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Matthew chapter number 17. Matthew chapter 17. I want to say thank you to Pastor Anderson for allowing me to be here and be able to preach today. It's always a good opportunity to be here and I love coming to this church. I've had a great time. Matthew chapter number 17. We'll begin reading at verse number 14. The Bible says, Then Jesus answered and said, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I suffer you? Bring him hither to me. And Jesus rebuked the devil and he departed out of him and the child was cured from that very hour. Then came the disciples to Jesus apart and said, Why could not we cast him out? And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief. Clearly 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. Howbeit this kind goeth not out, but by prayer and fasting. Our text verse for this morning sermon, and it's not really a sermon. I guess it's more like a Bible study. But is that Matthew 17.1? Howbeit this kind goeth not out by prayer and fasting. I want to preach or give a Bible study, I guess, kind of a little bit, on a subject that I haven't really heard too much preaching on myself. And it's something that I misunderstood, I think. And I studied it out recently for my own knowledge, and I think it's something that a church needs. And that's the subject of fasting. That's what I want to preach on this morning. So let's have a word of prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, thank you, Lord, so much for these people. Thank you for Pastor Anderson and the stand he takes and his knowledge and his zeal. Lord, I ask that you would just please help me. And Lord, I'm just a man. Just please remove me. Pray that your Holy Spirit would come upon me for this next few minutes as I try to preach. Thank you for this church. And Lord, I ask from my wife that you help her to feel better, be all better for the services on Sunday. In your precious name I pray. Amen. Before we get into the passage here in Matthew 17, I'm going to close my Bible. I got all my texts on the paper here, so I'm just going to close that. Before we really start talking about fasting, there's a few things you need to understand before we actually get into the subject of fasting. And the first thing that really we all need to understand is the subject of the belly, or what the belly represents in the Bible. If you take your Bibles and go to Mark 7, the belly in the Bible represents the flesh or the body. And I'll give you two examples of that. The first example is Mark 7, verse 17, it says, And he was entered into the house from the people. His disciples asked him concerning the parable. If you read the verses before, Jesus just gave them a parable. And he said unto them, Are ye so without understanding also? Do ye not perceive that whatsoever thing from without entereth into a man, it cannot defile him? Because it entereth not into his heart, but into the belly. So you see, God makes, or Jesus Christ here makes a difference between the heart and the belly. See, your heart is, the Bible calls it our soul or our mind. As human beings, we're made up of three parts. We have our body, which is the belly. We have our heart or our soul, our mind, that's who you are. And then we have our spirit, which we understand is dead when we're born and it's quickened when we're born again. But you see here, Jesus, he makes a difference. He says, Because it entereth not into his heart, but into the belly. So he's showing the heart and the belly are two different things. That belly represents your flesh, it represents your body. If you go to John chapter number 7, John 7, verse 37, you got Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, John 7, verse 37. This is just kind of laying a foundation for what we're going to be talking about. It says, In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. But this fake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive, for the Holy Ghost was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. So here you see another place. Jesus said that out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. And he's talking about the Holy Spirit. He's saying the Holy Spirit is going to, we understand that when somebody gets saved, the Holy Spirit comes in and dwells in you, in your body. And Jesus said, he was talking about the Holy Ghost that had not yet been given because he hadn't been glorified. But he was saying, hey, one day, the Holy Spirit is going to dwell your body, just like when he was saying that, hey, out of his belly shall flow the rivers of living water. So you see there again, the belly representing the flesh, our body. You understand that? Now, the reason you kind of have to understand that before you can understand what fasting is all about, is because, you know, we live in a society, we live in a nation that really has made a God out of their belly. Look at Romans chapter number 16. Romans 16. And like I said, this is more like a Bible study. We're just going to be looking at a lot of scripture. You got Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts, then Romans. Romans chapter number 16 says, Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause division and offenses, contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned, and avoid them. For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly, and by good words and fair speeches deceive the heart of the simple. Now in the context here in Romans 16, what these verses are talking about, let's talk about Joel Osteen, let's talk about the Billy Grahams, let's talk about the T.D. Jakes and the Joyce Myers of our days. If you look at the context, he's saying, hey, these preachers, they're not serving the Lord, the Lord Jesus Christ says they're serving their own belly. And you know, the Bible makes it clear, any preacher that refuses to preach on sin or refuses to preach on doctrine, he's not serving Jesus Christ, he's serving his belly. Any preacher that, because