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 we continue with our consideration of this passage in Luke. We are nearing the depths of our life in Christ as we spend time pondering and relishing the Word of God. As a matter of fact, reading, studying, obeying and hearing the Word of God preached is an active exercise of faith. As we are told in Rom 10:17 So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. Or, as Wuest translates it, So then, faith is out of the source of that which is heard, and that which is heard [the message] is through the agency of the Word concerning Christ. 
(from The New Testament: An Expanded Translation by Kenneth S. Wuest Copyright © 1961 by Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. All rights reserved.)
It is vital for Christians to spend time in the Word, delving into the depths of the Holy Spirit’s living revelation of what is contained in the Word that He so Omnipotently and Omnisciently inspired. As we are in the Word, with all our hearts, beings, and minds, we cannot but see that faith is the articulated result of our study and hearing and living. Our continued learning and yearning for more of Christ revealed in the Word will force us to face the issue of faith in Him or faith in ourselves.
There are many avenues that we could take in our contemplation of what is before us. Many commentators have written exceedingly much concerning this passage. Some are so uplifting that I plan to share a few of them with you over the course of our discussion. The truth and force of faith in our lives as Christians, believers in and followers of Christ, is vital and needs to be considered in its many faceted realities.
Initially, let us look at the tree of this passage, which faith could uproot. This text calls it a mulberry tree. Others refer to it as a sycamine tree which is a variety of mulberry tree in that region. Apparently, Christ and His disciples were conversing in the vicinity of this tree. Christ was giving a response to the plea of His disciples to increase their faith, in verse 5. In that response, He purposely chose to illustrate the power of faith as a teacher would. He tries to give evidence to an abstract truth with a concrete example. The tree is visible to the disciples. It is standing in the strength of deep roots forced into the ground as an anchor against all the onslaughts of the regional climate. It faces flood, wind, and erosion of soil, and still grows and stands strong in its presence. This was not a happenstance discussion. Christ very purposely developed His lesson around this tree.
He probably had a very specific intention because of the elements that are a part of this species. Barnes states the following about the characteristics of this mulberry tree. It is easily propagated, merely by planting a stout branch in the ground, and watering it until it has struck its roots into the soil. This it does with great rapidity and to a vast depth. It was with reference to this latter fact that our Lord selected it to illustrate the power of faith. Now, look at this tree-its ample girth, its wide-spread arms branching off from the parent trunk only a few feet from the ground; then examine its enormous roots, as thick, as numerous, and as wide-spread into the deep soil below as the branches extend into the air above the very best type of invincible steadfastness. What power on earth can pluck up such a tree? Heaven's thunderbolt may strike it down, the wild tornado may tear it to fragments, but nothing short of miraculous power can fairly pluck it up by the roots." End of quote
(from Barnes' Notes, Electronic Database Copyright © 1997, 2003 by Biblesoft, Inc. All rights reserved.)
	In this tree, so deeply rooted, the disciples were facing the unattainable. Impossible is probably the thought that swept through their minds as the tree was the backdrop to this lesson of the Lord. Was Christ truly telling them they could uproot such a monstrous tree with but the exercise of the faith that they did not yet have? Yet, it would not be too much later, in Luke 18:27, that Christ would make the profound statement of the basis of faith, when He said, What is impossible with men is possible with God. In the faith that God would bring forth in these disciples, the impossible would happen. Not trees, but entire world civilizations, even to the present day, would be uprooted and changed forever as the faith of God in Christ spread throughout infinite numbers of believers, through the writings of these Apostles and the teaching of these disciples. 
	As we are presently considering the aspects of this mulberry tree, let us develop it into the practical aspects of our lives. The key factor is the impossibility that is faced with such a gigantic, embedded, and firmly rooted element of nature. What is there in our lives that stands so rooted in the nature of defiant stubbornness? So embedded in the soil of self, that it is only when God does the impossible that those roots are pulled out of the ground of self and cast into the depth of the sea. It is by the faith of Christ Alone, His power that we see this action being put into force.
	There are two aspects of this uprooting and casting away that are before us. First, and probably the most intensely violent clearing away of the entire root system can be seen in our lives as we are before God. As the Holy Spirit begins His wonderful work of bringing forth Christ in our lives, the roots of self and sin need to be done away with. Oftentimes, we look at the mess of tangled roots embedded in our human nature and declare that this is utterly impossible. Nothing, it seems, can ever deliver us from the ensnaring root system that self has formed within the soil of our heart and nature. It seems that we will never have that mulberry tree cast away from us. What faith can change me? What force of love can uproot my self love and wash it away in the sea of Christ’s cleansing love? I am what I am and I just can’t help it! How often do we each use this statement as a means of trying to stop the Holy Spirit from His uprooting work in the depth of our beings?  
