Doug McMasters: Together and we're entering into oh I'm sorry, I did this.
Doug McMasters: I promised myself I wouldn't do this, but I did this.
Doug McMasters: And they're leaving me this time.
Doug McMasters: Eager I yeah.
Doug McMasters: I sat there, the last thing I said to myself was, Don't forget the song.
Doug McMasters: Let's do it.
Doug McMasters: Let's we can do it.
Doug McMasters: Jinn hasn't left me.
Doug McMasters: The Jinns haven't left me.
Doug McMasters: Uh-oh.
Doug McMasters: I don't know who the fool was who trying to make you forget to sing that song.
Doug McMasters: Anyway, let's go to Matthew chapter 21.
Doug McMasters: Matthew 21.
Doug McMasters: We're working ourselves deeper into the final week of Jesus Christ here on earth in his ministry.
Doug McMasters: As we come into this a little more deeply, we come to a passage of Scripture that just seems a little, well, strange on the surface.
Doug McMasters: Begins in verse 18 of Matthew 21.
Doug McMasters: Early in the morning, as he was returning to the city, he was hungry.
Doug McMasters: Seeing a lone fig tree by the road, he went up to it and found nothing on it except leaves, and he said to it, May no fruit ever come from you again.
Doug McMasters: At once the fig tree withered.
Doug McMasters: When the disciples saw it, they were amazed and said, How did the fig tree wither so quickly?
Doug McMasters: Jesus answered them, Truly I tell 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 tell this mountain, be lifted up and thrown into the sea, it will be done.
Doug McMasters: And if you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.
Doug McMasters: So Jesus has come to Jerusalem, and we saw his grand entry a couple weeks ago.
Doug McMasters: We saw him in the temple last week.
Doug McMasters: And here we have him coming back into Jerusalem.
Doug McMasters: The verse before that we looked at in verse 17 says he went out of the city to Bethany.
Doug McMasters: So he's coming from Bethany back to Jerusalem and probably would have passed through the little village of Bethphage, which he would have done as we looked at a couple weeks ago.
Doug McMasters: Verse 1 mentions him coming through there as he embarked on that day to Jerusalem riding on the full of a donkey.
Doug McMasters: You might remember a couple weeks ago that I mentioned that the little village of Bethphage is a Greek transliteration of an Aramaic name for the place of unripe figs, right?
Doug McMasters: So it's not just a little ironic that here, early morning, Jesus is hungry and comes across a lone fig tree.
Doug McMasters: The appearance of the leaves on that fig tree brings some hope that it's carrying some sweet early figs.
Doug McMasters: But as promising as it looks, the leaves are un the tree's unproductive, there's no figs on it at all.
Doug McMasters: And Jesus makes this pronouncement may no fruit ever come from you again, and immediately it withers.
Doug McMasters: You know, we read this passage of scripture and we're kind of jolted by this raw display of power.
Doug McMasters: And what appears to be a display of power simply for destructive purposes.
Doug McMasters: It seems completely out of character of Jesus.
Doug McMasters: We read of his power a lot in the Gospel of Matthew, but it's his power to heal, his power to save, his power to deliver.
Doug McMasters: We have people who are deaf who can hear, blind who can see, who are lame who can walk.
Doug McMasters: We don't see him sort of cursing whole things and making them wither away.
Doug McMasters: Jesus uses his power to heal, not to destroy, but here he does.
Doug McMasters: And it appears to be almost like a sullen, vindictive response to, you know, not getting some food from a tree expected to have for breakfast.
Doug McMasters: And that puzzlement is compounded when we, like the disciples, are sort of curious as to what's going on, and Jesus makes a more, even more mysterious statement about God affirming the disciples' faith-filled prayer that even if they ask for a mountain to be thrown into the sea, it will be.
Doug McMasters: What is all of this about?
Doug McMasters: What is this passage teaching us?
Doug McMasters: What can we learn from it?
