Alrighty, let's take our Bibles. So I want you to meet me in the Gospel of Mark chapter 11. Mark chapter 11 is the gospel account that portrays Jesus as a servant. You see phrases like straightway, immediately, by and by, which all indicate immediate action from Christ. But we've got a parable, excuse me, not a parable, a teaching from Christ here that is often misused. And I want to look at it in the context in which it's given, but we're going to read it first. It is in verse 22, Mark chapter 11 and verse 22, page 1061. Jesus makes this statement. He says, 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 whatsoever he saith. Therefore I say unto you, what things soever ye desire, when you pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them. And when you stand praying, forgive. If you have ought against any in heaven, or excuse me, if you have ought against any, that your father also, which is in heaven, may forgive you your trespasses. But if you do not forgive, neither will your father, which is in heaven, forgive your trespasses. Now, you might be familiar already with how this verse is used. There is a movement, it's abbreviated W-O-F, and that stands for Word of Faith Movement, and it is this idea that you can basically speak things into existence. That if you desire something long enough, hard enough to happen, that you can literally manifest that into existence. You saw this on display if you were paying attention to what happened in the sports world this past weekend. After the game, Jalen Hurts, the quarterback for the Philadelphia Eagles, was talking and speaking to reporters. And the whole purpose of that is to get articles and things written. And one of the articles that was written focused on all the things that Jalen Hurts, the quarterback, who went to the Super Bowl two years before and lost, and then worked hard and worked at his craft, and then came back and won in dominant fashion, There was an article that was written and published on ESPN that talked about he manifested that into existence. And they actually made a poster, and I don't know if Jalen believes this, but this is how the media swung it, where there are all these phrases that he said and they put them in quotations and stuff and they tried to demonstrate how all those things came to pass. And there's a belief there that literally the words we speak, it's part of our breath, so it's energy. So we're literally speaking these things to existence, so as a result of it, it will come to pass. And people use this as a proof text for it. Let me show you how they do that. Look at what it says in the middle of verse 23. 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. So the assumption there is if you simply desire it, then God wants you to have it. And so people take that false teaching and they apply it to their lives. And you know, there's the jokes, right? It's like, oh, I want a Ferrari really bad, which I don't. I'm not gonna fit in that thing. I get in there once and I'm done. You're gonna bury me in it, you understand? It's not a good situation. But they ask for, you know, money or houses or whatever. And then they pray and pray and pray and the expectation is that God's going to bring those things to pass. Well, eventually those people burn out because that's not what this verse is teaching. And they just end up doing something else with their Christian life or doing nothing. The real tragedy is when someone is praying for the life of another. Maybe someone has an illness, a terminal illness. or someone has a child who's gone wayward, or someone has a difficulty in marriage, and they really do desire these things to come to pass, but they've had a word of faith movement teaching, and then that loved one dies, or the marriage ends, or the child never returns back to the Lord. And so that person now looks at God and incorrectly charges him as a liar because, well, I desired it, I believed it would come to pass, and you did not bring it to pass. That is how you completely sever a person's faith and guarantee it doesn't pass to another generation. This is how people get bitter. This is how people have hatred in their heart towards God. But it does say that. It does very clearly say, if you believe, you have no doubt, You believe these things that are gonna come to pass, then they will come to pass. We need to set the background of where Jesus is saying this. This is so important. Context is king. This is a very difficult time in which Jesus is saying this. Let's just kind of, as an overview, see what has led us to this statement. In verses one through 11, Jesus is in Jerusalem after his triumphant entry. What happened at his triumphant entry? The people, not the religious teachers, but the people, they were praising him. Hosanna, Hosanna, God save us now. There was an expectation and a full faith in Jesus that he was going to deliver them from Roman oppression. As a matter of fact, that's why everybody was on edge when he came in because they thought, this is literally the thing that we've been waiting for to get out of this Roman oppression. And so when we see in another portion of scripture in Matthew, it's not recorded necessarily here, in mark's gospel but we see pretty clearly in matthew that the next thing jesus does after he triumphantly enters into the city is he proclaims upon israel i would have gathered you together you would not now on the surface you go wait a second they just welcomed him in they literally said save us but they were looking for a political redeemer. He was coming in to bring about the kingdom, which