For our Bible study this morning,
turn with me to Mark 11. We'll be in Mark 11. Instead of the
message, we'll be here for the Bible study. Mark 11. Last Sunday we saw the
story of this fig tree. and how it represented the Lord
cursed this fig tree and the leaves withered, they dried up
and that represented man's withered works. Adam and Eve tried to
cover themselves with fig leaves, that was their own works. And
we saw our need through that of being purged. The Lord came
in, he cursed this fig tree and he left there and went in and
purged his temple. And that showed us our own need
of being purged by Christ, having this sinful wickedness dealt
with. And we ended with the Lord saying
in verse 22, have faith in God. That's the end of that verse.
Have faith in God. Or the margin reads, have the
faith of God. He told them, all of your need
is summed up right here. Have faith in God. All of your
need can be summed up right here. Have faith in God. And he expounded
on that by saying in verse 23, now let's read this carefully
together. 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." Do we understand what
he just said? Whoever says to this mountain,
be removed and be cast into the sea, whoever says that, believing
in his heart that what he said will happen, it'll come to pass. All right, now let me ask you
something. Is that true? Is that true? Verse 24 says, therefore I say
unto you, what things soever you desire, when you pray, believe
that you receive them and you shall have them. Is that true? Is that true? Who is saying that? Jesus Christ is. Who is Jesus
Christ? He's God. Can God lie? Absolutely not. So is that true? We better believe it. We'd better believe it. Here's
the thing, though. We'd better not take it out of
context. That's the key. We had better
believe it, but we'd better not take it out of context. Now,
he is talking about faith in God. Isn't that how the whole
thing started? Faith in God. He is not talking about getting
what we want. That's not what he's talking
about. He's talking about faith in God. Turn with me over to
2 Corinthians chapter 12. 2 Corinthians 12. The Apostle Paul said in verse
7, and lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance
of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh,
the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted
above measure. For this thing I besought the
Lord thrice. I prayed to him three times. The Lord, Paul, right before
this said, I was carried up into the third heavens. He said, I
don't know if I was in the body or out of the body. God knows.
But he said, I was carried up into paradise. And I heard things
that it is not possible for a man's mouth to utter. And he said,
lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance
of these revelations, lifted up with pride, God sent me a
thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to buffet me. And he
said, I prayed to the Lord about this three times. Verse eight,
for this thing I besought the Lord thrice that it might depart
from me. And he said unto me, My grace
is sufficient for thee. Paul wanted that thorn removed. He wanted it removed. But God's
answer to him was, My grace is sufficient for thee. And he did
not get what he asked for. He begged God for it three times
and he didn't get it. All right, now I'll give you
a greater example than that. Go with me to Matthew 26. Matthew
26, verse 36. Then cometh Jesus with them unto
a place called Gethsemane, and saith unto the disciples, Sit
ye here while I go and pray yonder. And he took with him Peter and
the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be sorrowful and very
heavy. Then saith he unto them, my soul
is exceeding sorrowful even unto death, tarry ye here and watch
with me. And he went a little further
and fell on his face and prayed saying, oh my father, if it be
possible, let this cup pass from me. And nevertheless, not as
I will, but as thou wilt." Did the cup pass? No. So our Lord is not teaching us,
if you want it, you pray for it with confidence and you'll
get it. He is not teaching us that at all. Well, what is he
teaching us? He's teaching us something about
faith. He's teaching us something about
faith. What is faith? What is faith? People talk about
faith all the time. And I've told you this before,
but I heard a very popular singer, a woman singer, who went through
a hard time. Very, very popular. Went through
just a hard time in life. Down the tubes, you know. And
then cleaned herself up. Got off the drugs. And they interviewed
her and said, what got you through? And she said, my faith. My faith
got me through. Well, I don't believe she knows
what faith is. What is faith? Faith in the heart
of a sinner is the evidence of God's work and God's presence
in the heart of a sinner. It's the evidence of God's work
and it's the evidence of God's presence in the heart of a sinner. Faith is proof that God is here. God has moved. God has done something. Turn with me over to Hebrews
11. Hebrews 11 verse 1 says, Now faith is the substance, and
if you have a center reference in your Bible, mine says the
ground or the confidence, the confidence. Back in Mark 11,
our Lord is talking about this confidence, and he's talking
about faith. Faith is the substance of things
hoped for, the evidence of things not seen, for by this faith the
elders obtained a good report. Through faith we understand that
the worlds were framed by the word of God so that things which
are seen were not made of things which do appear. By faith Abel
offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which
he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of
his gifts. Inbite he being dead yet speaketh. By faith Enoch was translated
that he should not see death and was not found because God
had translated him. For before his translation he
had this testimony that he pleased God. But without faith it is
impossible to please him. For he that cometh to God must
believe that he is. And that he is a rewarder of
them that diligently seek him. In the text, our Lord said, have
faith in God. Isn't that what he said? Have faith in God. We know that faith, and we know
this because the scripture says it, faith is the gift of God. Faith comes from God. Faith looks to God, and without
it, we cannot please God. Without the gift of looking to
Him, the mountain that stands between us and God, there's a
mountain between us and God, and without looking to Christ,
that mountain will never be removed. It'll never be removed. The Law
