My message this evening is taken
from the text in Mark 11 verse 22 where our Lord Jesus speaks
to his disciples, to you and to me, and says have faith in God. Faith, true faith in God is that
which distinguishes true believers from mere religious men and women.
Religious people have religious exercises and religious practices,
religious creeds and religious customs. Believers are men and
women who have faith in God. Now let's read Mark chapter 11,
verses 20 through 26 together. As we do, I want to call your
attention to three very important lessons that our Lord here teaches
us, but they are very important lessons which are commonly overlooked
by us. So listen carefully as we go
through this portion of scripture. Our happiness and peace, as well
as our usefulness to one another and to the cause of Christ in
this world, Greatly depends on how well we learn these three
lessons. Here's the first Faith in God
is essential look at verse 20 now in the morning as they passed
by they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots and Peter calling
to remembrance Kind of smart to remember what God does Try
to bear in mind the special providences of God. Peter, calling to remembrance,
saith unto him, Master, behold, the fig tree which thou cursed
yesterday is withered away. And Jesus answering said unto
them, Have faith in God. 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. And when the master said to Peter,
have faith in God, he was reminding him and us of the lesson taught
in the barren fig tree. Peter seemed a little surprised.
He walked by, and as they walked by, they saw that fig tree withered
from its roots. And just yesterday, it appeared
to have all the signs and tapestry of life. It was full of leaves,
but it was barren. It had no fruit. And so the Lord
cursed the fig tree. And now the next day, it's withered
up. The leaves are all gone. It's utterly dead. The Lord Jesus
here declares, that all men shall likewise perish without true
faith in the Lord God. It is not just faith that's essential. All men have some kind of faith.
They have faith in themselves, they have faith in the world,
faith in their abilities, faith in the material things of this
world, or they have faith in Buddha or Allah or some stuff
or something of the kind. That's not enough. It's not enough
that men have faith in their imaginations concerning God.
It is not enough that we have faith in our faith. We must have
true faith in the true and living God as he is revealed in Holy
Scripture, otherwise we're going to perish. And our religion is
like the religion that was represented in this fig tree, all show with
no substance, all outward form and all those things that impress
men, but with no reality of life within and therefore no fruit
under God. We must believe God that's essential
We must believe God as he is revealed in holy scripture in
the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ now, I I stress
this because most people in our day they have Bibles in their
hands They don't read them much, but they've got them They carry
them to church and once in a while preach you'll preach and act
like he's kindly preaching from it But they get a notion about
God they get their their silly ideas about God somehow he's
he's sort of like some imaginary thing a Little better than us,
but then again a little weaker than us somehow fickle and changeable
now the God of Holy Scripture is God who is just and true and
must punish sin He is God who sits upon the throne of the universe
and governs everything Absolutely Everything that is, has been,
or shall have to be, comes from Him, is brought to pass by Him,
and shall resound, redound to His glory when it's over. It's
going back to Him. The God of Holy Scripture is
God in the triunity of his persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
And this true and living God is revealed in the person and
work of Jesus Christ by his substitutionary sacrifice on our behalf at Calvary. The Lord God has made himself
known to sinners by this work of Jesus Christ, the incarnate
God, in whom resides all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. Now believers must have faith
in God. And then believers are people
who live by faith. Live by faith in Jesus Christ,
who is God, our Savior. Jesus Christ is not just a man.
He's more than a man. He's the God man. He's not just
a representative of God, an agent of God, a revelation of God.
He is God. That man who is our Savior is
himself God Almighty, or we have no Savior. It is written again
and again in Holy Scripture, the just shall live by faith. Now that's repeated throughout
the Scriptures. The just shall live by faith. That does not mean the just shall
come to a position and a spot in time Where they come to believe
on the lord jesus and then go on with their lives Faith in
christ is much more than a mere isolated act of life Faith in
christ is much more than just a creed a confession of faith
or a religious ceremony Faith in christ is not only that that
event in life when we come to believe on him, but it is that
continual attitude of life by which believers walk before God
trusting Jesus Christ. The just shall live by faith. The book of God never says he
that believed shall be saved. It says he that believe it. on
the Son of God hath everlasting life. That is to say, buddy,
those who by God's grace at some point in time are given faith
and come to believe Him and continue believing Him and believing Him
and believing Him and believing Him, they have eternal life.
