145 - Resting in the Power of Jesus#
145 - Resting in the Power of Jesus
The topic we are sharing is called Resting in the Power of Jesus.
We look at Mark 9:14-27:
“When Jesus came to the disciples, he saw a great crowd around them, and scribes arguing with them. And immediately all the crowd, when they saw him, were greatly amazed and ran up to him and greeted him. And he asked them, ‘What are you arguing about with them?’ And someone from the crowd answered him, ‘Teacher, I brought my son to you, for he has a spirit that makes him mute. And whenever it seizes him, it throws him down, and he foams at the mouth and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid. So I asked your disciples to cast it out, and they were not able.’
And he answered them, ‘O faithless generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him to me.’ And they brought the boy to him. And when the spirit saw him, immediately it convulsed the boy, and he fell on the ground and rolled about, foaming at the mouth. And Jesus asked his father, ‘How long has this been happening to him?’
And he said, ‘From childhood. And it has often cast him into fire and into water, to destroy him. But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.’ And Jesus said to him, ‘If you can! All things are possible for one who believes.’ Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, ‘I believe; help my unbelief!’ And when Jesus saw that a crowd came running together, he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying, ‘You mute and deaf spirit, I command you, come out of him and never enter him again!’
And after crying out and convulsing him terribly, it came out, and the boy was like a corpse, so that most of them said, ‘He is dead.’ But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose.”
Let us pray together:
“Father in heaven, thank you. Thank you for giving us this opportunity to worship and praise you; also thank you for giving us your word. In this time today, we know that your word itself carries power. Jesus, your name is filled with power. As we share about Jesus here, your power will fill us. During this time, may the Holy Spirit fill us as we seek you, every brother and sister. Lead us personally during this time, so that we can quietly listen to the word, keep your words in our hearts, and be able to exercise the authority of Jesus in our lives. Thank you and praise you, in the name of the Lord Jesus we pray, Amen.”
Our theme this year is rest, rooting down and bearing fruit upward.
We will talk about many topics related to rest. And today, what we can rest in is that we rest in the power of Jesus.
If you have the power of Jesus, are you at rest in this world? Rest is not sleeping, it is not doing nothing, it is not being completely dead; that is not rest. The meaning of rest is that you are calm and stable in the face of any situation. So we need to have this kind of ability in our lives.
Today, something happened among us. Before this verse 14, Jesus went to the Mount of Transfiguration. Jesus went up a mountain with three disciples: Peter, John, and James. These three disciples followed Jesus up the mountain. After reaching the mountain, Jesus was transfigured, his whole body shining, and that light was brighter than any white garment in the world. At that time, Jesus fully manifested his divinity. Jesus took three with him, and where were the other nine disciples? They were at the foot of the mountain. Jesus took three people up the mountain, while nine disciples were at the bottom. Once we shared a topic called “Seeing no one but Jesus,” today we will continue this sharing and see what happens in verse 14.
What happened at the foot of the mountain? Verse 14 says:
“And when they came to the disciples, they saw a great crowd around them, and scribes arguing with them.”
This passage of scripture reveals a revelation: If a group of people is together and does not talk about Jesus, there will definitely be arguments.
You will find that when many people in this world do not believe in Jesus, what do they do together? They argue: “You don’t know, we just bought a high-definition, curved-screen TV.” You say, “What does that matter….” People are arguing.
There are even situations where, if you are in the Lord, if you do not talk about Jesus, “You don’t know, which church had a scandal, that pastor is not worth anything.” They are all arguing about these things.
Or, “You don’t know, so-and-so’s son believes in Jesus, you don’t know how bad his reputation is in our community!” Who are they talking about? Talking about others, never themselves. You see, there are scribes.
Do you know what scribes do? Scribes are called experts in the law. Today, don’t we have many experts? What do experts do? They specialize in a certain field, so they are called experts. For example, when we talk about a heart specialist in a hospital, what does that mean? It means they specialize in the heart. Don’t ask them about the feet; they don’t study that.
When we mention scribes today, they are experts in the law. What do they specialize in? The Ten Commandments and other laws and regulations. They spend their lives studying these things and copying these scriptures. But in reality, they added many things to the original law, binding people. So we can simply reflect on a question: Why did arguments arise among them? The nine disciples were arguing with some scribes. We need to know that without Jesus, this world will be filled with arguments.
Then we see that when Jesus arrived, he saw a crowd surrounding them, arguing. Verse 15:
“And immediately all the crowd, when they saw him, were greatly amazed and ran up to him and greeted him.”
