The Parable of the Fickle Fig

Chapter 13. Passages there in your bulletin,
if you prefer, with place for notes. If I hadn’t been in the almost
identical predicament of having to uproot something that I had
previously planted simply because I found it to be unproductive,
I might find this passage a bit strange, and many have. I read one commentator that thought
Jesus was just having a bad day. But I’ve planted before, and
in fact, one of the most difficult things, but one of the most necessary
things that gardeners face is the need to thin out For the
sake of other plants and for the sake of a good, healthy production,
there is always need to thin the soil, lest you overburden
it with tiny little plants that become unproductive. But I’ve
also faced the situation at times where there are plants that seem
to be flourishing, they’re vigorous, they’re drawing up nutrients,
they’re certainly producing foliage, but unless the foliage is edible,
If they don’t produce fruit, they’re really just wasting the
ground. In essence, that’s the the nature
of the passage before us. I talked to my friends, the Magnussons,
this week. They want to plant fruit tree.
I’m glad that they talked to me about it, because here in
Colorado, as many of you may know, there aren’t a lot of fruit
trees that do really well. Sometimes if you plant a cherry
tree and you wait 20 plus years, You can get a production out
of cherry trees. Apple trees will grow, but you
have to fight everything, including neighbors, worms and birds to
get the apples. Peaches might grow, especially
on the western slope, but they struggle here. The interesting
thing about fruit trees, though, is Most people don’t plant the
fruit trees just for the foliage. They plant the fruit trees for
the fruit. It’s exactly the nature of the
situation before us. And it fits into the context
that we’ve been looking at now for almost two chapters. That
of the urgency of Christ to readiness. Spiritual preparedness. Remember
back, if you think back to chapter 12, verse 21. What Christ urged
there was an urgency of being rich toward God. Not getting
all hung up in earthly things and being more focused on earthly
success than we are on spiritual success. In chapter 12, verse
34, He urged us to store up treasure in heaven. And He urged it with
a sense of last minute urgency. moved from there to chapter 12,
35, and told us to be dressed in readiness. That our whole
being should be one of preparedness to be with the Lord at any moment. Chapter 12, verse 40, he urges
us to be ready. The disciples were so curious
about this question, they asked if it applied to them as well.
And Jesus affirmed that blessed indeed was the faithful and sensible
steward. Blessed is the one who is ready
when Christ returns. Blessed is the one who is ready
when his life is taken from him. We talked also about fire and
division, the fire of judgment and the division that ultimately
comes because of God. And in that sense, there’s an
urgency. He talked about those who could
discern the weather but weren’t able to discern the shortness
of the times and of God’s provision in a Savior, in sending Christ.
Last week, as we rounded the corner and turned into chapter
13, we saw in those first five verses a call to repentance,
a clear, unmistakable call to repentance. And it’s in that
context that Christ uttered the following words. Verse 6, He began telling this
parable. A certain 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. And he said to the vineyard
keeper, Behold, for three years I have come looking for fruit
on this tree without finding any. Cut it down. Why does it
even use up the ground? And he answered and said to him,
let it alone, sir, for this year, too, until I dig around it and
put in fertilizer. And if it bears fruit next year,
fine. But if not, cut it down.” It’s an interesting thing that
Jesus uses this fig tree because the fig tree in Palestine, in
that region, the whole Mediterranean region, This wasn’t just a luxury
item that we might put in our backyard, that we might go out
and pick fruit occasionally. This was a staple. Fig trees
there were valued, highly valued. They produced these little fruits
that were sweet to the taste, but full of nutrients and fiber
and good things. They were indigenous to Asia
Minor and the entire Mediterranean region. They were valued not
only for their fruit, but also for their shade. They have huge
leaves. They could reach up to 30 feet.
