Help My Unbelief

The Gospel, Ephesians 6:16, and the Cry for Help

We are in this great letter of the Apostle Paul to the Ephesians, but we know that this letter is not merely Paul's writing to the Ephesians, it's the Holy Spirit writing to the Ephesians, and by extension, we learn from this great letter God's instruction for us.

Now, we have been squeezing out quite a bit of honey from this verse here. Ephesians 6, verse 16, and we'll conclude that this morning and then on next week to the helmet of salvation. But I began last week noting Luke 17, verse 5, where the disciples asked Jesus to increase their faith.

I begin today's sermon with another note from the Gospels from Mark chapter 9. In that passage, if you remember, in Mark chapter 9, Jesus heals a boy with an unclean spirit. And so in that narrative, Mark chapter 9, the father of the boy says to the Lord, if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.

And Jesus replies in Mark chapter 9, verse 23, if you can, all things are possible for one who believes. And so Mark records for us in Mark 9, 24, these words. Immediately, the father of the child cried out and said, I believe, help my unbelief of all the people in the Bible.

I think it's possible that I might relate more to this unnamed man in Mark chapter 9 than anyone else. I believe, help my unbelief. I believe the Gospel. I believe what Christ has done for me. I believe in the atoning work of Christ on the cross.

I believe that He is my substitute, that He is my surety. I believe that He is my representative. I believe that He died and rose again under the righteous wrath of God. I believe in the church. I believe in the sovereignty of God.

I believe the Bible.

I believe, Lord, I believe.

But then I relate to things like what Calvin said. He said, as our faith is never perfect, it follows that we are partly unbelievers.

I feel that.

Because I doubt. Well, you're a pastor, you don't doubt. I still sin, right? What is sin if not unbelief? Lord, help my unbelief. So, as you're turning to Ephesians 6, let me tell you what else Calvin goes on to say.

God forgives us and exercises such forbearance towards us as to reckon us believers on account of a small portion of faith. It is our duty in the meantime, carefully, to shake off the remains of infidelity which adhere to us.

To strive against them and to pray to God to correct them. And as often as we are engaged in this conflict, to fly to Him for aid. And this is exactly what we're trying to do in last week's sermon and this week's sermon.

We are considering, beloved, the shield of faith. And we're asking God, help us to use this great defensive weapon. You understand, I need this shield every day. The world, the flesh, and the devil press in against us.

And so, we say this morning, along with the man in Mark chapter 9, help my unbelief. And that's where we're at. Ephesians 6, verse 16. Would you stand with me as we honor the reading of God's Word? Next week I'll read the verses in their context again, but we'll just hang out in verse 16 for now.

In all circumstances, take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one. Father, how many darts does the evil one shoot at the church? Darts of temptation, darts of discord, darts of disunity, darts of doubt.

We feel that. We confess to You this morning, our great God, that we're too often struck by these arrows. And yet, here You have given us a perfect and sufficient and sure defensive weapon. And we are asking You, our great God, to help us this day to do what Your text has said, to take up this shield of faith, to hide behind it, ultimately to hide in it, because we know the shield is Christ.

Help us, God, to be a people of faith. Help our unbelief. We pray it in Jesus' name. Amen. You may be seated. Last week we considered that since Paul tells us in this text to take up the shield of faith, that that does imply that at times we're not doing it.

We're not wielding the shield of faith like we need to be. And so what we did last week is we began considering how the Lord increases the weak faith of His children. And that's on your outline. First, we noted the Word of God.

So as Christians, we look to the Word for strength, for nourishment, to increase, to build our faith, to be reminded of God's great and precious promises. The Word of God. Next, we noted the wonder of God.

And here we meant prayer more than just a drudgery, but a delight in the wonder, glory of God. I have a lengthy quote here I was going to read from R .C. Sproul. I'll just mention, I'll kind of paraphrase it.

Every Christian has some level of authentic saving faith in his or her heart. However, the intensity of that faith is not constant. It waxes and wanes. It increases and diminishes. No matter how strong your faith is, there are moments in this life when it is assaulted by the enemy.

