Matthew chapter 21, beginning
with verse 18. Early in the morning, as he was
on his way back to the city, he was hungry. Seeing a fig tree
by the road, he went up to it, but found nothing on it except
leaves. Then he said to it, May you never
bear fruit again. Immediately the tree withered.
When the disciples saw this, they were amazed. How did the
fig tree wither so quickly, they asked? Jesus replied, I tell
you the truth, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can
you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to
this mountain, go throw yourself into the sea and it will be done. If you believe, you will receive
whatever you ask for. in prayer. A story, a historical story,
told to us to be used very much in the way that a parable would
be. It's symbolic. Its message teaches us something
about what God looks for as to fruit and how it is that we enter
in to His fellowship and acceptance. Let's seek the Lord in prayer
before we begin. Our Father, who on earth do we
have beside you and who in heaven other than you? From whom else might we receive
anything good? But there is nothing we need
for which we do not find not only an ample supply, but an
overflowing supply. Our Lord Jesus, we see in you
everything we need for life and godliness. And we do not try
to quench our thirst from any other fountain but the fountain
Christ Jesus. We hunger and thirst for righteousness,
but look for it nowhere else other than in the Lord Jesus
Christ. Father, I pray that In this worship
service, you will make yourself known to us. We read in your
word that you are everywhere at all times. But it is only
in certain places, Lord, and at certain times, according to
your own will, that you make yourself known. And so, Lord,
we pray that you'd make yourself known here today. Enable me to
preach. Enable me to say what is true.
The people's eyes or the eyes of their heart might be turned
to Christ. Make powerful your word, for
our word has no power. Forgive our sins, Lord, for sins
upon our conscience keep us from going to you. Apply afresh to our hearts the
blood of your Son, the Lord Jesus. Bless those in our congregation
who are undergoing trial at this time, especially those whose
trials keep them from attending worship. For, Lord, therein is
a double trial, for they are burdened and then are not able
to go where they have in times past received such help for their
burdens. So, Lord, draw near to them, and may their hearts be strengthened
with grace. In Christ's name we pray it. Amen. Now, being one who's right near
his 61st birthday, having preached the gospel for over half my life,
spent a lot of time before that listening to people opening up
the scriptures and telling me what's in them, it's rare that
I see something in the scriptures that I have not seen before.
Now, I'm not about to introduce to you some new doctrine. I'm
quite sure there are no new doctrines for me to learn. There are no
new doctrines for you to learn, because there's really not that
many doctrines in the Bible. What I mean is to see a truth
in a scripture where you never saw it before and laid out in
such a way that is so uplifting to the soul. And it also clears
away some obstacles that had come up because of a lack of
understanding a passage of scripture. Now, according to Mark, The events
that we read of in Matthew chapter 18 through 22 span two different
days, Monday and Tuesday of what is commonly called Passion Week. Now on Sunday, which on the ecclesiastical
calendar is called Palm Sunday, and they call it that because
it was on the first day of the week, which on a calendar is
Sunday, is on the first day of the week that our Lord Jesus
Christ went up to Jerusalem to go to the temple and they gathered
palm leaves, palm branches, and some of them waved them, others
threw them down in the pathway for Him to to travel on, all
of this, and they were singing Hosanna, all of this signifying
their praise and their joy and their hope that He was indeed
the Messiah, the King of Israel. That happened on Sunday. And
then it says in verse 18, early in the morning. So that would
have been Monday. And then if you read this account
in the book of Mark, Our Lord curses that fig tree on Monday,
and it's Tuesday morning as they're going back into Jerusalem. Evidently,
each night he probably went back to Bethany, where Martha, Mary,
and Lazarus lived, and stayed with them. And so each evening
he would go back to Bethany, and then he'd come back to Jerusalem
in the morning. So Monday morning, he sees this fig tree. There's
leaves on it, but no figs. So he curses that tree because
of its lack of fruit. Now, Matthew says that it withered
immediately, but that word does not mean something like just
suddenly it shriveled up to nothing. It just means without delay,
it withered. But it withered more quickly
than the apostles or the disciples would have expected because the
next morning, As they're making their way back from Bethany to
Jerusalem again, Tuesday morning, they pass this tree, and behold,
it's withered up. I suppose all the leaves had
dried up and fallen off, and the tree was obviously dead.
