The Parable of the Fig Tree - 12/7/25 - Bro. Andrew Patterson

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Welcome to Meadows Baptist Church

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We're so glad you joined us today. If

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with your [music] friends. Now, let's

join Pastor Charlie Branch with a word

from God.

Amen. All right,

we'll go ahead and get started this

morning. And uh All right, I've assigned

him a scripture. He's going to teach to

us out of Revelation 13.

>> I didn't do that. I just want to see

what his reaction would be. Amen. No, he

asked they asked last night. I was It's

funny. I I didn't even talk to him

directly. we just let our wives do all

our talking for us. And so, uh, I told

Abby, I said, "Ask Andrew if he'll teach

for us tomorrow." I said, "I'm I said, I

need some help." And I know he's got

something on his heart anyway cuz he's

preaching today. And she asked he would.

I said, "So," I said, "Good." He asked,

"You got a subject you want him to teach

on?" I said, "No." I said, "Just tell

him teach something good." Amen.

Amen. I appreciate him. I love him and I

appreciate his heart for the Lord. And

you be attending this morning. I'm sure

he'll share something that'll help you.

Amen, brother. Go right ahead. Love you,

brother. There's your wife.

>> Thank you. Thank you.

>> Yeah, it's easier just to have your

wives do all the talking for you.

>> They're a lot better at it than we are,

but uh now I appreciate the opportunity

uh just to be able to come back, be able

to be here at Meadows Baptist Church. It

really is a blessing. And uh I I love

your pastor. I love my brother-in-law.

He's been a blessing to me, been a help.

and uh he's it's just good to have a

family uh that is serving the Lord and

doing the right thing. And uh he's

definitely definitely taken on a a lot

bigger challenge than what I've got.

Pastoring a church ain't easy. Uh and uh

I know that it's a it's it's a difficult

thing, but it's a needed thing. Uh and

I'm thankful that the Lord's given him a

heart to pastor and that he's uh got a

heart for you. He loves all of you here.

I know that uh firsthand. And you've got

a good pastor. Uh he doesn't take this

lightly. He really doesn't. And uh I'm

just trying to comb comb through some

nerves right now. So you just pray for

me. Uh but uh really you you do have a

good pastor here. I want you to get

behind him and support him, love him. Uh

take care of him and his wife because he

loves you. Uh I promise you the heart of

a pastor is uh it's it's a lot of times

a heart in turmoil because the fact that

they care so deeply and pour so much

into people and a lot of times that that

effort gets uh it gets trampled on and

it gets broken and it hurts and uh

because there's we're people people

aren't perfect. Uh people deal with

things. People people quit, people get

out and you know it's it's a hard thing.

Uh but uh but there's there's no nobler

job, I believe, than than that of a

pastor. It really is a noble job. Uh you

don't do it for the accolades or the

glory. You do it for people. You do it

for people. And uh that's why we preach.

That's why we're that's why we that's

why we're in the ministry. God placed us

in the ministry is because of the fact

that God when he saved us and he put

that calling on our heart, he gave

[snorts] us a heart for people and to

love people. And that's what it's about.

I don't I want you to know that this

morning. I don't know why the Lord just

laid that on my heart. Uh but I guess

it's just we've got I've I've got a

little bit of a difficult lesson to

teach you this morning. Uh so I want to

just uh ask you to open up your heart.

Be receptive and uh just see what God

has for you and how we can grow closer

to him. Um this this lesson that I'm

going to teach, we're going to be in

Markap 11 uh this morning. So, if you

want to start turning there, this lesson

has been a convicting lesson for myself

and I've taught this at my home church

in Sunday school. Uh we went through

recently we went through teaching on the

miracles of Christ and that's what we're

going to be looking at this morning is

one of his miracles. Um but this miracle

is a little bit different than most the

ones that we hear about, preach about

and learn about. Um, this one is a

little bit different than any of the

miracles that Jesus performed during his

earthly ministry.

And, uh, what we're going to be looking

at this morning is the miracle of the

fig tree in Mark chapter 11 and also in

Mark 11 · chapter mention

Matthew chapter 21. Uh, it's a very

Matthew 21 · chapter mention

difficult lesson to really um, be able

to try and get your thought thought

across sometimes. Uh but I've I've I've

studied it in a great deal, preached on

it uh a few times since I've studied it.

