The Fig Tree & the Temple: Two Unforgettable Object Lessons - Part 1

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Well, I invite you to take your Bibles tonight, and turn to Mark 11, Mark 11. We're going to begin looking tonight at two of the most controversial things our Lord ever did. In fact, the first of these is a favorite target of the critics of Jesus Christ and the Christian faith. We're going to look at what two unforgettable object lessons really mean.

There are moments in all of our lives that we will never forget, and there are moments in my own seminary education I will never forget. One of those happened in a Homiletics class – a class where you are taught how to preach. We all had to prepare a fifteen-minute message on Psalm 1. Well, the first challenge was preparing a fifteen-minute message and keeping it fifteen minutes. The second challenge was to stand up in front of your peers all of whom had prepared the same passage and your professor who was sitting in the back of the room not merely being spiritually enriched and encouraged by your message, but with a little check sheet and comment-places to critique exactly how it was you were doing.

I remember there was one particular man who was preaching on Psalm 1. We were all sitting there, and you know it was by this time we had pretty much had a handle on what Psalm 1 was teaching. And so, well we were listening to him, and he was preaching his heart out. And he came to verse 4 where it says-you know-verse 3 says the righteous are like a tree planted by the-you know the irrigation cannels where there's constant water, and they look like they're enriched and strong and – and bear fruit all the time. And then it says in verse 4, but the wicked are not so. They are like what? The chaff.

Well, we were sitting there, and as he was reading this verse, and he wanted to make his point to us, unbeknownst to us, he had put in the fold of his Bible real chaff. And about the time he said "and the wicked are not so they are like the chaff" he wound up with all of his breath and blew that chaff out of the fold of his Bible intending to make a point. And he did because it went all over us and all over our notes and all over our Bibles and all over the classroom. I don't know what grade he got. And I wouldn't suggest that as an object lesson. I don't remember a thing he said, but to this day thirty years later, I remember the chaff.

Sometimes it's true that a picture is worth a thousand words. We see that at times in the Scriptures. In the Old Testament God often commanded Israel's prophets to communicate their messages in unusual ways. Here's not a comprehensive list but just a few of them. Isaiah was told to go without his outer garment and shoes to show that the people would be carried off captive. Jeremiah in Jeremiah 13 was to bury his linen waistband in the ground and let it rot. He also was to break a jar in front of the people to illustrate the coming destruction of God's people. Ezekiel 4 - Ezekiel was to take a tile while it was still sketchable and sketch on it the city of Jerusalem with invading armies. He was also told to take his baggage as if he were going to exile and act like he was leaving the city and dig a hole in the wall. And so, there were these enacted parables. In Ezekiel 24 he was to fill up a boiling pot with choice cuts of lamb to show that the people of God were going to be destroyed.

Hosea most famously in Hosea 1 was told to marry a woman who afterwards became an immoral woman, even a prostitute. And then later he was told to redeem his wife from slavery after all of that had happened and take her back to himself as a powerful illustration of God's loyal faithful love to his people even when they had been grossly unfaithful to Him. So, there were these powerful living parables.

Jesus did the same. Most of Jesus' object lessons were healings. He healed the body to show what He could do for the soul; to show His power, to show His character. He cast out demons to show He was victorious over evil; that He could bring righteousness where there had been demonic slavery. But on Monday of the Passion Week Jesus acts out two powerful, unforgettable messages. One concerns a fig tree, and the other Herod's temple in the city of Jerusalem. Let me read it for you. Mark 11, and look at verse 11.

Jesus entered Jerusalem and came into the temple…. [This would have been on Sunday.] And after looking around at everything, He left for Bethany with the twelve, since it was already late.

On the next day, [this is Monday], when they had left Bethany, He became hungry. Seeing at a distance a fig tree and leaf, He went to see if perhaps He would find anything on it; and when he came to it, he found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs. He said to it, "May no one ever eat fruit from you again!" And His disciples were listening.

Then they came to Jerusalem. And He entered the Temple and began to drive out those who were buying and selling in the Temple and overturned the tables of the moneychangers and the seats of those who were selling doves; and He would not permit anyone to carry merchandise through the Temple. And He began to teach and say to them, "Is it not written, [that] 'MY HOUSE SHALL BE CALLED A HOUSE OF PRAYER FOR ALL THE NATIONS'? But you have made it a ROBBERS' DEN. The chief priests and the scribes heard this, and began seeking how to destroy Him; for they were afraid of Him, for the crowd was astonished at His teaching.

