A Lesson in Unfailing Faith

Introduction

Good morning everyone! I hope you all are doing well today! We want to thank you for joining in with us once again today through Facebook and for those who may be joining in on our newly added YouTube live channel.

Today, I want us to continue on by looking at another event that took place in the final week of Jesus life. We’re going to pick up today, right where we left off last week. If you have your Bible’s with you, turn with me to the Book of Mark 11:20.

If you will remember, last week we looked at how Jesus and His disciples had entered into Jerusalem early on Monday morning. On their way in, Jesus was hungry and he seen a fig tree off in the distance that had an abundant amount of leaves on it and so He went over to it to try and get some fruit off of it for breakfast but when He gets there and begins to inspect this tree for some fruit, He finds none, notta, zilch!

This fig tree had deceived him because it looked good from afar but it was barren and this reminded Jesus of the religious leaders he had seen the night before in Jerusalem. They had religion; they looked the part; they played the part; they spoke the part; but they were barren when it came to producing any fruit!

The worship of God had become nothing more than glorified lip service backed by a works based religion! These leaders were pious and the Bible records that “they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God!”

So, Jesus curses this fig tree and the Bible records that the disciples heard him. They then continue their journey back into Jerusalem where Jesus entered the outer court of the temple where the religious leaders had set up an enterprise basically and were conducting business in the house of God.

He begins to flip over the tables of the money changers and cast out those who were selling the sacrificial animals and then commences to tell the Chief Priests and Scribes that they had turned the house of God into a den of thieves!

As you can imagine, at this point these religious leaders are livid! They can’t believe what this carpenter from Nazareth has just done and the Bible records that “they sought how they might destroy him for they feared him because all the people were astonished at his doctrine!”

Jesus finishes this Monday by teaching in the temple with great hordes of people hanging onto his every word and then the Bible records that “when evening was come he went out of the city.”

Now, this brings us to the scripture before us today. We’re going to pick up just as we did last week, with Jesus and His disciples returning to Jerusalem for yet another day of teaching and disputing with the religious leaders. And we’re going to camp right here over the next couple weeks because there is a ton of scripture for us to glean from!

From what we have recorded, this was probably one of the busiest days our Lord had when it come to disputing with the Chief Priests, Scribes, Pharisees and Sadducees.

Today though, I want to focus in on what happens on their journey back into the city. So, if you have your Bibles, look with me if you will at Mark 11 and we’re going to pick up today in Verse 20 and read down through about Verse 24 at a message I’ve entitled A Lesson in Unfailing Faith. Mark 11:20.

The Product of Faith

Now, there are 3 things I want us to look at this morning which I hope will strengthen us in our walk with God.

The Product of Faith

The Practice of Faith

The Person of Faith

And all 3 of these things we’re going to find right here in the shortest verse of our scripture today, Verse 22. Look with me if you will at what it says.

“And Jesus answering saith unto them, “Have faith in God.” Have faith in God!

So, let’s begin this morning by looking at The Product of Faith. Jesus and His disciples are heading back into Jerusalem and no doubt they more than likely took the same path that they had taken the day before.

So here they are, their walking down the road and they pass by this same fig tree that Jesus had cursed the day before and all of sudden, Peter notices it and remembers that Jesus had cursed it. He says, Master look! The fig tree that you cursed is withered away!

Now, the Bible records that this fig tree is dried up from the roots and withered away! This same tree, that just yesterday was filled with big, beautiful, bountiful leaves is now dead! Imagine if you will, all the leaves are now gone, the branches now barren and the trunk of tree has begun to draw up and shrivel! This tree, the day before which was full of life is now completely dead!

Peter is amazed and even though he makes a statement here by saying, “Master, behold the fig tree thou cursed is withered away”, in my opinion it’s made with a question in mind! I believe in his mind Peter was thinking, “how is this possible?”

So, Jesus gives a very short but direct answer and says, “Have Faith in God!”

Sounds simple enough doesn’t it? Just have faith in God! But what exactly is faith?

I asked my wife yesterday…I said, Honey if I were to ask you how you would explain faith what would you say? What exactly is faith?” She responded by saying, “faith is believing in something without seeing it!”

And listen, that’s the best definition you’ll find when it comes to explaining faith. Believing without seeing! Putting your full confidence and trust in something you’ve never seen! You see, the Bible says in Hebrews 11:1...

Hebrews 11:1 (KJV) — Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

I love how the New Century Version puts it....

