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What can a fig tree teach us about the end of the age? Join me, Pastor Richard, and learn the lesson of the fig tree as Jesus calls us to look up, stay ready, and live with hope, because he is near and his word never fails.

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Today's scripture reading is taken from the Gospel of Mark, chapter 13, verses 1 to 5. And Mark chapter 13, verses 28 to 31. Jesus foretells destruction of the temple. And as he came out of the temple, one of his disciples said to him, Look, teacher, what wonderful stones and what wonderful buildings. And Jesus said to him, Do you see these great buildings? There will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down. Signs of the end of the age. And as he sat on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter and James and John and Andrew asked him privately, tell us when will these things be and what will be the sign when all these things are about to be accomplished? And Jesus began to say to them, See that no one leads you astray. Verses twenty eight to thirty one. The lesson of the fig tree From the fig tree learn its lesson. As soon as its branch becomes tender and puts out its leaves, you know that summer is near. So also when you see these things taking place, you know that he is near at the very gates. Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away. This is the word of God. Thanks be to God.

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In Mark chapter 13, we're just going to uh go through the words of the first two verses. If you have your Bible with you, today is the day. You need to take out your Bible. We're going to be going through Matthew chapter 13 quite a bit today. It will be helpful to have it right there in front of you for reference. The first two verses, and he he, as he came out of the temple, one of his disciples to had said to him, Look, teacher, what wonderful stones and what wonderful buildings. And Jesus said to him, Do you see these great buildings? There will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down. You know, when tourists come to visit, uh we all can recognize them quite quickly, right? Because they walk around, they're looking at the very tall buildings. Is that true? I I think we've seen it many times. I've been that person sometimes. Well, the disciples, they were these country bumpkins, all right? They were they were from the countryside, they were hillbillies, and they were gawking at the temple, which is really architecturally, it was a marvel. It was amazing. And so uh the irony though is while they're marveling at all these tall buildings, they're standing in the presence of someone much more marvelous. Jesus Christ, the Son of God in human form. And so the disciples, they were fixing their eyes on the wrong thing, the wrong marvel. And Jesus says to them, You see this temple, you see these fine buildings? They are not going to last. They're not going to last, they're going to be destroyed. Don't fix your eyes on them. And this really kind of spooked the disciples, all right? Because they link the end of the temple to the end times of the world. And they're both right and wrong about that. And if you have your Bible with you, uh, we're going through Mark chapter 13 here. And in verses 5 to 8, Jesus begins by warning the disciples against fake news. Uh, today, as our Singapore society becomes increasingly more advanced and digital, also the amount of scams and fake news has increased dramatically. Uh, the scams nowadays, as I'm sure you know, they usually involve a message from WhatsApp or even a call from WhatsApp. How many here have uh received a delivery scam message? I'm sure you've received, right? And so uh, you know, the message is saying, oh, your package is on hold. Uh we need additional details from you. Oh, it's stuck at customs. You just need to give us your bank details so we can take a small fee to release it. Or there's the recruitment scam. Um, you, wow, life is good. You can work from home just a few hours a day, just visit a few websites, and you're gonna earn a lot of money for every website that you visit. Uh, or else we have an opportunity for you. If you'll just uh give us a few hundred dollars, we can set you up with better employment. This is especially a scam that gets targeted to uh domestic workers. Oh, just just give us some money. We have opportunities waiting for you. But unfortunately, it's all a scam. Or there's my favorite, the ICA scam. Oh, there's an issue with your NRIC, there's an issue with your employment pass, or a friend of yours has been detained by ICA. You need to give us passport details or your NRIC. You need to pay a penalty or a fine. Do you know? For a long stretch of time, the people with this scam, they really care about me. Do you know that? They give me a call almost every day. Almost every day. It's always the same recording. This is ICA. And you know, I should have had a recording for us. And the best part, the number comes from the U.S. I don't, I don't know what's going on here. Anyway, so there are lots of scams, there's lots of fake news, and so Jesus begins warning his disciples against fake news. Disciples, don't