Forgiveness Can Move A Mountain

Carter Conlon from the historic Times Square Church in New York City. We are ambassadors of this incredible kingdom of forgiveness, and we are completely unjustified to hold on to old grievances no matter what was done to us, because surely nothing worse than that which was done to Christ has been done to you or me. We're glad you've joined us for this weekly edition of A Call to the Nation.

Did you know you have the ability to move mountains? In today's message, Carter will explain how that's possible. This kind of authority in prayer stands on the foundation stone of forgiveness. But before you even start thinking about anybody else, it's important to know you need the forgiveness of God.

Let's learn more about this incredible gift as we join Carter now. Mark chapter 11 verse 22, it says, So Jesus answered and said to them, Have faith in God. For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, be removed and be cast into the sea, and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says.

Therefore, I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them. Just these two verses of scripture, can you imagine if we actually believe this? The prayer meeting would not be something you had to beg people to attend on Wednesday night or whatever night. I mean, the people would be abandoning everything to come to the prayer meeting, they would abandon the business of their day to go into the prayer closet and talk with God. If we really, really believe this, you see what Jesus spoke is actually true.

We do have this faith promised of God to move these mountains, and I'm going to talk about the mountains in just a moment, and cause them to lose their strongholds, cause them to lose their influence to be cast into a place other than where they are. And this incredible promise, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them and you will have them. Now that's in the context of James chapter four and verse three. Remember James, the apostle who said, you ask and you receive not because you ask amiss that you may consume it upon your lust. So in other words, if we're asking for something just because we want to consume it upon ourselves, that's an asking amiss, and we may not receive what we ask for. But when our motivation is the advancement of the kingdom of God, when our motivation is to live a life that's going to bring glory to his name and perhaps live in a way that we can be of some effect in pushing back the darkness that is trying to swallow the lives of our families and our friends and somebody around us, then whatever we ask for, we shall receive. Isn't that amazing?

When our motives are right, when our lives are in order, when we're moving towards God's plan for our life, not our own plan, but God's plan, we can ask and we will receive. Now he had just come back from entering into Jerusalem and he had approached a fake tree that gave the appearance at least of covering, gave the appearance of bearing fruit. He walked up to the fake tree and I've always believed it was a type of Adam because you remember in Genesis chapter three when the Lord came down into the garden and Adam had lost, Adam I believe and Eve were covered with the glory of God. That's why they didn't know they were naked. Just like Moses, when he went into the presence of God, he came out and his face was glowing. I do believe because they spent time with the living God, that the reflective glory of God was upon them. That's why they didn't need clothing and they were unaware of nakedness at this point. But when they sinned against God, when they bit into the theology that they could be godly without God, they suddenly lost the glory of God and they became aware of their nakedness, their bankruptcy.

And so what did they do? They went to the fake tree which has kind of a broad, flat green leaf and they made skirts, probably hats and they exchanged the glory of God for fake leaves. Can you just imagine that? How ridiculous Adam must have looked like. He must have looked like he had a lampshade on his head and he had a grass skirt with fake leaves to cover himself and he exchanged the glory of God for this ridiculous costume. And it represents in a sense man's attempt to be godly in himself, to cover his struggles, to cover his failings, to cover his sin and ultimately it represents the belief that we can be godly without God because that was the theological fruit that Adam and Eve actually bit into, that they could become judges as God is, in other words creating their own good and creating their own evil.

And the scripture says that Jesus was coming out of Bethany and going back up into Jerusalem and he was hungry and I honestly believe he was hungry for the fellowship, not with Adam but all of Adam's descendants. He saw you into the future, he saw me and there was the hunger in the heart of God. Now I know that God is complete in himself.

That's not even debatable. He doesn't need anything, he's God. He's fully complete just in being God.

But he can also allow himself to have a need. In other words, like for example God can't forget anything but he said through the prophet Isaiah, I will remember your sins no more. In other words, God says I will cause myself to forget your sins.

