WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.980 Sometimes, and I know it's only sometimes, but everything falls into place. 00:00:06.240 --> 00:00:09.980 ! Do you remember those moments in your life? There's probably only been about three years 00:00:09.980 --> 00:00:16.440 ! Sometimes it's for a second, sometimes it's for only a minute, sometimes it's for a day 00:00:16.440 --> 00:00:23.800 or a week or a month, and everything is good. And it might be that moment where there's a 00:00:23.800 --> 00:00:29.980 great sunset, or the sea breeze, or you're on the beach or by the pool, you're 00:00:29.980 --> 00:00:35.119 you've got the right drink, nobody seems to be angry with you at that moment. You're 00:00:35.119 --> 00:00:41.480 sitting next to someone who really loves you, and life has just fallen into place. Sometimes 00:00:41.480 --> 00:00:46.760 you get that on a bigger scale, don't you? Sometimes that happens nationally, sometimes 00:00:46.760 --> 00:00:54.560 internationally, where everything comes together. I was trying to think of a national event where 00:00:54.560 --> 00:00:59.880 everything came together. It's not easy, is it? It's probably some of you. I remember 00:00:59.880 --> 00:01:05.260 in Euro 96, for those of us who were alive. I was a Welshman, but for some reason, everybody, 00:01:05.620 --> 00:01:10.939 it was a feel-good summer, England were doing well in the football, everybody, everything 00:01:10.939 --> 00:01:17.540 came together. Somebody said, I mean, this was on the moon landings. Some of you were alive 00:01:17.540 --> 00:01:24.980 50 years ago, where everybody gathered around their TV sets. And Neil Armstrong said, isn't 00:01:24.980 --> 00:01:31.460 it, one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind. It was as if everyone was together. 00:01:32.740 --> 00:01:37.420 It didn't matter what faith or nationality, or what religion you were. People were crowded 00:01:37.420 --> 00:01:43.680 around black and white TVs. It was a special moment. You think of South Africa winning the 00:01:43.680 --> 00:01:49.240 World Cup, the first one. And that moment when it all came together, black and white, and it 00:01:49.240 --> 00:01:52.700 didn't matter where you were from, you were pleased South Africa had won the Rugby World Cup. 00:01:55.280 --> 00:02:01.420 Well, here's a moment in Matthew 21 where it all comes together. And where everything seems 00:02:01.420 --> 00:02:10.680 right. Jesus comes into his city, and everything seems to fall into place. And this morning we're 00:02:10.680 --> 00:02:15.000 going to see that Jesus is indeed our prophet and our priest and our king. And I hope if 00:02:15.000 --> 00:02:20.780 not before everything, this morning will fall into place for you. And so firstly, let's see 00:02:20.780 --> 00:02:28.000 the gentle king who enters into his city. The king. The gentle king who enters into his 00:02:28.000 --> 00:02:34.080 city. And Jesus prepares to enter into Jerusalem. He gives orders to his disciples, they're a little 00:02:34.080 --> 00:02:39.640 bit like generals' orders, about to invade the city. Except this mission is a mission of peace. 00:02:40.680 --> 00:02:49.120 A thousand years before, there was King David, but now a son of David, the Lord Jesus comes 00:02:49.120 --> 00:02:57.180 into Jerusalem. And he's a king of peace. The city of peace. And this Lord Jesus doesn't 00:02:57.180 --> 00:03:03.480 come riding on a dozen black stallions. He actually comes, and he comes very deliberately 00:03:03.479 --> 00:03:11.919 and purposefully, riding a donkey. The fold of a donkey, a little colt. The sort of colt you see 00:03:11.919 --> 00:03:20.079 at the beach. Where kids can ride on it for three pounds a go. And it almost looks silly, doesn't it? 00:03:20.080 --> 00:03:28.520 Because you see this man with such a reputation, riding on a donkey. But Jesus specifically 00:03:28.520 --> 00:03:35.320 chose that symbol in fulfillment of a prophecy. But in verse 4 and 5, this took place to fulfill 00:03:35.320 --> 00:03:41.100 what was spoken by the prophet, saying, say to the daughter of Zion, behold, look, your king 00:03:41.100 --> 00:03:48.580 has come. He's humble. He's mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden. 00:03:48.580 --> 00:03:54.300 Jesus is king, and he's coming into his own city, but he's a very different kind of king. 00:03:56.660 --> 00:04:02.200 See, your king comes, not to be served, but to serve. He's a gentle king. 00:04:03.960 --> 00:04:10.400 Jesus already said, isn't he? His great invitation to you is, come all you who are weak and weary 00:04:10.400 --> 00:04:16.000 and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Because what am I like? I'm gentle and I'm humble 00:04:16.000 --> 00:04:23.319 in heart. And this little, this king, this same king, he weeps over a city, Jerusalem. 