jesus deals with it, here, in Mark Chapter 9. I’ll read verses 14 through 29. But before I do, please pray with me:

[Pray and Read Text]

The Issue of Unbelief

Every so often the Lord shows us a special kindness. And he gives us the opportunity to recognize, or to sense, the reality of his glory in a profound way. Of course, we aren’t given the exact same experience as the disciples who were with Jesus on the mountain. We don’t get to visibly see his glory shining like the sun. But sometimes we might have experiences that seem awful close to that.

You and I should realize, though – most of the Christian life isn’t going to be lived on top of the mountain. On the mountain, Jesus is compelling. His power and love are dazzling. Trusting him feels easy. And yet much of our life is lived out at a lower elevation, where the air is heavier. We’re engaged in the ongoing busy-ness of work, school, church, house-cleaning, meals, car repairs, doctor visits, sports, family events. We’re caught off guard by sudden trials. We have regrets from the past, pain in the present, and concerns about the future. And to top it all off, sometimes we just wake up feeling dull and discouraged, even when things are going well and the sun is shining. And this is the primary place where the Christian life is lived out. And it’s a harder place. It’s harder to see the greatness of Jesus. It’s harder to experience the joy of our salvation. Frankly, it’s harder to trust Jesus, with all we’ve got going on.

But in our text this morning, as Jesus comes down from the mountain and faces the real discouragements and doubts of the crowd below – he demonstrates that he isn’t just the God of the mountaintops. But he’s the God of the valleys, too. He isn’t just trustworthy in the bright daylight. But he’s trustworthy in the darkness. He’s trustworthy at the deathbed.

And in a variety of different ways, Jesus gives us ammunition to fight for faith, in the context of life’s challenging circumstances. As we work through our text, I’ll point out eight – eight realities to strengthen us in the fight for faith.

Jesus confronts unbelief (vs. 14-19a)

First, Jesus confronts unbelief. In verse 14, Jesus is coming doing the mountain with Peter, James, and John. And we’re told that “when they came to the disciples, they saw a great crowd around them, and scribes arguing with them.” It’s obvious, there’s been some sort of disturbance. And it’s caused some confusion in the crowd. You’ll notice, in verse 15 – immediately, as the crowd sees Jesus, the text says that they were greatly amazed.

Now, it could be that some of the crowd was amazed, seeing Jesus for the first time or amazed by his timing. But I think a better translation for this Greek word is actually that the crowd was greatly distressed. This same Greek word – an uncommon word – it’s used by Mark another time, in Mark 14:33, to describe Jesus’s great distress in the Garden of Gethsemane. And I think it would make sense why the crowd is distressed. And that’s because there’s been an issue going on that seems like – maybe, just maybe – it’s too big for Jesus to deal with.

In verse 16, Jesus asks about the issue. He seems to be directing his question toward his disciples and toward the scribes. Keep in mind, the scribes were a class of Jewish scholars who claimed to be experts of the Old Testament Scriptures. And Jesus asks the questions, “What are you arguing about with them?”

And a man from the crowd responds, starting in verse 17. As it turns out, this is the man who’s near the center of the debate. He explains, “Teacher, I brought by 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.” In other words, Jesus’s disciples have just publicly failed, in front of this crowd, to cast out this demon.

Now, here’s the odd thing about that. You might remember, back in Mark Chapter 6, it wasn’t so long before this that Jesus had sent out his twelve disciples on a short ministry tour. They had traveled to the Jews in various towns and villages to proclaim the good news of God’s coming kingdom. And they were given the ability to perform miracles to confirm their message. Specifically, the twelve disciples were given the authority to cast our demons. But, here, unexpectedly – there’s a failure in their work.

And the Jewish scribes are thrilled about it. Because they don’t like Jesus. He’s been publicly teaching that these scribes, here, have failed to interpret God’s word correctly. Jesus has been challenging their authority. And so the scribes, who have enjoyed a privileged position in society up to this point – they’ve seen Jesus and his disciples as a threat.

But as soon as Jesus’s disciples fail to cast out the demon, here, the scribes see their opportunity. This is a chance to make the case that Jesus and his disciples must be frauds – that they must not have power after all. So in our text, the scribes and the disciples are almost definitely arguing about who’s authority is legitimate. There’s chaos. There’s doubt.  And this causes the crowd to be distressed.

