Faith Of Our Fathers

This summer we've been studying the subject of faith, which, according to the Bible's definition in Hebrews 11:1, is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

Hebrews 11:1

Because today is Father's Day, I'm going to look at the faith of two fathers in the Bible who can teach us some lessons about our faith in God.

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He met up with a friend and he said, you know what?

At times like this, I wish I'd listened to what my dad always said.

What did he say?

I don't know.

I wasn't listening.

So true for a lot of us.

The Bible says that faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

Faith.

And when it comes to faith, it's real important we listen to the voice of our Heavenly Father in His Word.

That's what we're doing.

When it comes to spiritual things, we live by faith in what we hear and believe to be the truth.

It takes faith to believe in Jesus, it takes faith not to believe in Jesus.

You're believing in something else.

By faith, you're living it one way or the other and basing your whole life and eternity on that belief.

We've learned so far from several examples of faith that faith in Jesus is often triggered by a problem in our life that leads us to discover some information about Jesus' power to help us.

In the examples we looked at so far, in many of Jesus' healings in the New Testament, he wanted people to know he wouldn't let them walk away until he made it sure they knew that it was faith in him that healed them or saved them.

Today we're going to look to uh continue that and glean from two examples of faith by looking at two fathers in the Bible, uh Jarius and an unnamed father.

And I'm going to begin by looking at Jarius' faith.

We've begun this story uh sometime before in Mark chapter five.

I just want to continue and finish the story today with Jarius.

Um we started it a couple weeks ago when we looked at the faith of the woman who was healed of her uncontrolled bleeding.

But today we're gonna read the passage again and focus on Jarius today.

I'm reading in Mark chapter five if you want to follow along in a Bible.

And I'm gonna begin in verse 21.

When Jesus had crossed over again in the boat to the other side, a large crowd gathered around him, and so he stayed by the seashore.

One of the synagogue officials named Jarius came up, and on seeing him fell at his feet.

He implored him earnestly, saying, My little daughter is at the point of death.

Please come and lay your hands on her so that she'll be well and live.

And so he went off with him, and a large crowd was following him and pressing in on him, and a woman who had a hemorrhage for twelve years and had endured much at the hands of many physicians and had spent all that she had and was not helped at all, but rather had grown worse.

After hearing about Jesus, she came up in the crowd behind him and touched his cloak.

For she thought, if I just touch his garment, I'll get well.

Immediately the flow of her blood was dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of her affliction.

And immediately Jesus, perceiving in himself that power proceeded from him and had gone forth, turned around in the crowd and said, Who touched my garments?

And his disciples said to him, You see the crowd pressing in on you, and you say, Who touched me?

And he looked around to see the woman who had done this.

And the woman, fearing and trembling, aware of what had happened to her, came and fell down before him, told him the whole truth.

And he said to her, Daughter, your faith has made you well.

Go in peace and be healed of your affliction.

While he was still speaking, they came from the house of the synagogue officials, saying, Your daughters died.

Why trouble the teacher anymore?

But Jesus, overhearing what was being spoken, said to the synagogue official, Do not be afraid, only believe.

And he allowed no one to accompany him into the house except Peter and James and John and the brother of James, John, the brother of James.

They came to the house of the synagogue official.

He saw a commotion and people loudly weeping and wailing.

And entering in, he said to them, Why are you making a commotion to and weep?

The child has not died, but is asleep.

And they began laughing at him.

But putting them all out, he took along the child's father and mother and his own companions and entered the room where the child was.

Taking the child by the hand, he said to her, Talitha Kum, which translated means, Little girl, I say to you, arise.

In a modern translation, it would be something like, Honey, it's time to get up.

Immediately the girl got up and began to walk.

She was twelve years old, and immediately they were completely astounded, and he gave them strict orders that no one should know about this.

And he said that something should be giving her to eat.

As we look at the rest of the story focusing on Jarius today, we learn that a father's faith will be tested.

We've already seen with the woman with the hemorrhage and the centurion that faith in God is most often triggered by a problem we face, a serious problem.

