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There is a story that I am reminded of every once in a while about the elder prophet, Bro. T.W. Barnes. One day a young man that was starting out in his ministry asked to meet with Bro. Barnes and take him to dinner and such just to pick his brain about various things. In the course of the conversation, Bible Study came up and the young man asked "where was the best place to start studying the Bible in preparation for a ministry?" Bro. Barnes reply was "start in the Gospels, son, and begin with focusing on the words of Jesus the most." As the young man nodded at listening to the words of the prophet, it occurred to him that Bro. Barnes had been living for God for 70 plus years. The young man then asked "and Bro. Barnes, if you started in the Gospels so long ago, how far have you gotten? Where do you spend the most of your Bible Study time now?" The prophet answered: "I'm still in the Gospels."

Bro. Barnes and I both understand that we must take ALL the scriptures and study to show ourselves approved, but there is a great truth in that story. We can all understand the basics of salvation and who Jesus Christ is and the basic guidelines of holy living, but I think we can all agree with Paul who wrote:

We don't have a lot written about the life of Jesus compared with the rest of the Bible, but what we have is more than enough, because the teachings of Jesus are so deep that you could spend a lifetime studying one passage of scripture and learning principles and lessons to apply to your life!

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With that in mind, let's focus on the miracle of the cursing of the fig tree. It is the last week of Jesus' ministry. He is staying in Bethany in the house of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus and is traveling into Jerusalem every day and returning to Bethany every night. The disciples are with Jesus as He travels back and forth. The first morning, Jesus is hungry -- He either fasted breakfast or they left so early in the morning that they missed breakfast -- and as they are walking along "the way" Jesus saw afar off a fig tree with leaves. There is a couple of things that you should know about Palestinian fig trees. First, their leaves are quite large --usually bigger than a man's outstretched hand -- and the other point is that they normally produce leaves AFTER they produce figs or fruit. So when Jesus saw this fig tree afar off with leaves, He expected to find figs under the leaves, but could not tell that it had none in His human nature until He was able to get close enough to see beyond the leaves. When Jesus saw that the tree had no fruit, He cursed it saying "no man will eat figs of you ever again." And they went on their way to Jerusalem and back to Bethany that night as normal.

The next morning, as they walked on the road to Jerusalem again, Peter noticed that the tree that Jesus had cursed had withered and dried up at it's roots and was laying lifeless in the dirt. When he pointed it out to Jesus, the Master responded with these words:

Mark 11:22-24 And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God. 23 For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith. 24 Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.

As with all of the Gospels and Jesus' actions, there are many lessons that we can learn from this story. Let's look at some of them and begin with the obvious lesson that Jesus was trying to teach the disciples. This story teaches us foremost:

God has all power. God can do the impossible. He can do things that man cannot. Jesus simply said "have faith in God." Trust that God can do beyond what you can do. That's a simple lesson but one that we tend to forget in actual circumstances. How many people get discouraged when they look at a situation and they can't see anyway that THEY could work it out therefore they don't think that God can. Your lack of ability to work out a situation is no reflection of God's ability. Too many times we allow the fact that the situation looks hopeless to us to jade and affect our prayers and faith in God. God is not bound by normal human limitations. And that applied here even when God was working through flesh. Jesus Christ had human flesh just like you and I do, and yet God was able to work through that flesh to perform things that flesh alone could not. Remember that God can do things through human beings that human beings cannot do on their own. It has nothing to do with what we see or think, but rather if we believe that God can!

When Jesus spoke the word of faith to the tree, He fully expected something to happen. If a person truly believes, then they will expect the supernatural to happen. Expectation is the key to the miraculous. Why were so many people healed during Jesus' ministry? Because people came to Him expecting to leave healed. Why did He touch the blind man's eyes, and in another time spit in the mud and go tell him to wash his eyes in the pool of Siloam? Because Jesus was creating an expectancy. It's simple but profound: a woman cannot give birth unless she is expecting and it's the same with the spiritual. You will never give birth in the Spirit unless you expect something to happen. The woman who was healed by touching the hem of Jesus' garment was healed not by the power in His robe, but because she expected something to happen when she touched it. "If I can only touch the hem . . . " Expectation.

