Now in reading this passage of
scripture, it appears that the way your prayers are answered
is if you believe they will be. And you don't have any doubt
that they will be. Here's why I say this. Look in
verse 23. For verily I say unto you that
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. Therefore I say unto you, what
things soever you Desire, when you pray, believe that you receive
them, and you shall have them. Now this is a passage of scripture
that when I've looked at it, I've thought, I've never entered into this.
Not one time in prayer, when I'm asking for something, have
I ever known for sure that that's what the Lord would give me.
hadn't happened, not once. You know, a lot of religion has
come out of this passage of Scripture that name it, claim it. If you
can believe hard enough, you'll have it. If you don't have it,
it's because of your unbelief. If you would believe properly
and not doubt in your heart, you'd have it. And if you don't
have whatever it is, it's because your faith was not strong enough,
and that's why you don't have it. Now, I've entitled this message,
Faith, Prayer, and Forgiveness. Faith, Prayer, and Forgiveness. And from this passage of scripture,
two things are needed for our prayers to be answered. Faith and forgiveness. Now, that's CLEARLY taught in
this passage of Scripture. Now, the big question is, what
does that mean? In verse 22, And Jesus answering
saith unto them, this is after Peter had pointed out to the
Lord, That tree you cursed yesterday, look, it's dried up by the roots!
And he was very impressed that that took place. He's pointing
it out to the Lord. And the Lord says, have faith
in God. Now, my marginal reading, and
this is what opened this up to me, my marginal reading says,
have the faith of God. And that is the way this should
read. It's translated in Romans 3,
3 the same way. Shall their unbelief make the
faith of God without effect? Have the faith of God. The grammatical case used in
the original language is that of ownership. Have the faith
of God. Believe what God believes. Believe what God believes. Now, have faith in God just makes
me think of my faith. And then I go on reading and
I think I've never known for sure I'd get anything I'd ask
for. I haven't. Somebody that makes claims like
that, I either don't believe them or I think they've got mental
problems of some kind. Be honest. Have you ever asked
for something and known for sure already that you have it even
before you get it? I haven't. And yet that seems
to be what the Lord is saying, but as we see, have the faith
of God, the faith that comes from Him, believe what He believes. The faith of God. You see, this
thing of faith is the gift of His grace. That's why we shouldn't
be despairing of this. By grace are you saved, through
faith, and that not of yourselves. It's the gift of God. Not of
works, lest any man should boast. Now, Peter had heard the Lord
curse that fig tree that didn't have any fruit, and he comes
by and sees it dried up by the roots. Verse 21, And in the morning,
as they passed by, they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots.
And Peter, calling to remembrance, saith unto him, Master, behold,
the fig tree which thou cursest is withered away. And Jesus answered
and said unto them, have faith in God or have the faith of God. The Lord knows, the Lord believes
that whatever he says must come to pass. That's what the Lord
believes. He knows whatever he wills must
come to pass because of who He is. Daniel 4, 34 and 35 says,
He doeth according to His will in the armies of heaven and among
the inhabitants of the earth. In heaven, His will is always
done. On Earth, His will is always
done. And none can stay His hand None
can stop his will from taking place, or say unto him, What
doest thou? He knows and believes that he
is all powerful. That's what he believes with
regard to himself. He knows and believes he's absolutely
sovereign. His will is always done. He knows and believes that he
is eternal. See if you believe these things.
This is the faith of God. See if you can enter into these
things. He knows and believes that he is infinite. He's not
bound by space or time the way you and I are. He knows that
he is immutable. He's incapable of change. He
knows that he is omniscient. He's never learned anything.
He's never taken by surprise. He knows everything. He knows
everything that's going to happen because it's what he's ordained
to happen. There's no knowledge that he doesn't have. He knows he's omnipresent. You
can't go anywhere where he's not. He knows he's absolutely
just. And you know, there's two words
that would describe every single one of his attributes. Number
one is holy. every one of His attributes are
holy. Number two, every one of His
attributes are good, whatever it is. Now, God knows that about
Himself. God believes that about Himself.
That's the faith of God. Now, we want to believe about
God what God believes about Himself. Listen to this. God believes
that all of the fullness of His Godhead dwells in the body of
Jesus Christ, His Son, God the Son. God believes that. You know what? I do, too. I do,
too. I believe all the fullness of
the Godhead dwells in the body of Jesus Christ, His Son. It is pleased the Father that
in Him should all fullness dwell. God believes Christ is all in
salvation. He knows that. God believes His Son is altogether
lovely. God believes that Christ is altogether glorious. God believes
that the reason He does everything is for the glory and exaltation
of His Son. Do you know God knows that He
looks to Christ only for everything He requires out of me and you?