here's the thing, if they preach, you know the way Pastor Anderson preaches, many of their crowds are going to leave, right? And the problem with the crowds leaving is that the offerings go down. And see, because of that, God says, hey, they're not serving Jesus Christ. He says they're serving their own belly because they're worried about the offering coming in. Why? Why are they worried about the offering? Because they need the offering because if they don't have the offering, they're not going to drive the Lexus. They don't have the offering, they're not going to drive the Mercedes. Hey, if they don't have the offering, they're not going to have the nice house. They're not going to have the six-figure income, right? So, but you can see, you know, I understand that's talking about preachers, but that can be applied to us. God is saying, hey, when you serve your belly, you're more interested in yourself, your fleshly desires. What, the picture there is what feeds you. You know, but many of us aren't just fed, we're fed with the things of this world. Do you understand that? Look at Philippians chapter number 3. We'll see this again. Philippians chapter number 3, verse 18, it says, For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you, even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ. You see that? You see how the correlation is? You either serve Christ or you serve your belly. You either serve, you're either an enemy of Christ or you serve your belly. It says the enemies of the cross of Christ, next verse, whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame. And look at this, who mind earthly things. What are they thinking about? What are they minding? Are they thinking about heaven? Are they thinking about souls being saved? Are they thinking about spiritual things? He says, no, they mind earthly things. Why? Whose God is their belly. That's the society we live in. You say, well, you know, America's a Christian nation. That's not true. Look around. We live in a nation that serves their belly. You wonder why Hollywood is so wicked. You wonder why every commercial on television has the naked woman on it. You wonder why you can't walk into a Bank of America, right? You can't walk into almost any store without seeing a naked person or a naked ad. Why? Because they're starving their belly. That's what the Bible said. I appreciate what Pastor Anderson said yesterday. Every one of those billboards and every one of those magazines, they're trying to attack your family. They're trying to attack your home. Every time you pass by one of those billboards and they have this naked woman advertising a beer ad, that should make us mad. They're trying to ruin my marriage. They're trying to get me to have this desire, just like my belly has a desire for food and our flesh has a desire for sin. They want you to serve your belly. And in doing so, you become an enemy of Jesus Christ. You wonder why drugs flow so freely in our society, both legal and prescription. You wonder why alcohol runs so rampant, why pornography is the biggest industry in America. I was just reading an article about third graders. Third graders, how old is a third grader? I don't know. Eight. Eight years old. Every kid in third grade is being taught a sexual education class. Why? Because our society has made a god of their flesh. Our society has made a god of their belly. And they figure if we can get them as little kids and start perverting their minds and start getting them to just worship their flesh, then we'll get them to be an enemy of Jesus Christ, right? Why teen pregnancy and pregnancy out of wedlock is skyrocketing. I mean, babies being killed. I mean, anything. Any sin you can think of. You wonder why our society and our nation is the way it is. And I'll tell you why. Because we've made a god of our flesh. Yeah, we have a lot of religious people. A lot of people go to church. But you think they care about Jesus Christ? You think they care about what Jesus said? They don't. They care about their belly, their desire. Just like we have to feed our belly food, they want to feed themselves the things of this world. And in doing that, you become the enemy of Jesus Christ. So with that said, with that understood, the belly represents your flesh and how your belly has a desire for food, your flesh has a desire for the things of this world. You've got to ask the question, what is fasting? Well, fasting is going, what fasting is, is going for a period of time without food. Now, I'm just going to, you don't have to turn these passages. I'm just going to read a few things for you because we're at Faithful Word Baptist Church. We're going to prove everything from the Bible. I'm not just going to open a dictionary and, you know, well, the dictionary says that's what fasting is. No, let's see what the Bible says. Here's an example of fasting in regards to not eating food. Matthew chapter 15, 32, it says, Then Jesus called his disciples unto him and said, I have compassion on the multitude because they continue with me now three days and have nothing to eat, and I will not send them away fasting. That's what Jesus said, lest they faint in the way. So there, I mean, people are stupid. Oh, we need a Bible dictionary. Look, the Bible, if you just read the Bible, it will explain to you. What does fasting mean? Well, I'm without food. That's what he said, right? Esther 4, 16 says, Go gather together all the Jews that are present in Shushan and fast ye for me, and neither eat nor drink three nights or day. So she said, neither eat nor drink. She said, fast, so don't eat or drink. That's what fasting is, going for a period of time without fasting. You know, how long should we fast? Well, the Bible gives us a lot of different examples. Like I said, I'm just going to read these to you real quick. Here's an example of a fast for three days and three nights. The same verse, Esther 4, 16, Go gather together all the Jews that are present in Shushan and fast ye for me, and neither eat nor drink three days night or day. Judges 20, 26 says, Then all the children of Israel and all the people went up and came unto the house of God, and went and sat there before the Lord, and fasted that day until evening, until even, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the Lord. So there you have an example of a fast that went on for a day until that evening. 