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Entry & End Times Series, Week 3
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Welcome to week three of our series Entry and End Times, where we're walking through Matthew chapters 21-25 together. In this series, we're doing two things: marveling at the final actions of Christ and the final weeks of his life, and awakening to what Christ said about the end times for this nation and the nations of the world. Nobody will escape that, and we do ourselves a favor to be informed and saved when those times come upon us.
Our text today comes from Matthew 21:18-22.
As I was sitting with this text this week, I was thinking about something I've experienced personally and something I know is very difficult for many people. Probably the most painful emotional cocktail that a human being will ever feel is when true love is met by rejection. When someone you love with your whole heart does not accept your love—that mixture of pure love and rejection is one of the most painful things a human being can feel.
It's a pain I would not wish on my worst enemy. I knew a young man once who fell in love with a young woman. He loved her with all of his heart, approached her correctly, gave off every vibe that he had her best interest at heart. Over time, he felt resistance from her—she began to reject all his love. He had done everything he knew to love her, to affirm her, to provide for her, to care for her. But at some point, things began to change. She rejected him entirely and went on to have another lover.
He was left asking: What did I do to deserve that? What could I have done more? He was left to pick up the pieces of a broken heart, bruised because his love was rejected. Family, hear me: unmet expectations and rejection from someone you love—these are the complex emotions sitting just underneath the surface of this text that we're about to unpack today.
In week one, we taught you that Jesus enters the city of Jerusalem on a donkey, fulfilling biblical prophecy. He goes to the temple and his heart is broken by what he sees. In week two, we understand that he cleanses the temple because his heart was broken.
Now, what we're about to read is a narrative that Matthew writes out of chronological order—Mark writes about this event happening over two days. I mention that because there are people who think the scriptures contradict themselves when we're not properly read or don't know how to study properly. Matthew takes an event that happened over two days and merges it into one narrative because his focus is not on the chronological order but on the lessons we learn from this passage.
Matthew 21:18-20 tells us: "In the morning as he was returning to the city, he became hungry. And seeing a fig tree by the wayside, he went to it and found nothing on it but only leaves."
Let me draw your attention to the words "he became hungry". I want to insert a very important truth for those of you who need to be reminded: We know theologically that when Christ was on the earth, he was God in the flesh. Often, we talk about, preach, sing, and post about his deity—the fact that he was God in a body. But I love the fact that Matthew mentions here that Jesus became hungry as he was walking toward Jerusalem.
The fact that he was hungry reminds the reader of the humanity of Christ. When Christ was on the earth, he was fully God and he was fully human at the same time. This theological term is called the hypostatic union—deity merged with flesh, becoming a God-man, a human being who was God in the flesh.
I mention this to remind some of you: Because Jesus was a human being, he is intimately acquainted with all of your emotions and your suffering. There is nothing you will ever feel in your heart that Christ does not understand.
I want to encourage somebody under the sound of my voice: There is nothing you would ever feel, nothing you're feeling right now in your heart—no trouble, no sorrow, no heaviness of heart—that the Lord cannot understand. He lived a human life for 33 years, just without sin.
For this reason, I want to encourage as many of you as possible to stop sanitizing your prayers when you go into the presence of the Lord. When you get in there, that's the place to be honest and to cry, to tell him you're angry, to tell him you're frustrated, to tell him you're lustful, to tell him you're vengeful. Tell him: "Help me with pornography. Help me with masturbation. Help me in my marriage. I'm mad." It's okay for you to tell him you're mad at him.
"Lord, I feel like you're not listening to me when I pray. Lord, I feel far away from you."
Listen—he can handle all of your real emotions. It's crazy to me that people will go into the presence of God and try to hide from someone who is sovereign.
What a lot of you need to feel when you go into your secret place is release—ongoing release from the heaviness of your heart. This is you going into your secret place and saying:
"Lord, how many are my foes? God, how many are my enemies? Lord, look at the people in this country who speak evil of your servant. Lord, I pray you would defend your servant. Lord, I pray you would bless my enemies. Lord, I pray you would make my enemies friends. I pray you would cause some of them to drop their weapons. I pray you prepare a table before me."
This is you being honest about the things going on in your heart.
