Moving Mountains, The Gospels and Christ Jesus in Them

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Short Summary
The discourse explores the parables of the New Testament, particularly those found in Matthew 13, which illustrate the characteristics and growth of Christ’s Church throughout history. It discusses the significance of faith in relation to these parables, emphasizing that true faith involves recognizing spiritual truths, overcoming challenges, and committing to the teachings of Jesus. The speaker also reflects on the importance of individual spiritual growth, the nature of faith as a gradual process rather than instant miracles, and the role of Jesus’ miracles, particularly the transformation of water into wine at the wedding in Cana, as foundational moments in his ministry.

**Keywords:** parables, faith, spiritual growth, Church, Jesus, miracles, Matthew 13, Cana, commitment, challenges.

Long Summary
### Summary of the Discourse on Parables and Faith

Introduction to the Study of Parables
– Focus on the parables from the New Testament, especially Matthew 13.
– Seven parables represent the characteristics of Christ’s Church throughout the Gospel age.

Overview of the Seven Parables in Matthew 13
1. Parable of the Sower (Matthew 13:3)
– Relates to the Church of Ephesus.
– The sower scatters seeds on four types of soil: the roadside, rocky ground, thorns, and good soil.
– Central question: Will the seed (Word of God) grow?

2. Parable of the Weeds among the Wheat (Matthew 13:24)
– Corresponds to the Church of Smyrna.
– A man sows good seed in his field, but enemies sow weeds.
– Represents the coexistence of true and false churches, highlighting the struggle for purity in the Church.

3. Parable of the Mustard Seed (Matthew 13:31)
– Associated with the Church of Pergamos.
– A tiny mustard seed grows into a large tree.
– Symbolizes the growth of the Kingdom of Heaven and the potential for inclusivity, even for false teachings.

4. Parable of the Leaven (Matthew 13:33)
– Connected to Thyatira.
– A woman hides leaven in flour until it leavens the whole batch.
– Suggests both the growth of the Church and the potential contamination by sin.

5. Parable of the Hidden Treasure (Matthew 13:44)
– Relates to Sardis.
– A man finds a treasure in a field and sells everything to buy it.
– Illustrates the value of the Kingdom of Heaven and the commitment required to attain it.

6. Parable of the Costly Pearl (Matthew 13:45-46)
– Corresponds to the Church of Philadelphia.
– A merchant sells everything for a pearl of great value.
– Emphasizes the need for recognition and commitment to the call of Christ.

7. Parable of the Dragnet (Matthew 13:47)
– Associated with Laodicea.
– A dragnet catches fish of every kind and separates the good from the bad.
– Represents the final judgment and the harvest at the end of the age.

Themes in the Parables
– First four parables focus on spiritual growth—desired and undesired.
– Fifth and sixth parables emphasize recognizing the value of the Kingdom and the commitment it demands.
– Last parable discusses the final judgment and harvest period.

Faith and Spiritual Growth
– Faith is essential for spiritual growth, defined as seeing beyond natural circumstances and acting on that belief.
– Reference to Abraham’s faith (Romans 4:11) highlights that true faith leads to righteousness.

Cursing of the Fig Tree and Moving Mountains
– Jesus curses a barren fig tree, teaching about faith (Matthew 21:18-22).
– Faith is tied to the ability to overcome obstacles, likened to moving mountains.
– Discussion about the expectations of faith—it’s not about instant miracles but gradual growth and overcoming challenges.

Miracle at the Wedding in Cana (John 2)
– Jesus performs His first miracle of turning water into wine.
– Mary prompts Jesus to reveal His identity, but He responds that His time has not yet come.
– Emphasizes the importance of faith and timing in the ministry of Jesus.

Conclusion
– Faith is about growth and overcoming challenges, not just miraculous outcomes.
– The importance of living out the Gospel in daily life—how we represent Christ matters.

### Bible Verses Mentioned
Matthew 13: Various verses related to each parable.
Romans 4:11: Discusses Abraham as the father of believers.
Matthew 21:18-22: The cursing of the fig tree and the lesson on faith.
John 2: The account of the wedding at Cana.

This summary encapsulates the key points from the discourse, explaining the parables, their meanings, and the overarching theme of faith in relation to spiritual growth and challenges.

Transcript

So in our ecclesiast study, we’ve been talking and studying the parables of both the New Testament and specifically some of those in Matthew chapter 13, and we remember that there were seven parables in there, and they represent the characteristics in the history of Christ Jesus Church throughout the Gospel age. I’m just going to walk through them real quickly because we’re going to use them as a springboard into what we want to really cover this morning. So the first parable was the parable of the sower, and that was the.

We related that to the church of Ephesus, the first church. So we find that in Matthew 13, verse 3, and it just reads, basically, and he told them many things in parables, saying, behold, the sower went out to sow, and of course, you remember that there were four soil conditions.

There was the rocky road or the roadside, the rocky road, the thorns, and the good soil, and the point of the parable is that the seed is planted. The true seed is scattered. But will it grow? That’s really the question.

