I please God to bless us together
this morning as we meditate in his word. Let's turn to the Gospel
of Mark, chapter 11, and we'll read verse 22. The Gospel of
Mark, chapter 11, and reading verse 22. And Jesus answering, saith unto
them, have faith. in God. I visited a local vicar this
week, someone who I've known for a few years. He's a godly
man. When I met him the first time
he said to me, now Stephen, I want to tell you that I'm a born-again
Christian and I believe the Bible as it is. So that was a good
start and I proved he is a faithful man. Now I went and saw him this
week on one or two things and partly for Truth in Science to
give him an update on that because he's very encouraging in that
situation. And he told me of what he had
been doing and what he was doing. And just very briefly, I have
a whole document here which I have copies for nearly all of you,
I think, today. And you can take away and you
can read because it's encouraging. Year before last, he was preparing
a sermon for Remembrance Day service. And he spent an afternoon,
several hours trying to progress on this. And he didn't really
seem to make any progress. And he was just about to say,
well, I have to leave it and carry on another time, when the
Spirit of God seemed to direct him to sit down at his desk,
which he did, and to start writing. And he did. And he wrote about
the wartime miracles and a national scandal. And he sat down, and
it's here what he wrote. And he was obviously under the
influence of the Holy Spirit, He has recorded the words that
senior figures at that time in the war, including Eisenhower
and Churchill and other people, spoke of the wonderful appearance
of God on our nation's behalf. And very clearly it was so. I'm
sure we all believe that. But recognizing that the terrible
state our nation is in today, and of course when he wrote this
it was a few months ago, quite a few months ago, and he He was
then moved to think that, well, this should be really circulated
to many people, so there might be a true earnest prayer, as
there was in the days of the war. There was a tremendous amount
of prayer. So he set about this as God enabled
him, and it was wonderful how people gave him money and people
gathered together to work with him. And he's kept himself a
very low profile, as he said, under the radar because he's
in the Church of England and obviously if they knew what he
was doing they might try and get rid of him. He's been there
for some time now. But he's also then given us another
paper which is headed National Prayer Group Network. Now this
wartime miracles and national scandal has been distributed
to 25,000 churches throughout our nation. and for ministers,
PCC members, elders, and study leaders in a number of what we
might term mainstream religions. Sadly, we haven't had one. But
anyway, at least I don't think so. I haven't seen it anyway.
But anyway, it's very well worth reading because it shows how
we need to pray. And he said there are thousands
up and down our land of prayer cells, prayer groups, joining
together to pray for God's mercy upon us as a nation. Now this
surely should affect and touch our hearts because we know there's
no other way. But you see the Lord God Omnipotent
reigns and he can do great things, but he has told us He will be
inquired by the House of Israel to do these things for them.
So as you read this, and I hope you will read it, and remember
the concern we should have for our nation. You see, it's very
easy, isn't it, just to pray very simply and in kind of familiar
phrases and not really urgently. But what a blessing it is if
we are able really to pray urgently. He quotes one character in the
last war, a man called Rhys Howells, who was running a small Bible
college in Wales, and he had about 100 students. And apparently,
from the 1940, right through the war, every evening, every
evening they would meet and pray from seven o'clock in
the evening until midnight with just a small break for a meal. So there was there a real concern
and what a wonderful example it was. So may we today be able
to truly pray for our nation. I'm sure we all appreciate the
great need it is and he goes on to say in this document which
you will read that He says he believes that the day may be
coming when once again our nation may have to stand alone. Well, the great blessing would
be, of course, if we don't stand alone, but if God is for us,
because if God is for us, who can be against us? But we must
not just go on in a very casual way. And so many people today
are in a very casual way, you know, our own churches, our own
denomination, are very casual really, more concerned about
our own lives and our own situations than we are about the blessed
work of God. And the blessed evidence of that
work shining forth individually as churches and as a nation. What a blessing it would be if
the Lord is stirring up people. We shouldn't think, well, of
course, I don't think they're all godly people. Well, they
may not be. But there may be many who we perhaps don't think. Don't forget the case of Elijah. He thought he was the only one.
The Lord had reserved 7,000 who had not bowed the knee to Baal.
Just remember, there is only one true Church of God in the
world. There may be different areas.
There's only one true Church of God. And we don't hold the
position that we're the only right one. Some people do, but
it's wrong. There is one true Church of God, and the Word of
God tells us those that believe on the Lord Jesus Christ shall
be saved. And that's the bottom line, and
that's where we should desire to see the glorious and blessed
work of God. Well, I won't say any more than
that. Anyway, I'll give this out at the end of the service
to those who would like it. I hope you will all take one.
