Nothing But Leaves

Spurgeon opens by noting that the cursing of the fig tree is Christ's only miracle of pure judgment, and argues from this that its rarity makes its lesson all the more weighty — the curse does not fall on the openly godless who make no profession, nor on those who are simply not yet called, but falls precisely and only on the tree covered with conspicuous leaves that promise fruit and deliver nothing, which is the portrait of the high-professing, outwardly religious person. He then works through the many species of this fruitless-but-leafy professor: the formalist who mistakes going through religious ceremonies for genuine worship, the doctrinal enthusiast who would die for orthodoxy but whose life is rotten and his temper unchristlike, the fluent talker whose words come from the throat and not the heart, those who feel momentary regret over sin but never true repentance, and those who make endless resolves that never harden into action — before pressing the deeper point that Christ actually hungers for fruit from those who have claimed to be purchased by his blood, and that for a person with so much visible leaf — a church leader, an early convert with loud testimony, someone famous for professing great love for Christ while giving nothing — the curse comes all the more certainly because the disappointment is all the greater. He closes with a self-searching personal confession that his own elevated position multiplies his condemnation if his profession is hollow, before ending with the one remaining door of hope: grace can still make even the leafiest hypocrite genuinely fruitful if they will now cast themselves on Christ's wounds in honest faith, asking the Spirit — in whom alone all true fruit is found — to work what no amount of leaves has ever produced. Sermon delivered by Charles Spurgeon on February 21, 1864. Listen for free on the following platforms: Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast... Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/1Rndn9d... Podcast Index - https://podcastindex.org/podcast/7491057 iHeartRadio - https://www.iheart.com/podcast/269-da... Podcast Addict - https://podcastaddict.com/podcast/dai... Castro - https://castro.fm/podcast/fc718d93-28... Castbox - https://castbox.fm/channel/6814639?co... Deezer - https://www.deezer.com/us/show/100221... PlayerFM - https://player.fm/series/daily-sermon...