And yet you’ll notice, it isn’t just the crowd who’s distressed. But Jesus becomes distressed for a different reason – because of the unbelief of the people. And so in verse 19, Jesus confronts that unbelief. He says, “O faithless generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you?” As Jesus comes down the mountain, he’s grieved by their lack of reverence for God, and their lack of confidence in him.

Now interestingly, this event is similar to something similar that happened earlier in the Bible, back in Exodus. After God led the people of Israel out of slavery under his prophet Moses, there was an occasion where Moses went up a high mountain, covered with a cloud of God’s glory. And then when Moses came down the mountain, in Exodus 32, he likewise found the people in confusion, carrying out a scandalous act of unbelief. Instead of trusting and worshipping God his way, the people had decided to worship God their own way. They manufactured a false version of God, to fit their own preferences and imaginations. They made two golden calves. And though the people maybe looked very religious, and though they claimed to be worshipping the LORD, in reality it was an expression of unbelief.

And this is what Jesus finds at the bottom of the mountain, too – unbelief – a faithless generation. After more than a thousand years, the people of Israel – the Jews – they’re still in the business of distrusting God, and distorting true religion. The scribes are fixated on their law-keeping and manmade traditions. The disciples, even, seem desperate to argue for their own personal importance and power. But the thing that’s missing in this crowd – and the thing that’s missing in many human hearts today – is a humble trembling before God, and a whole-hearted trust in God.

And Jesus wants us to be distressed over unbelief, as he is. It’s clear, Jesus isn’t indifferent about unbelief. He moans over how faithless his generation is. He’s upset about it. He labors against it. And Jesus confronts unbelief here out of mercy to us – because Jesus wants to propel us away from a human-centered view of the world, to a strong faith in the ultimacy of God.

Jesus cares for children (19b)

But there’s a second thing we see in this text, that’s intended to strengthen our faith. We’re given reason for increased confidence, here, that Jesus cares for children. Jesus cares for children. After Jesus hears about this boy who’s afflicted with an evil spirit, Jesus speaks to the boy’s father and says, “Bring him to me.” He says it at the end of verse 19. Bring him to me.

And this is right advice for us, whether our children are afflicted by some sort of extra-demonic evil, or whether they’re simply afflicted with their naturally corrupt human soul. What we find here, and at several points in Jesus’s ministry, is an encouragement to bring our children to Jesus. He welcomes it. He cares.

Practically it’s right to bring them to Jesus, by opening the Bible with them. Bring them to Jesus in your regular prayers. Keep bringing their attention back to Jesus, even if just in little ways, as a part of your regular conversations. Because whether they’re still in diapers, or they’ve been out of the home for decades – what your children ultimately need most from you is Jesus. And be encouraged from what Jesus says here. He doesn’t make the demand, “Control your child” or “Convert your child, or “Carry the burden of your rebellious, wayward child all by yourself.” But he says, “Bring your child to me.”

Of course, for some of you – for parents of young children, especially, I think we can sometimes be tempted to think that taking our young children to Jesus is kind of pointless. Right? The kids are too squirmy. They aren’t paying attention. They don’t even seem to understand when we read the Bible together. But even though setting aside family time each day to be with Jesus might feel like a hot mess – it’s right where we need to be, both us as parents, as well as our children. We can be convinced of it.

Jesus creates discomfort among unclean spirits (20)

But there’s a third thing we see, that’s intended to strengthen our faith in Jesus, here. We see that Jesus creates discomfort among unclean spirits. Jesus creates discomfort among unclean spirits. Notice in verse 20, the boy is brought to Jesus. And we read that “when the spirit saw him, immediately it convulsed the boy, and he fell on the ground and rolled about foaming at the mouth.” As a quick sidenote here, sometimes people question – was this seizure response really caused by a demon? Or did ignorant people from 2000 years ago just misdiagnose a biological issue? Well, be assured, here, this physical issue had a spiritual cause. In Matthew 4:24, there’s a clear distinction made between seizures, on the one hand, and demon possession on the other. People at that time recognized that there was a difference. And so the issue described, here, is legitimately an example of demon possession.