And um and I really I believe that it is

very needed. This lesson that I'm

teaching this morning, I really believe

that it's very needed in our time that

and day that we're living in. Um I've

I've had this thought on my heart and on

my mind a lot lately. Uh I know that uh

I' I've been thinking about what I'm

going to teach on and preach on today.

And really, I've got two different

things, very different things I'm going

to be teaching on and preaching on a

little bit later. I believe that God

wants me to preach at uh at Love Thy

Neighbor Baptist Church there. Uh but

this morning, I really just want to come

to you with a heart that is not to hurt,

but to help. And I want to be uh uh help

us grow closer to the Lord and really

take self-inventory, really look in the

mirror and really uh evaluate ourselves

this morning and where we stand and our

relationship with God and in our service

for God. Uh so I want us to really

really really just kind of zone

everything out, just tune everything

out. We we're all coming in after the

ladies meeting last night, which is a

blessing. I'm thankful that the Lord

blessed in that meeting. Now, I know

it's been a busy week. Everybody's had

work. Everybody's had things that

they've dealt with and it's been a busy

weekend and now we're here at church

this morning. Uh we're all tired. We

have some I mean, we we we've traveled

this weekend. We've had we've we've done

all sorts of things. And uh so I want us

to just really just kind of tune

everything else out for a second. Focus

on the Lord and focus on our standing

with God and really try to evaluate

ourselves this morning. But in Mark

Mark 11 · chapter mention

chapter 11, let's take a look at this

miracle and look at verse number 12 of

Mark chapter 11. The Bible says, "And on

Mark 11 · chapter mention

the marorrow when there when they were

come from Bethany, he was hungry. And

seeing a fig tree a far off having

leaves, he came if happily he might find

anything thereon." And when he came to

it, he found nothing but leaves, for the

time of figs was not yet. And Jesus

answered and said unto it, "No man eat

fruit of thee hereafter forever." and

his disciples heard it. Now skip down to

verse number 20. [snorts]

The Bible says, "And in the morning, as

they passed by, they saw the fig tree

dried up from the roots." And Peter

calling to remembrance saith unto him,

Master, behold the fig tree which thou

cursest is withered away. And Jesus

answering saith unto them, Have faith in

gone. For verily I say unto you, that

whosoever shall say unto this mountain,

Be thou removed, and be thou cast into

the sea, and shall not doubt in his

heart, but shall believe that those

things which he saith shall come to

pass, he shall have whatsoever he saith.

Therefore, I say unto you, what things

soever you desire when you pray, believe

that you receive them, and ye shall have

them. And when you stand praying,

forgive if you have ought against any,

that your father also which is in heaven

may forgive you your trespasses.

[snorts]

But if ye do not forgive, neither will

your father which is in heaven forgive

your trespasses. And let's pray real

quickly this morning. Lord, we thank you

so much for the opportunity to be in

your house. Lord, I'm thankful just to

be able to be in the in the house of God

this morning, be able to uh teach and

I'm thankful for the opportunity. Lord,

I thank you for this church and the

people that are here. I thank you, Lord,

for the pastor. I thank you, Lord, for

his wife and his family. And Lord, I

thank you so much for giving us another

day to come and to worship you and to

magnify the Lord Jesus Christ. God, I

pray that you bless this this this

Sunday school lesson. I pray in Jesus

name. Amen. So, again, this is a very

interesting uh miracle that Christ

performs here. It's different than any

of of Jesus's other miracles. You know,

often we we hear preaching and teaching

on the miracles of Christ as uh Christ

has helped somebody. He has healed the

lame. He has uh caused the blind to see.

He has made uh the sick to be healed.

And all of these different things that

Jesus has done. You have the feeding of

the 5,000 and of the 4,000. You have

many miracles that Jesus did. And so

many in fact that John at the end of his

book says says that the the amount of

miracles I'm going to paraphrase that

the amount of miracles that Jesus

performed are so great that the books

wouldn't even be able to contain the

miracles that Jesus had performed. So

there's many miracles that we don't even

know about that Jesus did during his

earthly ministry while here on this

planet. But here in this one, it's

different than the other miracles that

we studied and that we see that Jesus

performed because instead of helping,

the Lord is pronouncing judgment. And

so, it's interesting how how this this

miracle plays out and and that there's

definitely uh many lessons that we can

glean from. And I'm going to go through

a few of them this morning. And I pray

that it will be a help to us today to

grow closer to the Lord. That's what I

want for us today. I want us to grow

grow closer to God and to really take

inventory of our own relationship and

our own work in the things of God. Uh

but I want to notice firstly the setting

that this that this miracle takes place.

