Well, good morning. We are going to be in Mark chapter 11 this morning. And we are going to be in verses 12 through 26. Mark 11, 12 through 26. And the title of the message this morning is Barren Unbelief. Barren Unbelief. So let's just go ahead and read through our scripture, starting in verse 12. On the next day, when they had left Bethany, he became hungry. Seeing at a distance a fig tree and leaf, he went to see if perhaps he would find anything on it. And when he came to it, he found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs. He said to it, may no one ever eat fruit from you again. And his disciples were listening. Then they came to Jerusalem, and he entered the temple, and began to drive out those who were buying and selling in the temple, and overturned the tables of the moneychangers and the seats of those who were selling doves. And he would not permit anyone to carry merchandise through the temple. And he began to teach and say 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 robber's den. The chief priests and the scribes heard this. and began seeking how to destroy him, for they were afraid of him. For the whole crowd was astonished at his teaching. When evening came, they would go out of the city. As they were passing by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots up. Being reminded, Peter said to him, Rabbi, look, the fig tree which you cursed is withered. And Jesus answered, saying to them, have faith in God. Truly I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, be taken up and cast into the sea, and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says is going to happen, it will be granted him. Therefore I say to you, all things for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them, and they will be granted you. Whenever you stand praying, forgive. If you have anything against anyone, so that your Father who is in heaven will also forgive you your transgressions. But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father who is in heaven forgive your transgressions. Father, we just ask that you be with us this morning as we look into these words, as we look into this text. We pray that you open it up to us, that you help us to understand, Lord, we need discernment. We need your grace. We need your spirit to guide us this morning. Lord, we just ask for your help. We ask for your grace. We ask for your enlightenment and your mercy. And Lord, we thank you for all of these things in Jesus name. Amen. So the text that comes right before our text today is Mark's record of the triumphal entry into Jerusalem. If you remember, we skipped ahead about a month ago and we covered that message since it was Palm Sunday, which is traditionally celebrated as the day that Jesus made his triumphal entry. The text that we covered last week was Jesus' healing of blind Bartimaeus' physical blindness as he was passing through Jericho And that was what would have come right before the triumphal entry. Well, we're going to just kind of review because of the way that we did it. We're just going to kind of review where we have been and where we're at right now. So for the last several weeks, Jesus has been telling his disciples what is coming at Jerusalem. And then they traveled down, you remember, from Galilee down from Capernaum. They crossed over east of the Jordan River and they traveled down. In all of this way Jesus has been interacting with crowds of people and he's been teaching and he's been explaining to the disciples specifically three times. He's told them everything that's going to happen in Jerusalem. How he's going to be rejected by the religious authorities. He's going to be handed over to the Romans. He's going to be executed, crucified. He's going to suffer, and he's going to die, and he's going to rise from the grave. And they don't understand any of it, but he's been teaching them this, along with other things. He keeps telling them and He keeps adding details. And the reason why He's doing it is so that after He rises from the dead, they're gonna remember it all and understand. He's going to come back and He's going to confront them as the risen Savior. He's going to give them the Holy Spirit to guide them into all truth. And then they'll understand. But right now they're blind. And Jesus draws a sharp contrast between their spiritual blindness and the physical blindness of the man Bartimaeus when he stops and he heals him in response to his crying out to Jesus as he's passing by on the road. We know as a matter of theological truth that no one cries out to Jesus unless the father by his spirit draws them to do so. That's what we're told in John 6, 44 and 45. No one can come to me unless the father who sent me draws them to me. And however true that may be, that's not the point of this text. And we aren't in the business of worrying about who the elect are not. The point of this text is that no one who cries out for mercy from Jesus will ever be passed by. John 6, 37, Jesus said, all that the Father gives to me will come to me. And those that come to me, I will never cast out. I will in no way cast out. So