your grades first through sixth we have a specific children's service that if you'd like to take advantage that if you're visiting with us you can dismiss them right through the back they'll head to their children's worship service the rest of us can turn to mark chapter 11 mark chapter 11 verses 12 through 25 is where we're going to be this morning mark chapter 11 Father, I pray as we look into your word this morning that you would give us eyes to see and ears to hear, that you would make me a mouthpiece of truth, that your word would be clear. In your name we pray, amen. Mark chapter 11, we'll begin reading in verse 12. On the following day when they came from Bethany, Jesus was hungry. And seeing in the distance a fig tree and leaf, he went to see if he could find anything on it. And when he came to it, he found nothing but leaves. If you'd like a title for the sermon this morning, you can pull it right out of there. Nothing but leaves. For it was not the season for figs. And he, Jesus, said to it, the tree, may no one ever eat fruit from you again. And his disciples heard it. And they came to Jerusalem, and he entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold and those who bought in the temple. And he overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. And he would not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple. And he was teaching them and saying to them, is it not written, my house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations, but you have made it a den of robbers. And the chief priests and the scribes heard it. were seeking a way to destroy him, for they feared him, because all the crowds was astonished at his teaching. When evening came, they went out of the city. And as they passed by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered away at its roots. And Peter remembered and said to him, Rabbi, look, the fig tree that you cursed has withered. Jesus answered them, have faith in God. Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, be taken up and thrown into the sea and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what she says will come to pass and it will be done for him. Therefore, I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it and it will be yours. Whenever you stand praying, forgive if you have anything against anyone so that your father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses. Perhaps some of you are scratching your heads right now and thinking, I didn't know a story like this was in the Bible. Is this okay? It'd be profitable for us to understand this morning that many people have struggled with this passage and the meaning of it. We should not be deterred or disheartened when we come to passages that are hard to understand because Peter actually tells us to expect this in second Peter chapter three. He says, there are some things in them, the scriptures, that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction as they do other scriptures. You, therefore, beloved, know this beforehand. Take care that you're not carried away with the error of lawless people. Lose your own stability, but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. And it's been my prayer that the passage before us would be one that would help us grow and the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. My prayer in studying the passage this week has been that I would not knowingly or unknowingly twist this passage to my own meaning, but rather faithfully teach it to you this morning. And I'll admit, when I started studying this passage two weeks ago, I got a little bit nervous because this was a passage that I never really have understood before. At first glance, it looks as if Jesus is acting like a spoiled child complaining for not getting what he wants when he's hungry. In fact, some commentators have taken the position and have studied solutions to this passage such as this. Mark remembered what happened incorrectly. Some have also said that this is not a true account. It's just a story that was passed down through the ages and should not be trusted. None of these explanations are suitable for us here at Community Baptist. because we believe that all Scripture is inspired by God. All Scripture is inerrant, perfect, and complete in every way. We also believe that all Scripture, every single part, is given to us as a gift from God and is profitable for our spiritual growth and is absolutely sufficient to meet every need in our lives. I believe the passage before us this morning, understood in the context of not only the Gospel of Mark, but also through the entire narrative of Scripture, gives us A wonderful overarching truth this morning, and that truth is this. The absence of genuine faith results in the absence of spiritual fruit, which reveals the absence of the blessing and the presence of God, which let's turn it on its positive head and say it this way. Genuine faith results in the blessing and presence of God, evidencing itself by spiritual fruit. It was the day after the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem. Jesus had spent the night at Bethany with his disciples, and on this morning he was traveling back into Jerusalem. Jesus had not eaten breakfast. We don't know why. Perhaps he was up early praying, as was his custom. Perhaps he was in too much of a rush to get to Jerusalem. Or perhaps the culture of that day didn't customarily eat breakfast. You can choose, and I'm sure there are an infinite number of other possibilities of why he didn't eat breakfast. Whatever the case, Jesus was hungry. And on the way to Jerusalem, in the distance, Jesus saw a fig tree. This would have been a