Sermon Tone Analysis

Grow Your Faith through the Lord's Fig Tree Miracle

The Gospel of Matthew

Matthew 21:17-22

Sermon by Rick Crandall

(Prepared December 23, 2022)

BACKGROUND:

*Please open your Bibles to Matthew 21:17, and we will focus on the Lord's fig tree miracle.

This miracle is only found here and in Mark 11, and this miracle can surely help grow our faith in the Lord.

That's great, because God wants our faith to grow.

*The Thessalonian Christians are a good example for us today, because in 2 Thessalonians 1: 2-3, Paul said this to the church: "Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is fitting, because your faith grows exceedingly, and the love of every one of you all abounds toward each other."

*Church: Their faith was growing exceedingly, and God wants our faith to grow exceedingly too!

Please think about this as we read Matthew 21:17-22.

MESSAGE:

*Christian: How much faith do you want?

More, right?

I want more faith in God, and any right thinking Christian would say the same thing.

The good news is that God wants us to have more faith too.

*That's one of the main reasons why the Lord worked this miracle in Matthew 21.

Jesus knew that He was about to go to the cross.

He knew that those three days in the grave would be miserably long for His scattered followers.

The Lord also knew that 40 days after He rose again from the dead He was going home to Heaven.

*Jesus knew that His disciples would need more faith for these times, so He wanted to grow their faith.

And first, Jesus demonstrated His miraculous power to them again.

Then He used this miracle to speak to His followers about faith.

The Lord used this miracle to help grow their faith, and it can help grow our faith today.

1. FIRST: GROW YOUR FAITH ON THE LORD'S HUMILITY.

*In today's Scripture there is a tremendous example of the Lord's humility.

It's the hunger that we see in vs. 17-18: "Then He (Jesus) left them and went out of the city to Bethany, and He lodged there.

Now in the morning, as He returned to the city, He was hungry."

*It is an astounding thing that the God of all creation allowed Himself to be hungry.

In Psalm 50:9-12 the LORD told His people: "I will not take a bull from your house, Nor goats out of your folds.

For every beast of the forest is Mine, And the cattle on a thousand hills.

I know all the birds of the mountains, And the wild beasts of the field are Mine.

If I were hungry, I would not tell you; For the world is Mine, and all its fullness."

*It all belongs to God, and we have already seen Jesus feed thousands of people with next to nothing.

The Lord has also provided every bite of food we have ever eaten.

But here we see the Lord in hunger.

And I want to remind you that Jesus was hungry for me, and He was hungry for you.

*John 19 tells us that one of the last things Jesus said on the cross was "I thirst."

The great preacher Charles Spurgeon took note of that and asked, "Who was this that said, 'I Thirst?'

It was the Lord who balanced the clouds and filled the channels of the mighty deep.

*He said, 'I thirst,' and yet in Him was a well of water springing up to eternal life!

Yes, He who guided every river in its course and watered all the fields with grateful showers.

He it was, the King of kings and Lord of lords, before whom hell trembles and the earth is filled with dismay.

He whom heaven adores and all eternity worships.

He it was who said, 'I thirst!'

*Matchless condescension! -- from the infinity of God to the weakness of a thirsty, dying man! -- And this was for you."

(1)

*God humbled Himself to become a man like us.

So in Philippians 2:5-11, the Apostle Paul later wrote:

5. Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus,

6. who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God,

7. but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a servant, and coming in the likeness of men.

8.

And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.

9. Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name,

10. that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth,

11. and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

2. GROW YOUR FAITH ON THE LORD'S HUMILITY.

AND GROW YOUR FAITH ON THE LORD'S ABILITY.

*Verse 19 gives us a small sample of the Lord's infinite ability: "And seeing a fig tree by the road, He came to it and found nothing on it but leaves, and said to it, 'Let no fruit grow on you ever again.'

And immediately the fig tree withered away."

*The disciples saw the Hand of God at work in a miraculous way.

That fig tree completely withered away.

And maybe we have never seen anything like that.

But as Christians, we have certainly seen the Hand of God at work, even in miraculous ways.

*How many of you could raise your hand to say that you have definitely seen the Lord work in your life?

Yes.

We have seen the Hand of God at work many times.

And Matthew 19:26 tells us that all things are possible with God.

*Author Squire Rushnell told about a late-40s couple who lived in McAllen, Texas, down on the border with Mexico.

The story started with the diagnosis that David Espinoza would die within 3 years unless he had a heart transplant.

*In the spring of 2004, three cardiologists told David that his damaged heart was only working at ten percent capacity.

David's wife Toni cried out to God to save her husband.

But she had a terrible struggle with the fact that in order for David to live, -- somebody else would have to die.

That's why Toni began to ask God for a miraculous healing.

*By early December both Toni and David were feeling a strange peace about it.

But Toni wanted more assurance that God's miracle was on the way, so she prayed this very odd prayer: "Lord, I will know David's okay, if you make it snow on Christmas Day, in McAllen, Texas."

*Now in the middle of winter, "cold" weather in McAllen Texas is 70 degrees.

And when Toni told several people close to her about her prayer, her friend Crawford Higgins gave this blunt reply: "Toni, if you're expecting it to snow here, where we've lived all our lives, and never seen snow.

And specifically, on Christmas Day? -- You might as well start making the funeral arrangements."

*But Church: It did begin to snow that year, starting on Christmas Eve, around 11:30 that night.

For the first time in recorded history, McAllen Texas had a white Christmas!

It was their first measurable snow in 109 years.

*Three weeks later Toni and David drove back to Houston for tests at the DeBakey Institute.

There, Dr. Guillermo Torre's jaw dropped in wonder at the report.

"I can't explain this!" he said with surprise in his voice.

"You're not sick anymore!" Praise the Lord! (2)

*Now, God doesn't always heal us like that, because this world is not our home.

But we can be sure that every day He answers prayers in amazing ways, because all good things are possible with God.

3. GROW YOUR FAITH ON THE LORD'S ABILITY.

AND GROW YOUR FAITH FOR THE LORD'S PRIORITY.

*What is the Lord's priority for our lives?

This miracle reminds us that it's our fruitfulness, so again vs. 19 tells us that when Jesus saw a fig tree by the road, "He came to it and found nothing on it but leaves, and said to it, 'Let no fruit grow on you ever again.'

And immediately the fig tree withered away."

*What was the problem with the fig tree?

-- NO FRUIT.

And this was a most unusual miracle.

It was the only judgment miracle Jesus ever worked during His 3-year ministry on earth.

And there was important symbolism in this fig tree.

*John Phillips explained that the fig tree was one of the symbols of the nation of Israel.