Let's read these few verses,
just beginning at verse 32. The Lord had been teaching the
disciples concerning the things of the last days, the new covenant
age, again, which spanned from His first coming to His second
coming. He dealt with things that were
going to come about in their lifetime, the very disciples
that were standing before Him, or sitting before Him. things
that were going to come about in their lifetime, such as the
destruction of the temple in Jerusalem, the destruction of
Jerusalem itself. And he had described the state
of physical Jerusalem and the temple in another parable of
a fig tree, just like he's going to talk about a fig tree here.
And that fig tree there, we'll look at, we'll see the contrast
back in Matthew chapter 21 In fact, let's go on back there
in Matthew chapter 21. I'm not gonna go over all this. But in Matthew 21, I think it's
verse 17. Matthew 21, 17, he says, he left
them and went out of the city into Bethany, and he lodged there. Now in the morning, as he returned
into the city, he hungered, and when he saw a fig tree in the
way, he came to it. And he found nothing thereon,
there was no fruit on the fig tree, but leaves only. And said
unto it, let no fruit grow on thee henceforward forever. And presently the fig tree withered
away. So there's an illustration in
the physical world of a withered fig tree. And it says in verse
20, and when the disciples saw it, they marveled, saying, how
soon is the fig tree withered away? They were amazed. And I
mentioned back during the lesson, it's kind of strange that they
would be amazed after seeing all the miracles that he had
performed up to this point. Yeah, that ought to be easy,
but they were still amazed at it, how quick it happened. And
it says in verse 21, Jesus answered and said to them, verily I say
unto you, if you have faith and doubt not, you shall not only
do that which is done to the fig tree, but also you shall
say unto this mountain, be thou removed and be thou cast into
the sea, it shall be done. And all things whatsoever you
shall ask in prayer, believing you shall receive. Of course
he's talking about according to the will of God. He's not
talking, he's not making God a genie in a bottle, you know,
if you believe it hard enough you're gonna get anything you
want. That's not what it is. But that fig tree represented
the nation Israel, Judea, Jerusalem, the temple, which had an appearance
of godliness and religion, but was dead inwardly. So it's like
the fig tree that sprouted leaves, and anytime a fig tree sprouts
leaves, then you know the fruit is coming, but this fig tree
was withered. And that's what it was, you see,
they were God's people in name only. But no true faith, no truth,
no grace, except for a remnant of them, and so that's what the
fig tree back then represented. But now here, now go over to
Matthew 24, our text, verse 32. He's talking to them about how
all things are working according to the purpose, the sovereign
purpose and plan and will of God in the new covenant, as it
always has been now. God has always been one who works
all things after the counsel of his own will, and all things
work together for good to them that love God, who are called
according to his purpose. So God is going to glorify himself
and he's going to save his people from their sins. Not one is going
to be lost. Not one whom God chose, who were
justified, whom Christ died for and redeemed. Not one who had
regenerated and converted by the Spirit in the new birth.
They're not going to perish. And all of these things are going
to come to fruition according to the purpose and the will of
God. God will not and cannot fail. That's the thing we need
to understand. It's what people today do not
understand. Those who preach a false gospel conditioned on
sinners, the works and the wills of sinners, they present a God
who fails. God cannot unless you let him,
that kind of thing. And that's not the true gospel.
And so it's not conditioned on sinners. If it is, it will fail.
That's the only assurance we have. If salvation were conditioned
on us in any way, at any stage, to any degree, it would fail.
