Matthew-079

The disciples did not believe that Jesus would die and be resurrected

Today, we continue now to study the Lord Jesus’ teaching in Mark chapters 10 and 11. The last time, we were studying Mark 10:32-45 in which the Lord Jesus told his disciples that he would suffer and be put to death. This was the third time he told his disciples that he would suffer and die. But what a long way it was for the disciples to go in their spiritual journey to understand that! They were hoping to be on the road to glory, not on the road of the cross. So they struggled with this, and in Luke 18:34, the parallel passage to this, Luke tells us that “they understood none of these things.” Hardly had the Lord Jesus spoken about his death and suffering, and that he would be raised up from the dead on the third day, the disciples like ourselves, found it so difficult to understand that they still thought in terms of personal glory.

Why could they talk about their own glory, being exalted to the right hand and the left hand of Christ when he has just been talking about his death and his humiliating suffering? This is very puzzling. There seems to be no real connection between the conversation of the disciples and what the Lord Jesus had just said. What is the explanation to this? The explanation is very simple: It is simply unbelief. The explanation for this is that they did not believe what Jesus had said. There is abundant evidence in Scripture for us to see that they frankly did not believe Jesus would rise again from the dead as he said here in verse 34, “After three days, the Son of man will rise again.” You need only look at the Scripture at the time of the resurrection to see that the disciples were full of unbelief.

Let’s just take a few examples. Even after the Lord Jesus rose from the dead, when the women came to tell the apostles that Jesus had risen from the dead, Luke 24:11 tells us:

The apostles regarded the women’s report as plain nonsense. “Jesus, risen from the dead? Nonsense!” That is to put the reaction of the apostles plainly and bluntly. Even after the Lord Jesus had told them repeatedly, they really could not believe it.

I wonder how strongly you believe in the resurrection. We get used to hearing many times that Jesus rose from the dead, and when you have heard it often enough, you will say, “OK, he’s risen from the dead.” Your resistance to this amazing fact has sort of been worn down as it were, by repetition. That is very dangerous because it basically means that you still don’t believe in it, but you simply don’t put up any resistance to the doctrine. Since you don’t put up resis­tance to it, you think that it’s the equivalent of believing it. Just because you stop fighting a doctrine doesn’t mean that you whole­heartedly accept it, or that you even accept it at all beyond simply a mental non-resistance. We all know about passive resistance – the fact that I don’t fight against it does not mean that I’m on your side. It simply means I simply decide to take no stand on the issue anymore. Or even worse than that, we might think that we do believe in it simply because we no longer resist it. I think there are many, many Christians in the churches today, who are simply in the non-resistance category, and who think that if they are in the non-resistance category, they believe in it.

The disciples frankly did not believe in Jesus’ resurrection. What did they believe? They did believe that Jesus was the Messiah, that he is the Son of David, the promised king to come. If they did not believe in that, they wouldn’t have asked to be one on his right hand and one on his left hand. They believed that he would be king and would establish his kingdom on earth. Sometimes, we believe a thing because we hope it would come to pass. It’s another good reason for believing anything. But we believe because we hope he will be king. In fact, we are pretty certain he will be king. After all, his power is so great, he is quite well accepted. But because of this very belief in the Messiahship of Jesus (the Messiah is simply the Hebrew idea of Christ being king), they couldn’t believe that he would die in the way that he said he would. How can you believe on the one hand that he would be king, and on the other hand he would be humiliated and die? The two things just don’t fit in together in their minds. They thought that Jesus had to make up his mind. Was he going to be king or was he going to die? He could not do both according to them. It’s this plain refusal to believe what Jesus said, when they were talking about his kingship. Is that putting it too strongly? I don’t think so. Unless they believed in the resurrection, how could they believe that he would die and still be king? There is no way you can reconcile that except through the process of resurrection which they already admittedly did not believe.

