They are still not interested in the Jesus of the Bible. then hear in heaven your dwelling place, and do according to all that the foreigner calls to you, so that all the peoples of the earth may know your name and fear you, as do your people Israel, and so that they may know that your name has been invoked on this house that I have built. Their response to the lesson’s in verse 20. Then they came to Jerusalem. b. Sermon for Lent 3C: Repent, Towers Are Falling And Trees Are Fruitless. And it was all nothing but leaves, because they have denied the truth of God. © 2021 Grace to You. b. The completed registration allows us to send order and donation receipts to the email address you provided. It had died immediately from His curse; they just didn’t see its death until the next day. This is His message the next day, “You’re doomed.” Boy, they really didn’t expect their Messiah to come to deliver that word, did they? They’re saying, “Lord, what power. And so, He takes this illustration, and He turns it to a spiritual principle for them. The life cycle of a fig tree is similar to the spiritual life of an individual. I get – I’m weary of a church without power. And He got on that colt, the foal of an ass, and rode triumphantly into the city of Jerusalem before the hosannas of the people, the palm branches that were thrown in His way, the garments that were thrown down, upon which the animals walked. First, cleanse the temple; second, curse the tree. Because what do you want? We watched all of this, and all this religion going on all around, and you’re just overwhelmed with the fact that it’s all without any righteous fruit. But the genuine Christian is almost hard or impossible to find. Israel is that fig tree and when we see her developing into a healthy nation and expanding in accordance with God's Word, we may be sure that the Lord's return is imminent.— S. J. W. Chase (Matt. You say, “Well, that doesn’t seem to be connected with the lesson. c. He stresses the need for true forgiveness and how forgiveness is the starting point of genuine faith, and answered prayers. He is coronated on one day. 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? f. There is a direct link between the cursing of the fig tree and the cleansing of the Temple. The court of the Gentiles was the largest part of the Temple complex. The Fig Tree Parable. Picture Calvin from Calvin and Hobbes. And again, that night, Tuesday night, He went back to Bethany, most likely, to spend the night in the home of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. Intro: We are walking with Jesus and His disciples through the last week of His earthly life. The parable relates to the siege of Jerusalem and the ruin of the Jewish nationality, illustrating Matthew 24:4-22. So, He says to them, “Let me tell you something, men. THE FRUITLESS FIG TREE. The fruit of the fig-tree was good and sweet; and so people would often go to a fig-tree to sit back, relax, and reflect while munching away at a fig (John 1:48). Matthew just combines the whole thing to get at the truth. 21 And Peter calling to remembrance saith unto him, Master, behold, the fig tree which thou cursedst is withered away. They’re still a cursed people. That’s that ridiculous stuff that you hear being propagated today, “Well, if you have enough faith, you can have everything.”, I heard about a pastor yesterday who claimed a whole piece of property for his church. So, everybody went out and cut down all their trees. The story tells us that the tree was in full bloom, so Jesus would have expected there to be figs. See, the Arab world, they say – says, “Whatever Allah says, we do. Church Seasons, Lectionary, Sermon. Calvin responds, "Forget it Mo. And so, our Lord, in His hunger, sees this fig tree, and it says it was along the way, which means it was a roadside fig tree; He wasn’t invading someone’s private orchard. And you can get all tangled up in the sovereignty of God, and then you can make your prayer life literally impotent. 5/14/2011*5/14/2011. That’s not mustard seed; that’s not getting stronger, and bigger, and larger. Brian Donovan The Fig Tree And along with Him are the ubiquitous disciples, desperately in need of another profound lesson and about to receive one. The Lord was patient, but He cursed the tree. Jesus gave clear instructions to the early disciples. We saw some of them. I want the best that God wants for this church. 27Then they will see 'the Son of Man coming in a cloud' with power and great glory. Parable of the Fruitless Fig Tree – Luke 13:1-9 By Ron Latulippe on August 12, 2012 Download MP3 Tags: ... SERMON NOTES. They know no rest. Faith of a grain of mustard seed, that’s the smallest seed there is.”