Several weeks ago, I was talking with a dear brother in Christ who was pretty discouraged, pretty upset about his life. More specifically, he was upset about his life in Christ. He felt that some days his faith and reliance on Jesus was strong. Sometimes he was unwavering, but he also felt that sometimes he was incredibly weak. He felt like anxiety sometimes was almost overwhelming. Anxiety over family issues and job issues and health issues and ministry issues, you name it. He was telling me sometimes, Steve, I'm the weakest of the weak amongst us Christians. And he felt guilty. And this is a direct quote, he said, by this time in my life, I should have great faith. I told him, well, brother, you're in good company. I said, if you come and worship with us on any given Lord's Day, you can gather with a group of people who have the same emotions, the same heart, the same struggles, the same weakness, the same frailty that you have. Maybe not on every given day, but we know that emotion. We know that emotion well because our faith is not always what we want it to be. And I've thought about these last couple of weeks, looked up several passages of Scripture. Why is that? Well, 2 Corinthians 5 says we walk by faith and not by sight. Galatians chapter 2 says we live by faith in the Son of God. Hebrews 11 says your faith is the assurance of things hoped for the conviction of things not seen. So the issue is this. We believe and we trust in a father. That we have not seen. And we believe and we trust and we rely on a Christ that we have not seen. And we believe in a spirit that we have not seen and we hope in a resurrection. that we have not experienced. And we trust in a justification that we cannot demonstrate. And we long for a glorification that we have not seen. And so we live by faith alone in Christ. We don't live foolishly because we're assured by the Word and we're comforted by the presence of the Holy Spirit. But the bottom line is this, we can't see what's before us. So we must trust what we cannot see. And sometimes our walk of faith is weak. And sometimes it's frail. And sometimes it's wavering and doubting. And sometimes it's discouraging. I don't have any doubt in my mind that there's somebody here this morning that's very discouraged. Discouraged with their walk in Christ. And if you're not that person, your time's coming. Because all of us walk this same walk. In the absence of Christ, longing for a day when we'll be with Him, and all of this frailty will fall away. So this message this morning is for you, brother, and it's for all of you, brothers and sisters who walk the same walk, who deal with the same struggles that this brother does. The scripture we're going to be looking at, I read in its entirety earlier, so I'm not going to read it all in its entirety right now. But the background and the context of this passage are important to us. First, the background. For over two years, the disciples, at this point in Mark's Gospel, chapter 9, two and a half years probably, the disciples have walked with Christ. They've lived with Jesus. They've ate with Jesus. They've ministered with Jesus. They've seen Jesus turn water into wine. They've seen Him feed first 5,000 and then 7,000 with a few loaves and a few fish. They've seen Him walk on water. They've seen him cast out demons. In fact, at this point, they've seen him raise Lazarus from the dead. They've seen it with their eyes. But something's going to happen in this passage where they're not going to be able to see anymore. Their belief and their trust thus far in Jesus. Has been through their eyes. They've been able to walk and see and affirm what they know of Him by their lives with Him. But now, Peter and James and John and Jesus are up on the Mount of Transfiguration. They're on the mountaintop. Those three have seen with Jesus and have verified before their eyes His Lordship, His glory, His authority. Remember what the Father says? This is my son to those three. This is my son right here. Listen to him. They've seen his Shekinah glory. Those three have. But what about the other nine? Where are they? They're not on the mountaintop. They're down in the valley. And Jesus is not with them. They're on their own. I don't think it's by accident that This comes at this part in Mark's account of Jesus' ministry because we're only a couple weeks from Jesus entering Jerusalem and being crucified. And in the context, that's important because it's not on the mountaintop where you're weak. You're strong on the mountaintop. It's in the valley. where you're frail, and where you're weak, and where you waver. It's in the valley when your faith is tested. So it's not without great significance that those nine fellows, amongst other disciples, are down in the valley, by themselves, representing Jesus, and Jesus is not there. So the context. What about the context? In Mark chapter 9 from the