Sometimes it can seem as if your faith is barely hanging on. So he encourages us in these two things I just said. Let us be people of the Word of God and prayer. Thirdly, we mentioned the worship of God.

Our faith is strengthened. Our unbelief is diminished and destroyed as we gather with the people of God in a regular weekly corporate worship. So we've already covered those things. But now, in all circumstances, take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one.

We are considering this morning how the Lord increases the faith of His people. And so we have four more points to consider this morning. So we have the Word of God, the wonder of God, the worship of God.

The Ways of God, the Will of God, and the Battle Against Doubt

Fourthly then, but number one this morning, the ways of God. Here I mean that as we contemplate who God is. I've got to watch myself. I don't want to go on a tangent. This isn't in my notes. When I start running through things that aren't in my notes, that's when you can say you should have brought a lunch, right?

But I do need to say this, we live in an evangelical culture today that has no affinity for God. We have no hunger for the holiness and glory of God. You want to get a big crowd to your church, don't try to say, hey, what we offer you here is God.

No one comes. We don't know God in evangelicalism today. This is one of the greatest problems that we have. And yet, I'm telling us this morning that God is pleased to increase the faith of His people as we contemplate and consider and think about who God is.

Psalm 111 verse 3 says, Great are the works of the Lord studied by all who delight in them. So as the people of God consider the ways of God, their faith is strengthened. As we consider who God is, His attributes, His grace, His mercy, His justice, His omnipotence, His holiness.

As we consider the covenants of God, as we consider the plan of God to rescue a people for His own glory, as we marvel at His sovereignty, as we begin to contemplate, try to wrap our minds around the Trinity, behold your God in His sovereign and holy majesty.

As we consider the ways of God, this great shield of faith becomes so much lighter for us to hold up, if you will, against the evil one. Not lighter in the sense of becoming weaker, but just the opposite.

We are able to wield it easier and extinguish Satan's vile attacks. Look again at verse 16. With which you can extinguish all the flaming darts, all the flaming darts of the evil one. When God is big, people are small.

When God is big, Satan is small. When God is big, your sins are small. When God is big, you begin to care less about the things of the world.

Behold God!

And as we consider the ways of God, these other things, they pale. For example, can you imagine? In fact, this is the exact scenario. In Isaiah chapter 6, there was a crisis of leadership.

In Judah.

King Uzziah had just died. And now I haven't got this ready, so I think he had reigned like some 53 years or something like that. Can you imagine? And he was a good king. Can you imagine someone reigning for 53 years who was a good king?

And he dies and there's a crisis of leadership. And do you know what God reveals to Isaiah? He doesn't reveal to Isaiah about, you know, hey, you need to just put your hope in this king or whatever. He reveals to Isaiah His own holy splendor.

Holy, Isaiah 6, 3. Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty. The earth is full of His glory. Friends, when we turn our eyes away from our ways and we put them on God's ways, our faith is strengthened, our faith is restored, our faith is increased.

One of the great breeding grounds for unbelief is self, self-focus, self-centeredness. I'm going to look at my circumstances. Self-righteousness, just being wrapped up in self. And it causes us to doubt.

I need to share these sobering words from Charles Spurgeon. He says, doubts are among the worst enemies of your soul. Do not entertain them. Do not treat them as though they were poor, forlorn travelers to be hospitably entertained, but as rogues and vagabonds to be chased from your door.

Fight and slay them and pray God to help you kill and bury them and not even to leave a bone or a piece of a bone of a doubt above ground. Doubting and unbelief are to be abhorred and to be confessed with tears as sins before God.

We need pardon for doubting as much as for blasphemy. We ought no more to excuse doubting than lying, for doubting slanders God and makes him a liar. Don't play games with doubt. In evangelicalism today, doubt is a virtue.

Oh, we can't really trust the Bible. And that makes you like intellectually and morally superior. Friends, doubt is not something that we entertain. It's not evidence of humility. Doubting is disobeying our text.

In all circumstances, take up the shield of faith. In what circumstances? In all. Some translations say above all, but the point is take up the shield of faith. And so we must take the increase of our faith and the killing of unbelief as serious endeavors.