00:04:24.500 --> 00:04:31.920 He weeps over a city that he came to seek and to save the lost and to save and bring peace 00:04:31.920 --> 00:04:43.060 to. And this is the kind of king who woos you, who woos you to obedience. You want to follow 00:04:43.060 --> 00:04:51.000 him. You want to be like him. A friend of mine runs a youth group, and he asked one of 00:04:51.000 --> 00:04:56.500 the girls, who do you look up to? Who do you aspire to be? Who do you aspire to be as a 00:04:56.500 --> 00:05:07.939 hero? And she said, I want to be like Jesus. I'm Beyonce. And she got it half right, didn't 00:05:07.939 --> 00:05:18.160 you? I want to be like Jesus. The king comes gentle. He's both great and gracious. He is 00:05:18.160 --> 00:05:26.000 both strong and sermon hearted. You want to be with him. You want to be like him. And 00:05:26.000 --> 00:05:32.439 I have a moment that Penny seems to draw in Jerusalem. It fell into place. Everybody seems to be doing 00:05:32.439 --> 00:05:37.719 what they're supposed to be doing. Do you know, that's a very rare event in the Gospels. 00:05:39.139 --> 00:05:45.300 So they come with palm branches in their hands, and they lay their cloaks on the ground, and 00:05:45.300 --> 00:05:51.800 they follow him. And they lead him into the city. It's like an unplanned tick and tape parade. 00:05:52.000 --> 00:05:57.519 You know when a football team wins a division or a cap and they're on an open top bus, and they 00:05:57.519 --> 00:06:05.839 parade through a city. It's that kind of thing. There's so much joy. And the people are not 00:06:05.839 --> 00:06:10.819 just simply rejoicing, they are praising God. And they're not simply praising, they are doing 00:06:10.819 --> 00:06:16.639 it with shouts, and it is loud. And they're not only asking, they're not only praising God, 00:06:16.699 --> 00:06:21.879 they're asking for something, they're asking for salvation. So they say, Hosanna, save us 00:06:21.879 --> 00:06:29.639 to the Son of David. It's the language of Messiah. It's the language of the long expected 00:06:29.639 --> 00:06:38.579 King. The long awaited Messiah. He's here. So save us. Save us. And then we're told that 00:06:38.579 --> 00:06:48.459 the city stirs, not like a martini, but like an earthquake. Verse 8. Spread them on the road. 00:06:48.459 --> 00:06:54.239 Most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees 00:06:54.239 --> 00:06:57.939 and spread them on the road. And the crowds that went before him and that followed him 00:06:57.939 --> 00:07:03.859 were shouting, Hosanna to the Son of David. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. 00:07:04.299 --> 00:07:13.659 Hosanna in the highest. Yippee! That's my paraphrase. And Jesus, when he entered into Jerusalem, 00:07:13.660 --> 00:07:20.220 the whole city is stirred, and they ask, who is this? And the crowds answer, don't they? 00:07:20.380 --> 00:07:24.740 This is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth and Galilee. And for a moment they get it so right. 00:07:27.680 --> 00:07:34.980 God's people recognising God's Son and God's King, Jesus the Son of David. The prophet longed 00:07:34.980 --> 00:07:46.080 for, but only for a moment. It's only for a moment. Because this is Palmerston, isn't it? 00:07:46.540 --> 00:07:54.420 Here. And within five days they want him dead. In five days they go from wanting to kiss him 00:07:54.420 --> 00:08:02.480 to wanting to want him. They go from wanting to praise him to releasing a convicted terrorist 00:08:02.480 --> 00:08:13.280 in his place. Weak crowds bullied by religious leaders. Weak crowds bullied by religious leaders 00:08:13.280 --> 00:08:23.240 who have their, who have the shallowness of their faith and confession exposed. This is the 00:08:23.240 --> 00:08:37.539 ugly side of humanity. Our weak, weak will. And it's not just in others, is it? Don't we sometimes 00:08:37.539 --> 00:08:50.240 despise ourselves? Or that part of us that keeps on doing the wrong thing? The Bible says 00:08:50.240 --> 00:09:01.159 we need to put it to death. That dark side of our human nature. I think of those who sat 00:09:01.159 --> 00:09:09.720 and put their backsides on the very seats you sit. Well, probably not these seats. But they 00:09:09.720 --> 00:09:18.019 met with us. They were part of us. They once praised Jesus with us. But no more. 00:09:18.019 --> 00:09:24.639 And not because they're in another church, of course not. Not because they're praising God 00:09:24.639 --> 00:09:32.840 elsewhere. But they are just nowhere. They're nowhere with respect to Jesus and his people. 