Isn't that amazing? Although he's not capable of forgetting, he can cause himself to forget. Although he could exist alone, fully exist in himself, he chose to create Adam and Eve, he chose to create us in his image because he wanted fellowship. I don't fully understand that mystery. The Bible does say that it's a mystery that the angels desire to look into. With all of the perfection in heaven, with all the created beings around him, moving in unison with his will, worshiping him, not needing to be redeemed, yet his affection is on us. And the angels see that and they don't fully understand it.

We must look so incredibly flawed. And yet in the midst of it, the heart and affection of God is upon us. He's on his way to the final mission that his father had sent him to bring us back and he's hungry for that fellowship when he would come down in the garden and he would bring animals to Adam and say, Adam, what are we going to call this?

I don't fully get that. God knew what they were, but yet he let Adam name them. The scripture says what Adam called them, they're still called that today. And he was hungry. And seeing a fig tree afar off, verse 13, it says having leaves, he went to see if perhaps he could find something on it. And when he came to it, he found nothing but leaves for it was not the season of figs. Now, the writer is writing from the perspective of either himself or somebody else just observing Jesus doing this, assuming that he's physically hungry, assuming that he's coming to the tree and the omniscient, that means the all knowing God doesn't know if there's any fruit on this tree. I want to suggest that this is just an observation of his behavior, but he knew there was nothing on this tree. It was not even the season of figs. And so the son of God with all of his power comes to this fig tree and when he sees there's nothing on it, he curses it in a sense and says, let no one ever eat fruit from you again.

And his disciples heard it. Now, if we take this at face value, it makes the Son of God look exceedingly petty. In other words, he's approaching a tree.

It's not the season for fruit. He finds nothing on it. And then he curses it.

It's just a vain display of power, in a sense, unless he's teaching us something in this. I believe honestly, he's looking at this this faux covering as it is. That humanity has tried to place upon themselves in the sheer force of human will to get back into relationship with God and to be godly by human effort. And it has its coverings. You remember in Jerusalem that the Pharisees had these fine coverings and these wonderful garments that they had concocted for themselves. But on close examination, there was no fruit.

It was all just a covering. And when you got close, you found envy, you found pride, you found dead men's bones behind incredibly whitewashed exteriors. And so he said, no one eat fruit from you ever again. And in the morning, when they pass by, verse 20, it says, they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots. And Peter remembering said to him, Rabbi, look, the fig tree which you cursed has withered away.

And this is when he speaks to them. Have faith in God. For assuredly I say to you, whoever says to this mountain. Now the only mountain in the area is Jerusalem. Now the fig tree is kind of emblematic of the whole system of religion that's represented by Jerusalem of that time. The system that had covered itself in its own religious fig leaves as it is. This mountain of deception. It's not just the deception of the one fig tree, but it's the whole system that offered a deceptive relationship with God.

It was just an exterior covering that had no real reality to it. And it was absolutely incapable of bearing the fruit that only God can bear in a person's life. Praise be to God.

So he says, you can not only say this to the fig tree, but to the mountain. Not only, not only pray for anything deceptive in your own life, anything that is offering covering that is not real. You see, we have power to say, God, this thing must be taken away from my life. Don't let this thing deceive me any longer. Don't let this, this substance that's falsely offering me comfort.

Don't let it deceive me anymore. I have the power now to stand against this thing, not just in my own personal life, but in the lives of my family members. You know, we see family members that are falling into certain patterns of even religion that doesn't really offer a covering. And we can, we have the power to stand and say, let no one eat fruit from you ever again. Our friends all around us that are falling into traps of addiction or whatever their behaviors are, we have power, we have authority to stand against these things and say, lose your ability to deceive them. Did you ever know you could pray like that? You could pray for somebody that's fallen into a trap and you say, in the name of Jesus, I stand against this deception and, and let my brother, let my sister, let my friend no longer eat, no longer eat from this tree of deception any longer.