And their unbelief in the resurrection can be seen constantly. For example, further in Luke 24:25, the Lord Jesus rebukes the two disciples on the Emmaus road for their slowness to believe. The two disciples were saying to who they thought was “a stranger on the road,” not knowing that he was Jesus, “We thought he would deliver us. He said he would rise in three days and it didn’t come to pass. But we did hear some women mumbling something about some empty tomb, but we can’t make any head or tail of that.”

The strong unbelief among the apostles could be seen even more obviously for example, in John 20:25 where Thomas, one of the apostles plainly says, “Seeing is believing. I’m not going to believe that he has risen until I see those wounds and touch them.” By this time, you can see the whole attitude of the apostles. They listened to Jesus say these things but they didn’t believe it.

Now if they didn’t believe in his resurrection, how would they believe in his kingship that would first require his death? Without his resurrection, they could not put these things together. And because they could not put these things together, they had to reject one or the other. And they decided to reject his talking about his dying and opt to accept his kingship. The unbelief among the apostles is very easy to see. They did not believe because they chose to believe what they wanted to believe. How could they believe what they don’t understand? How can we understand the resurrection with our own carnal, puny little minds? We cannot understand these things.

A parabolic teaching of the Lord Jesus from a positive side

Now I would like on the one hand, to draw our attention to the fearful unbelief that exists even among those who profess to be Christians, and are genuinely Christians insofar as they believe that Jesus is the Christ sent by God to be the Savior, and that God established him as Lord and king after his resurrection. That is as far as our faith goes. On the other hand, I would like you to see that until the church can see its own unbelieving condition, how can we bring the gospel to the unsaved when unbelief is crippling our own hearts, when God looks for faith among his people and he doesn’t find it?

So evident is this that the Lord Jesus gives his disciples instruction on faith. That is what follows in verses 46-52, immediately after he has taught them the principle of the first shall be last and the last shall be first, which cannot be implemented without faith. He is going to give them two objects lessons: one positive and one negative. In this positive lesson, he wants to show them that they need faith to have their spiritual eyes opened. Let us read this passage, Mark 10:46-52:

The Lord Jesus and his disciples were leaving Jericho, this ancient city on the east bank of Jordan, and there was a blind beggar sitting by the roadside. His name “Bartimaeus” means son of Timaeus, so Mark is explaining that “bar” is the Aramaic word for son. Bartimaeus was a beggar, and beggars were not on social welfare at that time. The only way you can make a living if you are blind is to be a beggar, begging where people are going to come by. The more people, the more chances you have of getting some help. When he heard Jesus was nearby, he cried out to the Messiah to be merciful and heal him, but many people rebuked him saying, “Jesus is such an important man and you are a beggar. Who do you think you are that you dare to stop this great teacher in his tracks by all this yelling? Just be quiet!” In plain words, they told him to shut up! But he cried out all the more, and the Lord Jesus said, “Call him to come to me.” So the people said to him, “Every dog has its day and today is your day!” Bartimaeus threw off his mantle, his most precious possession, sprang up and came to Jesus to ask him to restore his sight. Perhaps when he heard the Lord Jesus’ words, “Go your way,” his heart sank. Maybe that means no, but happily, the Lord Jesus did not finish but continued, “Your faith has made you well.” Here comes the lesson on faith. Bartimaeus immediately received his sight and became a disciple!

What the disciples lacked was faith, and here comes the first object lesson, the positive one. They needed their spiritual eyes opened, and Jesus would show that it was through faith that their eyes would be opened. Without faith, they would be as blind as a bat! Now let us notice a few points in this passage.

1. The blind beggar already has faith in Jesus as the Messiah

First, in verse 47, let us notice that the blind beggar already has faith in Jesus. He calls Jesus, “Son of David” which is a Messianic title. He believed in Jesus as the Messiah, as the King. Like the disciples, he has that belief too. He also believed in Jesus as the King. This was the title that you see in the triumphant entry into Jerusalem in Mark 11:10, that is used in welcoming the Lord Jesus: “Blessed is the kingdom of our father David that is coming,” and here comes Jesus the Son of David. This blind beggar believed Jesus as the Christ, as the Messiah, otherwise he would not use a term like this.