of course would have resulted in the removal of Roman government authority, but the real thing that they were missing is he is the Messiah of the seed of David. They were not going to believe that, and that's evident just a few days later when they put him on the cross. So he walks in, he gets this rejection, this acceptance from the nation, but the nation now, at least the individuals, the laymen of the nation, proclaim that they want him to redeem from Roman oppression. Then, in verses 13 through 19, he goes into the temple, and he's flipping tables, and he's calling people out. He's saying specifically, you have made this temple a house of thieves. You've made merchandise of the people. And you can see how this was historically accurate. There were layers outside the temple where vendors could set up and sell lesser than proper standards of sacrifices for a cheaper price. So if you had to have a certain kind of pigeon or you had to have a certain kind of feather or whatever, well, you could get it kind of like a great value brand, right? We're for the people. So we want to give you a good price, a competitive price. And what that was resulting in was people were not meeting the standard that God had set in His law. Who's responsible to maintain, well let's not say maintain, who's responsible to communicate that standard? The Pharisees, the scribes, the elders. They are responsible to take the Word of God and handle it wisely. But they are starting the movement way before this, in John 10, when Jesus says, I and my Father are one. From that point forward, the Pharisees sought to kill him. It was not, let's just get him out of here, let's discredit him in front of everybody. We're gonna kill this man, he's a blasphemer. That was their opinion and their conclusion about Christ. Well, Jesus comes in and he basically proclaims to the religious elite, I'm rejecting you as well. You would not. And from that point forward, we see the only miracle that Jesus does that is talked about as a curse. Some other people say that, oh, well, Jesus not only did a negative miracle just in this, we're gonna see the past in a moment, but also when he cast out the demons, out of the Gadarean man. What was the result of that casting out? They went into the swine, right? Swine jumped off the cliff and drowned. Some people look at that as, well, that's a net negative. No, it's actually a positive because before Jesus ever cast out the demons, that man who was uncontrollable sat at the authority of Christ. That demon who was called legion for we are many is called out. The swine are destroyed. The Samaritans in that region used the swine to sell against the instruction of the Mosaic law. But in verse 18, I want you to see this here. He curses the fig tree. And the scribes and chief priests heard it, and sought how they might destroy him, for they feared him, because all the people was astonished at his doctrine. That's right after he says in verse 17, my house shall be called of all nations the house of prayer, but you have made it a den of thieves. By the way, just as a side note, some people look at this and compare it to any church that sells product. That's not the right comparison. What is happening here is specific to that time, They were abusing the temple, selling underperforming sacrifice material to make merchandise. So the scribes heard it, and they were upset. They already wanted to kill him. They couldn't do it because the people just welcomed the man in. If they kill him right there, they could be party to a revolt, and that's not good for the Jewish people. Why? Because the people who have real power, the Romans, are going to squash them out. They got garrisons everywhere of at least 100 soldiers. And when even was come, he went out of the city. 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 thou cursed is withered away. Now, Peter remembered this because of something that happened before. Look at verse 12. And on the morrow, when they were come from Bethany, he was hungry. And seeing a fig tree afar off, mark this, please. Having leaves, he came, if happily he might find anything thereupon. And when he came to it, he found nothing but leaves, for the time of figs was not yet." And Jesus makes a statement in verse 14. and answered, and Jesus answered and said unto it, No man eat fruit of thee hereafter forever. And his disciples heard it. Now we know his disciples heard it because Peter in verse 21 says, Peter calling to remembrance, saith unto him, Master, behold, the fig tree which thou cursed is withered away. Now the curse is in verse 14, no man eat fruit of thee hereafter forever. That is a picture of that generation of Israel. They had all the appearance to be able to provide nourishment, had the leaves in the right time, but when Jesus came up to it, it was not ready. It did not have fruit. So that generation, which could have brought about entrance is not gonna be heard as a truthful generation going forward. So this prayer about moving mountains and forgiving sins and all that is lodged right in the middle of that discussion. This is a greater theme that I want you to see. What Jesus is addressing here is belief. And he demonstrates that with how the apostles should pray. It should not model the unbelief of Israel at that time. Now read that passage with me. And Jesus answering saith unto them, verse 22, 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 whatsoever he saith. Now Jesus is speaking in hyperbole here. The expectation is not for the disciples to go to the nearest mountain and say, because I