But because it's conditioned on Christ and all the promises
of God are in him, yea and amen, it will not fail. He shall not
be discouraged. He shall see his seed and be
satisfied. All of those, his sheep, he said,
I have many sheep that are not of this folk. Them also I must
bring. He died for them. He owns them. They shall be saved. They shall
be preserved. And they shall, in the end, be
glorified. He said, I and my father are
one. Nobody can pluck them out of my father's hand. And so understand
this issue. After having shown them the things
that are going to come to pass in the new age, the new covenant,
in that new testament, he says verse 32, now learn a parable
of the fig tree. So here we're presented with
another fig tree. Now that one in Matthew 21 was
an actual fig tree. physical, that he used it to
make an illustration, to drive a point about Israel being desolate. Looking good to people, you remember
he told the Pharisees, outwardly you appear righteous unto men,
but inwardly you're full of dead bones, like an open grave. And
that's a good lesson to us. We wanna make sure that we're
not just religious in an appearance. You know, if we know what righteousness
is, We do know that none of us appear righteous to ourselves
because we're sinners saved by grace. And we see the effects
of sin every day of our lives, especially as we grow older and
we're sick and age gets the best of these physical bodies. The
body is dead because of sin, scripture says in Romans 8, 10,
but the spirit is life because of righteousness. So we know
what righteousness is. It's the perfection of the law
which can only be found in Christ. So here he comes forth with a
parable. Now learn a parable of the fig
tree. And it says, when his branch is yet tender and put it forth
leaves, you know that summer is nigh. That's a physical sign
that summer's coming. This is in the spring, see? And
the leaves appear and the fruit's going to come. like the barren
fig tree, had leaves but no fruit, had an appearance but no grace,
no power. So he says in verse 33, so likewise
ye when you shall see all these things know that it is near. What's near? The end is near. the end of all things, even at
the doors, verily, verily, I say unto you, this generation shall
not pass till all these things be fulfilled." Now, a lot of
commentators look at that word, this generation, and they say,
well, that's referring to the disciples in that day. No, it's
not. It's referring to the time of
the whole new covenant. This generation, this span of
time. You remember back in Psalm 22
that I preached on last week, And let me go over there and
just remind you of that. In Psalm 22, at the end of that
Psalm, you had these words spoken. And of course, this is the Psalm
of the cross, Christ dying for his people. And it says in verse
30 of Psalm 22, a seed shall serve him. Well, that's his seed. That's the seed of Abraham, the
seed of David, the seed of Christ, that's the lact of God. chosen
before the foundation of the world, whose names are written
in the Lamb's book of life. That's not just one segment of
them called the Jews. You know, Christ came to save
both his sheep, both Jew and Gentile. And he says, a seed
shall serve him. Well, that's the ones whom God
gave to him before the foundation of the world, for whom he died,
for whom he was buried, and for whom he arose again the third
day. And it shall be accounted to the Lord for a generation.
Now that generation there is all of his people, both Old Testament
and New Testament, who will serve him. And how are they gonna serve
him? Well, they're gonna be born again
by the Spirit and brought to faith in Christ and repentance
of dead works, and they're going to serve him in love. They're
going to seek to be like Christ. They're gonna fight the fight
of the warfare of the flesh and the Spirit. And it says, they
shall come, they shall declare his righteousness unto a people
that shall be born that he hath done this. Well, this generation
over here in Matthew 24 is the whole generation of the New Testament
age. And that's what he says here.
He says, verse 34, Verily I say unto you, this generation shall
not pass till all these things be fulfilled. And that's why
I entitled the message All Things Fulfilled. That's what this fig
tree represents. the fulfilling of all things.
Verse 35, heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall
not pass away. So here we have the significance
of this parable blatantly stated by Christ. And it gives his disciples
a great understanding of the providential dealings of God
with men and all that's connected with and predicated upon his
death on the cross. And I put in capital letters
in your lesson here that we as true believers must live by faith
in Christ, looking for him to come any moment and expecting
him to come for us. Much of what he says in this
whole passage, this whole message from the Mount of Olives has
already been fulfilled. Much of it is in the process
of being fulfilled. God's still saving his sheep.
He's still bringing his lost sheep into the kingdom. And we
know that Christ told us that before the final end of all things
shall come, that it's going to look almost as if the church
is dead. Because there'll be so few. And he talked about the
prevalence of false Christ and false gospels. And some that
would even be so close that if it were possible, they would
deceive the very elect. And I always want to make sure
that we understand this, that even the elect of God, we fell
in Adam into a state of sin and to gravity and spiritual death. And we start out this life being
deceived by our own flesh in darkness. And that's why we must
be born again. Now, I put it here too, I want
you to understand, this message took place in the week leading
up to his arrest, his trial, his crucifixion and resurrection.
