Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit · Sermon No. 1744
Delivered on Lord’s-Day Morning, October 14th, 1883, by, the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington.
“Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.”— Mark 9:23.
I BELIEVE THAT OUR OWN Authorized Version conveys to the mind of the reader the sense intended by the Evangelist; it is, however, exceedingly probable that in exact words the Revised Version is nearer to the original. It runs thus—“And Jesus said unto him, If thou canst! All things are possible to him that believeth.” Our own Version better expresses the sense to the general reader, and the main object of a translation is to give the meaning. The father of the lunatic child had said to our Lord, “If thou canst do anything, have compassion on us, and help us;” and our divine Master virtually replies, “If thou canst lies not with me, but with thee. It is not if I can, but if thou canst.” Thus you see the word “believe” is implied if not actually expressed. Jesus would certainly go as far as ever the man’s faith could go; but as the rule of the kingdom is, “According to thy faith, so be it unto thee,” the man’s unbelief would hamper the Lord in his working. If the suppliant could be rid of unbelief, Jesus would get rid of the devil from his child. The difficulty of casting out the demon lay mainly in the want of faith in the father. Let it, then, be understood as the teaching of this text, that the difficulties in the way of souls that would be saved do not lie with Jesus Christ, but with themselves. They need never ask the question, “Can Jesus forgive?” or “Can he renew?” there is a prior question—Canst thou believe that he can forgive, and that he can renew? If God’s grace enables thee to say, “I can and do believe that Jesus can work in me according to the full measure of my need,” then all difficulty has vanished. Thy faith is the shadow of the coming blessing, the token of the Lord’s favor towards thee. When thy faith believes in Christ’s omnipotence, he is omnipotent to thee, for “all things are possible to him that believeth.”
I long at this time to get at some here who cannot get at Christ. I would to God that by his Spirit I may deal with their difficulties, so as to remove them once for all, so that they may come just as they are, and put their trust in Jesus, and find eternal life this day.
I. The first subject we shall speak about is the vital question—WHAT IS BELIEVING? After all these hundreds of years of gospel preaching, is this question necessary? I believe it is so necessary that, if faith were explained in every sermon, it would not be too often spoken of. It is a good rule that every tract ought to contain the gospel; and it ought to be put in the plainest way, for still, despite all the gospel teaching which is around us, nothing is so little known or so little understood as faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. I am also bound to admit that many explanations of faith are all explanation, but tend to make the subject darker than it was before; and I am fearful lest my own explanation should be of the like order. Certainly, I will do my best to avoid such a catastrophe, for I will speak very plainly.
Let us take the man before us as an example, and from him let us see what faith is. This man evidently believed that Jesus was a healer, for he says, ” I brought my son unto thee.” He would not have brought his son to Jesus if he had not felt some measure of confidence in him. It is a good beginning of faith to know that if I am saved it must be through Jesus Christ alone; it is well to be aware that the salvation of the soul must come from the work of Jesus, and from no one else, since no other name is given among men whereby we must be saved. This man had also some slight faith in Christ’s willingness to help him. It may not have been very strong, but still it was there, or else he would not have laid the stress of his prayer upon the Lord’s power; he did not say “if thou wilt thou canst,” but “if thou canst do anything, have compassion on us, and help us.” Looking up into that blessed face so full of singular tenderness, the man felt that he might say, “Have compassion on us.” From some persons we could not ask compassion or fellow-feeling, because they do not appear to have any; they wear a harsh look, and a chill air surrounds them; but the Savior was not so; the man felt that Jesus was full of compassion his suit was that this compassion would show itself to him and his son. It is a good beginning to saving faith if thou believest that Jesus is witting to save thee. I trust that many of you have advanced as far as this.
What is it really and savingly to believe in Jesus? The suppliant father had not yet reached that point of faith which would secure the miracle. More was needed; what was it? He needed to believe in Christ’s power in reference to his own case. The point in which his faith failed was our Lord’s power as to the special case now before him, for he said—“If thou canst do anything.” Before you condemn the anxious father for his doubt, let me remind you that his son was in a very evil plight, and our Lord had just caused him to remember and review the sad features of the case. The father had sorrowfully dilated upon the fact that “wheresoever the spirit taketh him, he teareth him: and he foameth, and gnasheth with his teeth, and pineth away;” and then he had further told the Lord that the youth had suffered thus ever since he was a child; and he had gone still more into detail, saying, “Ofttimes it hath cast him into the fire, and into the waters, to destroy him.” After that painful detail he added his pitiful “If thou canst.” Do you wonder at it? Jesus seems to tell him, “If thou canst believe in the teeth of all this, then thou shalt see the salvation of God.” It is very easy to say, “I believe” when you have no sense of your sin, and no consciousness of your danger. It is the easiest thing in the world to say, “Yes, Christ can save me,” when you do not really believe that you need saving. Faith, where there is no present sense of need, is but the image of faith, and not the grace, which saves the soul. This is the question: can you, my dear hearer, at this moment trust Jesus to save you, though you feel that you are full of sin? Can you say, “Lord, I am possessed with the spirit of evil: I am under bondage to him, and have been so since I was a child? I have been driven to one sin and so cast into the fire, and then I have been hurled into the opposite sin, and so thrown into the water: I have been rent with passion, and torn with evil desires; I have sinned against light and knowledge, I have sinned against love and mercy; I have sinned in thought, and word, and deed; I have sinned grievously and continually, and yet I believe that thou canst pardon me, and that thou canst make me a new creature. Wicked as I am, I believe that thou canst drive sin from the throne of my heart and cause me to love thee and to serve thee all my days.” If thou canst believe in Jesus after this fashion he will save thee, yea he has saved thee. If thou, as an undeserving sinner, canst so honor the mercy of God as to believe that through Christ Jesus he can blot out thy sin, it shall be done unto thee: only remember that this confidence must not come unto thee because of thy forgetfulness of thy sin, but whilst thou art conscious of it and humbled on its account. If I persuade myself that I am merely a sinner in name, then I shall only find Jesus to be a Savior in name. If I am not such a sinner as to deny that I am a sinner, but pay the Lord the compliment of saying, “Oh, yes, I am a sinner; we are all sinners,” then 1 am a sham sinner, and I shall become a sham believer, and the true Savior will have nothing to do with me. Jesus came to save that which is really and truly lost. The downright sinner, who dares not deny his guilt, is the object of the Lord’s saving search. In the teeth of thy conscious guilt, canst thou believe that Jesus can wash thee and renew thee? Then thou hast one main element of the faith which saves.