When evening came, they would go out of the city."

Now let me just give you the context again for what is going on in this period of Jesus's life. We're in the last week of His earthly life on the Friday before the Friday of the crucifixion. So, this is the week before the crucifixion. He arrived in Bethany from Jericho. Sabbath began at sundown on that Friday. So, because of that, it's likely that He and the twelve arrived before dark on Friday so that they could be there for the Sabbath in Bethany. That brings us to Saturday, which of course, most of Saturday was the Sabbath. Began at sundown on Friday, went to the sundown on Saturday. During that day they would have rested and perhaps would have gone to the synagogue since it was the Sabbath, and that was Jesus' pattern.

After the Sabbath ended at sunset on Saturday, that is probably when the feast in Jesus' honor happened at the home of Simon the leper. Mark puts that event out of order apparently. The other gospels have it. John particularly has it earlier, and we'll talk about that when we get there. But probably that feast in Jesus' honor where Mary anoints Him occurred on Saturday night after the Sabbath ended, and they were free to travel. Maybe even some people came over the hill from Jerusalem for that feast.

Now that brings us to Sunday. On Sunday before the crucifixion of course you have the triumphal entry. Jesus comes to make the unequivocal claim to be Israel's Messiah (we saw that last week) and to claim to be the perfect fulfillment of the Passover. That was the triumphal entry. Then He went into the Temple, and there we're told He healed; He healed people. He prophesied of the destruction of the city, and He wept over the destruction of the city of Jerusalem. And He (as I said last time), cased the Temple. As verse 11 says, He went in; He looked around at everything and looked at all the temple courts preparing for what He would do next day - the entire Temple complex.

And then Sunday evening Jesus and the twelve went back to Bethany for the night. There wasn't enough room in the city of Jerusalem for several hundred thousand people who came for the feast, and so they either stayed in nearby villages, or in some cases they even camped on the surrounding hillsides around Jerusalem. Only on Passover night were the pilgrims required to sleep within the extended boundaries of the city of Jerusalem, which would not include Bethany. That's why Jesus and His disciples went instead to the Garden of Gethsemane, and if Jesus had not been arrested, they would have spent the night in the Garden of Gethsemane. But of course, He knew that was coming.

On Monday (that's Sunday), on Monday three events take place. There's the cursing of the fig tree. There's the second cleansing of the Temple. One earlier in His ministry and now a second at the end of His ministry, and then John records that were some Greeks who came with some specific requests of Him, and John records the interchange that took place, and we'll look at that a little later.

Matthew and Mark only record the first two of Monday's events; that is the first, the object lesson of the fig tree. Luke includes the second cleansing of the Temple as well. Both of these, the cursing of the fig tree and the second cleansing of the Temple, are acted out object lessons that essentially have the same message. The stage for what Jesus plans to do on Monday is set late on Sunday afternoon or early evening. Verse 11 says at the end of the day on Sunday, the day of the triumphal entry, Jesus came into the Temple and after looking around at everything He left for Bethany with the twelve since it was already late. The cleansing of the Temple that will happen on Monday is not impulsive, it is carefully planned. On Sunday Jesus looked all around the Temple complex, and He took careful note of all that was happening. It had been three years since the first cleansing and tragically little to nothing had changed.

Now that brings us to Monday. I want us to examine the two events that happened on Monday that Mark records. Tonight, we'll just look at the first one; the cursing of the fig tree in verses 11 - 14. This most usual event is only recorded by Matthew and Mark. Matthew puts it topically in his treatment of the Passion Week, and Mark puts it in its chronology. Notice verse 12, on the next day, that would have been on Monday morning when they had left Bethany, He became hungry. Matthew uses a word for morning that means early morning shortly after daylight, possibly around 6 am. So, it was early on Monday morning, and there they left Bethany and are headed to Jerusalem. Now remember it's about two miles away.

Just to orient you again I've included on this slide, this is looking, as you can see, from sort of the northeast back across the city. The red circle represents the Mount of Olives. Then you have: the yellow line is the Kidron Valley which separated the Mount of Olives from the Temple Mount. Where the Dome of the Rock is in this picture, that's the Temple Mount. That's where the Dome of the Rock is today, and we'll talk about this the next time we look at Mark, which will be in a few weeks, where the Dome of the Rock is today, where the Temple proper stood in Jesus' day. So, that sort of orients you to the whole package there in Jerusalem.

