So, Charlene good morning everyone and to you online as well good morning taking a quick look at the announcements there is a One correction, and I need to get clarification for myself. The correction, first of all, is the motorcycle ride for next week is still, or this coming Saturday, is still scheduled, but it's in the afternoon, not the morning. And are we having little lambs tonight at 5.30? Does anyone know? Oh. OK. There is youth group this evening at 5.30. That's a go. So we're green-lighted on the youth group. for those of you who can and want to make it. I don't see any other announcements that are worth highlighting. Well, actually, I do. The Deaconate budget meeting tonight at 6.30. And the Virginia Presbytery meeting next Saturday on the 16th. That's in the morning. Are there any other announcements that someone would like to make that I didn't highlight? All right then, I'll leave the rest of the announcements for you to glean from your bulletin and from our webpage. Let's prepare our hearts now for worship with the prelude. so so do do So once again, good morning to everyone. Our call to worship this morning is from Psalm 111, verses one through four. Praise the Lord. I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart. in the company of the upright in the congregation. Great are the works of the Lord, studied by all who delight in them, full of splendor and majesty in his work, and his righteousness endures forever. He has caused his wondrous works to be remembered. The Lord is gracious and merciful. Amen. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, this morning, it's our joy to be in your house of worship, to call upon your name and confidence as your children, to sing praises to you, our creator, and to give of ourselves because you've delighted to save us. And in your providence, you delighted to bring us together this morning, together as one people, Lord, your church, We raise our prayers up to you in united voice, praying as Jesus taught us to pray by saying, our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. Amen. Our Apostles' Creed, which we'll recite together this morning. So Christians, I ask you, what is it that you believe? I believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth. and in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried. The third day, he rose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. From thence He will come to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Christian Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen. Let's continue to worship the Lord together with hymns in your red hymn number 21, Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee, hymn number 21. that you're found in a car with an amorphic alarm. Hearts are full of doubt in our human being, to the sun and the moon, and the birds are singing sadly, you. Even far and still, I have not found a trail of magic sea. I think you have lost your way. Come unto me, Lord, to me. I'll walk with thee, and you'll be with me. The sun will not rise. Proceed, O Lord, triumphantly, Worship Him with heavenly praise. O Lord of all, our hearts are full Of the redeeming love of God. Jesus, our new-born King, Shall in heaven surrender all. Our hope to God will be always risen, for each star is a gift. I want to thank you for indulging me on this clicker. It doesn't always doesn't always behave. Children's church is dismissed at this point. As we go to the Lord in our pastoral prayer, I ask that we each go to him individually with silent prayer, and then I'll interrupt that by leading us in congregational prayer. Heavenly Father, we are bowed before you this morning in humility. We are your people and you are our God. We were once lost in the sin of our rebellion against you, living for ourselves and eager for the next shiny thing that satisfies only but for a moment. This past week, we've strayed from your will for us. We've desired and entertained those things which you forbid and warn us against. And Lord, we've wasted time and misused resources that you've provided. You've given to us for blessings, yet we've hated those whom we should have loved and we've overlooked opportunities to serve others because those times for us were inconvenient. For these sins, as well as for the myriad of others, we beg your forgiveness. Father, our congregation is in need of your healing hand. Some of us are not feeling well. Some of us are suffering from illness that not only prevents us from being here this morning, but suffering from sickness that's quite painful. And pain, Father, as you know, it's wearisome. It not only wears us down physically, but it pulls us down mentally, and it makes us burdened, unhappy, stressed, and sometimes impatient. Please relieve those who of us are feeling ill, so that they may be restored to our fellowship, and so that we might enjoy their company, their friendship, and their encouragement. We also have congregants and extended family and friends who are in need of your financial care. We ask that you would provide meaningful work and support for them. It's only by your hand that blessings come, and we recognize that you might find it in your sovereign will sometimes to say no to some of these things. So if that's the case, we ask for your hand of patience and boldness so that we might live rightly with these problems a little while longer. Of course, Father, we have much to praise you for. This past week, you've provided safety and traveling mercies for those who have been away from home and from the benefits of our local fellowship. You've answered so many