Have faith in God – Mark 11: 20 – 26

Our reading this morning records the outcome of Jesus’ curse upon the Fig Tree recorded in verses 12 – 14, and following the Disciples discovering how the root of the Tree had withered which is a picture of how God’s judgment was coming upon Israel for their religious hypocrisy and their rejection of Jesus as the Messiah, Jesus uses it as an opportunity to teach them a valuable lesson about faith.

Now when it comes to biblical faith, there are two types of faith. There is faith God gives as a ‘gift’ which enables people to believe in Jesus for their salvation – Ephesians Chapter 2 verse 8 – and there is faith God gives in ‘measure’ – Romans Chapter 12 verse 3 which, when exercised,  causes God to do incredible, miraculous things

For example, in Joshua Chapter 10 we read how in faith Joshua prayed the sun would stand still in the sky so Israel could defeat the Amorites and that is exactly what happened. And further on in Chapter 14, we read how in faith an elderly Caleb prayed for the power to defeat the Anakites, and again that is exactly what happened.

Later In 1 Samuel Chapter 17, we read how a teenage boy named David believed God would give him the victory over a Philistine giant named Goliath, and God gave him the victory. In Isaiah Chapter 38 King Hezekiah is told how he was going to die, and when he prayed to God in faith to prolong his life, God gave him another 15 years.

And in Daniel Chapter 3, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego prayed in faith for God to keep them from being consumed by the fiery furnace, and not only did God protect them, but he stood with them in the furnace.

When we exercise biblical faith in God and His promises, we can expect amazing results. And that is exactly what Jesus is teaching His Disciples of yesterday and today through what happened to the Fig Tree. This passage has much to teach us about the power of biblical faith. And as verse 22 reveals, it begins with God.

Mark writes, ‘In the morning, as they went along, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots. Peter remembered and said to Jesus, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree you cursed has withered!” “Have faith in God”, Jesus answered.

By telling His Disciples to “Have faith in God”, Jesus is telling them to have a deep-settled, consistent, ongoing confidence in WHO God is, in WHAT God has said, and in WHAT God will do.

It speaks of a constant communion of prayer with God in which the believer exercises faith in several aspects of God’s character. First, it speaks of exercising faith in GOD’S PERSON. The scriptures tell us how the moment we are eternally saved by Jesus, God becomes our Father and we become his sons and daughters. We become His children.

Contrary to what non-believers will tell you, we are NOT dealing with an aloof, disconnected deity devoid of any love, compassion, or care, but rather we are dealing with a deity who is close to His people; who is connected to His people; who as we will hear later, pours out his love, compassion, grace, mercy and care upon his people, and who provides for His people.

Second, it speaks of exercising faith in GOD’S PROMISES. When it comes to the matter of faith and approaching God in prayer, the people of God have some very precious promises from God we can hold onto.

For example, in Philippians Chapter 4 verse 6, the Apostle Paul wrote, ‘Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, PRESENT your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus’

In 1 Peter Chapter 5 verse 7 Peter wrote, ‘Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you’, and in James Chapter 4 verse 8 James wrote, ‘Come near to God and He will come near to you’.

Another promise of God is He promises to hear us when we pray to Him. In Psalm 10 verse 17 we read, ‘You hear, O Lord, the desire of the afflicted; you encourage them, and you listen to their cry’.

Further on in Psalm 65 verse 2 we read, ‘O you who hear prayer, to you all men who come’, and in Jeremiah Chapter 33 verse 3 the Lord said through his prophet, “Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know”.

And another promise of God is He will answer our prayers which, as we have heard many times before, will either be Yes, No, or Not yet. The Lord will always answer, but we must be prepared for Him to answer in His WAY, in His TIME, and perhaps more importantly, in His WILL which may not necessarily be in accordance with our will.

Brothers and sisters, when it comes to the promises of God, we have the Lord’s guarantee He will keep every single one of them. He will NOT back away from a single promise He has given to His people. When God promises something in His Word, we can have absolute faith He will fulfill that promise – and we will look at that truth in more detail in just a moment.

