Luke 17:6 And the Lord answered, If you had faith (trust and confidence in God) even [so small] like a grain of mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, Be pulled up by the roots, and be planted in the sea, and it would obey you.
This evening, I would like to continue our feast upon the Word of God in relation to the promise of God concerning the growth of Faith in Christ. We began this consideration last week, based on the writings of Charles Spurgeon in my abridged version of his RULES FOR STRENGTHENING LITTLE-FAITH. Please bear in mind that, as we continue our discussion, we are not looking for any how-to’s or formulas in which we can make anything better of ourselves. We are using this simply as a skeleton upon which we are seeking to have God create that person whom He desires and will have in Christ. We are looking deep into scripture as a means whereby the Holy Spirit has the obedience on our part to do all that He chooses to do. 
As we considered last week, Charles Spurgeon states the following concerning the growing development of the faith of God in Christ:
If you would have your little faith grow you must --
1. Feed it, by meditation on the Word…
2. Prove the promise… 
3. Associate yourselves with godly and much tried people. Young believers will get their faith much refreshed by talking with well-advanced Christians.
4. Labour to get as much as possible free from self. Live above the praise and censure of self, and wholly on Christ…
5. Many can only get faith increased by great trouble...Great faith must have great trials.
6. Exercise what faith you have...
7. Commune with Christ, then you cannot be unbelieving. When you cannot see Him, then you doubt Him. End of Quote
(from The Biblical Illustrator Copyright (c) 2002 AGES and Biblesoft, Inc.)
We have already seen that the Word is to be our every revelation of God. It is in the Word that we see the fullness of God in Christ Jesus. It is in the Word, that we find the Wisdom of God made flesh. It is by the Word that our entire basis of the gift of God’s mustard seed of faith takes root and receives everything necessary, by the living power of the Holy Spirit, to grow and develop in Christ.  
We also dealt with the second consideration, that of proving the promise of God in our daily walk. We know that all things work together for good to those who love God and are called according to God’s good pleasure. Rom. 8:28. I begin this evening from that point with a question; Do we know that all things work together for good? Do we really know this, or does it just sound like a good thing to say to someone in dire straits. Have we come into a faith filled trust in the Lord that holds fast our thoughts, our hearts, our attitudes, our Love for God and for man no matter what? No matter what! Seeing everything in line with this tremendous promise of God! 
In Our Lord’s High Priestly Prayer, as recorded in the Gospel of John, we listen to Him declare His desire unto the Father on our behalf. John 17:17-19 Sanctify them [purify, consecrate, separate them for Yourself, make them holy] by the Truth; Your Word is Truth. Just as You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. And so for their sake and on their behalf I sanctify (dedicate, consecrate) Myself, that they also may be sanctified (dedicated, consecrated, made holy) in the Truth.
Rest assured that He will prove Himself on this truth. He will prove our hearts on this certainty to fully and absolutely establish His promise in us. He will do it. As He fulfills this promise, and all His promises in our lives, we will become ever more cognizant of the fact, that without Him, that without His sustaining and life-giving Word, that without His effective day by day manifestation of Christ living His life forth from us unto the world, we would surely die. That, my brothers and sisters in Christ, is faith, faith in abundance, faith in supremacy, living faith, faith in Jesus Christ, the Lord and Master of all creation. 
Having quickly reviewed the first and second, let us now consider the third aspect in line with God’s development of faith in our lives. We need to be in fellowship with the Body of Christ, young and old together relishing the Love of Our Lord. Our growth of faith is encouraged and watered and protected in the body relationship that we have one with another in Christ. We grow together as we share in the bounties of God’s love. We grow together as we partake of each other’s sorrows and disappointments. Our faith as individuals and as the corporate body grows as the trials, circumstances, joy and pain of life are dealt with in our oneness with each other, in Him. 
The young ought not to deride the gray headed believers, and neither should the mature believer consider the young as foolish and not as spiritual since they have not yet gone through all the trials of a life-time on this earth. Proverbs 20:29 The glory of young men is their strength, and the beauty of old men is their gray head [suggesting wisdom and experience]. We grow together in Christ; let our fellowship be with one another also in Him. 