common sight during this day. It wasn't a fig tree on someone's farm, it was wild, and Mark tells us that this fig tree was in leaf. Now, fig trees' first buds come from the previous year's growth, okay? These buds, we're gonna have a little bit of a science lesson for about 60 seconds, okay? These buds are called They're little, basically, mini-figs, you could call them. And they come out first from the previous year's new growth. So the year before, they had grown all these new shoots and new leaves. The leaves fell off in the winter. And from those new shoots and new leaves, these little mini-figs came. And after that, following that, the tree would then come into leaf, or be fully covered in leaves. Now, these little mini-figs, Breba, however you want to say it. These little mini-figs normally were not eaten because they were sour, but for people who were very hungry, they would be a source of food. They could be eaten. And this is what Jesus was looking for. He came looking for these early figs that could be taken off and eaten. Many times, if figs are grown in captivity now, these little mini-figs are actually removed Because they want all the nutrients in the tree to go towards the actual crop of figs that will come later on in the year and be picked. Now, these details are not natural for us. We don't know really anything about figs other than fig newtons. Figs don't really play a vital role in our lives. Jesus approached this tree and understood something that every person in the Middle East would understand. Just like you and I understand every fall the leaves turn different colors because it's that time of the season, every person would have known that these little mini-figs should be on the tree if this tree was in full leaf. This was common knowledge. So Jesus comes and he examines this tree. And he approached it fully covered in these large green leaves, meaning that there should have been this little fruit there. However, the tree, although it appeared to be healthy, although the leaves were there, although it looked beautiful, it looked okay, upon the further examination by Jesus, this tree had no fruit on it. And Jesus announces loudly, loudly enough so the disciples heard him, may no one ever eat fruit from you again. This is a curse. Jesus and his disciples then walk into Jerusalem, straight into the temple grounds. The day before, Jesus had entered into the temple and looked around at what he saw, grieved him. He didn't do anything about it that night. Instead, he returned the next morning. Jesus, passionate about the purity of the temple, fulfills Psalm 69, 9, which says, the zeal for the Lord's house will consume me. Jesus entered into Jerusalem humbly on the back of a donkey, but now this passion and righteous anger towards sin is going to be released and revealed in a very forceful way. This humble, spotless lamb who entered Jerusalem will now reveal himself as the roaring lion of Judah. Jesus enters into the temple and notes that the place that used to be protected as a sanctuary for true worshipers has been turned into a sanctuary for sin and perversion. Jesus began to drive out those who were desecrating this holy ground. There were those who were using this court of the Gentiles that's supposed to be used for worship instead now is being used for a common marketplace. This marketplace that used to be outside the temple was now located in the temple. This was the only place where foreigners could come who had converted to Judaism. This was the only place where they could come and to worship. And this area that was supposed to be devoted to worship for them was now desecrated by this sin. There were the money changers who were robbing and cheating these foreigners who had come by charging excessive fees to exchange their currency into the temple currency. There were others who were selling pigeons at exorbitant rates to take advantage of the poor because this was the only place They could buy it. They had turned the temple into the place where these people were sinning and desecrating the holiness of God's temple. And so Jesus, compelled by eternal purity and holiness, righteously angered by sin, and zealous for the purity of God's house, drove this debauchery from the temple. He overturned the table, scattering coins everywhere. He chased these apostates out of the temple grounds, even blocking others from coming in to participate in this wickedness. Now, after Jesus and his disciples cleared out the temple courtyard, Jesus turned and explained to those who were left that the temple is supposed to be for those who came to worship and pray, those from every nation who worshiped one true God. He states, is it not written, my house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations, but you have turned it into a den of robbers. Rather than being a haven for truth and righteousness, rather than being a place where God's people could come and devote themselves to prayer and meditation, the temple had become a cesspool of sin. The crowd listening to his teaching that day, their hearts begin to be swayed by this teaching of Jesus, so much so that the temple magistrates, the chief priests and the scribes, those who've profited from the dealings that were happening, realized that they were about to lose their livelihood, they were about to lose control, they began to look for a way to destroy this Jesus who was ruining everything for them. But because they were afraid of causing an uprising, they'd wait for the perfect opportunity. Jesus continued to teach at the temple that day. When evening came, he and his disciples returned to Bethany for the night. The next morning, everyone