"Lord, I'm frustrated in this marriage. Lord, I'm frustrated on this job. Lord, I feel tired and weary in this season."
Do you know how much more fulfilling prayer would be if you learned to go in there and just be honest?
This is why the unknown writer of Hebrews encourages you to say: "When you go to the throne of God, you should go boldly. Why? Because you're going to a high priest who can identify with all of your weaknesses." This is why I love when the Psalms say that he knows your frailty. And he knows that you were made from dust.
Because the Lord knows your frailty and knows you were made from dust, you know what you find when you go into his presence with honesty? You find grace. You find love. You find healing. You find mercy. When you go in there and be honest and just cry, you'll feel him wrap his arms around you, even when you're confessing your sin.
I want to pause on the word hungry to remind everybody about the humanity of Christ. He's not just a God in heaven trying to strike you dead. He is a loving Savior that will listen to everything that's happening in your heart. He understands the frailty of your humanity.
I feel something in my spirit. There are men listening to me right now who have great insecurities. There are women in here too who have great insecurities. He knows. He knows why you're half-naked on every post. He knows what you're searching for. He knows what's going on in your heart. He knows about the brokenness. He really knows, and you can go in there and weep and cry and be honest.
Your prayer life will change when you just start being naked and honest with the Lord instead of going in there like Adam and Eve, trying to hide your nakedness with leaves. You're trying to hide your nakedness as if there's ambiguity with sovereignty. Go in there naked and be honest with the Lord about everything going on in your heart because of his humanity—he understands.
Matthew says: "As he was returning to the city, he became hungry. Verse 19: And seeing a fig tree by the wayside, he went to it and found nothing on it but only leaves."
Let me draw your attention to the phrase: "He went to it and found nothing on it but only leaves." This phrase is revelatory because it signals to the reader that something happened in this moment that was outside the realm of the ordinary.
If I read the whole text, there are a couple of things I can assume:
Now, Mark wrote that at this time in history—the Passover—it was April. It was not the season for figs. So if it's not the season for figs, why is Jesus in April walking up to a fig tree trying to satisfy his hunger if he knows it's not the season for figs?
My wife and I have a fig tree in our front yard. The fig tree in the scriptures is synonymous with God's blessing, prosperity, and favor in a land. I know something about the fig tree because it's been in my yard for five years. Here's what I've learned: In late spring or early summer, if you get up on that fig tree, you start to see these little pops growing all over the branches. Then they ripen into figs. My kids have been picking them off the tree and eating them for years—they're sweet and taste good.
The figs grow first on the fig tree, and then the leaves follow. So if you came to my house in June and pulled up in my driveway, you'd see this big, beautiful green tree with a nice canopy for shade. From a distance, you cannot see the fruit—you can only see the leaves. But when you get up close on that tree, as soon as you get behind the leaves, you see all the fruit hanging on the tree.
Now, here's the key: If you see leaves on a fig tree without fruit, that's a signal that something is wrong with that tree. Since the fruit grows first, if a tree has leaves, it automatically assumes that if a fig tree has leaves, then a fig tree must have fruit. The leaves and the fruit are synonymous with each other.
So there is the Lord walking toward Jerusalem, hungry, and he sees a fig tree with leaves. He gets up on the fig tree, and Matthew says there was nothing on the tree except leaves. This was a barren fig tree—a tree with leaves but no fruit.
Family, don't get lost in the text. We learn from scripture throughout the Old Testament that the fig tree is also a picture of the nation of Israel. What the Lord will do in this moment is use a barren fig tree to teach his followers one of the most important lessons they will ever learn.
The barren fig tree represents a nation that is religious and not saved. They have religion but not salvation. They have antics but not salvation. They are close to God with their lips but far from God in their hearts. It's the same nation that God said through the prophet Isaiah:
"I am fed up with all of your services. I'm fed up with your holy convocations. I'm fed up with your always gathering, but your hearts are far from me."
It is a nation with corrupt priests and corrupt pastors who have an external show of holiness but whose hearts are dark on the inside. A nation that has laws disconnected from the word of God and practices disconnected from the word of God. They have a form of godliness but deny the power thereof. They are a nation constantly rebelling against God.