be scammed. Here's what the scripture says, verses five to eight. Jesus began to say to them, See that no one leads you astray. Many will come in my name, saying, I am He, and they will lead many astray. And when you hear of wars and rumors of wars, don't be alarmed. This must take place, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom, there'll be earthquakes in various places, there will be famines. These are but the beginnings of the birth pains. Jesus is telling his disciples, people are going to pretend to be me. They're gonna say that this is the end. Don't believe them. Fake news. This is all fake news. It's helpful for us to think of human history perhaps as a book. And there are many chapters in this book. The first chapter is Genesis, right? Literally beginnings. And the last chapter is represented by the book of Revelation. Jesus tells his disciples that false Christs, that wars, that natural disasters, all these are not the final chapter. This is not the final chapter. They're just to indicate that we're in that final section of the book. And so Jesus then goes on to tell his disciples what these first chapters of the final section are going to look like. And in verses 9 to 23, it says that there will be both increasing persecution and gospel proclamation. Here's what Jesus prophesies. He says, They are going to drag you into court. You're going to be beaten in the synagogue. In the synagogue was the local place where the Jews would come together to sing, to talk to God, and to study the Old Testament scriptures. He says, You're going to be dragged in front of the highest authorities to see if you will compromise your faith when the pressure is on. But this is not the end. The gospel still needs to be proclaimed to all nations. And when they take you to court, don't worry about what you have to say. Don't prepare a statement ahead of time, because the Holy Spirit is going to speak through you. It's going to get pretty bad. Brothers will even be killing brothers. Fathers would kill their children. Children would even kill their parents. But Christians, you know, during this time they're going to be especially hated during this chapter. Don't give up. Hold strong to your faith even to the end, because you will be saved. He then goes on, verses 14 to 23. Jesus warns them that coming war in Judea, along with intensifying persecution, are gonna collide with incredible force. He says believers are going to have to run for their lives. It's gonna be so intense. Don't take your things, don't even pack a bag. When that time comes, you have to get out and get out fast. He says it's gonna be some of the most intense persecution in history. There's gonna be even more fake news. False Christs and false prophets will even be allowed to perform some measure of signs and miracles. But I'm telling you these things so that you can be on your guard. Be on your guard. When all this happens, don't be deceived by fake news and scams. And then Jesus begins to point to the events that will accompany his second coming. And if you have your Bible open, uh, we're gonna be reading now from verses 24 to 27. But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken, and then they will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory, and then he will send out the angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven. These will be the cosmic signs, and then Christ is going to descend, and the elect believers are going to rise and meet him together in the air, and his return will be unmistakable. And so we come to the lesson of the fig tree. From the fig tree, learn its lesson. We're in verse 28 now. As soon as the branch becomes tender and puts out its leaves, you know that summer is near. So also when you see these things taking place, you know that he is near at the very gates. Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away. Now, on the surface, this passage may seem a bit confusing. Because, well, the generation that Jesus was speaking to, um, they have passed away, actually. They passed away a long time ago, and Jesus didn't return before they passed away. Am I right? These things that Jesus is talking about is tied back to what started all of this off when the disciples were admiring the temple, and Jesus said that, you know what, the temple is going to be destroyed. And this conversation with Jesus took place around the year 30 A.D. 30 A.D. And history records that the temple was destroyed in 70 A.D. Forty years later, the temple was destroyed. And there had been this general Jewish revolt against the Romans. And eventually the Romans sent in a large army. They surrounded the city. They surrounded Jerusalem. Many people starved during that siege. And then they went in and they slaughtered or enslaved many of the people, a large amount of the population. And history also goes on to tell us that in 64 AD, there was this great fire that had begun in Rome. All right. And it took an entire week to put out this fire. And Emperor Nero, the emperor at the time, was rapidly losing favor with the populace. And so he blamed the Christians. Intense persecution followed. They were dragged into court and they were often put to death. So the lesson of the fig tree, when