And because of the shade in the hot desert climates, the shade
had a beneficial element to the plants around it, those that
were susceptible to the heat. They were cultivated primarily,
though, for their fruit. They grew in the wild, certainly,
but in a cultivated state, they became all that much more productive
because they were watered and they were fertilized and they
were pruned. The fruit, let me just speak
briefly about it, it had a if you’ve never tasted a wild or
a fresh fig, it is, I don’t know, either people love them or they
hate them. And I love them. But it takes some courage to
grab up one of these ripe figs when they literally fall off
the vine in your hand or off the branch into your hand. It’s
kind of a creepy thing to behold. It feels a lot like a toad and
doesn’t look that much unlike a toad. And so the first bite
is the is the most difficult one after that. If you can stand
the texture, it has a rough texture, but it’s sweet, sweet beyond
almost anything that you’ve tasted. They were cultivated because
of their high sugar content, because of their nutrients. Some
even claimed that they hadn’t medicinal values. In second Kings,
Isaiah gave counsel to take a cake of figs and they took it and
laid it on the boil. Remember, as we were studying
the Kings, We don’t know exactly what the medicinal quality was,
but it was this beautiful shade tree, large fan shaped leaves. In fact, the leaves were large
enough that if you may recall, this was the first tree that
was specifically identified in all of Scripture, because these
are the very leaves which Adam and Eve used to cover their nakedness
in their fear of God. This tree is an amazing tree
in that it fruits almost 10 months out of the year, 10 months out
of the year. Its fruit really is identified
as having two specific productions of fruit, the early fig and the
late fig. The early figs begin to flourish
in January and February and they become ripe in March through
May. And so you can literally have fruit for almost six months. And then the second set of figs
begins to form and they ripen in August and they hang on the
tree until almost October. And so if your tree is protected
from the neighbors, you may well enjoy figs almost year round. These figs, they could be pressed
into cakes or eaten fresh. I assume that the cakes must
be something akin to the fig Newton. which I have been known,
everybody has those crazy things, right? Some people put ketchup
unthinkably on their eggs or salsa. It’s not the time for
salsa. I have been known, fig Newton
is a beautiful thing because you can cut it in nine pieces,
three slices each way, drop it into your cereal. It is the best
fruit and cereal that you could taste. I told you I liked them. It was represented in the Old
Testament as being one of the most important fruit trees. One
of the most important products that Palestine had. In fact,
in Hellenistic Greek times, figs and fig trees were considered
so important to the national economy that the Greeks made
special laws to protect the trees and to restrict their export.
In the Scriptures, they were a sign of peace and prosperity. Listen to just three Scriptures.
1 Kings 4.25, Judah and Israel lived in safety, every man under
his vine and his fig tree. Now, it’s not saying literally
that every person in the country had a fig tree, but it was an
image of peaceable existence because of the fragile nature
of these trees. So many times, wars, as they
ravaged the lands, the trees would suffer. Micah chapter 4,
verse 4, each of them will sit under his vine and under his
fig tree. It became an image. It became an image that the prophets
would use to communicate peaceful times. Prosperous times. Zechariah 3.10, in that day declares
the Lord of hosts, every one of you will invite his neighbor
to sit under his vine and under his fig tree. No wonder then the failure or
the destruction of these very slow growing trees that demanded
years of patient labor and effort and pruning and watering and
cultivating the soil. The destruction of those was
considered to be a national calamity. Listen to Scripture again. Jeremiah 5.17, They will devour
your harvest and your food. They will devour your sons and
your daughters. They will devour your flocks
and your herds. They will devour your vines and
your fig trees. They will demolish with the sword
your fortified cities in which you trust.” It was a sign of
national calamity. Habakkuk 3.17. Remember the close
of that book? When first his complaint is,
Lord, you’re not doing anything. And God says, I am going to do
something, but you’re not going to like it. I’m going to send
judgments. And Habakkuk’s lament at the
end is, though the fig tree should not blossom, A national calamity. And there be no fruit on the
vines, though the yield of the olives should fail, and the fields
produce no food. Yet will I praise Him.” Joel
1.7, it has made my vine a waste, my fig tree splinters. It has
stripped them bare and cast them away. Do you begin to get the
image that the fig tree was the center of the property? It was one of the key points
or key features of any substantial farm or garden. Finally, Hosea
2.12 records, I will destroy her vines and her fig trees of
which she had said, these are my wages which my lovers have
given me. It was a national calamity to lose
one’s fig tree, to have an unproductive fig tree, And so what lessons
can we draw when we read about a fig tree that thrives and flourishes
but produces no fruit? Let’s consider this morning the
parable of the fickle fig. You couldn’t wait till I said
that, did you? The parable of the fickle fig. As you can imagine,
the passage presents to us some lessons. Anytime Jesus taught
a parable, that little word parable, I love to take it apart. To para
is alongside. Bole is to cast. To cast alongside
as a simile, a metaphor for us to unravel. There are some that have unraveled
a great deal more out of this than is even necessary. What
I hope to show this morning is just three lessons to be gained.
Three lessons for the Christian to be gained at Christ’s illustration
of a fruitless tree. It’s a simple illustration. Let’s look at the fickle fig. First of all, what Jesus says
in laying out this passage to His listeners, who included not
just His apostles, But remember the embittered phonies, really
the Pharisees and the scribes who were dogging his every step.