So let's now come back to this Word which is very apposite really,
when we're told the words of Jesus himself, telling the people,
have faith in God. Now I hope we all are blessed
with living faith. Faith to believe in the Lord
Jesus Christ. We have of course a definition
of what faith is in the first verses of the 11th chapter to
the Hebrews and the Apostle tells us now, faith is the substance
of things hoped for, the elders of things not seen. And by that
substance we have a margin statement which says or ground or confident. So we can say now faith is the
ground or confidence of things hoped for and the evidence of
things not seen. Now the Apostle goes on to tell
us For by it the elders obtained a good report." See, without
faith it is impossible to please God. So if we have no faith,
we are not pleasing God. In fact we're walking contrary
to Him. And what a blessing it is if God gives us faith, because
we must all have faith. If we don't have faith we shall
never go to glory. We shall end up in hell forever.
And therefore it's not something which is irrelevant or something
peripheral. It should be central in our faith,
in our religion, this blessed faith. And the Apostle goes on,
through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the
Word of God. Well, there's very few people who believe that today.
But that's what the Bible tells us, and don't forget, The word
of God is truth, the Lord Jesus Christ says. Thy word is truth,
and so it is. And don't therefore turn away
from it, but recognize how important it is, so that things which are
seen were not made of things which do appear. And I expect
most of you are familiar that this 11th chapter to the Hebrews
then gives us a wonderful and glorious list of many who were
granted this wonderful blessing of faith. And as I've already
said, without faith it is impossible to please God. And the Apostle
goes on to say, for he that cometh to God must believe that he is,
and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
So we have two statements here. First of all, how essential it
is that you and I come in prayer to God, humbly believing that
our prayers will be heard. I sometimes tell you that the
Athenians were worshipping the unknown God. My friends, may
we not worship the unknown God, but may we worship the true God.
And so here we have this statement, for he that cometh to God must
believe. The Word of God is very straightforward
and very positive. This verse, the 6th verse in
the 11th chapter of the Hebrews, gives us a statement. It is impossible.
That's a clear word, isn't it? Impossible. That means, what
it says, to please him without faith. And then he that cometh
to God must believe that he is. and that he is a rewarder of
them that diligently seek him." These are very instructive words,
aren't they? And you know, you and I need to take them to heart
and to pray over them. That as we come to God in prayer,
we may be diligent in our prayer. Diligent and pray, blessed with
this living faith. It's very sad, isn't it, today?
There are many, many prayers which are not answered. And what
do we have to conclude? It's not of faith. And what do
we further have to conclude? Therefore it's of sin. The Bible
tells us that which is not of faith is sin. And that's a very solemn thought,
isn't it? So when we come to God praying,
in actual fact, we might pat ourselves on the back and think,
well, that was all right. How tragic if it's been sin. If our
words have been sin, And yet we thought we were doing things
which were right. And it's because we hadn't been blessed with this
grace of faith. Well, you will read in that account
that I mentioned this morning, those who were able to observe
the wonderful grace of God and the faith that was given. to
believe that the Lord would hear and the Lord would answer. And
of course we know that he did. Now we have these many evidences
in the Word of God in this 11th chapter to the Hebrews to encourage
us. Because there were many, many
difficulties that the ancient saints had to endure, including
the Apostle Paul himself, who was no stranger to exceeding
hardship, exceeding opposition, but it didn't stop him at all.
It didn't hinder him daily. His great concern was to spread
the word of God. Dahlia's great concern was to
speak to the people about the truth of God. And he wasn't worried
about his own body. He wasn't worried what people
thought about him. He wasn't worried what he would have to
face. And as you read in that chapter
in the Corinthians, that whole long list how he was opposed
greatly. Well, We might say, he was opposed
greatly, but under the grace of God, he walked by faith, as
he tells us in writing to the Hebrews, the church of God, they
walk by faith and not by sight. So naturally speaking, you and
I like to see everything nice and clear, don't we? Well, we're
not promised that. We are told that we are to walk
by faith and not by sight. So don't always expect you're
going to have a wonderful, clear path before you. Sometimes people
say, well, I don't want to do that because I don't think it's
the right way and I haven't had any clear direction from the
Lord. Well, sometimes there's a right
way, sometimes there's a wrong way. The wrong way is, the way
that seemeth right to a man, but in the end they're off the
ways of death. And you see, if you walk in the
way in accordance with the Word of God, not in accordance with
what you think is right, in accordance with the Word of God, you won't
make a mistake. And the comfort is this, you
can then refer to the promises recorded in the Word of God. So when things don't seem to
be going quite as smoothly as they ought to, you can then plead
the promises of God. And you can speak to the Lord
and say that you are walking by faith. And again, let's come
back to the basic requirement. And that basic requirement is
this, that We walk by faith in this world, we do those things
in this world which are for the honour and glory of God. That
really is and must be always the bottom line in our life and
in our religion. And if it's not like that, then
we need to question whether we are doing things rightly, and
then we shouldn't be surprised. if things do not go well. And
perhaps we ought to qualify in this way. When things go very
smoothly always, the devil won't trouble you. If it's the wrong
way, he'll let you go on. And the Lord Jesus tells us,
when he wrote in the Gospel of John, the 18th chapter, when
he was speaking to his disciples and he tells them, it is through
much tribulation, that we must enter the kingdom. Now God's
word has not changed. We perhaps like to assume it
has. We like to think, well for me it's not like that. Well the
word of God is clear. It is through much tribulation
that we must enter the kingdom. And therefore you and I need
this faith, this God-given faith to walk the way The Lord will
direct us in as we're walking. And perhaps you might think,
well, which way must I go? You may not always know. But
you see, we have to go forward in the strength of the Lord.