And then he takes it even farther. He says, not just the tree, but the mountain. It's, it's a type of you and I coming here and looking out on these prayer tablets at the mountain of despair that's all around us, the mountains of deception that have entrapped people, the mountains of failed marriages where one of the partners has somehow fallen into the lie of believing that somebody else other than my marriage partner is going to satisfy the desire of my life or the desire of my heart. This is a mountain that's in our society today. And Jesus said, not just the fig tree, but the mountain. The mountain of course was Jerusalem that he was pointing out. And you and I know that in AD 70, the mountain was removed and cast into the sea all over the world.

And we know that. And so he wasn't just speaking something idly. He said, there's going to be a victory on the cross and I'm imparting this victory to you. And I'm telling you, if you have faith in God, you can speak to this deception. You can have authority in your prayers.

You can stand against the darkness. If we don't believe this, I think we're a people to be pitied in our generation. I happen to believe that these are the words of the son of God who cannot lie. He does not exaggerate. He doesn't put a carrot on the stick in front of us that we can never attain.

We can. It's always a foot in front of us. We can't reach it. No, it is truth. It is absolute truth. Not just to the fig trees of deception, these fruitless coverings that are sent to deceive. But the whole mountain, and we're living in a generation where there is a mountain of deception in this generation. People are looking everywhere but to God, trying to be God in their own strength, trying to establish rules of good and evil and right and wrong apart from God.

Trying to be virtuous without the virtuous one abiding in their inward parts. And Jesus said, I'm going to give you the power if you have faith in God to say to the mountain, be removed and be cast into the sea. However, this kind of authority and prayer stands on the foundation stone of forgiveness.

Listen to this. He said, therefore, I say to you, whatever things you ask in prayer, when you pray, believe that you receive them and you will have them. And verse 25, and whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him that your father in heaven may also forgive your trespasses. But if you do not forgive, neither will your father in heaven forgive your trespasses. You know, we ask ourselves how important is it's funny like he this incredible promise of cursing fig trees and moving mountains, and then he just puts it all on the cornerstone of forgiveness because we are ambassadors of a kingdom that is all about forgiveness. Father forgive them as he's being, he was beaten, he was betrayed, he was lied about, he was spit on, he was mocked, he was crucified. And yet in the midst of all his pain, he says, father, forgive them.

They don't know what they do. This is a kingdom of forgiveness that you and I have been invited into as ambassadors. And so he puts this power to pray on this cornerstone of forgiveness.

It's an amazing thing when you begin to realize it. You know, in Matthew chapter 18, you know, Peter came to the Lord Jesus Christ and he said to him, Lord, how often shall I, my brother sin against me and I forgive him up to seven times. Now, Peter was a fisherman. He was a tough fisherman. I have no doubt about it. I have no doubt he had a bad temper. I have no doubt if you crossed him once, you might get away with it. If you crossed him twice, your teeth were, you're eating your supper with your gums that night.

I have no doubt about it. And so he kind of, he wants to please the Lord. He wants to appear spiritual and says, how often shall I forgive my brother? And he's concocting this thing in his eyes, seven times? I mean, to Peter, that's way beyond reasonable.

That's the only God can do that. Seven times. I mean, he just thinks nobody would ever get away with playing games with me seven times. And Jesus said to him, I did not say to you up to seven times, but up to 70 times seven. He's probably doing the math at this point.

That's 490 times. It's impossible with man. It's only possible with God. And he goes on to say, therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. When he had begun to settle accounts, one was brought to him, I owed him 10,000 talents. But as he was not able to pay, his master commanded that he be sold and his wife and his children and all that he had and that the payment be made. And the servant therefore fell down before him saying, master have patience with me and I will pay you all. Then the master of that servant was moved with compassion, released him and forgave him the debt. But that servant went out and found one of his fellow servants who owed him 100 denarii. In other words, what anybody owes us in comparison to what we owed God is so insignificant, it's almost not worth writing it down. But he laid hands on him and took him by the throat saying, pay me what you owe. You wonder how many people, how many people have been forgiven by God in the body of Christ, but we still have somebody else by the throat.