believe, then it will be removed. Is there any other place where Jesus spoke with hyperbole, where it's exaggerated to make a point? Cut off your hand. Pluck out your eye. Just did a reaction video to that today, where someone was talking about how Jesus is literally saying there, it's better for you to take your eye out and go to heaven, get eternal life, than to keep your eye in and sin and end up going to hell. Well, that would tell us two things. That every single person should be missing their right eye, if you're an honest person tonight. The problem is most people are not. And number two, it would mean that abstaining from some type of sin would be enough to get you to heaven. That's a works-based gospel. Even if you take that metaphorically or figuratively, as Jesus is saying it, and you say, well, because I don't sin with my eye or sin with my hand, I'm good enough to get to heaven, you violate what Paul says, that the law justifies no man. And cursed is everyone under the law to keep the whole thing in Galatians 3. If a man keeps the law and offends in one point, he's guilty of all. James said that. So that becomes a problem. So what is Jesus talking about when he's saying, remove the mountain, cut your hand off, enter in lame? He's talking about the severity of sin, that even as a disciple, sin still brings consequences. I was reading a commentary just this week that forgiveness, and we're gonna talk about this on Sunday night, we're gonna study the law of forgiveness that Jesus sets in Matthew 18. But forgiveness, judicial forgiveness, When it comes to our fellowship, it does not absolve of consequences. There are things that we can say and do that put scars upon our lives. The easiest example is the drunk driver who goes out drunk, drives, gets into an accident, and takes the life of another. The family of that victim could choose to forgive him, but he still has taken that life. Nothing will change that. Now this is not applied to how God forgives us of sin because it is God who is forgiving there. But when it comes to the disciple, when it comes to how we as Christians are supposed to live our lives, we have to have a seriousness and a sensitivity towards sin. Communion talks about that. You come to communion unprepared, people are, this is crazy. When you actually study that passage and take it as it is written, people were dying in Corinth because of poor behavior. because people were coming into the Lord's Supper, and they're using it as an opportunity to get all of their nourishment, and people who had more stuck with each other, and people who had less didn't have anything provided. Not a good situation. So what Jesus is saying here is not necessarily look at a mountain and have it cast into the sea, but he's saying, believe that I am able to bring these things to pass. It's more about the level of belief than it is about the result. Hello. That's exactly what he's teaching because it's lodged right in here with the fig tree. Israel should have seen all the prophecies fulfilled. The religious leaders, we know from John's gospel, that there were some of them that believed, but for fear of persecution from their fellow Pharisees, kept their mouths closed. They have a greater responsibility. James teaches that in James chapter three. Not many of you should be masters or teachers because they face the greater standard. I'm gonna read to you here some summaries that come from this statement and I want you to hold your spot for a moment and travel to James one for just a minute. Hold your spot in Mark 11 and go to James one. I think James is such an important book, and it's so maligned in culture today, especially in the free grace movement. There's just a lot of, and you know I don't even like calling it the free grace movement, it's just the gospel. Trace that movement back to when Jesus was teaching. You're there in James 1.6, now listen along here for a moment. Jesus responds to Peter's question with a statement. To have faith in God is to have faith in the impossible coming to pass. Israel is the fig tree which had all the appearance of fruit but was barren. Their unbelief is their barrenness and Jesus performed a symbolic miracle to demonstrate the hypocrisy of the nation. In his response to Peter, Jesus reveals the motivation for any disciple's prayer, faith in God. It is not to, as James says, consume it upon your lust. We don't pray for things to come to pass because we desire it to benefit ourselves. We pray that God's will is done. And that's why the greatest lesson I've learned is to pray for strength. Not necessarily that all my problems go away. but that I'm given the strength to deal with these things that not only resolve them in a godly manner, but is a demonstration to others of how to deal with these issues. In James 1, verse six, we read, but let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. That nothing wavering is a call back to, if he believes it, it'll come to pass. When you go to petition the Lord, is there doubt? Do you doubt that this can really happen? Is it a procedural approach? Like, you know, I don't know, thinking about all the things you do in the morning, right? You get up, you make your bed, you brush your teeth, you get dressed, all that stuff, and then I gotta pray. And you just kinda pray and check it off list. When I was a kid, prayer was procedural 100%. Now I lay me down to sleep. I pray the Lord my soul to keep. If I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take. Amen. I would be in bed, that's it. I wouldn't think anymore about my prayer life. And then