A Test of Faith

Good evening. Welcome to Voice in the Wilderness. I'm Don

Noble of Pure Heart Ministries, and I welcome you today

with exceedingly abundantly and overflowing joy. Well, it's great to

be with you this evening. I'm going to be talking

to you this evening about a test of faith. I'm

going to start by sharing scriptures, and then I'm going

to conclude the message with a personal story. So I

hope you have your bibles ready to open. I will

be reading out of the Amplified Classic, and we're going

to start in the Gospel of Mark. So turn to

the Gospel of Mark, chapter two, and I'll be reading

verses one through twelve. And Jesus having returned to Capernaum

after some days, it was rumored about that he was

in the house, probably Peters, and so many people gathered

together there that there was no longer room for them,

not even around the door, and he was discussing the word.

Then they came bringing a paralytic to him, who had

been picked up and was being carried by four men.

And when they could not get him to a place

in front of Jesus because of the throng, they dug

through the roof above him, And when they had scooped

out an opening, they let down the thick, thickly padded

quilt or matt upon which the paralyzed man lay. And

when Jesus saw their faith their confidence in God through him,

he said to the paralyzed man, son, your sins are

forgiven you and put away. That is, the penalty is remitted,

the sense of guilt removed, and you are made upright

and in right standing with God. Now, some of the

scribes were sitting there, holding a dialogue within themselves, as

they questioned in their hearts, why does this man talk

like this? He is blaspheming Who can forgive sins, who

can move guilt, remit the penalty and bestow righteousness instead?

Except God alone? And at once Jesus, becoming fully aware

in his spirit that they thus debated within themselves, said

to them, why do you argue, debate and reason about

all this in your hearts? Which is easier to say

to the paralyzed man, your sins are forgiven and put away?

Or to say, rise, take up your sleeping powder mat,

and start walking about and keep on walking, But that

you may know positively and beyond a doubt, that the

Son of Man has right and authority and power on

earth to forgive sins. He said to the paralyzed man,

I say to you, arise, pick up and carry your

sleeping powder mat, and be going on home. And the

man arose at once and picked up the sleeping pad

or matt, and went out before them all, so that

they were all amazed and recognized, and praised and thanked God, saying,

we have never seen anything like this before. So turn

over now to the Gospel of Luke chapter five. Luke

chapter five, again, I'm reading out of the amplified Classic

verse of the Bible, starting with verse fifteen through twenty six.

But so much more the news spread abroad concerning him Jesus,

and great crowds kept coming together to hear him and

to be healed by him of their infirmities. But he

himself withdrew to the wilderness that desert and prayed. One

of those days, as he was teaching, there were pharisees

and teachers of the law sitting by, who had come

from every village and town of Galilee and Judea and Jerusalem.

And the power of the Lord was present with him

to heal them, and behold, some men were bringing on

a stretcher a man who was paralyzed, and they tried

to carry him in and lay him before Jesus, but

finding no way to bring him because of the crowd,

they went up on the roof and lowered him with

his stretcher through the tiles into the midst in front

of Jesus. And when he saw their confidence in him,

springing from their faith, he said, man, your sins are

forgiven you. And the scribes and the Pharisees began to

reason and question and argue, saying, who is this man

who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins? But God alone?

But Jesus, knowing their thoughts and their questionings, answered them,

why do you question in your hearts? Which is easier

to say your sins are forgiven, forgiven you, or to say,

arise and walk about, But that you may know that

the Son of Man has the power, authority and right

on earth to forgive sins. He said to the paralyzed man,

I say to you, arise, pick up your stretcher, and

go to your own house. And instantly the man stood

up before them and picked up what he had been

lying on and went away to his house, recognizing and

praising and thanking God, and overwhelming astonishment and ecstasy seized

them all, and they recognized and praised and thanked God,

and they were filled with and controlled by reverential fear,

and kept saying, we have seen wonderful and strange and

incredible and unthinkable things today. So I'm just going to

tear this apart a bit. The religious leadership of Israel

had had been. They began to watch Jesus very closely,

just right from the get go, so you know wherever

he was going, they were paying attention to what he

was saying. And notice that scripture says that these Pharisees

had come out of every town of Galilee, Judea, and Jerusalem.

I mean to tell you they were about to try

to catch him in something, because why would they come

all the way from Jerusalem to Galilee, from Jerusalem toe,

from Jerusalem to Capernaum. Capernaum is a little town in Galilee.

From Jerusalem to Capernaum, the town where the miracle took place,

was one hundred and twenty five miles away, one hundred

and twenty five miles away, and it was over winding

paths through Samaria, Jericho, and Bethany. Jesus walked this many times.

Now this is I mean, you know, I'm trying to

imagine walking one hundred and twenty miles while just to

go hear this man, just try to prove that he's wrong. Capernaum,

this small town, and I've been there, is nestled on

the edge of the Sea of Galilee, and it was

a Roman trade route. Capernaum was home to the fishermen

brothers Peter and Andrew, and so it is thought, as

the scripture says there and that this probably took place

at Peter's house. Now, the Pharisees were a group of

about six thousand pious and influential teachers in the synagogues.

