Sound be spread, be Thou my guide,
Bid darkness turn to day, Wipe sorrow's tears away, Nor let
me ever stray from Thee at night. When end's life's transient dream,
When death's cold sullen stream, Shall for me roll, Let Saviour
then in love, Fear and mistrust remove, Thank you. Go back now to Matthew 21. The last time we looked at this chapter in Matthew, Matthew 21,
we stopped at verse 16. The Lord had just come into Jerusalem where he went into the temple
and threw out all of the money makers in that Religion had degenerated
into nothing but business, money-making business. Does that sound familiar? And the Lord, one of the other
writers said, plaited a whip and made a scourge, and he got
rough on those chief priests and the wealth of money-makers.
threw them all out. He said, You've made my house
a den of thieves. And the chief priests, the ones
in charge, the scribes, the religious leaders, who were making money,
as you might know, they were making a cut from these people
that were selling all these religious trinkets and so forth. They were
making a percentage of the sales And it says they were sore displeased.
They were real angry and they were real upset. And they said to him, and I love
that, how he answered them. They said unto him, Do you hear
what these are saying? The people were giving him the
praise and the glory, and he said, Yea. Have you never read? out of the mouth of babes and
sucklings, thou hast perfected praise." And then in verse seventeen,
this is where we pick up. Now this one line really struck
me when I read it. Every word, every line in God's
Word is significant. We just stop and think, consider. It says, and he left them. And he left them. Religion. That's where these scribes and Pharisees and
religious leaders and all the people were in on it. Religion. And the Lord left them. Now this
is a clear exposure of religion then. and religion now. The Lord Jesus Christ, God in
human form. Let's see who this was. This
was no mere man. This was God. He came to this earth. He walked
this planet, and he left. Why was he here? See, this is the whole issue. This is what it's all about.
This is something the whole world has to face. This is the question
of all questions. Who was this? They asked that
up in verse ten, didn't they, when he came into town. It says
all the city was moved. And since Christ has come to
this planet, all the world has been moved, or that is affected
by his coming. And they asked, and men and women
are still asking now, who is this or who was that? Who was
it? And folks have all kind of different
ideas about who he was. Well, he came. Now, this Bible,
this book that we read and that we believe is God's Word, it
says, and Christ himself said, Jesus Christ himself said that
he was God. I'm talking about the Creator,
the One who made this planet, the One whom Scripture says,
in whom we live and move and have our being, the God in whose
hands our breath is, the One who kills, the One who makes
alive, the One who saves, the One who damns, became a man, was made flesh, and walked upon
this earth. Scripture says He came to His
own. He was made by them, or they
were made by him and they knew him not. He came to his own creatures
and they didn't know him. Well, he came to Jerusalem. Jerusalem
was a large metropolitan, or that is, means world Worldly
city metropolitan means people from all over the world came
there to live. Jerusalem was the center of culture
and all that in the then known world. Jerusalem. He came to
this large metropolitan or worldly city, not unlike New York City
or any other major city, Washington D.C. today. He came to it and
it was a place, a city full of corruption, and wickedness. That pretty much describes a
large city. Men and women, human beings by
nature, are sinful and corrupt. And the more you get together
and the more tightly you pack them together, the worse they
become. He came to this large city full
of people and he left. You think about that. Humanly
speaking, you think about the opportunity that was there when
God came down. He came to the temple. He came
into Jerusalem and the first place he went was to the temple.
Most Jews in Jerusalem were religious. This was a religious place, no
different than a large so-called church today. But it was full of money-making
corrupt business. Our Lord came there and He left. He cleaned it out temporarily.
Temporarily, He cast out all the money-making people. He healed a few blind and lame
folk. Just a few who came to him, blind
and lame. They had real need. And he healed
them. And then he left. And it wasn't
long afterward until that place went right back to where it started. And then when he left this planet
for good, our Lord, we saw in another message, he came to Jerusalem. That's where he was headed from
the day he was born. He was headed to Jerusalem to
do something, to do a work that had been foreordained before
the world began. Our Lord was predestined to go
to Jerusalem to do something there, to do a work. And he did that work, and when
he left for good, as I said, that temple went back into its
corrupt money-making ways. The city went back to business
as usual, as if he never came. And they were left to themselves,
and to this day, it's a mess over there. And what
a prophecy this is. Not only was this a clear picture
of the sad state of affairs of people and religion in general,
but a prophecy of our day. The world in general, and the
United States of America in particular, I have we have looked together
before at the. The movement of. The word of
God, the gospel, how it started over there in the Middle East
and that little. In the heart of the then known world and Israel
started right there. Well, Turkey, where Abraham was.