This was the nation the Lord told about in the Parable of the Fig Tree in Luke 13. A man had a vineyard with a fig tree in it. For three years, the master came seeking fruit on that tree and found none. He said to the owner: "Chop down that tree and get rid of it." But the owner replied: "Wait, have mercy. Let me give it one more year. Put some fertilizer around it, and then come back and check if there's any fruit on that tree."
That parable represented Israel. How long did the ministry of Jesus last on the earth? Three years. What the Lord was using that barren tree to signal was: "For three years I've been preaching to Israel and they have rejected me. For three years I've been trying to love on them and they have rejected me. For three years I've been doing miracles amongst them and they have rejected me. For three years I've been preaching truth and they have rejected me."
God has sent Israel prophets, promises, and prophecies, but they keep straying after other lovers, straying after idols. It was like nothing God did for Israel was good enough to hold them in a good relationship. They reject the one they love constantly.
The evidence of their barrenness is that before the Lord came to this tree, the night before, he's in the temple—the holiest place in the nation of Israel in Jerusalem. What does the Lord find? Corrupt priests. Corrupt leaders. A marketplace. His house desecrated and defiled.
"Here is a people. I cleansed this temple three years ago. I come back now and it's corrupt all over again. Here is a people that is hell-bent on rejecting my love."
Watch—it's giving the United States of America. It's giving you and me. If you think you're innocent, let me tell you: It's giving American Christians who have displays of godliness on social media but have no fruit to back that up.
There is no evidence of a transformed heart. No evidence of a transformed life. We post without fruit. We preach without fruit. We sing without fruit. We do ministry without fruit. We come to church without fruit.
"God first" in your profile—no evidence of a godly life. "Proverbs 31 Woman" in your profile—no evidence of a godly life. Preaching sermons on Sunday—no evidence of a godly life. Singing in the choir—no evidence of a godly life.
We are a nation with ministries full of leaves but no fruit. This is us getting close to spiritual leaders and finding toxicity in their hearts. This is people singing on the platform who have nasty attitudes in person. This is people who preach from platforms but whose wives hate them and whose children hate them across this nation.
We have a Christianity full of leaves with no fruit. I'm going to keep talking like this. Listen, I'm going to talk like this until the Lord comes to get me. I don't care if nobody likes it. I'm preaching to fill up the room—I'm preaching this gospel truth. They can't cancel me, and they can't shut me up.
This is what the Lord told me to do when I was in Israel: to come back and sound an alarm to wake up his people in this country. I don't care if it's not sexy, and I don't care if they keep saying stuff about me. I'm going to preach this gospel truth until I arrive in heaven with an army of people behind me—people who washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb, who came out of a life of suffering, who are going to say: "Thank God we heard real gospel truth and my soul was saved and my life was transformed and I had a real relationship with Christ."
It's a sad narrative to watch undiscerning believers underneath the tyranny of false prophets who are full of leaves but no fruit—no character, no godliness, no holiness. It's about platform. It's about money. It's about followers. It's not about souls. It's not about the gospel. It's not about the Great Commission. It's all about image.
Because you're so caught up in image, you just run behind anybody that looks like they have fruit. What you're really doing is running behind leaves.
That barren fig tree represented the nation of Israel. I'm going to go so far and say it's giving the United States of America. It's giving the church at Sardis.
In the first century AD, the Lord appeared to John on the island of Patmos in his resurrected glory. John fell down on his face like a dead man—this is not Christ in the manger; this is the resurrected Christ. The Lord told him: "Get a pen, get parchment, and write down everything I'm about to tell you." What Jesus gives to John is what we have preserved: the Book of Revelation.
The Lord gave John seven copies and said: "Send them to seven churches." These are the seven ancient churches of Asia Minor. One of those churches was in a city called Sardis. Listen to what Christ said to the church at Sardis in Revelation 3:1:
"To the angel of the church in Sardis, the words of him who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars: I know your works. You have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead."
You have leaves but no fruit. You have activity but no fruit. You have programs but no fruit. You have sermons but no fruit. You have singing but no fruit. You have all of your Sunday morning performance with no fruit.
What's his instruction?
"Wake up and strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your works complete in the sight of my God. Remember then what you received and heard; keep it, and repent. If you will not wake up, I will come like a thief in the night and you will not know at what hour I will come against you."