Hebrews 11:1 (NCV) — Faith means being sure of the things we hope for and knowing that something is real even if we do not see it.

Listen friend, I have faith that heaven is real even though I’ve never seen it because Jesus said it’s real and because He said that He was going to prepare a place for us and that when it was finished He would come again to receive us unto himself that where He is we may be also!

Well Pastor, how do you know that Jesus is even real? You’ve never met him!

I may not have met Him but I have letters written by 5 different people who have! These men walked with Him, talked with Him, learned from Him and have written to us so that we may know Him too! I have faith that these writings they have left behind are true! These letters are my substance of things hope for and my evidence for things not seen!

Well Pastor, what makes you think that those letters are even true! That Book you read called a Bible is simply that “just a book!”

Well friend, the reason I put my faith in this book is because it is the inspired, inherent, infallible, indestructible Word of God! For thousands of years people just like you have tried to deny it, discard it, and destroy and it but you can’t!

Every time you try to destroy it or explain it away it only grows stronger and gets spread further! The grass will wither and the flowers will fade but the word of our God has stood and shall stand forever!

This words contained in this Book are my evidence for the things I have not seen!

Faith is believing without seeing! Jesus said, “have faith in God!” Have I ever seen God? No. But I have faith that He exists because His word tells me that He does and because I have experienced His presence in my life!

When I pray for something specific and there’s no way that by chance this thing can come to fruition but then it does; that’s God!

When I ask God for a sign and no one else knows about this request but He and I and then that specific thing comes to pass; that’s God!

When a health issue comes my way and the doctors tell me there’s nothing else they can do and there’s no hope and I take my problem to God in prayer (which is what we should do to begin with) and all of sudden I am healed of this thing; that’s not by chance, that’s God!

When I’m sitting there on Friday evening and I’ve read my Bible all week but don’t know what God wants me to speak about on Sunday and I say, “God I need some help here. I have no idea what you want me to preach this Sunday. Please show me, speak to my heart and give me what it is you want me to preach” and within 5 minutes His Holy Spirit speaks to my heart and now I’m sitting here staring at this same scripture I’ve read all week but all of a sudden it opens up to me and speaks to my heart in a way I’d never seen before and now I have an entire message; that’s God!

Listen friend, you don’t have to see to believe, you have to believe in order to see!

Faith is believing without seeing!

And here’s the thing…we don’t realize it, but we practice faith hundreds if not thousands of times a day!

We set our alarm clocks at night and put faith in them that they will ring at a certain time to wake us up in the morning. We wake up and put faith in our bodies that when we swing off the side of the bed and go to stand up that our legs will be strong enough to hold us up. We walk to our bathrooms and begin to get ready. We turn on the faucet to our showers or our sinks and without doubting, put our faith in that handle that when we turn it, water is going to come out. We put our faith in our toothpaste and toothbrush that when we use them they are going to clean our teeth. How many of you, after brushing your teeth, actually look in the mirror at your teeth to see if they’re clean? You see you put faith in the toothbrush and the toothpaste that they did the job!

We finish getting ready and hop in our car to go to work. We put the key in and turn it, never doubting that when we turn the key, that it will start. We put faith in our cars that when we turn that key they will perform like they’re supposed to. We put faith in the ignition, in the battery, in the starter, in the flywheel, the crank, the rods, the pistons, the valves, the spark plugs, and even the fuel in our motors to start the engine!

Then we put faith in the transmission that when we throw that thing in gear it’s actually going to go somewhere and that the wheels and tires and gas pedal and brakes will get us where we desire to go!

And the craziest part of all, is this…we put our faith in all these parts which were made by a person or robot in who knows where so essentially, without even knowing it, we put our faith in that person or that robot that they did their job correctly which in turn would allow our car to work correctly, and get us where we need to go!

We’ve practiced the act of faith probably close to a hundred times or more and haven’t even gotten past the first hour of the day!

Faith is believing without seeing and Jesus tells Peter here to have faith in God!

So we see the Product of Faith now let’s look at the Practice of Faith.

The Practice of Faith

Jesus then gives the disciples a lesson in putting their faith into practice.

You see, you can have faith in something without putting that faith into practice. I can believe that my car is going to work exactly as it should but unless I turn the key, I will never find out, right?

Turning the key is therefore putting my faith into practice and Jesus says here to Peter and the disciples… “have faith in God.”