Doug McMasters: Well, this is one of those passages in Scripture that's easy to look at on the surface and misunderstand and misconstrue and misappropriate and can take you into all kinds of bizarre places.
Doug McMasters: A lot of people will take this passage and tell you that you know it's all about the amount of faith that you have and that you need to sort of cast out of your soul any kind of doubting whatsoever.
Doug McMasters: And then you can have pretty much anything you want.
Doug McMasters: Just name it and believe, and it's yours.
Doug McMasters: This is not a recipe for us walking around like Bruce Nolan, Jim Carey's uh character, and Bruce Almighty, and just kind of going zap, zap, zap, zap.
Doug McMasters: That's what I want.
Doug McMasters: Zap.
Doug McMasters: It's not that.
Doug McMasters: There's something very significant being said here in the last week of Jesus' earthly ministry that we need to take note of.
Doug McMasters: And it's hard for us to catch it if we don't understand what's going on in this passage of Scripture.
Doug McMasters: So this morning I want to unpack it and then apply it.
Doug McMasters: And we're going to look in two major headings.
Doug McMasters: We're going to look at some preliminary things that we have to look at, give us some insight in these preliminary details.
Doug McMasters: And then we're going to look at its prophetic intent.
Doug McMasters: What is it actually saying to us?
Doug McMasters: Well, first of all, some preliminary insight.
Doug McMasters: The first thing we run across here are figs.
Doug McMasters: A lot of discussion about figs here.
Doug McMasters: The lone fig tree, Jesus wants to eat some figs.
Doug McMasters: There's no figs on the tree, even though there's leaves.
Doug McMasters: What he wants, he thought he could get some food there, but he can't.
Doug McMasters: What's going on here?
Doug McMasters: Well, there's a couple things we need to know about fig trees.
Doug McMasters: First of all, the season of figs.
Doug McMasters: This is Passover time in Jerusalem.
Doug McMasters: So we're talking, you know, March, April time.
Doug McMasters: And fig trees in that climate are just beginning to come into leaf.
Doug McMasters: They're not yet a full leaving.
Doug McMasters: It's early spring still.
Doug McMasters: But once the leaves are fully developed, then people would be used to seeing fruit on them.
Doug McMasters: And normally figs can be picked from about mid-May onward.
Doug McMasters: But it's not unheard of for a fig tree to sort of produce fruit early.
Doug McMasters: In fact, one early authority on the life in Palestine by the name of Bishop took a photograph on April 16th, 1936, with a tree of figs, full enough for people to gather and to eat.
Doug McMasters: So it's not unheard of that it's it's possible for a tree to bear edible figs at this time.
Doug McMasters: But look at verse 19.
Doug McMasters: Matthew draws our attention to the leaves.
Doug McMasters: Found nothing on it except leaves.
Doug McMasters: The reason he does this is because most fig trees begin to produce their fruit before they begin to produce their leaves.
Doug McMasters: And so you could expect if there's leaves, there's likely to be fruit, especially if the leaves are fully developed, like this tree is.
Doug McMasters: So this tree stands out as one that looks like it's going to be productive.
Doug McMasters: When you look at it at first glance, with its fullness of leaves, you think there's gotta be some fruit on there.
Doug McMasters: But as they look closer, they realize that it's barren.
Doug McMasters: One person said that because fig trees develop their fruit first and then their leaves, you see a tree with just leaves, it's never going to bear fruit for the rest of the season.
Doug McMasters: So here's the takeaway from just understanding this little detail about figs.
Doug McMasters: This tree offers the promise of satisfaction without the fulfillment.
Doug McMasters: From first glance, it looks great, but upon closer inspection, it's completely barren.
Doug McMasters: That's the first thing we notice here.
Doug McMasters: But there's something else to know about figs.
Doug McMasters: A lot of us grew up like I did, and the only thing I knew about figs was uh getting a fig newton out of the out of the cupboard and and having one.