2. His persistent faith

Secondly, notice that his faith was very persistent. He was not going to be bullied out of it. He was not going to let the crowd of believers intimidate and silence him when they told him to shut up and stop crying out, as he was making himself a nuisance, and he was also not qualified to interfere in the Lord Jesus’ progress to Jerusalem. Now that is more than many Christians dare to be, because they are quite intimidated by the crowds. They are scared even to give thanks in public. When people think, “Look at you, religious nut! Gone are the days when people give thanks for meals, and this nut here is still giving thanks?” So we are intimidated by other people’s opinion of us.

Not Bartimaeus! He was not going to let anyone silence him. The more they tried to stop him, “he cried out all the more,” as we read in verse 48. The more they tried to stop him, the louder he shouted. His faith is very persistent. It’s rather like the widow that the Lord Jesus taught in the Parable of the Unjust Judge. She was determined that justice would be done and she would not be silenced.

3. The vigor of his response

The third thing I would like you to notice is the vigor of his response when they told him, “You can go now. He is calling you.” He jumps up! He throws his mantle out of the way as that might slow him down! He slings it away no matter what the value of that is, and he runs to the Lord Jesus as fast as he can!

Jesus actually stopped for him. Christ, like his Father and God wants to stop for anyone who has faith. He is willing to forget the whole crowd for one “nobody” – this poor, blind beggar, who has faith.

4. Jesus shows that God’s power is available to those who have faith

The fourth thing the Lord Jesus wants Bartimaeus to understand is that God’s power is available to those who have faith. He wants this man to understand, and he wants his disciples to hear his words: “Your faith has made you well.” The Lord Jesus wanted his disciples to understand that there is no magical power in faith, rather, it is our faith that opens or shuts the door of God’s power. God’s power can come into your life if you open the door through faith. But not all the power of God will help you one whit if you close the door through unbelief.

5. God’s power is immediately available when one expresses one’s faith

Finally, notice the immediacy of God’s power. He was immediately healed! He immediately received his sight; immediately his eyes were open! (v. 52) God’s power could not touch this man all this time. We don’t know how old this man was, but clearly, he was no young man. He had been blind and a beggar for some time. God’s power was always available but it didn’t reach him until he expressed his faith. Then, God’s power came in and immediately opened his eyes, and changed his whole way of life. So he became a disciple, following behind Jesus wherever he went. This is truly beautiful!

Like the disciples, we don’t believe, having decided when to trust God

We believe this miracle because it’s in the Bible, but we only say we believe, but like the disciples, we don’t believe. Perhaps Jesus healed 2,000 years ago when he was physically present for his God and Father to work through him. But Jesus is not physically present now, so the days of wonder when God worked miracles through him are all gone. Do you believe or don’t you? We don’t believe. We say we do, but it’s simply the faith of non-resistance because our resistance has been worn down by that preacher who preaches interminably, and wears us all out by his long-winded expositions, and at the end of that, you are so tired you haven’t got the strength to resist anymore! So we have arrived at the passive state of non-resistance to belief. How tragic that is! I doubt so much that we believe when we are put to the test.

I found our discussion about healing during last week’s Bible study very interesting! Many truly felt that we should trust in God, but especially in the doctor because God heals through the doctor. So most of them very honestly believed that God could heal people theoretically, but not accident cases. For the accident case, the doctor is the number one person to see. In cases of chronic illness, you see the doctor and God, in that order. For terminal cases, there is only God you can go to. When all the good doctors cannot do anything for you, who else do you turn to but God? It’s your last chance. You have no alternative but to trust in God. By that time, it’s easy to have faith when unbelief takes you nowhere. We have got it all sorted out in our minds. As I say, I really appreciate your honesty.