of our personal prayers. You've protected us from harm. You've watched over our children and their exuberant youth. You've given us a good balance of sun and rain for our fields. And you've given us friends and helpers to get work done, to provide for us sound advice, and to lift our spirits when we're a bit sad. Thank you for all of these. And thank you for the untold blessings, even those which we're not aware of. Those innumerable blessings that you bestow on us, your children. Especially Father, we thank you. We thank you for your son who agreed with you before the world began on how you would assuredly bring us unto yourself for eternity. In our simple finite minds, God, we can't appreciate that love or that commitment. We don't understand your plans, but nevertheless, we trust you and we love you. because you first loved us. As we worship you this morning, help us to understand what it is that you want us to know, and for that knowledge to become a committed part of our lives, to apply faith and forgiveness, to apply it generously, having no guilt once we confess our sins to you, for we know that you are faithful to forgive. And God, letting go of any anger, or bitterness that we may hold towards others who have offended us. For in the grand scheme of things, Father, we're just passing through on this earth. While here, please enable us the strength, give us the resources and the faith to honor you as your children and as citizens of your kingdom. For before we know it, in the blink of an eye, we'll be right there in your heavenly presence. So Father, to your glory, it's in the name of our Lord Jesus that we pray all of these things. Amen. In 1821, which is about 80 years after Old Providence Church was founded, A Scottish adventurer, an ex-military officer turned mercenary, he traded rum and jewelry for a sizable piece of land in what is now part of Honduras, Central America. The Scotsman's name was Gregor MacGregor. He gave himself the royal title of Kazik, or governing prince, and he named this new land Poyais. McGregor returned to London with glowing reports of this new nation. He described it as a beautiful new land along the Caribbean coastline. a lush, untapped paradise of fertile farmland, rolling hills, and gold streams. Its native Poyers were described as friendly and hardworking people, and its capital, St. Joseph, was a European-styled settlement dotted with public buildings and even an opera house. Poyers boasted a deep water port and a pleasant climate that made it immune to the scourge of tropical disease. popular guidebook. It even claimed that Poyais was one of the most healthy and beautiful spots in the world. To govern Poyais, McGregor designed a parliament and a constitution and a flag that resembled the United States territory of Florida. He drew up commercial and banking mechanisms. He designed distinctive uniforms for each regiment of the Poyaisian army. And within months, England's social elite, they actually gave an attractive, a very posh estate to the Poyesian royal family. The British royal court was even petitioned to have King George IV assign a sovereign ambassador to Poyais. Freger MacGregor. He had then Poyesian administrative offices set up throughout the United Kingdom, London, Edinburgh, Glasgow, to sell land certificates to investors. Enterprising settlers purchased 100 acre plots of pristine Poyes farmland for just 11 pounds. Powerful positions in Poyes' military, its government, and its banks were offered to the wealthy in exchange for favors. And on the financial markets, even a large bond. To buy into Poyer's growth, it was floated on London's money market. Those more committed investors, they converted their entire life savings from British sterling into Poyer's currency, which McGregor printed. At its fever peak in 1822, a ship full of Londoners sailed off the Poyais in hopes of starting new lives, new communities, and generations of future success. And then several months later after that, a ship full of Scotsmen and their families, they did the same. But even if you've never heard of Gregor MacGregor or Poyais, you surely see this coming, right? The entire whole elaborate Poyais scheme was a fraud cooked up by MacGregor. After being deposited on the coast of Central America, the passengers from London and Scotland, they made a startling discovery. Not only was there no capital of St. Joseph, but there seemed to be no Poyais at all. Instead of the settlement that they'd been promised and that they believed in, they found only mile after mile of dense, insect-infected jungle. The confused settlers, they were still convinced that their ship captains had mistakenly misnavigated. So instead of returning to England and Scotland, they built ramshackle huts and they tried to survive while their captains searched out for poyees. Unfortunately, it wasn't long before malaria took over, which is no surprise as these settlers had landed on what's known as the Mosquito Coast. The next year, the next year, a British ship from nearby colony Belize, it rescued what was left of the settlers. Aside from the financial ruin left behind in the UK, of the roughly 250 emigrants that had left England and Scotland, two thirds of them had died. Now I tell you this Gregor McGregor story simply as an introduction to that which you already know. That truth is sometimes stranger than fiction. And that some things are not what they seem. And some people, They may look like one thing, only to be entirely a something else. As one example from Jesus' day, there were pious-looking and pious-speaking Pharisees, religious