At the very beginning of the story, Jarius, the synagogue official, came up to Jesus and begged him to heal his daughter who was at the point of death.

Look, there's no greater trigger in my mind or problem a father's going to face than when it's affecting his child or his children.

Nothing greater than that.

Children's welfare for a father to consider.

You know, Jarius did have faith in Jesus.

That's why Jarius was standing on the shore waiting for him to get back.

He probably knew, maybe even seen some of Jesus' healings around that town, and realized Jesus had the power to heal his daughter.

When he saw Jesus, he ran, fell at his feet, begged him to heal his daughter.

Jesus agreed.

Okay, let's go.

He had his faith, but now you're going to see the faith of this father is going to be tested.

Our faith, you see, only matures, grows through suffering.

Trouble.

Deepens through the troubles we face, through the struggles we endure.

The Bible refers to the troubles believers face as a testing of our faith.

Several places in the New Testament.

Troubles, we're told, purify our faith.

Getting rid of all the other stuff we've been relying on.

We're just down to God in, not me now.

Purifying it.

All that other stuff has to go.

Purifying our faith like a precious metal in a fire, or making it stronger, like a muscle that's exercised under stress.

That's the metaphor the New Testament uses about our faith, being tested, stretched, grows stronger, deeper.

For instance, James chapter 1, verses 2 to 4, James has the audacity to say, Count at all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials.

James 1:2–4

Obviously, I think James was probably very mature in his faith to say that.

The word perfect can also mean mature, complete, lacking in nothing.

You want to grow in your faith, you will be tested.

The dross has to come out of it.

Faith is going to bring it to a boiling point.

1 Peter.

Peter says in chapter 1, verses 6 and 7, he says, You're rejoicing, greatly rejoice in your salvation, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you've been distressed by various trials, so that the proof of your faith, again, the kind of the purity of it, being more precious than gold, gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

So how was Jarius's faith tested?

Two ways.

Jarius believed that Jesus could heal his daughter.

He was waiting on the shore.

Jesus agreed.

But along the way, they're interrupted.

His daughter's at the point of death.

This is urgent.

The woman with the constant bleeding problem distracted Jesus.

He stopped to talk with her.

When Jesus stopped and was delayed in coming to help his daughter, that delay was Jairus' first test of his faith.

It will test our faith too.

When God delays answering our very urgent prayers, something starts happening.

Why isn't he doing something?

This is serious.

Does he even care?

Why doesn't he hurry up?

It's going on in our heart.

It's natural.

It's urgent.

One thing we learn when our faith is tested, I think what one thing God wants us to learn when our faith is tested, and I know it's not easy, God is always in control, and he is never in a hurry.

Never.

Delays.

Delays.

It's urgent, but it's what what why isn't God answered?

Here's the second way Jarvis's faith was being tested.

We begin to think, you know what, it's too late.

It's impossible.

It's too big for even God to do now.

That's it.

After Jesus was delayed, Jarius gets the news that his daughter passed away.

And told they told Jarius not to trouble Jesus anymore.

It's too late for him to heal her.

It's too late.

Now what will happen to Jarius' faith?

Will he believe the news of those who came to tell him that sad news?

Don't bother Jesus anymore?

Is it too late?

Will he still have faith in Jesus when things go from bad to worse?

Will he still have faith?

Oh, no doubt.

Jarus' heart and mind are filled with doubts now.

Jesus was delayed and it's too late.

My daughter's dead.

How did Jesus help Jarius through his crisis of faith?

Jesus said something very important.

He said to Jarius, don't be afraid.

Don't be afraid.

Only believe.

Jesus overhearing what we spoke and said to the synagogue of professor, don't be afraid any longer, only believe.

Jesus didn't scold Jarius for his doubts.

He knew the source of his doubts was fear.

And fear and faith are at opposite ends.

There's they're absolutely faith is the antidote for fear of what Jesus is saying to him.

And another thing that's happening here, Jarius, helps us to see that we don't have to have perfect faith.

