[0:00] We'll turn to Mark chapter 11 this morning, Mark chapter 11, as we continue here looking through at the life of Jesus, as we've come to the final days of Jesus' ministry here upon the earth.
[0:13] And the Bible gives us more information about this period in His life than any other. It gives us all sorts of details along the way in this final seven to eight days here we are looking at.
[0:28] And we see Jesus as He had entered into Jerusalem just a couple days earlier from where we're looking here, He had entered in and the people had greeted Him joyfully and honored Him.
[0:43] And He'd made His way into the temple and then returned back away from the city of Jerusalem into the town of Bethany. And on Monday on His way back into Jerusalem there and the temple, we find that when He entered the temple, He began to cleanse the area and teaching people and preaching about the use of the temple.
[1:07] That was not to be a place of merchandise, but a place of prayer, a place where people could connect and communicate with God. It was a place that was supposed to be something that would build people's relationship and draw them to the Lord.
[1:22] But we find here, before He went into the temple that day, on His way to Jerusalem, Jesus was hungry, so He looked for some figs on His way and had some leaves.
[1:33] And we're going to be reading through about that. But He expected some figs to be present as the leaves were formed upon the tree. Now just a little interesting tidbit there for you on that.
[1:45] Figs produce fruit before leaves. Leaves were present with an expectation of fruit to be on the tree. And so we're going to look here as Jesus finds no figs upon it and He responds by condemning the tree for the lack of figs.
[2:03] And we're going to look here because this event, the next day as Peter finds that the tree has withered away, we find that Peter asks him a question about it.
[2:14] He makes note of it and Jesus gives a response towards him. We're going to look at here today the reality of that faith that must draw us to God.
[2:28] And so we find here, as we begin looking here in Mark chapter 11, we found Mark chapter 11 this morning. Go ahead and stand together in honor of the reading of the Word of God. And we'll read a couple of verses here up at verses 12 through 14, and then we'll skip down to verse 20.
[2:45] And so we find here, it says in verse 12, Now verse 20, we find the next day after Jesus had cleansed the temple and went back out, they're coming back into the town the next day.
[3:24] It says, In the morning as they passed by, they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots. And Peter says, Remember, and saith unto him, Master, behold, the thing that thou artest thou artest is withered away.
[3:37] And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God. And when you stand praying, forgive.
[4:09] If you have ought against any, that your Father also is in heaven, may forgive you your trespasses. And if you do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses.
[4:24] Let's pray. Heavenly Father, as we come before you this morning, Lord, we're so thankful for your word, Lord, as we look at this lesson on faith and trusting you and what it means, what that looks like and the necessities around it.
[4:41] Lord, we pray just have your hand upon each heart, each life here today. Lord, you know each one. You know the needs that we bring in. Lord, you know the challenges that we face. Lord, would you just help us to focus upon the truth of your word today, even in the midst of those things, that the principal reality is we need to have faith in you.
[5:01] And Lord, we pray just have your hand upon each one today in a mighty way. And let us ask it in your precious name. Amen. You may be seated. You know, while we can make application to our lives and other events and parables in Scripture, one thing we always need to be careful of is to make sure we focus on the way that Jesus presented something.
[5:22] Because oftentimes people have read this passage talking about him cursing the fig tree, and you'll find a lot of people try to put a lot of speculation into it. But we're going to stick to how Jesus described and the focus that Jesus put on the event and what Jesus had to say about it.
[5:39] Because when it comes to the Scripture, when Jesus gives an illustration or an application to something, we can rest assured it's the right one. It's what he wanted us to know and what he wanted us to understand about the truth of the matter.
[5:56] But we find here that the next morning here, after Jesus had returned back into the city, we find the disciples were fascinated as they passed the tree that the day before on Monday had leaves and was green and growing and looked vibrant.
[6:16] And the next morning, the tree was withered up. It's dried up. You know, there was nothing more to it. It was dried up from the root.
[6:27] And notice what Peter asked him here in verse 21. Or says to him, And Peter, calling to remember, saith unto him, Master, behold the fig tree which thou cursest is withered away.
