The Fig Tree, Part 1b

Turn with me in your Bible to Matthew chapter 24. The anticipation of our Lord's return is something that motivates us to live a life that brings glory to God. We know that John says in 1 John 3 that when we see him, we'll be like him for we'll see him as he is. There's something about the anticipation of seeing Jesus Christ, knowing that when we see him, we will be like him. I think it's exciting. I think it's just the greatest thing in all the world to realize that one day Jesus is going to return.

And I'm going to go home to be with him. I can't think of anything greater than that. And I anticipate that. And I hope for it every single day that maybe tomorrow will be the day, if not today. And so while there are many passages in the Bible that discuss our Lord's second coming, There is nothing that compares to Matthew 24 and 25 about the return of Christ.

Because this is Jesus' sermon on his return. Tonight, the introduction to the parable of the fig tree. And three things I want you to see are outlines the same. It's the introduction, the instruction, and the implications. But just by way of introduction tonight, there are three things I want. want you to see. Number one is that there is a sermon we need to listen to, and it's the sermon that Jesus preaches.

Number two, there's a savior that we need to look for. And number three, there's a story we need to learn from.

Those are the three points by way of introduction to the parable of the fig tree. Number one, there is a sermon to listen to.

In Matthew 24 and 25, it's commonly called the Olivet discourse. But he would chronicle the events surrounding his return because he wanted them to know them. He wanted them to understand them from his perspective. Judgment is coming upon you. Now think about this. You go right into verse 1 of chapter 24. And Jesus came out from the temple and was going away when his disciples came up to a point out of the temple buildings to him, and he answered and said to them, do you not see all these things?

Truly, I say to you, not one stone here shall be left upon another, which will not be torn down. Now, if you've been to Jerusalem and you've stood by the wedding wall or you stood outside the city gates of Jerusalem, you begin to realize the ramifications of this statement. And so what Christ was saying was actually true, you can go there today and still see parts of the retaining wall that are still standing. But they weren't part of the temple itself. What Jesus said was true. What would happen?

Happened exactly as he said. It would happen. You come to verse number three and says, and he was sitting on the Mount of Olives.

The disciples came in privately saying, tell us when will these things be and what will be the sign of your coming? and of the end of the age. They did not understand that there would be a time between the destruction of that temple and the actual return of Jesus Christ himself. They thought they would happen simultaneously. But in Matthew 24, they asked, when will these things be and what will be the sign of your coming? And what Christ would do would give them a near prophecy? see something that would happen in 70 AD at the destruction of Jerusalem when the Romans would come in and just completely plundered the city and destroy the temple and it was a it was a massive massacre where 1.1 million Jews were slaughtered and that would that would cause people to realize that that what Jesus said was true about the destruction of Jerusalem and so about the end of the age that too must be true because if he was right about the temple being destroyed then he will be right about the consummation of the ages.

So Christ begins to give them a small taste of what would happen in the future. Many things begin to happen. And they parallel Matthew chapter 24 and Matthew chapter 25 in terms of what takes place during the tribulational period. You know, it's fascinating for me to sit back and to keep an eye on the Middle East and watch what happens. Because we believe that things are going to get worse, but before things ever get worse, there's going to be great peace in the world. Someone's got to bring peace, right?

Someone's got to bring harmony to the nations. Somebody's got to bring the nations together. There's got to be some key individual who's going to bring the world together and emphasize peace. And people will follow that individual. He's called the Antichrist. And someone will look to him, and this man will rise up from obscene. security and be used in a mighty way by Satan to bring the world to peace. Oh, there'll be wars, there'll be rumors of wars, but there'll be many false Christs. Many people will deceive others.

Much delusion will take place. Oh, there'll be death, there'll be disease, there'll be disaster, there'll be devastation. All those things will happen. But in the midst of all that, there's a declaration of the gospel. the gospel we preach to everybody in the world. And Christ says, these are the signs.

These are the signs. But these are the beginning of the birth pangs. These are just the beginning. I mean, it's going to get worse. But when you see these things happening, oh, let me tell you something.

It's just like having a baby. You know, when you get ready to have a baby, and the disciples, you know, they relate to this kind of stuff, you know, but they could kind of understand it because when you get ready to have a baby, then there's some birth pangs. And you get a shooting pain here, and then you get another pain. They happen sporadically. But when the baby's about to be born, what happens? Those birth pangs come in rapid succession, one after another. And that's what the book of Revelation is all about, as it explains the breaking of the seven seals and the blowing of the seven trumpets and the pouring of the seven bowls upon the earth.