Here's another view. This view is more from the southeast looking back across. Again, the red circle represents the Mount of Olives. There you see the Temple Mount, the Dome of the Rock over there to give you orientation. And then on the eastern side, on the desert time, the Dead Sea side of the Mount of Olives were two cities, Bethany, where Jesus stayed, and Bethpage which was the route from Bethany to the Mount of Olives and on to the Temple Mount.

And, again just to give you some orientation, this is how high the Mount of Olives is compared to the Temple Mount. That gives you some orientation of the Kidron Valley and the height of each. The Mount of Olives extends actually a little higher than that Temple Mount area that overlooks it. They were on the eastern side – the other side of the Mount of Olives- is where they were staying.

The walk to Jerusalem from there was about two miles. Shortly after they left the home of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus that morning, early morning, Jesus recognized that He was hungry. I love that because here's a wonderful glimpse of His genuine humanity. What many of us are feeling right now if we haven't yet had super before the service is exactly the same experience Jesus had that morning. He was genuinely hungry. His body wanted food. He wasn't faking it; He wasn't pretending; He was hungry.

Verse 13, seeing at a distance a fig tree and leaf, He went to see if perhaps He would find anything on it. Matthew tells us that it was just one lone fig tree by the road. So, He looks down the road somewhere on the way between probably Bethany and Bethpage, perhaps around Bethpage because Bethpage means House of Figs. He sees a fig tree over by the road, and He begins to think there'll be some food on it. By the way, I love the little details from the life of Christ.

The Law of Moses stipulated that travelers were free to eat fruit or grain as long as they didn't gather it in a basket. So, if you were walking through a person's field, you were walking by their vineyard, by their fig tree, whatever it might be, you were free to pick some fruit, to pick some grain, just enough to sustain you, not enough to gather it in a basket and take with you. And so, even in these little details, Jesus keeps the Law. Deuteronomy 23:24 prescribes that. We see the moral perfection of Jesus even in these smallest of details in His life.

Now we can't be exactly sure where Jesus saw this fig tree. It was and is still a very common sight in Israel. This is a fig tree near Jerusalem today. The two-mile route He took from Bethany to Jerusalem, as I mentioned, went past the village called Bethpage, which means House of Figs. So, that side of the Mount of Olives was known as a place where there were fig trees. Verse 13 says Jesus saw this fig tree that stood by the road at a distance. And what was clear from a distance is that it was covered with leaves. Now that's very important to the point of this object lesson. But to appreciate the point, you need to know the growth cycle of fig trees in Israel. This isn't beside the point, this is to the point, so listen carefully.

Fig trees there have two definite crops of figs per season. The first crop referred to as the winter figs ripen in May/June. The second crop called summer figs ripen in late August and September. Sometimes depending on the weather, the two crops can actually overlap each other, and you can have figs on your fig tree for somewhere between nine and ten months.

Now remember when this is happening. It's Passover in probably 30 A.D. And if you want to know why I argue for 30 A.D. go back and listen to the New Testament Survey series I did, and that will be answered there, but we'll just stick with that date, 30 A.D. It was in April and in fact in 30 A.D. the crucifixion was on April 7^th if it was on that Friday of the Passover, and if 30 A.D. is correct, then this day is April 3^rd.

Now ripe figs for the winter crop would come in another 30-60 days so there were no ripe figs on this fig tree. And Jesus would not have expected such. There were fig trees all over Israel. He has grown up now, been there 33 years, and He knows this. But there were green or unripe figs that would begin to appear in February. They were called "paggah" in Hebrew. This is what they looked like, just a little outcropping of fruit, the beginning of fruit. They were edible. They weren't as good as the full ripe figs, but they were edible and often were eaten. We see that even in the Old Testament times, just the little nob of the beginning of the fig fruit but enough to sustain you. Jesus expected that. By early April it would be normal to find such green figs. And that expectation would be particularly true of this tree because it was in leaf.