[6:40] You know, it wasn't hard for the disciples to see the difference. You know, the day before that tree was very green, it was noticeable. From even afar off, Jesus made note of how green it was from afar because he came looking for the figs.
[6:56] He made note of what had appeared and what was there. And one day it's green and lush. And the next day, this word withered, literally, if you've been driving around Lincoln lately, you see a lot of withered trees.
[7:09] That's the same term. In other words, it was dried up. All the leaves had turned brown. There was nothing left of what brought any vibrancy.
[7:22] And you know, we walk, you drive around town, you see all these piles of tree limbs that have withered away. That's what happened to this tree overnight. Now, that's the reason the disciples could very easily notice that and make attention to it because that would be pretty obvious.
[7:38] If you've got a tree that's totally green one day and you come back the next day and it's dried up from the root, all the leaves are dried up, everything just withered away on it, it would catch your attention.
[7:50] And we find here it did just that. And it was completely, it was not natural for it to wither away so quickly and completely. But I want you to draw your attention here this morning to verse 22.
[8:03] Because Jesus gives us a very critical statement about this. Notice how Jesus responds to him. Verse 22, Jesus answering, saith unto them, Have faith in God.
[8:22] Have faith in God. You know, we know that faith is central to God's program. Everything that God has for us is centered around this concept of faith, this trusting.
[8:38] You know, think about what the Bible tells us. Hebrews chapter 11, verse 6 says this, But without faith, it is impossible to please him. It is impossible to please him without faith.
[8:52] Faith is a critical element that we find. And when you look through the scripture, you'll find that faith did so many things. Not just a generic faith. Because we're going to look here this morning, sometimes people get in trouble and they get caught up in the faith.
[9:06] But I want you to understand, the focus of what your faith is upon is important. Why do you have faith? Faith itself, we can have faith in a lot of things.
[9:21] But faith, the object of our faith, is important. I want you to see here, Jesus points them to that fact that it's not, don't be fascinated or caught up in the tree.
[9:32] Understand that it's faith in God that's critical. And sometimes we can get caught up in the fanciful and the things that catch our attention. Instead of focusing upon the right direction, that's to focus upon God.
[9:45] But when you look at the scripture, there's many individuals that had miraculous things take place because of faith. You'll consider Joshua commanded the sun to stand still so Israel could defeat the Amorites.
[10:01] I mean, that took faith. Where was this faith? That was in God. We find Isaiah, in Isaiah 38, we find King Hezekiah was told he would die and he prayed and the Lord added 15 years because of his faith in God.
[10:17] We find in Abraham, there in Genesis chapter 22, was told to sacrifice Isaac, his son of promise, and he obeyed by faith and God gave him a ram in his place.
[10:30] Joshua, we find in Joshua 14, we find an 85-year-old man by the name of Caleb, believed God for the power to defeat a mountain filled full of giants.
[10:41] God gave him the mountain. We find in a teenage boy named David there in 1 Samuel, by faith defeated a giant named Goliath.
[10:55] By faith he accomplished those things. God gave him the victory. Three young men in the book of Daniel there, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego believed God to keep them from the power of a pagan king in a fiery furnace.
[11:10] And God met them there in the furnace and protected them, not because of just faith, but their faith in God. What was added here is important because many times we could give many examples of faith and not just generic, but directed and specific focused faith in God.
[11:33] We need to trust God, the reality of it, the object of biblical faith. This is the object of biblical faith, is not just faith itself, it's not just hope itself, but it's in God.
[11:46] He is the one that gives hope when we trust Him. It's what He has done and what He can do. You know, we understand that faith is not blindly wishing something true.
[12:00] You know, sometimes people enter into that idea of faith, that faith is just something that, well, you're just hoping that to be. Well, faith has something more to it than just hopeful wishing or just being positive-minded.
[12:17] I want you to understand, faith is not just something that fascinates the mind. I mean, the disciples were fascinated by what happened to the tree. Sometimes things will happen and people get fascinated by it.
[12:32] And they'll even maybe give honor to God for something, but their faith misses the mark because the mark is not in what is fanciful or what is hopeful or what's wished for, but our faith needs to be in God, in who He is.
[12:47] Notice back here in Hebrews 11, verse 6, notice what He tells us here. Without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he that cometh to God, notice it, you must believe that He is.
