Hope of a Tree
Job 14:7-9
Pastor Gene Breed May 1, 2011
I almost had a running fit here Wednesday night as we studied in Zechariah 11 while bringing out the second part of the message on The Spoiled Glory. We couldn’t get the thought off our minds of the fir tree howling because the cedar had fallen. Zechariah 11:2 Howl, fir tree; for the cedar is fallen. Peter says Christ has suffered leaving us an example. We sang a song today, Footsteps of Jesus, “whether it is by Siloam’s of fountain or along on Calvary’s mountain, we will follow Him”. So we fir trees are going to howl because we will follow the Cedar tree and He has fallen- God cut Him down. And I got to thinking about that and it won’t leave my mind, and I am not trying to get it to- I trust that I have the message of God today.
Job 14:7 For there is hope of a tree. Job has been questioning and asking that if a man die, can he live again? He didn’t come to an understanding of the resurrection until the end of the book, where he says mine eyes shall see him. Job looks around him at nature and says, “For there is hope of a tree, if it be cut down, that it will sprout again, and that the tender branch thereof will not cease.” Through the root…who is your root? Christ. Which one has the root in it, the vine or the branch? The vine. Jesus says I am the vine and ye are the branches. If a branch be broken off from the vine, it withereth. The only life you have is in Christ. But listen to this from Zechariah 11:2: Howl, fir tree; for the cedar is cut down. Job 14:8 Though the root thereof wax old in the earth, and the stock thereof die in the ground…but I don’t know how God, who does not just have life, but IS life…(and in John 5:26 Jesus Christ said that I have this from my Father, my Father has given me to have life in myself even as the Father hath life in Himself)… I do not know how, but I do know that Jesus of Nazareth, the very Son of God, the Son of Adam and the Son of man… literally…absolutely…completely…terminally…died. He died in the ground (which we will look at later).
So how did He come to live again? I’ve asked the Lord to show me those mysteries our brother was talking about that is given unto us to know. We are supposed to be “stewards of those mysteries” and if I don’t know all of them, I cannot be a steward of that which I do not possess. This next verse is that which walked with me on my path every morning after Wednesday night and it has stayed in my heart and my mind. I have meditated and cried out to God, and I come to you today as an empty vessel, asking the Lord to help me be able to say what I am seeing, even though I don’t know all that I am seeing. You are in trouble today if God is not your Pastor!
Verse 9 Yet through the scent of water it will bud. Might I ask a question? If the root is dead in the ground, how can “it” smell? The answer is the same way that Lazarus could hear when Christ said, “Lazarus, come forth” when he was dead in the ground. It is because it was not up to the ear nor is it up to the nose. The power was up to God; not to give a command that could not be followed, not even to give a command which was good if it could be followed, and not even to say and require the right thing for the right ends, because the one you are commanding has not the ability to hear or to smell, for he is dead. So is the sinner who is dead in trespasses and in sins! So how did Lazarus hear Christ if Lazarus was dead? The same way Lazarus came forth. It was an enabling command; it was an effectual voice. It was God bringing something out of nothing. It was God calling into existence that which He had purposed in distinction from Himself. It was God extending His life into Lazarus so that Lazarus might not only hear and not only perceive, but also carry out the command of God. And darkness was upon the face of the deep in that tomb in Lazarus’ grave and “God said” (I hope God will “say” today, don’t you? Any dead stuff around here needing resurrecting? I know I do.), and darkness was upon the face of the deep in Lazarus’ tomb when all of a sudden an eye quivered, a finger moved, a toe wiggled. And life was brought into that which stunk, that which was corrupting, that which was dead. He that was dead came forth. Oh, my soul, God Almighty provided what was lacking; that which had to be done in order for God’s command and His glory to be seen.