Notice the path that he takes. The Lord

Jesus Christ was initially in Jerusalem

before this miracle takes place. Now the

day before was what we would call Palm

Sunday, the triumphant entry of Jesus

into Jerusalem. and uh everybody there

saying hosana, hosana and proclaiming

him to be the Messiah and all of these

things. And again, that's a fulfillment

of prophecy there and all of these

different things that Jesus does. But

Jesus at the end of that leaves

Jerusalem and goes back to Bethany. And

then he goes and then now on the when

this miracle takes place, he's returning

from Bethany to Jerusalem. And this

miracle takes place the week, this is

the week prior to the crucifixion of

Jesus Christ. And so this is coming up

really close to the time when Jesus is

going to go to the cross and he's going

to be crucified for our sins. But this

this what Jesus does here is interesting

because Jerusalem is the religious

epicenter of the nation of Israel. You

would think that Jesus would want to be

in that place. But in that place, the

people of Jerusalem don't exactly like

Jesus very much. The religious crowd,

the Pharisees and the scribes and all of

those that don't want anything to do

with Jesus, want to hurt Jesus, want to

harm him, want to try and put him to

death and to kill him. And there's so

many been so many attempts on his life

already. And so Jesus leaves Jerusalem

and goes back to Bethany. And what do we

know about Bethany? Bethany was a place

where Jesus was warmly welcomed. You

have Lazarus and Mary and Martha that

were there in Bethany. And that doesn't

say that that that he stayed with them

there, but it could be inferred that

most likely he did. But needless to say

that they that that Bethany was a place

where Jesus was welcomed. And so as a

result of that, Jesus leaves Jerusalem

and goes back to Bethany. And the lesson

that we can glean from that is, is Jesus

welcome in our life? Is he welcome in

our homes? because often times it's easy

for us to be able to put on the front at

church, but when we get to the house,

are things the same uh at our house as

they are at the church house. And so

Jesus's path that he takes takes him two

miles out of the way from Jerusalem uh

before this miracle takes place. And so

Bethany is a place where they had

adoration and love for Jesus. And

Jerusalem was a place where they had

where they had angst and they had hatred

for Jesus. But not only do we see the

the path that Jesus takes, but the

product of his humanity. The Bible says

that he hungered, which again shows the

human frailties that Jesus had to deal

with in that human body. So Jesus was

very much God, but at the same time, he

still was very much man. He was a

perfect man. He was a he was a sinless

man. And but it showed that Jesus was

still dependent upon uh some human

things. He still needed rest as we know

that he was asleep in the ship on the

Sea of Galilee whenever the disciples

and Jesus were caught in the storm. He

was he's hungry here in this text and he

he he he's looking he's wanting to get

something to eat. And so Jesus is sees

this fig tree a far off and it's got

leaves on it and he's going up to it

that happily he might find something to

eat. But you see Jesus, it also shows

his zeal as this is early in the

morning. He was zealous about performing

the work of his father. He was zealous

about trying to to do what his father's

will was. And and and we see that

throughout Jesus's life. But uh are we

as zealous as Christ is when it comes to

serving the Lord in our own lives?

Because in the scripture is very clear

that that uh whenever we find Jesus

performing miracles or when he's

teaching in the temple or doing these

many things often times you're f it's

found that Jesus is there early in the

morning. And so Jesus is about the

Lord's work from the time that he gets

up to the time that he goes to sleep.

And listen, we need to be about the

Lord's work in our own life from the

time that we get up to the time that we

go. We should not wait until the end of

the day to finally seek out the Lord. Uh

listen, I've done that. I've been there.

I know how that is. You go throughout

your day, you think, I well, I I I

wasn't able to read my Bible this

morning, so I'll read it this evening.

You get through the day. You get to the

end of the day, and you you're you're

exhausted. You've had a hard day or

things have come up or situations have

have taken place, and you get to the end

of the day, and you find yourself so

tired that you really you're reading

your Bible, but you're really not taking

in what you're reading. Right.

