I. Introduction
“I do believe; help me in my unbelief.” In the passage from Mark 9 that Jeff read this morning those words were spoken by a man under great stress. His son was in desperate trouble, literally possessed by a demon, and although the father was a believer, his faith had become weak. Fear and doubt had crept in as he helplessly watched his son suffer.
But he was a believer. What was the matter with him? Why would he doubt?

Can you relate to that? I can. We have little trouble speaking of our faith when things go well, but what about when our world collapses around us? What about when we have done everything humanly possible and we still can’t “fix it,” whatever “it” may be?

The man with the demon-possessed son in Mark’s gospel had tried to cast out the demon but had been unable to do so. Putting his faith in his own power hadn’t worked. When he turned to the followers of Jesus, the disciples themselves, he found that they too were unable to cast it out. Even faith in those closest to Jesus hadn’t worked. By then this man was so filled with doubt that when he came to Jesus Himself, he wasn’t even sure God could help him. In Mark 9:22 he said to Jesus, “…if You can do anything, take pity on us and help us!”

Now don’t forget that this man was a believer, but doubt had polluted and, as a result, had weakened his faith to the point that he wasn’t seeing God’s work in his life. It’s a real problem, isn’t it? Are you discouraged? Do you feel defeated? Do you approach Jesus and say, “If You can help me?” Do you believe but need help with your unbelief? Well, if you need help with your unbelief you are not alone.

I don’t think that any true Christian has ever gotten through the trials and tribulations of this life without tripping over doubt at one time or another. This is an issue for all of us. It is even true for some of the choicest Christians that God has given this world. Charles Haddon Spurgeon was probably the greatest preacher of the nineteenth century. God used him to accomplish marvelous things and lead thousands of people to saving faith.

But even Spurgeon had moments of doubt. He was honest about them. He said,
“Some of us who have preached the Word for years, and have been the means of working faith in others and of establishing them in the knowledge of the funda-mental doctrines of the Bible, have nevertheless been the subjects of the most fearful and violent doubts as to the truth of the very gospel we have preached.”

That doesn’t discourage me. On the contrary, it encourages me, and it should encourage you. We know that we’re not alone when we run headlong into doubt. Godly Christians have struggled with doubt from the beginning.

Consider Zacharias, the Jewish priest who would become the father of John the Baptist.
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II. Review
What do we know of Zacharias and his wife Elizabeth?
*Luke 1:6-7
6 And they were both righteous in the sight of God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and requirements of the Lord.
7 And they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and they were both advanced in years.

In this we know that Zacharias and Elizabeth were believers. But like Charles Spurgeon and like you and like me, when God told Zacharias something that seemed impossible, he stumbled over doubt. The believer and doubt – that’s what this morning’s sermon is all about. You see? You’re not alone.
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III. Text
In our study of Luke 1:5-17 the angel Gabriel appeared to Zacharias and told him that he would have a son. This is incredibly good news. But how does Zacharias, this righteous man, this believer, respond to a direct statement from God? (stand)
*Luke 1:18-25
18 And Zacharias said to the angel, “How shall I know this for certain? For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in years.”
19 And the angel answered and said to him, “I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God; and I have been sent to speak to you, and to bring you this good news.
20 “And behold, you shall be silent and unable to speak until the day when these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which shall be fulfilled in their proper time.”
21 And the people were waiting for Zacharias, and were wondering at his delay in the temple.
22 But when he came out, he was unable to speak to them; and they realized that he had seen a vision in the temple; and he kept making signs to them, and remained mute.
23 And it came about, when the days of his priestly service were ended, that he went back home.
24 And after these days Elizabeth his wife became pregnant; and she kept herself in seclusion for five months, saying,
25 “This is the way the Lord has dealt with me in the days when He looked with favor upon me, to take away my disgrace among men.”

The power of doubt is clearly seen in this passage of Scripture. Zacharias is righteous in God’s sight but he is still a sinner, isn’t he?
Doesn’t he know already of the miraculous births of Isaac, Samson and Samuel? Their mothers were all too old or barren or both. Yet they all conceived. So since God had done this before, why wouldn’t He do it again? Why doesn’t Zacharias believe Gabriel? I think the answer is primarily because, in times of great stress, we tend to rely on human reasoning. But the problem is that human reasoning destroys faith. Is that your problem?
*Luke 1:18
18 And Zacharias said to the angel, “How shall I know this for certain? For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in years.”