00:09:33.000 --> 00:09:41.340 They've walked away. Well, why is that? Why does that happen? For a moment everything found 00:09:41.340 --> 00:09:46.540 a place for them. But because they were bullied or they allowed themselves to be bullied by their 00:09:46.540 --> 00:09:52.399 friends or bullied by their family or bullied by just this world and the pressure of this 00:09:52.399 --> 00:10:04.240 world. They are no longer with God's people praising Jesus as their King. And so will you 00:10:04.240 --> 00:10:14.100 seize this moment? Will you seize this moment? And remember that sure, Jesus comes into Jerusalem 00:10:14.100 --> 00:10:22.200 on Palm Sunday, gentle and lowly, riding on the foal of a donkey. But he will come again. 00:10:22.200 --> 00:10:27.299 And when he comes again, the Bible is very clear. He won't come on the coat of a donkey. He will 00:10:27.299 --> 00:10:33.060 come riding on a white horse. And he will lead an army from heaven on white horses. And the 00:10:33.059 --> 00:10:37.899 symbol of white horses is victory, not just purity. And they will come. And Jesus will 00:10:37.899 --> 00:10:44.079 come with eyes like blazing fire. And he will have a double-edged sword coming out of his 00:10:44.079 --> 00:10:50.859 mouth. And he will defy and he will deal with any and every enemy of his. Because he will 00:10:50.859 --> 00:10:57.039 come to bring war against his enemies. Please know that on his thighs and on his robe there 00:10:57.039 --> 00:11:01.519 is dripped with blood. And they are written, these words, King of Kings and Lord of Lords. 00:11:01.519 --> 00:11:08.579 So sure, Jesus came into Jerusalem gentle. But he will come again. And for those on his 00:11:08.579 --> 00:11:16.679 wrong side, they will see and encounter the wrath and the fury of the man. And so remember 00:11:16.679 --> 00:11:22.919 that when you're tempted to forget. Remember that when you're tempted just to walk away or 00:11:22.919 --> 00:11:29.299 even probably more likely just to drift away, that Jesus is King of Kings and Lord of Lords. 00:11:32.299 --> 00:11:40.620 But Jesus this morning is the servant king who woos you. So let those who have ears to hear, 00:11:40.979 --> 00:11:41.259 hear. 00:11:41.259 --> 00:11:50.240 Secondly, Jesus comes as priest to cleanse his people. So if Jerusalem is the city of David, 00:11:50.639 --> 00:11:57.939 then the temple is his dad's house. That's what Jesus says, isn't it? Jesus does what the 00:11:57.939 --> 00:12:03.700 priests of this temple should have done. He cleans up the corruption, verse 12. He enters 00:12:03.700 --> 00:12:07.680 the temple and he drives out all who sold and bought at the temple, the birra de change. 00:12:08.040 --> 00:12:12.640 And he overturned the tables and the money changers are the seats of those who sold pigeons. 00:12:14.660 --> 00:12:20.259 And he said to them, it is written, my house, my house, which can be called a house of prayer, 00:12:20.800 --> 00:12:22.240 for you making a dead robbers. 00:12:22.240 --> 00:12:31.320 The problem is not what is happening, but where it's happening, okay? It's not what is happening, 00:12:31.419 --> 00:12:37.019 it's where it's happening. You needed animals for sacrifices. You did. It's the time of the Passover. 00:12:37.360 --> 00:12:43.840 There's people there. You needed money changers to transfer currency from coins that have had 00:12:43.840 --> 00:12:49.000 images of people who thought they were gods. They were idolatrous. They weren't fit currency 00:12:49.000 --> 00:12:54.159 to be used in the temple. So their money, coming from another part, had to be changed. 00:12:54.960 --> 00:12:57.779 And so the problem is not what is happening, but where it's happening. 00:13:00.059 --> 00:13:05.659 The temple, we know, don't we, if you know the Bible, was the only place in the Old Testament 00:13:05.659 --> 00:13:14.019 where God promised that he would meet with his people. It was the only place where, on the 00:13:14.019 --> 00:13:20.699 feet of the earth where God had allowed his name to dwell. And nations were invited, they 00:13:20.699 --> 00:13:26.399 were told to come to the temple, to this God, the God of Israel, the God and Father of our 00:13:26.399 --> 00:13:32.480 Lord Jesus Christ. But his people, the elders and the chief priests, they'd let the business 00:13:32.480 --> 00:13:42.019 activity of that portion of the temple crowd out everything else. They'd get the business 00:13:42.019 --> 00:13:48.480 part of the temple crowd out where non-believers, where outsiders could come and become believers. 