It's not how strong our faith is, it's how strong Jesus is.

And with a little faith in him, we can walk through our fears.

And it's enough to save us.

Why did Jesus tell Jarius not to be afraid?

Why didn't he just tell him to believe?

Because faith is opposed to fear.

As soon as fear comes in, it's almost like our spiritual life goes on check.

We're wondering what happened, where was God?

All kinds of questions.

We begin to be afraid when things are hard, difficult, urgent.

Fear literally undermines our faith.

Why?

Because the circumstances are so overwhelming, it begins to blur the power and glory of God Almighty in our mind.

Fear causes us to doubt what and who we've been trusting in.

What we've been relying on.

Jesus spoke to this, I think, throughout his ministry.

That's why Jesus told his disciples not to worry.

Don't you know who your heavenly father is?

Matthew 6, 30, 31.

But if God so clothes the grass of the field, just alive today, tomorrow's thrown into the furnace, will he not much more clothe you of little faith?

Do not worry then, saying, What do we eat?

What do we drink?

What do we wear for clothing?

And then in Matthew 10, 30 and 31, he tells the disciples, you know what?

The very head, hairs of your head are all numbered.

Um sorry to you for you, bald folks.

Um more comment.

Okay.

The very hairs of your head are all numbered, so do not fear.

You're more valuable than many sparrows.

Or I love Psalm, the psalmist in Psalm 118, 6.

The Lord is for me.

Therefore, I won't fear.

Comes when we start to lose confidence in what we put our trust and hope in.

And Jesus is asleep in the boat, and the storm is overwhelming them, and the boat, and they woke Jesus up and said, Teacher, don't you care that we are perishing?

You know, what they're really saying is, if you really loved us, we wouldn't be going through any violent storms.

You would have prevented it.

Hmm.

Jesus quieted the storm and he said to them, Where is your faith?

In other words, you've got faith in me.

You've you understand my power.

Where is it?

It's time to get it out.

Right now, when things are terrible, get it out.

Change the focus from storm to me.

Jesus is saying, Don't you understand?

My loving, caring power is compatible even in tragedy and storms.

And then when they arrive at Jaris's house, he shows them why that's true.

Jesus walks in and says to everybody, she's just sleeping.

People start laughing at him because the little girl was dead.

She's really dead.

There's no other reason Jesus would send everybody else out except her parents, the three disciples, and tell them not to tell anybody about this.

This was a resurrection.

Why does Jesus say that she's just sleeping then?

She's just sleeping because Jesus is there.

And there's no power greater than him.

Jesus took the little girl's hand and pulled her right through death.

That's his power.

Jesus is saying to them and us, you know what?

The only real storm that can actually sink you is sin's judgment and eternal death.

But I'm gonna I'm taking that for you.

So you can live.

The only real death that can really kill you is eternal death, and I'm taking that too.

Put your trouble in perspective.

In me, your death becomes nothing more than sleep because I will raise you up just like I did that little girl.

If you understand the gospel, if you understand what Jesus has done for you, then you won't be so shaken by the troubles that come into your life because he's already taken our real trouble.

I love Romans eight.

I encourage you to read through that sometime.

If God is for us, who's against us again this this uh Jarius said, I I believe, help my help my unbelief.

Not only were our will our faith be tested at times uh from the next unnamed father, we learn that sometimes our faith will be misplaced and need to be corrected.

That's what the trouble will help us do.

Again, this unnamed father that we're gonna look at in Mark chapter 9.

Mark 9 · chapter mention

We're skipping ahead a few chapters.

Mark 9, beginning in let me read the passage for verse 14.

And when they came back to the disciples, they saw a large crowd around them and some scribes arguing with them.

Oh, by the way, Jesus has just come down from the Mount of Transfiguration with Peter, James, and John.

He came back down.

There's a large crowd.

Crowd.

Verse 15 Immediately when the entire crowd saw him, they were amazed and began running up to greet him.

And he asked them, What are you what are you discussing with them?

And one of the crowd answered him, Teacher, I brought you my son, possessed with a spirit that makes him mute.