But it was right there in that little central location of the
then known world. And upon the persecution of the
church in the book of Acts, it spread out and it went to the
West, went to the East and mostly went to the West. And it began
to spread over Europe and the churches in the revelation that
we read of were in Europe. Most of them are in, were in
the, what is now Turkey. Are you with me? And that gospel
spread like as the wind blew, like kind of like seed. And that's
what scripture says it is. And see, it left Israel. It left
there. It left there and went into Europe
and began to spread and went into Germany and Switzerland. That's where the reformers and
so forth came from. then moved over into Spain and
France and then across into the British Isles. And wherever it
went, it pretty much left where it came from. Wherever God sent it, it came
and it left. And then in God's providence,
it moved overseas to this North American continent. through missionaries
and so forth. And it came, and I believe it's leaving. He's leaving. I believe our society is fast
becoming a God-forsaken society. Reprobate. That's what reprobate
means. leaves us to ourselves, leaves us alone. Would you turn with me to Romans
1? And this is something you know well, or most of you, everyone
does it, but Romans chapter 1. I believe, not only based on
Scripture, but what I see all around me, I believe this is
fast becoming a reprobate society. When half of so-called Bible-believing,
God-fearing people vote in favor of sodomy being legalized, God has left us alone. I'm talking about folks in the
Bible Belt, about half. And if you don't have your eyes
wide open, But not just that, the state
of religion, people. How would you characterize religion
today? What's it all about? You see what a prophecy, in one line
here, he left them. He left them. This is a passage,
Romans 1, that most know well, perhaps not all, passage that
speaks with each coming year, with each passing year, this
speaks louder and louder, screams at me. This passage, everything
I see and hear about me, Romans 1 keeps just reverberating through
my mind and in my ears, just loudly, just a clear declaration
of our time. Look at verse You know these
verses. The wrath of God is revealed
from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. The
wrath of God. What's that? Well, they call
it tsunamis and earthquakes and hurricanes and floods and disasters
and calamities and diseases and so forth. People dropping like
flies, you know. Talk about the war over in Iraq
and in the space of four or five years, three thousand men have
died. Sixty-five hundred people a day die in this country alone.
Sixty-five hundred people a day are dying every day. Every day. In this country alone. It's not
talking about the world. Dropping like flies. From what?
Diseases, pestilence, famine, earthquakes, hurricanes, floods,
disasters. And men and women don't perceive
it. That's being from God. And someone stand up and say
so, and he's called a bigot and a hate monger and so forth. And
I blame it on the religious leaders who've convinced the world that
God loves everybody so much that God could have no part in any
of this. And that's what he's talking
about in verse 18, those who hold the truth in unrighteousness.
You see that? They hold the truth. They have
a Bible in their hand, but it's for unrighteous purposes. It's
for covetous, wicked, vainglorious purposes, money-making purposes,
political gain, you know. If you want to get elected, you've
got to prove yourself a Christian now. Hold the truth in unrighteousness. Verse 21, it says, when they
knew God, that is, God, He said in verse 20, it's clearly seen,
His power, His Godhead, They're without excuse. When they knew
God, they glorified him not as God. Very few people. We're in a very,
very, very, very small minority that actually believes God is
God. Honestly. A very small minority. Comparatively, it's like Noah.
and his family. They glorify him not as God.
The modern man has made man into a God, and God is like a man. Read on. Verse 22. It says, professing
themselves to be wise, they became fools. Folks think education is the
savior of our society. Our God hath made foolish the
wisdom of this world, 1 Corinthians 1 says. It seems the smarter men seem to
become, the dumber they get toward the truth. Verse 24 says, So
God gave them up to uncleanness. Verse 25, I change
the truth of God into a lie. God's Word is very plain, isn't
it? If you just read it, if you just read it. I mean, I'm talking
about a King James Bible, the one we first got in the English
language. Just read it. It's plain, very plain. But because
it's so plain, because it so plainly denounces what all is
going on and exposes it, They began to twist it and pervert
it and corrupt it and make perversions of it so that it doesn't say
what it says. Turned into a lie. Or it doesn't even resemble God's
word anymore. And look at verse 25. Keep looking at it with me.