What happened? Before Jesus arrived, these people were arguing.
In a moment, I will tell you what the argument was about. But when Jesus arrived, what did the people do? Everyone stopped arguing and went to Jesus to greet him because they saw something amazing in Jesus. What I want to tell everyone is this: In a church, I wish every brother and sister would only talk about Jesus, and many amazing things would happen around you, which is the power of Jesus.
If we see no Jesus but only the crowd, endless disputes and arguments will arise, even condemnation. So today we have a way to stop these arguments, which is to bring people before Jesus and let them see Jesus. The church is the church of Jesus, so we should talk more about Jesus in the church. When Jesus appears, arguments stop. Without Jesus, many arguments will arise.
Why were the crowds amazed when Jesus came down from the mountain? We will continue to share this content later. First, let’s look at the first point we want to share today: Without Jesus, there is no rest, only arguments. Brothers and sisters, remember this: No matter where we believe in Jesus, it is the same; if you leave Jesus, you lose rest because Jesus himself is rest. Without Jesus, it will be like the disciples; they will have endless arguments. “Oh, I think the Bible doesn’t explain it this way; I think this verse should mean this. That is heresy, this is problematic…” This leads to endless arguments.
So, leaving Jesus, your discussions will lead to arguments. Many people surrounded the disciples, and there were scribes arguing with them. In fact, there is a reason; later we know that Jesus asked them, “What are you arguing about?” One of them said, “I have a son, and this son has been possessed by a spirit since childhood, a deaf-mute spirit. This spirit has tormented my son since he was little, often throwing him into the fire and into the water. And his body is emaciated.”
This proves that the child’s complexion is very poor, very thin, and emaciated. After such a situation, this person heard about Jesus and came to find him. Where did Jesus go? Up the mountain, leaving the nine disciples behind. So this person said, “Then please help me! Has this situation already happened? Help me cast out the spirit from my child!” And then the argument began.
The Bible does not record how the nine disciples tried to cast out the spirit, but they did try, didn’t they? They attempted to cast out the spirit. But what’s strange is that they couldn’t cast it out. At this point, when they couldn’t cast it out, arguments arose. The scribes, these guys, had something to say:
“Look, why can’t you cast out that spirit?”
“According to our understanding of the law, it’s probably because his home is not clean enough; there must be something unclean in his home.”
“Or maybe it’s because of some ancestral issue, some sin that hasn’t been confessed, leading to his current situation.”
The scribes are very good at quoting the Bible, and as a result, they argued back and forth, and no one went to do anything about it, leading to arguments. They left the father and the son there and began to argue. Shouldn’t they have been praying for the child, whether they were scribes or disciples?
But they didn’t pray; they started arguing: Why can’t we cast out this spirit? So when the crowd saw Jesus, they were amazed because they saw something amazing. Although the Bible does not say what the amazing thing was, it must not have been a spiritual matter since even the scribes could see it. Can everyone understand this? In other words, if even the scribes could see it and were amazed and ran to greet Jesus, it must not have been a spiritual matter; it was something visible to the naked eye.
I want to explain some issues from the Old Testament here. In the Old Testament, there was a person who also went up a mountain. When he came down, the crowd was also amazed. Who was that person? Moses. We look at Exodus 34:29-30:
“When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the testimony in his hand, he did not know that the skin of his face shone because he had been talking with God. Aaron and all the people of Israel saw Moses, and behold, the skin of his face shone, and they were afraid to come near him.”
Did he shine? Moses also went up the mountain, and when he came down, because God spoke with him, Moses’ face began to shine.
After Jesus went up the mountain, it is clear that Jesus not only had a shining face but his whole body shone; this had already appeared on the mountain. Then? We can reflect on this passage, but the content of our reflection should not lead to arguments; that is meaningless. We just want everyone to think about why this is the case.
I personally believe that the light came from Jesus, so these people were amazed: “Wow! This is different. How can he shine all over?” Brothers and sisters, do you wish to be such a person? Do you know what this is?
Why is the light different from Moses’ light?
Why did the Israelites fear to approach him in the end?
Both shone, but why did Moses shine, and the people ran away from him?
Jesus’ light is different; when people saw Jesus, they rushed up to him.
“Oh! Jesus! Teacher! This is great.” They went to greet him.
But Moses was different; when Moses came down from Mount Sinai, the people ran away.