everyone who cries out to Jesus for mercy receives it. Jesus healed Bartimaeus of his physical blindness, and he did it simply by speaking the word. You know, at different times, he healed different people in different ways. He made mud put on one guy's eyes to heal him of his blindness. Some people he touched, some people he didn't. He did it all sorts of different ways. He did whatever they needed for their faith to take hold of the healing he was giving them. But Bartimaeus, he knew who Jesus was. Jesus didn't touch him. He just said, your faith has made you well. He just spoke the word. And Bartimaeus was healed. And this demonstrates something, by the way. This demonstrates that Jesus could have then and he can now. Jesus could heal anyone. He could heal everyone if he wanted to. He could do it anytime, he could do it anywhere, and he could do it any way that he pleases. He wasn't limited to this or that way of healing. The things that were done were not what brought the healing. Jesus is the one who brought the healing. And he brought it in any way that he chose. And he still does. So when that happened, rather than going to celebrate his physical site, Bartimaeus, he stayed to follow the one that gave that site to him. He just got in line behind Jesus and followed him down the road on toward Jerusalem. Jesus went on from Jericho to Bethpage and Bethany near the Mount of Olives. And he had this crowd of people following him. And we know from the text that there was also a huge crowd of people in Jerusalem because there was always a huge crowd at this time of the year because they came for the Passover feast anyway. And there were even more this time because many of them, the text tells us, had come because they heard Jesus was going to be there. They knew He was coming, and they wanted to see Him, so they were there. And they heard He was coming down the road, so they went out of the city, and they cut palm branches, and some of them just laid their clothes on the road, and they lined the road from the city across the Kidron Valley, And Jesus had this huge crowd following Him. So He comes down from the Mount of Olives with this crowd following Him. And then there's this crowd lining the roads just like a parade down here. Except for with this parade, rather than everybody just standing around until Jesus walks by, as He came by, they just fell in behind Him. And so this tidal wave is coming. Can you imagine being in Jerusalem and watching this tidal wave of people coming across the Kidron Valley I imagine that Pilate was panicking. I imagine the soldiers were really panicking because nobody knew what was going to happen. But this is the scene. That was the triumphal entry. But you know, we've been talking about blindness. And in Mark 11, verses 1 through 11, it records Jesus fulfilling literally, physically, and in living color exactly the way the Old Testament prophets stated that the Messiah, the true King of Israel, would enter Jerusalem. He entered it just like the prophets said that he would. And he did it at the week of the Passover feast. The Lion of Judah rides into town on the colt of a donkey that no one has ever sat on. And then the true Passover lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world rode through the gate, got off that donkey and went straight into the temple. The glory of God that Ezekiel saw depart from the temple and rest on the Mount of Olives in Ezekiel 10 and 11, descended from the Mount of Olives, rode across the Kidron Valley and through the Eastern Gate and marched back into the temple. And the religious leadership completely missed it. The religious leaders of Israel completely missed it because of their blindness. But you know what? The whole city was in an uproar. Jesus looked around the temple, and then he returned to Bethany for the night. And so that's the triumphal entry, and that's where we're at in our text today. But before we get into our text for today, I want to remind us of something to do with the nature of a gospel record. This is a gospel. This is Mark's gospel that we're looking at. And although a gospel is historical narrative, it's not just historical narrative. It's not exhaustive. There's things recorded in Mark that aren't in Matthew or Luke or John. There's things recorded in John that aren't in any of the other three. And they all have a different focus They're all written with a purpose in mind. And the Holy Spirit who directed the narrative in each of the gospel accounts, he demonstrated purpose in the things that were included in each account and in their arrangement. They're not all arranged exactly identically. Nothing is accidental. So the narrative that we're about to look at of Jesus cursing the fig tree has a purpose. And that purpose, in the context of the Gospel of Mark, is to teach us something important about the kingdom of God. Imagine that, I think I say it every week. Because that's the focus of the Gospel of Mark. That's the whole theme of the gospel of Mark. Jesus stated it right at the beginning of the gospel. See, the gospel of Mark doesn't start out in Bethlehem. It doesn't start