beginning of our passage in verse 14 all the way through Mark chapter 10 verse 52, Jesus is going to teach those apostles and those disciples ten things. He's going to go back and reiterate ten things that are critically important that he wants them to know because he's only a couple weeks from being crucified. He's only a couple of weeks from leaving them. Remember, several times now he said, I'm going to leave you. Where I'm going, you cannot come. You'll look for me, but you won't find me. He's telling them, you're going to be on your own. In a couple of weeks, yeah, we spent two and a half years together. But in a couple of weeks, you're on your own. And there's a few things that are critically important that we review. before I leave. Because these are going to make or break you guys. And speaking to the disciples in the first century, this is clearly as he's speaking to all the disciples that are in this room. These are the critical issues that Jesus says, you're going to be on your own without me. You're going to have to live not by sight, but by faith. You're going to have to believe what you cannot see. You're going to have to entrust yourself to it and you're going to have to rely upon it for a time. So Jesus gives these 10 lessons and he's going to talk about a whole bunch of things. He'll talk about divorce, riches, temptation, deference, humility, ten different things. But by far, the longest teaching and the first teaching is about walking by faith. walking by what you know, not by what you can see. And so I've entitled this morning this Life of Faith 101. Anybody who's taken a college class, 101 is the basics. It's the entry level. But if you don't get 101, then 404 make no sense. You better have the foundation of 101. I feel like Jesus is taking the disciples back and saying, let's review something. And he's going to use an object lesson in this teaching with this fellow and his son. And many times, probably when you've read this passage, you probably identified with the Father. I believe, help my unbelief. I would challenge you this morning That's not who we should identify with. In fact, we should identify with the disciples. What's happening with them because this teaching is to the disciples and this teaching is about living by faith. So that brings us to the passage. Let's see what the passage says. I'm going to read verses 14 through 16 to get us started. And when they came to the disciples, they saw a great crowd around them and scribes arguing with them. And immediately all the crowd, when they saw them, were greatly amazed and ran up to him and greeted him. And he said, What are you arguing about with them? So Jesus and these three, Peter, James and John, have just come down from their mountaintop experience. They've been up on the Mount of Transfiguration. Those three have seen amazing things. But remember what Jesus said to them? Hey, you know what? Don't tell anybody what you saw. Because the timing is not right. Don't tell those other apostles that you were led into something. My Shekinah glory was made manifest to you. That's not important right now. As if to say my glory is going to be made known in a couple of weeks on Calvary. So he comes down with those three. And he sees an argument going on. And he asks a really simple question. Hey, what are you guys arguing about? We need to appreciate, it wouldn't be unusual that the scribes would be arguing with him, would it? And the scribes argued with him for two and a half years now. They've argued with him mostly about the kingdom or about Jesus' interpretation of the fulfillment of the law, or maybe about the Messiah, the fact that he's equated himself with God. But it's not unusual that they would be arguing. What is unusual in this first few verses is this. He asked a simple question, what's the argument about? And initially I thought, do we believe that he didn't know what it was about? Of course he knew what it was about. He'd seen it a hundred times before. He was Jesus. He understood what the argument was about, but he asked, what are you arguing about? And what's fascinating is, who doesn't answer? Because the first group not to answer are the scribes. Scribes don't say anything. When Jesus shows up, hey, what are you arguing about, scribes? They don't speak up. Why? Why do you think? I think it's this. They've learned not to mess with Jesus. After two and a half years, they've argued with Him about all manner of things. They'd ask Him, who's your neighbor, Jesus? Wham! Hey, Jesus, What's the greatest commandment? Kablam. Hey, Jesus, what about this blind man? Was it his sin or the sin of his mother and father? Is that the reason why he's blind? Jesus says, no, it's for the glory of God. Oh. I kind of put an end to that argument. Hey, Jesus, what makes you think you can heal on the Sabbath? Who gives you that kind of authority? Jesus answers him and says, I