there's an opportunity every once in a while, you know, you have food with your friends at high school and you're like, oh, let's pray. And it's pretty much like, Lord bless this food, amen. Now, I'm not saying that's a bad prayer, okay? Hear me out here. But if our prayer is just to fulfill a requirement, That's not a prayer in faith. For he that wavereth, look at this, is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man, now this is important, that man speaks to the one who prays wavering, prays without believing that what they are asking can come to pass if it's according to God's will. That man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord. Once you get saved, the most defining thing of your life now is are you going to be of profit? Are you gonna be a benefit to the Lord? He wants to reward you. Are you gonna be usable by him? A vessel unto honor or a vessel unto dishonor? And that all deals with how much you trust God to be able to do what he said he can do. For example, you have a friend in your life. who is in the infant stages of seeking after the Lord. But you know this friend. They're wicked, they've got a bad past, maybe even they're a felon. I don't know, there's a lot of things. They have horrible language, they have horrible standards, they're just not great people, but they're your friend. And you pray to the Lord that they would come to an understanding of the gospel, but you're just, this isn't that guy. He just doesn't have the markers of somebody who would really believe Christ, which is a crazy statement, right? That's just crazy. That's a procedural prayer. I'm gonna pray for you, but it's unlikely, right? That's a wavering stance. What should the prayer be? Lord, use me as you see fit, and then you go give the gospel. I could tell you story after story after story of people who heard the gospel and believed it immediately. I witnessed to a guy in prison with a life sentence. And I mean, what was separating us was a small prison table. Any of y'all ever been to prison? Let me take note of that. Write that down, write that down. I was at that little, you know, those tables are small. This guy has committed a crime that has given him a life sentence in this state. And after sharing the gospel with him, not knowing him from anybody, sharing the gospel with him, he said, all I have to do is accept that what Christ did was to pay for my sin. And I said, yes. And his next statement was like, but I'm here in jail. So in his mind, he is outside of the reach because his sin is so bad, he's getting paid for it. And the only difference I told him was, brother, you just got caught. Everybody is a sinner. We're all condemned. I should be here just like you should be here. If it's according to God's standard, we all fall short. And he trusted Christ as his savior. And the man was moved. He was quite loud in his weeping of just finally realizing that he's fully forgiven. How wrong of me would it be to hear that he's on whatever his crime was and go, oh no, I don't wanna, he's probably not gonna believe it. The stats are unlikely. That's not a person who's praying, believing that God's will will come to pass. That's you looking at the stats and making a man-made judgment. We're not called to make man-made judgments. We're called to trust the Lord, as we studied last week. For we therefore labor and suffer reproach because we trust in the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of them that believe, 1 Timothy 4.10. That's why we're doing what we're doing. Verse eight, a double-minded man, whoop, he's unstable in all his ways. There's a famous movie that Christopher Nolan made. It's called Inception with Leonardo DiCaprio. And at the end of the movie, there's this little top that's spinning. And it's significant to the movie if the top stays spinning, they're in a different reality. But if it falls, then he knows he's in reality. And literally, the shot is there on the movie for like 30 seconds, the top is spinning. And you're like, Am I in reality? Am I not in reality? Like, what's going on? And right before the film cuts, it starts to wobble a little bit, and you're left in suspense. You say, what does this have to do with what we're talking about? You've seen a top spin, and you can get it spinning really well, but at some point, after that movement slows down, gravity starts to work on it, and it's no longer balanced, and it tumbles. We are not to be trusting the Lord as long as we can, as long as it makes sense, because as soon as we stop praying to the Lord in belief, then we're gonna be like that top that falls over. A double-minded man. I don't wanna be a double-minded man when I go to the Lord. I don't wanna have procedural prayer just because I'm supposed to and then walk away saying, well, I did my part. That's not what we're called to do. The word faith is defined as persuasion, credence, and reliance. The disciple must petition God with the persuasion that God is able to provide. Israel did not believe Jesus' teaching about himself or the kingdom to come. Jesus' illustration about moving a mountain is not said in a literal sense, although that can literally happen if it's in God's will. You better believe it. If God wants that mountain moved, it will be moved. There's a passage I didn't quote here, but it's significant to this study tonight. Romans chapter 11. That's such a great passage about how God is not done with Israel. But Paul says, has God forsaken his people now? He says, God forbid. And he gives an illustration, he gives Elijah. specifically how Elijah was down and