In fact, this is a question we want to tell everyone. What does Moses represent? The law. Do you know what the light of the law brings to people? Death. Because the purpose of the law is to condemn people’s sins, and what is the wage of sin? Death. Who wants to die? They ran away because that light frightened them. But Jesus? We always say that Jesus represents grace and truth; he is grace and truth himself, so the light he emits is gentle and soft. Therefore, we believe that the light emitted by Jesus is not a condemning light but a forgiving light.
When we live in this world, even if we are ordinary people, we can know that some people’s faces shine like Moses, while others shine like Jesus. Do you believe this?
Some people, when you first meet them, you feel uneasy. You don’t know why, but you can’t get too close to this person because there is a kind of light on their face, a light that shines from their eyes. But some people are different; when you see this person, even though it’s your first time meeting them, you are particularly willing to talk to them a little more, and you find that when you talk to them, your heart feels particularly comfortable. This is two different kinds of light. Brothers and sisters, I wish we are filled with the latter, the loving light of Jesus, the gentle light, the forgiving light. At that time, wherever you go, people will want to be close to you and communicate with you. This situation shows that the power of Jesus is upon you.
When these disciples could not cast out the spirit, Jesus came. Do not use the law to prove why this child’s spirit could not be cast out; that is useless.
Today, how many people are very knowledgeable, and they treat God’s word as knowledge, which is fatal. I have encountered many people in the past; at that time, when we were chatting, they had diseases, severe depression, and insomnia, but this person had also received theological training. When we communicated, I asked, “Do you believe Jesus can heal your disease?”
“Of course I believe; the Bible says this and that, and when I was in seminary, I learned how, you don’t know how I served in the past…”
When I heard that, my head started to hurt a little. Do you know why? Because they know too much knowledge, but they only do not know Jesus.
Then I told him, “I just ask one question: Do you believe Jesus can heal you?”
“Of course I believe! Jesus has such great power; how can he not heal me? I know Jesus definitely has this ability.”
Then I stopped talking. I said one thing: why are you talking so much? In fact, today many people fall into this problem. They know more than anyone else, but they do not know Jesus.
The scribes have this characteristic: “Oh, I understand theology very well; I know all about Calvinism, Arminianism, Martin Luther, everything.”
What we need is not knowledge; we need life. Even if today you are a scribe with a high status and a lot of knowledge, you still cannot cast out spirits; what good is that knowledge to you? It is useless. Although Jesus never attended school and did not graduate from Gamaliel’s formal university, when Jesus says one word, the spirit comes out; that is enough.
In the past, many people said, “Teacher Ren, your prayer is too short and lacks taste; it’s quite childish.”
I said, “Yes, it’s such a childish prayer that has healed many people.”
What do you need those grandiose words for?
You say to God, “Lord, do you see that my prayer today is a little longer than yesterday? Isn’t it more magnificent?” What good is that?
Does God want to hear these things? No.
Brothers and sisters, you need to put into practice what you have heard. Otherwise, we will become a knowledge training center for Jesus; what good is that? We not only need knowledge; we need life. I wish you would understand Jesus more, and you would have the rest of Jesus. If we only have knowledge, knowledge will make people proud. Proud people have a characteristic: “According to my analysis, he must not have confessed his sins; according to my analysis, it’s because his problem is more serious; he must have some place that hasn’t been cleansed. The law says this and that…” These are useless; I don’t want to analyze these things. We need to learn to live like Jesus.
The disciples might be thinking, “No, no, no, we didn’t do this when we followed Jesus.” But what did the scribes say? “Oh, has your teacher attended our formal seminary? Have you cleansed yourself according to the rituals stated in our law?”
Ask this father, ask this child. But what good is it to ask this? If he could cleanse himself, wouldn’t it be better? We need to know that many times we fall into this wrong cycle.
For example, at this time, we start asking this father:
“Have you prayed for your son? Have you prayed earnestly?”
The father said, “I have prayed. After so many years, how could I not pray?”
“Have you fasted and prayed?”
“Yes, I have fasted and prayed!”
“How many days did you fast?”
“Three days.”
“Three days can solve it? At least seven days.”
Then, we fall into a wrong legalistic life.
For example, today in life, many times some brothers and sisters have diseases, and if a pastor from a church says, “Do you know why you are sick? Think about how long it has been since you came to church? A year!”
Does this situation condemn people? That means, as long as you leave this church, after you go out, God will no longer pay attention to you, will not care for you, unless you obediently come back, cleanse all your problems, and confess all your sins, then God will smile at you again.
God does not control us this way. So I do not want to become a legalist, saying, “Did you do this? Did you do that?” In fact, that is not the issue; the issue is whether you believe in Jesus!