As far as the carnal mind is concerned, the most absurd thing I think Jesus has said concerned the fellow with a withered arm. Do you remember what Jesus told him to do? Jesus told him to stretch forth thy arm. If the fellow could have stretched forth his arm, he wouldn’t have needed Jesus! But that was not a suggestion; that was an enabling command. I wonder if God has an enabling command for you today? I wonder if you, by faith, will do that which you cannot do because God has told you to? I wonder if that mountain you face, which is insurmountable, will be made into a plain as you come to realize it is not by human might nor by collective human power, but by My Spirit saith the Lord. A temple of God shall be built right there where that rubble is and God Almighty will do that which you cannot even perceive right now. Will you trust God to do that which is utterly improbable and impossible in your life? Will you believe God today? You say, “I’m lying in the grave…everything about me is rotten…I’m corrupting…I am dead in trespasses and sins…I am without God…I am without hope in this world.” Yes. But dear soul, God is coming to bear upon you. And do you know what? They didn’t bring Lazarus to the place where Jesus was. It said that they brought Jesus to the place where the dead man lay. God is bringing Himself to you: the wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof; but canst not tell…John 3:8. There are things about the Spirit you cannot tell. Oh, but I’ve studied the bible all my life! You still can’t tell; you don’t know. But I can answer all the questions! No, you really can’t. God put Job to the test in the last few chapters of Job and Job couldn’t answer all the questions. Where are the hooks that I affixed the world to? What happens to the wild ass in the wilderness; do you feed him? Does anyone hear him when he brays? I do…for I am God. Why is he there anyway for he doesn’t pull a plow? He is just there for God and His glory. John 3:8b Thou canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.
Dear soul, are you a Christian? Are you truly a child of God? Has grace entered into your heart, has sin and the desire for ungodliness and the fulfillment of worldly lusts departed from you? Has God entered in and overcome you? Has the Lord come in and cleaned up the inside of your soul and is leading you in paths of righteousness? So is everyone that is born of the Spirit. You have a mystical walk and it is understandable. 1 John 5:20 And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him and know the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings. You came to know that which you cannot speak. You came to know that which you were not taught, for they have an unction with the Holy One and they know all things.
I’m speaking to the realm today which sits higher than the angels. I’m talking today and may God have mercy on this man of clay that stands before you and dares open his mouth to the spirits of just men made perfect. Dear soul, I know I am speaking today to those who have the unction of God within their soul and they know whether I speak the truth or not. Their “amens” in their hearts and their confirmations in their souls will be the evidence that I was ever called of God and sent forth to speak His Word. The Bible has told the Church that you will be the ones to try the spirits, and the Word is talking about the spiritual gifts.
The root died in the ground (verse 8) and through the scent of water it will bud. The Bible says when the two witnesses were destroyed that the world went crazy, had a big party, and gave gifts to one another saying “we are so glad we don’t have that stinging gospel among us anymore”. The two witnesses are lying dead in the street, the Church and the Holy Ghost have withdrawn themselves from the world and the Word of God is not out in the public like it used to be- for while the cat’s away, the mice do play. Men are going crazy today with vulgarity, impatience, meanness, indifference, ungodliness, selfishness, greed and such as we have in our nation today. It is because God hath withdrawn the gospel. We are in a mess.
Satan began to rejoice; the two witnesses are dead. Satan says, “I have Him where I want Him. He became mortal man. Now I have authority over Him to kill Him because, look, even God His Father made Him to be sin and the wages of sin is death.” The problem with the devil was that he didn’t know the gospel. The devil’s thinking he’s got humanity in the ground, in the tomb. Christ Jesus didn’t have any insurance; couldn’t even pay the funeral director. It was all charity. He had to borrow a grave. Have you ever heard of anyone else borrowing a grave? A cup of sugar, a car to run to town, some lawnmower gas maybe, but a borrowing a grave? He had to borrow a grave.
But the gospel says in Hebrews 2:14 that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. The devil didn’t know the gospel, but he is rejoicing, for “lo in the grave he lay”. He’s dead now. God required Him to fulfill that which He stopped Abraham from doing. Abraham was a father, Isaac was a son. Isaac had the wood on his back and went up to Mount Mariah, which is the same piece of real estate as Mount Calvary in the New Testament. God said, “Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.” Genesis 22:2a And He stopped Abraham and provided a ram in the thicket.