>> And so the Lord, it says even in the

book of Proverbs, I believe in Proverbs

Proverbs 18 · chapter mention

chapter 18 that uh he loves those that

love him. And he says, and he says,

"Those that seek me early shall find

me."

>> Right?

>> So we need to seek the Lord early in our

day, not at the end of the day. The end

of the day, we've got so many things

flooding our minds. Whereas in the

beginning of the day, we're able to have

a clear mind and able to focus on the

things of young. But Jesus was zealous

about the work of the Lord. been so

zealous in fact that he didn't even eat

breakfast before he left Bethany. Isn't

that something? Most of us can't even

function until we have breakfast, right?

But Jesus was more concerned about

performing the will of the father. So

much in fact that he was willing to skip

out on meals to make sure that the will

of God is performed. You find that in

John 4 dealing with the woman at the

well. What does Jesus say there? In John

chapter 4:es 31-34 he says in the

meanwhile while his disciples prayed him

saying master eat. This is when the

disciples returned from from the city

there in Samaria. It says in verse 32

but he said unto them I have meat to eat

that you know not of he goes on to say

therefore said the disciples one to

another hath any man brought him ought

to eat. See that the disciples weren't

getting what Jesus is trying to lay out

for them. And Jesus says in verse number

34, it says, "And Jesus saith unto them,

my meat is to do the will of him that

sent me and to finish his work."

>> He's saying, "The what's more important

to me is is performing the will of my

father. What's more important to me than

my physical needs is trying to perform

the will of God." You see, Jesus often

emphasized the spiritual over the

physical. Now, that doesn't mean that we

don't take care of our bodies as we

should. We ought to try our best to take

care of the vessel that God has given us

on this earth to be able to better serve

the Lord throughout our life. But Jesus

is saying when it whenever

[clears throat] it comes to whenever it

whenever it comes to spiritual and

physical, the spiritual is more

important than the physical. which may

mean that sometimes we might have to

miss out on something that we that we

might want physically in order in order

to further the spiritual in our life.

And so the emphasis that Jesus is making

here, the precedence is that the

spiritual needs to take precedence over

the physical. And so that's a product of

Jesus's humanity was that he was hungry.

But he was hungry because of the fact

that he was so zealous about serving the

Lord and making sure that he was

performing the will of his father. And

notice the approaching here as Jesus

comes up to it. It says in verse number

13, "And seeing the fig tree a far off,

it's far away. Having leaves, he came if

happily he might find anything thereon.

And when he came to it, he found

nothing." So Jesus is coming up to the

tree and he discovers that there's no

figs on it. There's nothing. There's no

but the the fig tree, it's it's these

fig trees, they'll grow to be 20 to 25

feet. So often times in that time

period, they would use them as shade and

they would use them to be able to uh to

they would use them to be able to get

food and and to have shade and to be

able to and so they were very very

useful in that time period. But Jesus,

he saw it a far off and it had leaves

and that was a great indicator that it

was supposed to have fruit. But when

Jesus came up to it, it didn't have any

fruit. And this wouldn't have been a

breach of the law of Jesus e of of this

wouldn't be a breach on Jesus's part of

the law either because in Deuteronomy

Deuteronomy 23:24

23:24

it says when thou comest into thy

neighbor's vineyard then thou mayest eat

grapes thy fill at thine own pleasure

but thou shalt not put any in thy

vessel. So at that time the law of Moses

had things in place for the poor. And so

as a result of that, they said that you

could go into somebody's vineyard if you

were hungry and you could eat, but you

just couldn't take any with you because

that would be considered stealing. Isn't

that right? But you see that the the

emphasis here is not like our welfare

system where we give to the poor and

they don't have to do anything for it.

What they had the the emphasis here on

this welfare system that God had in

place for the poor was that they had to

work in order to get what they needed.

>> And so it was it was it was a they had

to get out. They had to pick the grapes.

They had to pick the figs. They had to

they had to actually put some effort

into getting what they needed to be able

to survive. It's not like how it is

today where we just, you know, you give

give give until you don't have anything

more to give and then and that all

they're just doing is take take take and

they're not doing anything to be able to

get to to get what they've been given.