As the apostle tells us, he went in the strength of the Lord his
God. He didn't go in his strength. He went in the strength of the
Lord his God. And may you and I go in the strength of the Lord
our God, desiring that his name may be honour and glorify. How
seldom we seem to be very conscious of this great need there is in
the day and age in which we live. That the blessed Lord Jesus Christ
should be lifted up and exalted. So we might ask, well, are we
walking by faith? Is this true in our lives? Have
we faith in God? Have we faith in God? Or do we not? Very simple, isn't
it? We either do or we don't. There's no grey areas. There
is little faith and there is great faith, but it's all true
faith. And so how wonderful it is if
the Holy Spirit enables us to follow the Word of God. How important
it is to follow the Word of God. And don't put your demands down. Don't put your conditions down.
My friends, you know, people live in a dry land. They live
in a barren land, because they're putting their conditions down
to God. There's no faith. There's no
faith. They're just waiting for some
wonderful word to occur, which they think they need. Be not deceived. God is not mocked. And my friends, we don't want
to be finally deceived, do we? Don't forget, come back to that
great statement, we walk by faith and not by sight. If you and
I walk in accordance with the Word of God, we won't be walking
wrongly. But if we're not obeying the
Word of God, we are walking wrongly. And we can't expect God to bless
us. And we can't expect to be healthy in our soul. We'll be
like very small in the things of God. We won't grow and we'll
just rub along day by day. What a blessing if God gives
us faith to believe the Word of God. Faith to believe the
Word of God. All of it. Not just the bits
that shoot us. But let's believe all the Word
of God. What a wonderful thing it is. You only have to have the illustrations
in the Word of God when you might say in accordance with the hymn
writer that faith laughs at impossibilities and says it shall be done. There is the impossibility really
in the life of David in slaying Goliath. a little stripling,
a young man, to fight against that great giant, clothed in
armour and everything else. David went in the strength of
the Lord God. He did that by faith in his God. It's a glorious example for us
to come back to, when you may see what may appear mountains
before you, You think, well I could never do that. Well that's good
in yourself, you won't be able to. I can do all things through
Christ that strengthens me. Oh friends, don't lose sight
of that word. Don't lose sight of it. It's
there for your instruction and encouragement. What a blessing
it is. Follow the pattern. we have in
the Word of God. And you know, if you go through
it, from Genesis to Revelation, you think of Abraham, you think
of Moses, you think of Moses. Of course he's listed at length,
isn't he, in the 11th chapter of the Hebrews. You think of
Moses. He made a blessed choice. He made a blessed choice. What
was that? Choosing rather. to suffer affliction with the
people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. You see, he could have enjoyed
all the sinful situations which were carried on, no doubt, in
Pharaoh's palace, all the comfort there, mixing with all the ungodly
people. But no, he chose by the grace
of God. And what a blessing it is when
the Holy Spirit enables us to make a good choice. A good choice. Not a wrong choice. A good choice. And you know, God was with Moses,
wasn't he? Again, come back to what I said.
It's not an easy path. Moses did not have an easy path.
But God was with him. How did he walk? With faith in
God. Faith in God. So my friends,
let us examine ourselves. It's good to examine ourselves.
Before God, don't examine the person next to you. Examine yourself. Whether you and I are in the
faith or not. The faith of God. Whether you
and I are walking that way or not. Don't just make some haphazard
estimation that, well, of course I go to chapel and I read my
Bible and I do this. Well, that's all good. It won't
save your soul. What is so necessary is to have
faith in God. To believe the glorious truths
of God and to pray. The Lord will indeed lead you
into all truth as it is in Jesus. And the benefit of that is this. God-given faith will enable you
and me to feed spiritually upon Christ. And that may seem a bit
theoretical. And it may seem a bit abstract.