Today, when you believe in Jesus, you are in his rest. So always keep your eyes on Jesus, not on what you have done, what you have done, what you have done. Some people ask me:
“I have done so much; what else do I need to do for God to heal?”
I say, it’s not about doing. The English word “do” means to keep doing; later I invented a new word called “nodo,” meaning don’t bring up what to do for God to heal you. It’s not about doing; it’s about believing correctly.
If you want to ask what to do, you will generate arguments—this is not done, that is not done; you find that there are many things you have not done. But if you say, “Have you believed correctly?” then you bring people before Jesus, which is “Has Jesus done anything?” The focus will immediately shift.
Jesus asked them, “What are you arguing about with them?”
When Jesus is not present, some things will take advantage of the void, which is the devil’s disputes. So I wish that when we are together, we discuss Jesus more and do not let the lawless take advantage of the void and create arguments for you. During this time, people have been attacking the gospel: “This is heresy, that is heresy…”
I published an article saying: Any pastor is an imperfect person; as long as they are human, they will have mistakes. But if you cling to their mistakes and attack that person, you are attacking God.
What should we do now? Don’t we have problems too? At this time, we should forgive him. As long as they are human, they may have problems; it’s that simple. Don’t generate arguments.
Take me as an example; don’t I have problems? There must be, but sometimes you just don’t know; there are some flaws you don’t know. When you find out, don’t say, “Oh! Teacher Ren is a jerk; how could he do such a thing?”
You say, “I will never listen to him preach again. Is he a heretic? This fraud; how could he have such a big flaw and not tell us?”
Unless I really become Jesus. Is Jesus such a perfect person? Did people attack him? Let alone us! If in our lives, if we do not have Jesus in our eyes, we will have nothing to fear; that is a very scary thing. May we always keep Jesus in our hearts and in our eyes in this church. Through Jesus, look at the world, and you will have rest. Similarly, through Jesus, look at your current situation, and you will have rest.
Let’s continue.
After this father told Jesus about his child’s situation, he said, “I asked your disciples to cast out the spirit, and they were not able.”
This proves that indeed many times, these disciples did not know what caused them to be unable to cast out the spirit. But do you remember? The Bible does record that Jesus sent out 70 disciples two by two and said, “You will cast out spirits in my name, and the spirits will be cast out by you.” So many people came back and said, “Teacher! We are so happy; in your name, even the spirits obey us.”
Let’s think about it; what is the reason that this spirit is so powerful? Is it a group? There is no record. Why was there no effect this time? The reason is very simple. Don’t forget who is around you? The scribes.
If you have scribes around you, mixing the law into your faith will reduce your faith. For example, if you wake up in the morning feeling unwell, you say, “Oh, I don’t feel well today; let’s pray together! I believe that if we pray together, God will heal me.”
Others say, “Is it that easy? Are you that powerful? You pray and it will come out; will you be healed? Is that possible? Pray and see.” After that one sentence, when you pray again, you feel like you have no power. In fact, this is the terrifying aspect of the scribes; they not only strike you down but also make your faith diminish greatly. So why do we say we need to keep our eyes on Jesus? That is the reason. In short, these disciples could not cast out the spirit.
But there is good news: Jesus came.
When Jesus comes, these problems can be solved. So no matter what problem you are facing now, if you are willing to accept Jesus and let Jesus enter your life, when Jesus comes, your problems will be solved. Do you believe this? You must be sure of this.
When Jesus enters your life, your life begins to change; when Jesus enters your family, your family begins to change. Because there are countless testimonies of family transformations that have been reported back. It is because Jesus entered among them that all this changed.
Do you remember when Moses led the Israelites in the wilderness, they once came to a place called Marah? The people were thirsty, but the water at Marah was bitter. This bitter water could not be drunk, so God instructed Moses to throw a tree into the water, and the water would become sweet.
In fact, that tree is our Jesus. If you feel that you have a lot of bitterness in your life, put Jesus in, and that bitterness will turn sweet. If there are many things that make you anxious, put Jesus in your heart, and that anxiety will disappear, and you will enjoy his rest. This is extremely important! What matters is that today, although this father went to find the disciples, the spirit was not cast out, but Jesus came; our Savior Jesus Christ has come.
When the devil saw that Jesus had come, what happened? We look at verse 20:
“And when he saw Jesus, the spirit immediately convulsed the boy, and he fell on the ground and rolled about, foaming at the mouth.”