out, friends. He thought it was all over. He was waiting for the credits. And he was kind of throwing a pity party. And God says, what's the matter? What's going on? Why the long face? And he says, no one serves you anymore. What was God's response? There are 7,000 that I have kept who have not bent the knee to bail. So Elijah was going off of what he saw, going off of the circumstances, going off of anything that he could see, and it just made sense. It was a logical conclusion that we're done, we're toast. But God had a plan. And God always has a remnant kept. There are believing Jews today that are a part of that remnant. There will be in the tribulation period 144,000 of those Jewish people who proclaim the gospel. But Israel, when Jesus cursed that fig tree, was not prepared. Excuse me. They had all the appearance of fruit-bearing. They didn't have belief. Had no fruit. Israel is in a situation that seems impossible to reverse. Their unbelief is demonstrated in the people the baron leaves, and their religious teachers, the withered roots. However, It is God's will that Israel will be saved, and He has not rejected His elected nation. Now, contextually speaking, that is what is coming about here when He's speaking to the disciples. Because what are those disciples going to go and do about 60 days after Jesus told them that about the prayer? They're going to go reach Jewish people with the gospel. And we know at one point, 2,000 get saved, 4,000 get saved, or maybe it's 3,000 and 5,000. Many people come to faith in Christ. People are selling property. People are coming together in a communal effort to get the message out. The greatest villain of the church at that time, Saul, literally trusts Christ as Savior and becomes the writer of the New Testament. If the disciple asks for anything according to God's will, then it will come to pass. Even the salvation of a Jewish person for the disciples. But the fig tree is cursed. Isn't that a picture of God being done? You could come to that conclusion if the scripture got there first, and it has not. It has not. I want you to go to 1 John chapter five. You can let Mark 11 go. 1 John chapter 5 and verse 14. Gotcha. Thought you were going to be in verse 11, huh? Or maybe verse 13. No, no. I'm just playing. Verse 14. This is on page 1325. Sometimes we skip over this first statement. We kind of think it's like, to whom it may concern. It's like, yeah, I get it, what's the letter? But this statement here is very important. Look what it says. And this is the confidence that we have in him. Boy, if I have confidence in something, I better have a reason, right? There was a lot of confidence, and people put money behind their confidence for a certain team to win on Sunday. Couldn't have been further from the truth, right? We're not gambling on God here. We're not saying, well, I'm gonna put my money on God because, you know. No, no, where is this confidence coming from? It's after that statement, and this is the confidence that we have in him, that if we ask anything, now the word of faith movement removes those words, according to his will. You say, well, why didn't Mark say it? Because it had already been said earlier. And in the Synoptic Gospels, Matthew and Luke say it as well. You pray, it's in the Lord's Prayer. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done. Not, thy kingdom come, I get what I want. If we ask anything according to his will, look at this. He heareth us. Verse 15, and if we know that he hears us, whatsoever we ask, he's repeating here, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him. You have done your responsibility when you ask in faith. I've said this for a few years now, the focus of prayer is not in the answer. It is the one we get to pray to. That is where the focus is. That we get to petition God. And if we're asking according to His will, we know it will come to pass. And that doesn't mean right here, right now. Time may be a requirement. One of the things I love about the Jim Tingen story is how after Jim passed away, who was a soul winner, you know, he brought everybody to Ray Stanford and Ray would lead them to Christ. But he's not saved, Ray, he's not saved. Those of you who don't know that story, we might play that one night on a Wednesday night, that would be a good thing to hear. But his brother, Jim's brother, rejected the gospel until Jim died. Jim is now with the Lord. His race is done, his work forever finished. Yet, as a result of his persistence and faithfulness to attempt to reach his brother, his brother got saved at his funeral. It's a part of the will of God. He wants all men to be saved, but Jim didn't see it. If he could only see it. Can I tell you that Jim is not concerned about that anymore? Jim is with the Lord, waiting to get his new body. Perspective. We can't quit because we got a mountain we're looking at, folks. No way the mountain's actually gonna move. I can't tell you how many times there's things that have happened, I'm literally on the phone listening to something that's happening in my life and I go, this is not normal. I'm looking at the phone, I'm pinching myself. Which I don't do as much anymore because now I just, if it's in God's will and it comes to pass, praise the Lord. It won't make sense if you're holding God to your standard of answered prayer. How about we just ask God to do His will? It's what I want, isn't that what you want? I hope it is. I mean, I'm sure there's been times where you have done a lot of hard work to accomplish something, you know, and maybe it was a big accomplishment, maybe