out early on like Matthew does or like Luke. The gospel of Mark just starts out right at the beginning of the ministry. It's a shorter gospel. And it starts out with Jesus preaching in chapter one and Jesus, the first words we hear from Jesus are the theme of the gospel of Mark. And those words are this, the time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand. So repent, think differently, and believe the good news. Believe the gospel. Believe that the time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand. So now let's get into our text. Verses 12 through 14. On the next day, when they'd left Bethany, he became hungry. Seeing in a distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to see if perhaps he would find anything on it. And when he came to it, he found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs. He said to it, may no one ever eat fruit from you again. And his disciples were listening. So this is the very next morning after the triumphal entry. They get up, they're going to go back into Jerusalem. Jesus has his plan for the day. And this is part of his plan. The first thing he does, he looks over there and there's this fig tree in full bloom, full of leaves. And he tells the guys, hey guys, I'm hungry, I'm gonna go over there and get a fig. And he goes over there, and there's no figs on the tree. Now, Bible scholars have studied with this narrative throughout church history. And they have studied, they've struggled with it for several reasons. First, this miracle that Jesus performs here ends in destruction and death to the tree. And it's destruction and death that on the surface, it just is hard to explain because it seems like this tree is just normally going about its business. It's just growing. It's got leaves on it. It's a living tree. It just doesn't have fruit. And because it doesn't have fruit, Jesus curses it. Usually when Jesus performs a miracle, it brings restoration in life. not destruction and death. That's the first thing. The second thing is, the cursing of an innocent plant, it just simply doesn't line up with the character of Christ. This plant just doesn't have fruit on it. And the fruit's out of season anyway. This doesn't seem befitting of the one whom Isaiah says, a bruised reed he will not break, and a dimly burning wick he will not extinguish. He will faithfully bring forth justice. Isaiah 42, three. So that kind of makes this narrative difficult, doesn't it? A famous unbeliever by the name of Bertrand Russell wrote an essay titled, Why I Am Not a Christian. And he refers to this incident in his essay. He says, this incident presents Jesus as displaying behavior unworthy of a righteous man, let alone the Son of God. Well, Dr. Russell didn't have all the information. And even if he did, Jesus created the fig tree. It belongs to him and he can dispose of it as he wishes. However, even with that, we still have the question, why? Why did Jesus curse the fig tree? We know that Jesus never did anything random or frivolous. He never spoke a random or frivolous word. He actually said that for every idle word that men speak, they're gonna give an account on the day of judgment. So he never even spoke an idle word. Everything he did had a purpose. Not only that, everything that he did and said had a good and a perfect purpose. There wasn't just a purpose, there wasn't just a reason, but there was a good and perfect reason why Jesus cursed that fig tree. Well, the key to understanding what happened in a physical sense is in verse 13. The fig tree was in leaf. Now there are many, many different varieties of fig trees in Palestine. You know, we got lots of different kinds of tomato plants. Well, there's a whole lot more kinds of fig trees than there are tomato plants. There are many different kinds of fig trees in Palestine. And most of them produce figs during a particular set season. Most of them get ripe and ready to harvest in late summer. However, there are a few varieties that produce fruit very early. So in some places, there are two harvests, one early and another main harvest toward the end of summer. The interesting thing about fig trees, though, is they don't produce leaves now and then fruit later on. They produced the fruit and the leaves at the same time. So when you see a fig tree in leaf, it should have figs on it. Because they produced the figs and the leaves at the same time. And the fig tree in our narrative was fully leafed out. It's full of leaves. It's in full bloom, which means that it was promising fruit. There's no fruit on it. The leaves are just there for show. So, we know that the given reason for the cursing of the fig tree was its lack of fruit. But why did Jesus in particular curse the fig tree? Was he angry at the plant for not having fruit on it? I mean, he made the plant. He could have made fruit on it if he wanted to. It's really preposterous to think that Jesus cursed the fig tree because he was angry because it didn't have fig on it. I mean, have we forgot about the loaves and the fishes? Twice. or the unbelievable catches of fish that he gave Peter, James, and John, both at the