Somebody in our past that abused us, somebody that let us down, somebody that wasn't there when we needed us, somebody that spoke ill about us, somebody that maybe stiffed us for money, whatever it was, we take him by the throat, even though we've been forgiven such an incredible debt, we are refusing to forgive those who have hurt us. Pay me what you owe. So the fellow servant fell down at his feet and begged him saying, have patience with me and I will pay you all. And he would not, but went and threw him into prison until he should pay the debt. So when his fellow servants saw what had been done, they were very grieved and came and told their master all that had been done. Then his master after he'd called him said to him, you wicked servant, I forgave you all that debt because you begged me. Should you not also have had compassion on your fellow servant just as I had pity on you? And his master was angry and delivered him to the torturers until he should pay all that was due to him. So my heavenly father also will do to you, each of you, if you from your heart does not forgive his brother, his trespasses.

Now I want you to think about that. This is one of the harder portions of scripture. We'd rather gloss it over and not have to deal with it, but I can't help but wonder because we have about almost 1900 prayer requests tonight that have come in throughout the day in the last little while. And when I look at it, I can't tell you how many people are tormented and you can't help but wonder is there unforgiveness in the background? Is there somebody they have, they've come for forgiveness to God because a lot of these people claim to be Christians, but they're refusing to forgive somebody else along the way. And Jesus did say, if you're forgiven the great debt, but you refuse to forgive somebody who has wronged you, the end result is that you're delivered to torment.

I think of all the people in marriages that are looking outside the relationship and half the times there are problems in the past before even coming into the marriage. There's unforgiveness there somewhere and they've refused to let it go. Now I'm not suggesting that forgiveness implies that what the person did to you was right.

It's just a law in the kingdom of God. We are built on this foundation of forgiveness. Forgiveness is a command. Trust is earned. You don't have to trust somebody because you've forgiven them, but you have to forgive them.

That's a command of God. When years and years ago I was transferred into the public relations department in the police force where I worked. And in the public relations department, there was a man called Tom. He was about 35 years of age at the time and he had a fatal disease. It was only a matter of time and he was going to lose his life and there was no cure for what he had. And he had been transferred in just to answer the phone in the office until he was incapacitated. And then at a certain point then he would have to go on disability and then he was going to die. And his prognosis was not very good. He only really had a few years left to live. I got to know Tom and one day I'm passing through the office and he said, Carter, he said, I just see something and I hear something in you and I'm not quite sure what it is.

What is it that I'm seeing? I was able to share with him my testimony. I was able to share the gospel of Jesus Christ and in the office that day I led him to Christ as his Lord and savior. And we rejoiced together and it was just an awesome moment. And then I was only a few weeks later, Tom came in the office one day and says, man, you're not going to believe this. You're not going to believe this.

He's just beside himself. I've been to the doctor and my disease is gone. It's absolutely gone.

There's no trace of it. And the doctor said, a secular doctor said to me, Tom, you have had a miracle. He said, this disease you have does not go away on its own. There is no known treatment for it. It is gone.

There's not a trace of it in your body. You are cured. You are healed. And he said, Tom, I have no explanation for what has happened to you, but I'm telling you, you've had a miracle. A secular doctor told Tommy that a miracle. And you know, the funny thing is we never prayed for his healing.

As a matter of fact, it never even occurred to me at that point to pray for his healing. I talked to him about Christ. He opened his heart. He received the forgiveness of God. And I said, Tom, how do you think the healing, we were just talking one day, I said, how do you think the healing in your life happened? Now, this is a brand new Christian.

He doesn't have a whole lot of theology in his life, but here's what he told me. He said, Carter, when I was a boy, my father was an evil man. My father would stand me in a bathtub of ice cold water, take his belt off and beat me on the back and on my legs and on my buttocks until welts broke out on my body.