Now that was faster than you'd expect it to happen. So these
events, as we read them here in Matthew chapter 21, you kind of got to realize there's
a night a period of night between our Lord saying, may you never
bear fruit again, and then the disciples seeing the tree withered
as it is. Now, since it is Passover, our
Lord's going up to the temple because it's Passover, it's spring,
and Mark takes note of this, that it was not the time of figs. Now why would the Lord look for
figs on a fig tree when it wasn't time for figs? Well, because
at least the reading I've done puts it this way, that when the
fig tree begins in the spring to come alive again, it puts
forth leaves and these little bulbs or whatever, which are
called toksh. T-A-Q-S-H. And people eat them. Now, I couldn't find out exactly
what these little things are on a fig tree that people will
eat. They aren't figs. However, if there's none of these
tocks on the fig tree in spring, there's not going to be any figs
in the fall. And so our Lord, being hungry,
remember, He was made in all points, just like us, and so
he got hungry at the suitable time, and therefore he approached
that tree, and there should have been some of this tox on it,
that he could have eaten some of that. But there wasn't any,
proving that the tree was an utterly fruitless tree, at least
for that year. All it would have is leaves. Now remember this, leaves When
it comes to trees, leaves only help the tree. They're no good
for anybody else. And so this fig tree was utterly
wrapped up in itself, producing only that which was useful to
itself. And our Lord says to that tree,
may you never bear fruit again. And this curse from the Lord
was more serious than it might have at first sounded. Because
it could be that that tree would have gone right on living and
every year produced nothing but leaves. And that would have satisfied
the mere words of the Lord, wouldn't it? Because He just said, may
you never bear fruit again. But such is the curse of the
Lord and such is the power of His Word that not only did that
tree never bear fruit again, it quite quickly died and never
bore anything again. Now, why did the Lord curse this
tree? And why did the Holy Spirit bother
recording this story for us? On the surface, it looks like
just some incidental thing that happened. of no real consequence. I suppose it's somewhat a demonstration
of His power as God in human flesh, that simply by His Word,
He could cause a tree to die. And indeed, that's in complete
keeping with what Jehovah says about Himself, I kill and I make
alive. In this case, He didn't make
alive, but He did kill. And that's something, you know,
that we need to keep in mind as we try to gain an understanding
of what God is. For so long, in our culture,
they've been preaching up a God who wants to do nothing but nice,
pleasant things, and our lives would be pleasant if we would
just let Him do what He wants to do. When the God that's presented
to us in the Bible is on this wise, He does whatever He wants
to do, and sometimes that's killing, and sometimes that's making alive.
Isn't it? And when He kills, none can save,
and when He makes alive, none can kill. All power is in His hand, all
authority is in His hand. And so it was with the Lord Jesus
Christ, for whatever reason, Now he gives us the reason, it
was lack of fruit. But for any other reason, had it been in
his mind to do so, he could have cursed that tree, could have
cursed all the trees in Jerusalem, or all the fig trees in the world.