00:13:51.740 --> 00:13:58.480 So Jesus cleanses the temple. But if cleansing the temple didn't get up the nose of the temple 00:13:58.480 --> 00:14:02.600 priests, then the healing of the blind and the sick certainly did. Jesus can't help himself. 00:14:02.600 --> 00:14:10.000 It's like what we see, that Jesus drags a bit of heaven with it wherever he goes in the 00:14:10.000 --> 00:14:14.899 Gospels. The sick and the lame, they're normally not able to come into the temple. They're normally 00:14:14.899 --> 00:14:20.600 not fit for God's presence. Because they weren't whole, they weren't allowed in to the presence 00:14:20.600 --> 00:14:26.440 of God. But now they're being made whole and they're being healed. And so people are being 00:14:26.440 --> 00:14:31.120 made fit for God's presence. And so again, for a moment, everything just seems right. 00:14:33.900 --> 00:14:39.400 That Jesus the king comes into his city and Jesus the priest comes to his temple in his 00:14:39.400 --> 00:14:47.420 dad's house and he cleanses it from its corruption, just like Malachi had predicted. The bodies of 00:14:47.420 --> 00:14:55.100 the sick are restored and fit for God. And the children sing. They sing of the wonderful 00:14:55.100 --> 00:14:59.700 things that God thinks that God is doing. They're inspired to praise. Hosanna to the 00:14:59.700 --> 00:15:07.379 son of David. Three year olds, five year olds, eight year olds going ballistic. It was just 00:15:07.379 --> 00:15:16.159 so right. Children and their brothers at home, good way away. It's all so right but only for 00:15:16.159 --> 00:15:28.179 a moment. Just one little caveat for it. Let's take a commercial break here. Look at 00:15:28.179 --> 00:15:34.539 verse 16. Verse 16 is the greatest argument of having children in worship. If you're a 00:15:34.539 --> 00:15:39.199 mum here and you've got noisy children, you're very, very welcome. And your children are very 00:15:39.200 --> 00:15:45.660 welcome. Because out of the mouths of infants and nursing babies, you've prepared praise. And 00:15:45.660 --> 00:15:51.120 there's all sorts of things out there that come out of the mouths of nursing infants and babies. 00:15:52.100 --> 00:15:58.400 So noisy children, you're welcome. Where were we? The religious leaders, they're resentful, aren't they? 00:15:58.400 --> 00:16:08.379 Verse 15. They're resentful of what Jesus is doing. It's astonishing. It's the way the verse is 00:16:08.379 --> 00:16:13.279 written. When the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children 00:16:13.279 --> 00:16:20.159 crying out in the temple, Hosanna, save us to the son of David, they were indignant. Funny 00:16:20.159 --> 00:16:25.139 that, isn't it? What's really funny is they weren't indignant when people were buying and 00:16:25.139 --> 00:16:35.139 selling stuff in the temple courts, were they? When people were being stopped praying because 00:16:35.139 --> 00:16:38.659 they were buying and selling, that didn't make them upset at all. But what made them upset 00:16:38.659 --> 00:16:42.340 is Jesus healing and bringing holiness and making people fit for the kingdom of God. 00:16:44.080 --> 00:16:50.600 And seeing children come and want to praise him, now really got up their nose. Because 00:16:50.600 --> 00:16:55.659 they hate what is good and they love what is evil. They hate what is good and love what 00:16:55.659 --> 00:17:05.339 is evil. So I think if you talk about how sex is to be a pure gift, to be kept within a covenant 00:17:05.339 --> 00:17:12.180 of marriage between a man and a woman, in our culture, that's offensive, isn't it? And 00:17:12.180 --> 00:17:17.119 if you say that any sexual activity outside of a covenant of marriage between a man and 00:17:17.119 --> 00:17:22.059 a woman, that is forbidden by God. But that is for our good, that is the pathway to blessing, 00:17:22.059 --> 00:17:27.279 that is a good law for the benefit of human beings, there's a pro in our culture where 00:17:27.279 --> 00:17:37.139 that is missed. They hate it. They detest it. But when we talk about abortion with tears 00:17:37.139 --> 00:17:46.419 in our eyes and an unsuspective infant in the womb, we talk about the right to life, what's 00:17:46.420 --> 00:17:55.420 the reaction to that? The reaction to that is often hatred, isn't it? And to celebrate 00:17:56.000 --> 00:18:08.620 that freedom. Because our culture hates what is good and loves what is evil. Why is that? 00:18:08.900 --> 00:18:14.580 Well because our culture does not know the Lord Jesus Christ. But here in this passage, I 00:18:14.579 --> 00:18:18.000 want to say to you, it's not the world out there, it's the church, isn't it? Do you see 00:18:18.000 --> 00:18:22.500 that? And it's the leaders of the church, it's the priests who should have known better. 