Upon seeing Jesus, the boy’s condition worsened. If it were us, if someone brought a child possessed by a deaf-mute spirit to you, and they said, “Our child is usually tormented by that spirit, but today he seems fine; please pray for him.”
If the child starts jumping around and screaming, what would you think? “Oh God, what’s going on? How could it be so serious?” Isn’t it easy for your faith to be shaken? But this spirit knows very well who it is facing today: Jesus. When we see this situation, we might feel timid and be affected, but Jesus will absolutely not be affected. So we share the second point: Resting in the power of Jesus, you must believe that he can do all things.
No matter how many tricks the spirit uses, will Jesus say, “Oh, I’m scared. You can still torment him like this!” Has he ever said such a thing? No.
So we should not say that either. Many times we say, “Oh, my head hurts, it feels like something is pulling inside me.” Describing it makes my head buzz. Don’t repeat these things. What kind of words are these? When you say this, you are describing how the devil torments you, just like this situation now. The devil is tormenting this child on the spot to show you how great its power is.
But no matter how great the devil’s power is, did Jesus say, “Oh, your situation is quite serious. Wait a moment; I’ll go up the mountain and fast for three days and come back”? Was it that troublesome? No.
No matter how great the devil’s work is, Jesus still uses just one word. We talked about it last week; two thousand spirits, what did Jesus say? “Get out of this man!” Two thousand spirits all came out. Today it’s the same situation; the spirit is making a fuss. Jesus never fears because of their fuss; Jesus still uses one word, but before that, Jesus asked about the symptoms. We need to learn to do things like Jesus; this is our identity as children of God and our way of life. Today, don’t say how many times you have read the Bible or how familiar you are with the Bible, or how much theological knowledge you have; that is useless. You need to learn how to use God’s power; that is what is important.
At first, Jesus asked this father, “How long has he been like this?” The father said, “He has been like this since childhood, often…” He said such words. Then he said one sentence: “If you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.”
This father’s faith was clearly shaken.
Because what happened before? He went to ask the disciples, and the disciples could not cast it out.
After Jesus came, he said one sentence: “O faithless generation!”
Today, how many people say, “I also believe in Jesus,” but do the disciples believe in Jesus? Yes! But what did Jesus say? “Faithless generation! How long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you?”
So who is correct? We all know that the disciples absolutely believe in Jesus, but why did Jesus say, “This faithless generation”? Is it that they do not believe in him? And this father is the same; he also said: “If you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.” Many times, we might say, “Teacher Ren, you haven’t been in my situation. If you were in my situation for years, you would see how much faith you have left.” This is talking about how big your difficulties are, right?
But if we always talk about these difficulties and symptoms, our faith will become smaller and smaller, and in the end, we will doubt, saying, “If you can do anything, have compassion on us; help us.” Do you see if Jesus said, “Do you really doubt my ability?” No. What did Jesus say? What Jesus said here is, “If you can believe, all things are possible for one who believes.”
Similarly, today, if the people around you (believers in Jesus) say, “Tell me, how can I cast out this spirit? What else do I need to do?” You tell him, “If you can believe, all things are possible for one who believes.” If he says, “Then tell me what God wants me to do. Do I need to fast? Do I need to anoint with oil? Do I need to take communion? Do I need to attend meetings every week? What do I need to do for God to have compassion on me?” You tell him, “You can believe.” It’s not about doing; it’s about believing.
Some say, “I also believe,” and today I will unravel this mystery for everyone: What is faith? First, let me ask you a question: Do you believe in Jesus? What is faith? As soon as I say this, you immediately start answering with the Bible, which proves that you are very familiar with the Bible. How to apply it?
Many people say, “I also believe in Jesus,” but when they encounter difficulties and problems, they immediately lose faith. They say, “Lord, why is this? When will you heal me? When will you help me? When will you have compassion on me?” Is this faith? Some say, “I also believe,” and today I will tell you a story to explain what faith is. This story happened a long time ago, but it has very far-reaching significance.
There was a person who was a tightrope walker; have you ever seen such performances? Especially during the New Year, there are such performances. For example, a very thin wire is stretched between two houses, and this person walks from one end to the other. In the past, there was a very famous tightrope performer in England; this person was very talented and capable. Unlike us, who walk between two buildings with safety measures below; he stretched a wire between two canyons, between two mountains, and walked from one end to the other. This was the most difficult, and the distance was very far.