And I'm telling you in this point that one of the ways that we do this is considering the ways of God. Let me just mention this as we move into the next point in just a second. It's a good thing to study theology.

It's good.

It's good to read good books on theology. It's good to contemplate the mysteries of God. Shallow Christianity is not commendable. It's like we almost like pat ourselves on the back that we go this deep in the things of God and we expect others to do so too.

But I'm going to tell you this morning that we see the fruit of shallow Christianity all around us. Easy believism, ungodly living, unholiness, worldliness, sacrilegious worship. These are all the fruits of shallow Christianity.

This is what unbelief produces. But we can combat this. And in one way, we combat it by studying the greatness of God. How does God strengthen the faith of His people? The Word of God, the wonder of God.

I'm just going to put it out there. It shouldn't be controversial. We must obey God. We must do what God says. We must submit to God's will. Obey God, defy tyrants. That was a phrase put out there a few years ago.

But it's our obligation to obey God. It's our obligation to do what He says, to trust what He says. Blessed is the man, Jeremiah 17, 7, whose trust is the Lord, who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord.

We are to trust God and to obey Him. And to not do this is a sin. So listen, we excuse ourselves as Christians sometimes because we think that because we know we should do something, that that's enough, right?

So I talk to Christians a lot that say, you know, well, I know I should be doing this. And so we feel better about it. I know I should be going to church more. And so we consider the fact that we know that we should be doing this, we consider that that's obedience, right?

Since I know I should be evangelizing more,.

Whatever you want.

I should be praying more.

I should be reading the Bible more.

And we excuse ourselves. We say, because I know I'm supposed to be doing this, therefore, I'm good. But the Bible actually says clearly. For him who knows what to do and does not do it, this is from the book of James, for him, it is what?

It is sin. Obedience to God is not an option for the Christian. It's not merely a good idea. Oh, I know the Bible tells me to do this as a husband. I know the Bible tells me to do this as a wife. I know the Bible instructs me in these duties as a church member, but I'll just try to get to that when I can.

Absolutely not. I have been in vocational ministry now for 18 years, and I cannot tell you how many times I've heard a variation of the phrase. I know what the Bible says, but over and over again, I've heard it from pastors.

I've heard it from deacons. I've heard it from church members. I know what the Bible says, but this person isn't doing it. I know what the Bible says, but that's kind of hard. I, one time a deacon, this was 12 years ago, said, I know the Bible says this, but that's, that's utopian.

That's pie in the sky stuff. I know what the Bible says, but listen, bud, it's the 21st century. Get with the times. The Bible says, but is a popular saying. It's a popular system among so-called conservatives, but it is ultimately the road paved with compromise whose destination is destruction.

I don't care what comes after, but that's sin. I know what the Bible says. That's enough period. Let's do it. We must obey what the scriptures have to say. No buts. Pastor, why do you pray? Why do you read the Bible?

Why do you share Christ with people? Why do you go to church? It is my duty. As a Christian, it is my duty. It is my obligation to do so. God has told me to do these things in his word, and for me not to do these things, well, you see, that is what we call sin.

Now, there is more, certainly more than mere duty for the heart that loves God, right? There is delight.

There is joy.

There is pleasure. But even when these things are difficult, they are not optional. They are my obligation. J .C. Rouse says, what shall we do with our faith? We must use it. Weak, trembling, doubting, feeble as it may be, we must use it.

We must not wait till it is great, perfect, and mighty. Okay, how then do I use my faith? Well, I use my faith when I actually trust what God says in such a way that I incorporate it into my actions. Oh, but it's hard.

You don't understand, Pastor.

It's hard.

I do understand.

I may not understand your exact situation, but I understand things like finances and sicknesses and juggling ministry and home life, and all your kids are all spread out going to different... Like, I understand.

I'm a man too. I understand these things, but what we must do is lay hold of the God who is for us in Christ, and we must say, this is what the Bible says. Therefore, I must submit.

No excuses.

I want to do this. Paul Washer says it this way, submitting our lives to the word of God is not radical Christianity.