of Moses. All of that was given on Mount
Sinai. It was given on this mountain,
Mount Sinai, this law, this holy law. And without faith in Christ,
that mountain will never be removed. It will never be removed. But
if a sinner does receive the faith of God, he said, here,
have faith in God. And if a sinner does receive
that faith, the faith that looks to Christ with all confidence
in Him, the faith that does not waver because it's looking to
Him, then it does not matter what the obstacle is. It does
not matter what the need is. It does not matter how impossible
it may seem. The object of that faith is going
to provide whatever is needed. That sinner is gonna have whatever
is needed. Now, what does faith look like? And I need to hurry. I'm just
gonna, we all know, go with me. Go to loop five. Let me show
you this. If a person wants to know what
faith is, here's an example of it. Luke 5. Luke 5 verse 12. And it came
to pass when he was in a certain city, behold a man full of leprosy
who seeing Jesus. Faith is what causes a man to
see Christ, first of all. Faith reveals the object. Faith has an object. Faith is
what reveals Christ. And it says, this man, full of
leprosy, who seeing Jesus, fell on his face and besought him,
saying, Lord, if thou wilt, Thou canst make me clean. That's faith. That is faith. He did not say, I want my leprosy
removed. And I am saying this to you with
all confidence. That's not what he said. He said, If you will, you are
able. That's what he said. If you will,
you can. Now if you don't will, that's
your business. That's your purpose. That's your
prerogative. But if you will, I know you are
able. I am absolutely confident that
you are able. If you're willing, you're able.
Verse 13, And he put forth his hand, and touched him, saying,
I will, be thou clean. And immediately the leprosy departed
from him. You talk about have his mountain
removed? The man had leprosy. I mean, he was literally rotting.
His flesh, he did not have all of his flesh. It was gone. Somebody told that man, you need
to go see Jesus Christ. You need to get to Jesus Christ. And if you come to him begging,
if you come as a beggar to him and you ask him in this way,
if you will, you can. I'm at your mercy. I don't have
any say in the matter. But if you will, you're able,
you go to him that way. Somebody told him, probably who
had been healed, they were confident. I'm telling you with confidence,
telling you in faith. You go to him and you say to
him, if you are willing, you can, and then you wait. You go
to him like that and he'll make your skin fresher than a newborn
baby. And that's what he did. The gift
of faith convinced him of that. That faith brought him to the
Lord. That faith gave him the confidence to ask, you can do
this. Gave him the heart to bow to
his will, whatever it was. And that faith accomplished the
impossible. Faith does not say, faith does
not say, I'm going to move that mountain. That's not faith. That is not faith. Faith has
an object. Faith says if he is willing,
he can move that mountain. If he wants this mountain to
be removed and cast into the sea, he's able to do it. That's
what faith says. Faith knows I can't move that
mountain. A sinner who comes before God,
we come to Him as beggars. We come to Him as sinners. And
when we come in faith, the Apostle said, you believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ and you'll be saved. What he's saying is you come
in faith. Without faith it's impossible to please Him. And
faith comes to Him saying, I can't obey you, and I can't do right,
and I can't save myself, and I can't make this decision. I don't have any say in the matter.
I have no power over this. And if you don't, you're right
in doing so, and I'll just be damned, because that's what I
deserve. But I know if you're willing, if you're willing to
save me, I know you can. In spite of the mountain of my
sins. My whole mountain of sins could
be removed and cast into the sea if you're willing. If you're
able. There's one more important thing
that faith understands. And it's this. He will always
do right. Always. He'll always do what's
best and right. Everything he does is the best
possible outcome. Everything he does. So faith
causes a believer to want exactly what we read our Lord say in
Gethsemane. Nevertheless, not my will, but
thine be done. Do you ever find yourself saying
that? Lord, if you are willing, this is my petition to you, but
thy will be done. And the reason is because I know
that you know something I don't know. You know the end from the
beginning, and I don't know the end. And I don't know the outcome,
and I don't want it to go this way, but I know if it goes this
way, it's for the purpose of good. So, nevertheless, not my
will, but thine be done. Ultimately, faith causes a believer
to say, that's what I want. That is what I want. Can you
say that? With whatever it is you ask him,
can you say, nevertheless, this is my ultimate desire. Thy will
be done. Thy will be done. I want His
will to be done. Our Lord said you make your request
with that desire and you can be absolutely confident in the
fact you'll get it. You'll get it. If you're able,
you can do it. And all I want is for your will
to be done. He said you go like that, you'll get exactly what
you want. You'll get it. Now, very quickly,
go back to the text. I'm going to just quickly comment
on the next two verses. I took a little longer on that
than I thought I would, so I'm going to move quickly here. 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, he says in verse 25, And
when you stand praying, 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 your trespasses. Is that true? Is that true? Do we understand
what we just read? Does our forgiveness depend on
our forgiving others? Is there a condition on our salvation? The same thing that is said about
faith can be said about forgiveness. The same thing. Forgiveness in
the heart of a sinner is the evidence of God's work and God's
presence in the heart of that sinner. Forgiveness is the evidence
that God is here. God has moved. God has done something. Forgiveness, just like faith,
is a gift of God. It's a gift of God. And if I
don't have it, and I'm going to be really quick about this,
but this is an important thing to understand. Forgiveness is
a gift of God. And if I don't have it, that's
a bad sign. That is a bad sign. If I cannot
forgive, then it means God has not given me a forgiving heart.