Now, folks, this is just a dire warning to us. And it says they
worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator. Doesn't that sum it up? Man gets
more glory than God, who is blessed forever. And for
this cause, see verse 26, while we are reading this, for this
cause God gave them up. gave him up. Doesn't mean he
gave up on him. Doesn't mean he was trying and couldn't because
they wouldn't let him, so he gave up on him. No, that's not
what he's saying. He said God left him. Left him
to himself. Left to himself. Do you see why
that verse stuck out at me now? Just that one line. He came,
came into the temple, came into that big city of Jerusalem. Go
to Hebrews 13 with me. Hebrews chapter 13. He came to
the center of religion of that day. And he left. He left. That's a very revealing line,
isn't it? You just stop and think about it. He left. And our text
says he went out of the city into a little town called Bethany. He came into Jerusalem. Are you
with me? He came into Jerusalem, did what he came to do, and left,
went out of town, went outside of Jerusalem. He's coming back
to do something, but he went outside to a little town called
Bethany, and that's where he lodged there. It says that's
where he stayed. He spent the night there. Why? Because there
was a little town outside there named Bethany. There were two
or three of his dear, close friends. A family, a little poor family.
A brother and two sisters. And that's where he loved to
go. Two or three were really gathered in his name. And that's
where he dwelled. Lazarus, Mary, Martha. And he went there often. And they were intimate friends,
family. Look at Hebrews 13. This is what
that's speaking of. Hebrews 13, verses 13 and 14. Let us go forth, therefore, unto
him without the camp. Without the camp. Outside of
where big religion, big business called religion is. Christ is
not in all that. He's not in that mess. He's not
in that mess. You have to leave that and go where those are truly
meeting in his name. Go without the camp, without
the world. That's where people, the people
dwell, without the world, without or outside of corrupt religion,
outside of the world. Go where two or three are gathered
in his name, or that is for his glory, for his honor, to learn
of him, to worship him. And it says, bearing his reproach.
You see that? Verse 13. Bearing his reproach. The world, you remember the scribes
and the Pharisees hated him. They hated him, so
they were sore displeased with him. People were worshipping
him, some of the people, the young babes, and they didn't
like it. They hated the true Christ then,
and they hate him now. That's James. They hate him now. And they hated the true disciples
of Christ back then. Lazarus, that man I just told
you about, The Lord raised him from the dead, and they saw it.
They saw a miracle performed upon this fellow who was dead.
They all knew it. They saw it happen, him raised
from the dead. You know, they tried to kill
Lazarus to cover this thing up. They
eventually did kill all of Christ's disciples and Christ himself. They hated the true Christ then
and now, and they hated the true worshipers and believers in Christ.
Then and now he says you're going to have to go to him bearing
his reproach. Now let me ask you something
in light of everything we were just talking about. As Romans
one not speak clearly to you loud and clearly to you of our
our day is that not a clear indictment or revelation exposure of our
day is it not. Do you find yourself like a lot. vexed with all of this. That's what the Lord said about
Lot. He said that just Lot, that righteous man, was vexed every
day with a conversation, or that is a lie, all that he saw and
heard around him. Do you not find yourself vexed
with everything? Aren't you? Are you? If not,
it's a bad sign. It's a bad sign. The Lord destroyed
Sodom, a city Nowhere near as large as some of the major cities
of our day. Few people believe that story.
You do, don't you? It says the Lord was merciful
to Lot. The Lord being merciful to him.
You see, Lot was a man. He was living inside of him.
And some of that got to him, too. I mean, he was living there. But it said
the Lord was merciful to him and laid hold of him. Lot lingered. Lot wanted to hang around. His
wife didn't want to leave at all. His wife didn't know the
Lord at all. And she perished there. But it
says, The Lord, being merciful to Lot, laid hold on him and
brought him forth without the city. Brought him out. And that's what
salvation is, folks. is to deliver us from this untoward
generation, to deliver us from the corruption of this world
through love. That's what Peter wrote. To deliver
us from the great wrath to come. An old-fashioned message, but
true. May God have mercy on us and
our children. The Lord was merciful to Lot
and his children, his two daughters. Boy, they were sinners, weren't
they? Lord laid hold on Lot and his
children and brought them forth and said, set them out of the
city. Set them out there. And I said,
don't look back. Do not look back. And verse 14, look here in verse
14 of Hebrews 13, it says, For we have here, we here, here we
have no continuing city. This thing's not going to continue.