beginning of his ministry and then after the resurrection. Jesus could produce food. He didn't need the fig tree to give him a fig. Jesus' cursing of the fig tree is recorded here and in Matthew 21. and neither account says anything about Jesus being angry. So this is where we have to remember that everything that is happening is teaching us about the kingdom of God, what it is, what it's like, who it consists of, who is in the kingdom of God, and who is Jesus in relation to the kingdom of God. It's his kingdom. He's the king. There's a reason why Jesus cursed the fig tree. And there's a reason why this incident happened at exactly this time and sandwiched right in the middle of this incident of the fig tree being cursed and perishing is Jesus cleansing the temple. So now let's look at that. In the Old Testament, the prophets, before we look at it, in the Old Testament, the prophets sometimes used visual aids to get the people to understand what they were saying. Now, sometimes they painted word pictures. The book of Revelation that we've been going through on Wednesday nights is a book of pictures. John sees all of these visions, all of these pictures. They're not meant to be understood as photographs. They're meant to be understood as illustrations. They're pictures of physical things that represent spiritual things. Word pictures. And the prophets a lot of times did that. They used word pictures, but often they would use an actual physical visual demonstration to get their point across. For instance, in Ezekiel 12, the Lord told Ezekiel to pack his bags and take them out of his house. Pack up like you're going on a trip, Ezekiel, like you're going into exile. Bring your bags out of your house, dig a hole through the wall. Dig a hole through the city wall in front of the people, and then carry your bags through the hole. as a visual representation of what's going to happen to them because of their rebellion against me. You're not just going to paint them a word picture, you're actually going to show them with a physical picture what is going to happen. Well, the Lord gave the prophets many pictures like that. Simple physical things demonstrating a greater spiritual reality. In Jeremiah 8.13, the nation of Israel is pictured as a fig tree that doesn't bear fruit. Matthew 3.10 records John the Baptist preaching, the axe is already laid at the root of the trees. Therefore, every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. And in Luke 13, six through nine, Jesus told a parable about a fig tree. Let's just go ahead, I'm gonna go ahead and read that. In Luke chapter 13, verses six through nine, it says, and he began telling this parable. A man had a fig tree, which had been planted in his vineyard, and he came looking for fruit on it and did not find any. And he said to the vineyard keeper, behold, For three years I've come looking for fruit on this fig tree without finding any. Cut it down. Why does it even use up the ground? And he answered and said to him, let it alone, sir, for this year, too, until I dig around it and put in fertilizer. If it bears fruit next year, fine, but if not, cut it down. You know, there's nothing random in scripture, as I said, and there's nothing coincidental. I find it kind of interesting that Jesus specifically said for three years, I've been coming to look at this tree, and there's been no fruit on it. And his earthly ministry was three and a half years. But anyway, that tree was in danger of being cut down because it failed to bear fruit. Jesus cursing the fig tree is a living parable about the nation of Israel. As a nation being set apart to God, it was being cut off because even though it was covered up with the leaves of dead religion, there was no fruit. Let's look at verses 15 and 16. Then they came to Jerusalem. And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who were buying and selling in the temple. And he overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who were selling doves. And he would not permit anyone to carry merchandise through the temple. So immediately after cursing the fig tree, with his disciples watching, Jesus went into the temple and he drove out those who were buying and selling. He turned over the tables of the money changers and he's not allowing anyone to carry merchandise through the temple. And carry merchandise means he stopped the merchants from bringing their livestock into the temple grounds to sell for sacrifices. That's the merchandise that was being sold. And he prevented them from doing it. Herod's Temple, it's up here in front of us, was a huge complex. The thing is 488 meters on the west side, 470 meters on the east, 315 meters on the north, and 280 meters on the south. It covered 150,000 square meters, or 37 acres. That's a big temple. 