That's what it means. And I need to recognize it as
a bad sign. When God forgives a sinner, when
God forgives a sinner, we know how He forgives a sinner, in
the blood of His Son. When God forgives a sinner, He
sends His Spirit to that sinner. He lives in that sinner. And
with that, he puts forgiveness in that sinner's heart. He brings
that forgiveness with him into that sinner's heart. And if I
don't have it, if I say, I'm sorry, I just can't get over
this. I cannot get past this. I cannot forgive. I just cannot forgive. Then that's
a terrible sign. I can take that as my evidence
that God has not forgiven me. And once I see that, what I need
to do is get on my knees and beg God for mercy. Lord, have
mercy on me. Would you please put forgiveness
in my heart? There are some things that we
would be so wise to beg him for in our prayer. We ought to ask
him, and this is something I keep saying all the time. I wish I
would pray more for this, and I find myself not doing it. But
I pray the Lord would cause me to do this more. Lord, increase
my faith. Increase my faith. Increase my
looking to you. Increase my waiting on you. Increase
my trust. And Lord, would you put forgiveness
in this heart? Put forgiveness in this heart.
I need to know that you have forgiven me. And if I don't have
a heart to show forgiveness, then I don't have any confidence,
any assurance that I've been shown forgiveness. Let me show
you something in 1 John 2 and we'll wrap this up. 1 John chapter
2. 1 John 2 verse 9 says, He that saith he is in the light
and hateth his brother is in darkness even until now. He that
loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none
occasion of stumbling in him. It's not saying that his salvation
is dependent on that love or hate. If you love, you'll be
saved, and if you hate, you'll be damned. He's not saying that
at all. What he's saying is that love or that hate is the evidence
of his salvation. Verse 11 says, but he that hateth
his brother is in darkness. and walketh in darkness, and
knoweth not whither he goeth, because that darkness hath blinded
his eyes." Look at chapter 3 verse 10, 1 John 3 verse 10. In this
the children of God are manifest. They're made known. And the children
of the devil. Whosoever doeth not righteousness
is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother. For this
is the message that you've heard from the beginning, that we should
love one another. Not as Cain, who was of that
wicked one and slew his brother. And wherefore slew he him? Because
his own works were evil and his brother's righteous. Marvel not,
my brethren, if the world hates you. We know that we have passed
from death unto life because we love the brethren. He that
loveth not his brother abideth in death. Whosoever hateth his
brother is a murderer. That hate in the heart is murder
in God's eyes. And you know that no murderer
hath eternal life abiding in him. Hereby perceive we the love
of God because he laid down his life for us and we ought to lay
down our lives for the brethren. But whoso hath this world's good
and seeth his brother have need and shutteth up his bowels of
compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him? My little
children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue, but
in deed and in truth. And hereby we know that we are
of the truth and shall assure our hearts before him." That's
so clear, isn't it? It's just so clear. Chapter 4,
verse 20 says, if a man say, I love God and hateth his brother,
he is a liar. For he that loveth not his brother
whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?
In this commandment we have from him that he who loveth God loveth
his brother also." Our Lord said in Matthew 5, blessed are the
merciful. They're the ones who are going
to obtain mercy. They're the ones who evidence
that they have obtained mercy. So here's what we take from all
this. Lord, here's what we take from all this. I'll tell you
this. If I think for one minute that I have the ability to truly
forgive my brother, I'm a liar. I'm a sinner is what I am. And
I do not do right. And God gives these commandments.
He gives these laws. And as I read them, I'm so convicted
because I can't do them. The Apostle Paul said, the things
I would, I don't. And the things I wish I didn't
do, that's what I do. So here's what we take from this.
These two things, they go hand in hand. Lord, if you will, you
can put forgiveness in this heart. You can move that mountain of
my sin, move that mountain of your law, move this mountain
that stands between us and you can save me. And you can put
evidence of that in me. You can put faith in me. And
you can put forgiveness in me. You are able to do the impossible. You are able. I'm not. You are. And your forgiveness to me and
your long-sufferingness toward me, the blood you shed for me,
that gave me free forgiveness. Free forgiveness. And because
you gave your life, God the Father has said, I will forgive your
iniquities and remember your sins no more. Isn't that what
he said? Now because of that, would you give me a heart to
forgive every other soul on this earth? If you're willing, Lord,
you're able to do that. As you have forgiven me, would
you let me forgive others? Our Lord said, you ask these
things in faith. And you'll receive them. You'll
receive them. So here's my prayer. May God
evidence his work in us. And may he cause us to ask. Help us. Put faith in us. Put
forgiveness in us for Christ's sake. Okay, you're dismissed.