God knows that. He looks to His Son right now,
eternally, and it'll be forever. He looks to His Son for every
single thing He requires of any one of His people. God knows
that. That's what God believes. We believe that too, don't we?
We really do. That's the faith of God. Have
the faith of God. If we don't have the faith of
God, we don't have faith, period. Have the faith of God. Now, when
you read, have faith in God, and then you read this description,
all you think about is how strong or weak your faith is, or whether
or not you even have any. This is really the wrong way
to look at this passage of scripture. Have the faith of God. Verse 23, for verily I say unto
you that 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 whatever he saith." Now, would that be
difficult for God? Mount Everest, I guess, is the
highest mountain. I don't know if it's the biggest mountain,
but is it even You can't even believe that it would be impossible
for God to pick up that mountain and throw it into the Pacific
Ocean. No problem. He's God. That wouldn't be a
problem with God. Has anybody ever had that kind
of faith to where I'm not aware of a mountain ever being plucked
up by the roots and thrown into the water? Are you? I don't think
it's ever happened in the history of mankind. Does that mean nobody
has this faith? No, every believer has this faith. Now these mountains are obstacles
and difficulties. That's what that's talking about.
the obstacle of unbelief in your own heart, the difficulties you
face. Paul said, I can do all things through Christ, which
strengtheneth me. Now, remember, scripture is only
interpreted by other scripture. People have used this as the
health, wealth, name it, claim it gospel. If you believe, you'll
have it. If you believe for a million
dollars, you'll have it. If you believe for health, you'll
have it. If you believe for a job, you'll
have it. You've got to believe. If you
believe in your heart, don't doubt, and you will have it. Now remember, scripture is only
interpreted in the light of other scriptures, and to think that
the problems you have is because of a lack of faith, and if your
faith was greater, you'd have more money, you'd have better
health, That's foolishness. That's all it is, foolishness.
Somebody believes that way, doesn't have a drop of faith anyway,
don't know what faith is in the first place. That's utter foolishness. Now, remember this with regard
to prayer. In prayer, everything is subject
to the will of God. And you know that when you pray,
don't you? Everything is subject to the will of God. You know,
when the Lord teaches us to pray, He teaches us to pray, our Father
who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy name is to be revered. Holy and reverend is thy name.
Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done." And you know
what? When we pray that prayer, we
can be dead sure it's going to be answered. No question about
it. His will shall be done. We also recognize in prayer that
much of what we asked for, if He gave it to us, would be a
disaster. Don't you know that? The things we ask for, aren't
you thankful the Lord says, No? If He didn't, me and you'd be
in real trouble. But thank God for the answer, No. HE KNOWS
WHAT'S BEST FOR US. OH, I WISH WE COULD JUST REST,
AND WE KNOW THAT ALL THINGS WORK TOGETHER FOR GOOD, TO THEM THAT
LOVE GOD, TO THEM WHO ARE CALLED ACCORDING TO HIS PURPOSE. NOW,
WITH REGARD TO MY NEEDS, DO YOU KNOW? I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT
I NEED. HE DOES. LORD, GIVE ME WHAT YOU
KNOW. I need. And you know what? I
know that prayer will be answered. I don't know what I need. I know
I need mercy. I know I need grace. But as far
as any of this other stuff people pray for, I don't know what I
need. You know, we pray for health.
You know, if I feel myself afraid I'm getting sick, I'll pray for
the Lord to heal me. I'll pray for the Lord to take
care of Lynn during this surgery. We pray all those things. When
you're sick, I pray for you. I pray for myself. But I don't
know what the Lord's will is. You know, if you're sick, you
know why? It's because of God's will for you to be sick. It's
not because of some lack of FAITH on your part, it's because God
PURPOSED it, and it's all according to His wise, holy counsels. Now, I NEED to be found in Christ. You know, this word, whatsoever
things you desire, the word DESIRE is also translated
require, beg, ask for, and crave. Now, like I said, I need to be
found in Christ. I desire to have his mercy. I
desire to have his favor, the favor of God, the favor of his
grace. I crave the forgiveness of all
my sins. I desire faith. I want to believe
God, don't you? I want to believe Him implicitly,
whatever, explicitly, implicitly, I can't remember the difference
between the two words, but I want to believe God. Oh, I want to be somebody that
trusts Him. I want to know something about
repentance. Whatever repentance is, I want
to stay in a continual state of repentance, a change of mind
concerning God. I want to have true spiritual
humility, don't you? I'm so scared of pride. I want
to have a true spiritual humility. I want a forgiving spirit. I want every grace. I want the
fruit of the Holy Spirit. I want love, joy. peace, long-suffering,
gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. I ask for
those things. I want to have the Beatitudes. I want to be poor, don't you?