37 acres. It had basically four levels. Those big open areas is called the Court of the Gentiles. On both sides, you can see the big open area. That's the Court of the Gentiles. That's the biggest part of the temple. That should have told them something. The biggest part of the temple was called the Court of the Gentiles. And then just in from that was the Women's Court. Just first as you go in, that's how far the women could go. A little farther in, they had the Court of Israel, or the Court of Men, or the Court of the Jews. And then on farther in, toward that big tall part, was the Court of the Priests, and in the Court of the Priests was the Holy of Holies. So you got four levels. Now the court of the Gentiles is around the outside of the other levels, but there's plenty of room for Gentiles designed into the temple. And the reason is because God said that all the families of the earth would be blessed through Abraham and his seed. The nation of Israel was supposed to be a light to the world, pointing the nations to the glory of God. Listen to what Solomon prayed when he was dedicating the first temple that came before this one. In 1 Kings chapter eight, verses 41 through 43, Solomon was praying to the Lord as he was dedicating the temple. And this is what he prayed. Also concerning the foreigner who is not of your people Israel, when he comes from a far country for your namesake, for they will hear of your great name, and your mighty hand, and of your outstretched arm. When he comes and prays toward this house, hear in heaven your dwelling place, and do according to all for which the foreigner calls to you, in order that all the peoples of the earth may know your name, to fear you as do your people Israel, and that they may know that this house which I have built is called by your name." So Solomon is praying in the dedication of the temple for all of the Gentiles that are going to come to worship God and pray to Him. And he's asking the Lord to answer their prayers. Answer their prayers so that they'll know you and fear you and love you like we do. You know what? The Jews of Jesus' day, they despised the Gentiles. And they hoped that when the Messiah came, he would cleanse the temple of all the Gentiles, get rid of them forever. And that's what they had decided was gonna happen. They believed that when Messiah came, he's going to remove the Gentiles. He's going to kick these Romans out of here. He's going to wipe them out. He's going to make Israel great again. He's going to set things right and restore us to the glory days of David and Solomon. That's what's going to happen. That's what they were looking for. Jesus wasn't here to do that. That's why they didn't like him. Well, the Sadducees and the Sanhedrin, who despised the Gentiles anyway, they had turned the court of the Gentiles into a stockyard, basically, and a commerce zone. Jews from all over the world would come to Jerusalem to celebrate the feasts every year. And they would have to buy animals. If you were coming from Greece, you're crossing the Mediterranean on a boat, or you're coming around through Turkey and you're coming down, and you're coming for this festival, you're not bringing livestock with you. You're just traveling. You bring some money so you can buy what you need when you get there. So they come and they need to buy an animal for the sacrifice, for the Passover feast. Well, being the good capitalists that they were, the Sanhedrin made sure they had an abundant supply of livestock for all these people to purchase. Of course, they would only accept payment in one form of money. It was called the Tyrian shekel and half shekel. So the visitors from other countries would have to exchange their currency for shekels in order to purchase the animals for the sacrifice. The exchange rates were exorbitant. And then they charged premium prices for the animal. So whatever would be market value, you better bring twice that, because they're going to take half, they're going to rip you off when they exchange your money, and then they're going to rip you off again when you buy the animal. And this was a huge operation. You want to know why they killed Jesus? There's plenty of reason right here. To give you an idea of the size and scope of this operation, in 66 AD, the Jewish historian Josephus recorded that there were 255,000 lambs sacrificed in Jerusalem during the Passover. That's one week. One week festival. 255,000. So they needed that 37 acres to hold all of that livestock. And that's what they were doing with it. Verse 17, Jesus shut them down and he began to teach and say to them, is it not written, my house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations, but you've made it a robber's den. So Jesus shut him down and then he began to teach from Isaiah 56 that we read this morning to start the service. See, this temple that was dedicated to Yahweh, was dedicated to the Lord God, was supposed to be a place where people from all over the world could come and commune with and learn about the one true God. That's fruit that that olive tree was supposed to be producing. People from all over the world were supposed to be coming to commune with God. It didn't happen, did it? Just an interesting thought. You know that the Lord Jesus Christ is the real temple that people from all over the world come to to commune with God. It's the only place that you can come to commune with God. But that's the fruit that he was looking for. And instead