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Joel and Mary Nadel, Covenant Church
From J.C. Ryle’s “Expository Comments on the Gospels - Mark”
House Rules: Phones, Respect, Stay on the Text
Pray
Background
Approaching the end of Jesus earthly ministry
First part was Him establishing His purpose for God’s people - that He/the Son of God, has come to save His people from their sins
Next, He is focused on the work He must do at the Cross
He continues to teach God’s will
He continues to address the cost of discipleship
He continues to explain His mission to save His people
He continues to prepare His followers for what will happen in Jerusalem
Now in Jerusalem, He is now engaged in the work that will inevitably lead Him to His death
Today: The Lord teaches us about the relationship of faith, prayer, and forgiveness
Introduction
Last week we studied Jesus visit to the Temple
Cursed a fig tree
Purged the Temple
Talked of the meaning of this “parable” for the Jewish church, the Christian church, and for nominal Christians
Peter’s surprised exclamation: Rabbi, look!
The fig tree that you cursed has withered!
Peter’s surprise shows a continued lack of faith - if true faith, Peter would not have been surprised
The immense importance of faith
Proverbial saying: Faith will enable a man to accomplish works and overcome difficulties as great or difficult as the removing a mountain and casting into the sea.
This is not to be taken literally, but figuratively.
Faith built the Christian faith though into a worldwide movement
Confirmed with: Mark 11:24 “Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.”
Qualification: we will ask for things not sinful and are consistent with God’s will
When we ask these things, we can expect the prayer to be answered
James 1:6 “But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind.”
This kind of faith is a bit different from that which is necessary for justification/salvation
The sense of it is the same - its about trust and belief
There are different kinds of faith though and this is helpful to understand
Justifying/saving faith is that act of the soul by which we embrace Christ and have peace with God - Its about believing that Jesus died for our sins
The faith in this passage is more general than that - it grows out of saving faith but should not be confused with it
This kind of faith is a faith in God’s power, wisdom and good will toward His children - it is faith in His promises, the Word, and the character of God in Christ
Confidence in God’s power will help every believer
it is a belief in the truth of every word God has spoken, and it is the reason for the greatness of our religion
It is really the root of genuine Christianity
Hebrews 11:1-3 “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
For by it the people of old received their commendation.
By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.”
Hebrews 11:6 “And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.”
Hebrews 11 is a brilliant chapter, it defines faith for us
Do we want to grow in grace and in the knowledge and understanding of our Lord?
Do we wish to make progress in our faith and become strong Christians?
We need to pray daily for the Lord to increase our faith and to pay attention to our faith
Weak faith makes the whole man or woman weak
Faith will increase our peace, hope, joy, decisions for serving Christ, boldness in our witness, strength in our work, patience when we are in trouble, our comfort in prayer
All that will depend on our faith
Those are happy who know how to depend completely on God, to walk by faith and not by sight
The absolute necessity of a forgiving spirit
Its hard to see a direct connection between the importance of faith and the importance of forgiveness, so Jesus makes that connection here.
Prayer is essential to faith, and forgiveness is essential to prayer.
Faith is essential to our prayers but prayers cannot be heard if they don’t come from a forgiving heart
Mark 11:25 “And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.””
The value of our prayers depends completely on the state of mind we are in when we offer them
Prayers must be earnest, fervent, sincere and in the name of Christ, but they must also come from a forgiving heart
We have no right for God’s mercy, if we can’t extend mercy ourselves
We cannot really feal the seriousness of our own sins that we ask God to pardon, if we won’t forgive the sins of others
We need to have the heart of a brother/sister toward our neighbors on earth, if we want God to be our Father in heaven
We can’t fool ourselves into thinking we have the Spirit of adoption if we cannot overlook sins ourselves
This is a topic that requires us to really search our hearts
the amount of meanness and pettiness among Christians is really great
No wonder so many prayers seem to be unheard
This is a topic that applies to all kinds of Christians
Not all of us have the same knowledge about the Lord, but we can all forgive our fellow Christians
Jesus was genuinely concerned about it, so much so that He put it in the Lord’s prayer: Matthew 6:12 “and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.”
So many are familiar with these words, it would be good if we all considered what those words mean.
Bringing it home
With the end of this lesson, let’s ask some questions
Do we know what it is to be a forgiving spirit?
Can we overlook the injuries we get from time to time in this evil world?
Can we pass over a transgression and pardon an offense?
If not, where is our faith?
If not, why should we wonder if prayers go unanswered?
We have to decide, by God’s grace, to forgive, just as we expect by that grace to be forgiven
We are incredibly blessed by God’s free forgiveness, in fact it is the key to eternal life for us
Surely we can be forgiving during the few years we are on this earth
The Gospel
Pray
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