They were a group who meticulously followed the law. The

teachers of the law were officials trained in the law

of Moses, also known as scribes. These men were in

effect the religious lawyers of the Pharisees, and despite their

low numbers of their particular group compared to the Sadducees

and the Asines, they were very influential. Now, most likely

they showed up to this house not because they needed

healing or a miracle, but because they were observing Jesus

to see if he was going to break the law. Well,

they got what they came for. They charged Jesus with

blasphemy by saying among themselves, who is this who speaks blasphemies?

Who can forgive sins? But God alone? Ultimately, the charge

of blasphemy would be the charge that would lead Jesus

to being put on the cross. And this charge of

blasphemy was a serious charge because they believed that this

was dishonoring God. Now, according to the Old Testament, only

God was able to forgive sin. So it was just like, well,

who is this Jesus person? Who is this guy? How

can he say that he can forgive sin? Now, let's

go back to the story. Scripture says that when Jesus

saw their faith, the four men that carried the paralyzed

man and the paralyzed man on the stretcher, when Jesus

saw their faith, obviously it took some persevering faith to

pull the tiels off the roof and lower their friend

down into the crowd. Think about it, I know, because initially,

when you first read this story, you think, oh, this

is so crazy, I don't believe that. But this is

persevering faith. This is faith that goes way beyond determination

to get my healing. Now, the paralyzed man himself, he

had to believe that Jesus could heal him as well. Now,

who would be crazy enough to be let down through

someone's roof unless you believed that you were going to

be touched by Jesus. Now, of course we see in

the verse fifteen. You know, the crowds were coming, people

were hearing about Jesus. You know, word was spreading fast

about the miracles that were taking place. So you know,

if you're desperate, and I mean, being paralyzed is pretty desperate,

you're going to do what it takes. That is, if

you believe persevering faith. Okay, we can't get through the

front door, We certainly can't get in through the back door.

I think it took some ingenuity to figure out, okay,

we're gonna come through the roof, guys. Now in Luke's

account only, not in Mark's account, but in Luke's account only,

it says something important. And verse seventeen, the be portion says,

and the power of the Lord was present with Jesus

to heal them. So his anointing was ready and wheeling,

willing to heal them. Them is everyone who was there,

but who got healed. Seemingly only one person got healed.

Scripture does not mention anyone else. In fact, Scripture goes

on that he he moved right along, he moved to.

When he left there, he was you know, let me

see here It said, after this happened, he went out.

Jesus went out and uh looked at a tax collector

and called Matthew. Matthew to be one of his disciples.

So it wasn't like doesn't seem like he was staying

around to see how many people he could heal. But

the important thing is he was ready and willing. He

was that anointing that in healing anointing was present to

heal them. Every person there could have got healed. I doubt,

you know, maybe maybe some others got healed, But I

doubt that the Pharisees got healed because they were in

total unbelief. But these five men, they were full of faith.

They were full of belief in the power of Jesus

to heal anyone. So that news was spreading. Crowds were healed.

And so let's just speak a moment about the man's

sins being forgiven. Now, it's important to understand that Jesus

had to say the man's sins were forgiven first, because

he knew what the Pharisees were going to say ahead

of time, and it would seem easier to declare sins

forgiven than to actually heal a person. In reality, however,

one has to possess more authority to forgive sin than

to heal. Jesus had to demonstrate the truth of his

claim to forgive the man's sins, and that was something

only God could accomplish. So once he said that he

forgave the man's sins, now he had to demonstrate the

truth of that claim. Because anybody could say they had

the ability to forgive sins. There was no earthly way

of approving that statement. I could say, I forgive your sins.

How could I prove it? But for Jesus to say

to the paralyzed man, arise, take up your bed and

walk could be tested immediately by whether he walked or not.

So by healing the paralytic, Jesus made the pronouncement a

forgiveness much more credible. You see what I'm saying. So

those people then suddenly it's like, okay, he must be Messiah.

He forgave the man his sins, which only God could do.

But he also raised this man off his sick bed.

So the incredible faith of the five men was what

Jesus was looking for. Faith. He was looking for faith

in that room. And boy, it didn't take long before

the party started. I mean, this man comes down through

the roof. So remember what Jesus said, though in Mark

eleven twenty two he said have faith in God. God

was always looking for faith. Jesus was always looking for

faith in the people that he was ministering to. We

know the story of the woman with the issue of blood.

What great faith she had. He pushed through all those people.

She was going to get to Jesus one way or

the other, and no one was going to stop her. Now,

I want to share a testimony that happened this past

week was pretty pretty powerful. So I had friends in

from out of town, and one of my friends is

an international evangelist. So we were invited to a Bible

study and he was going to be the one ministering

God's word. And he did, and it was short, but

it was powerful, and he was talking about when the

storm came and Jesus was walking on the water, and

as he kept talking, he shared a few testimonies, and

I knew there was an individual within the group that

was struggling with vaping. And this individual just seem addicted

and could could not get free. Wanted to be free,

but just didn't seem to be able to get free.

