A Prayer for Faith

Luke 17, verse 5. And the apostles said unto the
Lord, Increase our faith. Now the first thing that occupied
my thoughts when I read this prayer And I read it two or three
times, and the first thing that came to my mind was this question,
who prayed this prayer? Who prayed this prayer? The apostles,
the twelve who were chosen by the Lord Jesus Christ to bear
the good news of salvation to the world. Hand-picked, ordained,
chosen, anointed men who followed the Master, who walked with him,
talked with him, ate with him. If they felt their need for more
faith, how much more should I feel my need? And how much more do
I feel my need? Lord, increase my faith. Now there's some dispute as to
when the disciples said this. I picked up a couple of opinions.
Some people believe that the disciples said this, Lord, increase
our faith. After they found out they could
not heal the centurion's son. You remember the story. The centurion
brought his son, who was possessed of demons, to the disciples and
they could not heal him. And the master came down from
the mountain, and the centurion said, Lord, I brought my son
to your disciples, and they couldn't heal him. Will you heal him? And the Lord turned first and
rebuked the disciples, and he said, This kind, this kind of
work goeth forth by prayer and fasting. And he said to the centurion,
he said, if you can believe, all things are possible to them
that believe. And the centurion said, Lord,
I do believe. Help my unbelief. Now, the reason
that these writers said that the disciples, after Christ said
that to them, cried, Lord, increase our faith, is because the story
came from Matthew 17, 20, and the same statement follows that
rebuke of Christ in Matthew 17, 20, as the statement which follows
this prayer here, if you had faith as a grain of mustard seed.
Now that's what he said to the disciples after they couldn't
heal the centurion's son. He said to them, if you had faith
as a grain of mustard seed, you could say to this tree, be pulled
up and planted in the sea and it would be done. And when they
couldn't heal the centurion's boy, he said that, and here,
when they prayed, Lord, increase our faith, he said the same thing
here. But now there are others who
leave it in the context. And the disciples, the Lord has
said to the disciples, if your brother offends you, correct
him for it. And if he repents, forgive him.
And if he offends you seven times in one day, and he apologizes
or begs forgiveness seven times in one day, you forgive him seven
times. And that's when the disciples
said, Lord, increase our faith. When the Master commanded them
to practice forgiveness and mercy, then they felt their need for
greater grace. and greater faith, and they prayed
for it. Now, it fits either circumstance. When the disciples did not have
enough faith to heal the demon-possessed boy, and when the disciples felt
their lack of grace and their lack of mercy and their lack
of ability to forgive others, that's when they asked the Lord
to increase their faith. In either circumstance, it fits
me. I'm sure you feel the same way.
Faith to heal, faith to live, faith to love, faith to forgive,
faith to triumph over sin. I need it. And so I pray, Lord,
if it please you, increase my faith. Now, there are three questions
I'd like to ask tonight. First of all, what were they
praying about? Secondly, what were they asking
for? And thirdly, to whom did they
direct their petition? Now, what were they praying about?
They were praying about faith. Lord, increase our faith, faith,
faith. There's nothing more important
to you or to me than faith in Christ, nothing. And I can give
you four or five reasons for this. First of all, faith is
the salvation grace. Now turn with me to Luke 7, verse
50. Faith is important because it's
the salvation grace. There's no salvation without
faith. In Luke 7, verse 50, the Lord Jesus said to a woman, Thy
faith hath saved thee. Go in peace. Now this was the
woman who slipped into the Pharisees' home and bathed the Lord's feet
with tears and dried them with the hair of her head and kissed
them. And the Lord Jesus turned to
her and said, Thy faith hath saved thee. She was a woman of
great love. She loved Christ, or she certainly
would not have kissed his feet or poured the expensive ointment
on his feet. or washed them with tears and
dried them with the hair of her head. But Christ didn't say,
Thy love hath saved thee. He said, Thy faith hath saved
thee. And this woman was a woman noted for repentance, marked
those tears, a rain of sorrow and a rain of grief over sin.
But Christ didn't say, Thy repentance hath saved thee. And this was
a woman of great humility. The Pharisee was sitting in the
high seat and the other people felt comparable to him, but she
was at his feet, washing them with tears, the woman of great
humility. But Christ didn't say, Thy humility
hath saved thee. Christ bypassed all of these
graces, the grace of love, the grace of repentance, and the
grace of humility, and said, Woman, thy faith hath saved thee. He that believeth on the Son
of God hath everlasting life, and he that believeth not the
Son of God, whatever virtue he possesses, shall never see life."
Turn to Luke 18. Here's another example in the
18th chapter of Luke, verse 42. Here was blind Bartimaeus, to