Usually, the baby green fig buds appeared before the leaves appeared. So, if there were leaves there should have at least been these little green figs, and Jesus anticipated gathering a few to eat on the way to Jerusalem to address His hunger. And since there were a lot of leaves, Jesus may have even had some hope that it was further along than most of the fig trees were at this time of the year, and perhaps it had some fruit that was beginning to ripen. But verse 13 says when He came to it, He found nothing but leaves for it was not the season for figs. That's just a simple way to say it wasn't yet time for the full ripening fruit, but even what Jesus expected to find, these "paggah", these little green figs, were not there.

By the way, here too is another example of Jesus's humanity. Jesus, at times, used His omniscience, His all-knowing, divine attribute as He apparently did on Sunday when He told his disciples how they would find a colt of the donkey for Him to ride, remember, the colt of the donkey, the foal rather of the donkey. But He only used His divine attributes at the Spirit's direction, and most of the time, (this is so important to understand), most of the time Jesus lived life, human life, without the benefits of those divine attributes. Jesus didn't cheat. He lived among us as one of us. He had to deal with life just like us. He hoped; He expected that this fig tree would have some food on it when He saw it at a distance, but when He actually got to it, He found nothing but leaves. Mark adds for it was not the season for figs, in other words, it was not yet the time for ripe figs. By its leaves, this tree promised that it would have at least have baby green figs, but it had nothing.

Verse 14. So, Jesus said to it, may no one ever eat fruit from you again, and His disciples were listening. Now, this miracle of Jesus is unique in two ways. First of all, it's unique because it's the last miracle that Jesus Himself will perform in Mark's Gospel. Of course, He is a part of His resurrection, but the resurrection is described as a work of all three members of the Trinity. But it's the last miracle that Jesus Himself will perform in Mark's Gospel.

The other thing that's unique about this miracle is it is the only time in Jesus three-and-half-year miracle that He performed a truly destructive miracle. Think about that, Jesus normally healed; He normally restored; He normally created, but here He destroys with a curse; He totally destroys as we'll find out. This is a frightening hint to us that Jesus, our Savior, the loving Savior we adore and worship, can also be a judge of unbending justice. Notice verse 21, Peter says it was a curse, what Jesus had done; behold the fig tree you cursed.

Now what's going on here? This destructive miracle has been a favorite of the enemies of Jesus. In fact, the great atheist Bertrand Russell writes this, "I cannot myself tell that either in the manner of wisdom or in the manner of virtue Christ stands quite as high as some other people known to history." And one of the reasons Russell hold that view is that because he accused Jesus here in this miracle of quote "vindictive fury." He said that because Jesus, he said, is blaming the tree for not producing fruit when it wasn't the season for fruit. Even those who aren't as antagonistic to Christianity as Bertrand Russell is, even they are embarrassed by this miracle. T.W. Manson writes in a journal on biblical literature (ok), "It is a tale of miraculous power wasted in the service of ill temper for the super-natural energy employed to blast the unfortunate tree might have been more usefully expended in forcing a crop of figs out of season. As it stands it is simply incredible."

Understand, Jesus is not being impetuous here. Jesus is not throwing a divine temper tantrum. If He were, why would the Gospel writers include it? But neither Matthew nor Mark tell us what it means. They don't have the disciples saying Jesus what does this mean. That must mean that the meaning should be obvious to the informed reader, and it is, and there are two keys that unlock its meaning. The first key is the Old Testament background. The second key is the timing of this incident or its context both in chronology and in the flow of the biblical text. That's where we get our clues for interpreting it.

First of all, let's look at the Old Testament background. In the Old Testament Israel is often pictured as a fig tree because the land itself was filled with fig trees. You remember even the spies reported in Joshua's time how rich the land was, and it was filled with figs and milk and honey. And so, it became, in a very real sense, the land of figs and therefore described as a fig tree itself the land –the nation. Jeremiah 8:13 is one example. "God says of Israel I will surely snatch them away declares the Lord. There will be no grapes on the vine and figs on the fig tree and the leaf will wither and what I have given them will pass away." Jeremiah 24 goes into that similar image. Jeremiah 29:17, "Thus says the LORD of Hosts, I am sending upon them the sword, famine, and pestilence. I will make Israel like split open figs that cannot be eaten due to rottenness."