[13:01] Have faith in God. Believe that He is. And when we say to believe that He is, that doesn't just mean that He exists.
[13:14] You know, the reality is a lot of people will give acknowledgement to God. But their faith is not in God. Because in your faith is in God, there's some things you have faith in because Jesus is the foundation of faith must be in God.
[13:31] Our faith is not in His kingdom that's going to come. Our faith is not in the law. Our faith can't even be in our position, even like His disciples. Their faith couldn't be in the fact that Jesus made them a disciple.
[13:45] Their faith had to rest in God. Had to rest above those things. In something of more substance, the one that was behind all of it.
[13:57] Because simply it's being persuaded by who God is, His character, to have a deep, settled trust in who He is, what He says, and what He will do.
[14:12] Because we have to understand, we must have faith in His person. You know, not just acknowledgement that He exists, but who He is. That He is God.
[14:22] He is above all. You know, I want you to understand His person is there because He's personal with us. He wants to connect with us. The Bible tells us in 1 Peter 5, 7, to cast, casting all your cares upon Him, for He careth for you.
[14:40] That's a personal connection. It says who God is. He has a personality. He has something that you can connect with. He wants and invites you to bring those things.
[14:53] Think about Philippians 4, in verse 6, where it says, Be careful for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests remain known unto God.
[15:04] And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. You know, we need to know that we can trust His person, who He is.
[15:14] not just a generic God, but a specific God. But we can have that because we must have faith in His promises.
[15:28] Because of who He is as a person, we can have faith in His promises that He has made to us. To trust those things. Think about Romans chapter 4. Romans chapter 4, here in verse 21, it says, and being what?
[15:43] Fully what? What? Is that next word? Persuaded. Fully persuaded. That has to do with our thinking.
[15:57] How we process it, creates a filter or a lens through which we see and how we understand. When you're fully persuaded in your mind, it's locked in.
[16:09] Have you ever noticed that somebody's fully persuaded about them? You just will almost give up arguing with them about anything? Or about that topic? Because if they're fully persuaded, man, there's nothing going to change their mind.
[16:25] God tells us we need to be fully persuaded because He had promised that He was able also to perform. He is able also to perform.
[16:35] Think about Hebrews chapter 6 in verse 18 that says, by two immutable things in which it's impossible for God to lie. You know? To understand that God cannot lie.
[16:47] He will not lie to you. You know? We look at the world today. You know, whenever the elections come up, you can look at it another way. Oftentimes, it's the lying season.
[17:01] You know? There's more lies floating around right now about everything than you can shake a stick at. You know, especially at the age of social media, but I want you to understand when God said something in His description of somebody or you or me, God does not lie.
[17:17] God's promises are true. His application, His, what He tells us about the world, what He tells us about us as individuals, what He tells us is going to happen. It's going to be.
[17:29] We can trust what God has said. You know, Numbers chapter 23 and verse 19 says this, God is not a man that He should lie, neither the Son of Man that He should repent.
[17:41] Hath He said and shall He not do it? Or hath He spoken and shall He not make it good? You know, He's asking questions for the children of Israel who had just come out of Egypt. God made promises to them and He said, hey, what did you guys just see?
[17:55] What did you just see and understand and experience? Did I not tell you this was going to happen and did it not happen?
[18:10] He wants us to know that we must have faith in His promises, but we need to have faith also in His power because, you know, we know very quickly that promises are easily made.
[18:23] You know, even as people, sometimes we make promises even with good intentions. You know, I think we can all look back on our life at some point and say, I made a promise that I made with good intentions but I couldn't fulfill it.
[18:38] There were other things that I could not control that impacted my ability to fulfill a promise. But I want you to understand when it comes to God, He has the power to fulfill them.
[18:53] That's the difference in God's promise over any other promise you'll get. God says, when I promise it, I have the ability to perform it.
[19:05] I have what it takes. You know, think about Jeremiah 32. Jeremiah 32 says, Oh Lord God, behold, thou hast made the heaven and the earth by thy great power and stretched out arm.