knew the drill. They set out once again for Jerusalem. Jesus would remove himself from Jerusalem for the night, spend the night in Bethany, and then come back every single day. And so they came through the same path they had taken the day before, and when they passed the fig tree, Peter noticed that the tree was already dead. Now, if you're like me, and you've tried to get rid of trees, or you've tried to get rid of weeds, you know this is a miracle. Because even if you use the most powerful roundup, The next day you come by and it isn't totally gone, okay? And here, this fig tree was now totally dead and withered all the way to its core. It was totally rotten. Peter says, Rabbi, look, this fig tree that you cursed is already rotten. It's withered all the way to its roots. The tree was dead because it had been cursed by God. Jesus, using the fig tree as an explanation, explains that the disciples must have faith in God, genuine faith. This genuine faith is only limited by its object. Faith in a small object is small faith. Faith in a large object is great faith. Therefore, faith in God is a faith that is infinitely powerful, powerful enough to move mountains, powerful enough to grant salvation to the worst of sinners. Powerful enough to rescue Saul from being a persecutor and making him a preacher. Powerful enough to rescue Rahab and change her from being a harlot to being a child of God. Powerful enough to give the believer victory over anger and bitterness. Powerful enough to grant forgiveness. Powerful enough to bear good fruit even in the life of the most vile of sinners who comes to faith in God. Now before we get into this passage in detail, I want to give you several key thoughts that are going to help you understand what's happening. So here's what we're going to do. That was an overview of the passage. Now I'm going to explain some things in the passage and then we're going to draw conclusions. Mark tells us in verse 12 that Jesus was hungry. Some of us get hungry. Some of us get hangry. You know what hangry is? Yeah, you guys know what hangry is. It's when you're so hungry you get a little bit angry. Jesus never got hangry because that would be a sin. But Jesus was hungry. This statement reminds us of the humanity of Jesus. Jesus was fully God and fully man. However, this is very key. You have to understand this. The emotion of hunger, the feeling of hunger, is not the motivation for the curse on the fig tree. That's not why Jesus cursed the fig tree. In other words, Jesus did not give the fig tree this curse because he was hungry. The question that unlocks this passage for us is this. Why did Jesus curse this fig tree? What motivation did Jesus have for pronouncing this curse? If you get this question wrong, you're going to misunderstand the passage. If Jesus cursed the fig tree because he was hungry, and because it didn't have any fruit for him, then Jesus is nothing more than a child with superpowers throwing a temper tantrum. Okay? That's not what's going on here. We know that this is not the case, because back in Mark chapter 1, Jesus fasted in the wilderness for 40 days without food. The key that unlocks this passage is the understanding that his hunger drove him to look for figs on the fig tree, and that's why he went out of his way. However, that's not why he cursed the fig tree. Once Jesus gets to the fig tree, sees there are no figs, Jesus uses the tree as a visual parable. It's a illustration. It's a metaphor. The tree is a visual parable. It's an acted out parable. The question still remains, what does the fig tree represent? The fig tree represents the nation of Israel. because Israel has rejected him. Jesus, in his foreknowledge, knowing there were no figs on that tree, knowing the acted out parable, the metaphor, the illustration that he's going to give his disciples, walks up and uses the fig tree as an illustration, a visual parable of the nation of Israel. That's the first thing to understand. Secondly, Mark offers the temple destruction You could call it a cleansing, but it's not a cleansing in the sense that he's cleansing it to be used again, like we would wash a cup out in order to use it tomorrow. This is a cleansing of a destructive nature. The temple account is sandwiched in the middle of the fig tree account. Therefore, both accounts, the fig tree and the temple, have the same overall theme. So we know what the fig tree is. It's a picture of the nation of Israel. But why did Jesus cleanse, destroy the temple? Number one, it was to remove the people who were robbing God of His glory. This is a den of robbers. There were people robbing God of His glory and the purpose for which the temple existed. Secondly, it was prophetically acting out what was going to happen in 70 A.D. that the temple was going to be destroyed. He gives a prophetic statement on the nation of Israel being cursed and he walks in and he acts out what's going to happen in 70 A.D. when the entire temple is raised and leveled. And it's also, thirdly, to reveal to everyone that he's going to build his own temple where God's presence would dwell in the heart of every true believer. If you're with me, that's two things to know. Thirdly, the third thing to understand is that the Old Testament temple is not a picture of the church building today. We've talked about this on Sunday nights in regards to what the church is. The church is people. The church is not a building. This is not the church. This is the building in which the church meets. The building is not a temple. This building is not a parallel to the Old Testament temple. These steps are not an altar. Some people refer to that because we bow our knee