Turn with me in your scriptures to the gospel according to Mark. We are in chapter 11 of Mark's gospel, and we have before us this morning verses 20 through 26. If you are able, I invite you to stand in honor of God's word, and I'll read this portion in your hearing. This is God's very word, holy, infallible, and inerrant in all its parts. Mark 11 at verse 20. Now in the morning, as they passed by, they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots. And Peter, remembering, said to him, Rabbi, look, the fig tree which you cursed has withered away. So Jesus answered and said to them, have faith in God. For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, be removed and be cast into the sea and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says. Therefore, I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them and you will have them. And whenever you stand praying, If you have anything against anyone, forgive him that your Father in Heaven may also forgive you your trespasses. But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in Heaven forgive your trespasses. Thus ends the reading of God's Holy Word. Let us ask His blessing in the preaching of it. Let us pray. Most Holy Father, we pray that you'd break to us the bread of life. We pray that we may feed upon the truth of the Scriptures even that life which is our Lord as He is revealed in the Divine Mind for our life. Grant by the Spirit that we should be ready hearers, not forgetful, cause the seed to spring up and bear much fruit to the glory of our Savior. So bless this ministry of the Word we pray in Christ's name. Amen. You may be seated. Previously, in this section of Mark's Gospel, Mark carefully revealed an object lesson taught by Christ using a fig tree. The fig tree was full of the promise of fruitfulness, you will recall, but it was found to be barren and was cursed. So too, the heart of the Old Covenant centered upon the Temple. Christ entered the temple, bringing a kingly cleansing to the temple, testifying to its original covenantal purpose of purity and worship, and the spreading of the light of the kingdom to the Gentiles. But Christ also brought the shadow of a curse upon fruitless Israel, again centered upon the heart of Israel there at the temple. As the fruitless fig tree was destroyed, so would be the temple and the old covenants. We'll consider what Mark records here as we continue from where we left off last week. We saw that tree and the temple and the lesson of the fig tree in relation to the temple and all that it held forth. Now, unpacking that final point, the teaching that Christ brings on the heels of that object lesson. We should note the implications of the curse embodied in that object lesson as we move forward. Its application to the temple and the old covenant has echoes to us. May we be nothing like Israel of old, at the time of Christ. Remember how flourishing the tree, and yet fruitless, how flourishing the temple appeared, and yet how utterly fruitless the temple and the people. As Christ entered the courtyard, it seemed to be lively, full of bustling business. but it was quite the opposite of alive. It was not what it seemed. It was nothing as it appears. All those there were full of their own purposes and not God's purposes. They were pursuing their own priorities, not God's priorities. They were completely unprepared for the day of the Lord's visitation. Oh, may it not be so for us. And as that object lesson was brought to fullness when Peter noted the dried up fig tree, Christ took the opportunity to expound to his disciples further authoritative teaching. Indeed, the graces the Lord unfolds in this teaching to his disciples are the graces that should be flourishing in those who follow Christ and so bear the fruit of being his true followers. The fruit of following Christ is manifest in what he teaches here. In faith, in prayer, and forgiveness. Those are our three points in examining Christ's further teaching here in this section. Faith, prayer, and forgiveness. First, faith, verses 22 and 23. So Jesus answered and said to them, have faith in God. For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, be removed and be cast into the sea, and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says. This passage, along with others, that are similarly framed, this passage has been abused by those promoting the so-called word of faith movement, the so-called health and wealth gospel. These false teachers urge that we can have whatever good things we desire if we just have enough faith to claim them. Are we sick? Well, they promise us that God will make us well if we just have enough faith. Are we poor materially, lacking in possessions? Well, we can have anything we want materially, however much wealth, if we just have enough faith to claim it. So they teach. This misrepresents Christ's teaching entirely. This false teaching makes our personal desires the driving focus of our faith. But that is not what Christ is teaching here. Christ is teaching something quite different from that. Indeed, Christ's manner of teaching here and elsewhere requires us to receive his words in the fullness of the rest of what he says. and indeed in the fullness of his revelation in the whole of