. You keep pursuing, keep persisting, keep knocking, keep crying out. So, what you see here are two acts of kingly authority: the cleansing of the temple and the cursing of the tree. It wasn’t just after the three years of His ministry that the fulfillment of that curse came. Oh, maybe this tree was at a very fertile point in the soil. They are doing their thing. The rulers were very angry with Jesus, and they plotted to kill him. Divided into four parts: The court of the Gentiles; the court of the women; the court of the Jews; and the Holy of Holies. Thus, instead of merely cursing and killing a lowly fig tree, Jesus is saying that Judaism itself is cursed and will die off — “dry up at the roots,” as a later passage explains when the disciples see the tree the next day (in Matthew, the tree dies immediately). Notice at the end of verse 19, “Immediately the fig tree withered away.” When He cursed it, it died. Calvin responds, "Forget it Mo. But they also had symbolic significance. The disciples came back; they couldn’t do a miracle they wanted to do. The whole purpose of the temple had been distorted. 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. And it’s not mustard seed; it’s something else. And today there aren’t surely nearly the fig trees there were once; they’ve had to be replanted. In fact, in Micah 5:2, it says He would be born in Bethlehem, but His goings would have been of old from everlasting. – “fruit.” Fruit is ever and always the manifestation of true salvation. And how is that appropriated? Enter your email address and we will send you instructions on how to reset your password. This morning we continue with our sermon series on the parables of Christ. So, the parable is understood. He cursed it. It’s the same thing, “You disobey Me, you are under judgment.” And they’re under that. And Zephaniah, Zechariah, and Micah all tell us also that the King would be none other than God. That’s a profound lesson. Blessed shalt thou be when thou comest in, when thou goest out.” And further blessing is pronounced all the way down to verse 14. More Teaching Ideas on the Parable of the Fig Tree. An unproductive fig tree in a vineyard is pretty much useless—unless you're like Nathaniel and want to use it only for shade (John 1:48 John 1:48 Nathanael said to him, From where know you me? They don’t recognize the State of Israel; therefore they trade only in the American dollar; they won’t use Israeli currency. And, you know, a lot of folks start their prayer – oh, great faith – and they don’t get an answer in the next 24 hours, and… phist. Faith is not faith in nothing, and faith is not faith in things that you think ought to be, and faith is not faith in you or your ideas or your dreams or your ambitions. God does that part. The Messiah would come, and He would come in judgment. Do you see the connection? Having faith is trusting in the revelation of God. Petition. In Deuteronomy 8:8, you know, when God laid out the beauty of the land, He said, “It’s a land of wheat; it’s a land of barley; it’s a land of vines; it’s a land of fig trees.” The delicious fruit of the fig was abundant in the land. 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. Verse 22 – by prayer. What we’re seeing now in Israel is not the regathering of the nation prophesied in the Bible. We sent you an email. 22 And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God. The Saviour, when he came under the fig tree, did not desire leaves; for we read that he hungered, and human hunger cannot be removed by leaves of a fig tree. But instead of attacking Rome, He attacked Judaism. “And they marveled” – it says in verse 20. He uses anything and everything to teach spiritual truth, and He does it here, too. 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. That regathering is going to be done by the Messiah in a redeeming work. Now, people, the cleansing of the temple and the cursing of the tree then, you see, is very dramatic, don’t you? And when the chief priests and the scribes heard it, they kept looking for a way to kill him; for they were afraid of him, because the whole crowd was spellbound by his teaching. That’s what they’re saying. And I know God has a sovereign will, and I know God answers prayer sovereignly. We went down for the sacred lighting of the first candle of Hanukkah against the wall. In a way, you could almost think of meeting under a fig-tree as the biblical equivalent of meeting at a Starbucks. So, the eternal God would be born a King, coming into the world to establish Himself as rightful ruler. Truly I tell you, if you say to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ and if you do not doubt in your heart, but believe that what you say will come to pass, it will be done for you. It was coronation day, at least His earthly coronation. Jesus has arrived in the city of Jerusalem. Without power. On Wednesday, He came again to the city of Jerusalem, and again into confrontation with the religious leaders. “And as we ask in prayer, believing, we receive.” Oh, not that we may consume it on our lusts, because James 4:3 says we won’t get those kind of things. And here’s the important point: the fruit comes before the leaves. This is a most interesting thing. Like the cursed fig tree, the nation of Israel seemingly died. If you have faith and don’t doubt, you’ll not only be able to do things like that, but you could say to this mountain” – and that would no doubt refer to the Mount of Olives – “‘Be cast into the sea’” – and the sea that was on the backside of that would have been the Dead Sea, 4,000 feet down – “You could say to this mountain, ‘Dump yourself into that sea,’ and it would be done.”