Doug McMasters: I didn't know what a fig tree looked like, I didn't know what a fig looked like, I just knew what a fig newton looked like.
Doug McMasters: And I began to be acquainted with figs as I got older, and there's a fig tree actually on our property right in front of the white building.
Doug McMasters: And just a few months ago I went looking for the rest of the figs that were still there and ate a few of them.
Doug McMasters: So if you were hoping to get some, I got there first.
Doug McMasters: Figs were one of the one of the most popular domesticated plants in the land of Israel, grown for its fruit, but also grown because it's got large leaves for its shade.
Doug McMasters: And because it was fruitful and it could give you some respite from the heat of the sun, it becomes a symbol in the scriptures of God's covenant relationship with his people.
Doug McMasters: God is portrayed in Hosea chapter 9 and verse 10 as looking on the ancestors of Israel, and he says this: he said, I looked upon them as seeing the early fruit on the fig tree.
Doug McMasters: He looked at Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, and he saw in them a development of a nation, the development of a nation whose name would have the name of God upon it, the development of a people who would glorify him from whom all the nations would come.
Doug McMasters: And as covenant beneficiaries, the nation of Israel is also enjoying the prosperity of God giving him them their pro his promises and living a life of security.
Doug McMasters: And during a high time of the history of Israel, during the Solomon's reign, in 1 Kings 4, it says, throughout Solomon's reign, Judah and Israel lived in safety from Dan to Beathsheba, from north to south, each person under his own vine and under his own fig tree.
Doug McMasters: What does that tell us?
Doug McMasters: It tells us that at the most basic level, this fig tree is viewed as a wonderful part of a settled life.
Doug McMasters: And to live your life under your fig tree, well, that means you get to live your life in joy and peace and safety and security.
Doug McMasters: You're not you're not in the armory putting on your armament, you're not grabbing your weapons, you're sitting happily under your fig tree and enjoying a peaceful life.
Doug McMasters: Moses told the people about to enter the promised land.
Doug McMasters: He said, I'm bringing you to a good land, a land with streams, springs, and deep water sources flowing with valleys and hills, a land of wheat, barley, vines, figs, and pomegranates, a land of olive oil and honey, a land where you'll eat food without shortage, where you'll lack nothing.
Doug McMasters: So this imagery of prosperity, this imagery of peace, this imagery of subtleness and satisfaction, Jesus comes upon a fig tree.
Doug McMasters: Now we need to turn to what the passage is driving at.
Doug McMasters: It's prophetic intent.
Doug McMasters: Because as strange as this account seems, Jesus is aligning his behavior with some of the actions of Old Testament prophets.
Doug McMasters: The Old Testament prophets often did things that were very, very strange and odd in order to bring a more vivid focus upon what they were saying.
Doug McMasters: And Jesus, out of the ordinary behavior here, is really sort of suggestive of those bizarre acts of the Old Testament prophets that were doing things also out of character to draw attention to their message.
Doug McMasters: Ezekiel.
Doug McMasters: So I opened my mouth and he fed me the scroll.
Doug McMasters: I don't know, God ever tell you to eat your Bible?
Doug McMasters: He's never told me to eat it.
Doug McMasters: Ezekiel's told to eat his Bible.
Doug McMasters: Or Hosea.
Doug McMasters: When the Lord first spoke to Hosea, he said to them this go and marry a woman of promiscuity and have children of promiscuity.
Doug McMasters: Why?
Doug McMasters: Because there was a message in the marriage.
Doug McMasters: So there's a prophetic symbolic action happening here.
Doug McMasters: And in this symbolic act, there's there's several different focal points that's meant to communicate here.
Doug McMasters: And the first of all is the sign about Israel itself.
Doug McMasters: The overtones of this fig tree that at first glance looks like it's going to be fruitful, but upon closer inspection is barren, is certainly indicative of the unfruitful nation of Israel.