Will it grow? And then we looked at the weeds into the wheat, or weeds with the wheat, and that we saw was with the parable relating to the second stage of the church in Smyrna, and that’s Matthew 13:24, and Jesus presented another parable to them, saying, the kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. Well, that’s a good part, right?

But while his men were sleeping, an enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and then left, and when the wheat sprouted and produced grain, then the weeds also became evident, and so as they listened over, we began to wonder, what is really growing? Is it the wheat or the wheat? Now we’re told that he wanted the wheat, but an enemy came and planted the weeds.

So within the development of the true church, there also rose a false church, the weeds part of it, and their goal was totally different than the goal of the true church, that they were looking for power, wealth, fame, recognition. That leads us up to the third parable, the mustard seed, and that we find relates to the period of the church of Pergamos, and that’s in Matthew 13:31.

And it reads, he presented another parable to them, saying, the kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed which a person took and sowed in his field, and the takeaway for us is that a tiny seed goes into something so large that it can harbor and support different things. So the seed was intended to grow because it was planted, but it also protected the Birds of the air, and we looked at that. Well, maybe that is having to do with the growth of the false church.

And they found a place where they could survive in this field of seed, and that leads us up to the next parable. Parable 11, and that’s with Thyatira in Luke 13:33.

And it leads. He spoke another parable to them. The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three seita, or measures of flour, until it was all leavened. Now, that’s a common thing, leavened bread. It’s a common thing, except you can’t offer down the sacrifices.

So it had to be unleavened. Right. So is there something wrong with the fact that she leavens the bread? It’s an everyday thing. I don’t think there is.

I think what it’s showing is a couple different things. One is that it’s showing us that there is an entity that’s there. The basket of. Or the bowl of flour, bread dough, and the leaven has been added into it for the very purpose of growing something, for a useful purpose. But we also understand that leaven can represent sin.

So there might be two takeaways for this. The leaven was supposed to represent the growth of the church.

But within that growth of church, as we saw in the first three parables, we also find something that’s growing, that’s nuts of it, and that leads us up to the hidden treasure, Sardis. Matthew 13:44. The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in the field, which a man found and hid again, and from joy over it he goes and sells everything he has, and he buys that field.

And here we have the stage of Sardis where we have the revealing of hidden truths. He existed, but they were just hidden, and so we have an individual that finds this. It’s not even in his field. He finds it, realizes the value of it, hides it, and goes and purchases the field, sells everything he has.

Leads us up to the costly pearl Philadelphia stage, Matthew 13:44, 46. Starting with verse 45, again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking fine pearls, and upon finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold everything that he had, and he bought it. So we’re seeing that there’s a call and a commitment to the church and that response to it. They’re looking for something in the church, and they find it.

And it’s so valuable to them that they commit to it. They sell everything that they had, and they bought it. Now, if you had anything in your life that’s so valuable that you would liquidate everything you own?

Most of us would say no. I know of one brother in our class who has done that, liquidated most everything he owned because he found the truth, commitment to the call cause of Christ. That leads us up to the last one, the dragnet, and we recognize that has to do with the harvest, so we say It’s Laodicea, Matthew 13, starting with verse 47. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet that was cast into the sea and gathered fish of every kind.

And when it was filled, they pulled it up on the beach and they sat down and they gathered the good fish into containers, but the bad they threw away. Now, this aspect of harvest is not the first time we’re introduced to it in the seven parables, because in the parable of the wheat and the weeds, there was a harvest too. It says, don’t harvest the wheat until it’s ripe, and then at that time, we’ll separate them out. So even in the early parables, in the early stages of the church, the church understood there was going to be a harvest period of time, and here in this particular parable, he’s very specific, referring to the end of the age.

So the theme of the first four parables of the seven soils, the weeds in the wheat, the mustard seed and leaven, are all about growth, both desired growth and, unfortunately, undesired growth. Parables 5 and 6, the Hidden Treasure and the costly pearl, are about recognizing the value and committing to the call of the Lord Jesus, and some of the men and women who did this and made that commitment, paid for it with their lives, and the last parable, the dragnet, is about the harvest at the end of the gospel age. Now, collectively, because the Matthew 13 parables are about the gospel age, they’re also teaching us about the need individually for spiritual growth.

And faith is one of those very key elements of this desired growth.

Now, we me individually, but you also studied faith to some degree, and you might define it a little bit differently, but we understand, I think, the basic concept, faith, challenges us to see beyond, to believe beyond, and then to act on that belief, despite what the natural circumstances, the natural perspectives in our culture represents and teaches. That’s basically what faith is, asks us to see beyond, to believe beyond, and then to act on that belief. Despite everything going around us, despite all the culture, all the businesses, you know, we’re told, you want to climb the ladder of success, you got to put in lots of hours. You have to do all these things to make it in the corporate world. That’s not what the Lord Jesus teaches.