And whenever it seizes him, it slams him to the ground, he foams at the mouth, grinds his teeth, stiffens out.

I told your disciples to cast it out, and they could not do it.

And he answered them and said, Oh unbelieving generation, how long will I be with you?

How long shall I put up with you?

Bring him to me.

They brought the boy to him.

When they saw him, when he saw him, immediately the spirit threw him into a convulsion and falling to the ground, he began rolling around and foaming at the mouth.

And he asked his father, How long has he been happening?

This has been happening to him?

He said, From childhood.

It has often thrown him both into the fire and into the water to destroy him.

But if you can do anything, take pity on us.

Help us.

And Jesus said to him, If you can.

All things are possible to him who believes.

Immediately the boy's father cried out and said, I do believe, help my unbelief.

When Jesus saw that a crowd was rapidly gathering, he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to You deaf and mute spirit, I command you to come out of him, do not enter him again.

After crying out and throwing him into terrible convulsions, he came out, and the boy became so much like a corpse that most of them said he's dead.

But Jesus took him by the hand, raised him up, he got up, and when he came into the house, his disciples began questioning him privately.

Why couldn't we drive it out?

He said to them, This kind cannot come out by anything but prayer.

Again, if you see, this unnamed father's faith is initially triggered by a major problem with his son, who is demon-possessed.

Now I know what you're thinking.

Do the demons come in at age 13, or do you wait a little while before they come into your teenager?

The demon had been throwing his son into the fire and into the water, trying to kill him.

Father was desperate again.

This is urgent.

Willing to do anything to help his son.

At this point, Jesus had been up on the mountain nearby with Peter, James, and John, transfigured in glory.

And while Jesus was away, the crowd had gathered.

This unnamed father knows about Jesus' power to cast out demons and appeals to his disciples to cast it out.

And they tried, but they couldn't do it.

When Jesus came down, he asked his disciples what was happening, and they tell them about the demon-possessed son, and Jesus right away goes right to faith.

Unbelieving nation.

And this is the this is probably this is a striking.

I wish I could get a sense for what Jesus was feeling here.

After the Jesus said, bring the son to me.

And after the man described Jesus what the demons were doing, the man said to Jesus, if you can do anything, take pity and help us.

And I wish I knew I could read into the emotional interchange here where Jesus said, If you can, do you know who I am?

If you can?

All things are possible to him who believes.

God is not hindered.

He's omnipotent.

Now let me ask you, do you have do you sometimes uh feel that your problem is too great for God?

That's never gonna happen.

You see, when you see your problem's too big, that means your God has become too small.

I love the book written some years ago by J.B.

Phillips.

I recommend it.

Your God is too small.

It's a great book.

The father got the message and said, okay, I do believe, but I'm struggling.

My unbelief, the man's faith in Jesus was minimal, doubting that even Jesus could help his son.

Up until this point, the man's faith, you see, was in the ritual incantations spoken by pure spiritual people who could exercise the demons through these formulas.

Jesus, here's where it is, he corrects the man's faith, you see.

The power isn't in the magical incantations.

You've got to redirect the object in your faith, my friend.

It's not that you're saying the right words, that you're going through all the right motions.

It's me.

Bring him to me.

And while Jesus told his disciples that kind of demon can only be cast out by prayer, not just with words.

Notice Jesus didn't have to pray.

Jesus' power isn't derived from someone else.

His power is innate.

He's God.

Again, in spite of this unnamed father's less than perfect faith, here's the love and mercy of Jesus goes ahead and casts out the demon out of his son.

After doing so, looked like his son was dead.

Again, Jesus took him by the hand, lifted him up.

Hebrews 11 6 says, without faith, it's impossible to please God.

You're relying on something or someone else.

He who comes to God must believe that he exists, that he is, and that he's a rewarder of those who seek him.

The writer of Hebrews says that well, faith that's impossible to please him, and that faith begins by believing God exists and that he rewards.

Today we've seen the faith of two fathers, Jarius and an unnamed father, both believed that Jesus could help them.