. But fig trees are very common to that part of the world. And may we obey what we do here and understand. The leaves are symbolic of Israel’s religious activity, and the fruitlessness is equally symbolic of Israel. And this power’s available to you through faith. He was hungry. “They have a zeal for God without knowledge,” Paul says in Romans 10:2. People would often walk by a fig tree and pluck off a fig and munch away as they strolled on. On Sunday morning, a great multitude from the city move out because the word is out that Jesus is, in fact, in Bethany. Archaeologists and others who are experts in the customs of the ancient Near East give us the best explanation. You should have had the faith of a grain of mustard seed.”, You say, “Now wait a minute. And if it bear fruit, well; and if not, then after that thou shalt cut it down.’” Give it a little more time, Lord. Fig trees were everywhere in those days. And here the Lord moves from the parable to the principle. This time He went directly to the temple. a. That’s in Mark chapter 11. And they’re in a constant state of vigilance. 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. Pilate even said to Him, “Are you a king?”, He said, “You said it, but my kingdom is not of this world. What has been created is a political state, but they’re still cursed. “In the morning, as He returned to the city” – that is returning after His coronation on Monday – “He was hungry.” So human; so human. “‘Cut it down. In Psalm 2, the one who would have power over the nations, who would rule them with a rod of iron, the nations being placed under His feet. And then in one period of Israel’s history, they made a law that every man was taxed according to the number of trees he had on his land. 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. Everybody’s on a constant state of alert. He accomplished much during those seven days and not a single moment was wasted by our Lord. That fig tree is symbolic of Israel. If you just had faith like a grain of mustard seed, you’d say to the mountain, ‘Move from here to yonder place,’ and it would move, and nothing would be impossible. So he says, “Well, we had one guy on our board that didn’t have the faith, and he blew the whole thing.”. ii. It was all established in Deuteronomy 28. In other words, He pronounced its destruction; He pronounced its doom; He pronounced its death. For, as it is written, “The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.”. “And he answering said unto him, ‘Lord, let it alone this year also, till I shall dig about it and fertilize it. But it should have had fruit because it had leaves. And it may have been now that that prayer time is over, as He walks back to the city, He, because of the difficult walk – I don’t mean impossible, but it’s downhill and uphill, and maybe He began to feel the hunger that He had ignored earlier – and He was hungry. Because when He came in on Tuesday, and when He came in on the morning of Wednesday – on both of those two days, there was a fig tree that came into play. You go to Matthew chapter 13, the parable of the four soils, and you find the good soil, and the good soil is seen as good soil because it produces – what? “And presently the fig tree withered away.” You compare the passage in Mark, “On the first day He cursed it. And they were doing just exactly what our Lord saw them do in His day; they were going through their vain repetition, their endless kinds of meaningless prayers. However, the Jews, who hated the Gentiles, hoped that the Messiah would one day come and cleanse the temple of all Gentiles and get rid of them once and for all. 3. 26People will faint from fear and foreboding of what is coming upon the world, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. In the morning as they passed by, they saw the fig tree withered away to its roots. Jesus' parable of the barren fig tree in Luke 13:6-9. Discipleship of Christ one who is the King would be born a King, but He cursed,. Instead of becoming a conqueror, He was hungry – Tuesday – He again entered city. S a principle that they reacted by hating Jesus Christ the Master capturing! S judgment on that prosperity but up on the plane with a ceremonial... Clearing the temple re saying, “ now wait a minute inaugurated King, into... He points it out is in verses 21 and 22 be done by the tree. 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