Doug McMasters: And its instant withering away is foreboding of its coming judgment.
Doug McMasters: As I said a moment ago, Israel is a symbol, or the fig tree is a symbol of this covenant relationship of God with the people of Israel.
Doug McMasters: God saw the ancestors of Israel and said they have a promise like the early figs.
Doug McMasters: But Hosea 9:10 goes on.
Doug McMasters: But they went to Baal Peor.
Doug McMasters: They consecrated themselves to shame and became aborant like the thing they loved.
Doug McMasters: Micah, another prophet, uses the fig tree as an emblem of the discouragement and disappointment of a nation turned to disobedience.
Doug McMasters: Micah 7.
Doug McMasters: How sad for me.
Doug McMasters: I'm like one who, when the summer fruit has been gathered after the gleaning of the grape harvest, finds no grape cluster to eat, no early fig which I crave.
Doug McMasters: Faithful people have vanished from the land.
Doug McMasters: There's no one upright among the people.
Doug McMasters: All of them wait in ambush to shed blood.
Doug McMasters: They hunt each other with a net.
Doug McMasters: The Lord feels the refusal of the nation of Israel just like a farmer who's invested all of his resources.
Doug McMasters: He's taken his land, his money, his time, his energy in cultivating a harvest and gathering in that harvest, only to open up the store cupboards where that harvest ought to be, and seeing it completely empty.
Doug McMasters: He said, This is what it's like to be with you, Israel.
Doug McMasters: That kind of rebellion will bring judgment upon itself.
Doug McMasters: And the prophets again look to the fig tree to talk about the impending judgment upon the people.
Doug McMasters: Jeremiah chapter 8, verse 10.
Doug McMasters: From the prophets to the priest, everyone deals falsely.
Doug McMasters: They've treated the brokenness of my people superficially, claiming peace, peace when there is no peace.
Doug McMasters: Were they ashamed when they acted so detestably?
Doug McMasters: They weren't ashamed at all.
Doug McMasters: They can no longer feel humiliation.
Doug McMasters: Therefore they will fall among the fallen, and when I punish them, they will collapse, says the Lord.
Doug McMasters: I will gather them and bring them to an end.
Doug McMasters: This is the Lord's declaration.
Doug McMasters: There will be no grapes on the vine, no figs on the fig tree, and even the leaf will wither.
Doug McMasters: And whatever I've given them will be lost.
Doug McMasters: So here we have a prophetic, symbolic action of Jesus out of the ordinary, because it's got a message to say about Israel.
Doug McMasters: At the beginning of Jesus' ministry, John the Baptist, in introducing him, spoke to the Pharisees and spoke to the Sadducees, and he said, Bring forth fruit consistent with repentance.
Doug McMasters: And he warned them that if they didn't do this, that the axe was already at the root of the tree.
Doug McMasters: And every tree that doesn't produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.
Doug McMasters: Jesus brings this emblem forward in Luke chapter 13.
Doug McMasters: And he talks about a man that has a fig tree planted in his vineyard.
Doug McMasters: And he came to look for fruit on that fig tree, but didn't find any.
Doug McMasters: And he told his vineyard worker, Listen, for three years I've come looking for fruit on this fig tree and haven't found any.
Doug McMasters: Cut it down.
Doug McMasters: Why should it even waste the soil?
Doug McMasters: And the vineyard worker said, Sir, leave it here this year also.
Doug McMasters: Until I dig around it and I fertilize it, perhaps it'll produce fruit next year.
Doug McMasters: But if not, you can cut it down.
Doug McMasters: That little parable, the landowner in has exhausted his patience, his generosity.
Doug McMasters: The time has come when he comes to deservedly get the figs he should have off of his tree on his land.
Doug McMasters: But that fig tree is going to be cut down and burnt.
Doug McMasters: All of this is a warning, a warning of judgment that would come upon the hard-hearted if they refuse to recognize Jesus as the Messiah.