He didn’t just say “faith in God” but rather “have” faith in God! Practice putting your faith in God and then He goes into more detail about how to do this in the next two verses. Look at what Jesus says there in Verses 23-24.

Mountain — could have been the Mount of Olives or the Temple Mount or He could have just simply been using the illustration of a mountain to represent an obstacle in our way!

John MacArthur said ...In extrabiblical Jewish literature, rabbis who demonstrated unusual ability to solve very difficult problems were sometimes referred to as removers or rooters up of mountains.

So, whether Jesus meant an actual mountain or as most believe was simply using the mountain as an illustration to mean an obstacle in our way, either way, He says if we will cast it out of our way without doubting and believe it shall come to pass then it shall happen!

Let me just say this…being as Jesus is the one who created the mountains and the valleys and the seas if He should have wanted to literally cast it into the sea, then praise God, I stand in full assurance of faith that it would have been cast into the sea!

He just caused a perfectly good, healthy fig tree to die so why in the world couldn’t He literally say unto a mountain be cast into the sea and it happen!

But without getting too far off subject here, the entire key to this verse, being able to make a mountain or obstacle remove itself from in front of us is this…you must ask without doubting!

Listen, on my own, I can tell a mountain or even an obstacle of a mountain, to remove itself from my way and be cast into the sea all I want but the reality is, the mountain is bigger than I am! I can’t physically do anything about it but guess what…I know someone who can!

So I put my faith in God to get the job done! I transfer my inability to His ability and believe that if He should will it to be done it will be done and move on!

I make my request to God in faith, believing that no matter how big that mountain is, it’s not bigger than He is!

Jesus said, when you make your requests to God, don’t make them and then automatically begin to doubt whether they will come to fruition or not, but rather believe that it will be done and these things shall come to pass!

How many times do we go to God in prayer over something and before we even say, “Amen” we begin to doubt the requests we’ve just made.

“Well that won’t ever happen or I know I’ve asked God to fix this problem I have going on right now but He probably won’t do it!”

Listen, when we do that, when we doubt our requests, we defeat ourselves before the battle even begins! When we doubt like that, we’re basically saying, “Hey God, I know your big and all but I just don’t think you’re big enough to handle this problem.”

Listen, that’s what I want to call “Failing Faith!” But Jesus is teaching us here how to have “Unfailing Faith!”

He says do not doubt! The Bible says in...

James 1:6-8 (KJV) — 6 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. 7 For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord. 8 A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.

Listen when we go to God in prayer we are make our requests known unto Him without doubting! The Bible says here in James if we go to God in prayer, doubting, then we shouldn’t expect to receive anything from Him! We are to go to God in prayer with full assurance that whatever we ask, as long as it is according to His will, He will do it!

Notice what Jesus says there in Verse 24. He says, whatever you desire, when you pray, believe that ye will receive them and you’ll have them!

The Bible says in...

Matthew 7:7-8 (KJV) — 7 Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: 8 For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.

The Bible even goes as far as to say in...

James 4:2 (KJV) — Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not.

James says here you have not because you do not ask for it!

Now, let me make something very clear here. I’m not saying you can go out here and ask God to give you a million dollars and it’s going to happen.

Well preacher, you just said the Bible says ask whatever you desire and it will be given to you so if I desire a million dollars why wouldn’t He give me what I want?

Well James addresses this very thing in the next verse. He says this in Verse 3...

James 4:3 (TEV) — And when you ask, you do not receive it, because your motives are bad; you ask for things to use for your own pleasures.

You see, the problem with many of our prayers is that we’re praying with wrong motives! Let me ask you something…for that person who asked why God wouldn’t give them a million dollars if they asked for it, what would you do with a million dollars?

Would you give God His 10% off the top? Would you use it in some way, form or fashion to further the Kingdom of God? Would you use it to help someone in need? Or would you use it all for yourself?

See, chances are, if you’re asking God for a million dollars it’s because you want it for your own pleasures and not for the furtherance of God’s Kingdom and that’s why James says many times we don’t receive what we’re asking for because we’re asking with the wrong mindset!

The Bible reiterates this very same principle in...

1 John 5:14-15 (NIV2011) — 14 This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. 15 And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.

The Bible says here that if we ask anything “according to his will” he hears us! And it goes on to say that we can know that if what we’re asking is according to His will that He will hear us and if He hears us we will have what we’ve asked for!

The key is asking for things that are according to His will. Now you’re probably asking yourself this… “well, how do I know what’s according to His will?”