Ps 119:63 I am a companion of all those who fear, revere, and worship You, and of those who observe and give heed to Your precepts. 
Mal 3:16-17 Then those who feared the Lord talked often one to another; and the Lord listened and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before Him of those who reverenced and worshipfully feared the Lord and who thought on His name. And they shall be Mine, says the Lord of hosts, in that day when I publicly recognize and openly declare them to be My jewels (My special possession, My peculiar treasure). And I will spare them, as a man spares his own son who serves him. 
Acts 2:42-47 And they steadfastly persevered, devoting themselves constantly to the instruction and fellowship of the apostles, to the breaking of bread [including the Lord's Supper] and prayers. And a sense of awe (reverential fear) came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were performed through the apostles (the special messengers). And all who believed (who adhered to and trusted in and relied on Jesus Christ) were united and [together] they had everything in common; And they sold their possessions (both their landed property and their movable goods) and distributed the price among all, according as any had need. And day after day they regularly assembled in the temple with united purpose, and in their homes they broke bread [including the Lord's Supper]. They partook of their food with gladness and simplicity and generous hearts, Constantly praising God and being in favor and goodwill with all the people; and the Lord kept adding [to their number] daily those who were being saved [from spiritual death]. 
1 John 1:7 But if we [really] are living and walking in the Light, as He [Himself] is in the Light, we have [true, unbroken] fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses … us from all sin and guilt [keeps us cleansed from sin in all its forms and manifestations]. 
Never let us consider lightly the joy that God receives as we fellowship together in Him. Never let us neglect one another based on age, too young or too old. Age is absolutely immaterial in Christ. We are to guard our time with one another before the Lord. Allow Him to build us into the church of His desire, fitted together in the perfection of His faith. 
Some have expressed a desire to grow together in our relationship with one another in Christ. This is the desire of God and He accomplishes it through the testings, and the trials, and the circumstances which draw us to Christ and cause us to stand with one another in Him. 
Rom 15:1+2 WE WHO are strong [in our convictions and of robust faith] ought to bear with the failings and the frailties and the tender scruples of the weak; [we ought to help carry the doubts and qualms of others] and not to please ourselves. Let each one of us make it a practice to please … his neighbor for his good and for his true welfare, to edify him [to strengthen him and build him up spiritually]. 
The fourth consideration of God’s development of faith in us is seen as He works to cleanse us from our selves. We need to seek the Lord to put our self lives to death in order that Christ will more and more be the essence of our beings. The greatest hindrance to our growth of faith in Christ is not found in forces outside us, but that single self-focused craving from within us that desires to be as God. It is our self life that causes us to stumble, to doubt, to flounder as it tries to survive all the cleansing power of God in us. Thank God that He is God. That He will do all that He desires to do in order to make us the living witness of His Son, Jesus Christ. Be not deceived – God is not mocked neither is He hindered in any manner whatsoever. He will work to cleanse that corrupt self residue from us in order to show forth Christ in our lives. It is Christ, in His resurrection glory that will be seen by all of creation in what God has established and created in His Bride. Nothing of us, but all of Him.
Matt 16:24-26 Then Jesus said to His disciples, If anyone desires to be My disciple, let him deny himself [disregard, lose sight of, and forget himself and his own interests] and take up his cross and follow Me [cleave steadfastly to Me, conform wholly to My example in living and, if need be, in dying, also]. For whoever is bent on saving his [temporal] life [his comfort and security here] shall lose it [eternal life]; and whoever loses his life [his comfort and security here] for My sake shall find it [life everlasting]. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his life [his blessed life in the kingdom of God]? Or what would a man give as an exchange for his [blessed] life [in the kingdom of God]? 