Folks think it is. That's what they Peter said,
they will say, in the last days, mockers and scoffers shall come,
walking in their own lusts, saying, where is the promise of his coming?
All things continue as they have from the beginning. We don't
see any sign of his coming. You don't? No, of course you
don't. You're blind. But you do, don't you? And we
have here no continuing city, but we look for one. We seek
one to come. We seek a new Jerusalem. You
know there's going to be a new Jerusalem? That's what this book
says. That's what God who cannot lie
said. That's what Christ said. See, this whole thing, this whole
issue is who this man was. And if he's God, then the whole
world's in a heap of trouble. Believers in him are in for a
wonderful eternity. But the rest of the world's in
for a heap of trouble. If he is who he said he was and who
this book says he was, the whole world's in a heap of trouble.
But most people, since they're not interested, And don't believe
that they believe he's just a man, no different than Mohammed or
Confucius or Buddha or anybody else. You can take it or leave
it. But the whole issue is who this
man was, what he said, if he's God. Now, buddy, it's life or
death. It's an absolute imperative that
we believe him, know him, find out about him. Scripture says
repent, bow down to him, believe, trust him and so forth. If he's
not, if he's not God, let's get out of here. This is a waste
of our time, an absolute waste of our time. This man was the
greatest imposter to ever live, and we're absolute fools for
meeting here tonight in his name. Utter fools. See, this is the issue. The issue
is a person. And as I've noted, the whole
calendar revolves around this person. Men and women are forced
to look at the calendar which says time is measured by him,
before Christ, A.D., Anno Domino, in the year of our Lord. He either
was, either is, or he wasn't, and he isn't. That's the whole
issue. If he is God, oh, You know, everybody's interested
in the hereafter. Everybody's interested to know
if there's life hereafter, if there's life on other planets,
if there's life out there, you know, the mysteries of the universe
and all that. Well, if God walked this planet,
if God Almighty walked this planet, don't you think we ought to listen
very carefully to what He said? Isn't that what the Hebrews said,
John? We ought to give them more earnest heed to the things we've
heard because of who this is. And he started that in Hebrews
1 saying who he was. God hath in these last days spoken
unto us by his only Son. His only Son. The only bodily
manifestation of God who is invisible. He came. And he left. He came to this earth. Why'd
he come? What'd he do? Where'd he go? What's he doing now? What did
he say? Is he coming back? See, that's the whole issue.
Hold that place in Hebrews 13, OK? Hold that there, mark it,
and go back to our text in Matthew 21. Matthew 21. Go back there. You know, we, like believers,
are like Christ. We came here, we were brought
here, and we're leaving. He's returning. We're not. Matthew
21, look at verse 18. Well, he went back into the city.
He returned in the morning into the city. Came back into Jerusalem. And it says he hungered. See, things like this are what people get confused about. If
he's God, how could he hunger? If he's God, how could...that's
what...you know the answer to that, don't you? He must. He had to. He made a
little lower than the angels. God became a man. Why? To die. God can't die. Man must. God became a man. Man can't get to heaven. Man can't earn heaven. God became man. Do for some people what they
could not do, but he hungered. Says he hungered. And I love
that passage that says, we have a high priest that's touched
with the feeling of our environment. Tempted in all points, like as
we are. Touched. He's called the man of sorrows. Our God is touched with the feeling
of our infirmities because he himself took flesh, and he hungered. He didn't have to. He did it
voluntarily. He could have met his own needs.
He could have fed himself, but he didn't, to know what we go through. And
he thirsted. It says he's a man of sorrows
from his youth up. A man that is born a woman is
full of trouble. He was weary with his journey.
He thirsted. He sat down. He worked hard. Aren't you glad that he knows?
He knows our franks. Well, he came. He was hungered.
Verse 19 says he saw a fig tree. One fig tree in the way. One
fig tree. And he came to it and he found
nothing thereof but leaves only. One fig tree, but there was no
fruit on it, just leaves. It looked like a fig tree, didn't
it? It had green leaves on it, looked alive, but it didn't have
any fruit. No fruit. Good to look at, but
good for nothing. Right? Now, what have we been
talking about? Religion and so forth. Everything
our Lord did, everything's in context. If we'd follow the line
of truth, we'd see it. It all follows perfectly. It's
nothing disjointed, Vicki. It all goes together to teach
us something, whether things are written or written for our
learning. This is a clear picture of professing believers. who might look good. I was talking to someone the
other day you know and we were talking about these well I'll
not mention them too much but a particular denomination of
religious people dress real conservative. And this person said they were
impressed with the way these people live I said I'm not. Not in the
least. And God's not either. Matter
of fact, I believe it's another abomination to God Almighty. Maybe even more so than the harlots. And you thought I shot him. Isn't that what Christ said?