The way to know what is according to His will is to know His word! You see, when your mindset becomes the mindset of God then you can rest assured that when you ask something of God it will be asked according to His will!

As I was thinking about this, one way I thought of to gauge whether or not we are asking something according to God’s will or not is this… “what would Jesus do?”

I know that sounds cliche but if Jesus wouldn’t ask for it, you can rest assured that it’s not something that would be according to God’s will!

I heard a Pastor one time ask his congregation to give more money in their donations so that he could buy a new private jet to travel around and evangelize in. And then even went as far as to say, “I believe if Jesus were here He’d want me to have this jet because it would allow me to get places faster so I could spread His gospel more!”

I’m here to tell you this morning friend, that has to be one of the most insane requests I’ve ever heard of and I know that Jesus wouldn’t approve of that request for this reason…Jesus wasn’t ever worried about getting anywhere quicker! If anything He slowed down so that more people could experience His teaching!

The only time the Bible records that He even road an animal was during His triumphal entry so that tells me He walked everywhere He went! Also, Jesus wouldn’t take a private jet if you gave Him one for the simple fact He might miss an opportunity to teach someone! He never shyed away from crowds but rather drew them to Him!

So, if we want to have Unfailing Faith, we must pray without doubting and then make sure our what we’re asking for is according to the will of God!

Tony Evans — In a farming community, it hadn't rained in a long time, and things were getting desperate. The ministers decided they were going to call a prayer meeting. They said, "Look, we want the whole town to come to the prayer meeting and bring their religious symbols." So the whole town showed up for the prayer meeting and people brought crosses, they brought their Bibles, the Catholics brought their rosaries, and they all cried out to God. They finished the prayer meeting. No rain was in sight. They all went home.

The next day though, in the town square where they had had the meeting, there was a little boy. "Oh, God, we need rain. God, show Your power, and please give us some rain."

The day before, with all the preachers and all the religious symbols, calling on God, no rain. The little boy shows up the next day by himself in the town square, and as he was praying, the sky got darker. As he was praying, rumbling occurred. As he was praying, the shower hit, and it was pouring down rain.

What was it about this little boy? He said the same things that all the people said the day before. The day before they had all the preachers, they had all the ministers; they brought their religious symbols. But the day the young boy came, when the clouds got dark, he lifted up the symbol that he brought: an umbrella. He expected it to rain.

If we want to have Unfailing Faith, we must put our faith in the one who makes the impossible, possible! Which brings us to our last point today. The Person of our Faith!

The Person of Faith

Jesus told Peter, “have faith in God!” Now, He didn’t say, “have faith in Buddha or have faith in Confucius, or have faith in Mohammed, or have faith in Odin, or Zeus or a snake or elephant or cow or a priest” but He said, “have faith in God!”

Listen to me this morning friend, there is but one God who spoke everything out of nothing! There is but one God who is all powerful, all knowing, and able to be everywhere all the time! There is but one God who is able to answer prayers and His name is Jehovah!

Deuteronomy 6:4 (KJV) — Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD:

Deuteronomy 4:35 (KJV) — Unto thee it was shewed, that thou mightest know that the LORD he is God; there is none else beside him.

Isaiah 44:6, 8 (KJV) — 6 Thus saith the LORD the King of Israel, and his redeemer the LORD of hosts; I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God. 8 Fear ye not, neither be afraid: have not I told thee from that time, and have declared it? ye are even my witnesses. Is there a God beside me? yea, there is no God; I know not any.

Isaiah 45:5-8 (NIV2011) — 5 I am the LORD, and there is no other; apart from me there is no God. I will strengthen you, though you have not acknowledged me, 6 so that from the rising of the sun to the place of its setting people may know there is none besides me. I am the LORD, and there is no other. 7 I form the light and create darkness, I bring prosperity and create disaster; I, the LORD, do all these things. 8 “You heavens above, rain down my righteousness; let the clouds shower it down. Let the earth open wide, let salvation spring up, let righteousness flourish with it; I, the LORD, have created it.

Listen this morning friend, if you want to have Unfailing Faith then you need to make sure your faith is in the one, true God for a misplaced faith will lead to unanswered requests!

The Bible goes on to say in...

Psalm 135:15-18 (NLT2) — 15 The idols of the nations are merely things of silver and gold, shaped by human hands. 16 They have mouths but cannot speak, and eyes but cannot see. 17 They have ears but cannot hear, and noses but cannot smell. 18 And those who make idols are just like them, as are all who trust in them.