before God, but this building is not parallel to the Old Testament temple. This is very important to understand because if you think that the temple is the church building, you draw all sorts of wrong conclusions. I'll give you an illustration. Becky traveled with her dad for years all over the country. Her dad is an itinerant evangelist who goes and preaches in different churches, and some churches would not let them sell sermon CDs to support their ministry or music CDs to support their ministry because they took this and said, Jesus threw out those who were selling the temple. This is God's temple. We can't have anything sold here. And friends, that may be a conviction that you hold, but that is a wrong conclusion from this passage. That's not why we're giving away these books and not selling them, okay? We're giving them away because we want you to read them. If you come to that conclusion based on this passage, that is a wrong understanding of what's happening here. The Old Testament temple and this building are not the same thing. Fourthly, the phrase den of robbers does not refer to people stealing money, although that was happening. The phrase den of robbers means that there were people who were robbing God of glory and robbing God of worship. They had taken the haven of righteousness and worship and turned it into a haven for sin. Thus, they were robbing God's glory. So what is the temple of God today? The temple of God is God's people. Jesus is building his kingdom in the heart of every genuine believer. So the temple today is not the church building, it is the people. It's the church, the people. Because God's building is kingdom in the heart of every genuine believer. You could say you are God's temper. How do you know that? Well, Paul very clearly says it in 1 Corinthians chapter 6. Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God and you are not your own? You were bought with a price. Therefore, glorify God in your body, because your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost. So, with these things in mind, Jesus didn't curse the tree because of hunger. The tree is a picture of the nation of Israel. The temple clearing and the curse of the fig tree address the same theme. God is rejecting Israel and rejecting the temple. God's temple does not exist to be a haven for sin, rather a haven for righteousness. And the understanding that the temple is not the church, with these things in mind, We're going to address the overall topic that I believe Mark is trying to communicate with these three things, and that is the comparison between genuine faith and counterfeit faith. The nation of Israel had counterfeit faith. They had a beautiful temple with these huge columns and this gold and all of these beautiful vestures and the priests were dressed in all these incredible clothes, but it was all counterfeit because the presence of God had left the temple. And here Jesus curses the temple. He curses the nation of Israel as a whole because of their counterfeit faith. And then he contrasts that with genuine faith. So that's where we're going this morning. In this passage, we see this contrast. So this contrast is revealed to us really all through scripture. And Jesus begins this contrast in his teaching in Matthew chapter 7 on the Sermon on the Mount when he says this, Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will recognize them by their Fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorn bushes or figs from thistles? So every healthy tree bears good fruit. But the diseased tree bears bad fruit. You could say an absence of spiritual fruit, the presence of fleshly fruit. Verse 18. A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. It's rejected. It's cursed. It's under the wrath of God. You will recognize them by their fruits. Counterfeit faith results in the fruit of the flesh and no spiritual fruit. Genuine faith results in spiritual fruit brought about by faith in God. I'm going to say that again. Counterfeit faith results in the fruit of the flesh and no spiritual fruit. Genuine faith results in spiritual fruit brought about by faith in God. Just like the fig tree, the people in the temple that day were spiritually fruitless. God uses illustration after illustration in the Old Testament to reveal that a lack of spiritual fruit is evidence of the judgment of God on someone's life. It's evidence that God is not present in their life. The fig tree was covered in beautiful green leaves, giving off the appearance of life, but once inspected, no real fruit was present. When we examine this passage, we can walk away with three conclusions regarding counterfeit faith and genuine faith. These are not the only conclusions in scripture regarding counterfeit faith and genuine faith, but they are the only three that are given to us this morning in this passage. So we'll focus specifically on these three. Number one, counterfeit faith reveals itself in a life motivated by the pursuit of possessions. The lack of faith in the Israelites, drove them to take the market that was outside the temple and actually put it inside the temple so they could make more money. And to give you an idea of what was happening here, a dove could have been purchased for about five cents from the poorest of people to offer a sacrifice. And here historians tell us that inside the temple they were selling doves for as much as $2, the inflation rate, in order to take advantage of people saying, you can only buy it here, so you have to pay more money. The currency that was used had to be exchanged for temple currency, so they would charge exorbitant exchange rates to make money on foreigners who had come