wonder who gave John authority. End of argument. They've learned not to argue with Jesus. See, it's one thing for them to bully the little guys, but they've learned not to bully Jesus. Because he has a way of putting scribes in their place. So he asks them, what's this argument about? Scribes are silent. But who else is silent? Because there was another part of that argument, right? The apostles. Apostles are engaged in an argument. Some versions say the disciples Jesus asked them, what's the argument about? None of them speak up. Why? I think it's because they're ashamed. They're ashamed of what's just happened. They were supposed to be Jesus' representatives, right? He was away, but they're His disciples. They speak for Him when He's not in their presence, except they failed. They were supposed to speak for him just like we are. They failed just like we do sometimes in that role. And they are ashamed. And you can believe that those scribes are telling them things like, you are a fraud. This whole Christian deal is fake. In fact, you're no different than we are. You ever heard that? If you haven't, you probably will. It throws gas on your failure. There's plenty of people who are looking at you and would love to argue with you about your frailty and about your weakness and about your wavering. And I think that's what's happening to the disciples right here. You're a scam artist. You're probably in it for the money. You're probably in it for the self-glory. You're a proud peacock, but there's nothing to you. That's probably what they're hearing. There's no power in that life that you say you have. You're just like us. Is it any wonder that they're quiet? Like my friend, they're discouraged. And they're probably guilty. how we are dealing with the lot of guilt. But in verse 17 and verse 18, somebody does speak up. It's not the people that are involved in the argument. But verse 17 says, And someone from the crowd answered him, Teacher, I brought my 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 he becomes rigid. So I asked your disciples to cast it out, and they weren't able. It's a man from the crowd. He has a son who is demon-possessed. I cannot imagine. When you read that, I cannot imagine. I'm the father of four. I cannot imagine a father whose son is demon-possessed and the demon throws him down He grinds his teeth. He becomes rigid. He throws him into fire to try to kill him. The demon throws the boy into water to try to drown him. So the dad brings this boy to the disciples, to the apostles, and he says, if anybody can help us, maybe they can. And they try, but nothing happens. Dad's hope must be gone. His last avenue of peace, he has to be thinking, we're done. If he can't help us, nobody can help us. All you dads in this room, imagine. That's your boy. And you've heard about Jesus. He's done miraculous things and these people that walk with Him, He's given the ability to do those same things you heard. So you've dealt with this for years and you bring your boy and it doesn't work. And you, like I, would probably be despondent. So Jesus hears that. And in verse 19, as we read verse 19, you can read the exasperation in Jesus' words. He turns to his disciples and he answered them, O faithless generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him to me. In other words, don't you guys know I'm leaving soon? I've told you it's a matter of a few weeks. And I'm gone. And you'll look for me. You won't find me. I'm not going to be here to bail you out anymore. Don't you get that? We've been talking about that and talking about that and talking about that. Don't you understand what it is to live in me? I can just see Jesus going, Father, will they ever get it? So the key issue Then this object lesson that Jesus is teaching us is what it is to live by faith. What that means. We're going to come back to that. Because that's the essence of what I want us to think about this morning. But first, let's read the rest of this passage. Verse 20-22. And they brought the boy to Him. And when the Spirit saw Him, He immediately convulsed the boy. And he fell on the ground and rolled about, foaming at the mouth. And Jesus asked His Father, That is the boy's father. How long has this been happening to him? And he said, from childhood. And it has often cast him into fire and into water to destroy him. But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us. So, they bring the boy to Jesus. And the demon has one more evil deed to do. Even as Jesus is approaching, the demon convulses the boy. Throws him down on the ground and he starts foaming about at the mouth the scripture says And in the midst of that seizure Picture the boy is seizing on the ground Jesus turns to the father And he asked the father a question. How long has this been happening to him? Now once again, I ask you do you think he didn't know? I would suggest he knew. So