If you’re putting your faith in anything this morning besides God almighty, then like the idols you serve, the Bible says your dead!

Jeremiah 10:10-11 (NLT2) — 10 But the LORD is the only true God. He is the living God and the everlasting King! The whole earth trembles at his anger. The nations cannot stand up to his wrath. 11 Say this to those who worship other gods: “Your so-called gods, who did not make the heavens and earth, will vanish from the earth and from under the heavens.”

Jesus said the key to Unfailing Faith is to “have faith in God!” The living God and everlasting King! No one, nor nothing else has the power or ability to answer prayers!

A priest can’t answer your prayers. A statue can’t answer your prayers. A dead prophet can’t answer your prayers. Only the one true God, Jehovah is His name, He alone can answer your prayers and because He is omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent, we can rest assured that when we make our request known to Him, that He is big enough and powerful enough to answer those prayers!

But here’s the thing I want to end with this morning....prayer is vehicle that gets our requests to God; faith is the power that makes the vehicle move but Jesus is the road that the vehicle must travel on to get you to God!

You see, there’s only one road that will lead you to God and that road is Jesus! Now, the world and the devil would have you believe that all roads will get you to heaven but dear friend that’s simply not the case!

The only road that leads to everlasting life and access to the God we just talked about is through Jesus! The Bible says in...

John 3:16 (KJV) — For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

John 17:3 (KJV) — And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.

1 Timothy 2:5 (KJV) — For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;

You see, when you put your Faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ and His shed blood on Calvary, then you gain access to the Father, the leading of the Holy Spirit and ultimately life eternal!

Have you ever taken that step this morning? If not, why don’t you do that here today?

Chuck Swindoll — LEGEND HAS IT that a man was lost in the desert, just dying for a drink of water. He stumbled upon an old shack—a ramshackled, windowless, roofless, weatherbeaten old shack. He looked about this place and found a little shade from the heat of the desert sun. As he glanced around he saw a pump about fifteen feet away—an old, rusty water pump. He stumbled over to it, grabbed the handle, and began to pump up and down, up and down. Nothing came out. Disappointed, he staggered back. He noticed off to the side an old jug. He looked at it, wiped away the dirt and dust, and read a message that said, “You have to prime the pump with all the water in this jug, my friend. P.S.: Be sure you fill the jug again before you leave.” He popped the cork out of the jug and sure enough, it was almost full of water! Suddenly, he was faced with a decision. If he drank the water, he could live. Ah, but if he poured all the water in the old rusty pump, maybe it would yield fresh, cool water from down deep in the well, all the water he wanted. He studied the possibility of both options. What should he do, pour it into the old pump and take a chance on fresh, cool water or drink what was in the old jug and ignore its message? Should he waste all the water on the hopes of those flimsy instructions written, no telling how long ago? Reluctantly he poured all the water into the pump. Then he grabbed the handle and began to pump, squeak, squeak, squeak. Still nothing came out! Squeak, squeak, squeak. A little bit began to dribble out, then a small stream, and finally it gushed! To his relief fresh, cool water poured out of the rusty pump. Eagerly, he filled the jug and drank from it. He filled it another time and once again drank its refreshing contents. Then he filled the jug for the next traveler. He filled it to the top, popped the cork back on, and added this little note: “Believe me, it really works. You have to give it all away before you can get anything back.”

And as we come to a close this morning I want to tell you the same thing…Believe me faith really works but you have to be willing to submit to the call of God upon your life, you have to be willing to put your faith in Jesus, you have to be willing to die to yourself before you can live for God but oh dear friend the joy that comes from giving yourself away cannot be compared with anything this world has to offer!

What little you have to give is nothing compared to what you gain when you come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ!

Put your faith in him this morning while there’s still time! Maybe you’re joining in this morning and you’re saved but failing faith seems to be more of the norm for you than an Unfailing Faith. Let’s change that today! Let’s get you on the winning side Faith!

The next time you get ready to go to God in prayer, I want you to me this favor...

Ask yourself this…is the request I’m about to make going to be according to God’s will? Would Jesus ask for this?

Make your request in confidence! Remember who it is that you’re praying to! With men things are impossible but not with God for with God all things are possible!

Believe that God will honor the request that you’ve just made and do not doubt it!

By doing these 3 things, you will be initiating an Unfailing Faith! For those who have been born again, pray with confidence this morning friend for you are child of the living God, the everlasting King of all creation and there is nothing that He can’t do!