You can say you believe all day long, but if you don't pray expecting it to happen, then nothing is going to happen. Expectation is right-now faith. There are many people who will tell you that they believe in miracles and that everything in the Bible really happened like it says and that God can heal today, but when they go to get prayed for, they don't really expect something to happen. They have faith, but not right-now faith. They lack expectancy. The children of Israel got to the edge of the Promised Land and they believed that God wanted to give them that land, or they wouldn't have traipsed across the desert toward it. But the problem was that they didn't believe that God could give them the land right then, in their present circumstances. It was easy to believe for something that was afar off, but when it came down to the time to enter in, they looked at the giants and didn't EXPECT God to deliver them. The Israelites didn't enter into the Promised Place because of a lack of expectation. It's the same with many of our prayers. How many prayers are prayed that never enter into the throne room of God and into the miraculous because they are prayed without expectation!?

Jesus fully expected something to happen when He spoke to the fig tree. You can tell because He just went on His way. He did NOT speak and then wait around to see if something was going to happen. He fully expected something to happen and to wait around and watch IF something was going to happen would have been a sign of doubt. Thinking about it and worrying if it was going to happen is a sign of doubt. True faith fully expects it to happen.

If you're waiting for me to preach to you, I already am! There is an interesting discrepancy between the two texts about the fig tree. In Mark, it is very clear that there was a day and night that passed before they saw the fig tree withered. That is Jesus cursed the fig tree one morning and it was not until the following morning that they saw it withered and such. But in Matthew, we find this:

It actually took twenty-four hours to wither away, but because they were not there watching to see if it happened, it seemed like it happened right away! The disciples said "how soon. . ." I submit to you that if they would have stayed there and sat down and watched it for hours, that they would have the opposite attitude and they would have been saying "how long . . . " There is an old saying that a "watched pot never boils." Understand that it takes a pot of water the same amount of time to boil whether or not your watch it or not. But try it: put on a pot of water to boil and sit there and watch it continually. It will like forever. Then put the same size pot of water to boil again and go do something else and think about something else. It will seem like in no time that it is already boiling. What changed? Not the time for the pot to boil, but what it felt like it took in our minds is what changed.

This is a principle that we need to understand in the spirit. "A watched pot never boils" and in like manner it seems that "a worried over prayer never happens." If you truly are praying expecting God to handle it, then you will pray about it, bring it to God, and then leave it for Him to work on and go on. But too many times, we don't leave it with God at the altar, but after praying about it, we pick it back up and worry about it and think about it and dwell on it continually. And therefore it seems like it takes forever for our prayers to be answered, when if we would give it to God and focus on other things and leave it up to Him, fully expecting Him to answer it, then the answer would seem to come quickly. Remember this: worry is doubt in God's ability to handle a situation. Because you are trying to figure out what to do about the situation and still trying to work out a solution on your own. If God is really all powerful and all mighty, then give it Him and understand that He doesn't need your help by worrying on it! Obey His commandments, but remember that if you will move on to pray and think on other things, you will have the testimony of the disciples: "How soon God did this . . . " If you worry, you will have this testimony "how long it's been and God hasn't. Worry is a lack of expectation that God's going to answer your prayer!

This brings us to another couple of important lessons that we can learn from the fig tree:

Jesus immediately cursed the fig tree, but it took a while for noticeable results to get to the top. Did something begin to happen immediately? Yes. But could you tell it immediately on the outside and the visible? No. In fact it took a 24 hour period for anything to become noticeable. Jesus didn't fail, but He allowed this to happen to teach us an important principle. Delay is not failure. Most times, you will not see immediate results from your prayers. The shallow and the immature allow that to discourage them from praying the prayers of faith and expectation. We want everything to be like Moses stretching forth his hand and immediately parting the Red Sea, but sometimes it takes marching around Jericho's walls for a week before you notice anything happening in the natural.