Doug McMasters: And here at the very end of Jesus' ministry, there there comes this crucial moment in the divine timetable when Israel is again likened to a fig tree that is bearing no fruit.
Doug McMasters: Fruit that should be expected of it.
Doug McMasters: The leaves are full.
Doug McMasters: But it faces judgment.
Doug McMasters: Well, that sermon in Jeremiah 7 goes on to speak of the impending judgment upon the people.
Doug McMasters: And it says this in verse 20 The Lord will pour out his unburning his burning and unquenchable wrath on this place, on the people and animals, on the trees of the field, and on the produce of the land.
Doug McMasters: And now here we are with Jesus presenting an image of impending destruction through the cursing of this fig tree.
Doug McMasters: A fig tree that by every look of it ought to be bearing good fruit, ought to be a place of nourishment, ought to be a place of satisfaction, ought to be, but isn't.
Doug McMasters: We'll come back to that in just a moment.
Doug McMasters: But something else we learn here is not just a prophetic sign about Israel, but a prophetic sign about Jesus himself.
Doug McMasters: As we've been going through the Gospel of Matthew together, Matthew has been helping us to understand who Jesus is: the son of Abraham, the son of David, fulfilling Old Testament prophecies, fulfilling Old Testament expectations of great Old Testament roles and offices, prophet and priest and king.
Doug McMasters: We've seen that all over the place.
Doug McMasters: In fact, all the Gospels do that.
Doug McMasters: They talk about Jesus as our teacher, prophet, as our sin bearer, priest, as our ruler, king.
Doug McMasters: And all of these offices come together here in this one chapter.
Doug McMasters: We've had Jesus riding on the full of a donkey, offering himself as the king.
Doug McMasters: We see him in the temple, declaring people clean and making them clean so they can worship, just like a priest.
Doug McMasters: And now we have him here making a pronouncement against the nation of Israel, just like a prophet.
Doug McMasters: Here in one quick swoop of a chapter, prophet, priest, and king are given to us immediately in three rapid succession stories.
Doug McMasters: The entry.
Doug McMasters: The cleansing, the cursing, king, priest, and prophet, Jesus.
Doug McMasters: But he does so in such a strange way.
Doug McMasters: He enters Jerusalem, yes, as a king, but he doesn't establish a monarchy.
Doug McMasters: He goes to Jerusalem to bring peace between God and humanity.
Doug McMasters: He comes into the temple to cleanse the temple, not to restore the institution of the priesthood, but to announce himself that he is the priest and he is the sacrifice who will bring everyone to God.
Doug McMasters: And here he is pronouncing judgment on Israel.
Doug McMasters: But he's also making a comment about restoration and hope.
Doug McMasters: You see, Jesus is more than just a warrior king to us.
Doug McMasters: He's more than just a minister priest for us.
Doug McMasters: He's more than just a spokesman of God for us.
Doug McMasters: He's all of it and more.
Doug McMasters: And this passage of scripture is giving us a sign of who Jesus is.
Doug McMasters: J.
Doug McMasters: Packer put it this way: it is his glory given him by the Father to be in this way the all-sufficient Savior.
Doug McMasters: We who believe are called to understand this and to show ourselves as people by obeying him as king and trusting him as our priest and learning from him as our prophet and teacher.
Doug McMasters: To center on Jesus Christ in this way is the hallmark of authentic Christianity.
Doug McMasters: There's another prophetic sign here, not just a sign about Israel and a sign about Jesus, but there's a prophetic statement here being made to the disciples themselves.
Doug McMasters: Take a look at the passage again and just catch some of the feel of it.
Doug McMasters: Early in the morning, returning to the city, hungry, seeing a lone fig tree.
Doug McMasters: And then in verse 20, the disciples saw it and were amazed.
Doug McMasters: We don't hear words of crowds, we don't hear statements about chief priests and Pharisees and Sadducees.