of finding that fruit, these unbelieving hypocrites. You know what hypocrite means? Hypocrite means in the gospels, Jesus is always calling those religious leaders hypocrites. And you wonder why? Why is he calling them hypocrites? Well, what does that actually mean? Hypocrite means you give the appearance of one thing when it's actually something else. That's what hypocrite is. A hypocrite is a hypocrite that actually comes from like an acting term. Like those masks that you see the Gemini twins that the Greeks have and they would wear the masks the actors were in the Greek plays and so they would mask who they really were and perform. That's what hypocrite means. It's a term for masking what you really are. The leaves on that fig tree made it seem like it was bearing fruit, even though it really wasn't. And these unbelieving hypocrites who were covered up with the leaves of dead religion, they had rituals like you wouldn't believe. They washed their hands, they washed their pots, they washed this and that. If you didn't, if you wouldn't want something washed, you better not leave it laying around. They were going to wash it. They had prayers. They had rituals. They had rules and regulations for everything. They were just covered up. They had laws governing everything. They were covered up with religion and sacrifices. Oh, man. They made sacrifice after sacrifice to cover for this and cover for that. They had all of this. They were just covered up with those leaves. But they took this temple that was supposed to be a house of prayer for all the nations, and they turned it into a place of selfish greed and profit. A robber's den. You remember, were you listening to Isaiah 56? Let's go back and look at that. And Jesus quotes from this. He starts teaching from this after he turns over the money changer's tables and runs the livestock out of the temple. The first half of the chapter of Isaiah 56, he's talking about all the Gentiles that come to the Lord, how they're welcome and they're gonna have a name in his house. and how they're gonna be part of His kingdom. And the Lord is gonna gather them, and He's gonna gather all the dispersed of Israel. They're all welcome to come, within in verses 10 through 12. See, these religious leaders, they knew, he quoted from this chapter, that he was pointing to this, and he was, saying that they were these people in verses 10 through 12. His watchmen are blind. All of them know nothing. All of them are mute dogs, unable to bark. Dreamers lying down who love to slumber. And the dogs are greedy. They're not satisfied. And they are shepherds who have no understanding. They've all turned to their own way, each one to his own unjust gain, to the last one. Come, they say, let us get wine and let us drink heavily of strong drink, and tomorrow will be like today, only more so. Those Sadducees, that Sanhedrin, whenever Jesus referenced Isaiah 56 in reference to what they were doing in the temple, they knew he was talking about them. And they were not happy. They were not happy. See, these Jews, they were hoping that the Messiah would come and cleanse the temple of the Gentiles. Instead, Jesus cleansed the temple for the Gentiles. And the true temple that He is building, His church, those that are in Him, That really is a place of communion for all the nations. Now let's look at verses 18 and 19. The chief priests and the scribes heard this and began seeking how to destroy him. For they were afraid of him. For the whole crowd was astonished at his teaching. When evening came, they would go out of the city. You know, that's the second time. This is two days he's been in Jerusalem and in the evening they go out of the city. And I don't blame them. I think that's a smart thing to do because he needed to be there for the whole week. So in the evening they would go out of the city. But the scribes and the chief priests, they heard Jesus shut down their profit making business they had going on there. And then he has the gall to call them out for it from the Scriptures. And he applies Isaiah 56 to them. And here's the thing. They couldn't dispute the truth of what he was saying. They would have if they could have. There's nothing in there about them disputing him or arguing. Or trying to hedge. Or even making a case against it. They couldn't dispute it. It was true. They were who Isaiah 56 was talking about and they knew it. And they could see that the crowds were being influenced by his teaching. It was obvious. Well, now let's move on to 20 and 21. As they were passing by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots up. Being reminded, Peter said to him, Rabbi, look, the fig tree which you cursed is withered. There it is. That fruitless fig tree that Jesus had pronounced judgment on was now withered up and dead. The only thing that it was good for was to be gathered up and thrown into the fire as firewood. See, the fig tree had been covered with leaves that promised fruit, but there was no fruit. The nation of Israel was covered with the trappings of religion, laws, ceremonies, rituals, feasts, sacrifices, customs, regulations, et cetera. But