Which category does blindness come into? In those days presuma­bly, blindness belonged to the “wits’ end” category, where doctors couldn’t do anything. But as medical science and skills advance, then God has to work less. If medical science advances far enough, God will be totally out of business! But for the moment, we can be glad to say that medical science has not yet arrived at the point where we can put God out of business. There are still terminal or impossible cases. For example, there was a time when medical science consi­dered blindness incurable. Even today, there are many cases of blindness beyond the reach of medical intervention. However, there are some instances where medical science can successfully treat blindness. You can have corneal graft if you have a problem, or if you have opacity in your eyes, you can have your lens removed by a cataract operation. Cataract operations are quite simple today, and many people can have their sight restored. So we need God less and less. Presumably, if we wait another 100 years, that is, if the world is still around by then, and medical science is so advanced, then frankly, God is completely out of business! We may just have him for a little “extra insurance,” hoping that the doctor’s skill will not fail us in the hour of our need. So it’s very important that we ask God for the doctor.

We believe, do we? That is precisely the question. Let us again honestly analyze our belief. God could have done so many things for us if only we had believed. If only we had believed! I think in eternity, we will look back and think of the vast opportunities that we have missed, how much we have lost because of our unbelief.

A doctor testifies that God healed ten cases of serious illness

I had a chance to go to a bookstore where I saw many books on sale. And being interested particularly in books on sale, I hastened to the area where these books were at half price and I found two very interesting books. One was a book called The Miracle which I picked up thinking that it was a theological discussion on miracles. In fact, it was nothing of the kind. It was written by a medical doctor who personally examined and certified ten cases of healing by the power of God. Now the credentials of this doctor, Richard Gastorf, are quite impeccable. In fact, his credentials are listed through one-and-a-half pages at the back of the book to make sure that you understand his qualifications. And besides having an M.D., he also has a Ph.D. and that should show that he does understand a few things about research. This doctor investigated ten cases of serious illness being healed by the prayer of faith. Several cases of carcinoma, one case of arteriosclerosis, another one of multiple sclerosis, osteoporosis, where the spine is crippled through a condition of the bone where it becomes porous for various reasons, which I don’t pretend to know. And he examines ten of these cases, all of them of the most serious degree of illness. He personally examined each of their records, studied their medical case histories, examined their condition after their healing to see whether or not it was a genuine healing, and he fully certified that they were absolutely healed. There was no question of it.

Now when we read it in a book, we say, “Oh yes, God can do it for these people.” We believe that he theoretically can but the moment it is us, then it’s a different story because now, our faith is put to the test. So long as our faith is not exercised, that is all right for us. Christianity is always best for our neighbor and a little less relevant for ourselves. Such case histories interest us. What does it do for our faith? We finish reading the book and we still don’t believe any much more than we did before.

Guy Bevington, God’s great servant’s tremendous, unshakable faith

The other book that I picked up is called Remarkable Miracles. I was particularly fascinated by this book because it is the autobiography of a great servant of God, called Guy Bevington, whom I had never heard about. I have always said that one day, when we stand in the presence of the Lord Jesus and Yahweh God, we are going to meet some spiritual giants that the world has never heard of. As I read his account, I said to myself, “O God, I don’t attain anywhere to his stature.”

This man is so far above me spiritually, that I would be very privileged to sit at his feet. It’s not that he understood the Scriptures that well, but it’s because of his tremendous and unshakable faith in God. His faith in God is just incredible! So close does he walk with God that it was nothing for him to spend nine or ten days in prayer at any one stretch of time without eating, and just drinking a few sips of water. He has this peculiar habit of lying down in a hollow wooden log to pray. A hollow log is a felled tree whose center has been taken out leaving only the rim of the log. His habit was always to go into the woods and climb into this log so that he would just have his head outside of the log, and he would lie inside this hollow log for days and days at a time praying to God. Every time there was a problem, he would immediately go to God, so much so that God would give him visions. He would actually see what had happened or what would happen in a particular situation. There seemed to be no secrets hidden from him.

He had such love for people particularly in praying for them

His love for people really touched my heart. He would pray for a person for days and days, whatever that person’s problem might be. If the case was one of healing, he would pray through until that person was healed. He did not understand taking no for an answer from God. There was no such thing as a “no”; he just held on. But he first prayed whether he should pray for that person, and when he was convinced that God wanted him to pray for the healing of a particular person for example, then he would set to pray. He would usually lie on his face in the log. He went into the log not because he wanted to do something fanciful, but simply because it was very cold in the woods. Since he would be out in the open air, the log afforded him a shelter and warmth where he could preserve his body heat for that long period of time that he spent in prayer.

