You Must Be Fruitful

"¹⁸ Now in the morning, when He was returning to the city, He became hungry. ¹⁹ Seeing a lone fig tree by the road, He came to it and found nothing on it except leaves only; and He *said to it, "No longer shall there ever be any fruit from you." And at once the fig tree withered.

²⁰ Seeing this, the disciples were amazed and asked, "How did the fig tree wither all at once?" ²¹ And Jesus answered and said to them, "Truly I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and cast into the sea,’ it will happen. ²² And all things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive."

Matthew 21:18-22 

Good Morning my beloved,
 
We welcome you to worship in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. What a joy it is to be studying the Gospel of Matthew. It is a privilege and an honor to preach verse by verse. It is a joy to have all of you here with us today. Let us continue to pray for God’s mercy on our church families, extended families, our community, our country, and our world, as seek to be where He wants us to be, so that even more hearts are turned toward Jesus Christ. 

 

This parable stays alone in the midst of the thirty-seven miracles of Christ as recorded in the Bible, it is the only one recorded of a destructive nature. Critics of Christ claim He acted impulsively and showed impatience when He cursed this tree, overlooking I believe, several key factors. Without realizing it, they are acknowledging that He had supernatural power. Jesus never acted out of impulse, every action was deliberate. This miracle was performed that man might not lose sight of His judicial character. He alone has the right and authority to exercise judgment, even on a soulless tree. Nothing disgraces the character of Christ, on this day or any other.

 

In Hebrews 13, the writer says, "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever." Many today, seem to have forgotten that they will one day they will stand before Him, either at the Great White Throne Judgment, in which unbelievers will be judged according to their works, punished and sentenced to everlasting punishment in the lake of fire, or the Bema Seat Judgment, in which Christians are held accountable for their actions, to answer for their lives since they were saved. The Bible is very clear, He will be the judge of all. Romans 14 tells us, "It is written: "‘As surely as I live,’ says the Lord,
‘every knee will bow before me; every tongue will acknowledge God.’"

 

Furthermore, Jesus' actions serve as an example, a lesson we would all well to learn, this miracle happened through powerful faith! I believe powerful faith can move mountains; it can heal broken relationships, mend marriages, and restore communities. Powerful faith can bring new life to our churches; revitalizing our commitment, devotion,and worship to the One True Living God. Powerful faith in Jesus knows no boundaries!

Let us pray

Heavenly Father,
 
Father, thank You for Your Word. May it cause us to examine our own hearts, and find there is fruit there. Lord,  if there be some here with us today whose lives are but nothing leaves bearing no fruit, we pray by Your Spirit they would become more faithful. We pray that no one hearing this message would turn their back on Christ. May those of us who are fruit-bearing Christians, never fail to be found faithful of our commitment to persistent prayer for those who are lost, or sitting under false teaching. We pray that You would a mighty work, awaken each and every dead heart. Deliver their souls from judgement and hell, bringing them to the knowledge of the truth. 

In Jesus' name we ask and pray

Amen

Today's Message: You Must Be Fruitful

When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the self-righteous religious weren't interested in believing in Jesus, a Messiah, that didn't fit their corrupted preconceived image. Instead of attacking Rome, He attacked the wealthy, elite Jewish religious leaders. He confronted their self-righteousness, He condemned their misguided beliefs, informing them that their teaching was inconsistent with God's kingdom, He even cleansed the Temple. He prescribed curses of them, calling them a brood of vipers and white washed toms. 

 

Many professing Christian people they want Jesus, just not the one of the Bible, the One Who came to confront with their sins and call them to repentance! He doesn't fit the image of the all loving, sin tolerating Jesus they want Him be. Like the scribes and Pharisees, it's inconceivable He come and condemn them. Trusting in men, rather than God, they are deceived, satisfied in their corruption, rejecting the One True Living God. In over two thousand years, we find not much has really changed, people still misunderstand the kingdom of God. It's the same exact thing, "We will not have this Jesus reigning over us!" And you can’t understand why they wanted Him dead? People value their personal comfort and the lustful desires of their temporal lives, far more than their eternal lives. This is another profound lesson, one not easy for many to receive.