	We see our lives, and we see the impossible. We think that nothing can be done, while at the same time we are under the loving, working, burrowing, loosing, self-eroding work of God. We see only stubbornness and self-pity entrenched in the dirt of this age. While we are thus focused, we fail to see the washing power of God that is loosening, grinding down the resistance to His Omnipotent force of love like ocean waves eroding the granite coastlines of our hearts. It is as the roots are pulled forth from the ground, in the wearing away of the storms and trials and tribulations, that we realize the power of God accomplishing that which we saw as absolutely impossible.
	We are standing, just as the disciples stood, before the Lord, thinking that it is not possible for us to be changed, while Christ is doing that very thing, the impossible in our lives. It is by His Love, His Grace, His Mercy, His Lovingkindness that the mustard seed of faith grows strong in the soil of our hearts and brings forth the victorious over throw and uprooting of these mulberry hearts and souls. It is the faith of Christ that works, through the effective power and ministry of the Holy Spirit to change us into that which is fully pleasing and glorifying to God. He does the impossible right before our eyes with but a mustard seed of faith.
	The other aspect of this is that we see others, set in their ways, set against the work of God, set against the power of Christ and His Love and we think to ourselves, what will it take to uproot that self-deception and refusal to acknowledge God, the Lord of All? We see those hard hearts and those smug smirks. We sense the utter lack of forgiveness and the seeming futility of trying to find a way to love that person to the Lord. Nothing seems to sway those hearts. Nothing seems to erode the depth of the soil of their hatred and animosity. What force is there that could change that person? What power is there that can rip the choking core of self-deceit of those human mulberry trees out of the ground and throw it all into the sea? It is but the mustard seed of faith in Christ that can accomplish the impossible. It is but the prayers of the saints, taking those hardened hearts before the Lord, asking Him to deal lovingly and mercifully with that person of our prayers. It is but the whisper of the Holy Spirit into that stony soul. It is by the Holy Sprit’s effective agency that stone hearts are made fleshy and soft before God and before man. It is as God does the impossible, that all things are seen as possible to those who believe, to those who have the active working of faith in their beings.
Scripture is filled with the recognition that God is all powerful, even to the changing of corruption into incorruption in Christ Jesus, Our Lord and Savior. Listen to the prophet Jeremiah in Jer 32:17 Alas, Lord God! Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and by Your outstretched arm! There is nothing too hard or too wonderful for You — W. Cadman makes the following observation concerning Jeremiah and faith, But now we have to consider the promise of faith in connection with the difficulties of our daily experience; and here, too, the example of Jeremiah is instructive. We have seen that he maintained the exercise of faith and resisted temptations, notwithstanding mysteries; that he went forward in the path of simple obedience, notwithstanding seeming impossibilities; but was he not severely exercised and tried with all this mystery, and difficulty, and seeming impossibility? Certainly he was. But faith led him to prayer. And this is the way in which faith deals with difficulty -- it takes men to God. End of quote (W. Cadman, M. A.) (from The Biblical Illustrator Copyright (c) 2002 AGES and Biblesoft, Inc.)
What a marvelous aspect to faith. It takes man to God. It causes our hearts to seek after that which we feel is impossible, that we can be so loved in this life that we live. Please consider how we each came to know the Lord Jesus Christ. It was at a time when there was nothing else that would work or function in our beings. We were at the end of the line. Maybe it was in physical pain and torment. Maybe it was social anguish. Maybe it was emotional distress. Definitely it was spiritual upheaval! We were at a loss, a complete loss and lack of that which we needed to proceed with our lives on this earth. Yes, we knew that something very important was lacking in our beings, and many of us found ourselves seeking after filling that void with all kinds of empty worldly promises, philosophies, religions, and substances. It was a period of utter despair because nothing satisfied, nothing fulfilled, and nothing worked to alleviate the growing void of our being. For some, it was a violent overthrow of all that we knew and practiced. For others, it was an ever increasing craving for more than we had. In each case, it was when the Holy Spirit revealed that God had made the provision to bring us unto Himself in Christ, that we found life. We found ourselves praying unto God for that which only He could give, His Only Begotten Son. We prayed and the miracle of faith enveloped us in the loving arms of God. We prayed and we were brought into His very presence in Jesus Christ. Prayer, whether the sinner’s prayer, as it is called, or simply the earnest beseeching of the Holy Spirit to do that which He needs to accomplish to bring us into Christ, prayer leads to faith and that faith leads to God Almighty.