And if you were with us in our study the Book of Revelation, you will realize that the breaking to the seven seals spans the time of the tribulation period. Paul said it this way in 1st, Settlement is 5. But concerning the times and seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you, for you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. For when they say peace and safety, then sudden destruction comes upon them as labor pains upon a pregnant woman, and they shall not escape.

They won't escape. And then Christ says this, verse number 15, therefore, when you see the abomination of desolation, which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place, Let the reader understand.

Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Let him who is on the house stop not go down to get the things out that are in the houses. And let him who is in the field not turn back to get his cloak. But woe to those who are with child and to those who nurse babies in those days. But pray that your flight may not be in the winter or on the Sabbath. For then there will be a great tribulation, such as not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever shall be. Unless those days had been cut short, no life would have been saved.

But for the sake of the elect, those days shall be cut short. Then if anyone says to you, behold, here is the Christ, or there he is, do not believe him. For false Christ and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders, so as to mislead it possible even the elect. Behold, I have told you in advance, if therefore they say to you, behold, he is in the wilderness. Do not go forth. Or behold, he is in the inner rooms. Do not believe them. For just as the lightning comes from the east and flashes even to the west, so shall the coming of the son of man be.

Wherever the corpse is, there the vultures will gather. We know that somehow that the Antichrist is going to make a covenant with the nation of Israel. Israel. You can read about it in the book of Daniel. And there'll be a great peace treaty and Jewish people will flock back to Jerusalem. They'll be there because this Antichrist, this so-called Messiah, has called the Jewish nation back to doing what they used to do in the Old Testament. Old Testament sacrifices. They'll install the tabernacle feasts and the Jewish people will flock back to Israel.

And right smack in the middle of that tribulational period, the Antichrist will unveil himself. It's called the abomination of desolation. where he goes in and he desegrates the temple and he sets himself up as God and demands that everybody in the world worship him as God. He's already got a tremendous following. He's already got power because Satan has infused him with power and God has allowed this to happen. You can read about it in Revelation chapter 13. And this Antichrist has great power over the world and people are flocking to this individual.

And finally he says enough is enough. These Jews will worship me. He sets himself up as God. He desegrates the temple. He demands that the world worship him. And those who don't, they'll die. And that's why Christ says, pray you're not pregnant.

Pray you're not, it's not the wintertime. You've got to flee. Pray it's not, it's not at a bad time. Why? Because you don't want nothing to slow you down. Because you've got to be all heels and elbows out of Jerusalem. You've got to be going all over the world. Because if not, the Antichrist is going to get you. He's going to kill you. He's going to cut your head off. So the Bible says, book of Revelation.

How do they die in the Old Testament? it, the guillotine, he cuts their head off. That's how those people will die who will not worship the Antichrist. And Christ says, when you see that, oh, let me tell you something.

This is the Great Tribulation. This is the latter half. This is the most intense time. If you were with us in our study of the Book of Revelation, you know about those seven trumpets. You know about those seven bowls. You know about the fury of Antichrist, how he relentlessly pursues the Jewish people. Why? Why does he do that? Because you see, if he can kill every Jew, Jesus won't we turn. He knows that. Because Jesus made a promise, right? He made a promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. A promise that we believe is literal.

They will have a land. And the son of man will reign from the city of Jerusalem on the foot of David. He will be their king. Antichrist believes if he can kill every Jew, and he will, as vehemently try to kill them all as he possibly can. If he can kill them all, the promise was a lie. Jesus won't return. He'll be God. Oh, how foolish he is. To even begin to think that. Because God's got a great plan. A great plan. And so there is a sermon, a sermon to listen to. Christ gives a sermon. And now there's a savior to look for.

That's point number two. A savior to look for. Because things are going to be bad. They are going to be so bad that that's why those saints in heaven in Revelation 7, Listen, if you don't have our tape series on a book of revelation, you need to get it. And you need to listen to it. Because as time draws near the end and the things in the Middle East begin to unravel, someone's got to step in, right? Someone's got to be the peacemaker. Who's going to be the peacemaker? Who's the biggest spokesman for peace today?

Who wants to bring peace in the world today? Who is that person? And how's you going to do it? You see? Because someone's going to do it. Now, we're not going to be here with the church. We're going to be raptured out of here. We're going to be gone. But you know what? The important thing is, is it's going to happen. It's going to happen. And therefore, Christ says, when this Antichrist rules, it's going to be so bad.