the word of God. We may not rip his teachings out of the context of the whole of his teachings. We may not rip his word here out of the rest of his word from Genesis to Revelation. Christ does not speak in a way contradictory. Certainly he uses a manner of teaching that catches the attention But once our attention has been grabbed, it is our responsibility to hear him faithfully according to the whole of his word. And we have the first corrective to that misrepresentation of those false teachers in the first words, the first part of his reply. To Peter's exclamation in verse 22, what does he say? He says, have faith in God. As Peter marvels, look what happened. That tree has been destroyed in accord to the word of the curse that you declared. Jesus says, I have something for you, Peter. Are you marveling at that? Have faith in God. Here's the first thing to know to understand Christ's teaching with regard to faith and receiving what is said. The object of faith, which, as he describes, moves mountains, is not our own desires. It's not the actions that we want to see. What's the object of the faith? God. not our desires, not the thing we want so bad, not that Mercedes-Benz or that pile of gold or whatever desire we concocted in our imagination. That's not the place of the beginning of a true and genuine faith as Christ describes where is its orientation, its start, and its object. We have the answer from Christ's first word in response to Peter, its object, is God. It comes from God and has God as the focus. His purposes are the desire. I mean, consider the familiar passage that speaks with that kind of orientation in Ephesians 2, verses 8 through 10. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And what about that faith that made a dead man alive? that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. It's not something you earned. It's not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. The whole orientation is Godward. The faith spoken of, faith, that is oriented according to the gospel of Jesus Christ being proclaimed in his kingdom has its origin in God. It is the work of God and it has its orientation in God. And what is the nature of that faith? It is all about the will of God. And so Christ teaches of this faith. It is not believing hard enough that I can have what I want. Such a thing is anathema. It's fleshly, ungodly, and soul-corrupting. It's breathed as a suggestion of the devil that that is faith. That's not faith. Faith is not oriented upon my desires as I concoct them. No, the faith of which Jesus speaks is from God, full of God and His will. Such faith is trusting the true and living God to do all His holy will. That's what Jesus is describing. We must remember how Christ handled the matter of faith and His miracles. We just saw one in the withering of the fig tree. But remember, when Christ speaks of faith in relation to His miracles, when He was near His hometown, remember, He didn't do an abundance of miracles there. Why? Because they lacked faith. Was that because the miracles were dependent for the doing in the faith? Well, no, we talked about that. We understand what Jesus is talking about. Remember, when He says to one, healed, your faith has healed you. We understand what he's talking about. It's manifest who healed the one who received the miraculous work. Jesus healed. So what is he saying? He's saying, as your faith is in the divine Messiah, as I have revealed myself, so you have received according to that faith. What was that faith? In divine Messiah to do all his holy will. The begging of the one in need was, do this, which you alone can do because you are who you say you are, and you have called me before you. That's the nature of the faith he's describing here. When he didn't do those miracles because of the lack of faith, it was not because someone didn't want something badly enough, right? The reason was because the miracles were about faith in Messiah as the Son of God and the divine revelation of salvation. That's what those miracles were about. And where that faith that is gospel-oriented in the divine Messiah was lacking, that lesson would be lacking. And Christ did not simply feed the desires of sinful men. His miracles We're about that relationship of faith to the divine Messiah. True faith must have God as the object and his will as the desire. This requires us then, if we are to express true faith, to know and submit to God's revelation in his word. How else will we know God and his will? How can we say then, with confidence, the things as Jesus describes them in verse 23? Well, it would require that we receive from God the revelation of himself and his will, no matter how impossible it may seem, and having that, by faith, so to do according to what's been revealed. We are so prone to have that orientation completely mixed up. to think that what Christ is talking about is to come up with what I want really badly and then believe it badly enough and then mention it in prayer and I'll have it. That's just so utterly upside down. Completely wrong. What Jesus is saying is when God has revealed it and you have faith in God and what he has revealed, no matter how impossible it seems, by faith it will be so according to God's revelation. That's