why did he ask? Well, it looks like the boy needs to be ministered to. But so does the father. This father has had to follow this boy around his whole life. Because the demon is trying to kill him. Throwing him into fire. Throwing him into water. The Father has dealt with this, the boy's entire life. And in the midst of teaching this object lesson to his disciples, Jesus turns to the Father and shows compassion to the Father and says, I hurt for you. How long has this been happening? The Father says his whole life. The boy's whole life. I'm sure the Father's thinking we've tried everything. I've asked everyone. Nothing has helped. This is the lot that we've been given his whole life. He pours out compassion on the Father. It's interesting, as I was thinking of this and praying about this and meditating about this, there are times when we think we are too small, too insignificant in the kingdom for God to really regard us. I mean, who are we? but he stops and ministers to this father. In the midst of an important teaching opportunity to his disciples, he stops and ministers to the father and he says, it's not just about this boy and it's not just about these disciples, it's about you too. I'm going to be compassionate to you. How long has it been? And he allows the father to express his grief. So don't miss that. If you feel tiny this morning, you're not too tiny for Christ. If you feel insignificant, you're not too insignificant for Jesus. Come minister to your needs, to your struggles, the same way he did to the Father. Verse 23 and 24 are the verses that probably we've remembered previous times reading this passage. The Father says to Jesus, but if you can do anything, the end of verse 22, but if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us. Isn't it interesting that he recognizes, because Jesus has approached him, that Jesus is willing? It's not a question of Jesus's will. The Father already knows that. The Father has already seen Jesus's compassion. Well, that's not his question. It's not, if you will, Lord. The Father is saying, I sense that you would, but can you? Can you help us? Because nobody can. And Jesus' response is the verse that we remember from the passage, this and the father's response. Jesus says, if you can, all things are possible for one who believes. Immediately, Jesus takes that father's attention and transfers it off of himself and transfers it onto the father. He says, it's not about me, dad. It's about you. I have the ability, I have the power, I have the authority to do all things, Dad. I wonder if you believe that. All things are possible for those who believe, Dad. Look at the Father's response. I believe. But help my unbelief. Jesus, I believe that what You've just told me is true. That's all I have. I don't have a degree in theology, Jesus. I don't have two and a half years that I followed you and watched you with my own eyes do these things. I didn't see you turn water into wine. I didn't see you feed 5,000 people. I didn't see you walk on water and still the seeds. I don't have that basket to draw from. All I have, Jesus, is you telling me that all things are possible for those who believe. I believe that. But there's a lot of things I don't understand, Lord. Help my own belief. This is just a simple fellow with an iota of faith. He has faith the size of a mustard seed. But his faith is placed in the person of Christ. I believe his faith is small, it's tiny, it's brand new. As far as we know, he's never come across Christ before. He's never heard these things, but his faith is placed on the person of Jesus. And look what happens when we live by faith. Isn't it interesting how the Lord meets his need, verse 25. And when Jesus saw that the crowd came running together, he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, you mute and deaf spirit, I command you, come out of him and never enter him again. And after crying out and convulsing him terribly, it came out and the boy was like a corpse. So that most of them said he's dead. But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up and he arose. And when he'd entered the house, his disciples asked him privately, why couldn't we? passed it out. So the wrap up for the passage, Jesus answered and he said to them, this kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer. So the wrap up is the apostles are confused. Wait a second. I thought we were your representatives. And we tried to cast this demon out and we failed and we were ashamed and the scribes took it as an opportunity to step on us and to grind us into the dirt. And Jesus said, well, this kind comes by prayer. Matthew's account, this account is also in Matthew and it's also in the book of Luke. Matthew's account says it comes by faith. What do we take from this? Well, this is what we need to take. Your life in Christ, this life of faith, is not a matter of the volume of your