We may be challenged in situations to stand on the principles of righteousness, truth, forgiveness and love in our own daily lives, and we fail, and we stand up and we try again, and we learn to grow, and we learn and grow because of the good and the bad decisions that we make. We learn from both.

And many of us learn more from our bad decisions than we do for the good ones. So we realize that our walk is one of faith. The promise to Abraham was that through his seed would come the Messiah and the church. Romans 4:11 tells us that Abraham is the father of all them who believe, not just the Father of the circumcision, and he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith, which he had while uncircumcised, so that he might be the Father of all who believe without being circumcised, that righteousness might be credited to them.

Now, when Abraham believed, that means he had faith. Faith strong enough that when God said, kill your son, he was willing to do it, and God didn’t make it easy for him. He made him walk three days. He had to think about it every step of the way.

What’s going to happen at the destination?

So how does faith relate to all these parables and moving mountain? So recently we’ve been studying the fig tree, and I’d like to share some things regarding our study that I have found. So let’s talk about moving mountains. Now, if we talk about moving mountains, we have to also talk a little bit about fig trees, mulberry trees, mustard seeds, mountains and seas. Because the Lord Jesus combines all of them together.

We’re going to focus mostly on the mountains, and you’ll understand why I don’t need to address all the other ones. So let’s set the background of this parable. It’s the last week of Jesus ministry, the week preceding his final passover on this coming Friday. Not our calendar Friday, but on the Friday he has come from Jericho to Bethany, making his way to Jerusalem.

And he and his disciples are staying in Bethany with Martha, Mary and Lazarus at the house of Simon the Leper, and they travel almost daily back and forth to Jerusalem from Bethany. Now, there’s one day that they didn’t. That’s Wednesday. That’s why I said almost daily.

So Jesus and his disciples are staying in Bethany with Martha, Mary and Lazarus, and they traveled back and forth. Now, Simon the leper would not have been leprous at this time that Jesus is staying with them, and we know that because According to Leviticus 13:46, lepers were considered unclean and they must live outside the camp. They were to live alone and could not dwell inside the house. Anyone who attended a meal with a leper would have been considered unclean also.

Thus, many scholars believe the Lord had previously healed this Simon of leprosy, and as an act of gratitude, the cured Simon welcomed Jesus and the disciples into his home, and Jesus found a good place to stay, one that welcomed him and received him and took care of the disciples that were with him. So with that simple background, let’s introduce the events leading up to the account of the cursing of the fig tree. So it’s nice in the ninth Saturday, actually 6pm to Sunday morning, Sunday the next day at 6pm and he’s in Bethany at the evening meal.

And Mary anoints Jesus feet, wipes him with her hair. So this is happening Saturday evening, and we read that in Matthew 26, 6, 9. Now, when Jesus was in Bethany, at the home of Simon the leper, a woman came to him with an alabaster vial of very expensive perfume and she poured it on his head as he was reclining at the table. But his disciples were indignant when they saw this and said, why this waste?

But this perfume could have been sold for a high price and the money given to the poor.

Now that might seem like a hard thing to say, but it was a very natural thing for them to say. They weren’t working, these disciples, they were dependent upon the generosity of someone else to take care of them, buy their clothes, buy their shoes, give them a place to sleep. So when they saw a lot of this money, they thought, well, this could really bless other individuals. So it was a very natural reaction. So let’s continue on.

So the next day, Sunday daytime, still the ninth of Nisan, the Lord Jesus rides triumphantly into Jerusalem. So the next morning, but in the Jewish calendar, it’s still the same date night since the 9th, but the calendar of the week has changed. Matthew 21:6, 9. The disciples went and did just as Jesus had instructed them, and they brought the donkey and the colt and they laid their cloaks on them and he sat on the cloaks.

Now most of the crowds spread their cloaks on the road and others were cutting branches from the trees, spraying them on the road also. Now the crowds going ahead of him and those who followed were shouting hosanna to the Son of David. Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord, Hosanna in the highest, and this crowd recognized the Lord Jesus as the Messiah. So as the events of the day conspire transpire, we read that he weeps over the city.

He sees the city. He realizes what the city should be, and the contrast between where they should be as Heavenly Father, where they are, is so big that it just overwhelms them. He weeps over the city. Luke 19:41, 44.

When he had approached Jerusalem, he saw the city and he wept over it, saying, if you had known on this day, even you, the conditions for peace. But now they have been hidden from your eyes. The days will come upon you when your enemies will put up a barricade against you and surround you and hem you in on every side, and they will level you to the ground and throw down your children within you, and they will not leave in you one stone upon another.

Because you did not recognize the time of your visitation. You should have been accepting me, and you just were oblivious. Now, this part of the prophecy that one stone would be turned over from another. The temple was full of gold, and when they torched the temple, it burned so hot because of the cedar.

Cedar burns very hot. It literally melted the gold and it ran down the stones and it solidified in the cracks between the stones. So once they had looted all the surface gold, then they removed the stones to get the gold that was in the cracks. So they literally dismantled the temple, one stone upon another, for the sake of that gold. So after weeping over the city, he foretells his death.