It's basic Christianity.

Isn't that something?

Isn't it a shame in the year of our Lord 2024 that for you to take serious the church, you know, if you're like, hey, I can't do that on Sunday. I got church. Hey, you know what? I'd love to be there, but we've got this fellowship thing with the church.

Hey, you know what? I can't really... I can't really do that with you because that's the time I'm praying or reading the Bible, whatever the case might be, and people are going to look at you weird.

Why?

Because basic Christianity has become radical Christianity, right? Like, no, this is just basic Christianity. This is Christianity 101. 1 John 3 says, we distinguish between the children of God and the children of the devil because the children of God are those who practice righteousness.

We conform our lives to this book. And here's the beauty of it I'm trying to get to in this point. When we follow the Lord, why don't you see whether or not God might not actually increase your faith as you seek to follow Him and put into action what He commands you to do?

So let me put it to you this way. We often talk about the other side of this,.

And it's true.

We often talk about how sin and temptation get easier and easier. And that's true, isn't it? Don't play with that.

That's true.

You get a little bit out of the church, or you miss church, or you start this habit, and all of a sudden the next time, it's easier, isn't it? You give in to the temptation, and the next time it seems it's easier to give in to temptation.

And this happens. And we've all probably experienced this in one way or the other. But let me tell you something, church. I want to give you the opposite of this. Because I think this is true too. Just like sin can become a habit, so too can obedience.

Make a habit of reading your Bible. Make a habit of prayer. Make a habit of commitment to the body of Christ. Make a habit of family worship. Make a habit of holiness. Make a habit of evangelism. And you'll see that if you go do these things, that actually obedience is true too.

Sin gets easier, but so does obedience. But wait just a second, preacher. What if I do these things, and I find myself just going through the motions? Isn't that a possibility? Well, yes, it is a possibility.

But does the possibility of running into errors going through the motions, for example, does that justify not creating habits in my life to obey the Lord? Absolutely not. Just because somewhere down the road I might get into a rut, I might just jump into the status quo, I might just go through the motions, doesn't justify me saying, okay, then, Lord, today, I'm not going to do family worship at all.

I'm not going to read my Bible at all, because somewhere down the road I might just do it just to be doing it. No, friends, this is a fiery dart of the evil one that we're getting lamb blasted with. We are to do the will of God.

Let me remind us, how do we know the will of God, the Word of God? All these things go together, right? Jesus says to every disciple, follow me. To follow Jesus is to walk in His ways. It is to do His wills.

It is to obey His commands. And as we do these things, I'm telling us this morning, God is pleased to strengthen our faith. And to not do them is a great hindrance to your soul. And it actually may just indicate that you're not a believer at all.

Lord, help my unbelief. How does God increase our faith? The Word of God, the wonder of God, the worship of God, the ways of God, the will of God. Next, we have two more. The witnesses of God. So the text tells us that we take up this shield of faith.

We're to use it. We're to extinguish the darts of the evil one with it. But I want to tell you that not only has God given us this command in His mercy and kindness, He has also given us examples of what this looks like.

So you say, Pastor, what does it look like to listen to Ephesians 6, 16 and to take up the shield of faith? What does that look like? I need to see it. OK, here's some examples, which I'm going to leave this to your afternoon or tonight, tomorrow.

Read Hebrews 11. There we see time and again examples of the faith of the saints. We see Abel and Enoch and Noah and Abraham and Sarah and Moses and Rahab. And the list goes on and on and on. What I'm telling us is God hasn't just commanded us to take up the shield of faith, but He's also given examples in His witnesses of what it looks like when people do this.

But God has more witnesses than just His word. So, for example, Philippians 3, 17. Paul says this to the church at Philippi. Brothers, join in imitating me and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us.

So there's a few applications. That's Philippians 3, 17. Look up that later. There's a few applications from that text. One, it is obvious. Think about Paul. Think about Paul's life. Let's have our lives in one sense conform to Paul's life as he's conformed to Christ.