leaders whom Jesus referred to as whitewashed tombs. They looked impressive on the outside, but their teaching, it contained no grace, no gospel. only legal burdens offering only death. And when you got to the heart of their religion, it was empty on the inside, quite literally, it was hopeless. Another type of religious con man, we find it in Matthew 7, 15, wherein Jesus warns us to beware of false prophets who come to us in sheep's clothing, but inwardly, they are ravenous wolves. They look good, they sound good, They're persuasive. In full disclosure, I was very tempted to put a number of pictures up here of people that you might recognize. I'm not gonna do that from the pulpit. Not for this sermon. But their message is not the gospel. Instead, their message is fraught with bad doctrine that leads one away from grace. Many messages today out of the pulpit And unfortunately, out of the stage, you won't see Patrick or I or anyone else from Old Providence using this as a stage. Their message focuses on money, freedom, not freedom from sin, but freedom from the burdens of work, which actually is a blessing, or even the burdens of righteousness. pulpits and church stages often lift up the individual. They aim for self-actualization, right, the be-all, you-can-be-all mentality. And they focus on happiness, prosperity, and even wacky prophecy that seems to be designed as a really good way to sell books and to get on TV, to get noticed, to get liked, and to get wealthy. I see in their messages no admission of guilt before a holy God. No contrition for sin. No acknowledgement of Jesus' suffering to an obedient death. No mortification of the flesh, as the Puritans called it, as one is sanctified, rather, as one is called to be sanctified to the image of Christ. No, there's none of that. Instead, I see them telling their audiences why they should feel good and how to feel good. That message, dear old providence, without the call of God to repent and to believe the gospel, any ministerial message which doesn't have that at its center, at its core, may be somehow motivational in the moment, but in the end, it leads to death. Last week, we looked at the story of Jesus and the disciples returning to Jerusalem after having spent the night in a nearby town of Bethany, just about a two-mile walk. While they, not sure exactly why they stayed in Bethany, not in Jerusalem, it's unknown, but it is Passover week, and so lodging was probably packed, it was probably expensive. at capacity. Nevertheless, on their way, we read that Jesus was hungry and he was hoping to get some fruit from this big tree that they encountered. It was leafy green. That indicated that it should have been bearing fruit. But it hadn't any. There was nothing on it to eat, nothing to satisfy hunger. It was a pretender. And similarly, the same context of events they're told to us in Mark 11, when Jesus enters the temple, which should have been a house of prayer, he found only a marketplace. That marketplace perverted the Passover, and it ignored the worship of God. But that was the very purpose of the temple's existence, to worship God. There was no spiritual fruit evident in the people, and Jesus went on to teach that parallel by acting out a parallel, Let me rephrase that, because parallel and parable, they sound the same. And Jesus went on to teach that parallel by acting out a parable and destroying the fig tree. Now last week's sermon had focused on the believer, evidence and belief by bearing fruit, right? That's the evidence of belief. Today's sermon continues our look into the parable of the fig tree to see what else Jesus had to say about the authenticity of the believer. So before we stand together for the reading of God's word, let's invoke God's blessing with a brief prayer upon the reading of his word. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, this is your word. We ask that you would cause it to go forth from that of a mere man and by your spirit to root into the hearts of those under your care. Cause all of us to hear it. to be changed by it, for your glory and by your power. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. If you're able, please stand with me. I invite you to open up to the Gospel of Mark, chapter 11. God's Word, verses 12 through 14, and then verses 20 through 25. On the following day, when they came from Bethany, he was hungry. And seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to see if he could find anything on it. When he came to it, he found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs. And he said to it, may no one ever eat fruit from you again. And his disciples heard it. Now verse 20. As they passed by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered away to its roots. And Peter remembered and said to him, Rabbi, look, the fig tree that you had cursed has withered. And Jesus answered them, have faith in God. Truly I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, be taken up and thrown into the sea and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him. Therefore, I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. 