Why, it was only shortly before this, that with the same word
of power, he brought a man out of the tomb, who'd been dead
four days. So while in the Old Testament
the order is, I kill and I make alive, the Lord did the same
things, though in reverse order. He made alive and then He killed. So I suppose we could learn that
lesson from this story. The Lord Jesus Christ is indeed
the Lord God Omnipotent who reigns. He has all authority in heaven
and earth. He does as He wills, and none
can stop Him or question His will. He says to that tree, never
bear fruit again, and it never did. It did not even live to
the next day. Such is the power of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Such is the power of the One
who at this very moment holds the destiny of your soul in His
hand to do whatever He wants to do with it. Let us learn to respect and reverence
the Lord Jesus Christ. who is God over all, blessed
forever. So there's that lesson to learn,
I suppose it teaches us that. And then some would go down there
further where the Lord says in verse 21, I tell you the truth,
if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what
is done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain,
go throw yourself into the sea and it will be done. And so people
look at this story and say, yes, Jesus is teaching us that if
we just had faith enough, we could accomplish anything. You
know, there were some men of great faith among the apostles. I've never heard of any mountains
being moved. Have you? Not by them. Not even by the
Lord Jesus Christ. Not by anybody since then. There has never been, to my knowledge
or in the record of history, a single instance of a man of
faith looking on a mountain and say, cast yourself into the sea
and that mountain ripping itself from the earth and flying overhead
until it lands in the sea. Never. So I don't think that
our Lord was setting forth to us the principle that if we would
just believe we could do anything. I think he had something special
in mind and just like much of what he preached before he was
crucified it was veiled in symbolism and wouldn't be revealed until
later. So let's look at these two things. What does he mean
by the cursing of the fig tree and what is he talking about
when he says if we had faith we could say to this mountain
be cast into the sea, and it would happen. Well, first of
all, then, what is this fig tree and why did our Lord curse it? The immediate application of
it is this, that fig tree is the house of Israel. It's the
Jewish nation, the old covenant people. Often in the scriptures, Israel
is likened to a fig tree. And our Lord Jesus Christ, God
in human flesh, came to this nation, came to this people,
who had been so privileged. They were very much like you
and me, living in the United States of America. Like the Jews
of old, we have access to the Scriptures. Like the Jews of
old, there are a good many preachers in the United States who are
telling the truth. We find them in unusual places
we might not have expected them. I heard one Wednesday, I did
not expect to hear the gospel and I heard somebody preach the
gospel and set forth Christ. God's got them all over the place.
While we want to faithfully declare it and stand, as it were, with
both feet firmly planted and say this is the truth and nothing
else is, let us never get the idea that it is us and us alone
that know what the truth is. God's got people all over the
world. So we are much like the Jews
were in that day because we have ready access, if we desire it,
to the scriptures, to the preaching of the gospel. The Jews, Paul
said, what advantage do they have? He said, much in every
way. He said they had the temple, the worship of God set forward
to them, they had the scriptures, they had the prophets, they had
the adoption. Now with all of that given to
them, wouldn't you expect that it would produce something? Something
good? Don't you think that when God
who gave them all those privileges, when He appeared on the earth,
that He should be able to go among them and find fruit unto
the glory of His name. But He went there and He found
virtually nothing. Nothing but leaves. Nothing but
the outward expression of orthodox religion. Yes, he found the temple. And he found people going to
the temple. He found them observing all the
ceremonies that they were told to observe. He could go there
and see all the lambs being sacrificed like they were supposed to. There were those who were experts
in the Scriptures that had been given to them. And our Lord even
said, you search the Scriptures for any of them you think you
have life. Now, our Lord did not rebuke them for searching
the Scriptures. But He did rebuke them for searching
the Scriptures and not bearing that fruit which is supposed
to come from such an investigation. Because he says, these are the
Scriptures that testify about me, but you won't come to me.
You won't bear the fruit of coming to me. God gave you this temple and
the order of worship, every point of which points to me, but you
won't come to me. You sing your praises, but you
have no understanding, and you say you love God, but here I
am and you don't love me. even those who the previous day
had waved palm branches, and some throw them down there in
His way, and said, Hosanna, and had been so excited about His
arrival in Jerusalem that the religious leaders got all upset
and said to the Lord Jesus, You've got to tell these people to be
quiet, they're causing too much of a ruckus, this is kind of
getting out of control, and you know we cannot stand religion
that's not under our control. So get these people under control.