We read this in John 12:27. Now my soul has become troubled, and what am I to say? Father, save me from this hour. But for this purpose I came to this hour. Father, glorify your name.

Then a voice came out of heaven. I have both glorified it and will glorify it again. So the crowd who stood by and heard it were saying that it thundered. Others were saying, an angel spoken to him.

And Mark 11 continues the account, and he tells us that backing up a little bit and condensing a lot of the activities of the day, mark says, Mark 11. 11 Jesus entered Jerusalem and came into the temple, and after looking around at everything, he left for Bethany with the 12 since it was already late. So Mark in one verse compresses the whole day that the other gospels express what happened in.

So they head back to Bethany. It is now nice in the 10th. It’s Sunday night, 6pm or later, and Mark doesn’t record the events of that evening in Bethany, but he does tell us Mark 11:12. On the next day, when they had left Bethany, he became hungry.

So Mark says they overnighted on the Sunday Night, Nice, and 10th on the following day, which would have been the calendar morning of Monday, still the 10th of Nison, they returned back towards Jerusalem. So it’s Monday daytime. The tent. Matthew 21 says verse 18. Now, in the morning, when he was returning to the city, he became hungry.

And seeing a lone fig tree by the road, he came to it and found nothing on it except leaves only, and he said to it, no longer shall there ever be any fruit from you, and at once the fig tree with it.

Now, you remember which disciple was found under the fig tree back in John.

Say it Nathaniel, right? The Lord Jesus saw him under the fig tree, and the Lord Jesus said to Nathaniel, because I saw you under the fig tree, you believe you’ll see greater things than me, and so in the historical records of the Gospels, Nathaniel was the very first disciple to recognize the Lord Jesus Messiah.

So Jesus curses this fig tree, and that day the Lord Jesus comes back in and cleanses the temple. So he’s on his way into Jerusalem the night before, he looks around and he makes a decision as to what he’s going to do. He overnights. He comes back in the next day on his way in, they see the fig tree and he curses the fig tree, and he makes his way into Jerusalem. He cleanses the temple, he gives the parables of the rich landover landowner.

Matthew 21:35, parable of the unworthy guest. Matthew 21:22, 24, 22. He spars verbally with the religious leaders and then he later departs back to Bethlehem. Now, some things the Lord Jesus says in the Gospels are understood better when you understand where he was in the land of Israel when he spoke to them.

The route the Lord Jesus and the disciples travel back and forth from Bethany, through Bethphage, takes them over the Mount of Olives and down through the Kidron Valley and up into Jerusalem. So if you have a Bible map or a map, just look, you have Bethany, Bethphage, Lawn of Olives, down into the Kidron Valley, back up into Jerusalem. When you’re reading in the Gospels, you’ll notice that they always say they’re going up to Jerusalem. It doesn’t matter where they are. Geographically, it says they’re always going up because Jerusalem is the highest point and they go down from there.

So they go down to Samaria, they go down to Galilee, but they always go up. I grew up thinking up was north Many of you did maybe, too. But there, it’s geographical. They were literally going up the mountain. So Matthew 21:19, which we just read, said that immediately the tree withered, and at once the fig tree withered.

But let’s read Matthew 21:18, 22, all of it. Okay? Now, in the morning, when he was returning to the city, he became hungry. Seeing a lone fig tree by the road, he came to it and found nothing except leave. Zoe, he said, no longer shall ever be any fruit from you.

And at once the fig tree withered. Seeing this, the disciples were amazed, and they asked, how did the fig tree wither at all? At once Jesus answered and said to them, truly I say to you, if you have faith and you do not doubt, you will not only do what is done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, be taken up and cast into the sea, it will happen, and all things you ask in prayer, believing you will receive. So here’s our connection of faith.

Mountains, fig trees and the sea. So it’s Monday, 9th and 11th, and that’s what Matthew reads. Matthew reads as if it all happened at one time. But Mark gives us a little bit more information. Mark 11 says.

He tells us that the disciples made the observation of the quick decline of the tree the next morning. Matthew compresses the two events into one. He says, as long as I’m telling you about the fig tree withering, let me tell you about the reaction to it. Amar says the fig tree was cursed on day one. In this example, he goes in and cleanses the temple.

He comes back out, they’re going back into Jerusalem the next day. They pass this tree, and they remark how fast the fig tree is withered. Now, a tree doesn’t die overnight. So the fact that it died overnight was a remarkable thing.

So Matthew 11 or Mark 11 says, as they were passing by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots. Being reminded, Peter said to him, rabbi, look, the fig tree which you cursed has withered, and Jesus answered, saying to them, have faith in God. 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 is going to happen, it will be granted him.