An accident happened to him – he broke three ribs

I was particularly struck by an account in which he spoke of an accident that happened to him. I share the case of an accident be­cause there are too many cases in that book. I also particularly want to mention about his accident because I remember our discussion about healing at last week’s Bible study, where people felt that an accident was in quite a different category of having faith in God. By way of warning, I want to tell you not to try to do what Guy Bevington did if you don’t have his kind of faith. That would be foolish. You cannot imitate the external performances of a man of God. You have to be able to have his kind of faith to do what he does, otherwise, you will not have the same results.

He was a preacher in the central part of the United States, working mostly in farms and villages, in out-of-the-way places. Hence, no one seems to have ever heard of his name until recently. And God was working through him mightily, such that the number of people being revived and restored, regenerated, and “sanctified” as he called it, that is, receiving the fullness of God’s Holy Spirit continuously increased. He was known as a “holiness preacher,” and that is why I can very much identify with him. Few people preach holiness today. The man of God, the man of power, like John Sung, and Bevington, are those who stress holiness. He constantly preached on holiness, and God used him so that there was a continuing increase of people coming to God.

They started in the homes, household churches, but these often grew too small to accommodate the large numbers of people. So on this occasion, they rented a schoolroom, and they installed in that part of the school, a chimney and a fireplace because of the cold. He, being always ready to do every menial task there was to do, set to clean the room. Then he stood on a chair trying to clean the stove pipe on the top. But being very considerate, he stood on the outer edges of the chair as he did not want to put his feet on the central part of the chair which had a satin covering. He was reaching higher and higher when suddenly, the chair overturned! As the chair overturned, presumably he went backwards in some way, and the seat of the chair slammed into his ribs and hit him with such force that the chair was smashed to pieces. And this dear brother was lying on the floor in agony! So terrible was the pain that even when he set to pray, he could make very little headway in prayer because of the intensity of the pain. And so he laid on the floor unable to move. He was hardly able to breathe because of the pain in his thighs that was like a thousand needles going through them. There was no one there at the time so he lay on the floor. When his roommate came in and wanted to help him up, he said, “No, just leave me here on the floor because the pain is so terrible that I can’t move.” So he lay on the floor just holding on to God.

Then his roommate said, “You should go and see a doctor.” But he said, “No, I will stay here and hold onto God.” And the friend kept persuading him and he kept saying no. This went on for six whole days! He said the pain was such that not only could he not eat, he could not so much as take a mouthful of water without going through tremendous pain. He dared not move in the slightest way. He lay there six days. Finally, his friends kept persuading him, “You must go and see the doctor.” So he finally decided: “All right, I will go and let the doctor examine me.” He was lifted up to his feet in this condition of terrible agony, and he shuffled along for three blocks until he got to the doctor.

At the doctor’s office, he had to wait another 40 minutes because other patients were before him. He preferred to remain standing for 40 minutes because he could not sit down. When it finally came to his turn to see the doctor, the doctor asked, “What’s the matter with you?”

He said, “I’ve got a pain in this side.” And when the doctor put his hand on that side, he nearly fainted just from the touch of the doctor’s hand!

The doctor said, “I’ve got to x-ray you to see what your condition is. So he was x-rayed and the doctor found three ribs were broken, and a long broken-off splinter of the rib was lying across the three other broken ribs. This large splinter was like a long nail which was used to drive a horseshoe onto the horse’s hoof. And the doctor said, “My friend, how did you survive six days in this condition with three broken ribs? We’ve got to get you to hospital! You might even need to have an operation because of this splinter of the rib.”

This operation, putting it very mildly, would cost something like $700. Well, he did not even have $7 never mind $700! So he shuffled his way back to the room again, and lay down on the floor. His Christian friends tried to see what they could do to help this brother. It turned out that the doctor who was to do the operation was a Christian, and he tried to negotiate with the hospital to bring the cost down since the doctor in the hospital was his personal friend.