Rom 8:11-14 And if the Spirit of Him Who raised up Jesus from the dead dwells in you, [then] He Who raised up Christ Jesus from the dead will also restore to life your mortal (short-lived, perishable) bodies through His Spirit Who dwells in you. So then, brethren, we are debtors, but not to the flesh [we are not obligated to our carnal nature], to live [a life ruled by the standards set up by the dictates] of the flesh. For if you live according to [the dictates of] the flesh, you will surely die. But if through the power of the [Holy] Spirit you are [habitually] putting to death (making extinct, deadening) the [evil] deeds prompted by the body, you shall [really and genuinely] live forever. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. 
Gal 5:24-26 And those who belong to Christ Jesus (the Messiah) have crucified the flesh (the godless human nature) with its passions and appetites and desires. If we live by the [Holy] Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. [If by the Holy Spirit we have our life in God, let us go forward walking in line, our conduct controlled by the Spirit.]  Let us not become vainglorious and self-conceited, competitive and challenging and provoking and irritating to one another, envying and being jealous of one another. 
Luke 21:34+35 But take heed to yourselves and be on your guard, lest your hearts be overburdened and depressed (weighed down) with the giddiness and headache and nausea of self-indulgence, drunkenness, and worldly worries and cares pertaining to [the business of] this life, and [lest] that day come upon you suddenly like a trap or a noose; For it will come upon all who live upon the face of the entire earth. 
The fifth aspect is not to be afraid of the trials. Learn to recognize them for what they are, the means by which God can strengthen and develop the depth of our faith in Him. We should rather rejoice, as James tells us in his Epistle, as the Word of God reveals God’s plan for our lives. 
James 1:2-4 Consider it wholly joyful, my brethren, whenever you are enveloped in or encounter trials of any sort or fall into various temptations. Be assured and understand that the trial and proving of your faith bring out endurance and steadfastness and patience. But let endurance and steadfastness and patience have full play and do a thorough work, so that you may be [people] perfectly and fully developed [with no defects], lacking in nothing. 
It is in the trials, the tribulations, the testings, and the fiery furnace of this age that we are purified unto God in Christ Jesus. It is as we come through those intense flames that burn away all but Christ in us. It is then that our faith will be solidified, and fully established in Christ.
2 Cor 4:16-18 Therefore we do not become discouraged (utterly spiritless, exhausted, and wearied out through fear). Though our outer man is [progressively] decaying and wasting away, yet our inner self is being [progressively] renewed day after day. For our light, momentary affliction (this slight distress of the passing hour) is ever more and more abundantly preparing and producing and achieving for us an everlasting weight of glory [beyond all measure, excessively surpassing all comparisons and all calculations, a vast and transcendent glory and blessedness never to cease!], Since we consider and look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen; for the things that are visible are temporal (brief and fleeting), but the things that are invisible are deathless and everlasting. 
Heb 12:10-13 For [our earthly fathers] disciplined us for only a short period of time and chastised us as seemed proper and good to them; but He disciplines us for our certain good, that we may become sharers in His own holiness. For the time being no discipline brings joy, but seems grievous and painful; but afterwards it yields a peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it [a harvest of fruit which consists in righteousness — in conformity to God's will in purpose, thought, and action, resulting in right living and right standing with God]. So then, brace up and reinvigorate and set right your slackened and weakened and drooping hands and strengthen your feeble and palsied and tottering knees, And cut through and make firm and plain and smooth, straight paths for your feet [yes, make them safe and upright and happy paths that go in the right direction], so that the lame and halting [limbs] may not be put out of joint, but rather may be cured. 
And Deut 8:5 Know also in your [minds and] hearts that, as a man disciplines and instructs his son, so the Lord your God disciplines and instructs you. 
The sixth manner in which God develops our faith is in His strength, as He is the power of our lives to be strong in the Lord. Exercise our faith unto Him, most especially in standing and covering others in prayer and love. Realize we are not saved by works, but that works proceed forth from the strength of the faith that the Lord has established in our beings. Our lives should give living evidence of the One Who indwells us.
James 2:14 What is the use (profit), my brethren, for anyone to profess to have faith if he has no [good] works [to show for it]? Can [such] faith save [his soul]?