the fruit of love for God and love for neighbor, especially Gentile neighbors, was nowhere to be found. Now, this was objectively true about national Israel, but you know what? It's relevant on an individual basis as well. God, who is the owner of the vineyard in the parable from Luke 13 that we read, he's looking for fruit on his fig tree. And the truth is that man, apart from the indwelling spirit of God, is not capable of producing that fruit. You and I can grow the leaves of religious trappings, but we can't produce the fruit of a renewed heart. We need the Holy Spirit in us producing love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. And that only happens one way. It only happens one way. Let's look at verse 22. And Jesus answered, saying to them, have faith in God. It happens by faith. Peter pointed out that the fig tree that Jesus had cursed the day before had withered up and died. And Jesus' response, not just to Peter, but to all the disciples that were there and to us, was have faith in God. It seems like kind of an odd answer, doesn't it? Most people, I think, probably interpret that to mean something like this. If you just have faith in God, then you too can walk around cursing trees and they will wither. I don't think that's the point Jesus is making. I don't think that's the point that the Holy Spirit is teaching us. We've got to remember sandwiched right in the middle of this story of the fig tree is the account of Jesus cleansing the temple. This completely fruitless temple because of barren unbelief of those who are supposed to be taking care of it and leading it. And they have faith that God exists. They have faith in the law. They have faith in their religious ceremonies and their sacrificial system. And they have faith in their ethnic heritage. And they have faith in prosperity. They don't have faith in God. They don't have fruit because they aren't looking to God to produce it. They're seeking to establish their own righteousness through the law. The fig tree didn't produce fruit because God didn't cause it to produce fruit. Simple as that. The religious leaders of Israel were fruitless for the same reason, because God didn't cause them to bear fruit. And Jesus is telling his disciples, which includes us, have faith in God and you will bear fruit. God will see to it that you do if you have faith in him, if you trust him to produce the fruit in you. Let's look at verses 23 and 24. Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, be taken up and cast into the sea and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says is going to happen, it will be granted to him. Therefore, I say to you, all things for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them and they will be granted to you. So you've got to be careful with this. You know, we talked about in Sunday school, you can take a verse or two verses or 20 verses out of scripture, and you can prove just about anything that you want to prove. Did you know that? As long as you don't use them in the context of where they're written, the context of the whole Bible, what it's about, and what it teaches as a whole, as long as you If you can take one or two verses of scripture and then you can interpret the whole rest of the Bible by that one or two verses. And there's cults out there that do that. This whole Bible is about the kingdom of God. The whole Bible is about the Lord Jesus Christ and who he is and what he's done for us. And as long as you Keep your eyes focused on Him and what He's teaching us about Him, you'll be alright. If you start pulling things out of context, then you get away from the Gospel. Then you get off out there in left field. So you've got to be careful with things like this. Jesus and the disciples are standing by this withered fig tree on the Mount of Olives. when he says these words, and they're probably looking down the mountain at this massive temple complex while Jesus is speaking. So do you understand here that Jesus is using a figure of speech? When he says, you can say to this mountain, be taken up and cast into the sea, he's using a figure of speech. He doesn't mean if you tell the Mount of Olives to be cast into the sea and you work yourself up to really believe strongly enough that it's going to happen, then it definitely will. That's not what he's saying. And I know there are people out there preaching that today, but I don't see any mountains flying into the ocean because it's a figure of speech. What Jesus is saying is that faith in God, expressing itself through prayer to God, has the power to move all sorts of mountains. Understand that. Faith in God, expressing itself through prayer to God, has the power to move all sorts of mountains. Verse 24 is the same way. Verse 24. Therefore I say to you, all things for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them and they will be granted you. Scripture interprets scripture. This verse says if we believe that we have received whatever we ask God for, it will be granted to us. So how do we understand that in light of scripture, interpreting scripture? Well, let me read something to you from 