May the Lord be pleased to bless
us together this evening as we consider his word. And I'll speak
to you just four words in the 22nd verse of the 11th chapter
of the Gospel of Mark. Gospel of Mark chapter 11 and
the last part of verse 22. And the words of Jesus, have
faith in God. Very simple words, aren't they? Not very hard to remember. But
they are essential words. They are essential to every one
of us. Because if we do not possess
this faith in God, then we have no hope of eternal life. And faith indeed is the gift
of God. as the Apostle Paul tells us,
by grace you are saved through faith. And that not of yourselves,
it is the gift of God. And it is a wonderful blessing
to receive such a gift from Almighty God. It's something which we
cannot produce ourselves. And if we're relying on our faith,
it will bring us to eternal destruction. But if we are blessed with living
faith in our God, then it will be well with our souls. And one of the wonderful blessings
of faith is to enable us to pray. You see, we cannot come to God
in prayer unless we believe. And we cannot believe unless
God gives us faith to believe. And therefore, how necessary
it is that when we do come to God in prayer, and I hope that
all of us come to God in prayer, But the great truth and great
important aspect is, is whether we come to God with faith as
we pray. And that means that we come believing
we are approaching unto the majesty on high who does hear and answer
prayer. That means that we're not coming
to God made of wood or stone or some other material But we're
coming to the ever living God the God who created all things
The God who ever was and is and ever will be Now that's the great
blessing of living faith and therefore the words of the Lord
Jesus are so so important have faith in God Now just homing in for a moment
on the necessity of faith in prayer. The following verses
tell us about this. And the Lord speaks. And he says,
whosoever shall say unto this mountain, be thou removed and
be thou cast into the sea, and shall not doubt in his heart,
but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come
to pass. he shall have whatsoever he saith. Now, of course, as we come in
prayer, seeking for God's blessing, seeking for those things which
we believe we need, we must come in a right way, we must come
with a right motive. And surely that motive is that
we do not consume answers upon our lusts. about those answers
which are received will be for the honour and glory of Almighty
God. And therefore, and we are to
pray for those things that do bring that glory to God, we are
not to pray for those things that would just satisfy our natural
lives. There are of course our needs
which we have in our natural life and it's right to pray for
them and right to seek that God will hear and answer those prayers. But again, we have to try and
evaluate our motives to see whether those things that we're requesting
are really needful, and if they are granted to us, they'll be
used wisely for its honour and glory, or whether we will absorb
them ourselves, and in actual fact, instead of bringing us
nearer to God, they take us farther away. So here we have this statement. And as we have this illustration
here of a mountain, we know what a mountain is naturally, don't
we? But you know there are many mountains that we have in our
lives. The Lord brings mountains into
our lives. And the mountains are brought,
he brings them, they're his mountains. And he brings them into our lives
to produce in our hearts that faith to come prayerfully unto
our God, that those mountains might be removed. And what a
blessing it is if we are granted, as the Lord speaks here, and
that we do not doubt in our heart. You see, if we have right desires,
we can believe that those mountains which appear before us will be
removed. And the illustration here is
in this statement They will be cast into the depth of the sea. Well, what a favour that is!