And I believe that he said this not just for them, but also even
for his own apostles. Certainly, Christ knew already
that Judas would betray him. Perhaps he even urged Judas to
consider his own heart, to consider his own vine, if you will, for one who would be godly. And
I believe, people, that that includes you and I. For one who
would be godly, we must note three things from this tree.
First of all, you must note its productivity. Fruit is expected. Look at verse 6 again. He began
telling this parable. A certain man had a fig tree
which had been planted in his vineyard. I’ve already told you
that just the fact that it was planted, a planted fig, already
gives it benefits. A wild fig was subject to lose
branches due to wind and weather. It’s out there on its own, left
to fend for itself. Maybe the nine year old’s climbing
the branches. Whatever happened to the fig
tree, the fig tree had to fend for itself. It was basically
subject to whatever soil it fell into. It got whatever water fell
upon it. It received no fertilizer. And
there it grew. And it was as productive as it
was. Neither better nor worse for the care of man. But a planted
fig tree was pampered and babied. If you plant a tree, people,
you dig the hole, you make it larger than the tree that’s going
to go into the hole, and you amend the soil. You fix it. You
fix it by mixing it with good stuff. Don’t just put straight
manure or something in there or you’ll cook the tree. But
you mix the soil. You blend it. and you put the
soil in around the root ball and you loosen up the root ball
because you want it to grow and you thrive. And then you begin
to water it. And in time, not all at once,
but in time, in piecemeal fashion, you give it fertilizer, food,
nourishment. And as the branches grow up,
in times you look at the tree and you prune the branches. Why?
So that other branches will grow. grow more strong and make the
tree healthy. This was a planted, nurtured
vineyard tree. This wasn’t a wild tree. A certain
man had a fig tree which had been planted in his vineyard
and he planted it for one purpose. He may have enjoyed the shade
of it. Other plants may have enjoyed the shade of it, but
the one purpose was fruit. The man loved figs and he wanted
figs from the tree and he came looking for fruit on it and he
did not find any. Not a one. Corners of the vineyards were
often used that way. A spot might be selected for
its fertility. Perhaps a creek ran nearby. Perhaps
the soil was particularly rich there. And they would put the
tree there in hopes of utilizing the shade, depending on where
the sun was. They wanted the tree out of the
way, but they wanted it to have a prominent place. They wanted
it to be productive. What Jesus does here is compare,
in essence, the Pharisees and in fact, the entire Jewish nation
to the barren fig tree. And he had done that before.
God’s Word had pronounced upon them that same judgment on several
occasions. Jeremiah 24 3 said this, Then
the Lord said to me, what do you see, Jeremiah? And I said,
figs, the good figs, very good and the bad figs, very bad, which
cannot be eaten due to rottenness. In other words, he said he saw
a remnant The decent people of God, God-fearing people that
longed for truth and righteousness. But the majority of the people
he saw were as rotten figs. In fact, the image is elsewhere
seen in Scripture. Elsewhere, Israel is compared
in Scripture to a fruitless vine. I have vines in my yard, Virginia
creeper, and I love the beauty of them in the fall. But I’ll
tell you, 11 months out of the year, I don’t know why anybody
would plant Virginia creeper. It goes everywhere. It gets in
everything. It spreads like crazy. All that
for about a month’s worth of fall color. And to have a fruitless vine.
To have a vine that goes crazy and grows everywhere and gives
you absolutely nothing. Hosea 9 10. I found Israel like
grapes in the wilderness. I saw your forefathers as the
earliest fruit on the fig tree in its first season. But they
came to Baal Peor and they devoted themselves to shame and they
became as detestable as that which they loved. Hosea 5. It gives us the same image. Let
me sing now for my well-beloved a song of my beloved concerning
his vineyard. My well-beloved had a vineyard
on a fertile hill. It lacked nothing, is what he
says. He dug it in all around, removed
its stones, planted it with the choicest vine. There was nothing
wrong with the material. I think I’ve told you before
in other situations, there are seed companies in my garden.
I don’t even use their seeds anymore. If you ask me in private,
I’ll tell you so I don’t get sued. But there are products
that I don’t even use out there anymore. This was good stuff.