We're going to see that in this very chapter. He said the publicans
and harlots are going to get into heaven before you do. Why? It's all a cover-up. It's a cover-up. It looked real good. Looked real
good. It's a cover-up. Cover-up. No fruit. They only turn over a new leaf. And it'll soon wither. It all
will soon wither. And be cursed of our Lord. all
works and so forth. Remember that in Matthew seven,
where it says, Our Lord said, Many will say unto me in that
day, Lord, Lord, we preach in your name. We've prophesied.
We've done many wonderful works. And the Lord said, You're a bunch
of workers of iniquity. He cursed them. Sentenced them to an everlasting
curse, just like this picture. Do you know what this is talking
about? Do you see that? Why is this here? To show our Lord's
power over trees? No, no. No, that's not it. Do you remember
what leaves Adam and Eve tried to cover themselves with in the
garden? I started thinking about that.
It does not tell us what tree they ate from. Could have been a fig tree. That
would be a pity, wouldn't it? Anyway, you know what kind of
leaves it was that they tried? The first man and woman who tried
to cover their sin or nakedness before God, tried to cover up,
tried to hide themselves from God, took fig leaves and sewed
or made themselves little aprons or little garments to cover it. And they may have been real proud
of them, you know. What fool, what fool? It's no coincidence, folks, that
the only thing on this earth, the only thing our Lord cursed
when he was on this earth was a fig tree. It's no coincidence. Go back to Hebrews 13. I told
you to mark that. Notice how amazingly God's word
fits. OK, you got it? In light of everything
that was just said, look at verse 15. By him, therefore, he talks
about going to him without the camp. We have here no continuing
city. We seek one to come. By him,
therefore, let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually. That is the fruit of our lips. Give Him thanks to His name. Our Lord once told His disciples,
Herein is my Father glorified that you bear much fruit. Remember that? That you bear
much fruit. Well, here it says, By Him. Now,
Christ is that tree of life which bears all manner of fruit. You
know, have you ever read that in the Revelation? What about
the tree of life in the garden of which man and woman could
not partake of then? That's Christ. God said if they
partake of that, they'll live forever. That's Christ. Christ is the tree of life. By
Him, therefore, Christ is that tree whose fruit is fruit of
Christ. He is life. Christ is life. Without Him, we're dead. tree, you know, tree, a living
tree has fruit and in that fruit is seed, isn't it? Is there life
in that seed? Just take an apple tree. Take
an apple from that tree and there's seed inside of it, isn't it?
Much seed. Is there life in those seeds?
Absolutely. What kind of life? If you plant
that seed, what's it going to grow up to be like? Huh? If you
plant that seed, what is going to be? Going to be banana? going
to be just like the fruit it came from. See, by Him, in Him, Christ is
that tree of life. Whoever is in Him has been predestinated
by God to be like Him. God hath foreordained us to be
like Him, whose seed remaineth in us. by which we're born again
incorruptible seed, which is. And it says it by him, let us
offer the sacrifice of praise to God. Continue. Now here's
the chief fruit that God looks for. May I say that that God
looks for in human beings. This is it. Our Lord said this. Are you listening? Some of you
are with me. I've lost a bunch of you, but some of you with
our Lord said. The hour has come, and now is,
that the true worshippers shall worship the Father. Worship the
Father. Shall really worship, not just do it with the lips,
and not just look like it, and not just go through the motions,
and not just have all the trappings, and all the paraphernalia, and
all the props of religion, and holding the Bible in their hand,
looking like it, and sounding like it. I mean, they're going
to worship God in spirit and in truth, from the heart, with
this book. And that's it. And God seeketh
such to worship Him. Here is the Father glorified
that you bear much fruit. And the first fruit is a praise
to God continually in all things, in everything. To Him be the
glory. That's what they're saying in
heaven. To Him be power and glory and strength and wisdom and honor
and majesty and salvation belong to Him and calling and election
and drawing and calling and giving and all of it, every bit of it.