>> And so it was a better welfare system

that we have. But Jesus was not

breaching the law and and trying to find

some fruit on this fig tree even if

somebody else had owned it. But you see

Jesus, he approaches it and there's not

anything on there. So you see the

absence of the fig of the figs. There

were no fruit on the fig tree. It

appears like it has fruit as the as a

fig tree. It it grows leaves before uh

the fruit buds. And so as a result of

that, whenever a a tree a fig tree would

have leaves, it would indicate that it

would have some fruit on it. And I'm

going somewhere, so just hang with me.

I've got to try and hurry here. But uh

the the the as it says in the also here

in the book of Mark says the time of the

figs was not yet. And so the fig tree

was had the appearance of fruit but it

wasn't the time of the figs. So it's

also kind of interesting that it wasn't

exactly the time that it was supposed to

have fruit but it would have indicated

all indicators would have said that it

would have had some fruit. And Jesus

when he comes up to it he sees that it

doesn't have any fruit. And as a result

of that, he sentences the fig tree. He

said, he says there in verse number 14,

it says, "And Jesus answered and said

unto him, no man eat fruit of thee

hereafter forever." And his disciples

heard it. And the lesson here really,

and I'm I'm going to get to where I'm

going here in just a second, but that I

want to preface this too real quickly

before I get to where I'm going. That in

all reality, this this miracle that

Jesus is performing is really a type and

a picture of Israel. Israel at the time

had all the religious accolades. They

had everything down to the letter when

it come to the law. So much so that they

even added to the to God's law to the

point that they were they were they were

phariseical and hypocritical in their

religion and in their faith. And so

Jesus is saying that they have all

everything that that would indicate that

they would have fruit, but they don't

have anything. They're hypocrites.

>> They're hypocrites. That's what the

that's what the religious crowd in

Israel was at this time. And the lesson

that we can glean from this is are we

hypocrites?

>> Good.

>> Are we hypocrites? Do we have everything

on the outside? All we dress the right

way. We speak the right way. We come to

church. We come to Sunday school. We

come we're we're we're faithful to our

place in the house of God.

But is it really real on the inside? Is

our life producing fruit in the work of

God or is it all just leaves?

Is it leaves?

>> And it really got me thinking about my

own life whenever I was studying this

out and really thinking about myself. I

I started to wonder. I was like, am I

really is this thing really real in my

own heart and in my own life? Am I

really trying my best to try and serve

the Lord because it's coming from an

attitude and a motive of sincerity and

love and adoration and faith in the

things of God? Or is it because of the

or am I becoming laxidasical in my flesh

and thinking that I am just doing what

I'm supposed to do and that I that I I'm

able to perform the work of God and not

really have the right motive or attitude

in doing so because I don't want to get

to the point in my life where [snorts]

I'm I everything looks good. I wear the

suit. I I I preach and I I have my

Bible, but it's not really real in my

own heart. Now I'm saved and born again,

and the spirit of God is going to

convict me if I'm not where I'm supposed

to be with the Lord. At least it should.

It should. But, you know, my flesh is

wicked. My flesh wants to It wants what

it wants. It doesn't want what God

wants. So, I've got to be careful in my

own life that I'm not being hypocritical

in my faith and I'm not being

hypocritical in my in my work for the

Lord and that it's not all just leaves,

but I'm producing some fruit. The

Bible's very clear that that we that you

shall know them by their fruits. Yes.

>> So, are you per are you producing fruit

in your own life or is it all just

leaves?

It's very easy for us in the flesh to

get complacent and laxidasical in a

Christian walk in life with Christ.

But Jesus, he pronounces judgment on

this tree because of its hypocrisy.

And you know, eventually the nation of

Israel is going to have to go through

judgment because of their hypocrisy. And

you know what? Eventually, you and I

will have to go through judgment if we

are hypocritical in our own life. You

notice the the rapidity, the rapidness

of this pronouncing of judgment. The

Bible says in Matthew where you find the

the other account of this, you find in

the book of Matthew, it says, "Presently

the fig tree withered, withered away."

And and in this text, you find soon. And

so those two words both mean the same

thing when you translate them from the

Greek, which means immediately.

Immediately. It happened quickly and

judgment when it comes it often comes

swiftly and quickly. The world whenever

the Lord comes back for his church and

we have the tribulation period all these

different things the the judgment that

comes is going to come quickly.

>> It's going to come quickly. Even Psalm

the book of Psalms chapter number 34

speaks of that.

But the the rapidity of it it's quick.