That means really, they will be utterly removed. And there
are those mountains which you and I are not able to move ourselves. They seem impossible. But remember,
the things which are impossible with man are possible with God. And if you and I receive faith
to believe that and then to see how God has and does remove mountains,
we will stand amazed and we will bless God for that faith that
he's given unto us, that we've been able to pray in a right
way and pray that his name may be honoured and glorified through
the removal of those mountains. It's very comprehensive, isn't
it? Because you think of mountains, you may have a mountain, I may
have a mountain, you may have many mountains, I may have many
mountains, they may be completely different. But the Lord is able
to take them all away. He's able to remove them instantly. And then just moving on, the
Lord again illustrates how we are to come in prayer, and it's
important. He says, therefore I say unto
you, what things soever you desire, when you pray, believe that you
receive them, and you shall have them. And when you stand praying,
forgive if you ought against any, that your Father also, which
is in heaven, may forgive you your trespasses. But if you do
not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven, forgive
your trespasses. Well, that's a very relevant
statement and it again tests the reality of our religion and
the reality of our prayers. Because if we have anything against
anybody, if we're holding things against them, and we are to forgive
them, However bad people may have spoken against us, whatever
wrong things they may have said against us, the Word of God is
very clear that we are to forgive them. Before we come in prayer
to our God, and the illustration is how can we expect God to forgive
us of all our sins if we do not forgive people who have sinned
against us? It may be very difficult, sometimes
it may be very hard. But just consider our great sins,
your great sins and my great sins against Almighty God. They are surely far, far more
than any sins that people have sinned against us. And therefore,
let's not just pass over a very significant statement here that
we should be found forgiving people. It shows a Christ-like
spirit. And when the Lord was questioned,
how many times should he forgive? Seven times? The Lord said, 70
times seven. Well, that was really meaning
a continual forgiveness. So if people come and offend
us, speak against us and we forgive them we might say well we've
done very well and the next day they do the same thing we are
to forgive again and we are to continue forgiving. Remember
we are God's witnesses we are to therefore show forth a Christlike
spirit and however difficult that may seem to be however unreasonable
it may seem to be yet we are to forgive So let us remember
these words are recorded for our instruction, so that we might
then be able to come boldly unto the throne of grace. If you haven't
got a forgiving spirit, you won't be able to come boldly to the
throne of grace. You won't find access at the throne of grace.
You may think so, you may pretend so, but there'll be that barrier,
because the Word of God has shown what needs to be done. And so
if we come to God in prayer, if God gives us that faith, that
living faith in God, we need to come in a right way. We need to examine ourselves
first to see how we stand before a holy God. Have faith in God. Of course, faith naturally is
something which is not tangible to our natural understanding. It's not something that we can
lay hold upon, is it? Naturally. And it's good that
we have a definition of it. When the Apostle wrote to the
Hebrews, and in the beginning of that 11th chapter, the Apostle
tells us, now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence
of things not seen. So that's a definition of real
faith. substance of things hoped for,
the evidence of things not seen. And the evidence is those encouraging
words the Lord may apply to our heart with regard to our own
salvation and with regards to other things, that we may have
the evidence of God's word in our hearts. But we can't actually
lay hold of it. It's not actually written down
in a natural way. Sometimes the Spirit of God writes
these things in our heart. And that is the evidence of things
not seen. And it is, therefore, the substance
of things hoped for. And we know that throughout the
Word of God, We have so many evidences of God's wonderful
grace and his wonderful favour in giving living faith. We have, did we not, in that
11th chapter of the Hebrews, a glorious list of some of those
faithful men who have gone before. And in that list, it shows us
some of the mountains. that they had in their lives,
and some of the difficulties that presented themselves, and
yet how God came and gave them faith to believe they would be
able to conquer. Remember young David, there he
was, met with Goliath, that great giant. and he but a mere lad
and a stripling. How was he going to conquer?
How was he going to bring about the victory? Well, he had faith
in God. And he was able to declare before
the king that it was God who had helped him thus far, who'd
enabled him to kill the lion and the bear, And his confidence
was in his God. He will deliver me. It's a lovely statement. Confidence, faith. God gave him
faith. And you might think, we look
back, we know the record, don't we? We know how wonderful it
was. But just think for a moment. Young David, no sword, just a
sling and five pebbles. He didn't need five pebbles,
he just needed one. And he ran toward Goliath because
he was defying the armour of the living God. And he slung
that stone and the lords directed it as only God could into that
one place perhaps in his body which wasn't covered by his armour.
Right in his forehead, sunk deep down, fell to the ground. They
went forward and took the sword and cut off his head. He slew
him. What had happened? God had delivered
Goliath into the hands of David. How was that done? Through the
faith that God had given David to accomplish that wonderful
mission. We may think, well, of course,
that was remarkable and that is unique. Well, in one sense,
it is unique. But on the other hand, We still
have the same almighty God today. We still have that God who still
today does deliver his people. He grants them that strength,
he grants them that help to deliver those perhaps who rise up against
us into our hands. Allows them to make mistakes.