whom Christ said in verse 42 of Luke 18, Jesus said unto him,
Receive thy sight, thy faith hath saved thee. Now blind Bartimaeus
was the man who sat by the roadside, and he said, Who's passing by?
He couldn't see. In his darkness, in his rags,
in his dirt, in his squalor, he sat there by the roadside.
He heard a great commotion, people pushing, brushing against him.
He said, what's going on? They said, Jesus of Nazareth
passeth by. And he cried out out of sincerity,
Lord, thy son of David, have mercy on me. And they told him
to hush. And he cried out the Lord. The
Lord Jesus Christ didn't say to blind Bartimaeus, thy sincerity
hath saved thee, thy perseverance hath saved thee. Thy determination
hath saved thee," he said, "'Thy faith hath saved thee.'" Blind
Bartimaeus was a man who prayed. His prayers stopped the Lord
Jesus Christ in his journey past the man. He prayed, he cried
out, he cried out the more the Scripture said, but Christ didn't
say, "'Thy prayers hath saved thee.'" And strangely, this man, Brian
Bartimaeus, was doctrinally correct, theologically sound. He had knowledge
of who Christ was. He said, Jesus, thou son of David. That bunch of Pharisees didn't
know that. They said, is not this Joseph's
son? Those people in Nazareth didn't
know that. They said, is not this the carpenter? whose brothers and sisters we
know, but blind Bartimaeus somehow knew who he was. And he said,
Jesus, thy son of David, that's the Messiah. But our Lord didn't
say to him, thy knowledge hath saved thee, thy theology hath
saved thee, thy doctrinal orthodoxy hath saved thee. He said, Bartimaeus,
thy faith hath saved thee. Now brethren, I know it's Christ
who saves, but without faith, even Christ doesn't save. I know
that it's Christ who saves, but we lay hold on Christ by faith. It's the atonement that cleanses,
but we lay hold on the atonement by faith. It is the cross that
cleanses, but we lay hold of the cross by faith. And without
faith, it is impossible to come to God. Turn to Hebrews chapter
3. When the Israelites had left
Egypt, they saw all the miracles which God performed in delivering
them from bondage. They saw the Red Sea party. They
saw the man on the ground. They saw the pillar of fire,
the cloud by day. They saw the fiery serpent. They
saw all those things. And yet when they came to their
threshold of the promised land, Canaan, which God had promised
to Abraham centuries and centuries before, they stopped on a plateau
up here called Kadesh Barnea, something like that. And they
looked down into that promised land, the one God promised Abraham,
the one Moses told them that was theirs, and the one to which
Moses was leading them, and to their cause for which they left
Egypt. And they stood there and looked
down there, and they said, Let's send some spies down there to
look it over. Moses said, All right. So they
selected twelve men. Joshua and Caleb were two of
them, and sent them down to spy off the promised land. And they
came back, and they came back with a cluster of grapes it took
two men to carry on a stave between them. They came back with tales
of giants down there, and great armies, and great cities, and
great walled fortresses, and they said, We can't take that
land. We're just a poor band of unarmed people. And Moses
and Joshua said, We must go down and possess the land. God gave
it to us. They said, We can't do it. And so they turned around
and went back, and they all died in the wilderness, all that were
over twenty years of age when they left Egypt. What was the
cause of this? Verse 19, Hebrews 3 says, So
we see they could not enter in because of unbelief. That's it. Unbelief. So these disciples,
when they were praying, Lord, increase our faith, they were
praying about the salvation grace. They were praying about what
it was all about. faith in Christ, faith in Christ.
Secondly, faith is vital not only because it's the salvation
grace, but faith is vital, faith in Christ, and I pray that mine
might be increased because Christ commended it. How many times
did our Lord commend faith? Well, here's just a few. The
woman who came and touched his garment. And she said, If I may
but touch his garment, or if I may but touch him, I shall
be healed. And Christ said to her, Thy faith hath made thee
whole. The Syrophoenician woman who
came about her daughter, and Christ said to her that he was
sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And she
said, That's true, Lord. And he said, It's not fit to
give the bread of the children to dogs. And she said, That's
true, Lord. But even the dogs eat the crumbs
that fall from their master's table. And the Lord Jesus said,
Woman, thy faith hath saved thee. The centurion who had the sick
daughter and told the Lord, You don't have to come down to my
house. Why, he said, I have servants and I say go and he goes and
I say come and he comes. You don't have to go to my house,
just speak the word. My daughter lives Christ said,
I haven't seen so great faith, not even in Israel. Go thy way,
thy daughter Liveth, thy faith hath saved thee. Then the man
born of Thor, when a great crowd was in that building hearing
Christ speak, and these fellows brought their buddy to see the
Lord Jesus, their buddy was lame, he'd never walked, he was lying
on a crippled bed. And they brought him and they