I don't want to, whatever it means to be poor, I want to be
poor. I want to mourn over my sin.
I want to be meek before God. This is what I'm asking for.
I want a hunger and thirst after righteousness. I want to be merciful. I want to be pure in heart, that
heart that He gives. I want to be a peacemaker. I
want to be persecuted for righteousness' sake. I really do. I don't want
to be persecuted because I'm a jerk, but I do want to be persecuted
for righteousness' sake, His righteousness' sake. I ask Him
to keep me. And I believe that all of those
things shall come to pass. Verse 24, what things I say unto
you, therefore I say unto you, what things soever you desire,
when you pray. Now you know that this is not
some kind of desire in a new car or a million dollars or a
new job or any situation in my life becoming
better. Maybe even my marriage will be
better and all that kind of stuff. This is talking about what is
truly I desire the forgiveness of sins. I desire first to be
found in Christ. And I desire His mercy, His grace. I desire for Him to give me what
I need. I don't know what it is, but
He does. And I desire for Him to give me what I need. Whatsoever I say unto you that what things
soever you desire, ask for, crave, require, need when you pray,
believe that you receive them. And I do believe I receive them,
and I understand this, it's for Christ's sake. It's not because
of the strength of my faith. It's for Christ's sake. Believe that
you receive them and you shall have them. Now let's, don't stop.
This is still part of this prayer. First we're talking about faith,
the faith of God. faith of God. But look what he says next in
verse 25. This is still part of that thought. And when you
stand praying, forgive, forgive. If you have ought against
any, that your father also, which
is in heaven may forgive your trespasses. But if you do not
forgive, Neither will your Father, which is in heaven, forgive you
your trespasses." Now somebody says, what in the world does
that mean? Exactly what it says. Exactly what it says. Now understand
this about forgiveness. That doesn't mean my forgiveness
is conditioned upon me forgiving somebody. Doesn't mean that at
all. Let me repeat that. Me being
forgiven by God is not conditioned upon me forgiving somebody else. But my forgiveness is the evidence
that God has forgiven me. And we're going to see that in
just a moment. Now, forgiveness is just as essential
to answered prayer as faith is. You remember when the Lord taught
us to pray in Matthew chapter six, forgive us our sins as we
forgive our, forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. And
the only part of that prayer that he makes a comment on, he
says, four, if you forgive not men their trespasses, neither
will your heavenly father forgive you your trespasses. Now the Lord makes this clear.
This is just essential in prayer as faith. When you stand praying,
forgive if anybody hath ought against you. If anybody has wronged
you, and let me say this, most of the stuff that we perceive
as being wronged ought to just be overlooked. You don't know
what they were thinking. They might have been in a bad
mood that day. Something might have happened to them, and they
ought to just be overlooked and forgiven. Most of the stuff where
we're offended, they didn't treat me right, overlook it. Don't be a baby, is what that's
saying. Don't be a baby. Overlook it. It's just not worth getting upset
about. But there is such a thing as
being wronged, as being abused. as being accused unjustly, as
being betrayed, as being abandoned, as being maligned, as being cheated
on, as being treated harshly and unjustly. That's real. Every one of us have experienced
those things that I've mentioned to one degree or another. Very painful. Forgive them. That's what the Lord says. Forgive
them. But they haven't asked for forgiveness.
Forgive them anyway. The most God-like thing, I say
this reverently, the most God-like thing me and you can do is forgive
somebody. What if they don't ask? What if the Lord waited for you
to ask for forgiveness before he'd forgive you? When the Lord
was on the cross, what's the first thing he said? Father,
forgive them. They know not what they do. Did he wait for us to ask forgiveness? No, he forgave. And they were forgiven. Now, this is what the gospel
is all about the glory of Christ and the forgiveness of sins.