Just because you pray for someone and they don't feel immediate relief doesn't mean that God isn't working. Just because you come up for prayer for a headache and the pain doesn't just "poof" disappear, doesn't mean that God has failed. Just because a person prays for the Holy Ghost once or twice and doesn't immediately receive it doesn't mean that God has failed on His promise. Delay is not failure and let me explain to you why with another lesson from the fig tree:

The scriptures say that the next morning the "fig tree was dried up by it's roots." God always starts working at the root of the situation and that's not always in an obvious area to humans standing by. The leaves are the visible result of the condition of the root system. If God is going to affect the leaves, He does so by getting to the root of the condition.

When we pray for someone to be healed because they "feel bad" and do so with genuine faith and expectancy, then God immediately begins to deal with the situation in the body that is causing them to "feel bad." He begins to work on the cause and not the effect, therefore, the person may not instantly feel better, but they will eventually if they continue to believe, because when the root of the situation is dealt with, then the leaves will eventually show it. The problem is that sometimes because people don't feel as if anything has happened, they allow doubt to come in and then God stops working on the root of the problem because of their unbelief and they end up not being healed. God was working, but because they attributed delay in noticeable results to failure, they allowed doubt to stop God from completing the work.

And let me preach to some of you easily discouraged saints here tonight. Some of us are so easily discouraged because we witness to someone a few times and they may even come to church and don't immediately want to get baptized in Jesus' name or receive the Holy Ghost. We take that delay as a sign of failure and you get impatient and want to force them to seek the Holy Ghost or get baptized. But you are forgetting something. Getting baptized in the name of Jesus and receiving the Holy Ghost, is outward signs of spiritual workings on the inside. It's the leaves of the person. And God begins with dealing with the root of men, their hearts! Just because you teach people about the importance of water baptism and they don't get immediately get baptized is not a sign of failure, but remember that God is dealing with the roots. They may have deep bitterness toward somebody in their past or unforgiveness in their life. They may have an area that they need to repent of and submit to God before moving on to being baptized in Jesus' name and before they can receive the Holy Ghost. They may need more knowledge of the scripture to understand and believe that they can receive it for themselves. There may be an attitude inside that God is dealing with. If people don't want to immediately get baptized in Jesus' name or don't immediately get filled with the Holy Ghost when they seek it, it's because God is still dealing with them on the inside. Don't get discouraged, but keep praying for them and expecting them to receive the Word of God and His Spirit, because delay is not failure, but eventually if they will allow the spiritual operation of God on the inside, it will show up on the outside. If they will submit to God within, then eventually they will submit to God without in their actions. God begins working on the roots and eventually the leaves will show it!

And since I'm here, let me say that when you pray for an unsaved person or a backslider or someone who is turning their back on God, we get so discouraged sometimes because it doesn't happen immediately that they come or that they repent or that they change. We get discouraged because we believe God is working, but the leaves still look the same. Never forget that God IS working, He just starts with the roots of the situation, which may not even be visible or obvious to you. It wasn't until after the tree had been cursed, that they realized that the spiritual work had begun in the roots. Sometimes we pray for other people to change and then balk when God tries to change us, but it could be that the root of the problem is not their actions, but our actions that are affecting their actions and for God to change them, He has to first change us! He starts at the roots and the roots are not always obvious to you and I.