to worship Jehovah. Rather than showing kindness and love towards these foreigners, these people were robbing them of their money. Rather than having mercy and compassion on the poor and the outcast, they were overcharging for the lowest of sacrifices. Rather than recognizing that God's temple was a holy place to be set apart for the work of the Lord, they were treating the court of the Gentiles like a pagan marketplace. These people were more consumed with making money and pursuing possessions than they were with worshiping the God of the universe. That's a fruit of counterfeit faith. Paul warns Timothy of this exact issue present in the heart of every person. He says this, Godliness with contentment is great gain, for if we brought nothing into this world, we cannot take anything out of this world. But if we have food and clothing with these, we will be content." Let me ask you a question. Do you have food and clothing this morning? Are you content? Paul says, listen, with food and clothing, let us be content. Verse 9, but those who are desired to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into Many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction for the love of money is the root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs. A person with no spiritual fruit will have a life motivation of pursuing possessions. A genuine believer may struggle with materialism Their flesh may pull them towards material things, but a genuine believer has been transformed to pursue Christ. And so they will have a desire in their heart to find contentment in Him. The fruit of counterfeit faith is a life motivated by the pursuit of possession. Secondly, we see here that counterfeit faith reveals itself in a life motivated by the pursuit of power. The chief priests and scribes, the ones who were tasked with protecting the purity of scripture and the holiness of God were the ones at the source and the root of all of the sin. They did not pursue holiness, they pursued power and control. They were very moral, but friends, morality is not equal with godliness. Often we come under this false pretense that morality is somehow equal with godliness, and friends, it's not. They were very moral people but their motivation was revealed by their response to Jesus. when Jesus came in and revealed this fact, that God was rejecting the temple because it was full of improper faith, and that God had rejected the nation of Israel, they had a choice to make. Would they accept Christ and listen to his teaching, or would they accept their own teaching, and their own flesh, and their own fleshly desires, and would they reject Jesus? And they chose to reject Christ. They began the plan to have him killed. Rather than humbly submitting to the truth of the word of God, they decided to choose their own path. Either they were going to have to die to self, or they were going to have to get rid of Jesus, one or the other. And friends, aren't we given the exact same choice every day? Either we are going to choose God's plan, or we are going to choose our own plan. Either we are going to choose to be invested in God's Word and read Scripture and change our hearts to align with His Word, or we are going to remain comfortable. Can I ask you a question? Are you afraid of changing? Are you scared that maybe if I open myself up to adjusting my belief system in this way, I'm going to change and I can't change? If we all had the exact same belief and the exact same convictions our entire life, that means we're not growing in our knowledge of God, right? It would make sense that the longer that I read God's word, the more that I would change. And the more that my heart would look like God's heart, are you afraid of changing in order to become more biblical, in order to become more like Christ? Are you afraid of setting aside what you want In order to grab who Jesus is, in order to be saved, you have to set aside your way to heaven and embrace God's way to heaven. They chose selfish ambition and pride rather than humility. Fruit of counterfeit faith is a life motivated by the pursuit of possessions and the pursuit of power. Again, those are not the only two fruits of a life that is that is overwhelmed with counterfeit faith. But those are two that are really given to us here as examples. Number three, genuine faith in contrast to this. Genuine faith reveals itself by a life filled with the fruit of the Spirit. Genuine faith reveals itself in a life filled with the fruit of the Spirit. Once a person places their faith in Christ and Christ alone for salvation, scripture says that that person is changed. They're transformed. The old is passed away. The new has come. This new person, this new creation will bear fruit. This spiritual fruit is not simply actions of outward conformity. But rather, it's the inward man being renewed day by day. And as the inward man is renewed day by day, the believer can expect to see the presence of spiritual fruit in his life. The fruit born in the believer's life is very simple. It's love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. But God, what do you want me to do? Be loving. Be joyful. Promote peace. Be patient. Go through the fruit of the Spirit. This is the fruit that God brings in your life as a result of your relationship with Him when you walk in faith and obedience. You could say the seeds of this fruit. By the way, they're not the fruits of the Spirit. It's one fruit. and they manifest itself in all these ways, because you have one Holy Spirit, and it's the seed that God plants in your heart, and they begin to sprout and begin to grow throughout your Christian life. Jesus actually gives an