Wait a minute, Zacharias! Not only do you already know about the births of Isaac, Samson, and Samuel, but you’ve been asking God to give you a child for years, haven’t you? Now God is going to give you what you’ve been asking for and you question Him?

We don’t say, “I don’t believe You, Lord.” However, we do say, “Are You sure, Lord?” We would never even imply that God lies. We just say we’re not really sure He always tells us the whole truth. But how are the two different? Listen, Satan accomplishes one of his greatest goals with us when we question God and doubt His Word.
*Genesis 3:1-4
1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, “Indeed, has God said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree in the garden’?”
2 And the woman said to the serpent, “From any tree in the garden we may eat;
3 but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat from it or touch it, lest you die.’”
4 And the serpent said to the woman, “You surely shall not die!”

Eve’s fall doesn’t begin with outright defiance of God. She wouldn’t do that. She just questions His Word. Then she doubts His Word. Then she believes a satanic lie. And finally, she treats God’s truth as though it were a lie, doesn’t she?

Zacharias wasn’t defiant. Turning your back on God’s truth seldom starts with blatant defiance. It starts with doubt, and doubt is the antithesis of faith. But God, says,
Hebrews 11:6
6 And without faith it is impossible to please Him…

Zacharias, the “good” man, the righteous man, the believer, doubts God’s Word. “How shall I know this for certain?” About thirty years later, it is Zacharias’ own son John the Baptist, who, when facing a cruel death, asked the same question of Jesus. The words were different but the question was the same.
Luke 7:19, 22
19 And summoning two of disciples, John sent them to the Lord, saying, “Are You the Expected One (The Messiah), or do we look for someone else?”

22 And (Jesus) answered and said to them, “Go and report to John what you have seen and heard: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them…”

“How shall I know this for certain?” “Are You the Expected One?” These are questions from godly men who have moments of doubt. The answers simply require faith. Do you believe God’s Word? Do you believe Jesus when he says, “The blind receive sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them…”?

Listen, when you have those moments of doubt, when you’re not certain about the truths of Scripture, when you wonder if Jesus is really “the Expected One,” the Messiah, the Christ, and if He’s really alive and interceding for you right now, just remember His words to John. “The blind receive sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them…”

Jesus is saying to John the Baptist and to you and to me, “You know the facts. The facts do not lie. I do not lie! So why would you doubt?” Doubt has a destabilizing effect on your Christian life, doesn’t it?

Let me give you an illustration. There are a number of foot bridges over the ponds and streams in the gardens at the Creation Museum in Kentucky. Most of them are solidly anchored to the ground, but two are a little different.

One of the two bridges floats on a pond. The other is suspended above a waterway. The actual footing is secure enough but when you walk across them the one bobs up and down and the other sways back and forth. They impart a destabilizing effect on your physical walk. Walking across those bridges you have doubts about the stability of your next step. You can’t wait to plant your feet on solid ground.

So you ask yourself, “How can I avoid doubt? Or better still, how can I overcome it? If men like Zacharias and John the Baptist can fall into doubt, what chance do I have?” If you take time to consider the source of your doubts, I think you’ll be readily able to see that doubting God and His Word is like walking on those bobbing and swaying foot bridges in Kentucky. Only it isn’t your physical walk that’s unstable. It’s your spiritual walk. You’re not on solid ground.

First, we need to understand that doubt does not come from a lack of evidence. It comes from our own sinful hearts. Have you ever thought, or heard someone say, “If I actually saw a miracle, I’d believe”? In human terms, that seems reasonable enough, doesn’t it? But Jesus said that wouldn’t work. Ask yourself this: “What does seeing a miracle have to do with faith?”