And as this boy is brought near to Jesus, the demon has a visceral reaction. He throws the boy into convulsions. Whereas up to this point, the demon has been at ease in the presence of the scribes and the disciples – at the appearance of Jesus this evil spirit goes crazy. It would have been frightening to be there. And at first, this might seem to suggest that this demon is beyond Jesus’s control.

But the discomfort that this demon has in the presence of Jesus should actually be really encouraging to us. Because the demon is intimidated. The fiercest fighting of a tiger often comes after it’s been mortally wounded. And in the same way, the demon is raging here because he knows his end is near.

And, Christians – take this to heart. It’s, of course, clear that there’s still evil at work in the world. The enemy is still active, still prowling, still sending out his minions to inflict as much harm as he can. And yet you understand why the evil one is raging so terribly, right? It’s because his end is near. When attacks and afflictions come against God’s people, it shouldn’t cause us to lose heart or to give up the battle for human souls. But it should convince us all the more, that the enemy feels threatened by King Jesus. As he powerfully works in His Church, you can be confident – Satan will oppose it. But Christ will have his victory. And that’s why Jesus causes such discomfort among the forces of evil.

Jesus cures lifelong evils (21-22a)

But here’s another encouragement for our faith. (Encouragement number 4). This text also shows us that Jesus cures lifelong evils. Jesus cures lifelong evils. As the boy is convulsing on the ground, Jesus asks his father a question, in verse 21: “How long has this been happening to him?” And the father responds, “From childhood.” Or perhaps a better translation would be from infancy. Ever since this boy’s early life, this demon has attempted to throw him into fire and water to destroy him. He’s been controlled by it for almost his whole life. He probably can’t remember what it feels like to live without it.

Now, I don’t imagine that any of us have been demon-possessed from infancy. But it’s possible that there’s been some sort of wrong desire, or some sort of stubborn sin that’s been embedded in you for a long time. Maybe you’ve been in a years-long pattern of looking at pornography. Maybe you have a grudge that won’t go away. Maybe you’re driven by social anxiety – and you don’t know how to be free from the fear of what other people think. Maybe you have an addiction and you feel stuck in it.

And when it comes to changing our direction, getting away from long-term evil – it can feel impossible sometimes. After all, maybe you’ve tried everything you can to make it go away. And you might be at the point where you’re thinking – it’s just been there too long. It’s too deep. It must just be a part of who I am. But even though turning your life around and recovering is impossible for you – you alone, it’s not impossible for Jesus. He cures this boy of his lifelong evil. He supplies what’s needed for spiritual healing and health. And Jesus provides the same for us, when we believe.

Jesus calls for expectant faith (22b-23)

In fact, the fifth encouragement we find in our text, is that Jesus calls for expectant faith. In various other ways, so far, Jesus has encouraged this implicitly. Here, Jesus calls for it explicitly.

After the father of this demon-possessed boy gives a fuller explanation of the boy’s condition to Jesus, he makes a request, at the end of verse 22. He says to Jesus, “If you can do anything, have compassion on us, and help us.” Notice the word if. My guess is that when this man initially came to see Jesus, and found his disciples – he probably had heard about all kinds of amazing miracles Jesus had done. When he first started off, he probably wasn’t even questioning Jesus’s ability to help him. It was just assumed – of course, this miracle man – it seems that he can do everything.

But now this father is having doubts. Because when he brought his son to Jesus’s people, they weren’t able to help him. They tried. And certainly, the disciples seem to have expected that they should be able to take care of the problems themselves. But when the disciples don’t succeed, it’s disillusioning for everyone. And so this father is struggling with confidence, now. “Jesus, if you can do anything – please have compassion. Please help.”

But notice Jesus’s response in verse 23. He says, “If you can!” If? Jesus wants us to understand that the question isn’t about whether or not Jesus can do something. Of course he can. “All things are possible for one who believes.” His power to help us isn’t limited by the heaviness of our feelings, or the hatred of the world, or any other force outside of himself. Jesus wants every Christian to be assured – we have a God who’s able to do all things. And in light of this – just as the missionary William Carey rightly concluded – we should “expect great things from God” and “attempt great things for God.” If our hope for the future is just structured around what we think is possible for human effort to accomplish, then our vision for the future is too small. All things are possible, as Christ in us and through us for the accomplishment of his good purposes.

