Ron Dunn Podcast - The Object Of Faith

Episode Date: October 15, 2014

You are listening to the Ron Dunn Podcast. Ron Dunn is a well-known author and was one of the most in-demand preachers during the latter part of the 20th century. He led Bible studies all over the United States, Europe, and South Africa. For more information and resources from Ron Dunn, please visit rondunn.com. The Gospel of Mark, chapter 11, verses 12, 13, and 14, and then down to verses 20 through 26. And on the morrow, when they were come from Bethany, he was hungry. And seeing a fig tree afar off having leaves, he came, if perhaps he might find anything on it.

And when he came to it, he found nothing but leaves, for the time of figs was not yet. And Jesus answered and said unto it, No man eat fruit of thee hereafter forever. And his disciples heard it. And verse 20, And in the morning as they passed by, they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots. And Peter, calling to remembrance, saith unto him, Master, behold, the fig tree which you cursed is withered away. And Jesus answering said unto them, Have faith in God, 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 whatever he says therefore i say unto you what things soever you desire when you pray believe that you receive them and you shall have them and when you pray and when you stand praying forgive if you have ought against any, that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.

But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father who is in heaven forgive your trespasses. Well, I've got some good news for you today. There's not anything wrong with you that a miracle wouldn't cure. Now, don't you feel better? Aren't you glad you came? There's nothing wrong with you. There's no problem that you're facing today that a miracle wouldn't cure. Of course, I know what some of you are thinking.

Boy, it'll take a miracle to take care of my situation, and it'll be a miracle if I get one. That's the trouble with miracles. There's never one around when you need it. And a lot of us, I think, sometimes have the idea that the day of miracles is past, and there is a sense in which, of course, God does not work the spectacular miracles as frequently and as dramatically as he did in the New Testament times before we had the word of God and the coming of the Holy Spirit. But God still works in a miraculous way. And it is demonstrated here in a very

interesting situation. And I find myself sometimes in good company when I find it hard to believe that God can do some miraculous things. I'm sure that all of us, if we were to stand up today and be honest, could confess that we are facing or facing in our families or in some situation in life where it just looks impossible and you've done everything you know to do and can do and yet nothing seems to be changed and you just wonder will anything ever happen will anything ever change it will God ever listen to my prayer or will he ever answer and so it's difficult for us sometimes to believe that God will intervene and work in a miraculous way. And when you find yourself believing like that,

you need to remember you're in good company, for the disciples many times experienced the same thing. I often feel, and I'm sure you have too, that if Jesus were just here with us physically, it'd be so much easier to trust him and believe on him. And yet, as you read the Gospels, you'll find that the disciples had him right there, as close as close could be physically,

and yet time and time again they found themselves incapable of really believing as they ought to believe. And in this passage, you have a tremendous object lesson concerning this. First of all, you have that strange little occurrence when they were coming to Bethany, and Jesus from afar off saw a fig tree. He was hungry, first of all, the scripture says. And then he saw a fig tree, and he saw it a long way off, and it was bearing leaves. And when he got up to it, it didn't have any figs on it, for the time of figs was not yet, rather the season, it was not the season for bearing figs. And so he cursed that tree and said that no man shall eat of thee forever after this. Now a lot of people have thought that what Jesus

did was rather cruel, and why should he curse that fig tree when the Bible plainly says that it wasn't even the time for it to bear figs yet, and yet Jesus cursed it because it wasn't bearing figs. Well, the reason is because it says that it was bearing leaves, and remember he saw it from afar off, so it had to have a bumper crop of leaves. Now, the particular fig trees in that part of the world in that time always bore leaves when they bore fruit. They bore the fruit and the leaves together. So that if you saw a fig tree, even though it wasn't the season, but if you saw a fig tree bearing leaves, then you had the right to expect it to bear fruit also, you see.

And you notice it says, and Jesus answered the fig tree. Well, I didn't hear the fig tree say a word, did you? Oh, yes, it said something. You know what it said? It said, I'm bearing fruit. I have figs. How did it say that? Because it had a bumper crop of leaves. And so

when Jesus got to it and he saw that it was an empty and false profession, he cursed it. Now, the immediate application, of course, is to Israel, who had all the leaves of ceremonialism and ritualism, but had none of the fruit of true righteousness and that is the immediate application I preached a sermon once on a nothing but leaves religion just got the leaves all of the ceremonies and the rituals and the forms of religion but as far as any true righteousness there's nothing there now that doesn't have a thing in the world to do with my message, but I just thought you might be interested in that.