1 Samuel chapter 7 verse 6 says, And they gathered together to Mizpeh and drew water and poured it out before the Lord, and fasted on that day, and sat there. We have sinned against the Lord, and Samuel judged the children of Mizpeh. So there we see a fast for one day. 1 Chronicles 10, 12 says, They arose, all the valiant men, and took away the body of Saul and the bodies of his sons, and brought them to Jabesh, and buried their bones under the oak in Jabesh, and fasted seven days. So there we have a fast of seven days. I'll give you one more. Matthew 4, 20 says, And when he had fasted, talking about the Lord Jesus Christ, forty days and forty nights he was afterward in hunger. So there we have an example of a fast of forty days. So see, fasting is going for a period of time. I mean, what it actually means, and we'll get into the applications here in a minute, but it's just going for a period of time without food. It's just denying your belly its physical desire for food. Could be a day, could be three days, seven days, forty days, what would have you. So now that we understand what the belly is and what fasting does, and do you see the correlation there between the belly? The belly has a desire for food, and fasting is denying your belly the food for a certain period of time. So what does fasting do? Go to Psalms 35, please. Psalm 35, verse 13. It's Matthew, Mark, Luke, Psalms. I'm just kidding. Psalms 35, verse 13. That's not King James. If your Bible does that, pick up a handbook. It's got more Bible in it than when you got it. Psalm 35, verse 13. It says, But as for me, when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth. I humbled my soul with fasting, and my prayers returned into mine own bosom. Let me read that again. But as for me, when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth. I humbled my soul with fasting. Now, is the soul the body? Is it the flesh? Is it the belly? No. Right? What's the soul? Remember we talked about that? The soul is the heart, your mind. That's who you are. The Bible says that there's something about fasting, your belly, I mean your actual stomach, and going without food for a while that it humbles your soul. That's who you are. Do you understand that this body is not me? Okay, the real me is much taller. This body isn't me. Okay, my soul is me. My mind is me. My spirit is me. This body, one day it's going to die, but my soul will never die. Do you understand that? But there's something about going for a period of time without giving your physical body its food that humbles your soul. And that's what we need. We live in a society that is so into themselves, right? Why? Because their God is their belly. Why do we live in a society where just women are just drawn up? I mean they put layers and layers and layers of makeup in, and the way they dress, and they're so worried about how they dress, and we're so worried about how we look, and we're so worried about what we drive. Why? Because we're worshipping ourselves. Do you understand that? And there's something about just not giving up food for a little while that humbles you. Not your body, but your soul, who you are. Here's another thing that fasting does. Fasting weakens your flesh. Go to Psalms 109, 109 verse 24. You should be in Psalms already. 109 verse 24 says, My knees are weak through fasting, and my flesh failing of fatness. So there we have the body, the flesh. And the Bible says that through fasting we make this body weak. We make our flesh weak. Here's another thing that fasting does. Fasting oppresses the flesh. It brings your flesh into subjection. You're in Psalms. Go to Psalm 69. You like how I did that, kept it all in Psalms? Trying to keep you there. Psalms 69 verse 10 says, Then I proclaimed a fast there at the river of Ahava, that we might afflict ourselves before our God, to seek to Him a right way for us and for our little ones and for our substance. He proclaimed a fasting that we might afflict ourselves. Now Paul said this in 1 Corinthians 9, 27. And I keep under my body and bring it into subjection, lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be cast away. So Paul said, I keep my body and I bring my body under subjection. And a good way of doing that, according to Psalms 69 and 10, or I'm sorry, Psalms 69 and 10, is to, I'm looking at the wrong thing, hold on. You know what, I read the wrong thing. I told you to go to Psalms 69 and 10 and I read Ezra 8, 21. Sorry about that. According to Ezra 8, 21, a good way to bring your body under subjection is to afflict yourself through fasting. But if you read Psalms 69 and 10, it says, When I wept, I chastened my soul with fasting. Same principle. He said, I chastened my soul. So what fasting does, it chastens your soul, it afflicts your body. You know, I don't understand that. How does not eating humble me or afflict my soul, my body? I mean, I understand how it afflicts my body, you know, because I'm hungry. But my soul and humbles me, I don't get that, but that's what God said. That's what fasting does. Now, what does fasting not do? Here's where I think I was wrong in my way of thinking. My whole life, I had been taught, and don't misunderstand this, I'm not saying this is wrong. I'm not preaching against anybody who said this. There's definitely applications to this. But, you know, my whole life I was taught that if you take, you know, our verse there, Matthew 17, 21, I heard preachers, you know, for years, I mean, Sunday school all the way up, I heard, hey, fasting is something you do. You know, there's this kind. There's these certain things that we're going to come across in life that