Therefore I say to you, all things which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them, and they will be granted. So we know that Jesus cursed the fig tree because it was supposed to bear fruit, and there was no fruit there. Just like Israel was supposed to bear fruit, there was no fruit there, and he cleansed the temple by overturning the tables of the money changers and merchandisers. He chased them out and he says, you’re not making my house, my father’s house, into a den of merchandise or a den of thieves.

These actions were related. Israel liked to think trees stood cursed by Jesus because they were not bearing the fruit, which is why he wept over the city previous day. This is where they should have been. This is where they were, and that this difference just crushed him emotionally.

And so later in this day, August 11th Tuesday, Lord Jesus cast off the nation of Israel. Luke 13, verse 34. O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those sent to her. How often I wanted to gather your children together, just as a hen gathers her bird under her wings, and you would not have it. Behold, your house has left you desolate.

And I say to you, you will not see me until the time comes when you say, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Now we know that the casting off of the nation of Israel wasn’t inclusive of every individual, because there were individuals who accepted the Lord Jesus after his resurrection. But the city as a whole, the nation as a whole was cast off, and individuals who were ready were welcomed in, and also the extension then into the Gentiles.

Those who were welcoming to the Lord Jesus were recognized and they were invited in, and it was a hard thing for the Israelites to understand, and it became a cause of great concern for the early church, and Paul writes a lot about it because of that conflict. We are the Jewish nation.

They are not. We have a relationship. They do not. How come they can do the same things that we do? And if they are going to be accepted, then they have to do exactly the same things we do.

They have to keep the law, because that’s how we have a relationship. Paul talks about, which comes back to Romans 4:11. Abraham was the father of those who believe, not just those who were born a Jew.

So let’s come back to Mark 11:20. Let me continue reading from where I left off in Mark 11. Rabbi, look, the fig tree which you cursed is withered. Jesus answered, saying to them, have faith in God. Truly I say to you, whoever says to them, I will be taken up and cast into the sea.

And does not doubt, but believes what he says is going to happen and will be granted him. Therefore I say to you, all things which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them, and they will be granted. So here Jesus is teaching, seizing a teachable moment and says something to his disciples that has puzzled readers and commentators ever since, and to many of us here, have faith in God. Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, be taken up and cast into the sea, and does not doubt, but believes it will be granted.

So what it’s telling me is that if I have faith, I can remove melon. Now I could extrapolate that and say, okay, if that’s true, then if I have faith I can walk on water. Or if I have faith, I could appear somewhere else instantaneously. This comic raises several questions in my mind. At least my mind.

Why did Jesus tie the faith to the fig tree? In response to the disciples observation that the fig tree withered quickly, why did he tie faith to the fig? Why did Jesus use the image of moving mountains and cast them into the sea? In order to illustrate the capacity of faith, and third question.

Why would anyone want to throw a mountain into the sea in first class? Was it just hyperbole, which means an obvious and intentional exaggeration? Was it an idiom, an expression whose meaning is not predictable upon the usual meaning of the elements such as kick the bucket or hang one’s head? So why was Jesus typhaed?

This is not the first time Jesus ties his faith to something. Remember the account of the demon possessed individual that the disciples could not heal? We find it in Matthew 17, verse 14. When they came to the crowd, a man came up to Jesus, falling on his knees before him and saying, lord, have mercy on my son, for he is a lunatic and is very ill. He often falls into the fire and often into the water.

I brought him to your disciples and they could not cure him, and Jesus answered and said, you unbelieving and perverted generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring him here to me. Now that’s a heck of a way to greet someone who asks you for help, isn’t it?

Why would you rebuke someone who asks you for your help? And maybe he wasn’t rebuking this individual. Maybe he’s directing this to his disciples. They’d already been sent out in the groups of 70 and 12 and given the ability to heal, cast out demons and work miracles. They’ve already done that.

They’ve come back to him. They said, here’s what we were able to do. Now they’re walking around with him and this man brings his son to the disciples, and they can’t do it. So maybe the Lord Jesus isn’t rebuking the man so so much as he’s rebuking his followers. Verse 18.

And Jesus rebuked him. Now this is the boy who’s got the devil in him, and the demon came out of him and the boy was cured at once. Then the disciples came to Jesus privately. So after this is over, when we have a quiet moment, the Lord Jesus, they say, I want to talk to you about what happened here.

Why could we not drive it out? And Jesus said, because of the littleness of your faith. For truly I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, move from here to there and it will move. Nothing will be impossible to you. So now Lord Jesus dies.

Faith to the Muslim city. Now in the parable, a man planted a mustard seed in the field and it grew and it became a great tree, and it also provided protection for the unwanted things, the birds of the air. But the mustard seed grew. So does he mean in this statement that your faith is small like the mustard seed?

If you had faith, that’s just a little bit of faith. Or does he mean that he’s talking about the fruition of the plant? Now you have that faith, you can move mountains.

So what does the mustard seed and the fig tree have in common? I think the answer is simply one growth. The mustard seed grows into a plant and produces the fruitage from that seed. The fig tree grows leaves and should have been growing figs, and in the case of Israel, it didn’t.