[19:17] Notice this, there is nothing too hard for thee. Nothing too hard for God. Luke chapter 1 verse 37 makes a very simple statement, for with God nothing shall be impossible.
[19:36] When it comes to faith in God, we need to trust His eternal plan. We need to trust His purposes. You know, God has a purpose in what He's doing. Often times, we get uncomfortable with God's purpose, but God has a purpose and a plan that He has established and set out.
[19:55] He has it the way He's going to do it. And when it comes to faith in God, we need to trust His eternal plan, a plan that He will accomplish. If He is a, we can trust His person, we can trust His promises, we can trust His power, we can trust His purposes.
[20:13] You know, think about Ephesians chapter 1. It's made this morning. Ephesians chapter 1 and verse 9 tells us this. It says, Having made known unto us the mystery of His will.
[20:28] God doesn't hide His will from us. He reveals His will to us. He wants us to know that He is accomplishing what He said He was going to do.
[20:40] You ever notice it's real easy to claim something if nobody knows what you started out with? You know, I promised that years ago. Who heard you? Nobody. Well, how do you know? God tells us, Hey, here's the plan.
[20:53] Here's the purpose. I promised these things to be so. Now you can examine it. Now you can trust it. He says, According to His good pleasure, which He hath purposed in Himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of times He might gather together in one all things in Christ which are in heaven or which are on earth even in Him, in whom also we have attained an inheritance being predestined according to the purpose of Him who worketh all things after the counsel of His own will.
[21:26] I want you to understand God has declared some very simple promises. This verse applies very directly to your salvation in this way.
[21:37] Your salvation, God says, Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord, whoever trusts me as Savior, will be with Him. That's what God predetermined.
[21:50] God said, I have a plan and a way and if they make that choice, I have predetermined I'm going to fulfill it. I'm going to take care of it. It's all upon me. You know, think about Proverbs chapter 19.
[22:05] Proverbs chapter 19 in verse 21 tells us this, There are many devices in a man's heart. Nevertheless, the counsel of the Lord that shall stand.
[22:19] God is the one that has established those things because consider His will is very clear within the Scripture. God is not willing that any should perish, that all should come to repentance.
[22:32] You know, God makes some very clear statements about His will. His desire and His plan and His provision took care of everything we need to have a relationship with Him if we trust in God.
[22:47] If our faith is in God, not in church, not in baptism, not in what somebody told you, our faith must be in God, must be in what Christ has done, the one that came and died for our sin.
[23:02] It has to be in that alone. Because we see here, notice what He tells them in verse 23. He makes that declarative statement of faith in God.
[23:15] And then Jesus says, For verily I say unto you, that whoso 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.
[23:31] He saith. Now I want you to break these down a little bit because God tells us we have opportunities of faith. What are we going to trust Him in?
[23:43] What are we going to ask Him for? Our faith functions when we trust God and that He's going to do that which is often what we see as impossible.
[23:57] Those things that we look at and say are impossible because I want you to get the picture here because remember Jesus is coming down to the Mount of Olives when He's describing, telling the disciples this.
[24:11] So they're coming down from the mount and can you imagine Jesus when He said, Hey, this, if you ask the Lord, this mountain, He's looking at the Mount of Olives and cast into the sea which would have been the Dead Sea.
[24:23] that was a big thing in the disciples' minds. They could vividly see the picture. They're thinking, this is impossible. The point isn't the moving of the mountain.
[24:36] Jesus is making a point here that reveals to them that true faith in God will change insurmountable obstacles in your life. Faith in God will move things that we think are impossible.
[24:49] impossible. They may be impossible to us but they are possible with God. Let me give you an example.
[25:00] Have you ever considered that sometimes we either look at somebody or maybe even yourself, you've had this thought that I am so lost, so far away from God, God can't save me.
[25:15] You know what? God says, hold on because I can. Amen. What we think is impossible, God says, I can.
[25:30] I can take a sinner and turn him into a saint. God can do the impossible. We can look at somebody and say, that's a lost cause and God says if they trust me, it can be totally different.
[25:45] You think about sometimes we have a great need that appears that could never be met. You know, sometimes we have situations in life that say, Lord, I don't know how this is going to happen. I don't know how this is going to be overcome.