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. Amen. The word of God. You may be seated. As we've seen, This big tree, it provides a very sorry picture of the unbelieving Jews. What Jesus did was symbolic of the judgment of God upon the temple and the ceremonial and legalistic externalism that was represented in so much of the teachings of the Pharisees and the actions of the unfaithful Jews. What Jesus did on that occasion, destroying a thing, in this case a tree, He did it in dramatic fashion that was apparently shocking. Indeed, it was supposed to shock the disciples. Last week I said that it should also serve as a wake-up call to us, because we shouldn't be complacent with our faith. We should see this as a warning, but as with all warnings from God, we should also see it as an act of his mercy. That merciful question that it begs us to ask of ourselves is this. Is this a picture of me? In any way does this leafy green tree that bears no fruit, is it in some way a reflection of me? Am I a green and leafy tree? Am I attractive on the outside? Or on the inside, maybe not so much. Am I bearing much fruit? Any fruit? And if I don't know the Lord, which may be some of you under the sound of my voice this morning, if I don't know the Lord, am I being called to repent of my sin and to ask Jesus to change my heart? That's an appropriate question for the unbeliever to be saved. But those who are already saved must also continue to seek forgiveness to continue sanctification, right? To grow up in Christ. To be able to eat and digest spiritual meat. So repentance is a call for all kinds of humanity. Building on last week's sermon, We talked about the vine and the branches, the teaching from John 15. The unbeliever, this is important to note, the unbeliever can't. He's incapable of bearing spiritual fruit. He can't do it because he's a slave to sin. He's not a branch that's grafted into Jesus the vine. So the unbeliever's call is to repent and to be saved. To be rescued from death and to be given eternal life. Their call is to ask for that justifying righteousness of Jesus so that they can come under his covenant of saving grace. On the other hand, those of you who are saved, who already know the redeeming arm of the Lord, you are justified. You know this love. For those of you who are saved, you must labor to be who you are, which is a child of God. You must continue to cooperate with the Holy Spirit who lives in you to work out your own salvation, your own sanctification as we're told by Paul in Philippians 2, verse 12. Those who are in Christ are called to resist evil to which you are no longer a slave, James 4, 7. You're called to love others, even the unlovable. Matthew 5, verses 43 through 45. Why? Because you're in the vine, your branch. You reflect the love of Jesus, the one in whom you have union and to whom you are attached. He's the life-giving vine. You are the branch in that vine. So God's word this morning should prompt us to question We should ask all of us this. Am I in any sense represented by this fruitless tree? Am I a child of the kingdom doing the work of the kingdom? Or am I somehow just a tenant? Not a son of the king, not a daughter of the king. Am I just renting this house? Or do I own it because I've inherited it from my heavenly father? The difference between a tenant and one who is treated as a temporary renter versus an adopted child who permanently owns it, that difference is night and day. In our text, Jesus, he came to the temple looking for fruitfulness, he'd come to the temple looking for faith, but he found neither. And we're supposed to look at this withered fig tree and we're supposed to ask ourselves, when Jesus looks at me, when he scrutinizes me, is he finding in my life fruitfulness? Is he finding in my life faith? As I said, this is merciful of the Lord. Kind of like an example of tough love. Because the reality is that one day the king will say, depart from me you who are cursed into the eternal fire. Prepare for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry. and you gave me nothing to eat, Matthew 25. Jesus came to this tree looking for food. We're told that he was hungry, but he found no food on the tree. Matthew 25 also tells us what happens to such people. For I was hungry, and you gave me nothing to eat. And so that tree is useless, and therefore it's cast into the fire for destruction. Now the challenge that we're left with this week is, after talking about the necessity of bearing fruit, is how do we jump from, how do we leap, get to verse 22 from verse 21? Verse 21, and Peter remembered and said to him, Rabbi, look, the fig tree that you cursed has withered. And then in verse 22, Jesus answered them, have faith in God. We're helped in our understanding because of what Jesus says after this. Of course, I'm paraphrasing. He says, hey guys, not only can you do this to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, go throw yourself into the sea and it will do it. So in other words, Jesus helps us in this transition by saying, here's a dramatic display of the power of God. But I want to remind you, my followers, that you have the power of God at your disposal when you act in faith. In other words, what Jesus has just done, it serves as a model to us for how true believers might draw on the power of God. In this exchange between Jesus and the disciples, we should see a few lessons about faith. First, The Europeans would say first, with a thumb. First, Jesus tells us what should be our object of faith. Misapplication of these verses directs us away from the encouragement, the goodness, and the application that they contain. Last week, we outlined some principles of interpretation. I won't rehash them, but they'll help us to see that the object of faith in verse 22 is God himself. Have faith in God. It's not always what we say today. We hear it, you might say it yourself, have faith, keep the faith. But in what? In whom? We so-called smart humans, we used to bow to the enlightenment of reason, saying that science and observable proof was what we