But the truth is, to the true believer, it's that which enables
them. to press on because it is food
for our souls. It's food for our souls and we
are living two lives. We're living a natural life and
we're living a spiritual life. Our natural life, we need natural
food. Our spiritual life, we need spiritual food. And that
spiritual food must be centred in none other than the Lord Jesus
Christ. And what does that do? It leads
us to the cross. And what is that situation? It
shines light into our hearts. Light of the glorious gospel
of Jesus Christ. Light in the face of Jesus Christ. That light which will never go
out. Once that light has shone into our hearts, it is there
eternally. How needful. How necessary, how
important it is for all of us to understand this great and
wonderful and fundamental truth, have faith in God. You may say to someone, well,
I don't think I have faith. Well, that's all right. It's
better to think you don't have it than pretend you do when you
don't. What's the answer? Pray to God. What does he say? He giveth more
faith. That was when the Apostle Paul
had that thorn in the flesh. We're not told what it was, a
good job we're not. It was something which was very difficult to bear. But you see, he had to have faith
in God. Yes, and the Lord said to him,
he tried to get rid of it and he prayed to get rid of it. Now
you see, sometimes You may think, well I've prayed about that and
I haven't had the answer. Well you may have had the answer,
you didn't realise what it was. The answer may have been no,
instead of yes. It may have been no. Examine
it and just see whether you've had an answer which is no. Whether you wanted something
special. I think it's like this, and this
is a snare. Let me just mention it. Some
people you see, we believe and trust, have the work of the Holy
Spirit in their heart. And yet you see that they lay
down some rules to God. And they say, well, yes, I think
I want to follow the Lord Jesus and be baptized, but I just need
this. I've got this condition, I just
want this to be answered. I just want this to be, to have
this word applied to my heart. Well, is that a godly request? You may think it's very right
and proper. You may think it's very honourable. But the answer,
you may have had already. And you're asking for something
which you don't actually need. And perhaps you're asking it
because you want to be able to say, well, I've heard this wonderful
revelation, I've heard this wonderful word apply to my heart. And does
it bring glory to God or will it bring glory to yourself? You
see, often it is that we perhaps expect and ask for some great
thing so that we appear perhaps to be a better Christian than
in actual fact we really are. The Word of God is very clear.
And you and I, sadly sometimes, put our rules down and our requests,
which are not in accordance with the Word of God. Don't ask for
things when you don't need them, when they're clear in the Word
of God. Remember, walk by faith. Have faith in God. Have faith
to believe. that as he has helped you thus
far, he will continue to help you. There's a great snare you
see in these things. People expect God to give them
a special word for some things when they don't need it. I'm
sure some of you are familiar with the case of JC Philpott. He was in the Church of England
and he felt he shouldn't be there. He couldn't actually agree with
all the things he had to do. So he prayed that God would give
him a word to come out of the Church of England. Well it never
happened. Why? Because he suddenly realised
he didn't need any word. It was obvious what he should
do. That's a good bit of instruction
for us. Don't ask for direction when you don't need it. Have
faith in God. You see, if you and I are walking
in God's way, in accordance with his word, walking humbly for
his honour and for his glory, he won't leave you, he won't
forsake you, he won't push you aside. Why? Because you'll be walking by
faith. You'll be relying upon the Lord
to support you. You'll be relying upon the Lord
to comfort and strengthen you and to help you on. Have faith
in God. It was so necessary, wasn't it? The Lord should speak these words.
Very simple, aren't they? Just four words, and yet so,
so important. And the Lord Jesus, he went on
in this statement, and it's good to just perhaps read it. Therefore,
I say unto you, whatsoever things you desire, when you pray, believe
that you receive them, And ye shall have them, but remember
not that we might consume them upon our lusts. And when ye stand
praying, forgive if ye have ought against any." And that's a very
relevant and important statement. You see, never expect God to
answer a prayer if you come and you have a grudge against somebody,
or you have something against somebody. We are to be forgiving
in everything. And you might ask me, well, why
is that? I'll tell you why it is. It's
because the Lord Jesus has forgiven us. My friends, if Jesus has
forgiven you, great sinner that you are, great sinner that I
am, then what a wonderful, wonderful blessing it is. And then surely
that should totally influence us, shouldn't it? Should totally
influence us in our lives to obey his word. And his word is
very clear. And it tells us, when you stand praying, forgive.