example of what the fruit of the Spirit looks like lived out. Well, okay, that's great. You're talking about motivations and emotions, but what am I supposed to do, right? As a Christian, what am I supposed to do? Well, he gives you a perfect example, verse 25. Whenever you stand praying, forgive. If anything against anyone, set your father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses. How does the fruit of the Spirit live itself out? It lives itself out in forgiving others. The heart of someone walking in the Spirit, growing and exhibiting the fruit of the Spirit, is that that person has a pattern of forgiving those who have sinned against him. This is the fruit of Christ's likeness. The fruit is not the act of forgiveness. The fruit is the love and the motivation that drives the person to forgiveness. Do you see that? The fruit of the Spirit is not helping those in need. The fruit of the Spirit is the motivation and the love and compassion and the mercy that drives you to help those in need. Because morality is not equal with godliness. You can have two people doing the exact same action. One is accepted by God and one is rejected by God. The difference is that one is done out of selfish ambition, out of a heart that has no spiritual fruit, and the other is done by one who is driven by God's spiritual fruit. So the question that we come up with and hopefully is already in your mind is, how do I bear this fruit? How do I bear? spiritual fruit because every genuine believer will have that desire. If you're here this morning and you have no desire to bear the fruit of the spirit, you need to examine your heart to see if you've been regenerated by God. How do you bear the fruit of the spirit? Perhaps you're here this morning and you're thinking that's great for some people to bear fruit, but pastor, you don't know me. You don't know what kind of person I am. I've been angry for years. I can never change. These chains of addiction are so strong in my life. Could God ever really change me and cause me to bear spiritual fruit? The answer is given to us in verse 22. It's a wonderful phrase that I highlighted in my Bible. Jesus says, have faith in God. How does a barren tree produce fruit? Have faith in God. How does a fruitful tree grow in its fruit? Have faith in God. Friends, the same faith that saves you is the same faith you walk by every single day. God begins a new journey for you at salvation. And it's that same faith that sanctifies you. Paul says it this way to the Galatians. Are you so foolish that you would believe, dear Galatians, is what Paul says, Are you so foolish that you would believe that you could be saved by faith and you could be sanctified by works? That makes no sense. The way that we bear spiritual fruit is to constantly live in the same faith that saved us. Mark records Christ teaching here that explains to us that your faith is only as good as its object. Jesus tells us that God is powerful enough to take a mountain and throw it into the sea. When you come to Him in faith, genuine faith, God changes your heart. God changes your life. He recreates you. He breathes life into your dead soul. He makes it possible for you to bear spiritual fruit. Perhaps you're here and you're a child of God and you've been battling with sin in your life. You've been tempted to lose hope. Brother, sister in Christ, you possess the very presence of God in your life and the power that raised Christ from the dead. You have the eternal power of Almighty God residing inside of you because you are the temple of God and the presence of God resides in your life. You can't change yourself, but God, through his power, can change you. Romans chapter 12 tells us that we can continually be transformed. That work that began at salvation God promises to complete and the way that he completes it in our life here on this earth is that we are continuously transformed when we renew our minds with scripture. Spend time reading and understanding the Bible. Ask God to change you. You can renew your mind with his word and cause your life to bear spiritual fruit. Pray that God would give you the strength to clear your temple of sin. Pray for the strength to radically remove every sin in your life. Dig deeply into God's word and allow him to change your heart to give you the recognition that your purpose is holiness. You are the temple of God. You are not your own. You were bought with a price. Therefore, glorify God in your temple, in your body. However, with this teaching comes a very grave warning because the fig tree and the temple were both cursed. The warning is this, those who are not believers will bear no spiritual fruit. They will find themselves outside the grace of God. People such as this may try to use other methods to shield themselves from people seeing their lack of fruit. This fig tree had beautiful leaves, but under closer inspection, the master found no fruit. This is not the first time in scripture that we see an attempt to use fig leaves to cover sin. Separated from the holiness of God, Adam and Eve, When they found themselves in sin, tried to cover their nakedness, their barrenness, their lack of righteousness with fig leaves. But friend, no fig leaf can shield a person from the eyes of God. A nicely pressed suit and tie, money given to the church, a facade of health, wealth, and happiness, putting on the good face when you get together with other Christians so you'll fit in. None of these are spiritual fruit. Immediately following Christ's teaching about knowing people by their fruit, in Matthew chapter seven, Christ says this, not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day, many will