Those whose religion is traced back to yesterday, whose religion
is all together in things yesterday, whose religion is a historical
thing. Their faith is not the faith
of God's elect. Believers are men and women who
live by faith. Initially, our faith in Christ
is simply the matter of trusting Christ alone as our Lord and
Savior. That is, we look to Him as helpless,
guilty sinners. We come to Him acknowledging
that we are guilty before God and helpless in ourselves to
change ourselves. Utterly incapable of putting
away our sins. Utterly incapable of making ourselves
righteous. Utterly incapable of giving ourselves
life. We come to Him and we trust Him. Jesus Christ. We trust him
for all wisdom before God, because we don't have that. We trust
Him as our righteousness before God, because we can't perform
any. We trust Him as our sanctification. He alone can make us holy in
the presence and sight of God Almighty. He alone can give us
a holy nature and present us holy, unblameable, and unreprovable
in the last day. And we trust Him alone as our
redemption. He alone paid the price for the
atonement of our sins. He alone delivered us from the
bondage of sin and corruption and death, and He alone shall
raise us up in resurrection glory. So we look to Christ. Wisdom,
righteousness, sanctification and redemption, everything is
in Him. But faith is more than that. True faith is trusting
Christ to save me, but it's also trusting Christ to rule me, protect
me, provide for me. to do all things needful for
me according to his own infinite wisdom, goodness, and grace for
all time and eternity. It's more than trusting him for
me. It's trusting him, period. We pray with earnestness, I hope,
for one another, for our sons and daughters, in this assembly,
many of whom are yet without faith in Christ. But let us never,
never, never get the notion in our heads that somehow these
things are not also matters of faith. We trust Christ our God
and Savior to do what is right, even with our dearest kin and
our most prized, prized relationships. And he does what's right. It's
what faith is. Faith is trusting him. It's not,
it's not picking out this, I'll trust him here, but now here,
I'll take care of that. I'll trust him there, but over
here, I'm going to have to have somebody else to lean on. Oh,
no, no, no. Faith in Christ is trust in Christ. Now, I realize
that no man, no woman has perfect faith. There's no such thing
as a human being walking on this earth who believes in his heart
without a doubt. There's not such a thing, not
you, not me, not anybody else, not while we walk on this earth.
But believers grow in faith, trusting the Son of God. If we
would know the true meaning and the true value of faith, we ought
to read often and study with great care the 11th chapter of
Hebrews. I was reading this just a little
while ago before anybody else came over. The scripture tells
us that by faith the elders obtained a good The report we have of
men like Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The report we have of
Enoch who walked with God. The report we have of our faithful
patriarch Job. The report we have of Abel who
offered a more noble sacrifice to the king. They all obtained
a good report by faith. They lived by faith. They walked
in faith. They died in faith. By it they
obtained a good report. The scripture tells us that he
that cometh to God, he that cometh to God, oh, I would hell come
to him. He that cometh to God, not he
who comes or he who has come, but he that cometh continually,
cometh to God, must believe that he is. and that he is the rewarder
of them that diligently seek him. Now our Lord in this passage
of scripture used a proverbial saying in the 24th verse to describe
the great power of faith. He tells us that if a man says
to 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 understand, this is a proverbial saying. This
proverbial statement, the Apostle Paul said, if I had faith so
that I could remove mountains and have not love, it profits
me nothing. So it's a proverbial statement. But this proverbial
statement about removing mountains must be interpreted with caution
and sobriety, particularly in this day of religious nuts. Help
well prosperity folks, you know, they they've been taught by the
preachers they listen to especially on radio and so forth They they
watch them on TV and these preachers tell them now now now if you
want a million dollars If you want a million dollars if you
want to heal heal your bank account heal your marriage and heal your
body You want everything just going rosy and hunky-dory if
that's what you want And in order to show that you
believe God, send me all your money, give me some more. Now,
that is not what our Lord's talking about here. Nothing could be
further from the teaching of Holy Scripture. Our Lord's statement
is not a blanket promise that God will do anything we take
a notion for Him to do, so long as we have enough faith, so long
as we believe perfectly, without a doubt in our hearts. The fact
is, as I said earlier, no man has that kind of perfect faith.
