Cursing of the Fig Tree
Notes
Transcript
Cursing of the Fig Tree
Cursing of the Fig Tree
Good morning every one, I hope and pray you all have had a good week.
I hope it has been filled with many blessings as you walked under his presence and blessings.
I am sure that many of you have been praying for the Ukraine, but I want to encourage you to continue to do so, the people are hurting, and the churches are hurting.
Ukraine has a great number of evangelical church and Christians that live there, many have refused to leave the country, they believe the church must be present and must help those who remain.
They are going to live their faith outward and serve while being present with the gospel in assisting their fellow citizens.
Please pray for them....
Today, we come back to the gospel of Matthew and we look at our Lord as He moves ever closer to the cross. Today we are looking at what many call the only miracle of destruction. The teaching is the cursing of the fig tree, found in Matthew 21:18-22, so lets look at our text for today.....
18 In the morning, as he was returning to the city, he became hungry. 19 And seeing a fig tree by the wayside, he went to it and found nothing on it but only leaves. And he said to it, “May no fruit ever come from you again!” And the fig tree withered at once.
20 When the disciples saw it, they marveled, saying, “How did the fig tree wither at once?” 21 And Jesus answered them, “Truly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what has been done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ it will happen. 22 And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith.”
So we have seen Jesus as He has come into the city of Jerusalem as the true King and Messiah, during the Triumphal entry the people cried out and praised God for the coming Messiah, it was truly a special seen
Last week, we say Jesus on the second day of the week, Monday, and there as He came into the Temple area he was disgusted at what He saw taking place. The money changers and those who sold pigeons were taking advantage of the people. In response to what He was, Jesus over turned the tables and drove them out of the Temple area.
And this brings us to our events today....
So let me begin with this thought today.
1. There Was An Expectation for His People....
Expectations are a real part of our lives, we look for certain traits or characteristics in people and places. In the service we get going to a restaurant, or perhaps having our car worked on.. We generally have expectations about the things of life.
What if I were to tell you that God the Father has expectations about your life? He knows your life, what you are capable of and what we settle for at times and yes, there are times we do not live up to His expectations… and here is the secret… We are aware of it when we don’t…why? cause it usually involves sin!
But what will we do about it… Will we live according to His expectation?
Expectation is central to the events we see taking place int eh Scriptures, lets look....
Now the Scriptures tell us that it was early in the morning, Jesus and His disciples are leaving the village of Bethany and at some distance Jesus noticed a large, beautiful fig tree…
Now when you look at the combination of Matthew and Mark, it appears that this is an event that takes place over two days, so it could refer back to the early morning hours of the day when he cleansed the Temple, and then the end of the story takes place on Tuesday.
So back to the story…there is this big beautiful fig tree, one that was full of leaves and being as such, it appeared as if it should have had early figs on it even though the Scriptures tell us it wasn’t or the season for figs or at least it wasn’t time for the full display of figs.
But the tree gives the appearance there would be something good there, fruit should be found.
And Jesus goes to see it… You see in moving toward this plant the expectation was there was food for Him and his disciples for the morning...
So a large, beautiful plant, full of leaves, the expectation was simple. it would bear some fruit. It looked good and healthy....
Understand my friends God has an expectation for His people Isreal. With all that God had given to them, He has blessed them, they were in the land of their forefathers with the testimony of the Law, the message of the prophets and the promise of the Messiah. And with all this, God had an expectation as to how the people should be living and serving...
And there is a great truth, even though they were a occupied land, Rome was present and in control. That very fact didn’t change how they were to live as God’s people.
I am here to tell you, no matter what the day holds for us, it doesn’t change how we are to live in front of the Lord our God. He has a clear expectation for us.
In light of that expectation, in light of the instructions of His Word… How are you living? How are you living in front of God.
Are you doing well? Have you met His expectation?
Now lets move on...
2. Examination....
I think it is safe to say, everything in this life gets an examination at one point or another, a check up if you will… are you healthy, are you doing well.
We as Human beings get check ups, they look at everything about us at times to make sure are going to be our best.
Our pets get check ups, we inspect our garden to see how the plants are doing and even our equipment get a check up and service every so often. So everything gets an examination at one point in time or another...
God also examinations our life and how we live in front of Him. Now lets go back to our text...
19 And seeing a fig tree by the wayside, he went to it and found nothing on it but only leaves. And he said to it, “May no fruit ever come from you again!” And the fig tree withered at once.
Jesus saw the tree, He went to it and examined it… and here was this beautiful fig tree, fully covered in leaves, thick and lush. But sadly, Jesus found nothing; no fruit, no figs of any kind… it was barren.
Its a sad thing my friends to look good on the outside yet only to have nothing on the inside.
Now, here is a great question for you to consider.... Did Jesus know the tree was barren…absolutely! He is omniscient… all knowing God.