What Jesus are we serving? We're out here playing around with leaves with no fruit.
Watch—we can help our politicians. It's all written. Have you not read? It's all in there. We're passing laws of stuff that's not going to work. Have you not read?
Let's go back to verse 20: "And the fig tree withered at once."
Jesus spoke, and the fig tree withered. The same thing is going to happen to every duplicitous believer. Your testimony will wither. Your witness will wither. Your credibility will wither if we keep living duplicitous lives. All of the intangible things are going to wither away.
"And when the disciples saw it, they marveled, saying, 'How did the fig tree wither at once?'"
The disciples did not walk past this moment. They saw a man curse a tree and it died. When they saw that, they were curious. Because of their curiosity, they marveled. And because of their question, they will get one of the most important lessons Jesus ever taught.
I just want to point this out to you: The reason they were marveling is because they had guarded their hearts from what too many of us are suffering right now. I want to beg some of you: Please protect your heart from familiarity with Christ. Don't become bored with him. Don't become bored with his word. Don't become bored with church. Don't become bored with the scriptures.
Don't stop asking questions of the text. Don't stop thinking. Don't stop studying. They saw something and marveled. They had awe and wonder.
No familiarity. They have wonder over God. It's their curiosity that leads them to ask a question, and because of their questions, we get revelation.
"How did he do that?"
And Jesus answered: "Truly I say to you: If you have faith and do not doubt in your heart, you will not only do what has been done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, 'Be taken up and thrown into the sea,' it will happen for you."
When you listen to the sound of authority and power on my lips, who are you, great mountain, that you should not bow low?
Jesus said: "If you have faith in your heart, man, you can speak to things in your life and see things change."
Now, this is not the Prosperity Gospel. This is not name it and claim it. This is not demonic manifesting. This is me using my mouth in prayer and prophecy to agree with everything God already told me in his word. If it's in his word, I can speak it and see it. If it's in his word, I can believe for it.
I like the fact that he used a mountain—something that is impossible for a human being to do but is not impossible for God. What the Lord is saying is: There is nothing that is impossible for God.
If he has said it, you can agree with him about it. You can believe that:
There was a barren woman in our church—a husband believing God for children who couldn't have any kids. But I know the scripture says we should be fruitful and multiply. The scripture says if we lay hands on the sick, the sick shall recover. I remember the day my wife got down and laid hands on that barren womb and prayed:
"God, open this barren womb according to the scriptures."
She just gave birth to twins two weeks ago. Nothing is impossible for the Lord if it's in his word. You can believe him for it.
He says: "If you pray, you will have whatever you have faith for." This is in the context of Matthew—if your heart and your life are inside the will of God, then you can pray in his will and expect him to move.
Although we have no guarantees, yours is to just pray with faith. His is to move according to his power.
What is it that hinders your faith? Doubt. That was Israel's sin—unbelief. They didn't believe in Christ. They didn't believe in his prophecies. They didn't believe in his power. That's what the writer of Hebrews calls the "evil of doubt."
I want to close out this message by praying for everybody who has injured faith. Life has injured your faith. A divorce has injured your faith. A betrayal has injured your faith. Time has injured your faith. Pain has injured your faith. Loss has injured your faith. You are so broken that you are afraid to believe because you're trying to protect your heart from disappointment.
Who's ready for this? I said: Who's ready for this?
We're going to come against doubt together. We're going to pray for increase of faith together. We're going to pray with faith and believe with faith and cry out to God with faith.
Father, in the name of the Holy One, Jesus, I pray over everybody wrestling with doubt that you would drive it out of their heart. For you said faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. I pray through the proclamation of your word that faith would rise up in your people right now to believe you for everything you have said in your word.
Lord, I pray fire come to their mouths and fire come to their hearts and fire come to their knees. I pray you would heal us from injured faith—heal us from the wounds that keep us from believing. I pray you would drive out the evil of doubt and that faith would arise in the lives of the enemy, and they will be scattered.
I pray we will pray with radical faith. We will prophesy with radical faith. We will believe with radical faith, and we will see the fruit, signs and wonders. If you receive that, somebody give Jesus praise in this house.