It happens. It happens very quickly. In

1 Thessalonians 5:3 it says, "For when

1 Thessalonians 5:3

they shall say peace and safety, then

sudden destruction cometh upon them as

travail upon a woman with child and they

shall not escape." And then in Proverbs

20 29:1 it says, "He that being often

reproved hardeneth his neck shall

suddenly be destroyed and that without

remedy." So judgment comes quickly.

Destruction comes quickly.

The the tree as it says in the book of

Proverbs, it says without remedy. Jesus

when he pronounced judgment on this fig

tree, it was not able to produce fruit

ever again.

>> Right?

>> Ever again. If you and I aren't careful,

we stiffen our neck against God when

he's trying to correct us and trying to

get and trying to trying to get us to go

in the right direction and get things

right with him. And we we stiffen our

neck as the nation of Israel did here.

And we say, "No, I'm not I'm not

budging. I'm gonna do what I want to do.

I'll let you do this much with me, but

I'm not going to let you do this with

me." me and I the Lord is very clear

that whenever he's done, he's done,

>> right?

>> He's done. And we know according to

scripture and have seen in many people's

lives that have gotten away from God

that are born again Christians if

whenever they get away from God and they

decide that they're not going to do

anything else and that they're going to

stay away from the Lord that stay away

from the things of God that the Lord

often times whenever they start to hurt

the the the name of the Lord more than

they help the name of the Lord that

God's like, "All right, we're going

we're going to have to take you out now.

We're going to bring you home because

you're hurting more than helping." So,

we've got to be careful about that. But

notice the reciprocation of the of the

of the sin here. McLaren, he writes

this. He says, "There's a lesson that

the punishment of any sin is to bind the

sin upon the doer of it. And Christ

perpetuated the condition which he found

and made the sin its own punishment."

And what he's saying is this is that

because of the fact that the tree had

the appearance of fruit but had no

fruit, the punishment was that it will

never bear fruit again. And so often

times the sin that we participate in or

have in our life is the very sin that

God will use to destroy our life. It

will be the judgment of our the very sin

that we to that we partake in is is

oftenimes the very sin that that causes

our own destruction in our life. We see

an example of that with with Adonisc if

I'm saying that name right. In the book

of Judges, it says, "And Adoni fled and

they pursued after him and caught him

and cut off his thumbs and his and his

great toes. And Adonai said, three score

and 10 kings having their thumbs and

their great toes cut off gathered their

meat under my table as I have done. So

God hath reququitted me." The very same

thing that he did to all those other

kings was the very same same thing that

happened to him. You're

>> right. So, we need to be careful about

sin that creeps up in our life.

>> And it doesn't have to, Listen, you

don't have to be out partying, drinking,

or doing all those things that the world

does. All it takes is a root of

bitterness.

>> All it takes is some pride to get to

take root in our heart. All it takes is

a little bit of an arrogant attitude and

thinking that we're right when in

reality we're probably not. and and and

those sorts of small things that we we

think are small, we think are small, can

grow into great things that will be

destructive to our very own self. So, we

need to be careful. Listen, I I'm I'm

wanting to warn you this morning,

church, that we need to be careful about

these things that are in our life that

shouldn't be there. Isn't that right? My

mind is a wicked thing. My heart is

deceitfully wicked above all things. I

said I am not a good person. The only

goodness in me as you've heard preached

time and time again is the righteousness

that was imputed upon me by the blood of

the Lord Jesus Christ.

>> So if I'm not careful, I can find myself

like this fig tree. I can have all the

things right on the outside, but on the

inside there's no fruit.

>> There's no fruit.

And Jesus pronounced judgment on this

tree because of its hypocrisy.

John Butler writes this. He says, "It

was the falseness of the tree and making

it appear there was fruit which provoked

the sins of death."

Psalms 101:7 says, "He that worketh

Psalms 101:7

deceit shall not dwell within my house.

He that tellth lies shall not tarry in

my sight." In 1st Samuel 16:7 it says,

"For the Lord seeth not as man seeth.

For man lookth on the outward

appearance, everybody sees the leaves,

but the Lord lookketh on the heart.

>> Right?

>> God sees the inside.

>> As the Bible says, the eyes of the Lord

are in every place, beholding the evil

and the good.

>> Right?