In Luke 16 Jesus is speaking of a wealthy unbeliever who has died and gone into Hades.
In Hades he looks and sees a poor beggar who has also died, but the beggar is being comforted by Abraham in Paradise. The unbeliever cries out to Abraham…
*Luke 16:27-31
27 “And he said, ‘Then I beg you, Father (Abraham), that you send him (the beggar) to my father’s house –
28 for I have five brothers – that he may warn them, lest they also come to this place of torment.’
29 “But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets (God’s Word – the OT); let them hear them.’
30 “But he said, ‘No, Father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent!’ (“Show them a miracle!”)
31 “But (Abraham) said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be persuaded if someone rises from the dead.’”

You don’t need to see anything. In this realm, seeing is not believing. Again, faith is not sight. You have God’s Word. That’s what Jesus is saying about the rich man in Hades.

You and I deal with doubt, not because we aren’t righteous, saved by grace through faith, but because we struggle with our own sinful flesh. That’s what Zacharias was doing. He was limiting God to human standards and abilities. Through Gabriel, God tells him he will have a son. His response is, “God must be wrong because we’re too old.”

Isn’t this the same thing the disciples did when Jesus told them to feed the five thousand with five barley loaves and two fish? “Jesus must be wrong because there isn’t enough.” Isn’t this the same thing you and I do when the Lord puts a task or a challenge in front of us and we don’t think there is enough help or enough time or enough ability or enough money or enough whatever?

Some months after Gabriel’s appearance to Zacharias, he appeared to a young virgin named Mary. He told her that Elizabeth, even in her old age, was pregnant. He said…
Luke 1:37
37 “For (few things) will be impossible with God.”

He didn’t say that? Of course he didn’t say that! What Gabriel said was, “…nothing will be impossible with God.” The evidence is there, isn’t it? God does what He says He will do. Human reasoning and human ability have nothing whatsoever to do with it. So if you and I doubt God, it is, first and foremost, because of our sinful hearts.

Second, we need to recognize that our doubt is sometimes tied to our own fears and discouragement. Zacharias and Elizabeth had most likely been married for decades. They had always wanted a child and by this time they may well have simply given up hope. I know some of you can relate to praying for something and waiting and waiting…and waiting. Will God never answer?

But then the circumstances seem to change. Maybe God is about to answer after all. However, you’ve been disappointed for so long that you just don’t want to get your hopes up only to be disappointed again.

It’s almost as if God were to answer our prayer, we’re not really sure we’d believe it. What’s the matter with us? There is just such a situation in The Book of Acts. After Herod Agrippa had James executed, he arrested Peter and put him in prison.
*Acts 12:5, 7, 12-16
5 So Peter was kept in the prison, but prayer for him was being made fervently by the church to God.
7 And behold, an angel of the Lord suddenly appeared, and light shone in the cell; and he struck Peter’s side and roused him, saying, “Get up quickly.” And chains fell off his hands.
12 …he went to the house of Mary, the mother of John who was also called Mark, where many were gathered and were praying.
13 And when he knocked at the door of the gate, a servant-girl named Rhoda came to answer.
14 And when she recognized Peter’s voice, because of her joy she did not open the gate, but ran in and announced that Peter was standing in front of the gate.

Take a moment to look at what’s going on here. The church has prayed for Peter’s release. Peter has been released. Peter goes to the church and the church’s response is…
*Acts 12:15-16
15 And they said to (Rhoda), “You are out of your mind!” But she kept insisting it was so. And they kept saying, “It is his (guardian) angel.”
16 But Peter continued knocking; and when they had opened the door, they saw him and were amazed.

Why? Why were those in the church amazed? Hadn’t God answered their prayer? They were amazed because, even though they prayed, their doubts were stronger than their faith. Is that a lesson for us or what? (back to Luke 1) So Zacharias’ doubts were stronger than his faith. How did Gabriel respond?
*Luke 1:19-20
19 And the angel answered and said to him, “I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God; and I have been sent to speak to you, and to bring you this good news.
20 “And behold, you shall be silent and unable to speak until the day when these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which shall be fulfilled in their proper time.”

Is it possible that Gabriel might be just a little “put off” by Zacharias’ response to the message?
Here this immortal, and apparently awesome being, brings this mortal the words of God Himself, and the mortal says something akin to, “Oh, I’m not so sure.”