And these two things are inseparably connected. Forgiveness is who
He is. The Lord, the Lord God, merciful
and gracious, abundant in goodness and truth, forgiving iniquity
and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the
guilty. Now, this is who He is. He's
not obligated to do this. I hate it when people, you're
a Christian, you're supposed to forgive me. If you ever come
like that, thinking forgiveness, you ought to forgive me. As wrong
as it can be, you don't ask for forgiveness that way. You're
gonna make sure that person won't forgive you if you come into
that kind of attitude. Don't come demanding forgiveness. We
come for forgiveness to an absolute sovereign, don't we? knowing
it's His to give or to withhold. If we come demanding forgiveness, that ain't the way to go. But
the Lord says, if you have ought against anybody, forgive them. Now, this is who God is. This is His character on display
in the forgiveness of the sinner. Now, one of the things I would
like to think of is, who gives us this command to forgive? The one who has forgiven infinitely
more than me or you ever have. He is the one who's been sinned
most greatly against. And he has forgiven. There's
authority in him telling somebody to forgive. You know, if I tell
you need to forgive, Well, you know, I've got so many, I might
be harboring resentment and keeping people, giving them a cold shoulder,
punishing them because they haven't shown me proper, all the stupid
things that stupid people do with regard to forgiveness. We're
not talking about somebody like me. We're talking about the Lord
Jesus Christ, the one who, oh, he has forgiven. And he says,
if you have ought against anybody, forgive them. I think of that
scripture in Luke 17, verse 3, when the Lord says, take heed
to yourselves if your brother trespasses against you. You know
the one who's in trouble? You are. You're going to become mad. You're going to become offended.
You're going to think, how could they treat me that way? How could
they be so unjust? You're going to hold a grudge.
You're going to get bitter. You're the one in trouble when
somebody sins against you. You're the one who's going to
develop the bad attitude. That's why it says, take heed
with regard to yourself when your brother trespasses against
you. Now, I want us to think about
this. The Lord, how many times, this is not within the realm
of calculating, but how many times have you committed the
same sin and he continues to forgive it? As I said, that's beyond a numerical
calculation. But how many times have you committed
the same old sin, and He continues to forgive it? How many times
have you confessed that sin and knew in your heart you were going
to commit it again, and He continues to forgive it? How can that be? Well, there
is no limitations to his forgiveness. He continues to forgive because
of who he is. He continues to forgive because
it's for his glory. He's glorified in forgiving somebody
like me or you. He continues to forgive because
we're justified. We have a perfect standing before
him. He continues to forgive because the ground of forgiveness
is always the same, the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. He
continues to forgive because we're already forgiven. That
sin was forgiven before I even committed it. He continues to
forgive because of the intercession of Christ. You see, when the
Lord intercedes for us, He's not asking the Father for a favor.
He's not asking for the father, oh, forgive him again this time.
No, he shows his hands and his feet and his very person demands
the forgiveness of everybody he died for. The only reason he needs to forgive
is for Christ's sake. And he forgives in a way that
those sins are not remembered. And we're not put on a time of
probation to see if we're sorry enough and see how we're acting.
No, we're treated completely reconciled through His glorious
forgiveness. Turn with me to Matthew chapter
18. This is the great glorious parable the Lord gives with regard
to forgiveness. Matthew chapter 18. Verse 21. This is one of the LONGER parables
in the Scripture, and it's so important. Then came Peter to
Him, Matthew 18, 21. Then came Peter to Him and said,
Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive
him, till seven times? And I can imagine Peter at this
time, his chest is pumped out a little bit. I'm showing how
magnanimous I am. I mean, SEVEN TIMES! You know,
maybe after eight, but seven, that's That's good, and I think
he was thinking, everybody see how forgiving I am? And look
at the Lord's reply. Jesus saith unto him, I say not
unto thee until seven times, but until 70 times, times seven. Now that doesn't mean 490 and
the 491st, it's okay. it means wherever there's a sin,
forgive. It means all the time. That's the way he forgives, and
that's the way every believer is called upon to forgive, all
the time. Now he gives this parable to
Let us know what he's talking about. Therefore is the kingdom
of heaven likened, and that's so important. When the Lord says
the kingdom of heaven is like this, let's listen up, okay?
He's telling us what the kingdom of heaven is about. The kingdom
of heaven is likened unto a certain king which would take account
of his servants. And when he'd begun to reckon,
One was brought unto him which owed him 10,000 talents. Now that is a number
that no one could even imagine. It would be up in the billions
of dollars. I've read different things. Stuff
I read this week said it was $12 billion. That's a lot of
money. And how'd this fellow get to
where he owed his Lord Master so much, I guess maybe he embezzled
it, I don't know, but he had taken this much money away from
his master, verse 25, but for as much as he had not to pay.