So anyway, on the next day, verse 20, And in the morning as they passed by, they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots. And Peter, remembering what happened, said to him, Master, behold, the fig tree which dried up from the roots, and it has died. And Peter is so amazed at what has happened just at the simple word of Jesus, and he cries out to the Lord as though the Lord's going to be surprised too. He says, Lord, behold, look at that fig tree. And when Jesus saw it, he answered.

And he answered in a very calm manner. He said, have faith in God. For verily I say unto you that whosoever shall say in this mountain, be thou removed and be thou cast into the, 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. Now here is how it went. They're walking back the next morning, and they pass this fig tree which Jesus the day before had cursed. And suddenly Peter looks over there, and that thing has shriveled and died overnight.

And he says, Master, look what happened to that fig tree. And Jesus said, Calm down, Peter. Have faith in God. Peter, don't get excited about the withering of a fig tree. If you have faith in God, you can do a lot more than wither fig trees. If you have faith in God, you can say to this mountain,

Be thou cast into the sea, and it shall be done unto you. You see, that's how it's going. Peter is amazed at the withering of a fig tree. And Jesus said, Oh, that's nothing, Peter. That's nothing.

That's small stuff. Peter, if you know how to believe God, if you have faith in God, you can do a lot more than wither fig trees. While you can say to a mountain, be thou cast into the sea, and it shall be done unto you. Well, that's amazing, isn't it? Jesus is saying that there is a power that you and I have available to us, and that power is able to cast a mountain into a sea now of course

I don't really believe that really and truly I don't believe that Jesus meant that you and I could literally physically cast a mountain into a sea. Let me give you a definition of miracle. You won't find this in a theological book, but I think it's a good definition. A miracle is God doing what only God can do. That's what a miracle is. A miracle is God doing what only God can do. Now, Jesus said if you have faith, you can say to a mountain, Be thou cast into the sea, and it shall be done. Now, I said a moment ago, I don't think that Jesus literally intended us to go around casting mountains into the sea.

We never have any record of Jesus doing that nor any of his disciples doing that. And there is nothing redemptive about that. We need to remember that everything that God does is redemptive in purpose. I don't think he meant literally any more than the Bible when it says that God has feathers or wings or that Jesus has a two-edged sword out of his mouth. I don't think that he literally meant that we were to go around and cast Stone Mountain into the sea or cast the Matterhorn into the sea or Mount McKinley into the sea. I don't think that's what he meant. I made this statement in a church a couple of years ago

and a fellow came up to me after the service and he said, Did I understand you correctly that you don't believe that Jesus literally meant that we could cast mountains into the sea if we had enough faith? I said, well, yes, I don't believe that he literally meant that we were to do that. He said, well, then does that mean

that you don't believe in the inerrancy of the scripture? I said, yes, I believe in the errancy of the scripture. He said, well, then Jesus has to mean what he says. I said, okay, have it your way. That's exactly what Jesus means. Now let's move on to something else. It's not going to make a bit of difference. Okay, let's say that Jesus meant literally what he meant.

Go out there and move that mountain, all right? You're not going to move that mountain, and you know it. Man can move a mountain if you give him enough time and dynamite and equipment, he can move a mountain. No, God is talking about something far greater than that.

You see, mountains in the Bible always symbolize barriers, obstacles. You remember in the book of Isaiah when God is talking about the delivering of his people from the Babylonian captivity and they're going to have to make that long journey back to the promised land. He says, don't worry about the mountains he said I will make a way through my mountains now what he's saying is that they're going to be hindrances and barriers and obstacles between you and my land but don't worry I will make a way through and notice he says my mountains I will make a way through the mountains whatever is standing in your

path whatever is blocking your progress, whatever is hindering you from doing what I want you to do, don't worry about it. I will make a way through your mountains, through the mountains. So I define a miracle as this, God doing what only God can do. Let me define a mountain. A mountain is anything that keeps you from being or doing what God wants you to do. That's what a mountain is. Anything that stands between us and the accomplishing of the will of God, that is a mountain. And I think what Jesus is saying here to us is this, that if you and I know how to believe God and trust God, there

is nothing that can keep us from being what God wants us to be and doing what God wants us to do. And that's a lot greater power than to move some mountain into a sea. You see, if this church knows how to believe God, there is nothing that can keep you from doing what God wants you to do and being what God wants you to be if we know how to trust him. Salvation is like a big house that's built beside the road. And all of us travel down that road. We were born on that road. And we're slaves to that road. And our lives are lived traveling down that road.