Gabriel is saying, “Listen, I have come to you from the very throne room of the Almighty, the Lord of hosts, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The words I speak to you are God’s words. But since you doubt, since you do not believe them, you will be unable to express your doubts or even to question God. You will become mute.”

Why did God reprimand Zacharias in such a manner? I think it is because, as Elizabeth Barrett Browning once said, “One without faith should always be silent.”

If you apply that solely to the truths of God’s Word, I think you could say, “If all you have is doubts, it would be better if you kept them to yourself. Spreading them around will only be a source of discouragement to those who do have faith.” Think about it. Doubt has no message, does it? But doubt and unbelief are everywhere. Maybe that’s why the world is inundated with so much noise and so little truth.
*Luke 1:21-23
21 And the people were waiting for Zacharias, and were wondering at his delay in the temple.
22 But when he came out, he was unable to speak to them; and they realized that he had seen a vision in the temple; and he kept making signs to them, and remained mute.
23 And it came about, when the days of his priestly service were ended, that he went back home.

The people wondered why it took Zacharias so long to offer up the incense. His job was simply to make the offering, come out, and pronounce the benediction from Numbers.
Numbers 6:24-26
24 “The LORD bless you and keep you;
25 The LORD make His face to shine on you, and be gracious to you;
26 The LORD lift up His countenance on you, and give you peace.”

That’s what they were waiting for. Had Zacharias dishonored God? Had he been struck down while performing his service? God had not taken his life, just his voice. Some theologians have thought it may have been somewhat comical when Zacharias emerged and he tried to make the people understand what had taken place inside the temple.

An encounter with an angel of God would be difficult enough to explain with a good vocabulary. Can you imagine the physical gyrations Zacharias must have gone through trying to convey what he had just seen and heard?

Then in v. 23 the text simply says that when the week of his priestly division’s service was completed (Zacharias’ division was one of twelve divisions of priests) he went home to Elizabeth.
There is no record of her reaction to the news, but there is no record of her doubting Gabriel’s words to her husband either.
*Luke 1:24-25
24 And after these days Elizabeth his wife became pregnant; and she kept herself in seclusion for five months, saying,
25 “This is the way the Lord has dealt with me in the days when He looked with favor upon me, to take away my disgrace among men.”

After Elizabeth conceived she probably hid herself away so that no one could accuse her of lying about the pregnancy. After all, wouldn’t human reasoning say that she was too old? But after five months the truth of it would be obvious to all. Then she could praise God publicly as she did in v. 25.
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IV. Conclusion
In The Book of James, James is talking about seeking after God’s wisdom to deal with the trials He sends our way. He says that we are to remain firm in our faith during those trials because, if we don’t, if we waver and bob up and down between belief and unbelief, if we sway back and forth between faith and doubt, then we will be like the ones trying to walk on those seemingly unstable foot bridges at the Creation Museum.
*James 1:6-8
6 But let him ask in faith without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea driven and tossed about by the wind.
7 For let not that man expect that he will receive anything from the Lord,
8 being a double-minded man unstable in all his ways.

“But let him ask in faith without any doubting…” See? There it is. A stable Christian life is only possible when your faith is strong regardless of worldly circumstances. And a stable Christian life is a life that is blessed by God. Remember the apostle Thomas? He was blessed when his doubt went away. It evaporated when he saw and actually touched the resurrected and living Jesus. So within that immediate context, Thomas didn’t need faith. He had sight. But what did Jesus say to him?
John 20:29
29 “Because you have seen Me, have you believed (Thomas)? Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed.

That’s us, you and me. I haven’t seen Jesus, have you? Do you have any doubt that He’s there, and in the Person of the Holy Spirit, even here, right now?

Let me go back to my opening statement. I quoted the man with the demon-possessed son from Mark 9, “I do believe; help me in my unbelief.” To one degree or another, we all live there. He is not saying he is lost, an unbeliever in that sense of the term. He is not saying, “I believe but I don’t believe.” It isn’t doubletalk. He’s saying the very same thing that Zacharias said. “I believe but I’m uncertain.”

Is that where you are this morning? If so, then pray the words of this man in Mark. They are the plea of a true child of God. “I believe but, Oh God, help me in my uncertainty. Take away my doubt and replace it with faith.”

~ Pray ~