And what a great, great message this is to show that the salvation
of sinners does not lie in the old covenant law. It's a matter
of God's grace. It's not connected with the physical
nation of Israel, Abraham's physical seed. You don't have to become
a physical Jew to be saved. That's one thing that's prevalent
through here. The Gentile men did not have
to be circumcised to be right with God. And you remember Paul,
how much he dealt with that in the book of Galatians. And he
even told him, he said, if you're circumcised for that reason,
thinking that it'll save you or make you righteous or more
righteous before God, Christ will profit you nothing. Think
about that. That's serious business, isn't
it? Oh, somebody say, oh, that doesn't matter. They're just
confused. They're unbelievers. They're
in a state of darkness. But salvation is not connected
with being a physical Jew. Whether you're a physical descendant
of Abraham or whether you buy into it by physical circumcision,
it's not in the temple in Jerusalem. Christ is our temple. He's the
son of God who tabernacled among us. He's God manifest in the
flesh. And that's what salvation is
wrapped up in, the work of redemption, his righteousness alone. as our
surety, substitute, representative, life giver, preserver, glorifier,
everything, his finished work of redemption, his person, who
is none other than Jesus of Nazareth, and everything necessary that
it takes to bring the kingdom of God together in full fruition,
without any empty seats. any vacancies is fulfilled by
God in and by the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what this fig
tree represents. All things fulfilled. God has
never had a plan B. He's never had any contingency
plans. It's all worked out according
to him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own
will. So he brings this contrast, verse 33. So likewise ye, in
the way that fig tree flowers up with its leaves and brings
forth its fruit, it's the same way with God's people. When you
shall see all these things, know that the time of the end is near. Now we're seeing them and the
time of the end is near. I don't know when he's coming
back. Nobody does. except the father. But it's near. I know it's nearer than what
it was when these disciples heard it. And he said, even at the
doors. And we're seeing these things
come to fruition. You know, that fig tree that
you think about, that fig tree that bore no fruit, you can see
passages where it talks about it being cut down, hewn down,
and cast into the sea, as it said. Well here we see these,
as the progression of the revelation goes here, that was in Matthew
21. In Matthew 22 we see different groups that characterize unbelieving
Israel trying to discredit the Lord. You remember the Herodians
and then the Pharisees and the Sadducees, they're all asking
him questions, trying to trip him up. And they're all really
in the same boat, they're unbelief. And then in Matthew 23, that
we finished with not too long ago, you see how the hypocrisy
of the scribes and the Pharisees, and it closes with that state
of the temples being desolate, the abomination of desolation,
we read about that in Matthew 23 and 24. But here it speaks
of a fig tree that puts forth its leaf, and so there's such
a contrast here. And even though compared to the
nation, and out of this dead nation of Israel would come life,
not in their religion, not in their rights, but in the person
of the Messiah who would come through that nation physically.
He was made of the seed of David according to the flesh, the tribe
of Judah, all of that. Seed of Abraham. Life would come
out of a dead nation, not through any of them bringing life, or
any of their works, or anything to do with their physicality
or their relationship in the covenant, because that was dead,
but because one person would be born out of that nation, Jesus
of Nazareth. That's amazing. And then there
were, again, there were a few of those Israelites and Jews
throughout the Old Testament that were saved, they're called
a remnant, but they were a remnant according to the election of
grace, and they had absolutely no value or rights or privileges
above saved Gentiles. That's why Paul said in Galatians
6, if you'll look over there, he says in verse 14 of Galatians
6, He says, God forbid that I should
glory, or boast, or have confidence, except in the cross of our Lord
Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto
the world. What he's saying there is the
unbelieving world looks upon God's people as being cursed,
but we look upon them as being cursed, and they are. And he
says in verse 15, for in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision availeth
anything nor uncircumcision, but a new creature, a new creation.