That's how excited they were. Now think about that. If we witnessed
that, we might have started shouting, too, and said, ooh, revival!
Look at this! It's exciting! We'd probably
say things like, religion is saying today, the popular religion,
God's on the move, God's doing something! It was excitement, all right.
But it was not according to knowledge, because they were excited about
Christ in hope of something He never came to do. They saw Jesus
Christ coming and they said, Blessed is He that comes in the
name of the Lord, the King of Israel. And they expected Him
to come in and run Herod out and run Caesar out and establish
Israel once again as a powerful and influential nation as it
had been in the days of Solomon. They were excited, but they weren't
excited according to knowledge and understanding. And therefore,
all it was was religious excitement. You know, that's still going
on in the world today, isn't it? Religious people, that is,
religious merchandisers, religious people who make their living
and their name on religion, they know what gets people excited
and they give it to them. And when the people get excited,
they tell them it's revival, and the people believe them,
and they spend their whole lives very excited, but lost. Never bearing that
fruit that the Lord is looking for. What a solemn thing, that there
in the day in which God Himself appears suddenly in his temple
according to the promise. He appears and no one even recognizes
him. He comes and there is no fruit. It's just
a fig tree with leaves. In fact, not only was there no
fruit, there was not even that upon it which would indicate
that sometime in the future fruit would come. What does it say of our Lord
Jesus Christ, the prophet Isaiah, prophesying about His coming
in Isaiah 53? He shall grow up before the Lord
as a root out of dry ground. Not just moist, you know, we
haven't had as much rain as we usually do. Dry. He was a miracle. in Israel in that day, our Lord
was. And I mean a miracle not only for the very fact that He's
God in human flesh, that's a miracle enough of itself. He was the
only one, or virtually the only one in that day, who bore fruit
unto God. He was a root coming up out of
dry ground, and all the people walking around Him were just
dead sticks walking around. Not bearing fruit. And our Lord came, and just as He said to that sycamore
tree, because Israel would not bear fruit, according to the
message that He gave them, and according to all the privileges
they've been given, He says, may you never bear fruit again. Look over at Romans chapter 11,
verse 25. Romans 11, verse 25. We might like to think that God
only does nice things, pleasant things. We don't like to think of judgment.
The world doesn't want to think of His judgment. But it says,
regarding the Jews who had been the favored nation for about
1500 years, I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery,
brother, so that you may not be conceited. Israel has experienced
a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has
come in." Jesus Christ came into the world,
presented himself to the Jews, and they said, crucify. No reception. No coronation, no rejoicing,
no faith. And He came again, as it were,
on the day of Pentecost, when by His Spirit He preached the
gospel to everybody there in Jerusalem. And what they did?
A handful in comparison to how many were there. A remnant, according
to the election of grace, believed. But it was not long until the
nation as a whole began to persecute that remnant until they were
scattered. Therefore, Israel was cursed. It did not bear fruit, only leaves. And our Lord, as much as said,
God said to them, After about one generation had passed, may
you never bear fruit again." And by the hand of God's agent,
the Roman army, Jerusalem was destroyed to where there was
hardly one stone left standing upon another. And the Jewish
nation was spread to all the nations. And I don't know whether
the Scriptures indicate that they shall ever be gathered together
again. I don't see it, but it won't
bother me if God does that. I realize there's a political
nation over there called Israel. But really, that lineage, while
maybe purer than most ethnic lineages, it's been so Polluted,
the right word, with European blood and everywhere they went.