And third it speaks of exercising faith in GOD’S POWER. You know folks, its one thing to make a promise, but it’s another thing to have the power to keep the promise. And as God’s people, we can have absolute confidence in God’s power to do everything He has promised to do.

We serve an awesome God who, in His mighty power, created the heavens, the earth, the universe and everything found in them. Which means you and I can trust God to use His mighty power when it comes to doing whatever it is we have asked of him.

Because our God is ALL POWERFUL, he can do anything. Absolutely nothing is impossible for him. He has the power to turn the impossible into the possible. All we need to do is trust in His power.

Now from where Jesus and His Disciples were standing – which was just outside the village of Bethany – they would have been able to see the Dead Sea and the Mount of Olives. I read Bethany was located near the base of the Mount of Olives, and from what Jesus said to the Disciples in verses 23 & 24, it’s highly likely Jesus used the Mount to illustrate the outcome of what faith in God will produce.

He said to them, “I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, “Go, throw yourself into the sea”, and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours”.

Friends, I don’t know about you, but as I look around the world of the 21^st century, I see many SITUATIONS that appear so hopeless they will never be resolved; I see many PEOPLE who are so lost in their sin it appears they will never be saved; I see many NEEDS which are so great it appears they will never be met; and I see many PROBLEMS which are so huge it appears they will never be overcome.

Through my eyes of flesh, and probably your eyes of flesh as well, they all appear to be insurmountable. However, when we look at them through the eyes of faith in which we fully trust God, and we fully trust the promises of God in His Word, what seemed insurmountable becomes surmountable.

Faith in God and in His promises allows us to believe God will work in the impossible situations, needs, and problems we see all around us, and more importantly, it allows us to believe God will work in the impossible situations, needs, and problems of our personal lives.

For example, we can believe God’s promise of how He will work to meet our needs. In Matthew Chapter 6 verses 25 – 34 Jesus teaches His people how they are NOT to worry about tomorrow because God the Father knows our needs and will meet those needs. And in Philippians Chapter 4 verse 19 Paul wrote, ‘And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus’.

We can believe God’s promise of how He will work to prosper us and not to harm us. In Jeremiah Chapter 29 verse 11 God said to his people, ‘For I know the plans I have for you. Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future’.

And in Psalm 103 the Psalmist wrote, ‘Praise the Lord O my soul, and forget not all his benefits – who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagles’.

We can believe God’s promise of how He will work to give us rest and assurance in times of trouble. In Matthew Chapter 11 verses 28 & 29 Jesus said, “Come to me, all you who are weary and heavy burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light’

We can believe God’s promise of how He will work to give us peace. In John Chapter 14 verse 27 Jesus said, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid”.

And we can believe God’s promise of how He will work to give us victory. In Romans Chapter 8 verses 37 – 39 the Apostle Paul wrote:

‘In all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loves us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord’.

I guess I could go on and on and on. But what these promises, along with those I mentioned earlier are telling us, is if we have faith in God and in His promises, then what God – who we are told cannot lie – said He will do, He will do. Our faith will cause Him to fulfill what he promises in His Word.

Now although faith in God is powerful and allows us to experience the incredible, and receive the impossible, our faith can also be hindered. And in the passage, Jesus highlights 2 major hindrances which are ‘doubt’ – verse 23, and ‘unforgiveness’ – verse 25.

With regard to ‘doubt’, the Greek word Mark used means ‘to be divided; to hesitate; to stagger; to waver; to draw back’.

Doubt calls into question the character and ability of God. Doubt says, “Although God has promised me in His Word, I don’t really believe Him; I don’t really believe He will do what I have asked of him”.

Doubt is DEADLY to effective prayer in that any prayer prayed in doubt, will NOT be answered by the Lord. As James wrote in James Chapter 1 verses 6 & 7, ‘But when he asks, he MUST BELIEVE AND NOT DOUBT, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; he is double-minded, unstable in all he does’.

The context to these verses in James is God’s people asking God for wisdom and doubting God will give it. But it can also be applied to anything else we might ask of God. Doubt is a massive barrier to our prayers.

