Mark 9:23

THE POSSIBILITIES OF FAITH

‘Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.’

Mark 9:23

Christ’s ‘if’ answered, and more than answered, the man’s ‘if.’

I. Faith the condition of God’s gifts.—Observe the expression, ‘If thou canst,’ not ‘if thou dost,’ ‘believe.’ Cannot, then, every one believe? Is or is not a man responsible for the character of his faith and its degree?

(a) Every man has some faith—unless he has made himself lower than a man.

(b) Every man who uses the faith he has will increase its power and acquire more.

II. Faith the limit of God’s gifts.—The outside boundary line of the province of faith, properly so called, is promises. Faith is laying hold of what God has covenanted Himself to us, what God is to His people. The promises are what God is to His Church, therefore faith confines itself to promises. The other side of promises you may go—you may go over the boundary, you may hope, you may modestly and conditionally ask, you may expect, you may have—but you cannot carry faith, in its highest signification, into the high region beyond the promises.

III. Faith the circumference of God’s gifts.—Within that circumference the range of God’s undertakings for us is infinite. Only I wish you to note one thing—that it does not say, ‘all things are given to him that believeth,’ but ‘all things are possible to him that believeth.’

IV. How to get this faith:—

(a) Be sure you are living a good life.

(b) Do God’s will, whatever in your conscience you feel God’s will is.

(c) Cherish convictions, and obey the ‘still small voice.’

(d) Act out the faith you have, and let it be a constant prayer, ‘More faith, Lord; more faith.’

(e) Go up and down among the promises, and be conversant with the character and the attributes of God.

(f) Wrestle with some one promise in spirit every day till you get it.

(g) Take loving views of Jesus, make experiments of His love, and always sit and wait, with an open heart, to take in all that He most assuredly waits to give.

—Rev. James Vaughan.

Illustration

‘Faith is a faculty we already have, we must not wait for it, e.g. the Philippine jailor. “Believe,” said St. Paul to him, “believe on the Lord Jesus Christ;” that is, “Use the faith you have to lay hold of Christ.” The complaint is often made, “I cannot believe.” But do people always recognise and use the faculty they have? Remember the mind and heart with which we do our business, is the very same with which we must also do our spiritual work. We must employ prayerfully, then, faculties we now possess.’