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Sermon: Tell It to the Mountain
by Chris Cumming 11 And Jesus entered into Jerusalem, and into the temple: and when he had looked round about upon all things, and now the eventide was come, he went out unto Bethany with the twelve. 12 And on the morrow, when they were come from Bethany, he was hungry: 13 And seeing a fig tree afar off having leaves, he came, if haply he might find any thing thereon: and when he came to it, he found nothing but leaves; for the time of figs was not yet.
14 And Jesus answered and said unto it, No man eat fruit
of thee hereafter for ever. And his disciples heard it. 20 And in the morning, as they passed by, they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots.
21 And Peter calling to remembrance saith unto him,
Master, behold, the fig tree which thou cursedst is withered away. Now
verse 22…
22 And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in
God. 23 For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith. 24 Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them. 25 And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.
26 But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father
which is in heaven forgive your trespasses.
Therefore I will touch briefly on some of the elements
contained herein with a special focus on the five-word phrase in verse
24 that follows “when ye pray”, “believe that ye receive them.” 22 In reply Jesus said to the disciples, "If you only have faith in God-this is the absolute truth-you can say to this Mount of Olives, 'Rise up and fall into the Mediterranean,' and your command will be obeyed. All that's required is that you really believe and have no doubt! 24 Listen to me! You can pray for anything, and if you believe, you have it; it's yours!
From the Revised Standard Version: 22 And Jesus answered them, "Have faith in God. 23 Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, 'Be taken up and cast 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. 24 Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.
Now let us look at some specific elements of the text.
This is where we immerse ourselves into the Word of God. For this, keep
your Bible open here to Mark 11:22.
Verse 22. [Have faith in God] Literally, "Have the faith
of God." This may mean, have strong faith, or have confidence in God; a
strong belief that he is able to accomplish things that appear most
difficult with infinite ease, as the fig-tree was made to wither away by
a word. –Barnes’ Notes
[Have faith in God.] Echete (NT:2192) pistin (NT:4102)
Theou (NT:2316) is a mere Hebraism: have the faith of God, i.e. have
strong faith, or the strongest faith. –Adam Clark Jesus is uttering this admonition in the strongest terms the Greek language will allow. “…The Strongest Faith.”
Verse 23 – Casting the Mountain into the Sea.
(episode where the disciples could not cast out a demon)
20 And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief:
for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed,
ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it
shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you. [As a grain of mustard-seed] The mustard-seed was the smallest of all seeds. It has been supposed by some, therefore, that he meant to say, If you have the smallest or feeblest faith that is genuine, you can do all things. The mustard-seed produced the largest of all herbs. It has been supposed by others, therefore, to mean, If you have increasing, expanding, enlarged faith, growing and strengthening from small beginnings, you can perform the most difficult undertaking. There is a principle of vitality in the grain of seed stretching forward to great results, which illustrates the nature of faith. Your faith should be like that. This is probably the true meaning.
[Ye shall say unto this mountain ...] Probably he pointed to a mountain near, to assure them that if they had such faith they might accomplish the most difficult undertakings-things that at first would appear impossible.
(from Barnes' Notes)
This is the counter phrase to “Have faith in God” in
verse 22. It consists of two key words, “not” and “doubt” and as you are
about to see, they carry the same strength and depth as “Have faith in
God”…”the strongest faith”. Notice this from Strong’s Concordance diakrino (dee-ak-ree'-no); to separate thoroughly, i.e. (literally and reflexively) to withdraw from, or (by implication) oppose; figuratively, to discriminate (by implication, decide), or (reflexively) hesitate:
Now key this to the meaning of “Have faith in God” as the
strongest kind of faith---the faith that God, Himself has. If one
doubts this kind of faith, he or she is … 2] literally withdrawing themselves from it. 3] reflexively—by knee-jerk reaction withdrawing from it.
4] opposing the concept of having Godly faith.
me (may); a primary particle of qualified negation.
1] any but that. Anything but that kind of doubt. 2] God forbid + never. God forbid that we ever consider this kind of doubt. 3] un-taken. Nothing about this word “doubt” is taken into our minds.