Doug McMasters: We just have an intimate conversation going on here.
Doug McMasters: Jesus' last entry into Jerusalem was full of fanfare, people lining the streets and throwing their clothes down on the ground and waving tree branches and crying out, Hosanna, Hosanna, Hosanna, the son of David.
Doug McMasters: This isn't like that.
Doug McMasters: This is very quiet.
Doug McMasters: This is in the company of just a few people.
Doug McMasters: It's a conversation, not a coronation.
Doug McMasters: And Jesus is speaking with just his disciples.
Doug McMasters: And they see what's going on and they're amazed and they're like, What's going on here?
Doug McMasters: What happened?
Doug McMasters: And they're asking more the why question than the what happened question.
Doug McMasters: And Jesus stuns them with these words.
Doug McMasters: But you'll also be able to do this.
Doug McMasters: And look what he says.
Doug McMasters: He talks about moving a mountain.
Doug McMasters: Well, I mean, that's a general term, right?
Doug McMasters: Move mountains, you know, be able to perform the impossible.
Doug McMasters: Jesus uses it that way back in chapter 17, but there's something different here.
Doug McMasters: Take a look again.
Doug McMasters: Even if you tell this mountain be lifted up and thrown into the sea, it will be done.
Doug McMasters: Jesus is not talking about metaphorically just moving mountains, accomplishing the impossible.
Doug McMasters: He's pointing to one mountain.
Doug McMasters: He's pointing to a specific mountain.
Doug McMasters: If you say to this mountain, is there something he's pointing to that means something here?
Doug McMasters: I think so.
Doug McMasters: Coming from Bethany, Jesus would have gone over the Mount of Olives.
Doug McMasters: He would have come across it as he approached Jerusalem.
Doug McMasters: And so it's natural to assume that this mountain that he's talking about is the Mount of Olives.
Doug McMasters: And he's talking about the removal of the Mount of Olives.
Doug McMasters: There's only one reference in the Old Testament to the Mount of Olives.
Doug McMasters: Only one.
Doug McMasters: And it's in Zechariah chapter 14.
Doug McMasters: And in Zechariah 14 it says, On that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which faces Jerusalem on the east.
Doug McMasters: The Mount of Olives will be split in half from east to west, forming a huge valley, so that half of the mountain will move to the north and half to the south.
Doug McMasters: And you will flee by my mountain valley, for the valley of the mountains will extend to the Azalv, and you will flee as you fled from the earthquake in the days of King Uzziah of Judah.
Doug McMasters: Then the Lord my God will come and all the holy ones with him.
Doug McMasters: On that day, the Lord will become king over the whole earth, the Lord alone, and his name alone.
Doug McMasters: Zechariah also talks about the Mount of Olives being split from east to west.
Doug McMasters: Well, if you go too far west, you're going into the sea.
Doug McMasters: If you go too far east, you're going into the sea.
Doug McMasters: And the reason for that removal is to open up an escape route.
Doug McMasters: And the reason for that removal of the Mount of Olives is a sign of God's coming to deliver his people.
Doug McMasters: And if this is at all a connection to Zechariah chapter 14, which I think it is, but I'll leave room for doubt there, we're reading something prophetic about the nature and role of the apostles as they carry on the message of the kingdom of heaven after Jesus goes to heaven.
Doug McMasters: So we have to ask ourselves, is this removal of the mountain meaning that they pray for the end time coming of the Son of Man?
Doug McMasters: Possibly.
Doug McMasters: Does it the removal of the mountain speak more metaphorically of the message of deliverance, the gospel that they're to preach?
Doug McMasters: And open it up for the people a place of escape to achieve God's intended purposes before the end comes?
Doug McMasters: Possibly.
Doug McMasters: But what it is definitely telling these disciples is that as they align themselves with God's purposes, be they purposes of judgment or salvation, the key point is to make sure you are a praying community and that you are a community zeroed in on the will of God and the program that God designs for this world.