true faith, and that's what he's calling the disciples to. Now consider what things they would be called to do. Consider what things they had already been called to do. To speak the word and have demons flee. To speak the word and have men healed. So very practically, he's speaking to them in their particular calling, but he's speaking a word to us as well. And Mark records it for our building up in our most holy faith. Again, this is not about a new car, not about wealth. It's about the fruit of grace in obedience. Think about it. Are you free from every anxiety? How impossible that seems. free from the fear of death? How impossible that seems. Is it not something knit into the very fabric of our soul and body so that we tremble at times under those very things that Almighty God says will be loosed from us? Do we believe? You see, the promise of faith is about the things that the one true God, in whom we believe, has promised to us. What do we do with that? Well, we do what Christ says next. We go to Him in prayer about those very things. We go by faith for the things revealed by the true God we go by faith in prayer to them. Verse 24, therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them and you will have them. You remember the echo of this promise? In James chapter one, verses six through eight, remember, What you need in your trials is to have the mind of God. You need wisdom so that you can walk with boldness through those things that seem impossible. And here's your promise. He will give you that wisdom. He will produce in you those things that these trials are intended to produce. So ask Him. Ah, but James says, ask in Faith, I just gave you the promise, James says. Believe it and go in prayer to the one who promised it, that you may have these things. What things? The fruits of grace through trials, the production of perseverance and increase of faith. Is that what we pray for? We have a promise for such things. Oh, God forbid that we should corrupt this empowering word from our Savior with corrupt and selfish desires for material things as though that's our end. Everywhere in scripture we're told our end and in whom we are to trust and by what means we're to achieve that end. Their spiritual realities seek first the kingdom and his righteousness. Faith of this sort fuels the life of prayer. And prayer of this sort fuels the life of grace. And that's manifest in where our Savior takes it next. There's a flow that knits these things together. It makes sense. Faith moves to prayer, appealing to heaven for the graces. And what's the root grace? forgiveness. Verses 25 and 26, and whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses. But if you do not forgive, neither will your father in heaven forgive your trespasses. What a powerful word that reminds us of the model prayer, doesn't it? If we want to know how we should prioritize our prayer, it's all about God's will, like it is in heaven, being done here and in me, and with that desire out front, then I pray for those things that are in keeping with my calling, even material needs, but framed the way the Lord taught us, that there may be grace provided, particularly The root grace in faith is forgiveness, is it not? Consider it. What's that first motion of God-wrought faith in the soul? Is it not clinging to Christ for forgiveness? And what fruit will that bear? Jesus is describing it here. That fruit will increase over time. That fruit in our time on earth is in part, it's imperfect, it's in measure, but it's present and increasing. As we have been forgiven, there will be a motion in the soul that knows that faith that cannot continue without forgiveness towards others. Such root of grace is expressed in the Lord's model prayer. It's expressed here. The life of faith begins with the gospel of forgiveness, embracing Jesus for forgiveness. The fruit of such gospel faith will be fruitful, spirit-wrought graces, key among them, that love which forgives. Here it's stated quite plainly. Forgive as a fruit of grace in the heart of faith. If it's absent, you don't know that grace. You don't have that faith and you are not forgiven. Powerful words of warning. Now, It's important for us, again, as we said before at the beginning, to unpack Christ's words carefully and attentively, so to honor His message and not misrepresent it. This forgiveness is not an instruction. This forgiveness that we will express as those forgiven by faith is not a short-circuiting of the Lord's broad sweep of instruction. Our forgiveness, some have seen as a call to eliminate public justice. That's not what Jesus is calling for. He's talking about personal offenses held in the heart. We must not do that. But the magistrate, according to Romans 13, still has to punish wickedness. Well, what if that wickedness happened to me? The magistrate has a duty to ferret that out, to punish it. I have a duty to have a heart disposed towards forgiveness. Not so as to eliminate all the other things that God calls for, right? We had a situation happen here. Many years ago, a stranger wandered in off the street and sat in the back, waiting through the whole service until the closing prayer, at which point he arose from his seat in the back, walked stiffly towards the front