4] without. As in we have God’s faith “without” any of
the elements of the word “doubt”.
Now if you are familiar with the study of language, lots of words derive or originate from other words. To get the full impact of what Jesus is saying in this phrase, “shall believe”, we have to look at a string of 3 words, each one meaning “believe”, but each one having its own special meaning and the three combined to show what Jesus is saying.
The phrase “shall believe” is Strong’s word 4100. It
derives from word 4102 and that word originates in the primary verb,
word 3982. I will start with this primary verb, “believe” and come
forward to what you read here in verse 23. peitho (pi'-tho); a primary verb; to convince (by argument, true or false); reflexively assent (to evidence or authority), to rely (by inward certainty):
NT:4102---believe by persuasion of and total reliance on Christ pistis (pis'-tis); persuasion or moral conviction (of religious truth, or the truthfulness of God or a religious teacher), especially reliance upon Christ for salvation; ---constancy in such profession or steadiness in Gospel truth.
NT:4100---believe by total commitment pisteuo (pist-yoo'-o); to have faith (in, upon, or with respect to, a person or thing), to entrust one's spiritual well-being to Christ):
So Jesus is saying in this one phrase, “but shall
believe” that …
–then, armed with these elements, be in total [long-term]
commitment to having the same faith as God has by entrusting ourselves
to Christ.
Verse 24 – “Believe that ye receive them” [or believe
that you already have them.]
A present tense imperative [command or instruction],
calling for persistent, continuing faith. –Wycliffe
Notice a commentary… Receive. Superior manuscript evidence favors the aorist tense [expressing action] - you did receive. In other words, we are to keep on believing that God has already given us our request. –Wycliffe
This is one of the most intriguing parts of this whole
passage. Jesus is giving us strong encouragement, if not an outright
command to totally commit to what He is saying here. He wants us to
receive the things we desire BEFORE He even gives them to us. That is,
He wants us to mentally, emotionally and spiritually “take hold” of the
item or action before we see it physically.
Verse 24 – “…and ye shall have them.”
Isn’t it interesting that the Work of God in this modern
age began with what we read here? How many remember the healing of Loma
Armstrong in the months after Herbert Armstrong began proving the
Sabbath?
As these answers continued coming from the Bible, I began to understand, and to BELIEVE -- and I knew the same assurance was forming in Mrs. Armstrong's mind.
…then you read…
This man actually dared to talk directly to God, and to tell God what He had PROMISED to do! He quoted the promises of God to heal. He applied them to my wife. He literally held God to what he had promised! It was not because we, as mortal humans, deserved what he asked, but through the merits of Jesus Christ, and according to God's great mercy.
He merely claimed God's PROMISE to heal. He asked God to heal her completely, from the top of her head to the bottom of her feet.
"You have promised," he said to God, "and you have given us the right to hold you to your promise to heal by the power of your mighty Holy Spirit. I hold you to that promise! We expect to have the answer!"
Never had I heard anyone talk like that to God! (end
quote)
I cannot help be see that this modern-day Work of God
began in this most profound message, encouragement and commanding truth
of God. This very Work of God was founded on the precept that we have
the very Faith of God and not one molecule of doubt.
Christ teacheth them from hence to pray in faith (v. 22); Have faith in God. They admired the power of Christ's word of command; "Why," said Christ, "a lively active faith would put as great a power into your prayers, v. 23, 24. Whosoever shall say to this mountain, this mount of Olives, Be removed, and be cast into the sea; if he has but any word of God, general or particular, to build his faith upon, and if he shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith, according to the warrant he has from what God hath said, shall come to pass, he shall have whatsoever he saith." Through the strength and power of God in Christ, the greatest difficulty shall be got over, and the thing shall be effected. And therefore (v. 24), "What things soever ye desire, when ye pray believe that ye shall receive them; nay, believe that ye do receive them, and he that has power to give them, saith, Ye shall have them. I say unto you, Ye shall, v. 24. Verily I say unto you, Ye shall," v. 23.