And you know, I'm sure there's many people out there

who are Christians who struggle with all kinds of things

and they want to be set free. So we all

sat hearing the word of the Lord, hearing the gospel preached,

and after it was over, the minister friend of mine

called this specific person and said that he wanted to

pray for this individual. And this individual was like, oh

my gosh. She thought that her sister had shared with

the minister information about her. And the sister said, I

haven't said a word, I've never said anything to this minister,

but she she was so sure. She just couldn't believe it.

How could God, you know, all the things that he

was ministering about, and he was telling a testimony about

smoking and how this person was addicted to smoking and

how they got free, and so it was you know,

so she thought for sure her sister had kind of

told on her behind her back. But the sister said,

I never said a word anything, nothing alone. And behold,

the minister called her over and asked if he could

pray for her, And as he prayed for her, not

knowing anything about this addiction, knowing nothing about this addiction,

prayed a simple prayer, and the anointing was so strong

in the room. In fact, it did. It reminded me

of the scripture that I just shared with you, And

the power of the Lord was present to heal them.

And I really felt like, you know, the anointing, that

power was present in that room to heal anybody that

needed to get healed. It was, I mean, the presence

of the Lord was so so strong. And they were

probably on two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight nine,

so they are about thirteen of us in the room.

And so anyway, this gal, you know, got prayed for,

and uh, you know, of course we didn't know anything,

you know, I mean, she got prayed for. And later

I remember looking at her and I thought, my my,

may something's really happened to her, because her eyes were

so clear, and she her demeanor was different. She was cheerful.

She was. I could just see. I saw a total

change in her from the week before, So I knew

something had happened, but I you know, I wasn't sure what.

And unfortunately, no one else asked to be healed, no one,

no one else asked for prayer for healing, which I

thought was interesting because I'm sure, in fact, I know

there were people there that needed healing, and I just thought,

you know, Gosha, just the story that I just shared

with you just reminds me of how important it is

when you're in the presence of the Lord and the

anointing is there, that you persevere that you you know,

you go for it, like whatever it is you need.

You know, if you need healing in your body, if

you need a financial breakthrough, if you need a relationship breakthrough,

whatever it is you need when the anointing is there,

don't draw back and be quiet. You know this paralyzed man,

you know he had great friends, let me tell you this,

or great friends. I mean, that took a lot of nerve,

it really did. You have to think about that, meditate

on it, and think about how that looked and how

that went down. That took a lot of faith. And

so you know, this woman had faith the other night

when she was prayed for, She had faith to believe

that whatever he was praying for, whatever her need was,

it was going to be answered. The great news is

the following morning, I get a text from the sister

saying that the gal her sister who was prayed for,

went out early in the morning to vape and got

immediately violently sick, so sick that she threw it in

the garbage can and she heard the Lord say, you

have no longer do you have needed that? It's over,

And she said she just felt the strength and the

release from it, and she said, that's it. You know,

I don't have a desire for that any longer. And

then she she actually had to take something because she

got so sick from do you know, vaping, It just

made her so sick at her stomach. So she was like,

I'm done with that. And so what a great testimony

that somebody got healed delivered from an addiction, a powerful addiction.

Nicotine is powerful. But see, the power of the Lord

was present to heal that night. The anointing was strong.

The power of the Lord was present to heal that night.

But only one person got healed, just like in the story.

So the moral of this story is that when you

have something that you are struggling with, whatever it is,

it could be an addiction, it could be an illness,

it could be broken relationships. Whatever it is, you persevere.

Have faith in God. That's what Jesus said. Have faith

in God. Believe that God will heal you, not that

he can heal you. He will heal you. It is

the will of God to heal you. And persevere, keep

pressing in to the Lord for your healing. Just like

I want you to think about the picture of the

man on the structure, the paralytic man on the structure.

Think about that when you're pressing in to the Lord

for whatever it is you're trying to get free from

or healed of, or whatever. Think of that man and

think of the friends that persevered, that took incredible faith

to pull that off. And immediately Jesus says, arise and

the man is up walking. So I hope this is

an encouragement to you. And I'm just trying to teach

you about faith because faith moves mountains, right Mark eleven,

twenty two and twenty three and twenty four. Have faith

in God. Jesus said, whoever speaks to this mountain and

cast it into the sea, it shall be removed. If

you don't doubt in your heart, and you believe what

you say, you shall have what you say. So we

speak to these mountains in our life. Amen. And this

is a great story and a great testimony. And so

I just want you to be blessed and don't forget it. Well,

this is Don Noble. You can go to www dot

pureheart dot today and listen to this podcast again. You

can download the iHeartRadio app and go to Pure Heart

Ministries and listen twenty four to seven. And I'd love

for you to sew a seed of any amount, please,

any amount, sew a seed into this ministry. You can

send a check to Pure Heart Ministries PO Box eighty five,

Vali Grove, West Virginia, two six zero six zero. That's

Pure Heart Ministries, Po Box eighty five, Vallei Grove, West Virginia,

two six six oh. Please email me. You can email

me all lowercase letters, all one word dawn Dawn down

at your heart dot today. Thanks for the prayers. I

always appreciate your prayers. Well, this is Don noble, I

look forward to being with you again next week. Shalloam

shalom peace be unto you