must rely on and base our worldview on. We said that faith has no place in our understanding of who we are. But it gets worse. But now we smart humans, in what's now known as the post-modern culture, everything is subjective. My truth is true for me. Your truth, even if it differs from mine, even if it contradicts mine, it's still true as long as it's true for you. Says our post-modern, liberal, anarchist, socialist, identity-focused, ignorant and lost person. So says this person, I can call a man a woman. I can change creaturely design just because I want to. And so it shall be, because that's my faith, that's my truth. And so don't you try to tell me that I'm wrong. Don't you try to tell me that I can call, don't you try to call a criminal a thief. That just means spirited, and you're disrespecting the poor person who must have needed to break the window to loot the target of all of its TVs. Stopping that person from their pursuit of happiness, that makes you unkind. And you're evil, because you're living off your privileged heritage by lording yourself as some judge over what's right or wrong. You can't apply your laws or morals to me. That's just unfair. And if you disagree with me, guess what? I have a pocket full of names to call you. Boy, if there was ever an application of Proverbs 26, 14, not answer a fool according to his folly, this is it. But then a verse later, at the same time, Proverbs 26.5, we need to answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own eyes. These aren't tricky contradictions. It's wisdom literature. Verse four, don't get dragged down into the stupidity of the argument with an irrational person. But verse five, expose the fool for his folly. All providence, God will have his day with fools, with those who rail against him and who think they know better. But for now, in this culture, the one in which we live right now, faith seems to mean whatever it is people want it to mean. But that's not what God has to say about it. Jesus says that he's the only truth, the only truth, John 14, 6. And by that exclusivity, all truth is necessarily an extension of him. What we would call derivative, it's an extension of him. That outside of God, nothing is true. And so the object of faith is what gives it its significance. I believe in God the Father Almighty. Who? in God the Father Almighty. That's the faith that we just confessed out loud to each other about 20 minutes ago. The object of our faith, Jesus tells us in verse 22, is God. Now, as we look further into verse 23, we should see that Jesus teaches not only about the object of faith, but also about the nature of our faith, right, the extent of it. Truly I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, be taken up and thrown into the sea and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him. What Jesus is saying here is that we are to have big faith, such confidence in God that we're prepared to ask him to do things that are seemingly impossible. A paraphrase might be something like this. I want you to have faith in God, who is not constrained by natural limitations, by a God who is not submissive to the laws of nature. Let's remember that in Joshua 10, verse 12, what happened there? God made the sun to appear to stand still. In 2 Kings 6, the prophet Elisha, he causes an iron ax to float. And in John 11, Jesus raises a man from the dead. These are but a few of the not natural, the supernatural events that God performed. So Jesus wants us to have faith in a God who can perform that which appears to be not natural, not normal. The phrase, if anyone roots out this mountain, That's a rabbinical term. It's rabbinical terminology for doing the impossible or highly implausible, which would have been familiar to first century Jews. If anyone roots out this mountain. Today we might say that it's something like finding a needle in a haystack, which by we mean that it's impossible to find. Or drawing water out with a fishnet. Or my favorite, The wife's claim that getting him to change is like squaring a circle. It's just not gonna happen. In Matthew 17, 20, Jesus uses this move a mountain illustration. It's not the first time, right? He uses it numerous times. In Matthew 17, 20, in relation to faith, when he healed a demon-possessed boy. But God is without limitations over his creation. He is omniscient and he knows where the lost needle is. He can change the heart even of the most stubborn man. And if you have faith and do not doubt, that sounds like James 1.6, yes? If you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do to the fig tree what you've just witnessed, but also you can say to this mountain, uproot and get into the sea. To decomplicate this verse a little bit, note first of all the condition applied by Jesus. He related this mountain to faith. He didn't relate this mountain to mountains. Jesus isn't saying that bold prayer done in faith is going to result in the destruction of land masses. Also, this is important, the Lord referred to this mountain a particular mountain, not mountains. The disciples had the Mount of Olives right in front of them. They also had Mount Zion right around the corner from them. Both of these mountains bumped up against the temple walls, and either one of them, it could have been the mountain that Jesus was referring to. But as we've noted, since these passages are all within the context of the temple and its defunct worship, it's most likely that Jesus was referring to the temple mount. That singular hill on which the temple was built. Certainly in this context, what Jesus was referring to was not the