the only way we're going to get victory, or the only way we're going to be able to come over them is through fasting. And they use that verse as a text. I'm not saying that's wrong. But I'm saying there's a little more to fasting than that. And see, the thing with fasting is that I think the emphasis sometimes we put it on our outside circumstance. You know, we'll have a bill come into our life, you know, we get in an accident, we have to fix it, we can't. You know, it's like, I have this outside circumstance that I need God to step in, right? So we go and fast. Or, you know, I have this I have to do, or I have this other thing, and I want God to hear me. So we fast because we want God to step in, in our outside circumstance. Do you understand that? I mean, I'm guilty of it. I remember when my wife and I were getting married four years ago, I took a few days and fasted. You know, and was that wrong? You know, and I was fasting for our marriage. I was saying, God, please bless our marriage. Please just be in this and help us. And I'm not, was that wrong? No. But is that the attitude that the Bible teaches? Because here's the thing, I was praying for our marriage. I was saying, God, help our marriage. God, help us to be able to do things right. Where I should have been saying, God, help me. Do you understand that? Fasting is not as much about your outside circumstances as it is you. Fasting has more to do with humbling you and afflicting yourself and chastening your soul and your body than it has to do with paying some bill somewhere or doing whatever it is you think you need God to do for you. Does that make sense? And see, a lot of times we think if we fast, you know, we have this problem or we have this thing we want to do. We've got something we need to do or we've got something we need God to help us with. And we say, okay, I'm going to take a few days and fast. And I've heard preachers explain like this. When you fast, you're just kind of telling God, hey, God, I'm serious about this. I'm so serious about this, I'm not going to eat. And like I said, that's not wicked. But I'm saying that the attitude sometimes that we have of fasting should be us, should be focused on who we are, on our Christianity. Because fasting is taking your belly and depriving it of what it wants. And when you humble yourself and you're chasing yourself, then you can take your flesh and deprive it of what it wants, which is the sin that this world has to offer. Let me give you some examples. Go please to Esther chapter 4. I know you say, well, I need an example. I don't believe that. Esther chapter number 4, that's right after Psalms. Esther chapter number 4, verse 13, it says, Then Mordecai commanded to answer Esther. Well, let me kind of give you a little bit about the story. Esther is in this kingdom, she's a Hebrew, and the Hebrews are being persecuted. By the sovereign grace of God, she has became the queen, and she's put in a place where she might be able to do something with God to help her nation. And we have Mordecai here who raised her, and he's talking to her. He says, Then Mordecai commanded to answer Esther. Think not with thyself that thou shalt escape in the king's house more than all the children. For if thou altogether holdest thy peace at this time, then shall their enlargement and deliverance arise to the Jews from another place. But thou and thy father's house shall be destroyed, and who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this? Now, this has nothing to do with fasting, but those are some great verses there. He says to Esther, hey, if you don't do what God wants you to do, that's fine. God doesn't need you. God can use someone else. He said, hey, the deliverance will come from somewhere else. But he says, who knows if God's put you there for such a time as this? And, you know, Esther, speak to us. You know, at your job or with your family or where you're at, you know, God might want or have something for you to do. God has somebody he wants you to give the gospel to that I'll never meet. God has somebody he wants you to get saved that Pastor Anderson will never meet. And, you know, God doesn't need you, but who knows if God's put you there for such a time as this? Who knows if God has brought you to that place in your life, to Faithful Word Baptist Church or whatever it might be for this? And if you just step back, she says, hey, don't think that you're going to escape. She says, it's going to get you too. She said, God doesn't need you, but who knows if God put you here for such a time as this? Those are great verses. Look at verse 15. Chapter number 4, verse 15. Then Esther bade them return Mordecai this answer. She says, go gather together all the Jews that are present in Shushan and fast ye for – what's it say? Wait, wait. Pastor, are you sure you don't want us to fast that God would move in the king's heart so that he would have favor in your eyes? Are you sure you don't want us to fast so that Haman will die or get saved? Are you sure you don't want us to fast for your outside circumstances so that God will take care of you? And she says, no, I need you to fast for me. It says, I need. Fast ye for me and neither eat nor drink three days, night or day. I also and my maidens will fast likewise, and so will I go in unto the king, which is not according to the law. And if I perish, I perish. I love that attitude. It's like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. If I perish, I perish. I'm going to do what God said. If I die, I die. I like Pastor Anderson's attitude. I'm going to start a church the way God said to start it, and if it never takes off, then it never takes off, but I'm going to do what God said. That's the attitude you should have. Hey, if I perish, I perish. I don't care what the king says. I don't care what Haman does. It doesn't matter what Mordecai or the other Jews are doing. He says, just fast for the situation. No. He said fast for me. And she said, if I perish, I perish. Let me give you another example. Go to 2 Samuel chapter number 12. 