took, actually took the skylight off that building. While Christ
was preaching, they removed the skylight from the building and
let that man down in front of Christ on ropes on the end for
the four men, let him down right in front of Christ. And our Lord
looked up at those four men who were so faithful and diligent
and let their friend down to be healed, and he said, Thy faith
hath made thee whole, great is thy faith. There are four things in the
New Testament that are called precious. You know what they
are? Precious. Now to us, diamonds are precious
and all these other things you know, but Christ doesn't call
those things precious. He calls four things precious
in the New Testament. Number one, the person of Christ.
The scripture says, to you that believe, he is precious. Secondly, the blood of Christ.
Peter said, we're redeemed with the precious blood of Christ. Number three, the promises of
God are said to be precious promises. They're given unto us, precious
promises. You know what the fourth is?
Right along with the person of Christ, the blood of Christ,
and the word of God. Turn to 2 Peter 1 and draw a
big line under it with your flare pen in your Bible. 2 Peter 1,
verse 1. Simon Peter, a servant and an
apostle of Jesus Christ to them that have obtained light, precious
faith with us. That's the reason I say it's
so important. The precious blood of Christ,
the precious person of Christ, the precious promises of God,
and if you've got it, boy, it's precious faith. Precious faith. If it's just a little faith,
it's precious. Oh, Lord, increase it. Please
increase it. And then faith, thirdly, is the
taproot of all other graces. Everything else worthwhile comes
from faith. It's all born of faith. How can
I love him if I don't believe him? You can't love someone you
don't trust. You can't love someone in whom
you have no confidence. And if I don't believe Christ,
how can I treasure the precious person of Christ? And how can
I have patience if I can't trust his wisdom? If I do not trust
his wisdom, how can I have patience under his rod? And how can I
be courageous if I don't believe his purpose? And how can I submit
to these trials he brings to bear if I do not believe he worketh
all things together for my good and his glory? Faith, someone
said, is the thread upon which all the pearls of grace are strung,
meekness, Mercy, love, patience, courage,
submission, all of these pearls of grace are strung on the string
of faith. Break it, and they all collapse
and scatter about your feet. And then fourthly, faith is the
only way to obtain God's blessings. Turn to James chapter 1. I'm
going to read two or three verses over here. in the book of James,
chapter 1, first of all, it says in verse 5, if any of you lack
wisdom. Now Spurgeon says that, what
does wisdom mean there? It means just what it says. Wisdom. Upper wisdom and lower wisdom.
Spiritual wisdom and earthly wisdom. Wisdom is a part of intelligence,
spiritual intelligence and natural intelligence. They're two ingredients
that make up intelligence, knowledge and wisdom. And somebody said
knowledge is the horse and wisdom's the driver. But if any man lacked
wisdom, spiritual wisdom or natural wisdom, what does it say? A mask
of God. that giveth to all men liberally,
and upbraideth not, and it shall be given him. But let him ask
in faith nothing wavering, for he that
wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind, and
tossed, and let not that man think he shall receive anything
of the So faith is the key to wisdom. I've got to believe. If I ask
God for wisdom, I've got to believe. If I ask God for knowledge and
wisdom, intelligence, spiritual intelligence, some insight into
the mysteries of the kingdom of God, I've got to believe.
If any man lacks wisdom, let him ask of God who giveth wisdom. In Hebrews chapter 11, turn back
just a page or two, in Hebrews 11 verse 6, listen to this. But without faith it is impossible
to please God, for he that cometh to God must, must believe that
he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek
him. And then James chapter 5. Will
you go over there with me? James chapter 5. I want you to
listen carefully to this scripture. James 5 verse 13. Is any among
you afflicted? Let him pray. Is any merry? Let him sing psalms. Is any sick
among you? Let him call. Let him call for
the elders of the church. Underscore the word him. If any sick among you, let him
call for the elders of the church. And let them pray over him. Let
them pray. Let him call. Let them pray.
And anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. What's his
business? His business is in faith to call
for the elders of the church. What's their business? In faith
to anoint him with oil, and to pray over him. And the prayer
of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him
up, and if he hath committed sins, they shall be forgiven
him. All things are possible to him
that believeth And then we need faith because of our enemies.
Turn to Ephesians chapter 6. You know a lot, I used to, when
I used to read sermons and they talked about enemies, I always
thought about folks outside that were against us. But that's,
when the Bible talks about enemies, it's not just talking about folks
outside, it's talking about folks inside too. Some of my chief