Both struggled with fear and doubt.

Jesus brought healing in answer to their pleas, not because of the strength of their faith, but because of their faith in him, Jesus.

This is what I'd like to say to all of us fathers, or everybody really, because this is a common occurrence.

I mean, in our spiritual life, and I experienced this many times, when circumstances of your life start to buckle you and doubts begin to surface.

That's when we need to begin to reinforce our faith.

Get it out, as Jesus would say.

How do you do that?

By forcing yourself to look at the object of your faith, Jesus, and God Himself.

There's no greater power, no greater authority in heaven and in earth.

If you do that just like Abraham did once, when God delayed answering his prayer for a child, for a son, it really did look impossible.

It really did.

And there's a marvelous passage in the book of Romans telling us about a faith that I aspire to.

Abraham's faith.

Let me read it.

Listen, Romans 4, 16 to 21.

But also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all, as it is written, a father of many nations I made you in the presence of him whom he believed, even God, who gives life to the dead and calls into being that which does not exist.

In hope against hope, he believed, so that he might become a father of many nations according to that which has been spoken, the promise.

So shall your descendants be.

And without becoming weak in faith, he contemplated his own body, now as good as dead, he was a hundred years old.

In the deadness of Sarah's womb.

This is impossible physically.

He contemplated that.

Yet, with respect to the promise of God, based on what God has said, he did not waver in unbelief, but grew strong in faith.

How did he do that?

Giving glory to God.

And being fully assured that what God had promised, he was perfectly able to perform.

Abraham didn't become weak in faith even when he contemplated that his physical circumstance were saying, impossible, impossible, no way, impossible.

His physical circumstances were speaking this.

And he didn't grow weak in faith.

He grew strong.

Why?

Because the object of his faith was not in his circumstances or his own ability or in somebody else.

It was in God.

Who gives life to the dead and calls into being that which doesn't exist?

That's power.

When it says he gave glory to God, it means here's how he didn't grow weak in faith, but strong.

He gave glory to God.

What that means is he began focusing.

And this is what we should do.

He began to focus himself on the greatness of God, the glory of God, the majesty of God as creator, as redeemer.

He's our rock, he's our fortress, he's our deliverer.

This is who he is, he's our provider.

That's how you stop getting weak in faith and you grow in faith.

Our confidence is in God who gives life to the dead and calls into being that which does not exist.

Every father will face some sort of trial or trouble at some point when it comes to our children.

You will.

If you haven't yet, hang on.

Faith begins when we believe God exists and that he can help us.

So we seek him and his help.

A little faith in God and the troubles of life is enough to be rewarded by God.

But don't just focus on the troubles of this life.

The message today is to focus on him.

That is what we do when things get hard and in trouble.

Redirect your attention not from to the problem, but to the object of your faith.

And understand and believe the gospel.

Focus on what God has done for you in Christ Jesus, that he died for your sins so you would not be judged for them.

And a little faith that Jesus as your savior is enough to save you and be rewarded with the free gift of eternal life in his name forever.

Here's what Jesus said at one point.

He said this many times in the Gospel of John, many different ways.

Here's one way.

John 5 24, he said, truly, truly, and what he's doing, whenever he says truly, truly, he says, I swear to you, I swear to you.

This is the truth.

Truly, true, I say to you, he who hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life.

He does not come into judgment, but he's passed out of death into life.

Do you believe that?

I hope you do.

It's life-transforming.

Let's pray.

Father, thank you for being our Heavenly Father, the Father who will never abandon us, will never uh stop caring for us, will never leave us alone.

Thank you, Father, for how Jesus helped these two fathers who struggled in their faith when times got hard, just like we do at times, showing us that we we don't need to fear because you're for us.

And I pray, Father, when circumstances do overwhelm us and we struggle with doubts and fears, help us to refocus on you, our all powerful sovereign, creator, and redeemer.

And I pray for every father here that you would help them grow strong in their faith and that you would reward that faith in the name of Jesus Christ.

Amen.