physical land of a 4,000 foot mountain, but he was referring to the disciples' ability by faithful prayer to conquer a faithless institution. the gates of faithful, excuse me, the gates of faithless hell exhibited by the dead temple shall not prevail over the kingdom of God and his faithful church. Unfortunately, there are those who still press this text into some sort of literal fulfillment. Boy, I was tempted to come up with some internet people whose names you might recognize. But again, not pulpit activity. I'm not going to do that. You will hear, you can be well if you just have enough faith. Your child can be healed if you have just enough faith. You can speak in tongues if you have just enough faith. Or you don't need to get vaccinated if you have just enough faith. Even atheists use this verse to show that there's no basis for belief in God. Clearly, they say, God doesn't answer prayer. Do you know anyone who's moved a mountain? You're God, they say. This is proof that he's imaginary. Now, I'm not saying that God doesn't want to do incredible things for you. Of course he does. God's more than willing to respond to our prayers and our tries for faith, but in this passage, the summary point that Jesus is making is this. Jesus, he's telling his disciples, we've just come from the temple which is supposed to be the preeminent house of prayer, but it's not. It's a marketplace. And so judgment's coming upon it. But you disciples, in your faith, in your prayer, you can destroy dead institutions. You can get rid of the evil influences that turn men's hearts from the living God. In fact, you too will be able to say to this mountain, the epitome of verisical pretense of false worship the mount that's most sacred in Jerusalem, the Temple Mount, you too will be able to get rid of that fake pretense and this false activity. Now just one illustration that God can do, which seems impossible, you can certainly think of many yourself, I'm sure, but the one I have in front of me is Abraham's fatherhood, Romans 4.18. Against all hope, Abraham believed and therefore became the father of many nations, fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. And that's why his faith was counted to him as righteousness. We see this faith borne out in Acts 3 by Peter and John. They tell a beggar to get up and walk in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. This is performing the impossible by faith. This is demonstrating Christ's victory over evil and over the effects of sin. This is akin to telling the temple mount, you can say to that mount, get out of here. You hold no power or sway against the awesome power of God. Now in verse 24, Christ builds his own argument to support his claim that amazing things can happen by having faith in God. This faith comes from knowing God. It comes from trusting God. These imply relationship. Relationship's an integral part to prayer. In prayer we share of ourselves, our thoughts and our wants. By prayer we grow in relationship to God. Our faith strengthens by prayer and it becomes more certain. Jesus says that whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you've received it. Now that sounds like Abraham in Romans 4 that we just read. The context of this verse, 24, it's not a license for anything, and therefore you'll get it. No way. The context in Jesus's, rather the context is Jesus's encouraging the disciples to trust God for all that they need in order to do God's work. We can look to James 4 for this, right, which says that the reason many of you don't have is because you don't ask. And so one of the conclusions that we can make from that passage is the same conclusion we can make from this passage in Mark 11, 24, that we know where blessings come from. They come from the Father. That doesn't mean you're going to get everything you ask for. Remember our principles of interpretation from last week? One of which is that we must always interpret Scripture with Scripture. That interpretation, it must be made in the totality of the light of the entire revelation that God's given to us. We can't take this verse, and any other verse by the way of scripture, and we can't draw conclusions from it that sets in opposition other truths in the Bible. They have to be in agreement because the Bible is totally consistent with itself. The characteristics of prayer that need to be present so that we're praying rightly are humility, sincerity, consistency, and charity. It's love, right? That's humility, sincerity, consistency, and charity. Humility in knowing that we're not God and that we don't always know what to ask for. And so, therefore, we must defer to His will as God being the best discerner of what's right and good for us. Prayer must be brought to God with sincerity, right? That's vastly different than the hypocrisy of the Pharisees. Consistency is seen in Matthew 7. Ask, seek, knock, and keep it going. This safeguards us against, by the way, our getting the idea that we simply need to press a button to fix the flat tire. God's not a vending machine where we pull the knob, put in the quarter, and get a Snickers bar out of it. That might date me, by the way. And prayer must be done with charity, with love for all who are concerned. But let me add this. Prayer must be done with a willingness to submit to the sovereignty of God and to his will. So how did this idea work for Jesus? This idea that whatever you ask for in prayer, if you believe that you've received it, it will be yours. On the surface, that sounds pretty plain. It sounds pretty categorical. But a few chapters later in Mark 14, verses 35 