00:18:24.699 --> 00:18:29.819 And Jesus deals with them like he deals with the devil. And in chapter 4, like he does in 00:18:29.819 --> 00:18:34.059 chapter 4, he pulls out the sword of the Spirit, that's the word of God, and he quotes for the 00:18:34.059 --> 00:18:41.480 psalm 8. He says, do you hear what these children are singing? The priests are asking, can you 00:18:41.480 --> 00:18:48.059 shut these children up, Jesus? Jesus says to them, have you never read, have you never 00:18:48.059 --> 00:18:52.180 read under the mouths of infants and nursing babies you prepared praise? He quotes Psalm 8, 00:18:52.440 --> 00:18:58.220 which was written by King David. And he turns that very moment of the little ones worshipping 00:18:58.220 --> 00:19:07.259 into a prophetic fulfilment. And then he applies Psalm 8 to himself, and he makes himself equal 00:19:07.259 --> 00:19:18.839 with God in one simple quote. I love it. I love the way that children have a way of reminding 00:19:18.839 --> 00:19:26.099 us of the God we so often forget. And so what that says to you little ones this morning, little 00:19:26.099 --> 00:19:30.220 children, if you listen to this, it says this, it says the praise of the most insignificant 00:19:30.220 --> 00:19:38.079 kid shuts the mouth of the arrogant. And he always has and he always will. I've got two 00:19:38.079 --> 00:19:43.960 images in my mind right now. Let's think of a kind of foolishness that takes place in a 00:19:43.960 --> 00:19:50.180 philosophy class at a top university in London. Where they spend most of the first term coming 00:19:50.180 --> 00:19:56.900 up with reasons why God doesn't exist. And why you can't know anything. So that by the end 00:19:56.900 --> 00:20:01.120 of philosophy, one of the top London universities, you end up thinking you really can't know 00:20:01.120 --> 00:20:07.280 anything except the fact that you don't know anything. And now I think of the collective 00:20:07.280 --> 00:20:13.880 wisdom you find in our children's Sunday school this morning. Our little ones, little ones 00:20:13.880 --> 00:20:20.240 are praising Jesus and thanking him for dying for them. What can wash away my sin? Nothing 00:20:20.240 --> 00:20:32.460 but the blood of Jesus. Our God is a great big God. That's right, isn't it, Phoebe? And Jesus 00:20:32.460 --> 00:20:36.920 says he loves to hide himself from the wise and the learned and to reveal himself to little 00:20:36.920 --> 00:20:46.160 babies. I have a friend who has a five-year-old daughter and she was sharing in family worship 00:20:46.160 --> 00:20:52.840 her love for Jesus. My friend couldn't help himself and he said, Manny, you know more than 00:20:52.840 --> 00:21:02.960 90% of all the professors in all the universities in the world. He said, why, really, Dad? Wow. 00:21:04.320 --> 00:21:12.300 And then she said, what is a professor? She might not know what a professor is, but she knew that 00:21:12.299 --> 00:21:18.980 God created the universe by the word of his power and she knew that God sent his one and 00:21:18.980 --> 00:21:28.099 only son, the Lord Jesus, to the cross to take the punishment for her sin. Thirdly, let's 00:21:28.099 --> 00:21:34.460 say Jesus is prophet of judgment. Jesus is not just a king. He's not just a priest, he's a 00:21:34.460 --> 00:21:41.559 prophet. And so now it's Monday and on Monday he returns to Jerusalem, back to the city, back 00:21:41.559 --> 00:21:47.399 to the temple. He's four days away from Good Friday and he may well be prophet, priest and 00:21:47.399 --> 00:21:56.859 king and he may be God in the flesh, but he gets hungry. He's fully human. And so he's 00:21:56.859 --> 00:22:05.200 hungry and for the life of me, I don't understand, he wants figs. I can't understand why anyone 00:22:05.200 --> 00:22:13.259 want figs, but the Lord Jesus in his humanity likes figs. And he sees the fig tree and he's 00:22:13.259 --> 00:22:21.920 attracted to the fig tree again. And it's a fig tree that promises so much. And when he 00:22:21.920 --> 00:22:28.519 gets there, it delivers so little. There's no fruit of the vine. And he basically curses 00:22:28.519 --> 00:22:38.299 it. And it dies straight away. We're not supposed to get between a man and his food. But Jesus 00:22:38.299 --> 00:22:45.680 is not pronouncing this judgment because he's angry or hungry. Why is he pronouncing a curse 00:22:45.680 --> 00:22:50.139 on the fig tree? It's because this is the teachers. It's like the prophets of the Old Testament. 