He owed billions and he had nothing to pay. Now, would that not be
me and you? We have an incalculable debt
of sin. I mean, it's beyond anything
that we can even speak of. It's the number too great for
us to even imagine. And we have nothing to pay. Not
even a penny. Now that is me and you. A debt
that is unpayable. And we have nothing to pay. That's
me and you. Verse 25, but forasmuch as he
had NOT to pay, he had NOTHING to pay, his Lord commanded him
to be sold, and his wife, and children, and all that he had,
and payment to be made. The servant therefore fell down
and worshipped him, saying, Lord, have patience with me, and I
will pay thee all." Now, if there's ever a ridiculous statement,
that's it. That man couldn't come up with
that money. There's no way. It was wrong for him to even
say that. He didn't ask for mercy. He just said, have patience with
me. I'll get it paid back. You don't have a dime. Where
are you going to come up with billions? It's not going to happen. Yet
that was his attitude. You know, I think that sometimes
our initial attitude when the Lord first makes Himself known
to us, we think, man, I need to get things straightened up.
I need to do something about my, I need to, I need to try
to make payment. Well, that's what this fellow
was doing. Then we have this amazing compassion. Then the Lord of that servant
was moved with compassion. and cancel out all that debt. He LOOSED him of that debt, these
billions of dollars, all of a sudden he's debt-free! What COMPASSION
of this Lord that He would forgive a man this great a debt! We're
not talking about $50, we're not talking about $10,000, we're
talking about a number that can't even be computed! A talent was
a weight, 10,000 talents, billions and billions of dollars, and
this Man was so compassionate. He looked at this pathetic guy,
he listened to his pathetic promises of I'll pay you back all, just
have patience with me. His reason for compassion wasn't
found because that guy had it coming. It's because he was a
compassionate, gracious man. He loosed him. He set him free
of all that debt. And that's salvation. moved by
the compassion of God. Verse 28, but the same servant,
now can you imagine how this man must have felt after he'd
been set free from all this debt? Anytime I paid off a debt, it's
the greatest feeling. I remember the first debt I paid
off, it was great. Remember when my house was paid off, I thought,
this is great. You know, I mean, it's a great feeling. But this
guy had billions, billions. Blotted out. He didn't owe him
any more. But the same servant went out
and found one of his fellow servants which owed him 100 pence. Now, there's differing views
as to how much that was. Some have said $15. Others have
said it could have been a couple thousand dollars, you know, something
that counted. You know, if you owe me $2,000,
I probably want you to pay it back. He, this man owed him this,
but look at how he handled it. He laid hands on him, and he
took him by the throat, saying, pay me that thou ow'st. And his fellow servant fell down
at his feet, and he said the same thing he did. Have patience with me, and I
will pay thee all. And he would have. He could have,
and he would have. So when his fellow servant saw
what was done, oh no, verse 30, and he would not. Now remember,
he'd been forgiven billions of dollars of debt. And he would
not, but went and cast him into prison, till he should pay the
debt." And I'm sure his buddies were in shock over this. They
knew what his Lord had done for him, and now they see him acting
like this. So when his fellow servants saw
what was done, they were very sorry, and came and told unto
their Lord all that was done. Then his Lord, after that he
had called him, said unto him, O thou wicked servant, I forgave
thee all that dead, because thou desirest me. Shouldest not thou
also have had compassion on thy fellow servant, even as I had
pity on thee? Now, if the Lord has forgiven
me, and I refuse to forgive somebody else, here I am. That's me. And the Lord was wroth and delivered
him to the tormentors till he should pay all that was due unto
him. So likewise shall my heavenly
Father do also to you, if you from your hearts Forgive not
everyone, his brother, their trespasses. Now, does this mean my forgiveness
is conditioned upon me forgiving somebody? No, it doesn't. That'd
be salvation by works. But this does mean that if I've
been forgiven, I will forgive. Forgiveness, as I've already
said, is the most godlike thing that me and you could do. And
to fail to forgive is the most hypocritical, little, wicked
thing we can do. We see that from this passage
of scripture. And you know, there is so much freedom and happiness
in forgiving somebody. You're released. You're released. What a blessing it is. And to
fail to forgive, like Paul said, is to give Satan the advantage.
Now, let me close with this scripture. Be ye kind, tenderhearted, forgiving one
another as God, for Christ's sake, hath forgiven you. Have the faith of God. Have the faith God has. Believe
what he does. and forgive. May the Lord enable
us to do just that, to have the faith of God and to forgive. Let's pray. Lord, we ask in Christ's name that you would enable us to have
the faith that you have. Lord, we ask that you'd give
it to us. And Lord, we ask that we might
have this forgiving spirit brought on by seeing the greatness
of your free forgiveness to us. Bless this message for Christ's
sake. Cause it to benefit us and cause us to grow in grace
in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. In
his name we pray. Amen.