Looking at the impossible, let us see the impossible promise made to Abraham concerning a son at his and Sarah’s advanced years. Gen 18:14 Is anything too hard or too wonderful for the Lord? At the appointed time, when the season [for her delivery] comes around, I will return to you and Sarah shall have borne a son. The entire Judeo-Christian world rested on the faith of one man and one woman as to the impossible in God. What an impossible thing it was for Abraham and Sarah to even consider that God was serious in the promise that from Abraham a whole nation would spring forth, endless as the sand on the shore. They didn’t even have one son, much less the thousands that would be needed for this reality in their eyes. It was such an impossible thing that, in their human consideration and effort, they tried to make it happen on their own. Their faith lay in what they could see and comprehend, not in the Word of the Lord. They tried to bring about that which only God could do. After the failure of their efforts, God was able to open that womb and to bring forth the son that was always His intent and purpose for Abraham, for Sarah, for the birth of the people of God. 
The accomplishment of that seemingly utterly impossible task shook the very core of Abraham. It was to such a depth in the growth of his faith in the Lord, that he willing brought forth his son to be sacrificed unto the Lord. He did not question it, but did exactly as the Lord directed, knowing then and forever that the Lord was faithful and would do all that He said He would do. “What foolishness,” the rest of the world must have labeled the plan of Abraham to fulfill the Word of God. “What a travesty,” must have crossed the minds of those who knew of the promise, knew of the miracle of Isaac’s birth. Abraham led his son upon the mountain of the Lord to see the way in which God would surely prove Himself. The growth of faith in that friend of God, was established in the prayer of that father for the sake of his son and for the sake of the Lord above all things, including that precious son. God proved Himself as He always does and makes the impossible nothing more than but another manner of showing His Omnipotence, Omniscience, Omnipresence, Grace, Mercy, and above all Love.  
Then, consider the book of Job. It is the book of the impossible becoming reality in the splendor and majesty of God Almighty, Job 42:2 I know that You can do all things, and that no thought or purpose of Yours can be restrained or thwarted. How much faith do we have in operation in our beings? Is it of sufficient belief to realize that nothing can thwart the plan and purpose of God? That is a tremendous truth to be grasped and taken before the Lord. What He will do, He will do. Nothing can hinder Him or the active working of His love, not even the hard heartedness with which we sometimes stand before Him. Who are we to question His majesty? Who are we to doubt His tremendous capacity and essence of Love? Who are we to distrust the very Word of the Almighty God of Heaven and earth? He will do all that He has purposed in His heart from before the foundations of the world were set into place. 
It is not for the rewards or the benefits that we serve and honor God. It is because He is God and it is in that truth alone that we are satisfied with whatever He chooses to do. Whether we benefit or not, whether we thrive or shrivel, it matters not. All that is of value is that which is of God. Job was brought to that very point of realization that God is God and there is no other. It is God Who has created all things. It is God who keeps all things. It is God Who manifests Himself and it is God unto Whom all glory and honor and consideration must be given. It is the faith that we have in Him that keeps us daily walking before Him, considering His Majesty, His Power, His Provision, His Love. He is to be revered because of the fact that He is God, and for that reason alone. 
Again we have the very word of Christ, reiterating what we should be learning by faith day after day, Matt 19:26 But Jesus looked at them and said, With men this is impossible, but all things are possible with God. In the very words of our Lord Jesus Christ, we have the great promise of God in the working power of the Holy Spirit. There is nothing that God cannot do. Where man sees impossibility, with his limited ability of comprehension and reason, God has already done everything needed to accomplish His will. There is nothing that can hinder the work of God. He has no strain on His credibility. There is no challenge to His power and authority. Man can choose to not believe in Him. Man can deny Him, but man will never be able to do away with Him. He is Lord God Almighty and what He has purposed in His heart for all mankind will be accomplished with no limitations or obstructions by any power of earth or hell. Nothing will be undone of that which He has already accomplished in Jesus Christ. Nothing that this world claims to be invincible will be able to stand before the awesome power of our Resurrected Lord and Christ. Faith in Christ accomplishes that totality of what God intended, accomplished and will have throughout eternity.  The entirety of Creation will give all glory and honor and praise to Jesus Christ, His Beloved Son.
The full power of the Triune Godhead is invested and placed in the Lordship of Jesus Christ. In Him, all the fullness of God dwells and works to bring about, through our living faith in Him, the absolute dominion of God. In faith, we offer to God the awe and the reverence that He deserves, with all praise, adoration, honor and glory. His name is exalted above everything for all eternity, in the awesome and limitless and unhindered power of Our Lord Jesus Christ.  
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