2 Samuel chapter number 12. Here we find the story of King David. King David committed adultery with Bathsheba. He sinned against God. Bathsheba was with child because of it. 2 Samuel chapter number 12 verse 13 says, and David said unto Nathan. So Nathan just came to him. He gave him a parable. He put his finger in his face and he said, you're the man. You're the sinner. And David said unto Nathan, I have sinned against the Lord. And Nathan said unto David, the Lord also hath put away thy sin. Thou shalt not die. Howbeit because of thy deed thou hast given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme. The child also that is born unto thee shall surely die. So he said, this child is going to die. And Nathan departed unto his house. And the Lord struck the child that Uriah's wife bare unto David and it was very sick. David therefore besought God for the child. And David fasted and went in and lay all night upon the earth. And the elders of his house arose and went to him to raise him up from the earth but he would not. Neither did he eat bread with them. It came to pass on the seventh day that the child died and the servants of David feared to tell him that the child was dead. For they said, behold, while the child was yet alive, we spake unto him and he would not hearken unto our voice. How will he then vex himself if we tell him that the child is dead? But when David saw that the servants whispered, David perceived that the child was dead, therefore David said unto his servants, is the child dead? And they said, he is dead. Then David arose from the earth and washed and anointed himself and changed his apparel and came into the house of the Lord and worshipped. Then he came to his own house and when he required, they set bread before him and he did eat. So are you following this? Nathan says, you're the man. The child's going to die. David begins to weep, begins to pray, begins to pass, to fast. Seven days he fasted. He wouldn't change his clothes. He wouldn't come from off the ground. His servants came. They said, hey, David, can we give you some food? And he's like, no, no, I don't. I'm fasting and I'm praying. The child died. And they don't want to tell him because they're saying, man, he's afflicted his body this much. He's afflicted his soul this much. He's humbled himself this much. While the child was alive, if we tell him the child is dead, who knows what he's going to do. But David overheard them and he perceived the child is dead. He asked them, is the child dead? They said the child is dead. Look at verse 20. Second Samuel 12, 20 says, then David arose from the earth and washed and anointed himself and changed his apparel and came into the house of the Lord and worshipped. Then he came to his own house and when he required, they set bread before him and he did eat. So he gets up, changes his clothes, takes him back. He goes to church. He comes back. He says, I'm hungry. Can you feed me? Verse 21. You know, this is what I would have said. Then said his servants unto him, what thing is this thou has done? Look at this. Thou didst fast and weep for the child while it was alive. But when the child was dead, thou didst rise and eat bread. I mean, what are you doing? I mean, you did all this while the child was alive. You should have spent time with the child. And now that he's dead, now you're going to get up. Now you're going to go to church. Now you're going to eat. Now you're going to go on with your life. And they said, thou didst fast and weep for the child. So they're thinking, you fasted for the child. You fasted for the situation. You got caught in sin and you had sin in your life and you're fasting that God will take care of the child and the situation. And look what he says, 22. Then he said, David, while the child was yet alive, I fasted and wept. For I said, who can tell whether God will be gracious to the child? Is that what it says? It says, who can tell whether God will be gracious to me that the child may live? Wait, the servants say, well, you fasted for the child. And he said, no, no, no. I didn't fast for the child. He said, I fasted for me. And who can tell if God would save the child and be gracious to me? See, fasting has all in the world to do with you and your Christianity and your relationship with God and less to do with your outside circumstance. And he said, but now he is dead. Wherefore should I fast? Can I bring him back again? And I shall go to him and he shall not return to me. See, fasting is you. See, maybe you say, I've got this sin I can't get out of my life. I have the lust of my eyes or my ears. I have this music that my flesh has a desire for. I have these drugs that my flesh wants. I have the alcohol and the cigarettes and the drugs and the pornography and there's just these things in my life that my flesh has a desire for. And see, you can overcome that because if you can learn to say no to your belly and humble yourself, then you can learn to say no to your flesh. See, I thought this was a very good sermon because this camp is like a fast. It's like fasting. I mean, we're just getting away from the world and we're just getting away from the job and we're just getting away from the work and we're getting away from the billboards and the people and the neighbors and all our problems. And we come up here and the cell phone doesn't work and we can't call anybody. We can't go anywhere. Sure, there's a Starbucks down the street, but that doesn't matter. But, you know, we come here and we can just get away from it. And God says if we could do that with our lives, we'd have such a great life. But let me show you this, and this is probably the most important part, the correlation between fasting and faith. Now, first of all, what is faith? Well, Hebrews 11, 1 says, now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. You know, I wish those heretics that try to preach repentance, I mean, not a week goes by, and I'm telling you the honest truth, not a week goes by in my life that I knock on somebody's door or somebody comes and talks to me and they say to me, I just think that if they really got saved, if they really believed, they would repent of their sin. That's what they say. I just really think that if somebody really got saved, there would be something there. There would be something to show for it. There would be some evidence, and God says, hey, faith is the substance of things hoped for. Faith is the evidence of things not seen. Well, I just need to see some evidence that so and so got saved. Did they believe? Was there faith? God says that's all the evidence you need. Well, they're still drinking, and they didn't come to church, and they're not reading their Bible, and they're still... Well, all the evidence you need is faith. Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. We're saved by faith, for by grace are you saved through faith, and not of yourselves. It is a gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. We live our lives by faith, for barren is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith as it is written, that just shall live by faith, Romans 1-7. We cannot do anything without faith. We can't even please God without faith, Hebrews 11-6. But without faith, it is impossible to please Him. For he that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him. Our whole life, the whole Christian life has to do with faith. He said, no, no, no. Faith is salvation, and then it's works. Then your life's about works. No, no. Your life's about faith. Faith. Faith. That's all. We live by faith. We please God by faith. We get saved by faith. Don't tell me I need evidence. You're a nitty. Read the Bible. The evidence you need is faith. Did they believe? Well, I can't see it. Did they say they believe? Our lives is all about faith. And fasting increases our faith. Go back to Matthew chapter 17. Matthew chapter number 17. Matthew 17, verse number 14, the Bible says, And when they were come to the multitude, there came to him a certain man kneeling down to him, and saying, Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is a lunatic and sore vexed, for oft times he falleth into the fire and oft into the water. And I brought him to thy disciples, and they could not cure him. So this man brings his son to the disciples, and they can't cure him. They're trying to cast off the devil. They're trying to get things done. They're trying to do this. And they can't do it. Then Jesus answered and said, now this is interesting. Look, he says, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I suffer you? Bring him hither to me. Jesus here is coming towards the end of his ministry. He's getting close and ready to be put to death. And you can see what's weighing on his mind is, how long am I going to be with you? He's saying, I'm not going to be here forever. I'm getting ready to die. I'm getting ready to go. And it's interesting to me, in Matthew chapter 9, 14, there's another passage. I'll read it for you. It says, then came to him the disciples of John, saying, why do we and the Pharisees fast off, but that disciples fast not? And Jesus said unto them, can the children of the bride chamber mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? But the day will come when the bridegroom shall be taken from them, and then shall they fast. You see there, Jesus' attitude is, hey, I'm here right now. I can help you. You can't cast out the devil. I can cast him out. But he's saying, one day I'm going to be gone. He's saying, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I suffer you? He's saying, I'm not, we understand that the Holy Spirit indwells us, but he's saying, I'm physically not going to be here to take care of those little problems you can't take care of. Verse 18 says, and Jesus rebuked the devil, and he departed out of him, and the child was cured from that very hour. And then came the disciples to Jesus apart and said, why could not we cast him out? So the disciples come and they ask, why couldn't we cast him out? Why couldn't we cast out the devil? They've cast out other devils before. They want to know, why couldn't we cast him out? And Jesus said unto them, because of your unbelief, for verily I say unto you, if ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you shall say unto this mountain, remove hence to yonder place, and it shall remove, and neither shall be... He says, but this kind cometh out only by prayer and fasting. Because of their unbelief, or is it because they didn't fast? Because this kind goeth out only by prayer and fasting. I mean, this demon could only be cast out by fasting, but you just said they couldn't cast him out because of their unbelief, because of their lack of faith, so which one is it? And see, the thing is that fasting built faith. Look at this. Go to Luke chapter number 17. Luke 17, verse number 5. Now understand this. Luke 17, verse 5 is a passage and a conversation between the disciples and Jesus Christ that takes place after Matthew 17. Understand that? So this is in the same time frame. Matthew 17 happened. They couldn't cast out the devil. He says it's because of your lack of faith. He also says it's because you didn't fast. And then Luke 17 is after that. And the apostles said unto the Lord, increase our faith. And the Lord said, now look at this. They say increase our faith to Jesus. They say increase our faith. You think Jesus would say, okay, you know, I increase your faith, you know, whatever. Right? Is that what he says? Holy zap. Yeah, holy zap. There you go. They say increase our faith. Or you think they say, okay, this is how you do it. You increase your faith by doing this. Right? But he says to them, look, he says, if ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, you might say unto this sycamine tree, be thou plucked up by the root and be thou planted in the sea and it shall obey you. What kind of answer is that? They say increase our faith. And he says, if ye had faith