Open your Bibles, to the twenty-first chapter in the Gospel of Matthew. Matthew chapter twenty-one, verses eighteen through twenty-two. Matthew 21:18-22 . Follow along with me, if you will as I read these five verses to you. I invite you to open your hearts and your minds, to hear what God has for us today. 

"Now in the morning, when He was returning to the city, He became hungry. Seeing a lone fig tree by the road, He came to it and found nothing on it except leaves only; and He *said to it, "No longer shall there ever be any fruit from you." And at once the fig tree withered.

Seeing this, the disciples were amazed and asked, "How did the fig tree wither all at once?" And Jesus answered and said to them, "Truly I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and cast into the sea,’ it will happen. And all things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive."

Let's look at verse 18, "Now in the morning, when He was returning to the city, He became hungry." 

After Jesus coronation, He cleansed the temple, and showed compassion by healing the blind and lame, as 

the children shouted "Hosanna to the Son of David," angering the chief priests and the scribes. He left

and went to Bethany, to stay with Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. Now it's morning and we find Him journeying toward Jerusalem. Somewhere along the way, He become hungry. I've been asked "Why was Jesus hungry?" The particulars as to why Jesus was hungry, is a divine mystery. I believe it could be any number of reasons, but I won't belabor the point, just that the best answer is it reveals the essence of His humanness. 

 

Remember, Hebrews 4:15 tells us, "For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses..." He is fully God and fully man. I mean, why do you or I get hungry, we're human. There have been many, many times, while praying and studying Scripture I have forgotten to eat, and when I'm finished, I realize I'm hungry. Perhaps, knowing that He would soon be crucified, He had been praying or that He left Bethany before Mary and Martha were awake. We just can't be dogmatic about the reason, just that He was.

Verse 19, "Seeing a lone fig tree by the road, He came to it and found nothing on it except leaves only; and He *said to it, "No longer shall there ever be any fruit from you." And at once the fig tree withered."

It’s worth noting that there’s a lot written about figs trees, they are very common to that part of the world. But this fig tree was unlike most fig trees. "He came to it and found nothing on it except leaves only." The fig was abundant in the land, but because it was only April, there shouldn't have been leaves on it in Jerusalem, that in itself would have been very uncommon. The fruit comes before the leaves. The absence of fruit is the mark of the judgment. By the way, this was lone roadside fig tree, so Jesus wasn't invading someone's private orchard, as some have suggested. The issue isn't whether or not this tree had leaves, the clear issue was that it didn't bear fruit. If it had leaves, there should have been fruit. It has a pretense of fruit, but no fruit. This was a fruitless, diseased tree. I believe Jesus is teaching us about bearing fruit in our spiritual lives. 

 

Peter said He cursed the tree, He pronounced its destruction and it immediately died. He is denouncing their nation as fruitless. In Matthew 7:16, Jesus says "By their fruit you will recognize them..." In John 15, He says, "I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing." Fruit is always the manifestation of true salvation. Interestingly, there aren't nearly as many fig trees as there once were, they made a law that every man was taxed according to the number of trees he had, so many people cut down their trees. Their absence may well be a mark of God’s judgment. 

 

In Jerusalem in particular, there was the appearance of God, their vain repetition of meaning prayers, claiming to be holy, zealous for God, but they were utterly fruitless. The Lord was patient, He cleansed the Temple, but they rejected the truth of God in their own Messiah, wanting Him dead. So He cursed the tree because they were nothing but leaves, that's what our Lord saw. Today, however, the fig trees are coming back, but they had to be replanted. 

 

They had forgotten that the Messiah would come, and He would come in judgment. In John 9:39, Jesus said, "For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind." 