enemies lie not without my body, but within my body. My enemy,
Satan's my enemy. My old nature is my enemy. My
temper is my enemy. My impatience is my enemy. The world is my enemy. Principalities
and powers, look at verse 12. We wrestle not against flesh
and blood. That wouldn't be too hard to
solve. All you'd have to do is if you've got a problem with
somebody, move off and leave them. And then you wouldn't have
a problem. If you've got a cantankerous
neighbor, just hunt you a new neighborhood. But that's not
the problem. We're not wrestling against flesh
and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers
of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness
in high places. Wherefore, because of these enemies,
you outfit yourself with the whole armor of God. that you
may be able to stand. What is the armor of God? Well,
verse 14, having your loins girt about with truth. You need truth. Having on the breastplate of
righteousness, having your feet shod with the preparation of
the gospel. And then verse 16, above all,
you've got the truth You've got righteousness as a breastplate,
you've got your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel,
you've got the sword of the Word of God, the helmet of salvation,
but above all, take the shield of faith, wherewith you shall
be able to quench the fiery darts of the wicked, the wicked one. That's who he's talking about.
Satan came to Christ and said, if you're the Son of God, make
these stones bread. He kept hurling these little
darts at Christ. If you're the Son of God, fall
down and worship me and I'll give you the kingdoms of the
world. If you're the Son of God, cast yourself off this pinnacle
and everybody will believe you. If you're the Son of God, you
wouldn't be up here hungry. If you were the Son of God, people
wouldn't be despising you and hating you if you're the Son
of God. And all of these fiery darts of the wicked one were
hurled to the side by the shield of faith. faith. Without faith, like the Apostle
Peter, I will tremble before the little maid, but with faith
I can stand with that same man before the Emperor, and I can
stand with that same man before the Sanhedrin." And I can stand
where that same man is about to cast him into prison for preaching
the gospel and saying to them, I can do nothing but state the
things I've seen in heaven." Without faith, the Apostle Peter,
warming his hands with the fire, was afraid of the little girl
and her accusations. And with the faith of the Son
of God, that same man a few months later stood before the highest
ecclesiastical powers in religious circles, and dared them to do
anything about it. That's the difference. And the
difference is faith. Faith. Now look back at the text. What were these men praying for?
They were praying about faith. And what were they praying for?
Well, they were praying that the Lord would increase it. They
said, Lord, increase our faith. They had faith. Like the centurion,
Lord, I believe, help my unbelief. Turn to 1 Peter 1, verse 5, Brethren,
I begin in faith. I came to Christ as a sinner,
as a helpless, needy sinner. I began this journey by faith. That's where I started. I continue,
I am sustained, I am kept. Look here at verse 5 of 1 Peter
1, we're kept by the power of God through faith. Not through
my sincerity and my diligence and my repentance, but I'm kept
by faith. I'm still a sinner who needs
the mercy of God, and one of these days I shall be perfected
by faith. I shall enter that promised land
by faith. I shall escape the judgment by
faith." Someone said one time, when a believer first comes to
Christ, he holds the promises of God in the palm of his hand,
loosely, treacherously. But when he begins to grow in
faith and his faith increases, he holds them with the tip of
his fingers. But as faith grows, he grips
those promises with an iron fist, and all the forces of hell can't
take him away from him. He's grounded in the faith. And
that's the way it ought to be. It's time that we got out of
this position of just bouncing and juggling the promises of
God on the palm of our hand, blown about by every wind of
doctrine. Every time somebody comes along
preaching something odd or strange, our faith begins to tremble.
Or just holding them with the tips of our fingers. We need
to come to that place where our faith is so strong that we hold
the promises of God with a grip of steel, and they cannot be
taken from us. Lord, that's what I want. I want
you to increase my faith in its strength." Now, when a wheel
stops rolling, it falls. And when an arrow stops climbing,
it falls. And when a believer stops growing
in faith, he falls. Increase my faith, O God, in
its reach. And here's what I think is so
good. Somebody said, I fear a plateau
of four or five doctrines. The Bible is a book of a lifetime. Paul himself said, I count not
myself to have apprehended, to have arrived. But this one thing
I do, I press forward. The Bible is a book of a lifetime, and grace is a lifetime quest. And faith is a lifetime growth. Somebody wrote this, Oh, that
I had stronger faith to look within the veil to receive
my Savior's words, the words that never fail. Now last of
all, and I close with this, I want you to note the one to whom they
prayed. They went to the right person.
Look at the text again. They said, Lord, increase our