the disciples heard it, Jesus was preparing them for these events, for what was going to happen. He told them to prepare them, to strengthen them, and to assure them to hold tightly to the faith. Because if they would hold tightly to their faith, even amidst all that, they will experience salvation in the end. That was the lesson of the fig tree for the disciples. Okay, how about for us? What is the lesson of the fig tree for us? Learn the lesson of the fig tree. Once you see these signs, and we've seen a lot of this take place already, and some of it's continuing, the season is near. The final chapter is near. The end times are near. There's going to be rebellion against God. I think we're seeing that, right? There's going to be increasing persecution and increasing gospel proclamation. Whether you're aware or not, that is very much the case today. There is more persecution now against believers at certain parts in the world than there ever has been in history. And the gospel is being proclaimed. There are areas where there's huge amounts of revival taking place. The end times are near. The return of Jesus is imminent. And the day of judgment is coming. And so many have tried predicting when the Lord will return, when he'll come back. There are even, if you, please don't, but if you were to look on YouTube, you would find that there are many people, so-called prophets, who are predicting this year, I've calculated, I've seen the signs, this is the year that the Lord's coming back. My dear brothers and sisters, don't fall for what they say. This is fake news. Okay? Jesus said quite clearly, this is verses 32 to 36. But concerning that day or that hour, no one knows. Not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, only the Father. Be on guard, keep awake, for you do not know when the time will come. It is like a man going on a journey when he leaves home and he puts his servants in charge, each with his work, and he commands the doorkeeper to stay awake. Therefore, stay awake. For you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or in the morning, lest he come suddenly and find you asleep. So don't bother trying to predict it. No point. His return is going to be sudden. It could be at any time. His return is imminent. Therefore, be on guard and keep awake. That is the lesson of the fig tree for us. That we are to have an end time attitude. An end time attitude because the return of Jesus is imminent. Back in the 90s, there was this very popular book series called Left Behind. Have any of you heard of that book series, Left Behind? Okay. Not too many of us here. It was written by Tim Lehaye, and the story it begins with the rapture, a sudden event where millions of Christians vanish from the earth in an instant. And the remaining population, they're facing chaos and confusion and despair. And then the story it follows, this so-called tribulation force, a group of left-behind individuals who became believers after this mass disappearance of all Christians. And they form this underground resistance network to support new believers. And there's this seven-year period where they battle the antichrist who rises as this charismatic global dictator. And it concludes, the book series concludes with a second coming of Christ, who defeats evil and establishes his kingdom. In its time, this book series was shocking. All right. Suddenly there was awareness that Jesus could come at any time, and we don't know the time. And it could be tomorrow and what's going to happen. Now, this morning, uh, we're not here to debate what the rapture looks like or how it will happen or the events of everything. That's not the focus. That's maybe better for a CE class. Instead, I want to focus on the impact that this Left Behind book series had on many of us because it gave us an end time attitude. Would you say that with me? End time attitude. End time attitude. And an end time attitude is marked by an urgency of faith. It's marked by redemption after failure. It's marked by spiritual warfare. And it's marked by hope amidst chaos. First, we need an urgency of faith because tomorrow is never guaranteed. We don't know how many days we have left until Jesus returns. Instead, we we tend to procrastinate. Isn't that right? We tend to not really uh we put things on the burner sometimes because we have this illusion that there's always going to be more time for us. But the cost of delay, it could cost us everything because there will not always be more time. There will not always be more time. His return is going to be sudden and immediate. It's going to be like a flash of lightning. It'll be unmistakable and it will be so fast. And the whole world will see when he comes back. And so uh we must not be mistaken. This is all part of an end time. Attitude. We must not be mistaken. Knowing about God is not going to save us when Jesus comes back. Salvation is based upon a relationship, not a special knowledge. And so we must not treat God's patience and returning as an excuse for delaying and procrastinating. An end time attitude, it invites us to respond to God's love and his generous provision for us today. Secondly, we should eagerly pursue redemption after failure. Redemption after failure. Personal