[25:57] I don't even have any idea of how this could even change around or turn around. And Jesus is telling the disciples, have faith in God.
[26:10] Have faith in God. I guarantee you that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego took a lot of faith to say, okay, in the furnace we go. Because when we read those Old Testament stories, we get to look back at what happened.
[26:29] They didn't know what was going to happen. They had no idea what God was going to do. They didn't look at the king and say, you throw us in there and Jesus will save us.
[26:43] That wasn't their attitude. Their attitude was, very simply, we trust God over everything else. And God changed the impossible.
[27:00] Some problems seem so big it appears they could never be overcome. But God says, I can. God changes the impossible to the possible.
[27:13] Because of His promise, and faith in God is built upon the promises found in His Word. He allows us to believe God in the impossible.
[27:24] Just as it was impossible for you and I to be saved. You know, there's not a single person that's possible to be saved of their own accord. not a one of us.
[27:39] It was God that made it possible. It was God who changed things. Look over at 1 Timothy for a moment.
[27:51] 1 Timothy chapter 2. Look here at verse 3. It says, For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior who will have all men to be saved and come unto the knowledge of the truth.
[28:03] For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus who gave Himself a ransom for all to be testified in due time.
[28:15] He made it very clear. He made it proclaimed that the impossible is possible. But it's not possible by a generic faith. You know, oftentimes we have a generation today that reads this passage and they say, Well, this is a blank check for me.
[28:33] One thing we have to always keep in mind that the Bible never contradicts itself. And the context here, God says, You trust me and I can do the impossible things in your life that need to be accomplished because it's a specific faith in the promise that God made.
[28:53] When you call upon Him to save you, you're trusting God in a specific promise that He made. That's how you're saved is trusting God for a very specific promise.
[29:08] That promise is that He, when you call upon Him, that calling isn't just recognizing that He's present. It's acknowledging that you are the one that could do nothing and He is the one that has done everything by shedding His blood on the cross for your sin.
[29:28] God says, If you trust Him, if you call upon Him to be your Savior to cleanse you from sin, He says, I will. Jesus is clear about faith as believing and not doubting.
[29:47] It's not wavering in confidence that God will do what He promised. But just to be clear here, what I want to talk for a moment, this fact that faith is not a blank check because some think, well, if I have faith, then God's got to do it.
[30:01] That's not the way this works. Faith is always, faith in God is always connected to the promises of God. They don't separate.
[30:14] They're built upon His promises. It's built upon what He has declared. It's founded upon the Word of God. Jesus always points to that reality for us and we understand that very clearly.
[30:28] Notice in the Gospel of John, look over to John chapter 14 for a moment. John chapter 14, we find over here, John chapter 14, look at verse 13. It says, whatsoever ye shall ask in my name will I do that the Father may be glorified in the Son and if ye shall ask anything in my name, I will do it.
[30:49] He promises He's going to accomplish it if we ask according to His will to do those things. His will is important that's connected in this here this morning.
[31:02] But I want you to see here because faith has some challenges. You know that statement that Jesus made, have faith in God. In a sense, sometimes we treat it like a platitude.
[31:20] Yes I do, but there's some obstacles to actually trusting God. and we'll notice what Jesus reveals to His disciples because faith in God can do the impossible, but faith can be hindered by things about us.
[31:38] There are many things that can hinder our prayers and we'll quickly look at three here this morning that Jesus makes direct mention of. Things that hinder those things coming to pass.
[31:49] Because notice here what it says in verse 23. He says, Verily I say unto you that to whosoever shall say unto this mountain thou shalt be removed and be thou cast into the sea.
[32:00] Now notice this, and shall not doubt in his heart. Doubt. This goes back to what we talked about earlier when it comes to unbelief.
[32:13] Remember when Jesus went into different villages there was things He did not do, there was miracles that were not performed and what did Jesus accredit it to? Unbelief.
[32:26] Unbelief. They were refusing to recognize who God is, to trust Him. Because doubt is divided into one's, is dividing one's or to draw back.
[32:40] You know, when we pray with doubt we're drawing back from God's Word and His promises. You know, ultimately really doubt questions God's character. I'll tell you to look over in the book of James this morning.