Think about it; what is there between the canyons? Wind. It is very dangerous to walk, but he has been performing like this for many years. So people said, “Among all tightrope performances, your skills are the best.” Sometimes he would do some special moves, for example, pushing a unicycle (a wheel with a bucket) on the wire, which increased the difficulty. It’s not just about maintaining your balance; you also have to maintain the balance of the cart; otherwise, both will fall.
Later, a prince in England heard about this and thought he must go see this performance. As a result, the prince came to see this person’s performance. Before the performance, because the prince was there, a heavyweight figure, this person asked, “Do you believe I can push the cart from this end to that end?” What did the people below say? “We believe you.” Then this person pushed the cart from one end to the other.
All the people went crazy applauding, including the prince, who also applauded wildly. At this time, the tightrope walker asked the prince, “Prince, do you believe I can push the cart from this end to that end without falling?”
The prince said, “Of course I believe! I saw it with my own eyes. I have heard about you in the past, and now I see with my own eyes that your skills are truly amazing.”
Then he asked the prince, “Do you really believe in me?”
The prince said, “Of course I believe you! Absolutely believe you!”
Then the tightrope walker said, “Prince, please get in my cart, and I will push you across.”
At that moment, the prince’s face turned pale, and he did not dare to get in.
Brothers and sisters, now you understand what faith is, right? Many times we keep saying, “Yes, I believe you, I believe you,” but when it really comes to a relationship with you, can you still believe? Why did the prince not dare to get in? It’s simple: he did not believe.
Many times we say, “We believe, we believe, we believe,” but when we encounter difficulties, we immediately lose faith. We say, “Lord, why is this? When will you heal me? When will you help me?” This is not faith. This father cried out loudly, “Lord! I believe; help my unbelief.”
What we lack now is this.
Many of us shout, “Lord! I believe in you,” but you should also add the latter part. “Lord, I believe, but many times my faith is insufficient.” Today, many people do not know this; they always want to put this faith on us; if we put faith on ourselves, we will have no faith.
Jesus said, “If you can believe, all things are possible for one who believes.” Who is the believer? Is it you or Jesus? It is Jesus. So this is easy. Suppose a person is sick, and I ask him, “Do you have faith? Is your faith big enough?” The person thinks: “Lord! I believe, but I have insufficient faith.”
Well, you don’t need to think about healing anymore. The focus is wrong; if you guide it this way, there will be a problem. Moreover, today many people are particularly willing to use this sentence to shirk responsibility. If I also use this sentence, I don’t have to bear any special burden for any of you. If you have a disease and come to me, I lay hands on you, and you are not healed. I tell you, “Because your faith is insufficient, you can go back,” what does that have to do with me? If your finances have not been turned around by God, I say, “Your faith is insufficient; you can go back,” does that solve all the problems? Where did Jesus go? Did we throw Jesus aside again?
So today we keep saying, don’t remove Jesus; once you remove him, arguments will arise. You must always keep Jesus in your heart, in all your environments, to have rest. True rest is Jesus; you must rest in the power of Jesus. So the meaning of this sentence is actually to express not our faith.
Think about it; in this crowd, there are disciples, scribes, the crowd, and Jesus. Whose faith is trustworthy? Whose faith is unshakable? Only Jesus, right? We do not believe in our faith; we believe in Jesus’ faith. So the correct understanding of this sentence, the correct translation, the meaning expressed in the original text should be that Jesus said to him, “If you can believe in me, believe that I can do all things.” Let’s recall the story of the tightrope walker I just told you; do you understand? Do you believe in me? Do you believe I can do this? This is the faith we should often adjust.
When some problems continue to trouble you, don’t say, “Lord, is it because I have insufficient faith?” You should ask, “Lord, do I really believe in you now?” This is how you should ask yourself. Don’t say, “Oh, maybe I don’t have faith; maybe my faith is insufficient; why is my faith insufficient? Maybe I haven’t been to church lately; why is my faith insufficient? Maybe I have been far from God lately; maybe I have sinned lately?” Every time you come to a conclusion, it beats down your faith. So don’t look at your faith; look at Jesus’ faith.
“If you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.” This father asked Jesus this way. When we are in despair, don’t think you can do anything; at that time, you must believe that Jesus can do all things. But today, don’t pray like this father, saying, “Lord! If you can do anything, have compassion on me, help me.” Don’t pray like that anymore. Because today, God is particularly willing to have compassion on you, particularly willing to help you, because Jesus has paid off all your debts on the cross. Today, God is particularly willing to help you; the question is whether you are willing to believe in him to help you.
Last week, a sister from another place called me and said:
“Teacher Ren, I am quite speechless now; I don’t know what to do. I am a servant in the church, and there are some sick elderly people in our church. I really want to go and lay hands on them and pray.”