You're going to wish you weren't pregnant. You're going to wish you didn't have any babies to carry with you. You're going to wish it wasn't the winter. If you're on the house top, man, you've got to get out of there. You've got to get out of there because you will die. So Christ says, you'd be able to look for this specific sign.

See, the first were all general signs. If you go through the book of Revelation, you can chronicle these in Matthew 24 with the seals and the trumpets and the bowls. But listen to this. Verse number 29. But immediately after the tribulation of those days, immediately after the Philipsis, the time, the time. of great difficulty, the crime of great distress, the time of great trouble. He says, immediately after those days, the sun will be darkened. And the moon will not give its light. The stars will fall from the sky.

The powers of the heavens will be shaken. Luke's account tells us that people's lives will expire. I mean, this is a marvelous scene. The universe is going to begin to collapse. Now, we know that He was one, three tells us that the universe is held together by the power of God, right? And the universe is an amazing thing. It's so amazing. Because how the planets all are in line together and how God has orchestrated those things. I mean, it is so amazing. You know, we can navigate our spacecrafts with accuracy according to the, the distance of planets because of their unchanging fixed powers of heaven.

It's amazing. Heavenly bodies move consistently at all times and do exactly what they are predicted to do. And scientists can even mathematically predict what heavenly bodies will do thousands of years in the future because of the uniformity of the past. But one day, it's all going to collapse. it's all going to begin to disintegrate because God, through the power of His word, is going to begin to release the power. And as he releases it, the sun will become dark. And you know, we need light to live by, right?

And if the sun goes dark, then we've got problems with the moon. If we've got problems with the moon, we've got problems with the ocean tides, right? I mean, everything falls one upon the other. And the Bible tells us about how the heavens are going to be rolled up like a scroll. I mean, I mean, it's almost like, you know, one of those blinds, you know, you got those blinds, you know, that you pull down and you let it go and it goes, I mean, that's what it's going to be like in heaven, except it's going to be across the heavens.

You know, and fortunately, I want to say unfortunately, but fortunately we're not going to be here to see that, okay? But maybe we'll be able to get a glimpse of it from glory, but it's going to be an amazing, amazing scene. It says the stars will fall from the sky and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. that which has been perfectly in order for all this time, all of a sudden is no longer going to be in order. Stars will fall from the sky. That's amazing. Only divine intervention will allow the world to continue to exist with people on it.

God will allow people to live. God could do that, you know. Remember in the book of Revelation? We studied how people, and I think it's Revelation chapter 9, when they're being stung by these scorpions and they want to die, but they can't. I mean, that's just, that is so amazing to me. These people want to die and they can't die. God won't let them die. They are in such pain that they can just kill themselves. They could be released from their pain. And God says, sorry, you can't die.

So they'll take guns and they'll shoot them at themselves, but bullets will bounce off their brains. And knives, they'll take, and they'll thrust knives and the blades will break on their bodies. That's great. Bullets will bounce off the brains and blades will break in their bodies. I mean, it's going to be an amazing thing. they can't kill them. They'll stand in front of tanks and try to get everyone over and they can't. They won't die. God's not going to let them die. He's going to let them experience that pain in order that they might repent of their sins, but they won't.

They won't. God's in complete control of everything. There's nothing he's not in control of. And that's just such a great comforting thing. And then Christ gives that particular sign. He says this. He says, and then the sign of the son of man will appear in the sky and that all the tribes of the earth will mourn and they will see the sun of man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory. Here's the specific sign. What you're going to see is something unbelievable. The sun of men will we turn in great glory, great light.

If you're with us in our study of the book of Revelation, you realize that at this time, at the end of tribulation, it's pitch black. It's pitch black. We talk to you how we believe that that the Antichrist and his armies because he've all gathered together in Armageddon, right? The battle is not an Armageddon. It's called the Battle of Armageddon, but it's not the Battle of Armageddon. It's the Battle of Bowsraw. If you've been with us on our study, you'd know that. They gather in the Valley of Megito, okay?

And they make their way down south because they've got to somehow find the remnant of Jewish people. So it finally wipe them out to give it of all the Jewish people.

And the Antichrist leads his fury, leads his army. And somehow he might kill them all. It's pitch black. There is no light from the sky. The sun has gone black. Therefore, there's no light from the moon. The only light they have is light that they can muster up because of fire or because of if there's any electricity left at all or batteries in their tanks or whatever they got. That's all they got. It's pitch black. And just as the Antichrist and maybe those Jewish remnants are going to be held up in that place called Petra down south there in Edom.