 

Verse 20, "Seeing this, the disciples were amazed and asked, "How did the fig tree wither all at once?" The fig tree was symbolic of what was coming to Israel. In 70 A.D., the Romans came and literally destroyed the city. Here Deuteronomy 28:15, comes into clear focus. "If you do not obey the Lord your God and do not carefully follow all his commands and decrees I am giving you today, all these curses will come on you and overtake you." Today, Israel is still under a curse from God, because they continue to reject the Messiah. They don’t recognize that only the Messiah can restore them. That's why they have no rest. Israel is always in a constant state of alert. In fact, threats against Israel have become so common, they think anything of it. Military planes are constantly flying over the ground, they’re waiting for the enemy to cross the boarders from Arab nations. They know war could break out at anytime. Today, God preserves His people in an unblessed situation. Someday they are going to be redeemed, then they will know peace. 

If your spiritual life is nothing but leaves, bearing no fruit, I warn you, God is going to damn to hell those who have religion without truth. If you are living a lie, He knows. God will judge the hearts of men, not the outward appearance. It's coming folks, it's coming.

Verse 21, "And Jesus answered and said to them, "Truly I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and cast into the sea,’ it will happen."

 

This isn't about the lesson itself, it's about their response to the lesson in verse 20, they were amazed. It's about faith having of power.  Faith can cause trees to wither and mountains to move, He's not talking about in a literal sense, it's a metaphor. People who express the power of faith can overcome obstacles, overcome difficulty in otherwise impossible, hopeless situations. If you have saving faith, that power is available to you. Nothing will be impossible, that's the application here. I have experienced this in my own life, it's really an amazing thing. Every true believer has that same power available. You have to put your your confidence in God, not in your own ability. The problem with many professing Christians, is faith. Faith is not just believing in God, but having utmost confidence in God, knowing without doubt God is able and if it is consistent with His desire, He will do it. That "name it and claim it" stuff, that's being propagated today is utterly ridiculous. Having faith is trusting whole heartedly in God. Our faith is activated by prayer, not by ridiculous demands.

 

That brings us to verse 22, "And all things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive." That's a tremendous promise! If we pray and ask to the glory of God, consistent with His will, we can know we’ll receive it. The key is to pray faithfully, and believing He’s able to do it. It has to be His will, not ours. God doesn't honor prayers for selfish purposes, or for our lusts, million dollar mansions, that is out of His will. We are to pray faithfully, believing consistent with the name and purposes of Christ. If you believe, and have faith in God enough to be persistent in your prayers, praying and praying, then God’s going to respond to that.

 

Luke 18, "Now He was telling them a parable to show that at all times they ought to pray and not to lose heart, saying, "In a certain city there was a judge who did not fear God and did not respect man. There was a widow in that city, and she kept coming to him, saying, ‘Give me legal protection from my  opponent.’ For a while he was unwilling; but afterward he said to himself, ‘Even though I do not fear God nor respect man, yet because this widow bothers me, I will give her legal protection, otherwise by continually coming she will wear me out.’" And the Lord said, "Hear what the unrighteous judge *said; now, will not God bring about justice for His elect who cry to Him day and night, and will He delay long over them?"

 

By the way, when God is calling you to do something, He will equip you with the resources to do it. Prayer isn't about just telling God what we want Him to do, it's about seeking His will and aligning our will with His. 

 

In Closing..

 

I only want the best that God wants for me, for this ministry, His Church and I want God's best for you, whatever that is. I can’t do that on my own, God does that, I simply respond to Him in faith. That's my part, to trust His sovereignty over all things. I have committed in my own heart to a greater prayer, more powerful prayer life, trusting God to do what must be done. We each have to examine our own hearts, there must be fruit, not just leaves. I pray you'll find the fruit of humble, persistent prayer.  

 

May it be so..

And now may the Lord bless you and keep you;

the Lord make His face shine upon you,

And be gracious to you;

The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.

Now and forever, in Jesus' name
Amen

 
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