like a grain of mustard seed. Does that even make sense? They're saying increase our faith. And he's saying, if you had faith. I mean, that's not even answering their question. But look, look at the statement. He says, if ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed. Now, do you recognize that? That's what he said to them in Matthew 1720. If ye had faith like a grain of mustard seed. Now, look, we have a King James Bible. Nothing in the Bible is accidental or coincidental. Look, Jesus, the Lord Jesus Christ wasn't like us or, you know, sometimes, and I do this all the time. We just start talking and blah, blah, blah. And we're not even thinking about what we're doing, you know, what we're saying. Later on in the day, you're thinking to yourself, man, that was the stupidest thing. Why did I say that? Look, Jesus is not like me. Jesus said, man should not live by bread alone but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. I can promise you, every word that Jesus Christ said was well thought out, well planned out. He knew what he was saying. Now, that statement, if you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, is found in Luke 17, Matthew 17, which that right there. I mean, Matthew 17, Luke 17, you see there how the King James Bible was divided divinely. And it's found in other parables, which when you read those, you can see how they're different from this. But see, they say to him, increase our faith. And he doesn't answer the question because Jesus is thinking to himself, I already told you how to increase your faith. I've been cast out and I said it was because of your unbelief and I said it was because of fasting. And now you're asking me, how do I increase my faith? And I said, I already told you how to increase your faith. Something about fasting. I think fasting is something that's been lost to our generation of Christianity. I just really don't hear that much about fasting. I just really don't hear that much about Christians fasting. And here's the reason why the Christians that are in our world today are a bunch of yellow belly, belly worshiping Christians. We don't want to suffer. We don't want to do anything for God. We don't want to afflict ourselves. I was telling my wife this on the airplane here. I was thinking and meditating about this stuff and I was thinking to myself, man, our Christianity is so weak. You know, because I was studying for another sermon I'm going to be preaching on Sunday night, Lord willing. And I was seeing how when the millennium starts, you know, and God, we have there the judgment seat of Christ and God is rewarding Christians for what they do. And I understand that that's all of us and we'll all get rewarded. But the Christians that he points out there, he says the Christians who their heads were cut off, who came out of great tribulation, he pinpoints on them. I mean, I hate to break it to you, but I just don't, I really think we're going to get to heaven and be humble. Because I just can't imagine that Paul and Abraham and all these men that lived under persecution that could have died. You know, all these Christians that could have died. I just don't think they'd be putting in the hour of soul winning that we're putting in. I just don't think that they'd be living their life the way we're living. Hey, I understand there's some things that maybe might not be wrong, but they're keeping you from God. I understand. Hey, I just don't, I can't imagine the apostle Paul wasting his time working on his free throw shot or working on a puzzle piece or reading some other book. If he was in our country, I'd just imagine that he'd be running up and down the street and telling people, hey, be saved. And I just don't see that. I just don't see that in our Christianity. I just don't see the Christianity that would say, I'm going to afflict my soul. I'm going to give up some things. I think we're going to get to heaven and realize, you know, we're great Christians of God, that's what we think. We're going to realize, man, we wasted our lives because we worshiped our belly. So why do we need fasting? Why am I preaching this message? What's the point? Well, here's the point. Sometimes we feel like we cannot bear what we are going through. Sometimes we're put in situations by God to tempt us. We understand the Bible says in 1 Corinthians chapter 10, verse 13, it says, there have no temptations taken you, but such as is common to man. But God is faithful who will not suffer you to be tempted above that you are able, but will with the temptation also make a way to escape that you may be able to bear it. Now, we understand that God does not tempt us with sin. James 1, 13 says, let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God, for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man. So God doesn't tempt you with sin, but that word tempted, it's talking about putting you through something, you know, kind of testing you out, putting you in the fire, seeing what you're going to do. Perfect example, Genesis 22, 1, I'll read it for you. It came to pass after these things that God did tempt Abraham. Well, did God set up, you know, bad magazine in front of him, I'm tempting you, that's not what he did. It says that God did tempt Abraham and said unto him, Abraham, and he said, behold, here am I. And he said, take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah, and offer him therefore a burnt offering upon one of the mountains, which I will tell thee of. So when God tempts you, he's not tempting you with sin, but yes, God sometimes puts us in situations in our lives that all of us will go through. And look, I don't know you, I don't know anything about you. When I talk best to Anderson, this is what he says about his church, I love my church. My church are soul winners, my church is great, you know, he never tells, he doesn't tell me your problems, or he doesn't tell me, you know, whatever. But I know somebody here, I know myself, I know all of us at some point, we're gonna go