I hated that man. And he said, I lived to see him die in agony. His father was still alive. And he said, I just lived to see him on his deathbed so they could walk in and just point my finger and gloat at him and saying, you're finally getting what you deserve. And he said, the interesting thing is when I opened my heart and gave my life to Jesus, I went home one night and I said, God, if you have forgiven me after all I have done, I no longer have the right to hold this grievance against my father. And he said the words, I forgive my father. And he told me, he said, when the bitterness left my life, the disease went with it. That's Tom's story. And he had a miracle healing to back up his testimony. So how important is forgiveness and why would Jesus set this mountain moving miracle power on this foundation of forgiveness?

You'll see the reasons are fairly obvious. We are ambassadors of this incredible kingdom of forgiveness and we are completely unjustified to hold on to old grievances no matter what was done to us. Because surely nothing worse than that which was done to Christ has been done to you or me. We've all had people have let us down. We've all had things that have been said. We've all had people who weren't there when we needed them.

I get all of that. But if we have received the forgiveness of Christ and we are willing to let go the debts, the throats of others that owe us something, even if they owe, we feel at least they owe us an apology if nothing else, God says, no, take your hands off their neck and let them go. And the promise that I make to you is that I'm going to give you faith to see people around you set free. I'm going to give you faith to make a difference in your society.

I'm going to, I'm going to move you into something of, of, of my spirit of my life that can only come from the presence of God inside of your life. And so you asked me now the question, who should I forgive first? Well, before you even start thinking about anybody else, it's so important that you receive the forgiveness of God. As we always say at Times Square Church, it's as easy as ABC. Just admit that you're a sinner and you need a savior.

Don't make it difficult. Say, God, I can't save myself. I'm done with the false coverings in my own life.

I'm done trying to be good in my own strength because I can't. And so Lord, I recognize that you went to a cross and paid the price for my sin. And so that I invite you into my life to be my, my Lord and my savior. Believe that God sent his son to die on the cross to take your place. The punishment you deserve. Jesus Christ took that punishment.

Don't make it complicated. You were guilty. An innocent man took your place, suffered the punishment of the separation from God that you deserved and I deserved. And he did it because he loved you. He did it because he was hungry for fellowship with you.

Remember Jesus approached the tree because he was hungry. He was hungry to have a living relationship with you. That's why he came to this world not to condemn you. He came to get you.

He came to pay the price so you could be restored to God and begin to confess with your mouth Jesus Christ as your Lord and your savior. Firstly, you need to receive the forgiveness of God. And secondly, you need to forgive yourself because you might've been the abuser.

You might've been the one that wasn't there when people needed you. You might be the one that needs, you see, when you, when you do come to Christ as your savior, you get kicked off the throne of your own life. You're no longer the king or the queen anymore.

You're kicked off the throne. Jesus Christ sits on that throne and he starts calling you his own and he calls you clean and he calls you forgiven. Matter of fact, in the Bible, he says you are as clean as God is through Jesus Christ.

The righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. That's the way the Bible says it. That means I'm as clean as God is through Jesus Christ.

He said to Peter one day when he was speaking with Peter, the Lord said to him, whatever I have cleansed, don't you call it common or unclean anymore. You have to learn to forgive yourself because we've all made mistakes. We've all fallen short of the glory of God. We've all done things that we regret doing. And sometimes people can receive the forgiveness of God, but they can't forgive themselves for what they have done. You have to accept God's forgiveness and then forgive yourself.

And once you're operating it from that perspective, then you let go the debt that somebody else owes you. Forgive. And sometimes you have to trust God to forgive. You have to ask him for the strength because we just can't do it in our own strength. Just let it go.

Let it go. Thank you for joining us this week for A Call to the Nation with Carter Conlon from Times Square Church in New York City. For more information, log on to tsc.nyc. That's tsc.nyc. You can count on a powerful message each week on A Call to the Nation with Carter Conlon.