So what did the Lord Jesus mean then about moving mountains? I have found two explanations that make sense to me and I’d love to hear from you if you have a different one. But let me, before I go into this explanation, let me just come back and ask the question.

Does it mean I don’t have faith if I can’t move mountain? Does it mean I don’t have faith that I can’t move, transport something I can’t heal? A loved one?

Name me one individual you know that’s performed a miracle of faith in our fellowship like that. We can’t. But we can’t, and I’ll explain later.

So what did Lord Jesus mean about moving mountains?

Using the withered fig as a foundation, Jesus tithes faith to moving mountains. Matthew 21 and Mark 11, and using the disciples inability to cast out a demon, Jesus tithes the mustard seed besides faith to moving mud. Now I just asked the question. Was he talking about the mustard seed itself or was he talking about the fruition of the mustard seed?

We found that in Matthew 17. So now let’s using the disciples, desire to have greater faith. Jesus ties mustard and faith to moving mulberry trees, and that’s in Luke 17. Apostles said to the Lord, lord, increase our faith, and he said to them, if you had faith like a mustard seed, you would say to this mulberry tree, be uprooted and be planted in the sea, and it would obey you.

So why did Jesus tie moving mountains to the capacity of faith?

And why did Jesus use that image of moving a mountain into the sea? Now, according to Mark, Jesus said this on his way from Bethany to the temple in Jerusalem, and that path still walk today, takes one over the Mount of Olives, at the summit of which, on a clear day, you can see both the Herodian to the south and the Dead Sea to the east. Now, some of you may have been up on the Mount of Olives. If you looked off, you could see the Herodian.

Now, the Herodian was the tomb of Herod the Great, which Herod had built by excavating one mountain and using the excavated material to build another. His Herodian. At the time, it was regarded as such a feat of engineering that it was said of Herod that he could literally move mountains, because he did, and Jesus, standing on the Mount of Olives, looking and pointing down to Herod’s mountain, uses it as an insight object lesson. They all knew that it took time, a lot of manual efforts and great expense to move one mountain to make another.

And you move that mountain just like you eat an elephant, one bite at a time, one shovel. So Jesus didn’t state the obvious. He didn’t remind them of what they already knew. He expected them to bring to the lesson that he was teaching them about the fig tree as a foundation upon which he now used to teach faith. That is how he deals with us also.

He expects us to bring what we already know to bear in each of our experiences, because the experience itself is predicated on teaching us something more about what we already know. So he says to his disciples, in effect, you think that accomplishment pointing to Herod’s Rhodium is great. That’s nothing compared to what faith can accomplish. If you have the faith of God, you can say to Herod’s mountain, be taken up and cast into the Dead Sea, and there will be, as you have said.

Now, when I have read the accounts of moving mountains, and perhaps you did the same, I, like you, probably interpreted it inaccurately, we might conclude in our mind’s eye the mountain is going to be moved instantaneously we have faith, and because we may interpret what Jesus said to mean that faith means instant miracles. When the mountains in our lives do not move instantaneously, we conclude that we don’t have the faith Lord Jesus is speaking. If I can’t make that mountain move, then I must not have the faith Lord Jesus is asking for or talking about. Well, that part may be true.

I may not have the faith the Lord Jesus wants me to have. We may not have the degree of faith the Lord Jesus is speaking.

But let’s look at two commentaries that give some insight into this moving mountain a little bit more. So this is one perspective. He’s using moving mountains as an object lesson that faith is a matter of one decision at a time. I have to believe in this situation. I have to believe in the next situation.

I have to believe in the next situation. I have to trust that God’s going to be with me here, there, and tomorrow, no matter what it is. So that’s one decision at a time. Faith is not a once and done. I can’t say, you know, I was immersed in August 76, made my commitments in March of 76.

I can’t say I believe in that stand of my faith. It’s just the starting step. Just like when they started to move that mountain. It’s one shovel at a time. So here’s what Clark’s commentary says.

Matthew 21:21 if ye have faith and doubt not Removing mountains and rooting up of mountains are phrases very generally used to signify the removing of or conquering great difficulties getting through perplexities.

So many of the rabbis were turned rooters up mountains because they were dexterous in removing difficulties, solving cases of conscience, and in this sense our Lord’s words are to be understood.

He that has faith will get through every difficulty and perplexity. Mountains shall become molehills or plains before him. The saying is not to be taken in its literal sense, nor is it hyperbolic. It is a proverbial form of speech which every Jew understood and which every Christian ought not to be puzzled. So the removing mountains was a figure of speech.

It wasn’t saying literally move that mountain. He was saying, if you have faith, you can make a large obstacle small.

Not that the mountain is going to just disappear. So that’s Clark’s commentary. Let’s look at Barnes notes. Matthew 21:21. Jesus took occasion from this to establish their faith in God.