And since I'm here, let me say that sometimes we pray a prayer for an area of our life and God immediately begins to deal with what to us is an entirely disconnected area. But sometimes what to us is something entirely different is actually the cause of the other in our lives. I've known people to pray for better family relations and God immediately began to deal with their mouth and their negativity and gossip problems, and them get all upset not realizing that God was trying to answer their prayers but the leaves, the family relations are not going to get better until the root of the problem, their mouth, is changed! How many times I have dealt with people's lives falling apart and them ready to divorce or murder each other, or that they are having serious relationship issues and I have to tell them, the root cause of this is not your relationship with each other, but the fact that you have neglected your relationship with God and things won't ever get right in your life, until you do what you know you should do according to God's Word. And I've had people turn from that and not accept it and refuse to take it and keep living in their little hell-hole that they call their life. They wanted God to change the leaves, but they didn't want Him messing with the root of the situation which was a little deeper down. Such people will never get what they are praying for, because God's spiritual operation always begins with the roots of the problem, whether we realize it or not! And like the fig tree, sometimes it takes people going through a "night" to reveal the real root problem in their life.

There is another principle of faith here that we need to mention before we move on:

The timing of this cursed fig tree was no accident. The disciples were about to go through a time where their faith would be shaken and all of them would temporarily desert Jesus Christ. They would have to make it through the darkest three days of their lives when He was dead in the tomb and they awaited to see if He would get up as He had said that He would. This time coming up was what Jesus referred to when He said "this mountain." They were about to face a tough time and a tough climb in life and so Jesus did this miracle for them.

The purpose was this: fig trees were abundant in Israel, and still are. In the Old Testament, if the fig crop failed, then it was going to be a bad year because they depended on the abundant fig trees for part of their daily nourishment. The trees grow naturally over there and they are everywhere. Every day through those darkest days and even throughout the disciples' lives, every where they went they saw fig trees and were reminded of the day that Jesus cursed the fig tree and then told them "have faith in God." The fig tree became a daily reminder of what God had done and thus reminded them of what God can do!

We need everyday reminders of faith in our lives. Jesus said that God is not a God of the dead, but of the living. But it's important to read your Bible everyday and think about it even though those events happened long ago. It's important because God doesn't want to work in say David's life anymore, but in yours. The stories should be an everyday reminder of the power of God in our lives!

It's a good idea to write down some things that God has done for you. We are too quick to forget even the greatest blessings. Some people have very little faith in a circumstance and I want to remind them of everything that God has already done for them! If you feel weak in faith tonight, you need to remember everything that God has already done for you and then ask yourself the question "has God changed?" He hasn't, but you need a reminder of faith!

That's why church is so important and hearing sermons and studying the Bible is so important. The Word of God will do you no good if you have forgotten it. And that's why teaching Bible Studies is so important to others. Every time I teach a piano lesson to a beginner, I am reminded of the basics that would be so easy to forget. And those basics are reinforced now more than ever because I have continually taught them to others.

I have never sat down and made a conscious effort to memorize scriptures on baptism, Holy Ghost, or whatever, but I can quote them to you easily. I can do that from teaching Bible Studies over and over again. You really learn something from studying it again to teach it to someone else. And every time you teach it, you are reminded of that principle in your life. That's important, because you need some reminders of faith in your everyday life!

And since I'm here, let me throw this in: never let your testimony of salvation grow old. Always be willing to share it with someone that is interested. Remind yourself of it constantly and let it be a reminder of faith in your life. If you constantly remind yourself of how God brought you out of that mess, then you will be less likely to return to that mess! The scriptures say that you are made "overcomers by the Word of your Testimony!"

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There is yet another group of principles that can be learned from the cursing of the fig tree that become obvious when you realize that this tree was the only living thing that Jesus Christ ever cursed and destroyed during His earthly ministry. That's an impacting and sobering thought. Especially when you realize why Jesus cursed it. He cursed it because of it's lack of fruitfulness. Let's look at some principles that can be learned about our lives from this incident:

There are some that would question as to why Jesus would be so cruel as to curse this seemingly healthy fig tree. As creator of all things, Jesus Christ had every right to judge His creation and didn't need to give His disciples an explanation for it. We tend to forget sometimes that God has the right as God to judge people's actions and hold them accountable for it. There will be people at judgment who are turned away from everlasting life and that God will say "depart from me you workers of iniquity, I never knew you" and that will spend eternity in hell and that will have gotten what they deserve. The scriptures say: "will not the judge of all the earth do right?" But think about what that means. If a person ignores the calling of God and chooses to continue in sin and not produce righteous fruit, then God will not bless that person, because that would not be "doing right." The judge will do right according to what men deserve.