By the seventh day, his friends came in, and with great joy, told Brother Bevington that arrangements had been made. The hospital had agreed to charge only $80 to do him a favor, but he still didn’t have that. The Christians would help to cover the cost of his board and lodging at the hospital, which was a great thing for them to do since they were all very poor. Brother Bevington’s roommate thought that he would be so happy to hear the news that he would have a cheap operation and a free stay at the hospital. But Bevington said, “Dear brother, I’m not going.”

“What? Do you mean I went through the trouble to arrange all this for nothing?”

And Bevington said, “I’m not going.”

Then this brother and the Christian doctor as well, got very angry with him. “Stubborn fellow! Foolish guy! We’ve heard of religious nuts and fanatics, but he has well gone berserk! Isn’t he going to have an operation with his broken ribs and this rib splinter? What’s the matter with this man?”

Then they started threatening him that unless he went into the hospital, he would be put into the asylum! They were not going to have him around in his condition. In fact, to reinforce their threats, several officers from the mental health institution appeared and told him that they gave him 24 hours to re-consider his decision, and to stop being obstinate and foolish. They told him that he should go to the hospital to have his operation, and the 24 hours would expire the next morning at 11 o’clock.

So this brother prayed, calling upon God and holding on to him. The time ticked away and the deadline arrived, and the officers came. Not only was Bevington not healed, he was in even more excrucia­ting pain than before!

So they said, “Now, are you ready to go to the hospital? Your prayer is not answered. The deadline is not met. It’s time to go!”

And he said, “Please. Please just give me another 20 hours, just another 20 hours till 7 o’clock tomorrow morning.”

Everyone thought, “You’re really stubborn! God already didn’t answer your prayer, and that should be enough sign for you that God wants you to go to the hospital to have the operation. How obstinate can you get?” By this time, the Christian doctor, his roommate, and all the Christians were furious with this complete nutcase of a Christian!

He lay on the floor and he had eaten nothing for eight days. This also means that he was getting weaker all the time, wasn’t he? But he still held on to God, and the hours kept ticking away and it was getting to the next morning and approaching the deadline again. He was still hanging on to the God. This is the persistence of faith of the blind beggar, Bartimaeus, who was not going to take “no” for an answer when the fellow Christians were telling him to shut up. There Bevington was, clinging on.

When he persisted in faith, God’s power moved into his life to heal him

By 4 o’clock in the morning, he said something was happening to him. He felt himself getting smaller and smaller all the time, as though he was disappearing. Then he began to feel as though he was floating into the air. He began to feel something moving around him. God’s power was moving! That was 4 o’clock. He said, “Hallelujah! It’s done! My God has healed me!”

The moment he thanked God and said, “It’s done!” he could literally hear the bones click together! So he wanted to praise God, “Hallelujah! Praise God!” but he dared not move because he didn’t want to disturb his roommate who was fast asleep. He kept saying, “Glory! Glory!” His voice was getting louder and louder as he was unable to contain his praise and thanksgiving. Then, he thought he could really use a few deep breaths as he had not had a good breath for a long time. He was just breathing very shallowly because of the pain. So he took a real chest-expanding breath and there was no pain! He sat up and said, “Glory! Glory!” louder and louder until finally, his roommate woke up and looked at him.

Brother Bevington stood up! His friend said, “What are you doing standing up? Do you want to die? If you don’t want to go to the hospital, you don’t have to die in my room!”

 “God has healed me!” he said.

His friend said, “Nonsense! Nonsense! Don’t talk rubbish!” Even then, he still wouldn’t believe.

Bevington said, “Look at this!” And he started pounding his side.

“Stop! Stop! Stop!” His roommate jumped out of bed and rushed to him to hold his arm to stop him from doing such a foolish thing. This man thought that he had gone berserk after these nine days of intense pain! He was half crazy before but now he was totally crazy.