I said, “Just go.”
She said, “I can’t.”
I said, “Why can’t you?”
She said, “When I communicate with them, they say that the disease is a kind of packaged blessing from God.”
I said, “Well, then there’s nothing you can do.”
She said, “Teacher Ren, why do they believe this way?”
I said, “Their faith is like this, so your prayer is useless; they won’t let you pray.”
She said, “Yes, yes, they won’t let me pray.”
I said, “Well, then it can only be like this.”
Brothers and sisters, what you believe is important. So today, don’t pray, “Lord! Please don’t leave us; please don’t forsake me; please don’t hide your face from me.” God will not do such things today because the cross has changed everything; because of the cross, God is always facing you today. God is particularly willing to help you as long as you come to believe in him correctly.
So in this passage of scripture, many people always put their faith on me—“I have no faith; my faith is not big enough; what should I do?” In fact, what Jesus wants us to believe is his faith. What is our faith like? It is fluctuating. When you listen to the sermon, do you have faith? “I believe in Jesus, absolutely believe, one hundred percent believe.” At this moment, I absolutely believe.
What about tomorrow? When you go home, you look at your environment, and your faith drops to 50%. After a night’s sleep, the next day, “Oh, can this work?” By Wednesday, you have almost no faith. Do you know why many churches hold another meeting on Wednesday, whether it’s a Bible study, prayer meeting, or other gatherings?
Our human faith can only last for three days at most. But you are strong. We don’t have such gatherings among us, but your faith can last for seven days; that’s great. Don’t let Jesus leave your daily life.
One thing is important. I know you are reading the spiritual food I send every day, and you are communicating and interacting with us in our group; this way, faith is continuously transmitted. There must be a transmission of faith; if not, if you do not look at Jesus, our faith will drop. But there is one person’s faith that is unshakeable, never doubts, and is fixed; that is Jesus’ faith. Do you believe Jesus can do all things? He can do such things for you. Do you believe that when your faith is insufficient, Jesus’ faith is still sufficient? Do you believe that when you are weak, Jesus’ faith is still strong? Connect your faith with Jesus; that is enough.
For example, if you fall into a ditch and can’t climb out no matter how hard you try, no matter how great your faith is, what do you need? You need someone from above to say, “Come up!”? He pulls you up, and that’s enough.
When your faith is insufficient, when you are weak, at that time, stretch out your hand: “Lord Jesus, please help me.” That is enough. Don’t recite like a mantra: “By the stripes of Jesus, I am healed.” “By the stripes of Jesus, I am healed.” Reciting it a hundred times seems to have no effect. The key is not this way; it is that these scriptures, these words can produce real faith.
Many people ask me, “Teacher Ren, I have recited ‘By the stripes of Jesus, I am healed’ 50 times, but why am I still not healed?” What should I say? Should I say, “You should recite it 5000 times”? That would be troublesome; it would become legalism. In fact, these scriptures are correct, but who do these scriptures refer to? They refer to Jesus.
So we keep emphasizing, don’t remove Jesus from your problems, from your environment, from your situation; you must keep your eyes on Jesus. If you really do not see Jesus and just recite the scriptures repeatedly, you might as well say, “Jesus, I thank you because I believe you have been wounded, so I have been healed.” It’s better to receive it this way with gratitude. When you understand that this verse is not about your faith, but about Jesus’ faith, you will rest.
Last Friday, we talked about the series in Ephesians; do you know what it means that we are sitting together with Jesus?
Sitting together means you have equal rights with him. Such words can bring us rest. You know you will go through the valley of the shadow of death; this is David’s Psalm 23: “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.”
God’s intention is not to throw you there and ignore you; you are just passing through. Do you know what it means to pass through? It means to go through. For example, (although this example is not very appropriate, but it is still very representative), if you pass by the door of a house where someone has just died, will you be affected? Will you think, “Oh, I’m dead”? No one thinks like that, right? You will think, “There has been a death in this house,” and that’s it. If you have such faith, you will understand, “Oh, yes, this environment has come upon me; but I am not a person who lives in this environment; I am just passing through.” You understand your life this way.
So don’t ask, “Is my faith strong enough? Is my faith enough? Is my faith sufficient?” Don’t focus on your work; put your faith in Jesus and connect with Jesus. Even if you don’t have strength at this moment, if Jesus holds your hand, you will have Jesus’ strength. So your faith has no merit; don’t look at your faith; look at Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. All the credit is in Jesus. The book of Hebrews tells us to look to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith. What does it mean to be the founder and perfecter? The beginning and the end. So Jesus is the beginning of your faith and the end of your faith.