Let me repeat a sentence from that commentary: “, but
shall believe that those things which he saith, according to the warrant
he has from what God hath said, shall come to pass, he shall have
whatsoever he saith." 2] Justification for an action or a belief.
3] Something that provides assurance or confirmation; a
guarantee or proof.
Now we still have two verses to cover in this profound
message Jesus had for his disciples. 25 And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.
26 But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father
which is in heaven forgive your trespasses.
The point here is that a disciple cannot pray effectively if an unforgiving spirit has broken his fellowship with God.
(from The Wycliffe Bible Commentary)
And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand
all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I
could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. 1 Cor 13:2
[And though I have all faith,
so that I could remove mountains] Though I should have the highest kind
of faith. This is referred to by the Saviour (Matt 17:20—mustard seed
verse,) as the highest kind of faith; and Paul here had this fact
doubtless in his eye. –Barnes' Notes
Base Requirement: Immerse yourself into the Word of God.
1] Say it—with the strongest faith, conviction, boldness.
"Confidence," "fearlessness,” This was one of the results of discipleship. It was a necessary qualification for the work assigned them. They were not only subject to violent persecutions, but also were the constant subject of ridicule and contempt. [sometimes from within]. Notice some verses…
Acts 4:13 Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marvelled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus.
Acts 4:29 And now, Lord, behold their threatenings: and grant unto thy servants, that with all boldness they may speak thy word,
Acts 4:31 And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spake the word of God with boldness.
Eph 3:12
In whom we have boldness and
access with confidence by the faith of him. Prayer is when we are talking to God. Meditation is, essentially when He is “talking” to us…imparting wisdom, knowledge, truth and understanding. It is in meditation that we will attain this highest level of faith by the power of the Holy Spirit in us.
Now I want to leave you with an end-of-the-sermon “zinger”.
Go back to verse 23 again and read
NT:142---------Be thou removed
airo (ah'-ee-ro); a primary
root; to lift up; by implication, to take up or away; figuratively, to
raise (the voice), keep in suspense (the mind), specially, to sail away
(i.e. weigh anchor); by Hebraism [compare NT:5375] to expiate sin: 18 Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? he retaineth not his anger for ever, because he delighteth in mercy. 19 He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us; he will subdue our iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.
KJV - away with, bear (up), carry, lift up, loose, make to doubt, put away, remove, take (away, up).
So imagine for a moment that the mountain in front of you
had a mind and could talk. Don’t you think it would declare its
authority and validity simply because it was there and had been there
since the beginning of time? Yet by the boldness of your speaking to
the mountain and saying to it, “be thou removed” it begins to doubt the
purpose of its own existence. So much so that it actually pulls up
roots and jumps into the ocean.
And when the Philistines saw their champion was dead,
they fled. One commentary says they were panic-stricken. Another says
they were terrified. David had filled them with doubt. Israel then
routs them, despite the fact the Philistines had the better army with
armor and iron weapons.
Believe these words and God forbid there be any doubt.
And when
others see your faithfulness and ask you how they can overcome
insurmountable obstacles like you, say to them… |
Lesson 14: Instructions – Have the same faith God has
| 1)
Know that Mark 11:22 is speaking of the strongest kind of faith...the
same faith God has. 2) Understand that the mountain in Mark 11:23 is speaking to insurmountable obstacles. The strongest faith can move these obstacles. 3) Have the faith of God without any kind of doubt. 4) Be fully convinced of what you read in scripture. 5) Have reliance on Christ. Entrust yourself to Him. 6) When you ask God, in this kind of faith, "take hold of" the item you have asked for or consider the requested action as it it has already happened. "Take hold and be amazed." 7) Understand that having the strongest kind of faith gives you a "warrant" from God...an assurance, confirmation and/or guarantee that you have it [your request] already. 8) Repent of your sins [be a repentant person] and forgive any you have ought against as this nullifies the warrant we receive from God for having His level of faith. 9) Obtaining God-level faith is a lifelong process and begins by immersing yourself into the Word of God. 10) Say it -- Believe it -- Cast out all doubt -- Forgive |