And yet, of course, this text isn’t saying that he’ll do all things that a Christian asks – even when we ask him very nicely. Even when we ask with faith. Because, like any good Father, our God in heaven knows when it’s best to say no to his children.

But here’s the point. Regardless of whether Jesus says yes or no, regardless of whether Jesus’s decision is to give an end to our suffering, or whether his decision is to give us endurance in our suffering, his call for us is to believe – to believe his compassion is real, to believe that his help is certain. Jesus urges us to come to him with an expectant faith – to entrust our struggles, our sorrows, and ultimately our salvation into his large and capable hands.

But we need to stop here and ask the honest question – what if we can’t? You might understand that there’s good reason to believe. You might hear the voice of Jesus urging you to believe. But what if you can’t bring yourself to do it? What if, humanly speaking, you find that you’re unable to make your feeble faith in Jesus any stronger?

Well let me encourage you – if you’re able to recognize your weakness in this way, you’re in good shape. Faith isn’t something that can be mustered up by human effort. But Ephesians 2:8 indicates that faith – the ability to savingly trust in Jesus for the removal of your sin and your restoration to God – this faith is a gift from God. Having faith, growing in faith, and being guarded in faith – these are things that the Bible encourages us to depend on God for.

Jesus comes to help those struggling with unbelief (24-25)

And this is a sixth encouragement for our faith, that we see in our text – that Jesus comes to help those struggling to believe. (He comes to help those struggling to believe). Just look at the father’s words in verse 24. As Jesus calls him to believe, immediately, the father responds in a way that might seem strange. He says, “I believe; help my unbelief.”

The man isn’t suffering from split personality disorder. But he’s simply being truthful about his spiritual condition. This man recognizes that the little bit of confidence he has in Jesus is weak. It’s struggling. But notice, this man does the very best thing he could possibly do. He asks Jesus, not only to help with his child, but also to help his unbelief.

And it’s important to point out – this Greek word translated as help, it doesn’t just mean to assist. It’s not as though this man is posturing himself like the superhero Batman, and he’s just asking Jesus to come along as the sidekick Robin to give him a little boost. But instead this word to help, means to respond to someone who’s crying out for rescue. It means to come to the aid of someone who’s stuck under the ice of a frozen river – to come to someone who’s trapped under a dry log in the woods, surrounded by a forest fire. This word means to unilaterally help people who cannot help themselves.

And so in verse 22, back when the man told Jesus, “If you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us” – it makes sense why the man would ask for this help. It’s because the man knew – there was nothing he could do to overpower demons. This father knew that there was nothing he could do to prevent or stop the frightening seizures of his son. And so he pleads with Jesus for help.

But, you see, he uses the same word in verse 24. He says, “I believe; help my unbelief.” Again, the father admits his desperate neediness – but this time he admits it about himself. He recognizes – Jesus, there’s an issue, here, that’s too great for me. With my darkened mind, because of my stubborn self-reliance, because of the distress of my soul, and all my doubts – Jesus, I can’t muster up any sort of consistent faith on my own. Jesus, as I look at the tiny bit of faith I have, I can see, even there, that the dark stain of unbelief is mixed in with it. Jesus, would you, please – help my unbelief.

I imagine, in a room this size, there are probably a number of people here struggling to have faith in Jesus. You may be doubting the goodness of his commands, the certainty of his promises, the genuineness of his steadfast love. It could be something else you’re struggling with. But notice, in response to this man’s request – “Help my unbelief” – notice what Jesus does. He helps. In this case, specifically, Jesus determines that the best thing for bolstering this man’s faith, is for his Son to be healed. And so in verse 25, as the crowd comes over and presses around, Jesus rebukes the unclean spirit, and says to it, “You mute and deaf spirit, I command you, come out of him and never enter him again.”