There's hardly any such thing anymore as a real bonafide, pure
Jew. God dispersed them. It'd be pretty
hard to collect them again. And that nation as a nation never
bore fruit again. And while we count it rare, there's
just a remnant according to the election of grace even among
Gentiles, isn't there? How much smaller is that remnant
among those who can trace their ancestry back to Abraham, Isaac,
and Jacob? Oh, so very few. They've been cursed. So that's
racist of you to say that. I'm only saying it because that's
what's recorded in the Scriptures. I'm not mad at the Jews. I don't
think they're any worse than I am. I'm no better than them. But
Paul says blindness has happened to them. Only a few are given grace to
see. What does this say to us? Well,
in Romans 11, verse 25, Paul is talking to Gentile Christians,
and he says, I don't want you to be ignorant of this mystery,
brothers, so that you may not become conceited. Now, what was
the conceit of the Jews? The conceit of the Jews is, we're
God's people. God's never going to turn His
back on us. God's never going to curse us. And they didn't seek the Lord.
They sought their religion. They sought their Jewishness.
They said, we have Abraham for our father, because that's what
was important to them, to be able to trace their ancestry back
to Abraham. That blind man who challenged
them about the Lord Jesus Christ, the blind man whom the Lord healed. And they said, well, we don't
know where... Well, he told them it was Jesus healed him. And
they said, well, we don't know where he came from. And the blind man
says, well, here's a mystery indeed. Here's a wonder indeed.
Here's a man who has opened the eyes of one born blind, and you
don't know where he came from. And they answered him, you were
altogether born in iniquity and sin. You're not worthy to challenge
us. That's what they did. They became
conceited. Oh God, save us from also becoming
conceited. Now I know this, that God will
preserve all His people. But one way He preserves them
is by giving us warnings like this. Don't ever get the idea that you have a right to hold
yourself above others as special in God's eyes because of something
you are naturally. Now every one of God's people
is special in His eyes. That's why they're His people.
He chose them. He made them special. But there's
nothing about their natural selves which they may boast in. They
cannot boast in who their parents are. It's amazing how much of that
principle can still hang on, even within churches that call
themselves Christian. Because when they take these
little babies and sprinkle them with water, and those two parents
stand there and they make promises, what are they doing? They are
saying that this baby's relationship to these two other sinful people
is somehow or another giving them a leg up on God. A special
privilege in the presence of God. And so they grow up being filled
with this conceit. I was born in a Christian home.
I went to a Christian school and a Christian college, got
a good Christian education, and I've been in the church ever
since. And God comes looking for fruit
and doesn't find it. Now, I said that about them.
We could be equally conceited about our dunking only those
who profess to believe. And we can say, no, it's not
you, it's us. Because we have held firm to
that which the Scriptures teach regarding baptism. And we don't
do anything like connect people to their parents and say some
kind of grace flows to them that way. And we certainly don't think
that the ceremonies in and of themselves confer any grace.
And we can become conceited over the fact that God has shown us
the truth. And one thing's for sure, if
we are conceited and proud over what we know, we are all leaves
and no fruit. And what became of the fig tree
and what became of Israel will become of us also. The Lord is
just. What a solemn thing. that the Lord is judging, and
there's something He's looking for which is symbolized by fruit. And I'll show you what it is
here in just a minute. It's not what most people think it is. And I'm hoping that most of you,
by the time we get to the end of the message, you'll be able
to say with confidence, not pride, but confidence, I have that fruit. I hope that you will be able
to say by the end of the message, by faith, I've moved a mountain
and cast it into the sea. God save us from ourselves and
our conceit. Now look back at Matthew chapter
21. In verse 20, the disciples, when
they saw this withered tree, they were amazed. And can you
imagine what amazement there was among many Jews when they
saw how quickly Jerusalem and all the nation of Judah fell. When our Lord was being crucified,
He said, Father, forgive them for they don't know what they're
doing. And the Son always gets what He prays for. And so for
an entire generation, approximately 40 years, God held off judgment
on that people. But when there were scarcely
any left of that generation who had crucified the Lord, God came
and He lowered the boom on that nation. And it has never recovered. And they were amazed at the fig
tree, and I'm sure there was amazement over the fall of Israel.