There was nothing wrong with the vine that he planted. He built a tower in the middle
of it, hewed out a wine vat in it. Then he expected it to produce
good grapes. That’s the key, people. Just
like this vineyard owner who had planted a fig tree, he expected
figs. God expects production. And He expected it to produce
good grapes, but it produced only worthless ones. And now,
O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, judge between Me
and My vineyard. What more was there to do for
My vineyard that I have not done in it?” In other words, God declares
Himself absolutely blameless. He had done everything for the
people of Israel. He had given them incredible
signs. He had sent them prophet. He
had given them his commands. He had given them miracle after
miracle and poured into them all of these graces. To what
end? To what end? In essence, Isaiah goes on to
say, to record God as saying, I’ll tell you what I’m going
to do to my vineyard. I’m going to till it under, in essence. I’m going
to lay it waste. It’s going to be a worthless
vineyard because it’s already unproductive. One of the most recurring illustrations
or parables in the New Testament is that of fruit bearing. Fruit
bearing. That when God pours into an individual,
there is an expectation of harvest. Remember John the Baptist’s first
message? bear fruit in keeping with repentance.” He told those
religious elite, you know what, don’t just bring the repentance
of lips. Don’t just talk about repentance and talk about spiritual
things. Bear fruit. Matthew 12. Matthew 12 records
this. Either make the tree good and
its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad, for the
tree is known by its fruit.” The axiom there is that an unproductive
tree will be known by its fruit. Matthew chapter 21, we’ll look
at that in a moment. Luke chapter 6, we’ve already
seen this illustration in a sense in Luke’s gospel. There is no
tree which produces bad fruit, nor on the other hand, a bad
tree which produces good fruit. Each tree is known by its own
fruit.” It’s exactly by God’s design. Jesus is taking this
illustration all the way back to the garden where God there
on the six days of creation gave the trees, each one bearing fruit
after its kind. He says it’s natural. It’s only
natural for a tree to bring forth fruit. Who can forget the illustration
of John chapter 15? I am the true vine. My father
is the vine dresser. Every branch in me that does
not bear fruit, he takes away. Fruit bearing in God’s economy
is absolutely necessary. What’s he talking about? He’s
talking about a productiveness, spiritually speaking. that when
God begins to pour into us, when God begins to grace us, when
God gives us Scripture, which not all nations have had, which
not all people have enjoyed in their own language, when God
gives us His Word, when God gives us His own Holy Spirit to dwell
in us, when God gives us godly examples, when God gives us a
church, When God gives us kindred spirits
with whom to walk through this difficult world, when God gives
us, he expects a return. You know what? It wasn’t just
in the Gospels that that image, that parable, if you will, of
fruit bearing, Paul picked up the image. And throughout Paul’s
epistles, you see the same image. Romans 1, 13, I don’t want you
to be unaware, brethren, that I’ve often planned to come to
you and I’ve been prevented thus far so that I may obtain some
fruit among you also. These were Christians to whom
he was writing. He wanted them to grow in Christ. He wanted
them to bear more fruit. Not to plateau. Romans chapter
7, verse 4, Therefore, my brethren, you were also made to die to
the law through the body of Christ so that you might be joined to
another, to him who was raised from the dead. Why? In order
that we might bear fruit for God. The very purpose of our
salvation. The very purpose of our salvation
was that we might be productive. Galatians 5.22, the fruit of
the Spirit. Ephesians 5, 9, the fruit of
the light consists in all goodness and righteousness and truth.
Philippians chapter one, verse 11. We have been filled with
the fruit of righteousness, which comes through Jesus Christ to
the glory and praise of God. And it goes on and on and on
through Paul’s epistles. He knew this image. It’s a great
image. Good soil, good plant, good nutrients,
plenty of water, plenty of good cultivation ought to produce
fruit. Colossians 1.6 and 1.10, Hebrews
12.11, James 3, they all speak of the same image. You see what
Jesus’ primary point to those that were listening to him? was
to point out to the Jewish nation and to the people listening to
him as individuals that fruit bearing was expected. That God
had a design on their lives and that all the graces that he had
poured out on them, he wanted something in return. The time had arrived. It was
a reasonable time to expect fruit from the tree. The fruit wasn’t visible from
a distance, and so, upon further inspection, time after time,
this vineyard owner had come and gone, time after time, disappointed. The barren fig tree, this fickle
fig, was a symbol, really, of a fruitless profession of godliness. Great talk about Christ and great
talk about how spiritual we are. But not a lot of visible fruit. One Puritan said it this way,
where God gives spiritual privileges, he expects proportionate returns. Remember, we saw that last week
to him who have much has been given, much is required. And
some of us have been given an incredible amount. compared to
the rest of the world’s Christians, an embarrassingly incomparable
amount. We will speak from time to time
of the pastors that we’ve sat under, under glowing terms, big
names. We will talk about the conferences
we went to and the seminars we’ve attended. Talk about the books
and tapes and CDs that we’ve listened to, we practically memorized. Talk about the schools we went
to and the churches we’ve been to. The things we’ve done and
the people who we’ve been around. But our life doesn’t say that. Our life doesn’t testify that
we’ve sat under these men’s teaching, that we’ve learned these lessons.