Doug McMasters: This is not God saying, or Jesus saying, look, if you just have enough faith, you can have what you want.
Doug McMasters: You want three Cadillacs in your garage, just pray over it.
Doug McMasters: It's not saying that at all.
Doug McMasters: What it's talking about is the importance of the coming kingdom of heaven that will be a savor of life to some and a savor of death to others.
Doug McMasters: And he's saying, your role is significantly placed.
Doug McMasters: Because when you pray, our Lord, hallowed be thy name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Doug McMasters: When you're praying that God will act according to his good will and purposes through you, through you.
Doug McMasters: And just as an aside, one of the images that talks about that reign of messianic rule is restored fig trees in Micah chapter 4.
Doug McMasters: In the last days, the mountain of the Lord's house will be established at the top of the mountains, will be raised above the hills.
Doug McMasters: People will stream to it.
Doug McMasters: Many nations will come and say, Come, let us go to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob.
Doug McMasters: He will teach us his way so that we may walk in his paths.
Doug McMasters: And then it says, Each person will sit under his grape tree and under his fig tree, and there will be no one to frighten them.
Doug McMasters: For the mouth of the Lord of armies is spoken.
Doug McMasters: There's two major lessons here for us.
Doug McMasters: The first lesson is the lesson that Israel needed to hear this prophetic statement.
Doug McMasters: That question posed in the symbol, coming up to a fig tree.
Doug McMasters: It's got leaves, full leaves.
Doug McMasters: First glance, you think, I'm going to walk over there, I'm going to find some lunch, I'm going to find some breakfast, I'm going to find a snack, I'm going to find some satisfaction.
Doug McMasters: There's going to be fruit there to enjoy.
Doug McMasters: But upon closer examination, you realize it's all show and no go.
Doug McMasters: It all looks good, but there's no substantive nourishment, no fruit about it at all.
Doug McMasters: And the first question is this do we look like Christians but aren't?
Doug McMasters: Do we have the show of substantive spirituality without the actual substance and fruit of true spirituality?
Doug McMasters: That's a serious question.
Doug McMasters: Paul uses this fruit motif when he speaks about the works of the flesh are these and the fruit of the spirit is this.
Doug McMasters: And he says you need to sort of do an evaluation of your life.
Doug McMasters: He said, You know what the works of the flesh are.
Doug McMasters: And you know what the fruit of the spirit is?
Doug McMasters: The works of the flesh, sexual impurity, immorality, promiscuity, idolatry, sorcery.
Doug McMasters: And there'd be some folks going, well, not me.
Doug McMasters: Not me.
Doug McMasters: Well, he's not done with the list yet, is he?
Doug McMasters: Hatred, strife, jealousy, outburst of anger, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions, envy.
Doug McMasters: It gets a little closer to home, doesn't it?
Doug McMasters: Those are the works of the flesh.
Doug McMasters: Not not episodes of your life, but characteristic of your life.
Doug McMasters: Paul is saying you need to know that people that do such things will never inherit the kingdom of heaven.
Doug McMasters: He said rather the fruit of the Spirit.
Doug McMasters: This is what should be characteristic, and is characteristic of a true believer.
Doug McMasters: Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.
Doug McMasters: Paul is saying, Hey fig tree, any fruit there?
Doug McMasters: Are you all leaf?
Doug McMasters: All show, no go.
Doug McMasters: But there's another lesson here.
Doug McMasters: A lesson for us, just as I said, it's not about how much the disciples have to believe and how they have to sort of stifle the niggling thoughts of doubt in their head, and then they can get whatever they'd like.
Doug McMasters: Jesus is making allusions to major epical events, the judgment of a nation, the protection of people at the coming of the Son of Man.
Doug McMasters: And he's saying, This applies to you, disciples.
Doug McMasters: Remember your mission.