Brother Bevington was pounding his ribs, jumping up and down with joy for three whole hours! By 7 o’clock, when these people came to check his condition, needless to say, they could not believe their eyes! This “nutcase” was actually jumping up and down and pounding his ribs and saying, “Look! Look! I’m healed!”

Finally, they said, “This is ridiculous! Let’s go to the doctor and let him decide whether you are healed or not.” But the Christian doctor had taken the whole matter very personally and was very annoyed with this “nutcase.” So when they arrived at his clinic, he did not even want to look at him. He said, “If you want to die, go ahead! I tried to help you but you are some sort of a religious fanatic! I don’t want to see you!” He still thought that Bevington had submitted because the pain was too great now.

So to get the doctor’s attention, he stood up and pounded his ribs again. The doctor was amazed! What is this? He put him back on the x-ray and there was not a fracture to be seen! He said that the doctor fell on his shoulder and just wept and wept. Is this possible? He had never seen anything like this in his whole medical practice! He looked at the x-ray again, and there was no crack! Even the “splinter” that was so out of place, lying across the ribs, was back in its normal position. Everything was healed!

That is faith! I was all the more amazed, and that is why I say that he is so much greater than I, because even if most of us had what we thought the “irresponsible” attitude of clinging on to God for so many days, we would have given up by the deadline when God had not answered. I think most of us would have given up. I’ll be very honest with you, I think I probably would have given up by that time. I would have to say, “The answer is no.” But not Bevington. He doesn’t know what the word “no” means as far as hanging on to God is concerned. He just hung on for another 20 hours! He held on and God healed him.

Now let me say again as a word of caution, don’t try to copy him when you haven’t got this kind of faith. It takes a long period of time, as Bevington learned. Bevington was a very sickly person. He has been sick for most of his childhood, since he was twelve years old. He had lived on drugs most of the time. When he traveled preaching the Word, he carried his medicine chest around, as he had to live on many medications. So he had a long history of learning to trust in God. You cannot attain to this kind of faith without the long path of learning to trust in God in smaller things. He started to trust in God in small things, and his faith grew from strength to strength until he got to know the power of the living God! If we tried to copy him at that stage when he broke three ribs, we may be fools because you may be copying him externally without the internal faith. It’s like trying to learn high-diving when you don’t even know how to swim. That’s a sure way to break your neck! If you want to learn diving, at least learn how to swim first. If you don’t know how to swim, and you get up to the spring board to jump into the pool, that is a sure way to get drowned! So we cannot try the “spiritual high-diving” until we start at least to learn to swim. Don’t try to be a spiritual giant until you begin first to be a spiritual person.

Experience the omnipotent living God with active faith!

Here we can see God is the living God! That medical doctor certified the ten cases of healing by God, showing that God doesn’t only heal in the First Century but also in the Twentieth Century. Now I am not a faith healer and I don’t preach faith healing as part of the message, but I am preaching faith. The emphasis is not on the healing, but on the faith. Do you believe that God can do this? How great is your faith in God? How much of his power do you know in your experience? This is what I would like to share with you today.

We have to go on to the second part of the exposition of faith next week. Today, we have looked at the parabolic teaching of the Lord Jesus from a positive side. Are we like the disciples, who claim that we believe but we really don’t believe when we are put to the test? Whether we really have faith or not will be seen when we are faced with a crisis. You can sit in your chair and I can stand here comforta­bly saying, “We have faith.” What’s the proof of it? There is no proof. But when we are faced with a financial crisis, or a health crisis, or a crisis in a personal relationship, then our faith is put to the test. That is the time we will know whether or not we really have faith.

I would to God that we can truly say, “I know whom I have believed.” How well do you know God? How mighty is God in your eyes? Do you believe that he is the Creator? Is it too much for him to heal your broken ribs? Theoretically, we all believe he can do it. But when it comes to the crunch, whatever the reason, our faith proves to be pure theory. We think, maybe God doesn’t want to do it; or maybe it’s not his time for doing it; or maybe he’s given this job to someone else. Even worse, it’s passive non-resistance to the concept of faith. But our God is so great! Do you know him?

Let us be quiet before God.