If you didn’t bring a Bible along, there’s one in the pew near you, I trust, or you might look on with someone nearby. I thank the Lord for you. It was all established in Deuteronomy 28. And He pronounces judgment. I mean when’s the last time you saw some mountain moved into the sea because you didn’t doubt God but you persisted in prayer? How to share E2R, Copyright © 2020 We throw superficial, shallow, little prayers at God that are so trite, lack so much intensity and so much passion that they dishonor God by even being offered. And they’re regathering themselves on a political basis; they’re not being regathered redemptively or messianically. Now, obviously that’s not literal; that’s a picture of power. You wish that tree dead, and it was dead.”. They have a form of godliness. It’s like the same kind of faith that is illustrated to us in the Gospel of Luke chapter 11, the Gospel of Luke chapter 18, both of which give us the stories of persistent – persistent people where the guy gets his answer because he knocks, and knocks, and knocks, and knocks, and knocks; and where the lady gets her response because she begs, and begs, and begs, and begs. Accordingly, we have updated our Privacy Policy and Terms and Conditions in order to comply with GDPR. Posted on October 4, 2018 by Paul Ellis // 17 Comments, A man had a fig tree, which had been planted in his vineyard, and he came looking for fruit on it and did not find any. “When the disciples saw it, they marveled, saying, ‘How soon is the fig tree withered away!’” It died that fast. – a very large bush. God is going to damn to eternal hell those people who have had a show of religion without the truth. It was a denunciation of their worship. Verse 49 says, “The Lord’s going to bring a nation against you from the end of the earth, as swift as an eagle; a nation whose tongue you don’t understand.” And all of that is curse. You couldn’t do it because of your unbelief. So to say, “If you have faith and doubt not,” is to say that God is able and will do what He says He will do, then you can see it done. Sad day. And having been affirmed and inaugurated as King on Monday, He then proceeds immediately to do two kingly things. Fruit, of the non-aboreal sort that we as believers are expected to bear, is defined only once in the New Testament, in Galatians 5:22-23. With all my heart I want that. And so, He takes this illustration, and He turns it to a spiritual principle for them. Then on Monday morning, a very great event took place. Every day He pours out an abundant provision of grace for anyone who will receive it. He would create utopia to borrow a more modern term. Okay? That is the first principle. What power. But this fig tree was unlike most fig trees. Verse 22 is a dynamic verse. But up on the hilltop, it just didn’t happen that in April fig trees bloomed and bore fruit. That’s what they’re saying. They continue to demonstrate a religion that is leaves without fruit. And you’re just overwhelmed with this leaves without fruit kind of religion. What a symbol of what was coming to Israel. And I know God has a sovereign will, and I know God answers prayer sovereignly. So, what you see here are two acts of kingly authority: the cleansing of the temple and the cursing of the tree. You see, fruit is always the indicator of salvation. . Mustard seed starts small, gets big. The leaves are symbolic of Israel’s religious activity, and the fruitlessness is equally symbolic of Israel. Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. This morning we want to return in our study to Matthew chapter 21. He cursed it. Powerful. And upon entering the temple, He said, “This is a den of thieves; it should be a house of prayer.” And He proceeded to cleanse the temple. And so, He does what must be done: He cleanses the temple; He curses the tree. He laid the ax at the root of the tree, and He did it because there was nothing but leaves, nothing but leaves. Coming to a fig tree in Israel isn’t that unusual. Jesus has arrived in the city of Jerusalem. We had the privilege of meeting the chief rabbi of all the holy places, the chief rabbi of the State of Israel, and the man who was minister of religious affairs. He would be able to make it all work out the way it was supposed to. And they believe that the whole Arab world, at any moment, would like to put them out of existence. You say, “Well, that doesn’t seem to be connected with the lesson. They stripped the woods bare. © 2020 SermonSearch. You should have had the faith of a grain of mustard seed.”, You say, “Now wait a minute. Very important. Now, some people will always come along and say, “Oh, well, but God’s going to do what He’s going to do anyway. Boy, when I see a verse like 22 of Matthew 21, “All things whatever you shall ask in prayer, believing you shall receive,” that’s a pretty dynamite promise, folks. Want to see these messages of radical love and grace reach more? But that is the essence of His humanness. And He says to them, “Your religion is corrupt, and your nation is corrupt, and they are doomed to judgment. ( Log Out /  It is in the morning. I want the best that God wants for this ministry, whatever it is. Without power. There’s a principle that they need, too. He would not only be a military leader, but He would be an economically successful leader. But when He got there it says He found nothing on it but leaves only. So, the parable is understood. What power. We saw some of them. Their source was self and their root was their downfall. In to her words, He was attracted to it because it did have leaves. – you’re cursed. That’s essentially the message of Jesus as the King. And they would stand up at their prayer times, in the middle of the aisle in the plane, and they would wrap the phylacteries around their head, because in Deuteronomy it says, “Bind the law of God on your forehead and on your arm.” And so, they put the box on their head, and they tie the thing all around their head, and then they put it on their wrist, and then they tie it all around their arm, and then they drop a big shawl over their head. And this is a principle for the disciples. And He has a teaching that He wants to convey, and He does it in parabolic form. And instead of cleaning out the enemy, He cleaned out His own house. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Mark says, in Mark 11, that it was not the season of figs. What power. I mean genuine, redeemed, born-again Christians - not quote-unquote Christians because they have Orthodox heritage in the Greek Orthodox Church or whatever. And it’s not mustard seed; it’s something else. The Fig Tree The Fig Tree, of course, is not a literal tree, fig or otherwise. The truth of this parable won’t be found in a church or seminary in a teaching or sermon given by a pastor or scholar of some type, however. He was hungry. It was the triumphal entry. And if my faith will grow, and grow, and persist, and persist, and persist, I’ll see the power of God. And so, if you are living a lie, if you are masquerading as one who is religious, but there’s no fruit in your life, you’re damned; you’re cursed. After clicking 'Register', you will receive an email with a link to verify your account and to complete your registration. It’s in the Babylonian Talmud that they call the great rabbis “rooter up of mountains.” In other words, people who could remove great obstacles, people who could solve great problems, people who express great power. Now, people, the cleansing of the temple and the cursing of the tree then, you see, is very dramatic, don’t you? That isn’t what He’s talking about. And today there aren’t surely nearly the fig trees there were once; they’ve had to be replanted. They are still looking for a military leader. The point of the parable about the fig tree is to have a sense of urgency to bear fruit. But fig trees are very common to that part of the world. A mustard seed’s a small seed that produces – what? And that is why they put Him to death. As they were passing by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots up. Jerusalem and Judaism is spiritually fruitless, sinful, cursed for judgment. Why? This whole section here, from 27 on, deals with whether or not Israel’s going to be blessed or cursed, whether they’re going to be in the land or out of the land. In other words, the Lord is saying if you believe in God enough to be persistent in your prayers, and to start out small and keep praying, and keep praying, and keep praying; let that faith strengthen, and strengthen, and strengthen, then God’s going to respond to that. – “fruit.” Fruit is ever and always the manifestation of true salvation. You ought to put a circle around it in your Bible and see if it is being applied in your life. It’s the same thing, “You disobey Me, you are under judgment.” And they’re under that. The parable is about how unbelief can kill you. Let’s call this the predicament. Change ). The Messiah would come, and He would come in judgment. If Allah say we have a holy war, we have a holy war, we have a war.” So, they don’t know what Allah’s going to say. Blessed shalt thou be in the city, in the field. If your neighbor wakes you in the middle of the night shouting, “Your house is on fire,” but you don’t believe him, you could die. Secondly, even the abusive mis-users of this passage don’t follow it: if the fig tree is a believer, they should wait 4 YEARS (not four minutes) to see fruit, AND work harder WITH the believer during the fourth year before dismissing them as unfruitful (it’s the gardener, not the fig tree, who does the extra tilling and fertilizing). The 1st demon went throughout the world proclaiming, “There is not God!” It’s not saying, “Well, you know, I’d like to have that, and if I have enough faith, I’ll get it.” No, no, no. And if you understand that that means all things in the will of God, it doesn’t hurt it, it just makes it all the better. And he told his people, “If you have the faith to do it and just claim it, it’s positive confession faith. Sermon: The Fig Tree. What should they have done? But the genuine Christian is almost hard or impossible to find. 9 / Do Over Intro: Three demons got together and they were trying to find ways to conquer the world. Well, it isn’t really connected with the lesson of the parable, but it’s connected with their response to the lesson. And they think they’ve found that, and they said it’s the holiest place in all of Israel. If churches refuse to teach the truth, we are much better off without them. And then the second day, when He came back again, there was a second encounter with the fig tree. Change ), You are commenting using your Google account. You go – we’ll be traveling along in the Jordan Valley, and jets are zooming a thousand feet over the ground, up and down. They should have listened to Jesus. It is believing in God as God has revealed Himself. And the Lord is saying, “Look, I want you to know that You have this power. That’s how small and how isolated it. Having faith is trusting in the revelation of God. They are preserved, but they’re not blessed. The religious Jews trusted in themselves. And that’s what our Lord saw. When we left New York, we were on the plane with a whole lot of Orthodox Jews committed to Orthodox performance. And the principle I want you to see because He points it out is in verses 21 and 22. Please contact the publisher to obtain copies of this resource. I can’t do that, but my job is to respond in faith and simple trust to the confident statement of verse 22, that if I ask in prayer, believing that God will do what He will do and is able to do what He says He will do, that I’ll see His power.

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