And let me say this. We have no problem with that until it's the fig tree that we planted. If we planted the seed and we nurtured the tree, then sometimes we have a problem with God cursing it. And yet we forget that while we planted the seed, it was God who gave life and who gave us the seed in the first place. Nowhere is this principle more true than in our families and children. I know many a preacher that will preach hard about what others need to do to be saved and yet when it comes to their kids, the seeds that they planted and nurtured, they want to make exceptions. There are no exceptions, even when it's your fig tree. When Bro. and Sis. Sibley have children, they will be born with an unregenerate spirit man and they will need to be taught the Word of God and to pray and who Jesus is. When they reach an age of accountability they will need to repent of their sins, and be baptized in Jesus' name, and be filled with the Holy Ghost and then go on to live a fruitful life for God. If they do not, then I believe that they will be lost and will spend eternity cursed of God. The word of God is true, regardless if I planted the seed or not.

And let me say this. There are those who would say "you don't have kids yet, you'd better be careful of what you say." But I have no qualms of preaching what I am preaching, because my parents and my wife's parents raised us the same away. We were always taught "you are not an exception." "Rebellion will destroy you just like everybody else. You need the Holy Ghost. You need to be baptized. You need to repent daily. You need to work on your mouth. You need to learn the Word of God and submit to His will." And because our parents did not make exceptions for us when God dealt with something in our lives, my wife and I and all of our siblings are living for God, today. And I believe that the reason why is that we were taught from a very young age "the Creator has every right to judge His creation!" God has no grandchildren and if you want to go to heaven, you've got to get a revelation for yourself!

And since I'm here, let me remind you that everyone wants judgment until it comes to them, and then they want mercy. But the scriptures teach that you will be dealt mercy with the same measuring spoon that you used to give it. If you want mercy, then you'd better give mercy. And let me remind you, you will need mercy! But mercy is not condoning sin or closing your eyes to it, but rather allowing people to change and be forgiven by God and not holding them to something that God has forgiven them of. AT the same time understand that mercy is not a license to sin. And you'd better remember that God has every right to judge His creation. Have mercy, and thank God for His mercy, but don't get mad at Him if He decides that it's time to curse something. He has the right, even if it's your fig tree!

This brings us to the next point which is simply:

This is true even if we forget it sometimes. The fig tree was cursed because it had been given everything that it needed by the Creator to survive and produce fruit, and yet it had taken the nutrients and blessings and rainfall of the Creator and yet did not use them to produce what the Creator needed. Like that fig tree, we get blessed repeatedly and often by our Creator with good sermons and new revelations in His Word, and awesome moves of the Spirit which falls on us "like rain." And we have been blessed in many other ways as well, and yet sometimes we forget that God has given us those blessings to do something with them. They are not just there for our enjoyment in receiving them, but for a purpose.

I've known people that were blessed with abundant talent in musical areas or artistic areas, or whatever, and yet never realized that God had blessed them, not just so that they could have blessings but so that they could bless others! I've known people who were blessed financially and were given the ability to make money and yet never realized that the Creator had given those things to them so that they could bless others. To whom much is given, much is required.

There is a responsibility that comes with being blessed of God. I have often viewed politicians who were so gifted at speech making and professors who were so precocious in teaching and presenting ideas and at singers and musicians who were so skilled and talented with the sad realization that they are fig trees that will be cursed. They willingly received all the nutrients and abilities from the Creator but never concerned themselves with blessing Him with them!