I remember Dan Reeves one time, I learned that he was a Christian,
the one time coach of the Broncos, and I can remember him saying
one time and it stuck as soon as I heard it. He said and he
was talking about football. He said, what we do should speak
so loudly that people shouldn’t have to hear what we say. He
was talking about football, but if that’s true of football, how
much more is it true of our Christianity? Is it important to lay out a
resume? Well, this is the church I’ve been to. These are the churches
I’ve attended. These seminars I’ve been to, the books I’ve
read. Who cares? Who cares if our life doesn’t
proclaim it? Who cares? He goes on. He says this was
exactly the position of Israel in the world, they were separated
from other nations by the Mosaic laws and ordinances, no less
by this, by the situation of their land. They were favored
with the revelations of God that were done for them that were
never done for Egypt or Nineveh or Babylon or Greece or Rome.
It was only just and right that they should bear fruit to God’s
praise. More faith, more repentance, more holiness and godliness in
Israel than among all the heathen nations. This is what God looked
for. And what about Christians? What about Christians? It would
be so easy for us to read this passage right now, wouldn’t it?
And to wag our heads at Israel. Shame on them. Shame on them
for not being more productive. Shame on them for not bearing
fruit. Shame on us. Shame on us, says J.C. Ryle.
Christians have the light of truth, the light, pardon me,
and truth and doctrines and precepts among which of which the heathen
never hear. Is it not right that God should
expect from them fruit? We live in a land of Bibles and
liberty and gospel preaching, but we are very slow to remember
that we are accountable to God for all that we enjoy. So I ask you, how fruitful are
you? There are some that have hidden their tree. They don’t
want God to even come looking. There are some that long time
ago quit looking for fruit on their tree because they know.
They know there’s no fruit on it. Hence the resume. Hence the testimony of all that
we’ve heard and done and read and seen. There’s a second lesson
to be learned. One who would be godly must note
not only the trees productivity, but the trees pronouncement.
God doesn’t take this lightly. Verse seven says, he said to
the vine dresser or vine keeper, behold, for three years I’ve
come looking for fruit on this fig tree without finding any.
Cut it down. Why does it even use up the ground? That little term there, use up
the ground, That’s a gardening term. Because he, in essence,
says that not only is the tree not productive, but it has a
positively detrimental effect on the garden. It’s drawing up
water, it’s drawing up nutrients. There are other trees that could
benefit from having a sunny environment, so why not just plant a different
crop and get rid of this useless tree? The Greek word there means, in
essence, to make void or nullify or destroy. In essence, he says
that this tree renders the ground barren, it’s absolutely detrimental
to the garden. It’s absorbing all the bounties
of the soil and giving back absolutely nothing. You know what he says? And he
wasn’t just talking to the Pharisees. Let’s say it this way. Unfruitful
members of God’s church are not merely injuring themselves. You
hear that argument all the time. If I don’t come to church, if
I don’t do this or if I don’t eradicate this particular practice
from my life, I’m not hurting anybody but myself. Nonsense.
Nonsense is God’s word. Nonsense. One pastor said they are an injury
to the church generally, and they do public harm because what
they do is they lower the standard for all who look. Their fellow
church people look at them and they say, well, if he can get
away with it, why can’t I? Or if he can indulge in that practice,
why can’t I indulge in this one? And they lower the standard to
those who are watching and they say, that’s a Christian. They’re
an injury to the church. To be unfruitful is to encumber
the ground. We are always doing either good
or harm. That’s true. What would God find if He came
looking in your vineyard today? What would He find if He came
to your fig tree, as it were, your spiritual fig tree? And it says for three years He’s
been looking. And for some of us, it’s been
a lot longer than that. barren lives, fruitless lives,
full of promise, full of God’s grace, full of promises to God
of change and of growth and of advance in Christianity. You see the image there of the
fig tree. Some people thought that those
three years pointed to the three years of Christ’s ministry and
for three years he’d come looking for fruit. That’s possible. I
don’t know. It’s also true that the typical
fig tree takes three years to mature before it begins to produce
fruit. It was time. It was time, long since time,
and there was still no fruit on the tree. What Jesus is saying here is
that time after time, God had come looking for fruit in Israel. Time after time, he’s come looking
for fruit in our lives. Three years and a lot longer,
He’s come looking for the fruit of change. He’s come looking
for the fruit of the Spirit. Listen to them. I mean, is there
one of us that can say, yes, I’ve arrived. I’ve got these
mastered. Love. Okay, so we failed. I don’t even
need to read the rest of the list, do I? We don’t love like
God loves. We don’t love unselfishly. We
don’t love unconditionally. We don’t love like Christ loved.