Yet this time there is to be no ram…for what the law could not do and was weak through the flesh…for God is “sending His only Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin”! There isn’t going to be a ram in the thicket…He is Lamb of God! John 12:27 …and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour: but for this cause came I unto this hour. He says to the daughters of Jerusalem in Luke 23:27-31 to weep not for me. I’m a green tree. What does that mean? I have life in me- I don’t just have life, I AM the life. Weep for yourselves. What in particular did He tell them to weep for? You men do understand that daughters are female? He talked with the daughters of Jerusalem on the way to His death and of what did He speak? Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bare, and the paps which never gave suck. What is He talking about? I was born of God, yes; I was born from a woman, but I was born of God, thus I’m a green tree. You need to pray for these dry trees you are producing because everything produced in human flesh is a dry tree and it is going to be burned up unless God does something about it. He said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but weep for yourselves.” Why? Because you are that womb which is producing the kindling and the firewood to keep the fires of hell burning! Pretty strong stuff, isn’t it? He said that they are going to do this to me, but I’m a green tree. For this hour am I now come. I came to die. God will deliver me for your offences, but God will raise me for your justification. Weep for yourselves, sinners, weep that you have not come to Christ. Weep that you are taking pride and joy and glory in your physical birth, but you have not considered your spiritual birth. If this happens to a green tree, you had better believe us dry trees are in a heap of trouble!
The devil has him, lo, in the grave he lay. He isn’t going to start stinking because God will not allow thine Holy One to see corruption Psalm 16:10. Christ is going to be raised before the corruption begins and there will be a work of God in Him like there has been in no other man… not in Confucius, Mohammed, any other religious rulers, or anyone else on which myriads of souls are basing themselves upon for they are following after dead men, after dry trees. Yet, this one is the only one raised by the power of God…none of the rest of them have had a resurrection of their leader.
So now the devil is throwing his party, having a good time with a big party in hell and is giving gifts to men because the witnesses are dead! We are free now! We did it! We are out from under the yoke and bondage of God! But, wait…I’m sorry, you just can’t do that. No one is out from under the responsibility to give an account to God. Do you know why death comes? It is appointed of God. One of the imps comes over saying, “I saw his finger move.” What?! He’s alive! He tore the bars away! Jesus, my Savior! Death could not keep its prey. It was a trick, Satan! This was the reason the gospel was not given from the foundation of the world and angels were not allowed to hear it. For if the princes of this world had known the gospel, they would never have crucified the Lord of glory! Hebrews 2:14-15 That through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.
How did it happen? I have been a Christian for a long time. I have been praying and seeking God to tell me the mysteries of Calvary, the mysteries of Christ’s death, the mysteries of the Spirit of God. I had to turn in my hip and get a mechanical one, my hearing didn’t make it- beat up, nonetheless, I’m here. And finally, God gave me Job 14:9 and said that this is how it happened. The root, an offspring of David, is lying in the grave. Did he die? If he didn’t, we are all going to hell. God made sure that Caesar, who is God’s Caesar (Romans 13:1…the powers (authorities) that be are ordained of God) put guards, the most powerful soldiers and authoritarians there were on earth at that time, around that tomb, poured wax on the crack between the rock and the mountain, and put Caesar’s seal on it. They made sure that He was graveyard dead. Then in Job 14:9, how does it say He comes back to life? Yet through the scent of water it will bud, and bring forth boughs like a plant.
In John 12:23 after He is told by Andrew and Philip that there are Greeks which have come and said that they would seek Jesus, the Lord Jesus Christ says that if the Gentiles are seeking me then the hour is come. He didn’t say that the hour is come that the Son of Man must be crucified. He said that the Son of man should be glorified. And then He tells us one little verse of His death. Truly, truly! This is God saying for certain, “verily, verily, I say unto you, except a corn of wheat fall into the ground…” inGalatians 3:14 that seed which is Christ…in Job 14:8…and the stock thereof die in the ground..in John 12:24… except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die. Job 14:8 says He fell into the ground and died. The root was in the ground and it died. John 12:24 says Christ was in the ground and He died. And He said, if it is not so, God will forever and eternally abide alone with the dead, rotting, humanity of His Son in the ground. God would then never, ever have those He elected in that seed from the foundation of the world, to enjoy and bless them with a glorious indwelling of His Spirit throughout all eternity. Unless the seed, unless the root die in the ground, God abideth alone…Jesus will not be able to bring forth the branches. I am the vine, ye are the branches. You are not coming forth unless He dies! The devil was rejoicing, but something happened. The scent of water…let’s finish this verse, but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. Same as in Job 14:9, and bring forth boughs like a plant. John 12:24, but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit. Isn’t this good?
How did He come back alive? What is the water? John 7:37-38 In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying “If any man (Is there any man here today- be you young or old, wounded, bruised, outcast, polished, nice, moral, or whatever you are? Are you any man?) thirst, (You must have a thirst. The water won’t do you any good without a thirst.) let him come unto me, and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. But this spake he of the Spirit.” A spirit? The Spirit. Who do you take that to be? The Holy Ghost!
