1. If you know your New Testament, you are familiar with the mustard seed.
2. Our Lord referred to the little mustard seed five times.

• In Matthew 13:32 and Mark 4:32, our Lord said the mustard seed “is the least of all seeds: but when it is grown, it is the greatest among herbs.”
• Our Lord made a similar statement in Luke 13:19.
• In Luke 17:6, our Lord said, “If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say unto this sycamine tree, Be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea; and it should obey you.”
• The fifth reference to the mustard seed is found here in Matthew 17:20.

3. The mustard seed, though very small, has life’s vital energy and is capable of great growth - our Lord said, “when it is grown, it is the greatest among herbs” (Matthew 13:32).
4. The first reference to seed is found way back in Genesis 1:11.  “And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so.”
5. God put life in the seed in order for it to grow and produce after its kind.   But this morning, I do not want to talk about seeds.  I want to talk about faith.   A person cannot be saved without faith.
6. Hebrews 11:6 says, “But without faith it is impossible to please” God.
7. Ephesians 2:8, 9 says, “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.”
8. It is possible to be saved, but to be weak in faith (cf. Luke 17:5, 6).
9. There is a connection between Luke 17:5 and the verses which precede it.  It seems as if the apostles were saying, “Lord, we need that forgiving spirit, but we are too weak.  Lord, we are selfish and self-centered and self-absorbed, so Lord, increase our faith.”
10. The battle in Matthew 17 is with a demon.  But in Luke 17 the battle is with self.  In both cases, our Lord gave the same reply: “If ye had faith as a grain of a mustard seed…”

I. FAITHLESSNESS MEANS POWERLESSNESS (MATT. 17:16-19).

1. Notice: “And I brought him to thy disciples, and they could not cure him” (Matt. 17:16).
2. And, “Then came the disciples to Jesus apart, and said, Why could not we cast him out?” (17:19).
3. Our Lord explained the problem in verse 17.  They were “faithless.” 
4. In Matthew 17:20, our Lord said, “Because of your unbelief…”
5. This does not mean they were not saved.  Unfortunately, there are saved people who are faithless.
6. Why aren’t more Christian people entering the ministry (pastorate, mission field, teach in Christian schools, etc.)?  Lack of faith - “If I go into the ministry, I will not be able to support my family, etc.”
7. God commanded the ravens to feed the prophet Elijah; can’t He take care of you?
8. God fed the woman of Zarephath, and her son, and Elijah, with a “handful of meal in a barrel, and a little oil in a cruse,” and the Bible says, “And the barrel of meal wasted not, neither did the cruse of oil fail, according to the word of the LORD, which he spake by Elijah” (I Kings 17:16) - can’t God take care of you?
9. Our Lord fed the multitudes with five loaves of bread, and two fishes; don’t you think He can feed you and your family?
10. “And the apostles said unto the Lord, Increase our faith” (Luke 17:5).
11. Why don’t Christians tithe and contribute to faith promise missions?  Lack of faith! 
12. Some people tune a preacher out when he is preaching about money.  They ought to listen more carefully because if he is a good Bible preacher (I am not talking about some of these crooks on TV), he is preaching about much more than money.  He is preaching about faith.  And he might be preaching against selfishness, covetousness, materialism, etc.
13. Jesus said, “Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again” (Luke 6:38).
14. Jesus said it, but many Christians simply don’t believe it.
15. Many Christians lack faith because they do not read the Bible.  If we do not read the Bible we will get weak spiritually. “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Rom. 10:17).
16. The account in the Gospel of Mark is a little different than the one here in the Gospel of Matthew.  In Mark 9:23, our Lord said to the lunatic’s father, “If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.”
17. Then we read, “And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief” (Mark 9:24).
18. Faithlessness means powerlessness.  Faith confers power.