it was a small accomplishment, but it comes and goes. And at the end of the day, you're like, what else is there to life? You accomplished this big thing, you know? I keep telling you, for some reason, YouTube is like, this guy needs more Ramsey solution content. I don't know why, but I'm hearing Dave Ramsey almost every day. And I understand his goal about building wealth and all of that, but as a Christian, I realize that if I die today without a million dollar net wealth, I have riches that are in Christ. And I have that now. I'm already translated into the kingdom of his dear son. I wish people had that kind of faith. Where it was like, the things I suffer with now are temporary. And there's one day where I'm gonna be fully out of all of this sin, out of this body, out of these circumstances, and with the Lord forever. Why not live a life for Him of whom I'm gonna see and serve for all of eternity? But you know what? The things down here are real. They're real. And we can get tripped up. Mark didn't mention that part about asking in the Lord's will, because it was already mentioned in Matthew 6.10. The final element that we read of guaranteed answer prayer is forgiveness. Now, we know that Jesus was not talking about if you don't forgive others, then you're going to be in a state of condemnation going to hell. He's talking to his disciples here, and specifically, I think that this is for Peter. I think that Peter here is gonna hear and recognize, Lord, I'll never deny you. I won't do it. Jesus says, I'm gonna give you a sign. You're gonna hear the cock crow twice, and by then you will have denied me. Well, they come to take away Jesus. What does Peter do? Sword in hand, man, two A rights. Takes the ear off. I mean, he's ready, he has cut the ear off of a police officer in the equivalent. That's like us taking a shot at somebody. And then Jesus puts the ear back on. I wanna hear that guy's story. If we have eternity, I just wanna hear how it went. If he's a believer, I just wanna know, what was that like? Did it hurt? We got put back on, did it feel nice? I don't know. But Peter demonstrated, I'm ready to commit a capital offense. And then he's pressed one time, a second time, a third time, he denies the Lord. The Lord sees him, he hears that rooster, Then when the Lord comes back, he gives Peter a chance. Do you love me? Yes, Lord, I love you. Do you love me? Yes, I do. And then the last use of the word he uses to love is the only love that God can demonstrate. And Peter understands what is being said. And what does Jesus say? Feed my sheep. If you ask the Lord for something in his will and you have not forgiven others, you are out of his will. It will not work. It won't work. If you have hatred in your heart towards another or bitterness, Jesus says in Matthew, you're at the altar, you are ready to offer the sacrifice, but if you have hate in your heart towards a brother, drop the sacrifice, go and fix that first. That's why I believe he's talking about forgiveness here. For the disciple, when we petition the mountain to be moved, if we have sin in our lives, especially unforgiveness, you won't get it. It's a double-minded man. The disciple who prays for God's will yet harbors resentment or has not forgiven anyone should not expect an answer to their prayers because their unforgiveness is categorically against God's will. They should also expect a lack of fellowship between them and God, i.e., their trespasses being unforgiven. You're walking contrary to who you are in Christ. You can close your Bibles and I'll give you these four takeaways here for your spiritual digestion, so to speak. When the believer prays, he should be fully persuaded that God can answer his prayer perfectly. He must pray according to the will of God and not to consume it upon his own lusts. That's a reference from James 4.3. The believer must not withhold forgiveness from others because this will be at odds with God's will. And finally, anything that we ask according to God's will in full persuasion and without resentment will come to pass if it's according to his will. And that's where everybody wants to sell you books, and they want to get you to seminars, and they want to sell you conference tickets, and say, discover the will of God, as if it's some big hidden mystery. Instead of trying to find something that God has not yet revealed, why don't we go with what He already has revealed? That all men would be saved. You can be a part of that. You can be a part of that process. You know that'll change the things you say, the places you go. It'll change the things you allow to saturate your mind. And the kids call, scroll trolls. All the time on Facebook or whatever, yeah. You do that all day and that's all you're gonna produce. Somebody wrote to me this week and said that they struggle with foul language, and that they're doing a better job with actually having clean language outwardly, but inwardly they still think in cuss words, so to speak. And I told them, I said, I struggled with that in high school, and the way that I got out of that in college is I memorized scripture and read it aloud. And I would read it dramatically. Kind of like the Bible app, you know? When you open the Bible app, it's not, in the beginning God created, you know? It's more like dramatic reading. I would orate that. I would read it with emphasis. And I come to find out that when something would happen that would be in a place where I would normally be upset and maybe have an internal swear word, I wasn't even thinking about it. It was just fully replaced by the fact