References Mark 11:22. He told them that any difficulty could be overcome by faith. To remove a mountain denotes the power of surmounting or removing any difficulty. This phrase was so used by the Jews. There’s no doubt that this was literally true, that if they had the fate of miracles, they could remove the mountain before them, the Mount of Olives.

The Savior rather, referred probably to the difficulties and trials which they would be called to endure in preaching the Gospel. Okay, so two different commentaries, basically the same thing. It was a common expression that the Jews used, and everybody understood what he meant, and we don’t, because we’re not in that context, and so we, like me says, you know, I don’t have the faith because I can’t.

I can’t make it work. So what we’re finding out is that faith is not instant miracles, regardless of the degree of our faith. That’s just not how faith works. Faith takes time, a lot of manual effort, and perhaps even great cost to ourselves. Just like physically moving a mountain, the test of our faith is not whether the mountain moves instantaneously.

The test is simply whether the mountain ends up being moved at the end.

Faith can accomplish what, to the natural mind, seems impossible, and that’s the first component of our lesson. The second component has to do with the important verse of the account, Mark 1124. Therefore, I say to you all things for which you pray and ask, Believe that you have received them, and they will be granted you. Now, contrary to what some Christians teach and believe, this is not a free checkbook from which we can draw whatever we want, whenever we want from God’s account.

And there are three principles governing this verse and others like it. Number one, it’s for the sons of God, those in covenant relationship with Him. If you don’t have that relationship with him, it’s not talking about you. It’s not saying that you can’t do this. Number two, as sons of God in a covenant relationship with him, we are promised the power and the aid of the Holy Spirit.

And the reason we are granted this is to help fulfill God’s will for us. Well, what is his will for us? There’s one verse that says, this is the will of God. Even your sanctification. That’s not very palatable, because when I want to know what God’s will is, I want to know what he wants me to do in this particular situation.

God says, I’m looking at the bigger picture.

Second, Thessalonians 2:13 directly ties together sanctification with faith. 2 Thessalonians 2:13. But we should always give thanks to God for you, brethren, beloved by the Lord, because God has chosen you from the beginning for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and faith in the truth. So the third major principle governing our verse under consideration, Mark 1124. All things for which you pray and ask.

Believe that the granting of the fulfillment of our prayer is predicated upon asking. It won’t happen if we don’t ask, and then believing. It won’t happen if we don’t believe in the Father’s ability to answer, and the asking and believing is predicated on the ask being in accordance with God’s principles.

God doesn’t want me to move that mouth. God does want me to move into obstacles in my life that prevent me from sanctification. That’s the mountain God wants me to move.

John 15:7. If you abide in me and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish and it will be done for you. In James 4. 3, you ask and receive, not because you ask amiss, that you may spend it in your pleasures. If I could literally move mountains, just think about the test of the character I put upon.

Would I use or misuse this power? I’m a fallen person. My propensity would probably be to misuse the power. I get a big head over it.

That’s all I want to talk about on the faith part. Let’s talk a little bit on another subject. We have a couple minutes. I want to talk about the miracle in Cana of Galilee.

So we read about it in John, chapters one and two, that Jesus calls John and Andrew, and Andrew goes for Peter, and then Jesus finds Philip, Philip finds Nathaniel, and together all five men travel to Cana of Galilee. John, chapter two, verses one through eleven for a wedding, and there Jesus performs his very first miracle, turning water into wine, and in John, chapter 2, verse 12, together the five disciples, his mother and siblings, traveled to Capernaum from Cana. So if you’re looking at a map, you got Drusen down here, Sea of Galilee’s up here, and you’ve got Canaan over to the side over here.

Okay. Somewhere between Jerusalem and Galilee, John was baptized. There’s a couple different places. The Lord Jesus was somewhere between Jerusalem and Galilee. So the account says, they go from Jesus, comes back from the wilderness, wanderings, comes back to John.

He sees the disciples and he calls the disciples. Now that begs the question, why would the Lord Jesus come back to John? Why didn’t he just go and start his ministry? Well, he needed followers. Where were the best men going?

Never being attracted to John. So if he wants to find true believers, men of faith, he has to go where the man’s collecting them. So he goes to John, and the men see Jesus, and John says, that’s he, and the men pivot and they go and start following Jesus.

So Jesus takes these five, his family, he goes up to the wedding in King of Galilee, bounds up there. Then we’re told from King of Galilee, King of Galilee over here, sorry. He travels back to Capernaum and then down to Jerusalem. So in that cycle, battling to Cana, Capernaum, Galilee, down, back to Jerusalem. We have a six month spirit span of time.

Was baptized in the fall of October 29th, and six months later he’s in Jerusalem for the Passover, which would be the following March, April, six months transpired, and the record states that Jesus is pretty much with these five men all this time.

Now, skipping ahead a little bit, when he’s in Capernaum, after they travel back up to from Jerusalem and go back up to Capernaum. We read in Matthew that the Lord Jesus is walking by the sea and he sees men in the boat, and he says, come, follow me. The account says, they got up and he left.