And there is a destination at the end of that road of course and the closer you and I get to it the more we fear it and so salvation is like this it's it's one day we're walking down this road with this heavy pack heavy burden on our back unable to break away from the crowd and all of a sudden we see over to the side of the road this magnificent house and it has some narrow doors in the front and over those narrow doors are written these words whosoever will may enter and as i pass by that house i don't know how I know it, but somehow I know that if I can get into that house, I'll be saved from the road and from its destination. And so it says, whosoever will may

enter. And so I decide I'm going to enter that house. I'm going to get out of this road. I'm going to get out of this rat race. And so I make my way up the steps across the porch and I take hold of the doorknob but it won't open. The door is locked. I think, well, maybe it's just stuck. And so I jiggle it and it won't come unstuck. And, well, it's locked and so I try to pick the lock but there's nothing I can do. I bang on the door and I hammer on the door. I don't understand this. You've got a sign here that says whosoever will may enter and then you lock the

door. I mean why put a welcome mat out and then lock the door? That doesn't make sense. And so while I'm banging on that door suddenly somebody taps me on the shoulder and calls my name. And I turn around and standing there is the builder of the house and he says you need this key to get in and he dropped into my hand a key and on it is carved the single word faith and so I take that key and I insert it into the lock and twist it and I hear that reassuring click and the door swings open and I cross the threshold and I'm in the house. And the moment I enter that house, the burden falls from my shoulders and I give a big sigh of relief and I know that I've been saved from the highway. I'm in the house that grace built and faith is the key that got me in.

But as I stand there, I realize I'm just standing in the foyer and that the house of salvation is a house with many, many rooms. Well, I can see one room over there and on the door is marked answered prayer. On another door to another room has this legend on it, deliverance from

daily sin. And over here another room leads in to fullness of blessings. And down farther than the eye can see there is room after room after room and behind every door there is one great spiritual blessing after another.

Well, I know that God didn't mean, I don't want to spend my life in the foyer, and I believe that God wants me to enter into every room in this house, and so that room over there, answered prayer, looks like a mighty good room, and so I think I'll enter into that room, and I go over there and turn the door and the thing is locked. Well, I go to the next door. That door has on it written daily victory over sin and boy that's a room I'd like to get into

and I try that door and it's locked. And then I begin to understand something. I failed to mention that when I came into the house, I noticed that the foyer was jammed with people, and it seemed that everybody who entered the house never progressed beyond the foyer. They just lived in the foyer. Nobody seemed to be going into those rooms, and now I was understanding why nobody was going into those rooms. All those doors were locked. Oh, but I've grown smart. I know you need a key to get into these rooms. And I don't know how I've come to have it, but just being in this house for a short time,

I've already accumulated a huge key ring. So I'm going to get in this door of answered prayer. First of all, I'll try the key of doing my best. And so I try that key, but that key won't work. Well, I'm going to try this other key. This other key says faithful Sunday school attendance. Well, that'll get in the door. And I try that key, and that won't open the door either either. Next I try the key of tithing. I'm getting desperate and so I know that if any key will open that door this will open the door and so but it won't open the door either and all of a sudden I begin to droop in despair and I think well this is not much better than the highway and then I hear a voice behind me calling my name and I turn around and it's the builder of the house and he says son how did you get into this house well I got in with

the key he said what was the key that I gave you I said well it was the key that I gave you? I said, well, it was the key of faith. He said, son, the key of faith is a master key that opens every door in the house. And that was the greatest discovery of my life, that the Christian life is lived by faith. You don't just enter through faith. You live by faith. As a matter of fact, salvation from start to finish is a by grace through faith operation. Everything you and I receive in the Christian life, we receive the same way we received salvation initially. Colossians tells us,

As you have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so do something else. No, so walk in Him. And the same way you received Him as Lord, that's the same way you live in Him as Lord. How did you receive Him? Well, you repented. You turned from the highway,

and by faith, by grace through faith, you entered into him. And that's the same way. That's the same way you live the Christian life, you see. Grace is God's side, and faith is man's side. Grace is God offering. Faith is man receiving. And as we're going to see before the week is over,

even the faith is given to us of God but if you want to separate it you can say that there is by grace through faith God's grace provides everything makes everything available and faith is the key that unlocks the door to everything that God has you enter into answered prayer

and to victorious Christian living the same way you were saved to begin with, by grace through faith, you see. We Baptists are terrific on believing that we're saved by grace through faith, but we're not very good on living by grace through faith, you see. We feel like now we live in a different way than we were saved. We live by our wits or we live by our strength or by our activity or something like this. No, everything in the Christian life is a by grace through faith operation. Ron Dunn's podcast is available only for personal edification, not to be duplicated, uploaded to the web, or resold without prior written consent.

It is managed and operated by Sherwood Baptist Church. For more Ron Dunn materials, sermon outlines, devotions, and scanned pages from his study Bible, please visit rondunn.com.