00:22:50.619 --> 00:22:56.039 They used visual aids, didn't they? Symbols to communicate truth. Particularly Ezekiel, if you've read 00:22:56.039 --> 00:23:01.579 that of Jeremiah. And they use visual aids and symbols. And here Jesus is cursing a tree 00:23:01.579 --> 00:23:12.700 that symbolizes Israel. The faithlessness of Israel. The people of God. And he issues a judgment 00:23:12.700 --> 00:23:20.480 upon it. And he's giving a foretaste of what is to come. It's a warning, as Jesus tells us, 00:23:20.500 --> 00:23:25.019 this is a warning of what will take place. So take heed, Jesus comes looking for fruit. Verse 00:23:25.019 --> 00:23:32.079 18, very early in the morning. As he was returning to the city, he became hungry and seen a fig tree 00:23:32.079 --> 00:23:35.740 by the wasteland. He went to it, found nothing on it, but only leaves. And he said, it may 00:23:35.740 --> 00:23:41.980 no fruit ever come from you again. And the fig tree with it immediately. Jesus didn't spray 00:23:41.980 --> 00:23:48.519 it with weed killer and come back a week later and it had wilted. He issued a judgment, a curse 00:23:48.519 --> 00:23:54.359 upon it, and instantaneously, as instantaneously as the blind men were healed in the temple, the 00:23:54.359 --> 00:24:09.079 tree was killed. Judgment had fallen upon it. And so Jesus comes at the end of a long line 00:24:09.079 --> 00:24:16.579 of prophets, bringing his word to Israel. And he's come as the prophet of God, to the people 00:24:16.579 --> 00:24:23.879 of God looking for faithfulness and fruitfulness in his people, and he finds so little. Do 00:24:23.879 --> 00:24:28.419 you know what? Jesus is still looking for that, isn't he? Today, he looks at his church and 00:24:28.419 --> 00:24:33.579 he looks for fruitfulness in his people. The fruit of the Spirit, love, joy, peace, patience, 00:24:33.699 --> 00:24:41.319 kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. So we've got to understand that 00:24:41.319 --> 00:24:52.279 what God is interested in is fruitfulness. Faith without works is theirs. It always has 00:24:52.279 --> 00:25:00.000 been. It always will be. Faith and works are as inseparable as Siamese twins who share the 00:25:00.000 --> 00:25:06.599 same heart. You cannot divide them. You cannot have faith that does not resolve itself in good 00:25:06.599 --> 00:25:13.299 works. And Jesus has come after a long line of God sending his covenant faithful prophets 00:25:13.299 --> 00:25:21.839 saying, turn back, turn back to me and bear fruit, bear fruit. Trust and obey. What did 00:25:21.839 --> 00:25:25.980 Jesus say in Matthew 7? He says, on that final day, not everyone who comes to me, who's been 00:25:25.980 --> 00:25:33.059 part of church life and says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of God. But only the 00:25:33.059 --> 00:25:38.980 one who does the will of my Father. And so take note of this judgment on this tree. It's 00:25:38.980 --> 00:25:48.000 a loving warning from your heavenly Father. Not just Israel, but to us. Then Jesus does 00:25:48.000 --> 00:25:52.980 a really weird thing, I think. The disciples seem to be more impressed with the skill of 00:25:52.980 --> 00:25:59.960 the miracle than the point of the parable. And so my last point is this. Jesus is king, 00:26:00.059 --> 00:26:11.900 he is priest, he is prophet. And the last point is faith in Jesus who moves mountains. It 00:26:11.900 --> 00:26:17.980 gives interest in turn here. To the disciples' amazement. When the disciples saw this, they 00:26:17.980 --> 00:26:22.759 are marveled. Say, how did the fig tree wither at once? And Jesus answered them, truly, I say 00:26:22.759 --> 00:26:26.799 to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what has been done to 00:26:26.799 --> 00:26:30.460 the fig tree, but if you take a little mountain, be taken up and thrown into the sea, it will 00:26:30.460 --> 00:26:36.720 happen. And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive for your faith. I'm surprised 00:26:36.720 --> 00:26:45.359 that the disciples are surprised. They've been with Jesus for three years. And yet they're 00:26:45.359 --> 00:26:51.500 still surprised. And so Jesus goes to this parable of judgment on Israel, who fails to bear 00:26:51.500 --> 00:27:00.079 