Well, what is our Lord telling us? He's telling us that true
faith in God enables those who believe God to overcome great
obstacles, accomplish great things, and triumph in great difficulties. Child of God, in your woe, in your heartache,
in your trouble, in your misery, in the trials and temptations
you have. You don't need more pills to
keep you calm down. You don't need something to pep
you up. You don't need some pagan psychiatrist
to tell you, you know, your problems back yonder the way your mom
and daddy treated you when you were six years old. I'll tell you
what you need. You need to have faith in God. Believe God. Believe God. Oh, God, help me to honor Him
by believing Him. Believe God. A preacher, you
mean, that'll move this mountain? Oh, yeah. That'll move this mountain
one way or the other. That'll move this mountain. You
mean that'll get us over this hurdle? Oh yeah, one way or the
other. One way or the other. You mean that'll overcome this
difficulty? I guarantee it! Believe God and
the mountain shall be leveled before you. Do you want to grow
in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ? Do you
want to be strong and valiant for Him in this world? Do you
desire to grow in spiritual maturity, believe in God? If you do, pray
for more faith. I think we could do no better
in our prayers, in seeking anything from God, than to pray that God
would give us greater hope, greater faith, and greater love. We could
do no better. Pray that God will give you more
faith. Nurture the faith God has given you. Jealously guard
it and nurture it with the bread of life in the house of God.
Water it with prayer and exercise it. And I'll tell you how to
exercise it. By consecration to Christ. Listen. No, you're not going to turn
me aside. No. No, you're not going to keep
me from what I know is right. No, no. You're not going to keep
me in the worship of God, in the house of God, in the family
of God. No, no. I'm going to give myself
to Christ alone. And as you consecrate yourself
continually to God, exercise in faith, thus the believer,
by God's grace, grows in faith, in grace and in the knowledge
of Christ. Blessed are those who rest the whole way of all things upon their covenant,
faithful God and Father. There is no possibility of a
more peaceful, more happy, more blessed life than a life of faith
in God. He that believeth the scripture
says shall not make haste. ever get in a position where
that you're just pressed. I've got to do something. I've
got to do something. The best thing is not doing that.
Best thing, no. No, he that believeth shall not
make us. I can't tell you how many times as a pastor and preacher
both here and other places around the world, people come to me
and they say, you've got to do something. No. No, best thing
for me to do is just wait. Best thing we do is just sit
back and wait. Believe God, he'll take care of it. He'll take care
of it. And he always has, one way or the other. He that believeth
shall not make haste. Now then, secondly, look at verse
24. Faith, true faith in God is essential. Secondly, the prayer of faith
is effectual. Therefore, our Lord is now referring
to exactly what he's been talking about. Therefore, I say unto
you, What things soever you desire when you pray, believe that you
receive them and you shall have them. Now again, I remind you
that prayer is not a blank check waiting for you to fill in the
amount, whatever it is you want. That's not what our Lord's talking
about here. I know that carnal minds think that way, but prayer
is primarily a spiritual exercise. It primarily concerns spiritual
matters. It is not something that is carnal. It is not about carnal matters.
I do not suggest that prayer has nothing to do with carnal
things, not at all. It has everything to do with
carnal things, both our health and our bank accounts and our
food on our table and our relationships. It has everything to do with
everything carnal. But for the believer, His carnal
things are spiritual things. Because the believer has turned
his carnal things over to the dominion of Christ. That makes
him spiritual. So that all that concerns me,
whether we're talking about my physical health, or we're talking
about my daily bread, or we're talking about my relationship
with my wife, or we're talking about my daughter and son-in-law
or this grandchild that's coming, all that concerns me is spiritual. And we turn it over to the Son
of God. So when our Lord tells us here that when we pray in
faith We shall have whatever it is that we desire from God
He is simply reinforcing what he taught in Matthew chapter
6. I want you to turn there for a minute Matthew chapter 6 Here
in verses 9 through 13. Our Lord gives us the model prayer
He teaches us how to pray. I Don't pretend to Know a great
deal about prayer. I've got all kinds of books on
prayer. I've read a lot of books on prayer and Frankly most what
I've read on prayer doesn't say much about prayer It says a whole
lot about introspection and self-righteousness doesn't say much about prayer
But essentially these are the things For which believers pray
in all our petitions before God. These are the things we want
with all relations In all our carnal things Whether you're
talking about my health or yours. Whether you're talking about
my safety or yours. You pray for me as I get on that
plane. Shelby and I get on that plane
Thursday morning. Y'all be praying for us, praying for God to give
us safety. But there's a catch. There's a catch. You pray for
God's blessings on the ministry, but there's a catch. We pray
that God will cause his word to prosper, but there's a catch.