Hosea 9, "I saw your forefathers as the earliest fruit on the fig tree in its first season, but they came into idolatry to Baal-peor and devoted themselves to shame, and they became as detestable as that which they loved. Ephraim is stricken, and their root is dried up. They will bear no fruit." In Joel 1:7, "He has laid my vine a waste and my fig tree splinters and striped them bare and cast them away; her branches have become white, that is the judgment of God." Micah 7:1 "Woe is me! For I am like the fruit pickers, like the grape gatherers. There's not a cluster of grapes to eat, Or a first-ripe fig which I crave." So, in these contexts and in others and also in similar images. Do you remember Isaiah 5 where Israel is described as a grapevine that God carefully builds a mound for and nurses and cares for, and then it bears no fruit? These were images that were very common to describe Israel.

Even in Jesus' ministry, He used a similar image to this. Look at Luke 13. Luke 13:6. He's just called the people to repentance, and in verse 6 He begins telling them this parable.

"A man had a fig tree which has 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've come looking for fruit on this fig tree without finding any. Cut it down! Why does it even use up the ground? And he answered and said to him and said 'Let it alone sir, for this year too, until I dig around and put in fertilizer; and when it bears fruit next year fine, but if not, cut it down. [So, even Jesus used this image.]

So, Jesus walks up to a real fig tree in Israel expecting to find green figs to eat, but all He finds is leaves, and immediately, He sees in this event an analogy; an analogy to Israel, who is in the Old Testament, likened to a fig tree, and He decides to make it an object lesson for His disciples. Verse 14. And He says this out loud in their hearing. This is for them. This is not Jesus angry with a fig tree. He's got a lesson to teach them. He said to the tree may no one ever eat fruit from you again, and His disciples were listening. Literally, Jesus says no longer into the ages out of you may anyone eat fruit; for eternity you will not bear fruit.

Mark tells us that when Jesus spoke to the fig tree the disciples were listening. So, the first key to interpreting this is the Old Testament background. The fact that Israel is often compared to a fig tree. The other key to interpreting this little story, this little account, is its context. First, it's historical context. Jesus had ridden into Jerusalem the day before. He had gone to the Temple. According to verse 11 He just looked around. He carefully inspected it, and although it had the show of true worship, what is He now on Monday on the way to Jerusalem to do? To cleanse it. That's the historical context.

The biblical context is this account in Mark's gospel. Notice it is sandwiched between. Notice you have this account in verses 11 - 14. Then in the middle of it verses 15 - 18 you have the cleansing of the Temple, and then beginning in verse 19 and following you have them seeing that fig tree again. It's connected to, tied to the cleansing of the Temple because they both have the same point to make.

So, with the Old Testament background Israel as the fig tree, with the historical context of the story, the interpretation becomes much clearer. Here it is: God had every right to expect fruit from Israel, and in her Temple worship, and in her rituals, she appeared to have plenty fruit. She certainly had the show, she had the leaves; she had the display that should have meant there was fruit. She appeared to have the genuine worship of God, a genuine love of God. But Jesus, both on the fig tree and in Israel's worship found nothing but leaves. The religion of the people was all appearance and no reality. The worship of first century Judaism had no genuine fruit.

In fact, as Jesus will make clear on Tuesday of the Passion Week, first century Judaism was no longer even the true faith of Old Testament believers. It had become a false religion, and all that's left for God is to destroy it, to wipe it off the map. It is like a fig tree in full leaf at Passover promising something it can't deliver. It's a deceptive show. If you and I had looked around the Temple at Passover, we would have seen a lot of promise of true religion, true faith in Israel's God. It was impressive, and I'll give you a glimpse of how impressive it was the next time we come back to Mark. But when Jesus inspected it, instead of fruit, He found nothing but leaves, nothing but show.

It's a remarkable story. So, what are the lessons for us from this amazing event in our Lord's life? There are really some powerful and important ones. First of all, we must never forget that there are two sides to God's character. There is grace, thank God. But there is also justice. There is mercy for which we are grateful. There is also vengeance. Our God is a loving God, but He is also a God of wrath. God and His Son both delight in saving and rescuing and healing and showing mercy and displaying grace, but the same God, the same Jesus, will one day destroy His enemies and bring unimaginable pain and suffering to those who reject Him. Don't you for a moment think that Jesus is too weak or too loving to condemn the one who rejects Him to eternal hell, and here in the one destructive miracle Jesus ever worked we begin to get just a glimpse of that reality.

Jesus' curse was pronounced on the tree which made a deceptive and hypocritical profession of fruit that it did not have, and so Jesus determined that it deserved to be condemned. It reminds me of Proverbs 29:1, "A mans who hardens his neck after much reproof Will suddenly be broken beyond remedy." Our God is gracious and loving and patient and merciful, but the same statements that declare Him to be that also says He will not leave the guilty unpunished. He will deal with those and visit His anger on those who hate Him to the third and fourth generation.