That's right. That's good. We should imitate his life and his faith. That's what God commands us in Philippians 3, 17. But then there is an application for the here and now in the local church. So listen to me.

God has given men and women in the local church who are using the shield of faith. You've got to get closer to their lives so that you can see this more. So that you can see this is what a saint... Older saints, don't be so arrogant as to not think that you can learn from younger saints.

You need to see some of the younger men and women in our church. You need to see how they're using the shield of faith. Younger saints, don't be so foolish to think that you just can't. The 21st century, we've arrived.

And we know everything better than the generations gone before.

Don't be foolish. You need to see the shield of faith being used by the senior saints or the older saints, those saints in our midst who are older than you. God has given us church members to look at, to keep our eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us, Paul says.

We should look at them and we should imitate them and we should thank God for them. That God has given us a body of believers. He has not just commanded you take up the shield of faith and figure out what that looks like.

He's given you brothers and sisters in the local church for you to eat supper with, for you to do your daily duties with as you're able, for you to grab lunch with, for you to know and see, and not only that you would encourage them, but that they would encourage you and you could see this is how a young mother uses the shield of faith.

This is how a hardworking father uses the shield of faith. This is how a teenage Christian uses the shield of faith. This is how a single widowed lady uses the shield of faith. God's given us the local church not just so that we can obey these things,.

But so we can see it.

Don't despise the blessing that is the church. You don't have to and you're not designed to do these things alone. Now, I need to give you one more application here. So we have examples from Scripture and we have examples from real time, but we also have examples from church history.

So think about this for just a moment. There are faithful men and women throughout church history that we should consider and imitate. And the blessing of those saints is they don't have the same blind spots that we have.

So now they may have different ones. They do have different ones. As Baptists, we got to be careful because Satan is crafty. As Baptists, we really, really love the Bible. And what can happen is we can be tempted to not have any love for church history.

And let's just be honest, guys. This is frankly the problem with too many Baptists. For too many Baptists, this is their church history. The book of Acts, skip a few years, Billy Graham. That's their entire church history, right?

We need to know church history because church history is Baptist history. Amen, right? And so what I'm saying is we need to keep our eyes on those who've gone before us. And as we do, God is pleased to strengthen our faith.

So let me give you a real, just real practical, real bottom shelf, leading the horse to water right here. I can't make you drink, but I can't get you any closer to the water than what I'm about to give you.

So it's early in the year. Challenge yourself to read one, just a biography on a Christian who's gone before us.

George Whitfield,.

Charles Spurgeon,.

Susanna Spurgeon, Lady Jane Gray, Adoniram Judson, Ann Judson, John Owen, Jonathan Edwards, Sarah Edwards, Benjamin Keech. It's the month of February. Challenge yourself before January 1st, 2025. You'll read just one book on some saint who's gone before us.

And you'll pray that as you read and consider that God, by looking at their life, your life will be encouraged and strengthened in your faith. And here's why I said earlier, I'm going to put this, the lowest shelf that I can.

And that is, I'll actually let you borrow books. Right now, I know, maybe I get a little feisty about my books. I will go Liam Neeson. I will find you. I won't kill you, but I will find you.

But seriously,.

I'll let you borrow books.

You're like,.

No, I'm not doing that. No, but seriously, there's books in the foyer. It's just a real tangible application. I'm not saying you have to do this to be a Christian, but don't you want to grow in your faith?

I'm trying to just give you a bottom level, easy thing to help you with. So consider that. And then I would say, teach your children about these people. Read about these fallen sinners rescued from grace.

They weren't perfect. There's only one perfect person.

It's Christ.

As we read their sorrows, we read their trials, we read their failures, we read about their faith, and we see God's grace in their lives. God uses these people for mighty ways, for His glory. Don't be so locked into the 21st century that you fail to see what God has done in days gone by and see that as you study the life of these faithful witnesses, maybe God will grow your faith too.

God has commanded His church through the ages to take up this shield of faith. And by reading and seeing men and women in church history do this, you can be encouraged to do the same. Okay, finally. How does God strengthen my faith?

The Word of God, the wonder of God, the worship of God, the ways of God, the will of God, the witnesses of God. And finally this morning,.