Allows them to say things perhaps they never intended to. Have
faith in God. We were reminded, weren't we,
those of us who went to the Christian Institute meeting recently of
that occasion when the government were voting on a bill and it
was really touch and go as to whether it would be defeated
or not. And the Labour whips, they told the Prime Minister,
Mr Blair, that he can go home because they thought they had
enough people to carry the vote. So Mr Blair went home and the
government lost the motion by one vote. We see that God's hand was in
that. And God had given his people
faith. to pray that it might be overturned. Well, we therefore have evidence
in our day that God is still on the throne, undeserving as
we are as a nation, and definitely undeserving as we are as individuals,
but yet to think that we have such a great and glorious God
who gives faith have faith in God. We can't have faith in man. We can't rely upon men, but we
can rely upon our God. God is able to do far more and
exceeding abundantly above that which you and I can ask or even
think, and that is the Word of God. That is the truth of God. Sometimes we think, How can that
come to pass? Remember, faith laughs at impossibilities
and says it shall be done. God given faith. We're not relying
then on our ability. And to the children of God, He
weakens their strength in the way. He weakens them to this extent
they can't rely upon themselves. They may have been They may have
thought they could cope with a situation. They thought they
might be able to solve that problem. And then when they find they
can't, what has occurred? God has weakened their strength.
And instead, he's given them grace. He's given them living
faith to commit the situation into his hand. They've been brought
to failure. And have a God who doesn't fail.
Have faith in God. And so God deals graciously with
his people like he's done indeed down through the ages. And do
you know we always think of God's servant Joseph, don't we? And
how God gave him faith to believe. to trust in his God when everything
appeared to be going so opposite. God had given him two dreams,
two revelations of what would happen, that his brethren and
his parents would bow down to him. And no doubt he was thankful
to believe that God had granted him such a revelation. But then
what a testing time there was, wasn't it? What a testing time. Sold into Egypt. Put in prison. And again, not for any sin, but
for doing that was a right. No doubt he would have said,
like his father did, all these things are against me. But they
weren't. What was happening? All things
were working together for good. Yes, the good of Joseph, the
good of Jacob, the good of his brethren, and above all things,
the good of God's name. Because God appeared and God
worked wonderfully and mightily through Joseph. He raised him
up to be next to Pharaoh in the kingdom. And we can think also,
can we not, of Abraham? You see, these are very precious
accounts because they show to us the blessing of living faith
that God gives in extreme situations. And you and I today, in our little
lives, do come sometimes into extreme situations. Well, there doesn't seem to be
any solution, any answer. Let us remember that God reigns. God is in control. But you see,
in the case of Abraham, the great question was whether he would
obey God. God gave him faith. Yes, God
gave him living faith, have faith in God. And so when he was told
to go and offer up Isaac, and in Isaac sent all the promises
of God to him, his life really was bound up in Isaac his son. And now he was told to go and
offer him up. Well, you might say, surely he
would have remonstrated, surely he would have argued with God,
and said, you must have made a mistake, surely this can't
come to pass. No, he obeyed God. And so we're told, by faith Abraham,
when he was called to go into a place which he should after
receive for an inheritance, he obeyed. And he went out not knowing
whither he went. During this journey, the beginning
of the journey, God was with him. And then, of course, he
came down to that time when he was told to offer up his son.