Then why did He search it? Well, I think a couple of reasons are valid here..
A. He knew the disciples are only human, they needed to see Him inspect the plant physically. It is like us, something we have to see if for ourselves.
Many of us must be from Missouri and don’t realize it.... Show Me State...
B. To use it as a teaching model about His people Israel. They looked good on the outside, proclaimed to be holy and righteous but their walk and talk did not match up.
We can go to the Scriptures and from its testimony, it reveals the hidden natures of their own wickedness.
You see God had examined His people time and time again through the ages and while they would do better at times, they still fell back into sin, into their corrupt natures.
They should have produced fruit, the by -product of a life well lived in front of God.... but they did not.
We are called to do the same my friends, we are called to live correctly in front of God. But do we invite God to examine us...
God here I am today, How am I doing.... tell me… Listen David did...
I think of David in the OT, He called out and invited God to examine His life.
Listen as I share Psalm 139:23-24
23 Search me, O God, and know my heart!
Try me and know my thoughts!
24 And see if there be any grievous way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting!
Why did David invited the Lord to search Him, to ensure he was good. David didn’t fear the test.. He wanted to hear the good and the bad so that He would bare up under the load and have a precious faith,a true faith.
7 so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
You know gold in its raw from, it has to be heated to draw out the worst properties… to draw out the impurities. We do these things to it to bring out the best, pure substance we know as gold.
For God’s people the examination brought the truth, God told them, called them to act upon it and they failed, they failed miserably...
God examines our life daily, and so let me ask you. What will he find?
Will He find un-forgiveness, will he find greed, or lust. Will he find adultery or murder… Remember Jesus said if you do it in your heart, lust after a person, you have committed adultery… If you have hated them in our heart, then you have committed murder.
What will He find… I want to challenge you to stop today and say Lord examine my heart and life and if there is any thing there that doesn’t need to be there, then i am going to lay it at your feet, ask You Lord God to forgive me and help me never to return to that place...
Examinations are good my friends, but they will not mean anything if we do not act on the truth that is discovered in the process.
One last thought today....
3. Judgement....
Here is a simple truth my friends… Our actions or the lack of action can and will bring judgment.
God will judge and He is the righteous judge...
Lets go back to the text.... verses 19 to 22
19 And seeing a fig tree by the wayside, he went to it and found nothing on it but only leaves. And he said to it, “May no fruit ever come from you again!” And the fig tree withered at once.
20 When the disciples saw it, they marveled, saying, “How did the fig tree wither at once?” 21 And Jesus answered them, “Truly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what has been done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ it will happen. 22 And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith.”
Jesus, having searched the tree and having found no fruit of any kind, He simply cursed the tree, making the pronouncement that it would never bear fruit again.
And then they passed that way the next morning, the disciples noticed the tree was dead, it had withered away from the roots up.
20 As they passed by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered away to its roots.
It was dead. Now in truth the outward look truly reflected the inside. You see the tree looked good but it did not have any life to it, it could not produce fruit.
Jesus judged the religious leaders telling them they were like white washed tombs.. they looked good, nice and neat on the outside, but the inside was full of death…dead men’s bones.
Listen my friends, God will judge the living and dead, the sheep and the goats the saved and the lost at the time He has set forth as the end.
How will you be judged… Make no mistake about it, if the tree is judged, humanity will be judged.
The disciples marveled at the very fact that Jesus could curse the tree… and that it would die just overnight..
Faith was the key Jesus said… look at verses 21 and 22
21 And Jesus answered them, “Truly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what has been done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ it will happen. 22 And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith.”
So Jesus closes out this passage with a little teaching opportunity. How was all this possible? Faith....
If you have faith, not only could you remove the fig tree… by faith you can examine your life and by faith you can act on what God has pointed out as the problem.
For Israel, they stand to be judged… IN Luke 13 the parable of the fig tree there we find that the owner cut it down,, because it bore no fruit..
But even the mountain that lay before you.. by faith you could remove it. For Jesus the mountain that lay before Him was the Temple mount. You see Jesus uses the phrase “this mountain.”
As they are leaving Bethany and heading back to the city, the temple lay before Him each day.
By faith He follows the Father’s direction and when Jesus lays down His life on the cross, His death, burial and resurrection will forever remove the temple. The Old Covenant is passing away and with it, the temporal sacrificial system. By faith they would call upon the name of the Lord and He would save that sinner by faith.
By faith, we would see Jesus as both High Priest and King!
He is the King today,
My friends, Jesus came to change the world and its outcome through His sacrificial death that would bring us life.
He has an expectation for our lives… Are you living up to that expectation. You can if you have faith and trust Jesus.
What will His examination reveal? And will you act on it or will you be judged for failing to heed His words and be different.
The choice is yours my friend.
It is yours… Now is a time of decision…
Lets Pray