The Work of God in Christ and the Holy Spirit

The work of God.

So Paul says, in all circumstances, take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one. I leave this point for last on purpose.

Number one,.

I think it follows witness as well. And number two, we really need this point to wrap everything up. So I'm going to ask you, please turn in your Bibles to Hebrews chapter 12. So flip over to the right a few pages and go to Hebrews chapter 12.

We are praying this morning. We are asking this morning. We are seeking this morning that God would increase our faith, that God would help our unbelief. I don't want to have vestiges of unbelief. So how do we do this?

Well, in this last point, we're talking about the work of God. Hebrews chapter 12, verse one says,.

Therefore,.

Since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses. Now that's beautiful because that fits with the sermon too. We've just talked about witnesses. We've just talked about the Hebrews 11. We've talked about witnesses from church history.

OK, we're surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses. Now what do we do? The author of Hebrews says, let us also lay aside every weight and sin which clings so closely and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,.

Looking to Jesus,.

The founder and perfecter or the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

The ultimate hope, I'm telling you this morning, for our unbelief is Jesus. Our ultimate hope for the increase of our faith is not our work,.

But God's work for us.

And in us by His Son and by the Holy Spirit. James Renahan notes that faith is a grace purchased and granted by Jesus Christ and exercised by God's people based on God's actions it responds and lives.

Here's what I'm saying.

Now listen carefully.

To fit this together. We can go off the rails in so many ways on this,.

So listen carefully.

And let's put it together biblically. I am not diminishing. I believe and preach for the rest of my life all the things I've just said. I am not diminishing our responsibility to read the Bible,.

To pray,.

To worship, to study, to obey, to consider. We must do these things. These things are our duty. But we put all of our hope for the growth of our faith not in the works of our hands, but in what God has done and is doing.

We know the work of God is what began our faith. Even the very faith-purchasing Gospel of Christ. Christ. Truly God. Truly man. Born of the Virgin Mary. Obedient in all the ways that we fall short. I encouraged you earlier to obey, but there is no such thing as perfect obedience in our lives.

We always fall short. Not true of Jesus. He never fell short. He was perfectly obedient to the point of death. Even death on a cross. Suffering under God's righteous judgment against lawbreakers and sinners and transgressors.

Rising again. Conquering as the conqueror of death, hell, and the grave. Securing justification for all who will repent and believe the Gospel. Friends, this is God's work. How is it that I increase my faith?

I need to understand the Gospel better.

I need to remember.

What God has done for me in Christ.

I need to remind myself every day this world is not my home. I don't have to be who I once was. That's not who I am anymore.

I'm new.

I'm adopted. I'm born again.

I am in Christ.

This is what Ephesians is teaching us. We're in Christ now. I need the Gospel every day. And then God's work continues in the faith-giving work of the Holy Spirit. As He awakens us.

And draws us to Christ.

He sets our eyes and hope upon the glory and beauty of Christ. Every person in this room is responsible. Every person in the world is responsible to believe on Christ.

And yet God's grace.

Supplies what our sinful hearts would never and could never muster in and of themselves. And so what I'm saying in this point, my dear brothers and sisters, is our dependence on God for the increase of our faith.

It's His work.

The text in Hebrews 12 says Jesus is both the founder and perfecter of our faith. He is the beginner and finisher of our faith.

Eyes on Him.

This is essential.

As we work through each of these six points. So listen to it this way. As we read the Word of God, we remember the Gospel. As we pray, we remember the Gospel. As we worship, we remember the Gospel. As we study God's ways, we remember the Gospel.

As we obey God, we remember the Gospel. As we consider fellow believers and the faith of those in church history, we remember the Gospel. And just to be clear, Gospel is the death, burial, resurrection of Christ.

His life of righteousness for sinners. His death under the judgment of God for sinners. His raising again in victory for sinners. This is the Gospel. We remember what Christ has done for His people. Doing what the law could not do by fulfilling all righteousness on our behalf and then dying the death we deserve under God's wrath, rising again the third day in glorious victory.