It doesn't matter if you're Jew or Gentile. And he said, and
as many as walk according to this rule, this doctrine, and
what is the rule? God forbid that I should glory
save in the cross of Jesus Christ. Peace be on them and mercy and
upon the Israel of God. And that's why he stated back
in Galatians chapter three and verse 26, he says, for you are
all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. That's all who
believe. And of course we know those who
believe have been born again by the spirit. They've been given
the gift of faith from Christ. They believe that his blood and
righteousness is the only ground of their salvation. They look
to Him and Him alone, not to their faith, not to their decision,
not to their works. And He says, for as many of you
as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. Those who
have been made one with Christ, united to Him, which goes all
the way back to eternity. Read Ephesians 1, which was accomplished
in time at the cross. and which was also accomplished
in time at our new birth. And this is what he's talking
about. You've put on Christ. You believe in him. You rest
in him. You plead his blood and righteousness.
And he says in verse 28, there is neither Jew nor Greek nor
Gentile. There's neither bond nor free.
There's neither male nor female for you are all one in Christ
Jesus. And if you be Christ or if you
belong to Christ, then are you Abraham, see, and heirs according
to the promise. Jewish believers are not more
of an heir of the free gifts of grace and blessings than a
Gentile believer. And that's a big thing. Them
hearing these things, that was so foreign to what they had been
taught. Because they've been taught that
for a Gentile to be in the kingdom of God, that Gentile had to convert
to Judaism, and Judaism is a false gospel. Go back to our text. So, until all these things be
fulfilled, verily I say unto you, this generation shall not
pass till all these things be fulfilled. The end will not come
until it's all fulfilled. And then he supported that. with the fact that, yes, everything
we see around us is dead and dying. This world, you know,
this is taught throughout the scriptures. Heaven and earth
shall pass away. You know, I think about these
things about what's going on in California now with the fires
and all that, and I don't know the science of it. I'm not pretending
to know that. But my understanding of some
things I've heard from scientists is that one of the reasons they
have such a problem with these fires is because they won't take
care of the land properly, the underbrush and all that, because
they don't want to kill a certain insect or a fish or something,
I don't know. Now that may be right or it may
be wrong. It sounds right to me, but I
don't know. But listen. Man cannot perpetuate
this world. He cannot destroy it, and he
cannot perpetuate it. And I've often told people, yes,
I believe we should be good stewards over what God has given us. I
don't want to breathe dirty air, and I don't want to drink dirty
water. I think that corporations who dump chemicals into our drinking
water or something like that ought to be prosecuted, all of
that. But we're not going to save this world. Man cannot save
this world. And that's what a lot of these
environmentalists think. Well, heaven and earth shall
pass away. It's what the word of God says. Now, that doesn't
mean we should throw caution to the wind and be neglectful
and all that, but it's gonna die. And whatever worm or bug
or fish they're trying to save, it's gonna go at some point or
another. But my words shall not pass away. The Word of God. You remember
in the book of 1 Peter, and we'll close with this. And I love this
passage. In 1 Peter chapter one. I think it's 1 Peter, yeah, chapter
one. And he makes it a point here to help us to understand
the reality of things. In verse 22. He says, seeing
you have purified your souls and obeying the truth through
the spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that you
love one another with a pure heart fervently, being born again,
not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible by the word
of God, which liveth and abideth forever for all flesh is grass,
and all the glory of man is the flower of grass. The grass withereth
and the flower thereof falleth away, but the word of the Lord
endureth forever, and this is the word which by the gospel
is preached to you. Do you realize, and we ought
to realize this as believers, that of all the things that we
set our time and our money and our attention to, things which
we should pay attention to, but the only thing that we have that's
gonna last forever is right here in this book. So how much should
we pay attention to this? This is forever. All the other
things will have their day, but they'll be gone. But this endures
forever. OK.