Life comes by the water. The world was birthed in water…darkness was upon the face of the deep. How does natural life come when a woman gives birth? That embryo is surrounded and nurtured by water. The Lord God would create a world and birth your babies; and put it inside of you women, daughters of Jerusalem, so that you would understand this is where the life comes from. Through the scent of water, the Holy Ghost, it… will…bud. And Job saidthis is a hope of a tree. Dear soul, Jesus Christ did not have a portion of the Holy Spirit; He had the fullness of the Holy Ghost, and the Holy Ghost had to step back from Him in order that His whole humanity could die and fulfill that which was pictured and patterned by the bulls and goats that through the death of the bulls and goats the Jews alone could attain an atonement. Now through His death and by His blood, the spiritual Jews, the entire ransomed Church of God might attain, not just an atonement or a covering, but a redemption…a complete cleansing…a complete life…a giving of that life that He himself had to lose in order to bring it unto you.
The root is in the ground and it dies. The seed dies and is put in the ground and it brings forth much fruit, but it does it by the Holy Spirit coming. Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly. But his delight is in the law of the LORD. And he…shall…be…like…a… tree…planted…by…the…rivers…of…water so that he shall not see when heat cometh Jeremiah 17:8. He shall not see when drought cometh.
I stopped at a stop sign the other day and tears ran down the cheeks of my heart. I don’t cry much anymore, I’ve about used up all of my tears. I sat there for a moment. I said, “Lord, there isn’t a limb down anywhere here, yet the whole city of Ringgold, Georgia is gone. They still have 400 people missing in Alabama. 400 people that are missing! One man and his son crawled out of their house just in time to watch his wife and the other siblings, four of them, blown through the air like dust. They found their bodies later, all four dead.”
I said, “Lord, who am I that my whole neighborhood is preserved? Lord, how can I praise and worship you for your goodness? Thank you, Lord, for your graciousness to me, thank you Lord that the root that is my stock, the root that goes down and taps into the Holy Ghost is my life! And through Him I have all things! I don’t just say my blessings are my physical health and my physical blessings. No, I don’t exclude them, but that isn’t where I start! I thank God for grace because I am grace-less without Him. I thank God for mercy, for mercy is exclusively for the guilty and I am guilty without Him! The tears ran down the cheeks of my heart as I accounted to God, item by item, of how gracious He had been, in that the root tapped into the water. There is only one blessed man that I know of and that is Christ. Bless the LORD, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name. Psalm 103:1. The only blessed man I know is Christ! He shall be like a tree. And what did they do to the tree? They cut it down! Howl, fir tree, ye trees of lesser value! You trees of cheaper wood! Cedars don’t rot. Do you still have your Grandmother’s cedar chest? I’ll bet moths have not eaten the quilts. Cedars don’t rot, but this one got cut down.
Daniel 4:10 Nebuchadnezzar begins to tell Daniel (known as Belteshazzar) what his dream was. Thus were the visions of mine head in my bed; I saw, and behold a tree in the midst of the earth, and the height thereof was great. The tree grew, and was strong. Verse 12 The leaves thereof were fair (beautiful tree!) and the fruit thereof much, and in it was meat for all: the beasts of the field had shadow under it, and the fowls of the heaven dwelt in the boughs thereof, and all flesh was fed of it. But I kept looking and found something I could not believe, a watcher, a heavenly, authoritative emissary from God came and a watcher and an holy one came down from heaven; He cried aloud, and said thus, Hew down the tree, and cut off his branches, shake off his leaves, and scatter his fruit. If you smite the shepherd, the sheep shall scatter! Cut Him down! Let the beasts get away from under it, and the fowls from his branches. And dear souls, wait until you hear verse 15! Nevertheless, leave the stump of his roots in the earth.
I’m so sorry for those poor men on that island in Greece. The monastery has been there four hundred or so years and those men practice literal, physical, traditional religion, but they don’t know God. Dear soul, God said to cut every bit of that down! I’ve been to Sunday School for 23 years without missing. See all of my pins? Throw it in the fire All of my children are saved. Is that going to get you into heaven? We’ve been married so many years! That’s wonderful! I’m so glad about that and I hope all of your children are saved. But I want to tell you that you aren’t getting in on your works!