faith, your belief, your trust, your reliance. It's not a matter of how much you have. It's a matter of where it's directed. Sometimes we want to take a magic pill or you might turn on the old TBN and say, you've got to have more faith. So we want to go to the service station and fill it up. Give me more faith. The issue isn't that we don't have enough faith. You've been given a sufficient faith to believe. That's a gift from the Father. The issue is our faith is not always directed in the right place. Our belief and our trust is not always placed on Christ, but someplace else. And it's usually, if it's not placed on Christ, it's usually placed on ourselves. So when we're anxious, And when we're fearful, it's because you realize you can't control it. Whatever the situation is. And you know what? You're right. Your mind tells you the truth. You can't. But Jesus can. Interestingly, in Mark 6, verse 13, Mark records these words. It's when Jesus sends out the 72. The apostles cast out many demons and healed the sick. Now I ask you, did they gain or lose a lot of faith between chapter 6 and chapter 9? I don't think so. I think they have sufficient faith in chapter 6 and they have sufficient faith in chapter 9. So it's not a matter of the volume. It's a matter of where their faith was directed when that man and his boy came up to them and said, we need help. I would speculate this is what's happened. I speculate this because it's consistent with Steve's life. For two and a half years, they've walked with Christ. They've seen and done amazing things. And they got pretty cocky. And they got pretty self-assured. And they started to think, we can do anything. But they forgot through Christ who strengthens us. And so Christ left them and went to the Mount of Transfiguration. And they were left in the valley. And their faith was placed not on the power and strength and authority of Jesus, but on themselves. And guess what happened? That's a formula that doesn't work. It doesn't work in their lives. It doesn't work in our lives. And this fellow comes along who has not walked with Jesus for two and a half years, who as far as we know hasn't had a clue until recently he heard. Maybe this guy can help. So he walks up and he has faith this big. But he has faith in Jesus himself. And he says, I believe everything I know. I believe it. And he sees miraculous things happen. So Jesus tells the apostles, it comes by prayer. Why couldn't we do it, Lord? It comes by prayer. That's a secret code phrase. Jesus to His apostles. What it means is this, a powerful life of faith is dependent upon an intimate relationship with Christ. Your anchorage in Christ is what enables you to live a life fulfilling the will of God in your life. As you go about your days, that health of that relationship with Christ It's what fends off anxiety. It's what fends off fear. Because it fends off self-righteousness and self-dependence and self-glorification. The more intimately you're tied to Christ, the less you're tied to yourself. As He lives, we die. I think that's what he's teaching at this critical juncture before he's leaving. You cannot live without intimate relationship with me by faith. Believing what you cannot see and yet trusting in him. So when we're anxious, when we're fearful, when we're afraid, When we don't know where we're going to work next week. When the kids are going crazy. A lot of the moms went, yeah, that's me. When we don't know what the future holds, look to Jesus. Because He does. And you don't. And if you want to live, free and powerfully, that's the only way to do it. It's not because you need more faith. It's that your faith has to be oriented in the right place. It has to be on the person of Jesus himself. That's why Paul says in Ephesians and in Colossians, most specifically in Colossians, you must set your mind on things above, not on the things of the earth. He's not talking about one time, the day you're saved. He's talking about living this life of faith in Christ. Setting our minds on things above. Intentionally saying, my life is about Jesus. It is this morning, it is this afternoon, it is tonight, it will be tomorrow morning, until He calls me home. My life is about a life lived in Christ. And I have to orient my thinking that way continuously. Time and time and time again, Paul tells all of his churches, look, without the Lord, you're toast. But with Him, you can do all things. So obviously, the way to do it is you've got to be in the Word. You've got to be in prayer. You've got to cultivate that relationship with Him to fend off you. But I want to give you two other things to think about and to meditate about as we close. Two other things. This doesn't supplant your time in the Word every day, and it certainly doesn't supplant your time in prayer. But a couple of things for you to think about. I would ask you to meditate on who you are in