Doug McMasters: Remember your focus.
Doug McMasters: Remember your message.
Doug McMasters: And don't try to accomplish it by your own abilities.
Doug McMasters: Don't sort of gather your own inner resources and say, How can we make this happen?
Doug McMasters: Go to prayer.
Doug McMasters: Go to the Lord with your knees bent and your head down and your eyes closed and pray for God to accomplish his purposes as you pray.
Doug McMasters: This is something our generation has lost.
Doug McMasters: I go to pastors' conferences and you hear discussion about programs and methods, you get discussions about marketing techniques, you get ideas about how to have better lighting in your church and better sound in your church and better music that you got niche marketing concepts.
Doug McMasters: And it just makes me want to wretch.
Doug McMasters: Why?
Doug McMasters: Because our Lord is saying here, don't accomplish my purposes with your power.
Doug McMasters: Accomplish my purposes with my power.
Doug McMasters: And when you align yourself with me, then you've aligned yourself to the greatest resources the universe has ever known.
Doug McMasters: The God of heaven will hear and answer and work through you.
Doug McMasters: Even if it's a message of judgment or a message of deliverance, go prayerfully.
Doug McMasters: Go focused on the priority of God, but go.
Doug McMasters: This is why we talk about our prayer meetings on Wednesday nights.
Doug McMasters: Come pray with us.
Doug McMasters: No.
Doug McMasters: How vital is our prayer?
Doug McMasters: How vital is our corporate gatherings where we do nothing but pray.
Doug McMasters: Someone asked Charles Spurgeon, what was the reason for all that was happening at the church of the Metropolitan Tabernacle?
Doug McMasters: And the story goes that he he took the person down to a room and he said, This is where the people pray.
Doug McMasters: He said, When I'm preaching, there are hundreds of people in here in this room praying while I'm preaching.
Doug McMasters: This is where it comes from.
Doug McMasters: The Lord is teaching his disciples in a private conversation that they're going to be instruments of God in the kingdom of heaven, sometimes proclaiming words that will be pronouncements of judgment, and sometimes proclaiming words that will be as cataclysmic as the earth moving away to open up a place of deliverance.
Doug McMasters: But he said, remember to do it with me in view and pray to the God of heaven that his will would be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Doug McMasters: May we never forget this lesson.
Doug McMasters: May we live in light of it.
Doug McMasters: May we be known in our community as a people of prayer, and a people pursuing God, and a people willing to proclaim nothing but Him, just as the Apostle Paul said.
Doug McMasters: Let's pray.
Doug McMasters: Our Heavenly Father, we thank you for the Word of God.
Doug McMasters: We thank you for how it helps us understand it by the revelation given throughout it, the sense of Scripture speaking, its own interpretation.
Doug McMasters: Lord, we pray that you'd help us to live our lives as believers, as the community of Christ, as his disciples, and wholly dependent upon you.
Doug McMasters: Lord, you've given us everything that we need that pertains to life and to godliness through the knowledge of Him.
Doug McMasters: Lord, help us to keep our eyes centered and focused on Him, to be people that show that by how we pray, by people that demonstrate that by how we lean on you and don't lean on our own understanding.
Doug McMasters: Lord, we pray that you might use us as your instruments to bring the nations into the obedience of Jesus Christ.
Doug McMasters: Pray that you would help us to bring the message of Christ to others so that the nations might say to one another, let us come up to the place of God and let us learn from Him.
Doug McMasters: Watch over us, Lord, as we extend the reach of the gospel into places like Indonesia, places like Central Asia, places like Eastern Europe, places like the Middle East, places like Africa, places all around the world where Jesus is not known.
Doug McMasters: And we, Lord, ask that you would be pleased to work through us.
Doug McMasters: And may we truly see the mountain split and the place of escape be proclaimed as we wait for the day when the Lord will come and reign.
Doug McMasters: And we ask this in his name.
Doug McMasters: Amen.