The Bible says that "Jesus hungered." It's possible that the fig tree of our text was created by God for this one purpose and time and moment in life. It was cursed because it missed it's calling. Let's bring it back to you and I and where we live and understand that:

You can let the seed of the Word of God fall on good ground, guard it from predators, see yourself grow, stay planted in one place faithfully, and put out roots and even grow into a strong, mature tree, but that growth in itself is pointless if it doesn't all lead you to a point that you produce fruit that fulfills the desire of God! We are so quick to pat ourselves on the back because we got victory over this sin or that sin. We won't rejoice in the fact that we are growing and avoiding predators. But God rejoices in the fruit of righteousness. Jesus, Himself, told the disciples "rejoice not because the devils are subject to you, but rather that your name is written in the book of Life." You can see great spiritual growth, pray for the sick and see them recover, cast out devils left and right, understand great mysteries and yet if your life doesn't produce the everyday fruit of the Spirit and live right in the purpose that God created it for, then you will still end up cursed. It's not enough to just leave a sinful world and see new life, but we must exist in the perfect will of God for our lives!

And let me say this: the blessings of God that we have received will end up a curse to us, if we don't use them to fulfill His desire and His purpose! Jesus said for those who had tasted of the kingdom of heaven and then gone back to the world, it would have "been better for them to not have known the way of righteousness" than to know it and then not obey it. You'd better thank God for what you have received from Him, but you'd better also take note of the tremendous responsibility that comes with it! You'd better let God change you completely and live right, because if you neglect what you have learned, then God will judge you worse than even the worst sinner that never received what you have received.

This brings us to the final and most home-hitting lesson of our text:

The fig tree of Palestine typically bears fruit first and then leaves. The leaves then form an outer covering to protect the fruit. Jesus cursed the fig tree because it had the leaves, and every appearance of being right and healthy, but when you pushed your hand beyond the outward facade, it lacked the fruit on the inside! Many Bible scholars say that the fig tree represented the nation of Israel at that time because outwardly the Hebrews looked rich and lush: they had the scriptures and the lineages and the promises of God and the temple. And yet inside, many of them were not hungry for the true things of God or for God to change them. Jesus said that the religious leaders of the day were "hypocrites" that were "whited walls" on the outside and yet on the inside were "full of dead men's bones."

It's possible to look the look of a Christian and fool many people with your actions, your outward manifestation, and your speech around the crowds, but if that "acting Christian" doesn't come from the fruit of the Spirit of love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and self-control, then it's just a show and a facade. You can say that you are obedient and in submission to God's Word and authority all day long, but if it's just an act that you put on for others and in reality your true self does not have the fruit of your everyday actions, then you are as this fig tree.

It's interesting to note that the first time "fig leaves" were mentioned in the Bible had to do with trying to covering up sin. Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit and then the scriptures say:

They were trying to cover the shame and effects of their disobedience with and outward covering of fig leaves! And the sad point is that the fact that fig leaves were so readily available proved that they had good fruit handy that they could have satisfied their hunger with, but which they had rejected to taste of the forbidden fruit of sin. They didn't want the fig tree, until they needed to try to cover up their sin rather than repent of it and change!

How often, do people today do the same thing? They want to be known as a "Christian" and will adamantly claim to be so, and yet they repeatedly do the things that God has commanded in His Word for them NOT to do, and really their use of Christianity and the church is an effort to hide from everyone else the shame of their willful sin! Understand that it's not enough to call yourself and fool others into thinking that you are right with God. If on the inside you aren't and all you are doing is trying to hide behind the leaves, then you will end up cursed of God! You'd better learn well the lessons of the cursing of the fig tree! God cares more about substance and who you really are, than the front that you put up for others to see! You will be judged by what you really are inside!

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I'm sure there are many other things that we could learn from this story, but these will suffice for now. Hear the lessons of the cursing of the fig tree:

Let us ask God to help us learn and apply the lessons of the cursing of the fig tree!