[32:55] James chapter 1. Notice what James tells us in James 1. He says, But let him ask in faith nothing wavering.
[33:08] For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not think that he shall receive anything of the Lord. Now I want you to understand that James makes it clear that we can doubt, we can know, but we have, we hold back to say, God says He can, but I really don't believe He can.
[33:35] You know, that's a real thing for us, isn't it? just like anything else in life, you can know something up here, but to actually put the confidence out in it is a different thing.
[33:51] To actually put a trust in it to say, I'm going to extend myself out beyond where I am because I trust God's going to make the difference. unbelief.
[34:04] Notice verse 24, it says, therefore, I say unto you, whatsoever things ye desire when you pray, believe that you receive them and ye shall have them. Now this word we're going to look at here is desire.
[34:17] What things ye desire? You know, because we ought to desire the right things when we pray. Because the Bible tells us we can desire the wrong things when we pray.
[34:29] We can desire things contrary to the word of God. Because God's going to answer prayer when we trust Him because our prayers need to be built upon His what?
[34:41] His promises. Upon His word and what He has said. Notice what it tells us here that our prayers need to be in alignment with God's will. Look over in 1 John chapter 5.
[34:54] 1 John chapter 5 and verse 14 tells us this and this is the confidence that we have in Him that if we ask anything according to what? His will He heareth us.
[35:09] And if we know that He hear us whatsoever we ask we know that we have a petition that we desire of Him. In other words when our desire is to see His will and His purpose fulfilled He promises to answer.
[35:25] You know, think about Joshua and Caleb and all the others we mentioned who received big answers to their prayer of faith did so because they were asking for things that God had already promised them in His word.
[35:37] God had already promised Caleb to take the mountain years earlier. He promised it to him years earlier and Caleb says, God, I'm calling upon your promise to fulfill it.
[35:49] When the sun stood still that day for Joshua and the children of Israel it stood still because Joshua was calling upon God's promise to deliver them and to conquer the land.
[36:02] He was giving them something of substance. You know, does God ever answer the prayers of His children when they ask for things that He hasn't explicitly promised?
[36:20] Yes. Because God understands that there are certain things we do need. I mean, He's given us generic promises that He'll never leave us or forsake us.
[36:30] He promises to take care of our daily needs. But, you know, sometimes we can ask for some specific things that are still according to God's will. Things that will help us or benefit us. You might say those are blessings that God gives to you.
[36:43] But those blessings and those things will never go in counter to His will. They'll always be a blessing because of His will.
[36:53] Something that He's given to you that benefits or encourages you or strengthens you and your faith can move forward. But look at verse 25 and 26.
[37:08] This is another interesting one as you think about Jesus. He starts out, they're talking about a fig tree and mountains moving into the sea and He turns this whole conversation around to faith in God and trusting Him above everything else.
[37:25] Verse 25 and 26 point something out where I think a lot of times we struggle with faith. And that's in the area of forgiveness. We struggle in trusting God when we say we're going to forgive.
[37:46] God makes promises associated. Notice what He tells us here. This idea of unforgiveness. Look here, and when you stand praying forgive. Forgive. If you have ought against any.
[38:02] That's a pretty generic statement. If you have ought against anybody, if there's a problem that you haven't forgiven or that you haven't dealt with, Jesus says it hinders your prayers when you don't trust Him to say, I can forgive them because God has forgiven me.
[38:22] If God can forgive me, I'd be able to forgive somebody else. But we struggle with forgiveness, don't we?
[38:37] Jesus tells the disciples, because there's going to be some things happen. Often we wonder, why does Jesus focus on forgiveness? this? When you look and read about what happened to the apostles here a little later in the scripture, they had to offer a lot of forgiveness to people for things that they did.
[39:05] Think about Peter and John, they were beaten, put in prison. They were beaten, put in prison. John had his brother killed by getting his head chopped off.
[39:17] That's pretty personal. And Jesus was telling them it doesn't matter what's happening now or what's happening later.
[39:30] You need to forgive just as I forgave you. But that's a real struggle because he expects us to forgive. forgive. Notice in verse 26 he says, if you do not forgive neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses.