And he continues in verses 17-18, So also faith, if it does not have works (deeds and actions of obedience to back it up), by itself is destitute of power (inoperative, dead). But someone will say [to you then], You [say you] have faith, and I have [good] works. Now you show me your [alleged] faith apart from any [good] works [if you can], and I by [good] works [of obedience] will show you my faith. 
Titus 2:7-8  And show your own self in all respects to be a pattern and a model of good deeds and works, teaching what is unadulterated, showing gravity [having the strictest regard for truth and purity of motive], with dignity and seriousness. And let your instruction be sound and fit and wise and wholesome, vigorous and irrefutable and above censure, so that the opponent may be put to shame, finding nothing discrediting or evil to say about us. 
1 Peter 2:12 Conduct yourselves properly (honorably, righteously) among the Gentiles, so that, although they may slander you as evildoers, [yet] they may by witnessing your good deeds [come to] glorify God in the day of inspection [when God shall look upon you wanderers as a pastor or shepherd looks over his flock]. 
And in Rev 2:19, I know your record and what you are doing, your love and faith and service and patient endurance, and that your recent works are more numerous and greater than your first ones. 
Lastly for this consideration, seek Christ. Pray, fellowship, worship and know Him as the most beloved brother and friend in our lives.
Jer 31:3+4 The Lord appeared from of old to me …, saying, Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore with loving-kindness have I drawn you and continued My faithfulness to you. Again I will build you and you will be built, O Virgin Israel! You will again be adorned with your timbrels … and go forth in the dancing … of those who make merry. 
Hos 11:4 I drew them with cords of a man, with bands of love, and I was to them as one who lifts up and eases the yoke over their cheeks, and I bent down to them and gently laid food before them. 
John 6:44+45 No one is able to come to Me unless the Father Who sent Me attracts and draws him and gives him the desire to come to Me, and [then] I will raise him up [from the dead] at the last day. It is written in [the book of] the Prophets, And they shall all be taught of God [have Him in person for their Teacher]. Everyone who has listened to and learned from the Father comes to Me — 
Again we hear our Lord in His High Priestly prayer of His love to us, John 17:21-26 That they all may be one, [just] as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be one in Us, so that the world may believe and be convinced that You have sent Me. I have given to them the glory and honor which You have given Me, that they may be one [even] as We are one: I in them and You in Me, in order that they may become one and perfectly united, that the world may know and [definitely] recognize that You sent Me and that You have loved them [even] as You have loved Me. Father, I desire that they also whom You have entrusted to Me [as Your gift to Me] may be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory, which You have given Me [Your love gift to Me]; for You loved Me before the foundation of the world. O just and righteous Father, although the world has not known You and has failed to recognize You and has never acknowledged You, I have known You [continually]; and these men understand and know that You have sent Me. I have made Your Name known to them and revealed Your character and Your very Self, and I will continue to make [You] known, that the love which You have bestowed upon Me may be in them [felt in their hearts] and that I [Myself] may be in them. 
I know that last week, and this evening, have been spent in numerous scriptures as outlined in the writings of Charles Spurgeon. The magnitude of the spiritual understanding of the natural course of faith in Christ, however, makes it incumbent to delve deeply into the Word. To consider the truth of Christ; to seek after the Holy Spirit to open in truth and in life the Word made flesh, Our Lord Jesus Christ. There is no other way to have a living, growing, and witnessing faith in Christ than to seek Him to make Himself be our lives. To utter that prayer, that desire, will change everything in us, about us, and through us into that which will glorify God and God alone. Nothing else will have any value. No one and nothing else will capture our hearts and minds and souls. Our life will be made a living sacrifice of faith and love, as is the life of our Lord and Savior. Know Him. Love Him. Follow him. Live Him. Prove Him. Honor and glorify Him. Believe on Christ and Christ Alone and let His magnificence enthrall our entire beings. He alone is worthy of our faith now and for all the eternal ages of ages to come. 
And the Lord answered, If you had faith (trust and confidence in God) even [so small] like a grain of mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, Be pulled up by the roots, and be planted in the sea, and it would obey you