What about joy? Walking around sullen and morose
all the time. What about peace? What about
peaceableness? What about peace with one another?
Harmony? Unity? What about patience? What about patience, people?
We’re so quick to give up on each other, so quick to write
each other off, so quick to just be done with people. You can read Galatians for yourself. We fail. If that were the judge
of our Christianity, we fail miserably. And I’m thankful there’s a third
lesson. I’m thankful for the third lesson. One who would be godly must notice
that the trees productivity and pronouncement, but thirdly, its
permission. Delay in judgment is mercy. God says there is going to be
judgment. Fruitlessness brings judgment. Because fruitlessness, in essence,
is just a continuance in the sinful condition. But any delay,
any delay must by the Christian be judged as mercy. One more
day to repent, one more day to reform my life, one more day
to work on the thing that eludes me as a Christian. This voice, this is the voice
of the intercessor. This is the voice of Christ pleading
for us. Oh God, oh God, let me pour a
little more grace into their lives. Just a little more nourishment
from God’s Word. A little more time in prayer.
A little more teaching. A little more of the Spirit’s
ministry in their life. J.C. Ryle said of mercy, He said,
mercy has been called the darling attribute of God. Power and justice
and purity, holiness, wisdom, unchangeableness are all parts
of God’s character. But if there’s one part of His
perfections which He is pleased to exhibit to man more clearly
than any other, beyond doubt, that part is mercy. He is a God
who delights in mercy. was a delay. It wasn’t a refusal
to judge people. It was a delay. I love the way
Thomas Watson said it. He said, mercy delays or holds
back the hand of God. John Flable, the Puritan, said
it this way, the mercies of God are infinite. Mercy gave the
world and us our being. He didn’t need to create us.
All of our protection and provision and comforts of this world are
fruits of His mercy. The free gifts of divine favor.
But Christ. Christ is the first and chief
of all other mercies compared to him. They are but fruits from
that root. Flavor closes by encouraging
sinner, encourage yourself in the way of faith, the Christ
to whom you’re going. It is mercy itself to be broken
hearted sinners. As I said, it was a delay, not
a refusal to judge, not a lowering of the standard, because you
know what? The end of the Gospel of Matthew, as Christ was going
to the cross, he passed by a fig tree. Christ our Savior. It wasn’t a bad day that he was
having. He wasn’t in a mood. He didn’t do like we do as men. I don’t know what it is about
men, but when we get frustrated, we take it out on inanimate objects,
right? Like the lawnmower. If the lawnmower
won’t start, kick it. That’s not what Christ did. That’s
not what Christ did. In the morning, it says, verse
18 of chapter 21, 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 be any fruit from
you. And at once, at once the fig tree withered. God’s mercy is infinite. But
it is not eternal. God is not going to just stay
his judgment forever, and this must have sent shockwaves through
the apostles when they saw the living illustration of what they’d
already been told. A certain man had a fig tree
and now they see it in living color. The fruitless fig. Judged by God representing not
just the people of Israel, but representing any man that turns
a blind eye to the pleading spirit of God for change. God demands
fruit. He’s cultivated you for it. And
he demands to find that in you. Every one of us needs to change.
Every single one of us. Let’s pray. Gracious God, How merciful you
are to us to give us this message. Lord, we know that you are owed
fruit and fruitful lives. We know that without it, we are
we stand judged already before you. And so we thank you for
this moment. This added moment out of your
mercy. To again, look to our lives to
reform them by your grace, to bring our sin to the cross where
Christ is already paid. Father, we thank you and praise
you for your grace and goodness in our lives. For those of us
who know you truly, we thank you for the privilege to bear
fruit. We pray for your grace that it
would flourish upon us for your glory. In Jesus name, Amen. Thank you.