And Jesus replied, I tell you the truth, if you have faith
and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig
tree, curse it to fruitlessness, you can also say to this mountain,
go throw yourself into the sea and it will be done. Now, one
reason that I never perceived what I think I see now is for
ignoring one word. How often have you heard someone
say, if you had faith, you could say to a mountain, be uprooted
and cast into the sea. That's not what the Lord said.
He said, if you had faith, you could say to this mountain, be
cast into the sea. Now, what mountain was that?
The mountain standing right before them. the mountain on which Jerusalem
sat, where the temple was, and where every symbol of the old
covenant and all that it stood for was right there. What is the old covenant? It's
that covenant that says, do this and live. It is the Old Covenant
which says that it is indeed by our works, by our conformity
to rules laid down by God, and by establishing our own righteousness,
that's how we avoid judgment and gain God's blessing. And
every bit of that system, and every version of it that men
have created, all of it was represented right there on that mountain
on which Jerusalem sat. with its walls, and its temple,
and its priests, and its sacrifice, and its scrolls, and its daily
worship. And our Lord said, if you believe, that mountain will be cast into
the sea. What's he saying? The fruit that
he's looking for is not the fruit of righteous
works. As soon as you tell some believer
or some professed Christian that they shouldn't be so judgmental,
they say, well, I'm not judging, I'm just a fruit inspector. Well,
a fruit inspector is a judge of fruit. And what do they do? They've got a system of morality,
a system of do's and don'ts by which they're going to inspect
you and see if you're bearing the kind of fruit that will mean you're accepted
by God. They'll say, oh, we don't believe
in salvation by works, but you know, if a man's saved, there's
some things he won't do anymore. I beg your pardon. I beg your
pardon. I'm not making light of sin here,
folks. I'm not saying it doesn't matter that we who claim to believe
still sin so much. But I don't think there's anything
wrong. I can't see anything in the scripture that would deny
this statement. There is nothing, there is no
sin that is outside the capacity of a believer to commit except
the sin of unbelief. Yeah, in his flesh, yeah, he's
an unbeliever. But if he's alive, if he's spiritually
alive, he will always believe. But there is not a transgression
of the law which you might, that you can just say, well, he'd
never do that. And I hear people say things like that. Well, you
know, if you're a Christian, you won't steal. Oh? On April 15th, nearly all of
us steal. At least according to the law, we're stealing. You
know, we do everything we can to reduce our taxes. And we'll
fudge if we can, if we think we can get away with it. Shouldn't,
but we do. Well yeah, but you know, a believer,
he'll never commit adultery. Tell David that. He not only committed adultery,
you know what else he did? He murdered. Yeah, but you know, when God
saves a man, covetousness is gone. Oh? Then I'm lost, because
you know, there's a whole lot of things I want. Things that you have. And I see
them, and I wish I had that. I know, we learn to say, you
know, someone says, well, don't say, I want that. Say, I want one like that.
As though that's not coveting. Coveting is simply wanting what
God has not yet given you. And being dissatisfied. And every
one of us does. Say, well, I never made, you
know, I don't worship idols. Oh, you don't? Paul says covetousness
is idolatry. I have no other gods." You don't?
I notice we all serve ourselves rather well. We bow down at the
idol of self on a regular basis. What I'm saying is this, the
fruit that is spoken of in this story is not morality. Every believer should be known
as a moral person, but it's not always the way we act, is it?
Nor is this fruit to be found in religious zeal, at least as
the world counts religious zeal. There are a lot of very religious
people who are very, very lost. There are a lot of people who
read the Bible a lot more than you do, and they're very, very
lost. Who pray more than you do, and
they're very lost. That's not the fruit he's looking
for. You know, we should be anxious to read the scriptures and study
them and try to understand them. We should pray. Paul says, pray
without ceasing, but that's not the fruit he's looking for. He
tells us what the fruit is that he's looking for. I tell you
the truth. If you have faith, that's the
fruit he's looking for. Now, Not presumptuous faith. Not faith that is not connected
to a promise. Faith very simply like this.