By faith, Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac. And he that had received the
promises offered up his only begotten son, of whom it was
said that in Isaac shall thy seed be called. Now this is a
blessing, accounting that God was able to raise him up even
from the dead. Have faith in God. My friend,
Abraham had faith in God. And surely that's the kind of
faith that you and I need today. We might think, well, surely
it won't come like that. My friends, faith is faith. And
little faith is great faith. And the Lord will bring us in
the situations where our life, our faith will be tested as to
whether we are a true believer, a true follower of the Lord Jesus
Christ or not. And so we can go through the
list here. There's a whole beautiful list,
isn't there? Just think of Moses in his life. Again, Moses. Well, he was a
very special child, wasn't he? The Lord had preserved his life
in quite an amazing way. Who would have thought that coming
down to the river would be Pharaoh's daughter? Who would have compassion
on the little babe and take her, take him to be as her son? I'm sure Moses' mother would
never have anticipated such a situation occurring. But God was in control
and God had a far greater and glorious plan for Moses than
his mother could ever have contemplated. And so we see in Moses' life,
there he was then brought up Pharaoh's palace for those 40
years, the first 40 years, were part of the preparation for the
work that God had for him to do. It was only part. And Moses felt that he was ready
to lead the children of Israel out of Egypt. Clearly God had
given him that instruction, that word, but no, There was a lot
more teaching to be had, a lot more learning. And so we find
Moses, instead of being in the comfortable position of Pharaoh's
palace, now he's in the back side of the desert, looking after
the flocks, a very different environment. But he learned there. He learned about himself. He
then came to that place where he didn't think he was suitable.
He thought he was suitable before, but now he didn't think he was
suitable. And therefore he said he wasn't able, but the Lord
told him, who has made man's mouth. And we know then after
another 40 years, God then brought him to be that leader that brought
the children of Israel out of Egypt. And the blessing was,
that God gave him faith to believe. And that faith was this, as it's
pointed out, by faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused
to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to
suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures
of sin for a season. And this is the great truth,
esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures
in Egypt, for he had respect unto the recompense of the reward."
What was Moses doing? God had given him faith to look
forward beyond the things of this poor world. Yes, he gave
him that to look forward to that blessing of eternal life. And therefore he was willing
to esteem the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures
in Egypt. The reproach of Christ. You know
the Apostle as he goes on in the Hebrews and he speaks about
the Church of God to consider the Saviour. Consider that reproach
and as we consider him that endured Such contradiction of sinners
against himself. It was reproach, wasn't it, really?
Lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds. It's an encouragement,
isn't it? It gives us some insight into
the life of the true child of God, the true Christian. Those
who are like these people, walking by faith. We walk by faith and
not by sight. You see, the Lord doesn't give
us that natural sight to view those things which are to come.
But my friends, he gives us the blessing of faith to believe.
And that faith to believe is this. Like the Apostle Paul tells
us, he says, and we know that all things work together for
good to those who love God, and to
those who are the called according to his purpose. And we only love
God if he has loved us. It's a wonderful blessing to
know then that God has loved us and therefore we love him
and we are the called according to his purpose and therefore
he gives us that living faith to trust in him. And so these
gracious words of the Lord Jesus saith unto them, have faith in
God. Now, an evidence of faith is
the fruit of the Spirit. And it's specified as indeed
one of the fruits of the Spirit. And we need to be fruitful in
our spiritual life and to be blessed with that wonderful favour. The Apostle, when he wrote to
the Galatians, and he speaks about this, he tells us, but
the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness,
goodness, faith. It's one of the fruits of the
Spirit. And if we do not possess this
great gift of faith, surely it's indicating to us that we're lacking
in the fruit of the Spirit. And it is good that we should
be concerned that we are fruitful in the things of God. And therefore
to be fruitful it is to have faith, to trust in the Lord,
trust in God at all times. Ye people, pour out your heart
before Him, believing that God will indeed go with us and God
will bless us. Now, through these things that
all those elders enjoyed, what were they blessed with? They
obtained a good report. A good report. What a favour