We pray that God will save our sons and daughters, but there's
a catch. There's a catch. You take your wife or your husband
to the doctor, and you find out that they've got cancer. And the doctor says, it's not
over, they're going to die. And you come home and you plead
with God, have mercy. But there's a catch. There's
a catch. Because something else overrules all those petitions.
Something else overrules all those concerns. Something else
is more important. then Gratifying my lust keeping
my wife here of keeping you here Something more important than
me simply having what it is. I want in this life our Lord
said in verse 9 of Matthew 6 After this manner therefore pray ye
This is how you ought to pray Our father which art in heaven
hallowed be thy name number one catch number one catch I just caught Jenny's eye peeking
around, looking at me. Prayed for you for a long time.
Still do. Praying for her. All I ever sought from God for
her, and now seek for your daughter. All it is, number one, let God's
name be honored. That's more important than your
soul. Do you understand that? That's more important than my
soul. Sanctify your name. Get honor
to your name. Number two, thy kingdom come. What is it we want? We want the
honor of God's name, and we want the building of his kingdom.
That's just another way of saying, Lord, save your people. Rex often
prays, save your little sheep. That's exactly what this is.
Lord, build your kingdom. Catch number three. I will be
done. Not my will, I will be done. Number four, give us this day
our daily bread. That is Lord, give me what I
need. Just give me what I need. That's
all. Give me what I need. Nothing more, nothing less. And
that's what he'll give you. Number five, And forgive us our
debts, forgive us our sins. Oh, God, forgive my sin. How could I even imagine asking
for any more? Number six, lead us not into temptation, but deliver
us from evil. That is, keep us, protect us
in your hand of mercy and grace. Number seven, get praise to yourself,
for thine is the kingdom. and the power and the glory forever. Amen. Lord, now this is what
I'm asking. When I call on you, allow me in this world to give
praise to you in everything. To honor you in everything. That's
it. Now thirdly, in verses 25 and 26, our Savior
teaches us that a forgiving spirit is the fruit of true faith. When you stand praying, forgive. If you have aught 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. Now, the connecting link between
the necessity of faith and the spirit of forgiveness is prayer.
First, our Lord taught us that faith is essential both to life
and to prayer. Here he teaches us that we do
not have true faith and we cannot truly pray never have and never
will If we have not been given by the Spirit of grace a forgiving
spirit He is not teaching us that by our forgiving one another
we merit and earn God's forgiveness Oh, no, nothing could be further
from the truth what he is telling us that the one is that the one
thing that matters and and all aspects of worship and prayer,
the one fruit of grace and faith without which we cannot worship,
without which we cannot pray, is brotherly love, which is manifest
by spirit of forgiveness. Let me see if I can illustrate
this for you. Twenty, oh, I guess 26, 27 years
ago, one of my best friends, a man who had been so useful
to me and in my life was visiting in our home in lookout. He was a deacon in the church
where I was ordained. And he and the pastor had a falling
out over a cotton-picking lawnmower. I mean, they worked together.
They worked here. Two or three men worked between
them, and the pastor worked down there. Worked together. And here, two
men in the same church claimed to believe the gospel of God's
grace. We weren't speaking to each other. When they wanted
something, one of them say, you tell him. Like two little kids. You tell him. And he was in my
home one day. He and his wife had come to spend
the weekend, and I said to him in conversation, you're going
to have to put this behind you. You're going to have to forgive
and forget. It doesn't matter who's wrong.
It doesn't matter who's wrong. You're going to have to forgive
this man, or you can't worship God. And it's still true. You know,
the man has never spoken to me again since he left. He and his
wife left about 10 minutes later. And frankly, I'm so concerned. I've never heard from them since.
Never. You can't worship God if you
don't forgive. You can't do it. The nearest approach we can make
to being like Christ in this world is to bear injuries and
forgive one another. That's the nearest we can come
to being like Christ. God's free forgiveness of our
sins is the highest privilege and greatest joy we can enjoy
in this world and our only title to the world to come. Let us
therefore be merciful, kind, and forgiving in the few days
we have here where forgiveness is needed. I'm not going to need
your forgiveness over yonder. But I need a bunch of it here.
And I ask you to give it. And I ask you to pray, God, give
me grace to bear and forgive and bear and forgive as well
for Christ's sake. Amen.