1 John chapter five. Instead of just pulling that out of its context, let's understand it in light of what the Bible teaches as a whole. In 1 John chapter 5, verses 14 through 15, it says, this is the confidence that we have before Him that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the request which we have asked from Him. Now that makes it a little clearer, doesn't it? If we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And we can have confidence that we're going to receive it. And so Jesus' statement here in verse 24 of Mark 11 is assuming that what we ask is according to the will of God. Also, in the context of this passage, in the context of chapter 11, verses 23 and 24, it's talking about bearing fruit. This whole thing is about a fruitless fig tree, a fruitless nation, a fruitless people. It's talking about bearing fruit. So let's think about chapter 11, verse 24 here, in light of these words from Jesus in John chapter 15. So we're allowing the scripture to interpret itself. In John chapter 15, verses one through eight, listen to what Jesus said. I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit, he takes away. And every branch that bears fruit, he prunes it so that it may bear more fruit. You're already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. Abide in me and I in you, as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up. And they gather them and cast them into the fire and they're burned. If you abide in me and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish and it will be done for you. My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be my disciples. You see what this is all about? Fruitlessness, barrenness, comes from unbelief. Not having faith in God and abiding in Christ. That's the point. That's the point. Let's look at verses 25 and 26 now. Whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father who is in heaven will also forgive you your transgressions. But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father who is in heaven forgive your transgressions. I just got to tell you, I don't know about you, but you know, Jesus threw out there, have faith in God. And he said, truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, be taken up and cast into the sea and is not doubt in his heart, but believe that what he says is going to happen. It will be granted him. So Jesus said, if you have faith in God and you believe that God will do it for you, you can have a mountain moved. And then in verses 25 and 26, he creates a mountain for him. He throws a mountain up there. I think this is probably the ultimate test of whether or not we actually do have faith in God. Do I really believe that Jesus Christ died for my sins according to the scriptures? He took my sin to the grave and buried it there forever. I really believe that my debt of sin against God was infinitely greater than any debt of sin that anybody might have against me. You know, this is really hard. How are we going to forgive and let go of bitterness against someone who has hurt us deeply, or even worse, hurt someone we love. I can forgive people who have hurt me. I can let it go. But I really struggle. I really struggle letting go of bitterness against people who hurt my children or my wife or my friends or my family. That's hard. I really struggle with people who just seems like they're out to hurt people for their own gain. I struggle with that. I struggle with forgiving them. That's a mountain. It's a mountain for me. It's a mountain bigger than the Mount of Olives, in my opinion. The Lord's answer is not easy either. Have faith in God. Have faith in God. You can't produce this forgiveness in yourself. You can only bear the fruit of forgiveness through faith as the Spirit of God produces it in you. I know it's not an easy answer, but that's the only answer the Bible gives. The only hope we have is faith in God. That's it. The only hope we have is that God will work in us both to will and to do His good pleasure through His Spirit abiding in us. See, that's how we know that we are citizens of his kingdom, that we are a fruitful fig tree, that we're not hypocrites covered up with leaves of religious trappings. That's if we really have that fruit being produced in us by his spirit. And the only way that we can have that is through faith. It's always been that way. That's been the problem from the beginning. It's also been the answer from the beginning. Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness. Proverbs 3, 5, and 6. Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge Him, and He will make your path straight. Have faith in God. Trust in Him. Look to Him. And He will produce His fruit in you. And you will have assurance that you belong to Him. That's our message. Let's pray. Father, we thank You for Your Word. We thank You for Your grace. We thank You for Your mercy. And Lord, we know that we can't produce these things in ourselves. Lord, we ask that you give us fruit by your spirit and we are resting in you and trusting you for it. Lord, we love you. And we thank you for every good thing in Jesus name we pray, Amen.