>> The Lord knows. We can't hide anything

from him. And until we really grab a

hold of that and realize that in our

heart, we'll allow these little things

to slip in, this hyp hypocritical

attitude, this this prideful attitude

and this and this sinfulness that should

not be. We'll allow those things to slip

in until we really realize that God

knows the intents of our heart.

Jeremiah 17:10 says, "The Lord, I the

Jeremiah 17:10

Lord search the heart. I try the reigns

even to give every man according to his

ways and according to the fruit of his

doings. So if we're sowing bad fruit,

you can expect that bad things will

come. And listen, you can and I want to

emphasize this and again like I said,

this is a hard as the Bible says, this

is a hard saying this morning. I'm not

trying to do this to try I don't know

what's go I have no idea about anybody's

life in here. I just want to preface

that.

But the Lord's very clear

that the fruit that we bear is the fruit

that we will reap. As the Bible says,

what you sow, you'll reap.

>> Isn't that right? So, if we're sowing

this hypocritical lifestyle, you can

expect to reap of that hypocritical

lifestyle.

>> Right?

>> But the Lord is very clear that he is

going to give according to the fruit of

his doings.

The rigorousness. real quickly and I've

got to try and wrap it up. But the

rigorousness of this sentencing that

Jesus has, the tree lost its place of

service.

Service is a privilege and a blessing.

>> Right?

>> It is not a place of prestige

and position.

This is a stark warning to you and I

that those steeped in hypocrisy bearing

no fruit, for Jesus himself even said in

John 15:2, "Every branch in me that

John 15:2

beareth not fruit, he taketh away. And

every branch that beareth fruit, he

purgeth that it may bring forth more

fruit." So if we're not bearing fruit,

the Bible says that it'll purge us and

take it away.

If we allow this stuff in our li in our

life, you know what we risk?

We risk the privilege of service. That's

>> right.

>> Serving God.

You and I have the greatest privilege in

the world today as born again believers.

We have the greatest privilege of

serving the God of heaven, the God of

this world, the God of this universe,

the one that spoke everything into

exist. We have the privilege this

morning of serving the God that saved us

by his grace through the shed blood of

his only begotten son, the Lord Jesus

Christ. That is a privilege this

morning. I praise God that he counted me

faithful as Paul said, putting me into

the ministry. You know that Paul's

saying that. Yes, he's talking to

Timothy, a young preacher, but you know

that's for the child of God this

morning. God counted you faithful and

put you into the ministry today.

>> Isn't that amazing?

>> And if we allow this petty little sin in

our heart,

>> it can destroy everything that we've

done

>> for the cause of Christ.

>> Seen too many people get just throw in

the towel and quit. And I'm not very

old. And I' I've seen people my age.

I've seen people that I've that that

I've looked up to just just quit on the

things of and just walk away because

there was something that they allowed in

their life that derailed them and

destroyed their Christian walk with God.

And it caused them to have a

hypocritical lifestyle. And God said,

"You know what? We're not going to use

you anymore."

>> Good.

>> And everything that they had done up to

that point

was destroyed.

>> You're right. That's right. the churches

that they had built, the sinners that

they had reached.

You realize this morning that our

testimony and our walk with God is so

gravely important. It's not just about

ourselves. It's about others today,

>> right? And if we quit on God and we

allow sin to keep us from serving God

and we walk away from the things of God

or God takes us out of the service of

the Lord, then it hurts everything that

we have done for God up to this point

and I've got to hurry real quickly

because the emphasis that Jesus puts on

the disciples after this is he gives

them a little sermon there in verse

number 20.

Let's look in verse number 21 for time's

sake. It says, "And Peter calling to

remembrance saith unto him, Master,

behold the fig tree which thou cursest

is withered away. And Jesus answering

saith unto them, have faith in God."

>> Right?

>> You know why people quit?

There's a lot of things that you could

put into this, but I think it boils down

to one main factor,

>> and it's that they don't or quit have

having faith in God.

>> Right?

>> When John the Baptist was doubting in

that prison there when he was put when

he was placed in prison,

Jesus said, "Blessed is he whosoever

shall not be offended in me."

When things go don't go our way,

when circumstances change, and when

things get hard, are we going to keep

having faith in God, or are we going to

allow the circumstance to override our

faith?

>> Good. Come on.

I found that that seems to be the key

thing in a lot of people quitting on God

and leaving the church and leaving the

things of God and just giving up and

throwing in the towel is the fact that

they allow the circumstance to override

the goodness of God in our life.