That it looks at that form of religion represented by that
mountain. That religion that says, this
do and live. And you know something? That form of religion, when it
says, this do and live, it's also revealing all our sins,
isn't it? And so that mountain was representative
of God's demand for righteousness and it was representative of
our failure to produce that righteousness. And our Lord Jesus said, do you
have faith to take that mountain and cast it into the sea and
say, I rest from my labors and trust Christ. The scriptures say that He has
cast our sins into the depths of the sea. And you know what
faith is? It is doing exactly what God
has done. Casting our sins, represented
by that mountain with all its demands, and hurling the whole
thing into the sea, and say, I'm no longer part of that. My trust is in Christ, in Christ
alone. Turn back to Zechariah chapter
4. Zechariah is the next to the
last book of the Old Testament. Zechariah chapter 4. In verse 7, It says, what are you, O mighty
mountain? Before Zerubbabel, who is a picture
of the Lord Jesus Christ here, before Zerubbabel, you will become
level ground. Then he will bring out the capstone
to shouts, and our translation says, God bless it, but it's
just the word grace. To shouts of grace, grace upon
it. As a rubber ball cast the mountain,
as it were, into the sea. With shouts of what? Grace be
upon it. Grace be upon it. What is it
to have faith to move mountains? We don't have faith to move mountains,
we have faith to move one specific mountain. This mountain. That
mountain wherein we are trying to climb up by our own efforts
and reach God. And we say, mountain, through
faith in Christ, be gone. How do you know, how can you
tell, if you've ever been able by faith to cast that mountain
into the depths of the sea. It's real simple. Are you walking
uphill or on level ground? Are you striving to please God
or are you taking a pleasant walk on level ground? Are you climbing or are you resting? And you know something? It would
be easier, it is easier for natural man to move a real mountain than
it is for him to move that mountain. That mountain is in our hearts.
A mountain of self-righteousness and a mountain of sin to go with
it. A mountain of human religion. and a mountain of self-satisfaction,
and a mountain of iniquity, all piled together. And beloved,
we don't have the power to move that mountain. And no amount
of going to church, and no amount of making decisions, and no amount
of just praying a prayer is ever going to move that mountain.
One thing moves it. Faith. And faith moves it not
by the strength of faith, Faith moves it because it calls upon
Him who has power to move that mountain. When by faith the Red Sea opened before the
Israelites, was it the power of their faith that opened it
up? No. It was the power of the One whom
their faith invoked, God. When the walls of Jericho fell,
Was it the strength of Joshua's faith that pulled those stones
down? No. It was the strength of the one
invoked by that faith. And that mountain of sin and
self-righteousness, which we're trying to overcome by nature,
can we, by the strength of our faith, move it? Never. But our
faith calls upon Him who has power. to take that whole mountain
and cast it into the depths of the sea where it will never be
found again. It is written in the book of
Hebrews that when the Lord Jesus Christ came and performed the
will of the Father that He made that old covenant obsolete. He took it out of the way. He
moved that mountain and by faith we call on Him to move that mountain. By faith, or by grace, we bear
that fruit of faith. And it may be only those early
little nubs or whatever that would appear, the torch, but
they are the token of full fruit to come. You say, my faith ain't
much. That's okay. It comes from Him
who is much and it looks to Him who is much and if He finds it,
it's satisfying to Him. So what is it to move mountains?
It's very simply to trust Christ. What is it to move this mountain?
It is to trust Christ and quit trying to climb and simply rest
in what He's done. Have you borne such fruit? Have
you quit trying to perform your own righteousness? Have you left
off that whole religion that says do this and you'll have
life? And have you simply trusted Him who is our life? May God grant His blessing to
His Word.