and 36, we read this. And going a little further, he fell on the ground and prayed that if it were possible that the hour might pass from him, And he said, Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will. So why didn't God relent from his destruction of Jesus? We see that Jesus prayed for it. So why didn't it happen? Was Jesus unbelieving? Did he lack faith? Was he being selfish, and therefore God said no? Of course not. Jesus submitted perfectly to the sovereign will of God. Not what I will, but what you will. You see, there's a balance here. Absolute confidence in God's power. Father, everything is possible for you. But I am completely submitted to your will. And here's the point. God's sovereignty doesn't withhold during the impossible. Instead, His sovereignty controls it. God the Father restricted His answer to the prayer of the Son, in this case with an answer of no. And likewise, He will answer your prayers, but only to the extent that His sovereign purposes are advanced. It's not necessarily because of some lack of belief that he says no. Look, we pray for good things. We pray for the healing of our friends. We did it this morning. We pray for the comfort of our old Providence brothers and sisters. But some of them still remain in pain. Some of them are still sick. Some of them still die. Is that because of our lack of faith? The scriptures They're not our Play-Doh for us to mold them to anything that we want them to say. A verse out of context, a verse in isolation, a feeling that you think is overwhelming but it's not supported by the moral law of God. These are all potholes that trip us up into misinterpreting the word. interpreting the scriptures that must be guided by their doctrinal framework of truths found throughout scripture. Those who trust God for the right things in the right way may have confidence that God will always, always give the right response. Sometimes we may not like it, sometimes we may not understand it, but it's always the right response. And lastly, verse 25, it tells us that faith and forgiveness are inextricably tied together. Would you agree with me that denying to forgive someone who seeks it, who seeks it with genuine repentance, that withholding forgiveness indicates a poor understanding of grace that's been given to you? This morning we pray in the Lord's Prayer that he forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. And the parable of the unforgiving servant in Matthew 28, that reminds us that we've been forgiven debts that are vastly beyond our ability to repay. God forgives the penitent. And one of the evidences of that penitent heart is one that forgives others, who has a forgiving spirit of others who have sinned against you and who are themselves penitent. It is inconceivable It's inconceivable that we, who have been forgiven so much, would fail to forgive the microns of offenses, that's a small amount, of offenses that others have committed against us. So in summary, when Jesus returned to Jerusalem, he saw the Temple Mount. That dead mountain must change. It must be moved, not physically, but spiritually. It's fruitless activities, an obstacle to the church. Only faith can move the mountain of dead religion. The disciples, they could overcome that if they would pray in faith. And let's not misconstrue whatever you ask in prayer. We've been over that now, but the Lord hears lawful prayers, prayers that come from the hearts of those who are seeking And our heavenly father, he responds, as we've noted, according to his will, not ours, unless our will is aligned with his. Here in the parable of the fig tree, we have Jesus essentially saying that what I did to the fig tree, that was all about fruit, which begs the question, how are you doing? What I'm saying about being bold and confident in prayer, that's all about faith, which begs the question, how are you doing? And what I'm saying to you about forgiveness, about forgiveness is fundamental to believing prayer, again, that begs the question, how are you doing? Let's pray. Heavenly Father, may we this week look to you in confidence for faith. May we walk in your spirit with joy, be in communion with you, ever mindful of your attention and your care over our lives and over our well-being. Cause us to go forth with hearts this afternoon that are renewed by you and for you. In Jesus' name, amen. Our closing hymn this morning, number 84, don't be confused by 85, it has the same title, we're looking at 84, the first tune, I Sing the Mighty Power of God. so See how mighty Thou art, Thou God, that made the mountains rise, that spread the promises of God, that broke the heavenly skies. Thy symphonies are new, new for us and ever, Confusion, joy, misery, and all the joys of life. I see the weakness of my heart, and the pain of my life. Lay forth the weight of my misery, and the burdens of my life. For rather than words of reason, they were never my guide. They brought to me the breath of life that breathes upon the sky. There's a hill in Bethlehem where we go, and each time Lord is gone. Then come to my tent and bestow an order from thy throne. For thou and my hearts are one, it's ever in thy care. Amen. Our benediction, as always when I'm in the pulpit, because I am not ordained, I cannot issue a benediction yet, So the tradition is that we would bless each other with a parting blessing and benediction to each other from the book of Numbers. And I ask that you recite it with me together in unison. The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. Amen. Thank you this morning for worshiping together. Let's go in peace.