[39:47] In other words, I want you to understand here, we'll talk about this a little bit more in just a moment, but I want you to understand the importance of forgiveness. Look over in Ephesians chapter 4 and verse 32.
[39:59] Ephesians 4 32 tells us this, it says, be kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, for even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.
[40:15] You know, the right perspective in our eyes when we understand that God offered us a way of forgiveness, but we didn't merit the forgiveness.
[40:29] Oftentimes we hold up our forgiveness because we look and say that person doesn't merit it. and God says you didn't either, but I gave it anyway.
[40:46] The necessity of forgiveness, that unforgiveness, just as faith enables our prayers, unforgiveness is a barrier to them.
[40:59] You say, why is that? Because unforgiving spirits puts us at odds with the Lord. Now what Jesus is talking about here is twofold, because you got to understand his audience is the first thing.
[41:11] Whenever you read the scripture, it's like, who is he saying this to? He's saying this to his disciples, those that have already trusted him, those that have been set apart to serve him.
[41:23] He's telling them that, hey, if you don't forgive, it's going to hinder our relationship. fellowship. He's not talking about losing salvation, he's talking about hindering fellowship with one another.
[41:40] God's God's fellowship with God after salvation.
[41:53] Unforgiveness is a hindrance, and we can hold on to those things. When we possess an unforgiving spirit, our prayers will be hindered, and God's forgiveness will not be realized in our daily walk with him.
[42:06] You know, this morning we should consider the important nature of faith when it comes to the things of God.
[42:17] Because Jesus makes it clear, have faith in God. Not in your abilities, not in what somebody else has done, have faith in him.
[42:28] To trust him. God is the one that everything else submits to. You know, the focus of our faith not only gives us a direction, but connects us with the one that supplies the needs along the way.
[42:44] This morning, how is your faith? How is your faith today? Because oftentimes we come in with mountains that need to be moved in our lives.
[42:59] That you look at and say, God, I don't know how that's going to happen. And Jesus says, trust me. Follow my promises, claim my promises, and I will fulfill my promises.
[43:21] Are there mountains that need to be moved? Are you seeking his will in your life? Do you trust him to do what he promises to do?
[43:34] Because you can know what it says, but there's another to trust it. Because trust involves stretching out to say, I think God, it's not just thinking that God's going to do it, it's knowing God is going to fulfill after you step out.
[43:52] Faith is an element of saying, I'm going someplace that I'm not sure of, but I'm trusting in the one that is sure. Because I know who he is and what he can do.
[44:06] It's the substance of our faith. Today we need to understand the importance of humbling ourselves when we trust him to his will and not ours.
[44:26] You know, maybe it's a simple today to say I need to call upon the Savior. There's never been a time and a place where I could look and see that that's when I called upon him.
[44:40] This is the moment I trusted God, I trusted Christ as my Savior. Because that happens in a moment. It happens at a specific place at a specific time.
[44:55] If you can't see that in your mind, that's something you need to deal with before the Lord. If that's the case, I encourage you to trust him today.
[45:11] But as the heads are bowed and eyes are closed this morning, maybe there's some things when it comes in regarding to your faith in God this morning.
[45:22] maybe there's some mountains, maybe there's some obstacles, maybe there's some things that you're just like, Lord, I don't understand what's going on.
[45:34] I don't understand why this is happening. But Lord, I'm going to seek you and your will, Lord, I'm going to trust you as we walk through those things day by day.
[45:52] Is that your need today? Heavenly Fathers, we come before you this morning. Lord, we just thank you and praise you for your word and for your promises, just for who you are, Lord, that we can trust you in all areas of our life.
[46:07] And Lord, we pray just have your hand upon each one here today. Lord, you know the needs, you know the specifics of each life. Lord, there's no hiding those things from you. Lord, if there's one here today that doesn't know you as Savior, that today would be the day they would call upon you.
[46:23] But Lord, if there's other needs, that it might be the day that they say, I'm going to put all my eggs in God's basket. I'm going to trust him in everything moving forward.
[46:34] And Lord, we just ask it all in your precious name, Lord, as the piano plays, that you'd work upon hearts and lives here today. In Jesus' name, amen. What about you today? Amen.