In the Bible, there are two people whose faith is very great, and both of these people have been praised by Jesus. One of these people is a centurion, and the other is a Canaanite woman. Both of these people have one characteristic: they are Gentiles, and they do not understand the law; they have no research on the Bible. But why is their faith great? The reason is very simple: they only know Jesus. Isn’t that simple? They only know Jesus.
If you are a Jew, it’s terrible. Why? From a young age, you are constantly learning the law, the law, the law. When you want to use faith, the law pops up and strikes down your faith. But the centurion and the Canaanite woman are foreigners; they do not know the Ten Commandments or the 613 laws; they do not know these things; they only know Jesus. So I wish our brothers and sisters would only know Jesus in your life; you will be blessed; only knowing Jesus, you will have rest because you know Jesus can do all things.
After Jesus said so much, did these people understand? Let’s see if this group of people understood. Jesus said to this father, “If you can believe in me, believe that I can do all things; then I am the one who can do all things.” I translate this sentence; you should mark this sentence in this place in the Bible and apply it this way.
You believe Jesus can do all things; Jesus will let you see that he can do all things. Then Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit, saying, “You mute and deaf spirit, I command you, come out of him and never enter him again.” It’s over; Jesus’ prayer is absolutely classic; we should imitate Jesus’ prayer. People say, “Why do you pray with only one sentence?” One sentence is enough; why do you need so many?
This year, we are particularly practicing this in the church; you see, we have had many miracles happening instantly this year. And what method are we using? One sentence; it’s all one-sentence prayers. In the name of Jesus, do this; in the name of Jesus, command this spirit to go out; in the name of Jesus, command this disease to leave, and it will be accomplished just like that; it’s that simple. Don’t think it’s short; God never said short is ineffective. You need to use Jesus’ name; you need to use Jesus’ power.
After Jesus said this, the spirit cried out, convulsed the child greatly, and came out. Then the child lay there as if dead, not moving at all. This is the kind of faith of this crowd. Did Jesus cast out the spirit? Did it come out? It came out; the child lay there motionless. What did the crowd say? Dead.
Do you know what this means? “Jesus, you made this child dead.” Doesn’t it seem like there is no effect? Many times, we have already prayed, but the people around us, or we ourselves, are deceived by these phenomena. Do you know what kind of person I fear encountering the most?
For example, sometimes someone asks me to pray, “Teacher Ren, please pray for me!” “Okay, let’s pray for you together. In the name of Jesus Christ, I command this disease to leave you. Do you believe Jesus has healed you?” That person says, “Amen!” I say, “Alright.” When we get to the door.
They say again, “Teacher Ren, remember to pray for me!” I feel very frustrated. Do you know why? It’s just like this crowd.
Jesus clearly cast out the spirit, but what did the crowd say? “Look, he is dead.” Is he a believer in Jesus? Does he believe in Jesus or not? You can reflect on this scene; most of the people, more than half, said the child was dead. Then Jesus went to the child, took his hand, and lifted him up, and he was healed.
Brothers and sisters, no matter what problems you encounter this week, after you pray, you must believe that Jesus has already done this. Even if it seems that the child is like dead, this is just “like dead.” Is he really dead? He is already alive; the child is currently resting.
In the past, he was tormented by the spirit every day, but Jesus cast out the spirit, and the child is now resting. After you pray, you must be at rest; this is faith. Many times we say we don’t know what faith is, you can listen to today’s sermon repeatedly: What is faith? When you truly believe in Jesus’ power, you can rest in his power.
Alright, let’s pray together:
“Father, we thank and praise you; thank you for giving us such words.
We know that many times we are like this father; we say we believe, but in reality, our hearts are still full of doubts. You know our faith is fluctuating. We are willing to keep our eyes on Jesus, just as we believe in the tightrope walker; we believe in you. Because when I truly give my life to you, everything about me becomes different. Hallelujah!
Jesus, thank you for giving me this message, and let me be willing to connect every matter in life with Jesus. When I connect with you, your faith becomes my faith. Lord Jesus, please help me. You know what I am like, so you have not forsaken me. You are willing to have compassion on me as long as I am willing to believe in you.
Jesus, let your power be manifested in my life. Although I may not see the effect, I still believe you have done this. I am at rest in you. Hallelujah! In the name of the Lord Jesus, we pray, Amen.”