If you have ought, that means anything, anything against any,
any. But your Father also, which is
in heaven, may forgive you your trespasses. But if you do not
forgive, if you do not forgive, Neither will your Father, which
is heaven, forgive your trespasses. Very clear, isn't it? Very simple.
But my friends, so relevant. Now then, the blessing will be
this. If you're granted a forgiving spirit, you may find it hard.
But remember this, have faith in God. God can strengthen, God
can bless, and God can give you a wonderful freedom in coming
to this position. Because your conscience will
be cleared. It's a good thing to have a clear conscience before
God. It's a sad thing to have a seared
conscience, you know, which doesn't listen to the truth of God. A
seared conscience is something which is, you know, a hot iron
or something goes over flesh and it sears it so it's not feeling.
It's a sad thing when you and I are not feeling. before the
Word of God, and we're serious, we just pass it over. We don't
think, well, I needn't worry about that. You ought to worry
about it. And you ought to be very concerned about it, because
this is the Word of God. And you can't say, well, I have
faith in God, if you're not walking this way. So perhaps it's a total A total
act of unbelief. And you may be walking contrary
to God. See, it doesn't matter what else
you may be able to say. You and I need to be followers
of the Word of God. Followers of the Word of God.
And this Word is very, very clear. And it doesn't move. It doesn't change. And it's the
same for everyone. There's no excuses. And there's
no one that can say, well, that doesn't apply to me. It does.
Every one of us come under the Word of God. Have faith in God. What a blessing then if we are
favoured with this, to know that we have a true God who hears
and answers our prayer. Well, every child of God is blessed
with faith in God. And so this morning, if as you
and I come and meditate and think upon these things, as we examine
ourselves, and if you think, well, I don't think I've ever
had any faith, it's best to wake up to that truth now than when
you fall into hell, isn't it? It's best to realise that your
faith was not faith, and to be blessed with living faith, and to pray to God that you might
be blessed with true faith, have faith in God. Because if you
and I are blessed with true faith, it'll mean that we have a willing
spirit to do the will of God. And the Word of God tells us,
Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that
he may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon him,
for he careth for you." It's like, as it were, launching out
into the deep. There's the unknown of it before
you. You don't know what's before
you, none of us do. What a blessing it is to launch
out into the unknown with faith in God. And that's not blind
faith, that's living faith. Because if it's for the honour
and glory of God, it's living faith. And if you're walking
in an obedient way, it's living faith. Have faith in God. Now then, we surely all desire,
I hope we do, to have faith in God that through his glorious
death, Through his sin atoning death, all our sins are washed
away and that we are complete in him. There's no other way. Remember, all of us need to be
under the blood of the Saviour to know that the blood of Jesus
Christ cleanseth us from all sin. And what a relief that will
be when you and I have recognise that we walk contrary to God,
and yet this wonderful truth, the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses
from all sin. However bad my sin has been,
however evil I've been, however unbelieving I've been, the Lord
grants us this blessed gift of believing in the Lord Jesus Christ,
then to realise that all our sins are forever washed away. Belief in God, faith in God,
have faith in God. And then you see, if we have
this evidence that we are a child of God, and we have the evidence
that the Lord Jesus Christ has died for us, and that he has
redeemed our souls, he has saved our souls, and that we are bought
with a price. We're no longer our own, we've
pleased ourself for many years perhaps. But now to think, yes,
the cost of my salvation was the death of the Savior. Faith
in God. Look forward to that. And then
you see, if God gives us that living faith to trust in him,
trust in me at all times, at all times, for everything, all
times. If we receive this faith, Eternal
life is ours. Surely that must be the object
of everyone to obtain at last the blessed prize of eternal
life. Only through Christ. Only through Christ. And so may
we be blessed this morning with faith in God, faith in the Lord
Jesus Christ. faith to believe that all He
has done was done for me, done for you, so that by His grace
one day we shall be with Him in glory. My friends, those who
do not possess living faith will never be in glory with the Saviour.
And that is the most terrible thought. Oh, my friends, tremble
at such a thought. Tremble before God. and plead
earnestly with him for that confirmation that we have faith in God. And
there is evidence, you know, the blessed gift of faith brings
into our souls peace because we are trusting in the Lord.
We're not trusting in ourselves. We're not trusting in what we've
done. But God has given us faith to trust in the finished work
of the Saviour. That's a good and sure foundation. Blessed with that truth, my friends,
you and I will spend eternity with the Saviour in everlasting
bliss in heaven. It's a wonderful prospect, isn't
it? It's a glorious thing. And oh, may we all then be blessed
today with this wonderful favour, the wonderful favour of having
faith in God.