Friends, if we pray with doubt, we can expect our prayers to go no higher than the ceiling. But if we pray in full assurance of faith, we can expect our prayers to fly into the Throne room of God where he will receive them, hear them, and if they are in line with his will, respond to them.

And with regard to ‘unforgiveness’ whilst the Bible doesn’t use the word ‘unforgiveness’ there are a number of definitions or meanings to it. One such definition is ‘a grudge against someone who has offended you’. Another is, ‘not having the compassion to forgive’. And another is ‘A resentful, malicious, bitter attitude towards someone for any hurt or offence caused’.

Similar to doubt, unforgiveness is also a massive barrier to our prayers and to all the Lord wants to do in our lives. And it was a barrier Jesus was very aware of because on 3 occasions he stressed to His Disciples the need for them to demonstrate forgiveness.

In Matthew Chapter 6 which records the prayer known as The Lord’s prayer, he tells his Disciples that when they pray, they are to include the words, ‘Forgive us our debts, as WE also HAVE forgiven our debtors’.

And immediately after the prayer he told them, “For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins”.

And then later in Chapter 18 the Apostle Peter brings up the issue of forgiveness in which he asks Jesus, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?” to which Jesus replied, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times” which is Jesus’ way of saying our forgiveness of others is to be continual. There is to be no limit to how many times we are to forgive.

But of course, in addition to forgiveness being at the heart of Jesus teaching, it was also at the heart of the Apostle Paul’s teaching. In Ephesians Chapter 4 verse 32 he wrote, ‘Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you’, and in Colossians Chapter 3 verse 13 he wrote, ‘Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you’.

Just as faith connects us to God and enables our prayers to get through to Him, unforgiveness disconnects us from God and blocks our prayers from getting through to him. All the while we possess an unforgiving spirit, our prayers will always be hindered, and God’s forgiveness of us will not be realized in our daily walk with him. We will walk through this life out of God’s will and out of touch with God.

Now I am of course very aware that sitting in our churches are Christians who have had terrible experiences at the hands of others, so I fully understand why they refuse to forgive. I fully understand why forgiving others who have caused them so much hurt and pain is the last thing they want to do.

However, the bottom-line folks, is if they don’t forgive; if they don’t do what the Lord has commanded, they will always be in bondage to their unforgiveness. They will never be truly free; they will never experience the fullness of life Jesus wants to give them; and they will never experience the blessing of answered prayer.

As Christians who have been completely forgiven by God and will remain forgiven, we can never say it’s impossible for us to forgive because as we heard earlier, our God is the God of the impossible, and he can make the impossibility of forgiveness become the possible.

God is living within us by his Spirit which means we also have within the power to bring us to a place of forgiveness.

It IS possible to forgive – the question we need to ask ourselves is ‘Do I want to forgive?’ Do I want to release that person? If we do, then God can and will help us. If we don’t, then God will stand aside and leave us to suffer the consequences of our unforgiveness which is tragic in every way.

Doubt and unforgiveness will always stand in the way of God pouring out the storehouses of Heaven into the lives of His people. Can I encourage you to make sure they don’t stand in the way of him pouring out the storehouses of Heaven into yours.

Brothers and sisters, Biblical faith is a powerful weapon. The mountains of life yield to its power; the impossible becomes the possible; the insurmountable become the surmountable; and the believer experiences the promises of God being fulfilled in their lives in every way.

So in light of what you have just heard, and by way of finishing, how is your faith this morning? How is your trust in God? Are you walking in faith, fully believing God is walking with you and will fulfill His promises to you? fully believing He will move any mountains that have arisen in your life? fully believing He can turn the impossible into the possible? OR are you walking in disbelief, doubt, and unforgiveness?

The writer of Hebrews wrote, ‘Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God’

As God’s church that is Hadleigh Baptist, let us always be looking upward in full assurance of faith, and let us always fix our eyes upon Jesus the author and perfecter of our faith, because when we do great things, incredible things, impossible things will happen, of that God promises. AMEN.