>> Amen. Right.

>> And they get focused on the physical

more than the spiritual.

>> Amen.

>> The Bible is very clear in Colossians

Colossians 3 · chapter mention

chapter 3. It says, "Set your affections

on things above."

>> Yeah. Come on. not on things on the

earth.

>> Right?

>> When somebody does me wrong, God's still

good.

>> When somebody says something that kind

of offends me, you know what? God's

still good.

>> Whenever somebody has hurt me deeply and

I've poured my life into them and

they've walked away, God's still good.

>> You know why? Because I'm not looking at

this earthly thing that's going on here.

I need to keep what's the Bible say?

Looking unto Jesus, the author and the

finisher of our faith.

>> I'm looking for a better home, a better

country, a place that God has promised

me in heaven. I'm looking to be with my

savior for all of eternity. Sure, things

get hard down here, but what do I have?

Amazingly, maybe 60, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80

years. If I'm really blessed, 100 years

down here, and then I'm with heaven in

heaven with God. Amen.

>> That hundred years pales in comparison

to eternity.

>> I'm looking I need to keep my eyes up.

>> That's where I need to keep my focus

this morning because if I get focused

down here, I get focused on the

circumstance, I get focused on the hurt,

and I'm not I'm really I'm I'm kind of

just butchering this thing this morning,

but you know, I get focused on things

down here, I will quit because I in my

flesh am weak. Yeah.

>> But when I have faith in God,

>> you know what the Bible says? And I I'll

say this and I'll quit because it's time

to quit.

But you know what the Bible says in

Ephesians chapter 1 and verse number 19.

Ephesians 1 · chapter mention

It says the B it says that the power of

God is to usward who believe.

>> So you know when I have faith in God,

I'm not relying on my own strength when

things get hard.

>> Right? When I have faith in God, I'm not

relying on my own ability when things

get hard. When I have faith in God, I'm

looking to him and his strength and his

ability. And you know what? No, no

circumstance, no situation, no problem

is too big or too great for my God.

>> It might be too big for me.

>> I might not be able to handle it. But

God is great. He's He is a He has done

exceedingly above abundantly above all I

could ask. He is the one that is able to

handle my problem and my situation.

>> Right.

>> The least that I could do this morning

is live a life that [snorts] pleases God

and is unhypocritical in the motives and

the attitude and how I serve him.

>> Amen.

>> God is still good this morning.

>> Amen.

>> So if I can encourage you in something

this morning, I want to encourage you.

Have faith in God. Right.

>> Have faith in God. Don't f Don't focus

on the circumstance, the problem, the

situation. That's too hard for it's too

hard for us in our own ability, our own

power, our own our own mind. Let God

handle it. Have faith in God. He's able

to deliver you out of all of your

troubles. That's what David said. David

said that in Psalm chapter 34.

Psalms 34 · chapter mention

And I think that David had probably I

think I know David had way more troubles

than I I have had or ever will have.

>> Have faith in God this morning. Let's

pray. Lord, we thank you for the

opportunity once again to be able to be

in the house of God. Lord, thank you for

the word of God. How helps us, grows us,

encourages us. Lord, I pray that you'd

help us to be more like you. God, help

us focus on you this morning. Bless the

preaching hour. Bless the preacher. God,

I pray that you'd use him mightily. Give

him strength this morning. and he's not

feeling well. God, I pray that you'd

give him liberty and power. God, I pray

that you'd help us to have an open,

receptive heart to the word of God this

morning. Lord, I pray that you'd help

have help us to have a willing spirit to

want to change to be better Christians

for you. God, help us not be

hypocritical, but to be real. God, help

us of all most of all to have faith in

God. We love you. Thank you for all that

you do in Jesus name. Amen.

>> Thank you for joining our service today.

We'd love it if [music] you'd join us in

person the next time you are able at

Meadows Baptist Church. Our physical

address is 2988 Stewart [music] Road in

Walnut Cove, North Carolina. Our service

times are Sunday school [music] at 10:00

a.m., Sunday morning worship at 11:00

a.m., Sunday evening worship at 6:00

p.m., [music] and Wednesday evening

Bible study at 700 p.m. For more

information, visit us at [music]

meadowsbaptisturch.com.

Thanks again for tuning in.