say to me, Lord, did we not do actions? Did we not prophesy in your name? Did we not cast out demons in your name? Did we not do mighty works in your name? Action, action, action. And then I will declare to them, I never knew you. Depart from me, workers of lawlessness. I did all these good works, but all these good works were actual lawlessness. Every action that was moral of an unbeliever is an action of lawlessness because even the plowing of the wicked is sin. And the warning here is the warning of the rejection of Christ, that those who try to cover their lack of righteousness with actions will be found wanting at the day of judgment. Friends, you may look like a Christian, but are you loving? You may have conformed your life to a Christian way of living, but have you been transformed to be kind and merciful, forgiving? Perhaps you're here and you've been covering your life with fig leaves, but you know in your heart you have not submitted to God as your King. Do you have the fruit of the Spirit present in your life? None of us are perfect. None of us have arrived to have this fruit of the Spirit brought to maturity in our lives, and you are not allowed to ask my wife what fruit I am beginning to mature in in my life, okay? Because none of us are perfect in this way. But in every single one, in every single heart of a genuine believer, there is present the fruit of the Spirit in some form. And what's present in your life? June 8, 1972, as a nine-year-old girl, Phan Thi Kim Phuc was the victim of a South Vietnamese napalm attack. The bombing killed two of Kim's cousins and two other villagers, and nine-year-old Kim received third-degree burns after her clothing was totally burned off in a fire. After a 14-month hospital stay and 17 surgical procedures, including skin transplants, she was able to return home. Throughout her teenage years and her early adult years, her life was filled with pain and hatred for the South Vietnamese men who had come to do this to her. After contemplating suicide, she had been taken to a very dark place in her life until. During the Christmas season in 1982 in a library in Saigon, Kim found a New Testament. She placed her faith and trust in Christ. This is her quote. Since I have faith, my enemies list has now become my prayer list. Praying for my enemies means that I have learned to love. Forgiveness has set my heart free. I forgive everyone who's caused my suffering. Friends, the fruit of the Spirit and the evidence of regeneration in her life is not forgiveness. It's the love that motivates the forgiveness. It's the love in her heart that has changed her list of enemies into a list of those she's praying for. This is a person who's been changed, who's been transformed by the gospel, and is bearing spiritual fruit, this fruit of love, joy, peace, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance, resulting in forgiveness. Kim is bearing fruit that matches the repentance found in her heart in salvation. What about you? Two application points this morning. Number one, are you living a life of being conformed or being transformed? Are you trying to, as Adam and Eve, take fig leaves and cover yourself, to cover your heart, to pretend like God will accept you? Friends, God will come calling, just like he did to Adam and Eve, Perhaps he's coming calling on your heart this morning. God, when Adam was in sin and Eve was in sin, God searched them out. Friends, if you're here this morning and God is searching you out for salvation, would you bend your knee to his kingship? Would you accept him as Lord? Would you embrace him by faith? Do you see genuine spiritual fruit in your life? Secondly, the spiritual fruit in your life is in direct proportion to the amount of time you spend with God and His Word and in prayer. Perhaps you're here and you say, I know I have this fruit, but I'm really struggling. I'm really struggling in acting on this. I want to be a loving person. I want to exhibit this fruit of the Spirit. I don't want to be angry. I don't want to be bitter, but the flesh that's a part of my heart is so strong Brother or sister in Christ, can I encourage you that as you dig deeply into God's word, and as you pray, and as you ask God to change you, God will change you. How do you know that? Because I'm a living testament of that. I'm a living testament of someone, and you don't know all my testimony, but I'm not very good at bearing spiritual fruit. I'm not. And I used to be a whole lot worse, okay? But man, God is changing me. And God can change you as we live our lives. Dig deep into God's word and to pray and have faith that through his word, God will change you. Don't be rejected by God if you're here. Don't be like that fig tree, like the temple. Be rejected by God under his curse. Accept God, have faith. Come to faith in him. And friend, if you're a believer, dig deeply into God's word, pray, have faith and watch God bear fruit in your life. Father, thank you for this beautiful passage that pictures for us this tree that although it appeared to have leaves that showed it would be fruitful, it was barren. And God, thank you. Thank you for promising to bear fruit in our lives. Thank you for promising to bring forth these inward motivations that you plant in us at salvation. And I pray that we would be motivated to believe and have faith and to get to know you and to pray and to ask and to worship you and to watch you change us. Father, I pray that you would make us a people who are known by the fruit of the Spirit, who are known, who are known by being loving and joyful, peacemakers, gentle, good, faithful, long-suffering, and in every way a reflection of your heart.