Jesus helps. And don’t miss how Jesus provides help, here. Because this is instructive for us – he helps by speaking. He speaks a powerful word. And through His word, Jesus not only supplies healing for the boy. But he also supplies and strengthens faith in the boy’s father. And Jesus uses the same tool from his workbench when he comes to help us. So as you plead with Jesus in seasons of doubt, pick up your Bible. Listen to what He has to say in the Scriptures. Let him be your counselor. And as you listen, lift up your eyes, and see the power of God’s Word at work around you. Be encouraged as you see the spiritual life and activity that Christ is continuing to supply for his Church today. Jesus helps those who are struggling in faith – and he helps us by His Word.

Jesus counters death (26-27)

But the seventh way this passage encourages our faith, is by showing us how Jesus counters death. (Jesus counters death). Verse 26 tells us that the demon came out “after crying out and convulsing him terribly.” And in fact, this exorcism is so depleting, physically, that the final condition of the boy almost seems worse than before. Because after the demon comes out, we’re told that “the boy was like a corpse, so that most of them said, ‘He is dead.’”

Imagine this from the perspective of the boy’s father for a minute. Jesus has just challenged him to have faith. And this man has just cried out, “Jesus, help my unbelief!” This man – he’s doing the best he can. He’s looking for assurances from Jesus. And yet instead of bringing deliverance, what does Jesus bring? It looks like death.

And it’s important to make sure that all of us understand – sometimes when we come to Jesus with our overwhelming trials, sometimes the first thing that happens is our trials seem to get even more overwhelming. This poor father, you can imagine his horror – “At least when my son had the demon, he was alive! Jesus, what have you done? Why have you let this happen?”

But, you see, Jesus is teaching this man, and he’s teaching the crowds – you need to keep trusting me, not only when things are rather bad, but even when they become as horrible as they could possibly be. Jesus this man, and he brings us, face to face with the reality of the grave. And he asks us the question – can you still trust me, even when I lead you to the doorstep of death?

Of course, Jesus proves to us – he can be trusted. He reaches out to this boy – whether he’s just like a corpse, or he is a corpse, we don’t know for sure. But certainly we see that even this boy, as good as dead, can be raised up by Jesus. There is no situation so hopeless, that Jesus can’t lift it out of the grave, and turn it for good. Jesus, in his great power, even counters death.

Jesus clarifies the importance of prayer (28-29)

But in the final two verses, we see one more encouragement for faith. This is number eight. Jesus clarifies the importance of prayer. After the boy is healed, and sent home, Jesus and his disciples eventually come to a private setting, in a house. And in verse 28, the disciples ask Jesus, “Why could we not cast it out?” They wanted to know, why were they failing?

In verse 29, Jesus responds, “This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer” – some translations include “prayer and fasting.” So what does Jesus mean by this? Sometimes, people take this text to mean that this demon happened to be a special of kind of demon, and the disciples failed because they didn’t have the right rituals, words, and prayers to make this special kind of demon go away. But that likely isn’t the point.

I think the issue here that Jesus is pointing out is that the disciples weren’t depending on the power of God to drive out the demon. If they had been, they would pray. It’s unavoidable – a snake is always going to be followed by its tail. Faith in God is always going to be followed up with prayer. They’re attached.

But the prayerlessness of the disciples suggests that they had become proud. They were beginning to believe that the power or greatness to serve God – it was theirs. It came from them. And as these disciples were depending on their own ideas and efforts to cast out the demon, they kept coming up short! But Jesus reminds his disciples – he reminds all of us – you can’t cast out evil by your own power. You can’t last in your faith by your own strength. But the power for wholeness and healing and help comes from above. And that’s why we pray. Prayer prepares the way for God to prove his powerful kindness and for God to get the glory he deserves. Prayer directs out view upward, away from our worries and weaknesses, and sets us high up on the shoulders of our mighty Father in heaven. Prayer isn’t a waste of time. It’s what we need, more than we realize.

We need to humbly acknowledge – for you and I, there’s no disaster too small, it could still have the power to throw us into doubt and despair. But for Jesus, there’s no disaster too big, that it would undermine the secure hold he has on his people. So set your confidence on him alone. Cry out to Jesus, I believe – help my unbelief. He is faithful. He will surely do it. Let’s pray against our unbelief together:

Fellowship Reformed (PCA) is a Church in Mt Pleasant that aims to be faithful to the Scriptures, true to the Reformed faith, and Obedient to the  Great Commission.