failure is not the end of God's timeline. Even Peter, he bluntly denied Christ. Right? We know this from the Gospels. He denied Christ three times, and yet Peter was redeemed and became a pillar of the church. And so we may discover a really surprising reality that when we fail, God does not fail us. It's kind of hard to hold on to, isn't it? When we fail, God does not fail us. Redemption after failure, it turns us from regret to purpose. It moves us past wallowing in sorrow or depression over our failing. But that redemption, it moves us to purpose. Instead of looking backwards and becoming stuck in the what-ifs, instead, redemption after failure has us use our remaining time to be purposeful, to extend grace and saving grace to others. If we know what it costs to save us, then we also want to share that with others. And the greater the grace, it's the greater the gratitude that we experience. If I buy you a cup of coffee, your response to me may be thank you. Right? That's an appropriate response for buying a cup of coffee. If you become hospitalized and you have surgical bills and tens of thousands of dollars that you don't know how to pay, and I come and I pay that hospital bill for you, the response will probably be more than thank you. Right? You'll be so moved. And so, my friends, my brothers and sisters, we need to be reminded that we have been forgiven much, that we have been saved much, that the the price wasn't a cup of coffee, it wasn't even a hospital bill. It cost a life for us to be freed from our sin. And so when we remind ourselves about this, we are filled with gratitude. An end time attitude, it pushes us to move past our past failures and to live with purpose as a result of that redemption. Third, we need to recognize spiritual warfare is not just a theological concept, but it is a daily reality. Our physical world is constantly being influenced by a fierce spiritual war going on that we're not able to see between Satan and demonic forces against the purposes of God and his angelic servants. The battle is unseen and it is very real. It's a battle of deception against truth. It's a battle for the minds and hearts of humanity and for us and for our loved ones that we care about. And as darkness becomes darker and light shines brighter, uh, glimpses of this unseen battle, they become more frequent. It's a battle where we must raise up our effective weapons because we are not powerless in this battle. Instead, we take up the weapons of Scripture and prayer, because the word of God in our prayers are powerful and they do make a difference. An end time attitude urges us to be strong in prayer and knowing and applying the word of God, because we recognize that the greatest battles that we fight are rarely fought against people. They're rarely fought against political systems. It's instead the reality that we are in a spiritual battle, whether we like it or not. And fourth and finally, as part of an end time attitude, we we need to firmly plan our feet and remain strong in our faith despite opposition and take a position of hope against chaos, because we are not defeated, my friends. Guess what? Although things seem to be getting worse in some areas, we know. We know the end. If you've read your Bible, if you've read through the book of Revelation, you know that the end is not an end that sees us in defeat, but it sees the Lord victorious and his people alongside of him. And so in a world being ravaged by sin, God is able to provide even immediate answers now. He's able to bring clarity, he's able to offer that gift of salvation even today. In a world overwhelmed by information, we're able to find truth by turning our eyes to God. We're able to find truth and direction by reading his word, knowing that the final outcome will be God's justice and his eternal reign. And there will be a blissful life for believers, for Christians, but eternal punishment for those who have rejected him. And so, an end time attitude, it means that we not only find hope amidst chaos, but we're able to extend that hope to others. And so, in summary, if you take nothing else away this morning, take this away. All right? The lesson of the fig tree is to have an end-time attitude. The return of Jesus is imminent, and his return will be sudden and unannounced. So we must embody a sense of urgency. We need to embrace redemption, we need to engage in spiritual warfare, and we need to exercise hope in the midst of chaos. Verse 29. So also when you see these things taking place, you know that he is near at the very gates. Friends, we are in this final section. If life is a book, if human history is a book, we are in the final section and we're coming to the final chapter. And so I just want to encourage you, in light of this, because we don't know what's going to happen later today. We don't know what's going to happen tomorrow. We don't know when the Lord is going to return. Let's have an end time attitude. Let's be ready. Let's allow the Lord to use us, that we will share the good news that we have and not wait until it is too late. Let's not leave any unfinished business. If you'd like to know more about each Christian Church, please visit our website at yccanglican.com. Have a blessed day.