If I saw a stranger walk up to me and said, leave everything behind, come follow me, I’d tell them, you’re nuts, I wouldn’t. But when you understand that he was with them for six months, walking and talking and teaching, and then they made their way back up to Capernaum and they separated, and when the Lord Jesus comes back along and says, okay, now come follow me, they knew who he was and they made their decision. Now that’s the way God dealt with you and me.

First we were introduced to the Lord, got to know him, got to experience him. All of them got to talk with him, and then he says, hey, I want to talk to you, I want to call you, and they were responding same way they weren’t responding to a stranger walking up to their boat.

So let’s go back to Cana.

So they’re in Cana of Galilee, the five disciples, his mother and siblings are at the wedding, and a disaster. But the family’s getting married, happens, they run out of wine, which was a major social faux pas.

And Mary was sensitive to the situation because all of her life, ever since she was tapped by the Heavenly Father to be the mother of the Lord Jesus. She was a pariah because she was pregnant outside of marriage, and they would insult the Lord Jesus. They’d say, we know who our Father is. Implying that Jesus doesn’t know who his father was.

So Mary was sensitive to this Imagine yourself at the. You’re at the wedding and you’re talking with the Lord Jesus and his disciples, and can you picture this in your mind? You’re just having this conversation. There’s a wedding going on.

People are enjoying this, talking, groups of fellowship, whatever, and the mother comes up to you, Lord Jesus mother comes up to you, she interrupts your conversation and she says to him, lord Jesus, they have no wife, and why would Mary come to Lord Jesus? Well, we say it’s because he’s her son. That’s true.

But Mary herself had a lot of experience with being on the receiving end of social slander, gossip and embarrassment. She was firsthand sensitive to it. So she goes to her son to prevent that they have their wife. Now envision how she would say it to him. Envision what the Lord Jesus replies.

John 2, verse 4. Jesus says to her, woman, what does that have to do with me? My hour has not yet come. Now, when he talks about his hour, is he talking about his death?

Which is true with our hands of come. But why do you say that in the beginning of his ministry.

So the Lord Jesus mother turns to the servants. Just imagine this. You watch this interaction. She says to the servants, whatever he says to you, go ahead and do it, and she walks away.

Jesus is not being told to go out and buy wine. Jesus is being told by Mary to reveal yourself as a messiah, perform a miracle so everybody can recognize who you are. Mary knew who she was. The family all knows you. He was.

And so she’s saying, look, the guests, here’s a great opportunity to reveal yourself as the Messiah.

There’s no way the Lord Jesus could leave, buy the wine, come back. In fact, she’s telling him to reveal himself. In this account, we see one of New Testament accounts of someone giving someone else unsolicited. Mary is giving Jesus advice, and Jesus gives us the example of how to deal with unsolicited advice.

He’s cognizant of his mother’s sensitivity to the social opa, and he listens to what she says, he modifies it, and he applies it accordingly, and so through that, the first recorded miracle of wine is presented. Now, the Lord Jesus didn’t do exactly what she said the way she said. He did not reveal himself, but he still performed the miracle.

And there was only nine, maybe nine individuals who knew what happened. The Lord Jesus, five men at six, Mary at seven, and two servants. Nine individuals knew what happened and the reading was saved, and the Lord Jesus wasn’t revealed. Now, why wouldn’t the Lord Jesus reveal himself because it wasn’t quite time yet.

And he had to stay under the radar of the religious leaders and the civil leaders to make it to the end of April 6th, 33 AD, three and a half years approximately before he could die, and at the wedding at can of Galilee, that’s about five months into this ministry. So he doesn’t really call his disciples until these three years into his ministry.

Well, I’m going to close here. So we’ve talked a little bit about faith moving mountains. It doesn’t mean that I don’t have faith because I can’t say that I’m out and move. It doesn’t mean that I don’t have faith. It’s not the lesson.

The lesson is that although I have faith, I can overcome and surmount the difficulties in my life because of my faith one shovel at a time, one decision at a time. Not instantaneously.

We looked a little bit about the wedding in Cana, Galilee, and the men and that they got to know the Lord Jesus before he called them, and that’s how he dealt with us, and he didn’t reveal himself as Mary wanted him to because it wasn’t time yet, but he still honored her, and he teaches us a lesson about unsolicited advice. So let’s get offended by it.

Lord Jesus didn’t. He said, I’ll take it what you have to say, I’ll modify it based upon what I know I have to do and then I’ll apply it.

So we hope that you’ve got a little bit different insight into the Gospels this morning and the Lord Jesus. I’m going to close with two quotes. Well, actually one quote, you may have heard this before, and then a question. My quote is from a Mr.

Rodney Gypsy Smith, a 19th century British evangelist. Here’s the quote. There are five Gospels. Matthew, Mark, Luke, John and the Christian. But most people never read the first four.

So my question for each of us is, when people read the Gospel of our lives, how much of the Lord Jesus are they going to encounter in Earth?

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