through something that maybe we feel like, man, I just don't think I can make this. I don't think I can get through this. I just don't think that I'm gonna be able to come through this. But God says he's not gonna tempt you above that year, right? Another reason why we need fasting is because sometimes we are tempted by sin. That verse I read, James 1-3 says, let no man say, when he is tempted, I am tempted of God, for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man, but every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust and entice. So when are you tempted when your own lust draws your way? When are you tempted by sin? When your belly, when your flesh, when your desire comes out and you just want something? And you know, sometimes there's sin, or sometimes there's situations, or sometimes there's things in our lives that we go through and we say, man, I just don't think I'm gonna make it through this. And here's the thing, we can do anything with God. We understand that I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me. Jeremiah 32, 17, Our Lord God, behold, thou hast made the heavens and the earth by thy great power and stretched out arms, and there is nothing too hard for thee. In verse 27, Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh, and there is nothing too hard for thee. There's nothing that God cannot do. But we can do nothing without faith. There's nothing you can do without faith. When Jesus, you know, when you read through the Gospels and Jesus was going through and performing his miracles and healing his miracles, He was constantly asking people, do you believe that I can do this? Do you have faith that I can do this? Let me give you an example, Matthew 9, 28, And when he was coming to the house, the blind man came to him, and Jesus saith unto them, Believe ye that I am able to do this? They said unto him, Yea, Lord. Another example, Mark 9, 22, And oft times it hath cast him into the fire and into the waters to destroy him. But if thou canst do anything, have compassion on us, and help us. And Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe all things are possible to him that believeth. And straightway the father of the child cried out and said with tears, Lord, I believe, help thou mine unbelief. See, there's nothing you can do without belief. I'm not just talking about being saved, I'm talking about there's nothing, God works, he operates on faith. Matthew 13, 57, probably one of the saddest verses in the Bible. And they were offended in him. But Jesus said unto them, A prophet is not without honor, save in his own country and in his own house. And he did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief. See, the only thing, God is all power. Is there anything to do art for the Lord? I can do all things, right? But there's one thing that will stop God and it's unbelief. It's faith. It's the lack of faith. And see, I preach this message because maybe you're going through something or maybe you will go through something. A sin that you just don't feel you can cast out. A situation, you know, like David, his son was dying. Like Esther who had to go stand in front of a king and she could die. Something that's going on and you say, I just don't know that I can do. And look, that attitude is the lack of faith. That attitude when you say, I just can't quit these drugs or I just can't quit this music. That's saying I don't have the faith that God can do it through me. And God, Jesus, gives us a mode. He says there's going to come things in your life that are going to be a little more to handle than the faith you have. And he says you can increase that faith, but you've got to pass. How do I increase the faith? By going to church? How do I increase my faith by doing good things or being a good person? He says no, you've got to take the desire from your belly. Separate yourself from your flesh. Starve yourself a little bit, physically and spiritually. And God says when you humble yourself, there's something about humbling yourself, something about afflicting yourself. There's something about just humbling yourself before God that takes your reliance from you. See, when you're proud, you're relying on yourself. But when you afflict yourself, you humble yourself, you realize, I need God. And God says that increases, that increases your faith. Why couldn't they cast out the devil? Was it because they couldn't fast? They didn't fast? Or was it because of their unbelief? It was both. They didn't have the belief, the faith, to cast it out, but if they would have fasted, it would have increased their faith. No, no, no. If they would have fasted, then God would have stepped in and cast it. No, no. They would have fasted. It would have increased your faith. Remember this, fasting has more to do with who you are than whatever's going on in the world. Let me leave you with these verses. Mark chapter 11, verse 22. And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God. For verily I say unto you that whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed and be thou cast into the sea, and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass, he shall have whatsoever he saith. Therefore I say unto you, What things soever you desire, when you pray, believe that ye receive them and ye shall have them. And look, I'm not saying that, you know, like these Pentecostals, you know, Billy Graham heals you and then, or not Billy Graham, Benny Hinn, same thing, doesn't matter. Benny Hinn heals you and then you don't really get healed and say, oh well that's because you didn't have faith. Look, having faith doesn't necessarily mean God is going to heal your son, David. It doesn't necessarily mean that God's going to fix whatever your problem, but increasing your faith will mean that whether God fixes it or not, you can stand like Esther and say, hey God, if you fixed it, if you don't fix it, if you heal my son, if you don't heal my son, whatever you do, if I perish, I perish. And that's what fasting does.