fruit. And then he turns it into an instruction on faithful prayer. And he inspires us to pray 00:27:00.079 --> 00:27:11.059 big. He says, pray to the God who can do the impossible. And here is a promise of the power 00:27:11.059 --> 00:27:19.299 of prayer in faith. And Jesus says, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you curse 00:27:19.299 --> 00:27:23.799 trees, but you can move mountains. Now, let's think about this. Let's take this literally 00:27:23.799 --> 00:27:34.940 for a moment, okay? Should we give it a go? My Everest is just too big. That nervous is too 00:27:34.940 --> 00:27:43.259 far away. Let's try Horses and then hell. So who thinks that God can uproot Horses and 00:27:43.259 --> 00:27:52.640 hell? And let's say let's plunge it into the south coast, English Channel. Who thinks God 00:27:52.640 --> 00:28:00.779 can do it? Not only that God can do it, but God will do it. So let me pray right now that 00:28:00.779 --> 00:28:10.420 God does that. Let's make it literally. Should we pray? It seems silly, doesn't it? Jesus says, 00:28:10.420 --> 00:28:15.539 if you pray with confidence, that you'll give us whatever we ask and we'll be able to do 00:28:15.539 --> 00:28:25.700 it. How do we deal with this? Do we pray something like, you've talked Lord about the actual uprooting 00:28:25.700 --> 00:28:30.500 of a mountain and placing it into the sea. And so we give you this opportunity to uproot 00:28:30.500 --> 00:28:34.980 Horses and hill and put it in the English Channel. And we pray this for your glory. Amen. 00:28:36.360 --> 00:28:40.120 There's no amens. Why didn't it happen? 00:28:40.420 --> 00:28:43.820 It's a really flat reading of the text, isn't it? Literally. 00:28:46.220 --> 00:28:48.220 It's that there's a lack of faith here this morning. 00:28:50.560 --> 00:28:54.600 Well, I do want to say this. I don't think there has been recorded in the history of the 00:28:54.600 --> 00:29:00.620 church mountains being moved in response to prayer. Some of you are better church historians 00:29:00.620 --> 00:29:06.779 than I am, but I can't find it. As far as I know. You may correct me, but it's never 00:29:06.779 --> 00:29:13.000 happened as far as I'm aware. We also know, don't we, we let the Bible interpret the Bible. 00:29:13.200 --> 00:29:20.359 So we know that Jesus asked for things which he did not receive. In the Garden of Gethsemane, 00:29:20.559 --> 00:29:24.579 he's going to pray, let this cup pass from me. That was his request, but he didn't get what 00:29:24.579 --> 00:29:30.339 he asked. We also know that the Apostle Paul, on three occasions, he prayed that the thorn 00:29:30.339 --> 00:29:35.599 in his side would be removed. He asked for something, and it didn't happen. He got, the 00:29:35.599 --> 00:29:43.279 only answer he got was, my grace is sufficient for you to live with it. Well, that is already 00:29:43.279 --> 00:29:49.160 qualifying. And what we have here, trusting in Jesus, who is our prophet, priest, and king, 00:29:49.160 --> 00:29:58.720 and God. Of course, our God can move mountains, we know that. And so what is Jesus' purpose 00:29:58.720 --> 00:30:06.980 at the end of this section? It's quite obvious, isn't it, that the thrust of this point is 00:30:06.980 --> 00:30:13.279 that you will pray big. And that you and I will pray confidently in the God who can do 00:30:13.279 --> 00:30:19.700 the impossible. Now, we've seen that. It's the prayer of faith that has moved some of you 00:30:19.700 --> 00:30:26.860 from being hard-hearted, anti-God, atheistic beings who hated the notion of God, and God 00:30:26.860 --> 00:30:31.380 has moved you to being gentle children of God, who love Jesus and want to tell others about 00:30:31.380 --> 00:30:36.519 you. You've seen that in our own lives, haven't we, as the people of God? 00:30:36.519 --> 00:30:41.460 God, in moving us from being guilty and condemned to being forgiven, and children of the king 00:30:41.460 --> 00:30:48.940 of kings, who experience the privilege of knowing that we are children of God. So has God not 00:30:48.940 --> 00:30:55.500 turned fear-ridden, anxious little lambs into ferocious lions for Jesus? I've seen that. 00:30:57.139 --> 00:31:02.519 I've seen the timid ask God to transform them into children of the king who are proud to boast 00:31:02.519 --> 00:31:10.240 in his name. I've seen God answer and provide in the most remarkable ways, in ways that we 00:31:10.240 --> 00:31:18.119 couldn't have believed or imagined were possible. And so do you know what I'm afraid of? I'm afraid 00:31:18.119 --> 00:31:26.839 of that we rightly