What do you think about that? Is that what you believe? Is
that what you long to do? This is the first part. Continually, it says, continually,
without fail, without reservation, every time you meet, in all things
you do, whether you eat or drink, do all for the glory of God,
the praise of God. Folks, you won't find many people
doing that. You just don't find that. Our Lord said, well, did
Isaiah speak? And he said, this people draw
near with their lips, but their heart is far from them. That all who partake of Christ
bring forth this fruit. First fruit is praise, worship,
thanksgiving, a thankful. It says the fruit of our lips.
Now this is vital. All of God's people want to somehow
or another be fruitful. Don't you? If you are, you do. You want to serve God somehow.
People talk about serve God. Barnard, one time a young fellow
said to Barnard, He said, Brother Barnard, I want to serve the
Lord. Barnard said, Well, do it. You know what he meant by that. I'll tell you the first way,
fruit of our lips. food of our lips, is a thankful
and grateful life. If there's one thing that characterizes
a world, then it's this. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Isn't it? It's raining. It's
too hot. It's too cold. Well, God, may I say it? Damn it all. That's precisely what he's going
to do. Their very lips condemn them. Believers, they should
be far from us. Murmuring and complaining is
bitter fruit. It's not fruit at all, it's bitterness.
But a thankful and grateful heart and spirit and attitude. raining too much, and the floods
come, well, we ought to be all just washed away like Noah's
day. If it's too hot, well, God ought to, so the mercies of the
Lord were not consumed. Now, this praise, this thankful,
grateful, unmurmuring attitude is fruit. It's fruit that God's
well pleased with. Well, our Lord, I love the Psalm
24 talks about Christ. It says he had clean hands and
a pure heart. No evil motive, no pure heart,
sinless perfection. It says he never swore deceit. Never, nothing ever came out
of his mouth, but good thing. Amazing. Amazing. And so God said out loud, I'm
well pleased with him. Well pleased with him. First
fruit. And then let me close with this.
Let me tell you about this. What is a fruit tree for? Does
a fruit tree exist for itself? Does it bear fruit for itself
and why does a fruit tree bear fruit? Christ being that tree of life,
why did he bear fruit? To the glory of God and for the
service of his people. He said to this eat. In me you might have life eat.
Service of others and. Are you still in Hebrews 13?
Look at verse 16. It says, but to do good and to
communicate, that means give. Forget not. For with such sacrifices. God is well-pleased. No, no,
no, preacher, no, God's not well-pleased with anything. That's what's
said there. Now what's said? Fruit. Herein is my Father glorified,
that ye bear fruit. What for? And you know, God gives
according to the measure of the grace of Christ. He gives some
ten, some twenty, some a hundredfold. We're supposed to be good stewards
of the grace of God. What's a steward? It's the one
who doles out. It doesn't belong to him. He's
the one who doles it out. That's why we're giving this
great. Well, in our text, in closing, it says the disciples
marveled that the fig tree was so soon withered away. And folks, all of this is just
it's gone, it's gone, it's gone. Don't let me upset the young
people too much, young parents and all that. You need not worry. If you believe Christ, trust
Christ, there's not going to be one ounce, not only one moment's
worry or fear. Or any of that sort. Don't worry
about that. Just trust in the Lord. OK, would
you? When he comes like that and you know, it's all your children,
everything, everything about you is already the Lord's already
predetermined. It's all going to be taken care
of. Go on. Do what you're supposed to do
and just leave all your care, cast all your care on him. OK,
don't worry about it. Don't worry about it. And it's all going to wither
away, though, real soon. It's just withering up now. You see
that? Very clear. Men talk about global warming.
Boy, is it going to be. He said, Be not weary in well-doing,
in due season you shall reap. If it ain't not, if you don't
quit. We'll be glad the grace of God don't quit. Well, he said
to his disciples in this text, and I quote, he said unto them,
barely. They marveled the fig tree was
withered away so soon. The Lord said, Verily, truly,
I say unto you, if ye have faith, and doubt not, ye shall not only
do this, which is done to the fig tree, but also if ye shall
say unto this mountain, apparently they were near a mountain, and
he pointed at a mountain, and he said, Ye shall say unto this
mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea, and
it shall be done, and all things whatsoever He shall ask in prayer,
believing he shall receive. Now, I dealt with that passage
several years ago when I was younger, about 10 years ago or
more. And I thought I had the answers
then. And I don't know now. But I do
think, though, this, I know he was talking to his disciple. OK, that's who he was talking
to privately. There's nobody else around. His
disciples, those twelve, were with him, and they marveled at
that. They were walking along. He withered the fig tree, and
they marveled. And he said to them, if you have faith, you'll not
only do this, but if necessary, if it need be, If for the furtherance
of the truth, if for the cause of God and truth, the mountain
need to be moved, you could say it and it would happen. He's
talking to, these were men who were given special supernatural
powers. That's right. That's right. He
was talking to men to whom he said later on, whatever you bind
on earth will be bound in heaven. Remember that? That doesn't apply
to me or Pope. pinhead the fourth or whoever
then apply to a man. And he applied to these apostles.