Christ. Meditate on who you are in Christ. How does God see you in Christ? And the reason I say that is this. There's a pervasive attitude amongst some that we believers are just lumps of coal. But one day we'll be a diamond. One day God will be pleased with us. But for now, he's just tolerating us because we're so imperfect. Because we're so weak. Because we're so wavering. The fact of the matter is, nothing could be further from the truth of the way that God sees you if you've trusted Jesus Christ. In Christ, right now, this morning, nothing could be further from the truth of how God sees you. Paul says in Ephesians chapter 2, you've been loved with a great love, an everlasting love. Paul asks, what is the breadth and the length and the height and the depth of the love which has been poured out on you? How big is it? It's incalculable. We need to think about what that means. Because the root, the source of the love that's been poured out on you is the love that the Father has for the Son. and the love that the Son has for the Father, and the love that the Father and the Son have for the Spirit. The source of the love that's been poured out on you is the eternal love of the Godhead for Himself. And you, as a believer in Christ, remember how many times Paul says who you are? You are in Christ. You have been brought into that love relationship. How great is it? How big is it? How wide is it? I'd ask you, how big is the love of the Father for the Son? How many bushels? How deep is it? How far does that hole go down if you dig it? It's infinite. That's why this morning, if you're in Christ, you're called a son or a daughter, just like Jesus. That's why you're a child of God, you've been brought into the family. And you're the most precious thing, save Jesus Christ Himself, in the universe, to the Father. That's why when Tony taught in Hebrews about God disciplining you, that's the heart and the source of that discipline, because you're in the family. How great is that love? How great is that regard for you? It's infinite. Meditate on that. And meditate on one more thing. Because of that, because of your status in Christ, what does that mean for you right here, right now, This afternoon, what does that mean for you brothers and sisters in Christ? It means that your future has been secured. That's a certainty. But it also means your present is secured. What do you mean by that, Steve? I mean this. Because you have a status as a son or a daughter, Jesus even says in Hebrews, I'm not ashamed to call them what? Brothers. I'm not ashamed that they're in my family now. Everything that comes into your life, right now, today, this afternoon, is being filtered through your Father's hands. Everything. Every event. Every circumstance. Anything that will afflict your family, anything that will afflict your work, anything that will afflict your health, anything is being filtered through the hands of a Father who loves you with an immeasurable love. Sometimes we quote Romans 8 and we say all things work together for the good. Why? Why do they? Because you've been loved with a love that has no bounds. And of course, the Father is going to care for you and regard you and love you just the way He loves Jesus the Son. That's who you are in Christ today. You are the precious one because you're in Jesus. You are loved with an immeasurable love. You think the Lord doesn't want to hear your struggles? You think He doesn't know your frailty and want to strengthen you and call you back and say, look to me. Look to Christ. That's where your strength lies. Not in yourself. How long will I be with you? Look to Jesus. When you're anxious, look to the source of peace. Look to the source of authority. Look to the source of power. So, even in our frailty, even in our weakness, which God clearly knows, even in our guilt, even in our shame when we say, I failed. I should have been a representative of Christ. And I begged him. God's love continues to be poured out on you immeasurably. And he says, be strong because you're mine. You belong to me. You're my son. You're my daughter. You're my precious one. And I will take you home with all of your perfections. And one day that will not be the case any longer. Praise God. Let's pray. Father, we're blessed that The Lord Jesus has come and opened the way to reconciliation. We're blessed that the Lord Jesus, even in the last few weeks of His life, His disciples were frail and He knew we would be too. And on His heart is, let me give them last teaching about their walk of faith in Me. To look to Me. To rely on Me. To turn to Me. To be strengthened by Me. Jesus, we praise You. We believe. And yet, in our frailty also, Lord, help our unbelief. Strengthen us by causing us to look to You. By causing us to find our greatest pleasure, our greatest blessing, our greatest solace in our time with You. Father, burn upon our hearts who we are in Jesus.