pray at the end of our prayers, your will be done. But the reason why some of 00:31:26.839 --> 00:31:33.000 us do that is, why some of us pray that is because we're afraid to expect anything from 00:31:33.000 --> 00:31:42.059 God. And so we've used the right prayer for a wrong reason. And that prayer, your will be 00:31:42.059 --> 00:31:48.179 done, is not to restrict the vision. You can pray what appears to be the impossible and 00:31:48.179 --> 00:31:55.079 allow God to do his wonderful work. But I think we protect ourselves. If I don't pray too 00:31:55.079 --> 00:32:00.559 big, or I pray your will be done, that I don't have to really expect it, and I therefore 00:32:00.559 --> 00:32:12.159 don't need to know the deep disappointment of God saying no. And so I have decided as a 00:32:12.159 --> 00:32:20.359 result of this passage to pray big prayers. To pray that the Lord would grant to this church 00:32:20.359 --> 00:32:28.959 that we would multiply over the next ten years. That the church planted in Ebb's Bridge would 00:32:28.959 --> 00:32:33.559 not just be planted, but it would grow and thrive and become a church which plants churches. 00:32:36.199 --> 00:32:46.439 Big, hairy, audacious press. That I submit to a God, and I know that that's in line with 00:32:46.440 --> 00:32:51.500 his will. That he wants people to be saved. He promised that he will build his church. 00:32:51.840 --> 00:32:57.460 But I do, for your will be done. And I'm prepared to accept whatever the verdict. And so don't 00:32:57.460 --> 00:33:02.519 we want Jesus to come riding as a king into the hearts of people in West London. To move 00:33:02.519 --> 00:33:08.920 their hearts from being anti-God. Of course we do. And so I'm tired of praying a small prayers. 00:33:08.920 --> 00:33:14.759 Please help me to get through today, you know. You know we're in LA to be good and for you. 00:33:16.039 --> 00:33:19.200 And for them to have a good day in school. That's a good prayer. It's a very little prayer, 00:33:19.300 --> 00:33:27.720 isn't it? Your will be done. What is God's will? That his people would honour him. And to honour 00:33:27.720 --> 00:33:33.279 the name of God. For his people to be jealous of his glory. And we all want one or two, do 00:33:33.279 --> 00:33:41.460 we? We want them to know thousands. So that Ealing and Hanwell and Greenford and Exquid would 00:33:41.460 --> 00:33:47.559 be transformed and that people would see the results of that. So will you pray big with 00:33:47.559 --> 00:33:54.079 me? Of course your will be done. But let's not hide behind it. I don't want to pray too 00:33:54.079 --> 00:34:00.079 much in case I'm disappointed. Pray big prayers. So what are we? We're about, I don't know what 00:34:00.079 --> 00:34:09.860 we are, we're about 150. We eat this morning. Let's pray that we fill this building. That 00:34:09.860 --> 00:34:15.059 it would be packed by fruitful believers. Let's pray that the church plant would get established 00:34:15.059 --> 00:34:18.980 and blossom and fire. Club 16 wants to come on, 20 kids at the moment. Let's pray for 00:34:18.980 --> 00:34:23.299 40 by the end of the year. Ignite, it's got 15. Let's pray for 30 by the end of the year. 00:34:23.300 --> 00:34:32.000 In this language class, that's pretty big. Let's pray big prayers because we have a God 00:34:32.000 --> 00:34:38.380 who can move mountains. He's not interested in moving mountains, he. But he is interested 00:34:38.380 --> 00:34:44.580 in moving hearts. So let me encourage you this morning. Why don't you today draw up a list 00:34:44.579 --> 00:34:52.539 of 10 impossible prayer points? 10 things that aren't impossible for God, but you kind 00:34:52.539 --> 00:34:57.059 of feel that they're impossible. You know the person you've given up on, the father, the 00:34:57.059 --> 00:35:04.460 brother, the sister, the work colleague. And pray every day. And see how many of these 00:35:04.460 --> 00:35:08.920 impossible prayer points he's made possible by his friend next year. God loves to answer 00:35:08.920 --> 00:35:15.360 prayer that's consistent with his will. And so that's your application today. It may be 00:35:15.360 --> 00:35:19.440 someone you've given up on. It may be your neighbor who's just been so aggressive to you. 00:35:19.500 --> 00:35:24.720 It may be your boss who's so difficult. It may be the loan that we have in the church that 00:35:24.720 --> 00:35:30.320 it'll be paid off in the next year rather than 20 years. Pray big and pray every day. 00:35:32.260 --> 00:35:34.860 And pray to the wonderful God who will do the impossible. Let's pray.