it is, my friends, for you and me to obtain a good report. As we walk through this world
by faith, trusting in our God. And it is so when things appear
to be against us and going wrong. See, when things are smooth,
then you see life's relatively easy. But when things mitigate
against us, when we find things going in the opposite direction,
and then we question, well, why is this? Why is that? Well, we
often do wrong in questioning that. But it may be, when we
do question ourselves, we find that through these trials, the
Lord gives us faith to look to the Lord Jesus Christ, to direct
us to the cost of our salvation. the great purpose of God's work
in our souls as we journey through this world is to direct us to
our Saviour so that we see by faith what the Saviour has done
for us and to realise that by faith the blessed Saviour has
laid down his life, that we as unworthy sinners might be given
the gift of eternal life. So a great blessing then to know
that we are being led by the Spirit of God. And that leading,
if it's by the Spirit of God, it will bring us nearer to the
Lord Jesus Christ. The Spirit of God doesn't lead
you away. It brings you nearer. You'll have to come perhaps like
Hezekiah did in his life. when things went against him,
or appeared to go against him, and when he was delivered by
those words that the Lord, through the prophet, said he would add
15 years to his life, and then as he came through that trial,
what did he testify? He testified this, by these things
men live. And by these things, the life
of my spirit And when we come through these
testimony, these tests and trials, it is then that we bless God
for that faith which he's given us, which has enabled us to hold
on our way. And to think that through these
trials, it's brought us nearer to the Saviour. It may be to
enjoy and measure fellowship with his sufferings. You know,
our blessed Saviour is that One who has gone before, that One
who has endured the cross, that One who has given His life so
that we might have life, that One who suffered so greatly in
that judgment hall, that One who prayed as it were in Gethsemane
and as it were great drops of blood fell from Him. My friends,
it was the agony that he was in. What agony he endured so
that we might receive the blessing of eternal life. And as the Spirit
of God gives us faith to understand that the path that he is directing
us in is to bring us closer to him and to know something of
that fellowship with his sufferings. If we think of those truths and
think that if we are to get to glory, if we are to get to heaven
and have never known the Saviour, we've never had any fellowship
with him on this earth, then surely there won't be any attraction
to the Saviour in glory. But if the Saviour has given
us that faith, the trust in his name, to look to His finished
work for our salvation, and then to be led by the Spirit into
His sufferings, and to be granted that fellowship in that situation,
there will have been then union and communion with the Saviour
on this earth, so that when by His grace we shall look on His
face in glory, then it will not be to meet a stranger. It will
be to meet that one who has suffered for us, that one who is our friend,
that one who in some measure we know. We know the Word is
true. Here we see through a glass,
darkly, but then face to face. It will only be just a very foggy
vision as it were, but there will be something of that knowledge,
something of that fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ, fellowship
with his sufferings. Now, the Lord gives us faith
to believe the truth of such words. Natural man will pass
such experiences over and will not have any appreciation of
the necessity or of the blessing of them. But the true child of
God, who has been redeemed with the precious blood of Christ,
will understand the blessed gift of faith which has brought us
nearer to the Saviour and has made us willing, just like Moses,
to give up, to forsake the pleasures of sin for a season, realising
that they do not really profit, they do not really benefit us,
but we shall be desiring spiritual growth. Faith then, to believe
that the way I take cannot be wrong if Jesus be but there. And therefore the analysis is,
in our spiritual lives, If Jesus is not there, it must be a wrong
way. But if Jesus is there, it must
be a right way. And that's, you see, when the
Lord gives us faith, then, to believe. Like he did his ancient
people, he led them forth by the right way, that they might
go to a city of habitation. And you know, that wasn't an
easy way, was it? Not at all. And the psalmist
picks it up, doesn't he, very well in that 107th psalm, when
he describes something of the situation which God's people
have to endure. And he tells them, they wandered
in the wilderness in a solitary way. You may be lonely in your spiritual
life, but It would be a wonderful favour
if God gives you faith to look to the Saviour. Sometimes the Lord brings us,
as it were, into a solitary way to make us look to the Saviour,
because we know the Saviour understands where we
are. Other people don't. Other people
can't. But the Lord does. And so, here
we have this statement. They wandered in the wilderness
in a solitary way. They found no city to dwell in.
Hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted in them. What do they
do? Give up? Oh no. God gave them faith to cry unto
the Lord. Then, then, he might say, not
until, but then, they cried unto the Lord in their trouble. And
did he forsake them? Did he turn his back? He delivered
them out of their distresses, and he led them forth by the
right way, that they might go to a city of habitation. And then he expresses this truth,
oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodness and for
his wonderful works to the children of men. And it is a wonderful
work of God as he gives us that faith to look to him in the midst
of very difficult times, times which seem to be going all against
us, to bless God for his wonderful mercy toward us. And then we're
told, For he satisfieth the longing soul, and filleth the hungry
soul with goodness. To possess living faith, to look
to the Lord, that he will bless, and he will pour out the blessing,
and he will favour our souls. The great question really is,
how blessed is our soul? We can have a whopping bank balance
and a wonderful compass in this life, and be far off from God. Or we can have nothing virtually
in this life, and the presence of God and my friends, all is
well. And all is eternally well. And so to think here, he satisfies
the longing soul and filleth the hungry soul with goodness.
He just goes on, I won't go through the whole psalm, but such a sitting
darkness, and in the shadow of death, being bound in affliction
and iron, because they rebelled against the words of God and
contemned the counsel of the Most High. Therefore he brought
down their heart with labour, they fell down, and there was
none to help." God dealing with a sinner. Dealing with them. My friends, he brings us down.
Bless God he doesn't allow us to carry on. He brings us perhaps
in a situation like this, sitting in darkness, shadow of death,
bound in affliction and iron. It's not very comfortable is
it? But then he tells us the reason. Because they rebelled
against the words of God and contend the counts of the most
high. And when we're sitting in this condition, God gives
us that faith then to examine ourselves before him. And then the Blessed Spirit reveals
to us what's occurred. And to find ourselves, sad as
it is, to find in that analysis that we've been rebelling against
the words of God and of contempt. counted the counts of the Most
High as of no consequence. And therefore God's deal dealt
with us or dealing with us and bringing us down. So then we
fall down nowhere else. God gives us faith to fall down. And when there was none to help
and then what happened? We cry unto the Lord in our trouble. Have faith in God. Then faith
becomes a living reality. Have faith in God. Then they
cried unto the Lord in their trouble. Here then was a true
prayer. Here then was a simple prayer.
Here was a prayer that God would answer. Did he? and he saved them out of their
distresses. He brought them out of darkness
and the shadow of death and break their bands in sunder. How merciful
God is. What love to our souls to think
that this almighty God condescends to come to us in our sad condition. He hears our prayers. He's given
us faith to pray to God. And he says, and oh, that men
would praise the Lord for his goodness and for his wonderful
works to children and men. Well, my friends, what a blessing
if we tonight can find that situation where the Lord has looked upon
us in love to our souls, delivered us, given us faith to trust in
him. giving us faith to come, casting
all your care upon him, for he careth for you. And as it comes,
you see, you don't learn that in the classroom. You learn that
for the work of the Holy Spirit. And that's the evidence of life
within. And that's the wonderful blessing,
to know that God is dealing with us, as sons and daughters of
the Most High God. What is He doing? He's preparing
us for our eternal home. He's preparing us so that we
are willing to leave everything and to go and to be with Christ,
which is far better. That's what the Apostle Paul
was able to testify, wasn't it? But yet, you see, he was willing
still to remain in the flesh, if it was the Lord's will, be
found serving him. He was able to say, for me to
live is Christ and to die is gain. He was living. a gracious
life, living a life near to his Lord. He had received this blessed
gift of faith and he had faith in God. You trace out the life
of the Apostle Paul. We've been doing it in some measure
on Friday evenings. The wonderful blessing that God
gave to him, faith to believe. Yes, he never questioned God's
leadings. He always followed the way that
the Lord directed him. And he was indeed able to say,
he led him forth by the right way, he might go to a city of
habitation. And that's true with every single
child of God. My friends, it's true with regard
to your life and my life. And we shall be able to praise
God for it and to thank him indeed. Yes, he gave us faith, living
faith, real faith. to trust in Him and to believe,
yes, I'm being led by the right way. And by His grace, I shall
come to that day when I shall be with Him forever and ever,
singing His praises for all He's done in redeeming my unworthy
soul.