that I'm cleaning up the content that I consume. Stop listening to music that has that language in it. It'll be super easy. Somebody wrote me an email a few years ago. They're like, how do I know if music is good? I said, read the lyrics without the music. Read it without the music. And if you can't read it aloud in public without having shame, you probably don't need to be listening to it in private. Did that exercise with the kids one time in Ranch. And literally, one song, I was censoring so much, the sentences didn't make sense. It was like, what is he saying? And I looked at him, I'm like, you think this is good? That God goes, that's good entertainment, that's acceptable. You can use your liberty in that way. No, come on. Garbage in, garbage out. I'm praying for you. And I'm praying, trusting that you will do as God has instructed you to do. And the way that we structure this ministry is to give you an opportunity to do that. But like I've said before, no one can make you do it. I wouldn't want to make you do it. I've seen people go on other people's faith and they fizzle out. It doesn't work. But I've seen others take steps, trusting that God can meet their need and watching those needs met time and time and time again. That will of God that we do know is that all men would be saved and that is through the gospel message through his son Jesus Christ. If this hand were to represent me and you and everybody in the room, this block of sin will represent sin. I put this on top of my hand because the Bible says for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. God loves us but he hates our sin. This sin separates us from him. In order to get to heaven we have to be sinless without any sin. We have to be 100% perfect, past, present, future, All of it. We all fall short. The wages of sin is death. Eternal separation from God in a literal and fire-burning hell. God loves us very much, and there is an acceptable payment for sin, but it's not good works. The Bible says, not of works lest any man should boast. Think about it. If you could turn enough, start enough, stop enough, give enough, commit enough, then you'd be able to say, I did it. I stopped sinning and therefore I can boast I have eternal life because I stopped my sin. The weight of sin is death and without the shedding of blood there is no remission for sin. Somebody sinless has to shed their blood to pay for the sin. That's not you. It is certainly not me. We need a Savior. And God, out of a demonstration of His love, sent His Son. This hand will represent Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, fully God and fully man. And what Jesus did is He took that sin, which separated us from Him, and He made a payment for it. He shed His blood on the cross of Calvary and He cried out, it is finished. He said in Hebrews, a body hast thou prepared for me. He offered Himself. as that covering for sin. He was buried and rose again three days later to prove the statements he said about himself were true. But a long back, in the dead of night, with Nicodemus, quietly, Jesus said, for God so loved the world, that's you and me, that he gave his only begotten son, that's Jesus Christ, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life. Salvation costs us nothing. Jesus paid that price. It is received when you believe on him. Now that sin which hung over you, that wrath of God, that condemnation has been removed as far as the east is from the west. And now here you are fully justified. But pastor, what if I, what if you? I get it. I understand it because that what if turns into I have for many people. You're passed from death unto life, and you'll never be brought under condemnation again. That sin that you commit after you're saved, it ruins your walk, it's contrary to your growth, but it does not take you out of the family of God. The blood of Christ has covered you. Let's go to the Lord together in prayer, please. Heads are bowed and eyes are closed. Nobody's looking around. If you're here tonight, you say, Pastor, that made sense. I walked into service tonight trusting in myself, my own good works, my own religious deeds, but I see now how my sin cannot be paid for by my good deeds. It separates me from God. And I realize now that what Jesus did was to pay for my sin. I know I'm saved now. because Christ died for my sins and rose again. I want to pray for you. If that was you tonight, would you just slip your hand up and let us know? Raising your hand doesn't save you. It just communicates to me and is an encouragement. If I can be directly transparent with you, that someone would trust Christ. Those of you who are on the live stream, this offer is available to you as well. It's not time restrictive. You just need to believe on Christ before you die. For all of my brothers and sisters here tonight in the Lord, I pray you can see what Jesus is talking about in Mark 11, how it's wedged around unbelief and how he's asking the disciples to believe when they pray. And look at the severity of unbelief. Look at the severity of an unforgiving heart. I'm praying for you as you walk with the Lord. You have everything that you need, the indwelling Holy Spirit and the revealed Word of God, and the support of fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. Father, we thank you for our study tonight. Bring us back here safely on Sunday for services. We're excited, Lord, to see all that you're doing through the ministries here at Calvary. And we humble ourselves and pray that we'll be vessels of honor. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.