II. FAITH CONFERS POWER (MATT. 17:20).

1. “For verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you” (17:20).  That is great power!
2. Only God can move mountains.  But our Lord plainly said our faith in God can move mountains.
3. Faith unites the Christian with God.  Our Lord said in Matthew 17:20, “Ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove…” (cf. Mark 11:22-24; Luke 17:5, 6).
4. Our Lord said in Mark 9:23, “All things are possible to him that believeth” (cf. Matt. 17:20b).
5. For the faithful believer, there is a joyful expectancy that God will move.  We know God is working.  There is a firm confidence in the Word of God.
6. “And this is the confidence that we have in Him, that, if we ask any thing according to His will, He heareth us” (I John 5:14).
7. This confidence comes from faith. We are to pray in faith (cf. Matt. 21:21, 22; Mark 11:24; I John 5:14, 15).
8. I John 5:15 says, “Whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of Him.”  Not “will have, “ but “have.”
9. Therefore, faith means believing God has already answered our prayer.
10. Faith goes beyond believing God’s power will be exerted.  Faith goes beyond believing God’s promises will be fulfilled.
11. Faith is believing God has already answered our prayer.
   
12. To finance the purchase of this building, and to pay for much of the renovation work, our church sold bonds.  The people who purchased these bonds had faith that they would be paid back with interest.
13. Others lent money to our church without purchasing bonds.  They did not even ask for a written contract.  They said my word was sufficient.
14. If men can trust another man’s word, what about the Word of God? God’s Word is sufficient if you have faith as a grain of mustard seed (Matthew 17:20).

III. WHEN WE PRAY IN FAITH, GOD MOVES (MATT. 17:21).

1. There can be no true prayer without faith.  And effectual prayer increases our faith.  Our faith grows as we learn the power of effectual prayer, and as we see our prayers answered.
2. We are in a continual battle with Satan and his forces (Matt. 17:15). 
3. The apostle Paul says “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. (Ephesians 6:12).
4. In other words, we are engaged in a spiritual battle.  That is why Paul says in Ephesians 6:16, “Above all, taking the shield of faith.”
5. And in Ephesians 6:18, “Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit.”
6. Prayer is our great weapon, but here in Matthew 17:21, our Lord says, “Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting.”
7. Our Lord is saying that prayer and fasting is necessary for breaking down certain stubborn demonic strongholds (cf. Matthew 17:18-21).
8. When our Lord was tempted by Satan, the Bible says He “fasted forty days and forty nights” (Matt. 4:2).
9. We are in a continual battle with Satan and his forces.  Against such forces of darkness we often feel helpless (17:15, 16).
10. Andrew Murray said, “The faith than can overcome stubborn resistance such as you have just seen in this evil spirit, Jesus tells them, is not possible except for men living in very close fellowship with God and in very special separation from the world - in prayer and fasting. And so He teaches us two lessons in regard to prayer of deep importance. The one is that faith needs a life of prayer in which to grow and keep strong. The other is that prayer needs fasting for its full and perfect development” (With Christ in the School of Prayer).
11. In Matthew 6:17, our Lord said, “When you fast.”  He did not say, “If you fast.”
12. In Matthew 9:15, our Lord said that after His departure His followers would fast.
13. And here in Matthew 17:21, our Lord is saying that fasting is necessary for breaking down these stubborn demonic strongholds.
14. Did you know that Matthew 17:21 is left out of the NASV, NIV, RSV, NEB, Jerusalem Bible, the Phillips paraphrase, etc.  The TEV puts it in brackets, indicating it does not belong there.
15. These modern translations also omit fasting in Mark 9:29; Acts 10:30; I Cor. 7:5; II Cor. 6:5; and II Cor. 11:27.
16. The devil has taken the word “fasting” out of these new translations. The devil is trying to undermine and weaken this important Biblical teaching.  God wants us to fast and pray, but the devil does not Christians to fast.
17. So why are most Christians disregarding what the Bible plainly teaches regarding fasting?  I think the answer is found in the apostle Paul’s second epistle to Timothy, chapter 3 and verses 1-4.  “For men shall be lovers of their own selves…lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God.”

CONCLUSION:

1. Many Christians cannot appreciate the value of prayer and fasting. 
2. Andrew Murray gave a very good explanation: “Prayer needs fasting for its full growth. Prayer is the one hand with which we grasp the invisible. Fasting is the other hand, the one with which we let go of the visible. In nothing is man more closely connected with the world of sense than in his need for, and enjoyment of, food.  It was the fruit with which man was tempted and fell in Paradise. It was with bread that Jesus was tempted in the wilderness. But He triumphed in fasting.”