faith. Lord, increase our faith. These
disciples didn't say to themselves, I'll increase my faith. I'm going
to, through positive mental attitude, I'm going to increase my faith
by believing a little stronger. I'm going to make myself believe. I'm going to say something a
little strong here, and I hope I don't lose very many. But did
you know that repentance and faith both are the gifts of God? Now, you take your Bibles and
turn to Romans 2. Romans 2, verse 4. Now listen
to this. In Romans 2, verse 4, The Bible says, "...or despiseth
thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering,
not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance."
Have you repented? It's the goodness of God that
led you to repentance. And then, if you will, turn to
Acts 11, verse 18. Acts 11, verse 18. When they heard these sayings,
they held their peace, and glorified God, saying, Then hath God also
to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life." Repentance is the gift of God.
If a man knows what sin is, God taught If a man has a spirit
of sorrow overseeing, God enabled him to weep. God gave him repentance. It's the goodness of God that
led you to the place of repentance. It's the gift of God if you've
repented. Now, secondly, stay with me.
That's what the Bible says. Did you know that faith is the
gift of God? Turn to Philistians 1 verse 29.
This is very clear. in Philippians chapter 1, verse
29. I'm trying to show you why the
disciples turned to the Lord and said, Lord, increase our
faith. They didn't turn in themselves
and say, now I'm going to try to believe a little harder. I
want us to do that, but if we're going to have any faith or an
increase of faith, we're going to have to go where faith is.
to him who is the giver of faith. Look at Philippians 1.29, listen
to it. Philippians 1.29, it says, For
unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe
on him, but also to suffer for his sake. That's the gift of
God. And Ephesians chapter 2 says this, verse 8, For by grace are
ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the
gift of God. What is faith is. I don't want to run afoul of
the Word of God and go to the wrong place for faith. Do you want stronger faith? I'll
tell you what you better do. You better go to the Lord just
like your disciples did, and spend some time in prayer. I
had to. I'm talking to me too. They didn't look to one another
for help. Preacher, preach a challenging sermon and help my faith. Well,
it may help your faith while you're in here, but you get out
there, you're going to have to have someone stronger than me
to help you. Preacher, can you lend me a book about faith? I
want to read about Daniel's faith, and Job's faith, and Isaiah's
faith, and the Apostle's faith." You can read about it all day,
but you're going to have to go to the Lord if you want salvation,
if you want repentance, if you want faith, if you want growth
in spiritual graces. Now, it says over here in the
book of 1 Peter, I believe it is, you have not because you
That's in James, isn't it? You have not because you what?
You ask not. I rebuke myself so often. My
biggest problem is the reason I don't have many things that
I'd like to have in this spiritual realm is because I just flat
don't ask for them. Faith gives eyes to see beyond
present circumstances. Faith gives ears to shut out
the noises of this world and hear His voice. Faith gives hands
to cling to Christ. Faith gives wisdom to understand
His purpose, and faith gives courage to stand on His Word. And I don't know but one place
to get that, and that's to go to Him who gives it. increase my faith. Our Father, anoint the Word with
the power of the Holy Spirit, and teach us and rebuke us and
humble us and break us at thy dear feet. And O Lord, give us
a desire for faith. May we be able to pray with the
disciples from a sincere, trusting heart. Lord, increase our faith. Help my unbelief. And may you say to us, I have
prayed for you, that your faith fail not. That your faith fail not. When
we encounter opposition, when we encounter stumbling blocks
and trials, and things that seem so great and so big in our ways,
and when we face the unknowns of death, judgment, eternity,
O Lord, increase our faith. Strengthen it in Christ. We pray
in His name. Amen. Brother Ronnie, come and
announce the number for us quickly. Number 268. 268. Next band please. How firm a foundation these saints
of the Lord is laid for your faith in His excellent What more
can he say than to you he has said to me? to Jesus has fled. In aught I am with thee, O thee
not dismayed, for I am thy God, I will still give thee

A Prayer for Faith

Sermon Transcript

About Henry Mahan

Comments

Joshua

Articles

Featured Authors

Podcast

Sermons

Featured Preachers

Books

Browse by Format

Music

Recent Comments

About

Legal

Subscribe

Account

Articles

Featured Authors

Podcast

Recent Comments

Sermons

Featured Preachers

Books

Browse by Format

Collections

Music

About

Legal

Subscribe

A Prayer for Faith

Sermon Transcript

About Henry Mahan

Comments

More from Henry Mahan

Related Sermons

Same Scripture

Articles by Henry Mahan

Books by Henry Mahan

Joshua

Where this book stands in the tradition

Plato

Augustine

The Western Christian Tradition

This Book