There are a couple of others passages in the New Testament that punctuate this truth. Look at Matthew 13, I'm sorry Matthew 11. Matthew 11:20. Here is Jesus' denunciation on the cities that rejected Him, the cities where He did most of His miracles in Galilee. Then He began to denounce the cities in which most of His miracles were done because they did not repent. Again now, you see the patience of God, you see the mercy, grace of God. Jesus was there again and again and again, miracle after miracle, message after message, but they did not repent. And so, He began to denounce these cities. Verse 21,

"Woe to you Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles had occurred in Tyre and Sidon which occurred in you, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. Nevertheless [and this is a sobering comment, remember this is Jesus Christ. He says] I say to you, it will be more tolerable for [the pagan cities, the idolatrous cities of] Type and Sidon, in the day of judgment than it will be for you. And you, Capernaum, will not be exalted to heaven, will you? You will descend to Hades; for if the miracles had occurred in Sodom which occurred in you, it would have remained to this day."

That was two thousand years before. They would have repented. But you didn't. Nevertheless, I say to you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom. It'll be easier for those who experienced the pouring out of fire and brimstone because of the sin of homosexuality completely given over to it on the plains of Sodom and Gomorrah. It will be more tolerable for those people in the day of judgment Jesus says than for those who time and time and time again are exposed to the truth of the Gospel and refuse to repent.

Boy, it's so important that we remember in our own lives, if you are here tonight, and you are not a believer, you've been exposed to the Gospel, you've heard it. You're seeing it tonight, you're seeing it enacted in what Jesus does and His life, in His Passion Week, and if you have not embraced Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, but you've heard about Him again and again and you've just ho-hummed and yawned and turned away and said, I want to live my own life. Jesus would say to you if He were here tonight, if you refuse to repent, it will be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah than it will be for you in the day of judgment. There is a harsh side of God; not a sinful side, but a harsh side, a just side.

You see it again in Revelation. Look at Revelation 14. This of course is during the great tribulation period. Revelation 14:9.

Then another angel, a third one, followed them saying with a loud voice, "If anyone worships the beast and his image, [so they're basically involved in idolatry, worshiping those beings propped up by Satan who will lead mankind astray during the tribulation period,] If anyone worships the beast or his image and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, he also will drink of the wine of the wrath of God which is mixed in full strength in the cup of His anger; and he will be tormented by fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever; they have no rest day and night; those who worship the beast and his image and whoever receives the mark of his name.

Listen folks, we need to remember it for ourselves, and we need to remember it for those we know. If we're in Christ, those who have heard the Gospel, heard the Gospel, heard the Gospel and refuse to repent are storing up for themselves what is described in this passages. We need to pray for them. We need to share the Gospel with them. We need to weep over them. Never forget that our God of love and grace and mercy is also a God of unbending justice and just wrath.

A second lesson is that God hates empty hypocritical worship and will always judge it. The Jews of the first century were very religious but without true religion. Their hypocrisy is clear: in buying and selling in the Temple; in the Pharisees and their overt hypocrisy; in the refusal of the people to respond to the Gospel of John and repent; in their refusal to embrace their Messiah. Jesus looks, and it appears to be the real thing, but there's no fruit; a profession of faith but no fruit. God will not, cannot, count this-that.

You see this throughout the Bible, you see it in the Old Testament. I won't look at all these passages. Let me look at two of them with you. Look at Amos, Amos prophesying against Israel, the Northern ten tribes during the divided monarchy. Amos 5:21, remember now God is the one who commanded Israel to worship with off-burnt offerings and sacrifices and festivals. Amos 5:21,

"I hate, I reject your festivals, nor do I delight in your solemn assemblies. You're still having them but I'm not there. Even though you offer up to Me burnt offerings and your grain offering, I will not accept them; and I will not even look at the peace offerings of your fatlings. Take away from Me the noise of your songs. [You're singing to me but I'm not listening; it's noise.] I will not even listen to the sound of your harps." [Instead of your ritual, instead of your outward show, instead of your hypocrisy, God says here's what I want.] Verse 24, "… let justice roll down like rivers and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream." [In other words, repent and live out that repentance and then your faith – your-your outward religion won't be hypocrisy.]