He said to these apostles later on, he said, you're going to
sit on twelve thrones of judgment, judging the twelve tribes of
Israel. I don't have a clue what that's
talking about. Nobody else does either. So I do know now who he was talking
to about this. Right? in contact. He said, praying,
believing and receiving. I knew I do know this, too. It's
that certainly applies to us. To all disciples, praying. Believing,
receiving. Our Lord said, John said to us
in his letter, he said, whatever you ask the father in his name.
Believing, you know, you have those things. So what's that
talking about? Well. There's one thing that God's
people, David, said that David said that David never withered
a fig tree. David never performed a miracle.
David never did anything like that, did he? Because he was
one of the greatest believers that ever lived, didn't he? But
here was the prayer of David. Here was the heart's desire of
David. He said, one thing have I desired
of the Lord, and that's what I'm going after. It's what he
continually prayed under God. In the name of Christ, in the
name of God. You see, we will receive whatever
we ask that's in keeping with God's will. He said, having food
and rain, but be content. That's all you need. Don't ask
for. Well, I believe I'm going to believe God for mercy. That's
not what he's talking about. That's what these worldly covetous
fakes set. God's people don't, that's not
what they're after. That's one thing they're after.
We believe God, according to God's will, that he will give
us what is In accordance to his bread, we need bread. No, he
said. He said, ask, give us this day
our daily bread. David said, I've never seen one
of God's people begging bread. I've never seen. David said,
I've been young. I'm now old. I've never ever
seen in my whole life one of God's people begging bread, sitting
on the corner, begging bread ever. couple of brethren right down
in Mexico right now, and you won't find any of those people
down there, believers, begging bread. God provides. It's amazing how he provides
for those people. They make pennies a day. God sent him bread, food, raiment. pray and believe in His name.
Lord, and there are other things, but
they're all spiritually related. All spiritual. Lord, I need mercy. Do you really? Yes, I do. Then you'll have it. Lord, I
need grace to live by. Do you? You can't do it on your
own? I need grace for everything. Then you'll have it. Lord, I need patience. Lord,
I need to be long suffering. Lord, I need wisdom. Lord, I
need... Aren't those needful things? Aren't those in keeping
with God's will? Isn't that what he promised to
give to them that asked him? And you know what he said to
Solomon? He said, since you didn't ask
for all these riches, since you asked for what was good and right, Seek ye first the kingdom of
God and his righteousness, and all these things be added to
you. And look at us here. Look at us. We're rich. Not only spiritually, but materially.
I mean rich. We live like kings. That's just
gravy. That's not the bread. You can
do without the gravy. I'm finding out now I don't need
to eat more gravy. But I can't live without gravy.
Right? And the older I get, the more
I'm finding out. I don't need all this gravy, but I sure need
Christ's bread. Thank you. Okay, stand with me. Our Lord, thank you for your
word. It's so wonderful, so wonderful. It is so truly your word, the
word of God, quick, powerful, which liveth and abideth forever. Thank you for it. It is your
voice, your power, your salvation, if you are pleased to use it,
if you are pleased to plant it, if you are pleased to water it,
nurture it, and bring forth life and bring forth fruit for thy
glory and the good of thy people. That is our prayer, Lord, and
you promised to do just that. You have done it in our midst.
You've done it for many. We ask that you continue to do
it. Lord, our children, our spouses, our parents, our families, our
friends, our neighbors, Lord, we ask that you would be pleased,
according to the riches of thy glory and according to your tender
mercies, that you continue to do this work for others. We'll give you all the honor
and glory. And it's in Christ's name we beseech you tonight.
A tree of life. Here it is now. A lot more than meets the eye.
That's Peter at Pentecost. Peter preached at Pentecost. Had they known, they wouldn't
have pushed him. in this world. All right. you uh... uh... All right. uh... uh... I'm just going to go ahead and
put this on. you