Who knows? People have stashed Bibles there in the rocks of Petra in hopes that someday the nation of Israel will flee there for protection and be able to get those Bibles out and read them, read about what is taking place during the tribulational period. Just as the Antichrist gets ready to destroy the nation of Israel, Jesus returns. It's pitch black. Can you imagine pitch black? Can't see anything? All of a sudden, this bright light comes out of heaven and the heavens open up. I mean, this is going to be an amazing scene.

And we're going to be with them, right? Revelation 19. The saints are going to be with them in white robes on white horses. And we're going to be descending with him from glory down to the earth. And remember, what does the prophet Isaiah say in Isaiah 63? Who is this one coming in bloodstained garments from Beauxraw? Bozra is just south of Petra. And Isaiah sees this righteous one, this king of kings. and Lord of the Lord's coming with his garments already stained, knowing, giving us the understanding that the battle is fought in Beaux-Raw, not in Armageddon.

They will all have come down that direction. And Isaiah sees this Messiah coming in garments stained in blood because he has destroyed his enemies. And our Messiah will come. The Bible says, with great power.

Great power. Man, that's amazing. Nothing he can't do. He will destroy the wicked. He will eventually descend on the Mount of Olives there outside of Jerusalem, and they'll split the Mount of Olives. They'll put the sheep on his right, the goats on his left. We'll have the sheep, goat judgment. We'll talk about that in Matthew 25, and we'll get to that parable. The sheep, goat judgment. It's an amazing scene. But you need to be looking for the Son of Man. He will come in great power. He will come to restore the earth, and he will come to judge the wicked.

All that. To say this, there's a story we need to learn from. And that's our parable of the fig tree. It says the verse number 32, now learn the parable. Now, why would he give a parable? I mean, if he's telling him about the return, why now throw this analogy in there? Why throw this parable in there? Why throw this earthly story with a heavenly meaning? Because you see, the disciples knew about fig trees. I mean, just earlier, Christ had cursed a fig tree. And if you read through the Old Testament, you read that fig trees were a major part of analogies used, by prophets in the Old Testament.

The book of Revelation even speaks of the fig tree and the figs falling off of trees representing how the sky will begin to fall. So Christ begins by saying, Learn the parable from the fig tree. When its branch has already become tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near. Even so you too, when you see all these things, recognize that he is near right at the door. Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away. until all these things take place. He says, learn this parable.

Learn it. Now, that word learn is very important. Same word used over in Philippians 411, where Paul said these words, I have learned in whatever state I am to be content. He didn't learn about contentment on a superficial level. It became ingrained in his life. Christ says this, I want you to learn the parable of the victory.

I don't want you to have a superficial understanding. about my return. I want you to have a firm grasp of my coming again. I want it to be a significant part of your life. Why? Because Christ knew that when he died and rose again and ascended into glory, there would be one thing that would always motivate his men and that was his return. One thing. That if they didn't learn the parable of the fig tree, if they didn't understand about the imminent return of Jesus Christ our Lord, they would lose heart and they would faint.

They'd be discouraged. Let me tell you something. The key to your life, your Christian life, all centers around your understanding of the return of Christ. And your belief in it's coming back. Let me tell you something.

If you believe that, and if you understand that, and you learn that and you get that, your whole perspective changes. Everything changes. Your whole perspective on the church changes. Your whole perspective on evangelism changes. You see, why is it we don't get more people in evangelism training? Why is it we can't get more people to go on mission trips? Why is it we can't get more people to share their faith door to door or in the marketplace? It's because at the root of our lives, we really don't believe that Jesus can come back at any moment.

We think it's going to come back next month, next year. See, I don't think I'm going to die. I think Jesus is going to come back. I know it's Sunday I talked to you about dying and me not being afraid to die, and that's true. I'm not. But the bottom line is, I think Jesus is going to come back before I die. So to Paul. You know what I'm saying? You believe the same thing. You know what I'm saying? But that's what kept them going. Through prison, through distress, through difficulty, that Jesus was coming back.

Let me tell you something. If you wake up every day thinking, this could be the day. This could be the day that Jesus Christ himself returns and takes me home to glory with him. Let me tell you something.

Everything is going to change that day for you. How you talk to people, how you treat your kids, how you treat your wife, how you go to work, everything changes. Because it's probably going to be your last day. And you don't want to leave anybody with a bad impression on your last day. I want to give him a good impression. Right? And you want to make sure that they know that Jesus Christ is king and the king is coming back. Let's pray. I'm