quickly, grabbed a fistful of everything in the offering plates, and dashed towards the exit. As it became apparent what he was doing, the one at the door I held out an arm and said, hold on, what are you doing? He dived under the arm and ran. Well, thankfully, a couple of parishioners chased after him, recovered the funds that belonged to Jesus. And we were quite satisfied with that. We offered up prayers for that thief's salvation while we were uncertain of the outcome. The magistrate was called, and justice was served. In fact, the first judge threw the book at the man and said, some things are just sacred. He was outraged at what that thief had done. But then the outrage turned against the church, saying, how dare they? Well, we were not acting in that regard. We had done simply our duty and prayed for his soul. However, the magistrate then exercised his duty and brought a measure of justice against a thief. What did we do? We prayed that he would know forgiveness. This leads to a second clarification. Jesus is insisting that our heart must be disposed towards forgiveness from the get-go. When I discern as I pray by faith, I have an offense I've held in my heart by that one who's injured me. Jesus says, grace demands that your heart let go of that offense. Vengeance belongs to the Lord. What does Jesus not say? He's not saying, go to that one and say, I want you to know, you did this thing wrong and I don't, no, no, no, don't ask forgiveness. I've already forgiven. Don't do that. That one has a duty to experience grace in repentance, being joined by that love, which sees I have injured this other. I've done what's wrong to that one. God, forgive me. And may I be humbled to go to that one. and make it right. Jesus is not saying, disable that. Why would you remove from him that grace? Don't do that. Jesus isn't calling for that, but he is calling for you to let go of vengeance. There is to be no harboring of the offense in the heart. There must indeed be a wholehearted desire that they will know grace, those who may have offended, that you will their good and you seek it in prayer. When you stand praying, forgive. Don't remove their opportunity to seek forgiveness, but let grace work in the heart to taste of that forgiveness and then express it. The heart disposition is what Jesus is talking about here. And the heart, which by faith has been wrought upon in this manner, and knows such forgiveness, cannot help but grow in the grace of expressing this forgiveness, so says our Lord. Not harboring offenses, but sweetly forgiving in the heart and praying for the good of the one who offended. Now we grow in this grace, as we said, Indeed, Jesus assumes that. You stand praying and you realize, I am harboring an offense. He tells you what to do. Work according to that grace by faith and forgive. It is a command, what a sweet command for those who have tasted this grace. And As we pursue this grace, we are pursuing the life of faith. Do you see how these things sweetly lead one to the other and circle back? This is the life of the follower of Jesus. That faith increasing, and that by prayer, through tribulations, through trials, through struggles, deepening in the experience of the grace received by faith as a grace. ever increasing, ever cycling, and increasing. This is the call of discipleship. This is the life of the followers of Jesus. This is your calling. Jesus breathes this out beautifully for the transformation of your soul. He who gave you life will increase that life after this pattern. So how do we walk? This is our calling. Do we know the true and living God? We have him by his word revealed that our faith may have its true object with ever greater clarity. Do we know and desire his will? We have his word to work in us that knowledge that we may secondly pray to the true and living God according to his will, that we may deepen in all the graces that that faith makes ours in Jesus, desiring God and desiring what he desires, and so with boldness praying, God, you have promised these graces to me, and I see, I sense the want of them. I beg of you what I know you will give me. More of these graces strengthen my faith. Rest my heart in the peace of the Prince of Peace, that I should not shake at anything you appoint. You've appointed my path. Give me the power to walk it for the glory of Jesus Christ. Is that the shape of our prayers? Ask everything else in that framework with confidence in God who answers. Praise the Lord. Let's pray. Most Holy Father, we thank you for this clear instruction in the pattern of the life of the followers of Jesus. And while we see how we want in these things, yet we are strengthened with encouragement. We'll have the things you've promised, for you are indeed the God who has revealed himself to us, the true and living God. And you have wrought a faith in our hearts that will strengthen us for your service. Oh, give us boldness to ask according to who you are, according to your will. And so Father, may we be ever increasing in our calling for this indeed. is your will for us. And Father, forgive us where we have been failing in this. Remind us of this, our calling in Christ. Assure us as you strengthen us for that calling. We ask these things in his name. Amen.