The same thing is true for us folks. If you are coming on Sunday, if I am coming on Sunday, and pretending to be something I'm not. If I'm a different person during the week; if you're different person during the week; if you're putting on a show for the people around you aren't for God, listen, God knows. And just like Israel He is thoroughly unimpressed. He would say stop going to church. Don't bring Me your worship. Don't sing your songs of praise to Me. Instead, repent and let that repentance show in your life, and then I will delight in your outward acts of worship.

You see it again in Micah. Look over at Micah. Micah wrote to Judah and the seven tribes during the divided monarchy, and you remember this passage in Micah 6:6.

"With what shall I come to the LORD [in light of all the sin, what shall I come] And bow myself before the God on high? Shall I come to Him With burnt offerings, with yearly calves? Does the LORD delight in thousands of rams and ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I present even my firstborn for my rebellious acts, The fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?" [Of course not.] Verse 8, "He has told you, O man, what is good; … what does the LORD require of you But [genuine faith] … do justice, … love kindness, And … walk humbly with your God."

He's the real thing. Live out the faith to profess in your daily and weekly life. Don't pretend to be what you're not. Pretending; hypocrisy absolutely sickens God.

You see it in the New Testament as well. Look at Matthew 3. Here's a great example because the Pharisees come out to John the Baptist. John's baptizing. Verse 7, the Pharisees and the Sadducees are coming out for baptism. They're saying we're here to be a part of the Messiah's kingdom; we're here to be baptized. We're here for prayer. And He says you brood of snakes, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruit in keeping with repentance. Don't come here and do some outward show. Don't come here and pretend to be genuinely caring about Messiah and His coming. Instead, truly repent and do not suppose you can say to yourselves we have Abraham for our Father. Don't say, hey, because of our ethnicity we're in. For I say to you from these stones God is able to raise up children of Abraham.

And watch verse 10. The ax is already laid at the root of the trees. Therefore, every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. In other words, where there is not a genuinely repent heart, it shows that person is not really a true believer in God and will eventually face God's judgment.

There are other passages where this point is made as well. Understand God hates empty, hypocritical worship. Here we have in this passage a tree, evident of people, evident of people in Israel who had all the show but not the reality. Jesus comes and inspects it, so does He with our lives, and then the result of inspection can be terrible.

The third lesson for us is a lesson of mercy and grace. Jesus still invites you to come to Him for forgiveness, to come to Him for eternal life which He would earn by His death on that coming Friday. How do I know that? Well, later on this same day, on this same Monday, Jesus said something else in the Temple. Look at John 12. This happened later on the same day as the cursing of the fig tree and the cleansing of the Temple. John 12. Look at verse 31. After the Greeks come to Him, He says now judgment has come upon this world, the ruler of this world will be cast out and I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself; He was indicating the kind of death He was going to die, and then He goes to say, you need to repent. I am going to be taken away, verse 35, for a little while longer the light is among you; walk while you have the light, so the darkness does not overtake you.

He who walks in the darkness does not know where he goes. Watch this. While you have the light, that's Jesus, believe in the light so that you may become sons of light. The day of mercy, the day of grace is still open if you will hear and respond the invitation to Jesus. But understand this, that day will someday pass, and then if you've not responded in faith and repentance to Christ, you will hear His curse, His condemnation. So, I plead with you, if you don't know Jesus, come to Him today. You'll find Him loving and gracious and merciful and eager to receive you. But if you wait, and you harden your heart, and you don't repent; then someday it will be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah than it will be for you. God forbid that that would be true.

Let's pray together.

Father, this is a hard message. It's a hard message to realize that our loving Savior is such a righteous and holy judge. Father, I pray that You would work in the hearts of those here tonight who have heard the Gospel again and again but have put off reckoning with Jesus. Lord, remind them of who He is. Remind them of His love and His grace and His mercy, but Father, remind them that the day will come when they will cross the line, and it will be better for Sodom and Gomorrah than for them in the day of judgment.

Father, I thank you and bless you for us who are in Christ that we will never experience that side of who You are, that we will never know Your full, furious anger and wrath in justice and holiness against sin, because Jesus knew it in our place; because He drank the cup. There's nothing left for us. Oh God, we thank You and bless You that we are safe in Christ.

For it's in His name we pray. Amen.