You fir trees, us…we will howl for the cedar has been cut down. If they do this to a green tree, what are they going to do to us? What will God accept in His presence from you? Nothing except Christ. No flesh shall glory in My presence! Did God the eternal Son get made into human flesh? Yes. What are we going to do with it? Cut it down! What are we going to leave? The stump of the roots. Look in verse 23 And whereas the king saw a watcher and an holy one coming down from heaven, and saying, Hew the tree down, and destroy it; yet leave the stump of the roots thereof in the earth. That’s John 12:24… fall into the ground and die. That’s Job 14:8 …leave the stump of the roots. Because I want you to know something- Romans 11:18 Boast not against the branches. But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee. Well, I’m a Baptist. Good for you. There are a lot of Baptists in hell. I’m a Calvinist. Good for you. There are a lot of Calvinists in hell. You’d better watch out. You don’t bear the root! The root of the matter is not in us! The root of the matter is Christ! Always remember… nothing, nothing…no thing…in my hand I bring, simply to the cross I cling. The root beareth thee. Cross-reference this with Daniel 4:23 and the stump of the root, Romans 11:18.
Listen. Cut it down. Jesus has suffered for us leaving us an example. Dear soul, God would tell Abraham…
Listen, Abraham. Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest.
I know all of that.
Take him to a mount that I will show thee.
Good! Me and the boy will have a bonding time.
(No, you’re going to be bonded with God or you aren’t going to make this Abraham.)
Offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.
Oh, my soul! But God, Isaac is the lineage of Messiah.
I know. I’m the One who gave him to you.
But if I kill him Lord, I am killing my salvation! You are asking me to destroy the
hope of my salvation. I will die and go to hell if Isaac doesn’t bring on the Messiah.
Yes.
Do you still want me to do it?
I want you to do it more now than I ever did.
Somehow when Abraham got up that morning it was a new day. Jesus talked about it in John, chapter 8 saying that Abraham got up and sat on the ass, took the wood, took the knife, and had his servants go with him. Somewhere between the tent of Abraham and the mount of God, he got a revelation…it was a new day. Jesus said in John 8:56 that Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad. It changed his heart from sadness to gladness. If you ever see the glory of Christ being cut down, if you ever see the glory of the cross it will change your old sad, physical, lonely, grubby days of human hope and human attainments and fulfillment of lusts. It will change ALL OF THAT and you will considered it to be as Paul, BUT DUNG, that I may win Christ and there will be a spiritualness, a holiness fill your breast! And you will say, let me die as well, let me continue to die, let me always be bearing about in the body…for we which live are always delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh!
And somewhere between Abraham’s tent and Mount Moriah, which is Mount Calvary in the New Testament, Abraham received an understanding from God. And without a Bible…hello?! Without a Pastor… but with the scent of water…hello?! Do you have the Holy Ghost? That’s all you need.
With a scent of water…Abraham got there and the fellow asked what do we do with these mules; we can’t take them up the mountain. Abraham said to him to stay there with the mules and me and Issac will go yonder and worship, and we will come back again. We! You have to have at least two to be a “we”. We will go yonder to worship and we will be back. I thought you said God said to kill him? He did. You don’t intend to do it? Yes, I do. Then how in heaven’s name are you both going to come back again? There is going to be a resurrection!
I smell water…his eyelids moved…I saw his fingers move. Though in the grave, I smell water. What about you Christian? Is it all dead? Is it hopeless? Is the body of hope lifeless? Is there no hope? Is there nothing to look around at and depend on? Good!!!! God has cut it all down!! What? Your false hope!! You, bless your poor old heart, have nothing to depend on except Christ!! Ain’t that awful?! I wish it would happen to everyone of us! I have my 401k so I’ll trust Jesus. Hello? I have my health. I’ve always been able to work and make a living. Now, I’ll trust Jesus. You are on dangerous ground.
God hates flesh being brought in His presence and He hates anyone trusting anything except His Son exclusively. And you aren’t going to like heaven because the entirety of activity in heaven is absolutely, totally, 100% without distraction, worshiping of the Lamb of God. And if you aren’t 100% right now wanting…willing… yearning…hoping to worship Christ alone, you would rather go to hell than to heaven because they don’t do that in hell. Blessed is the man…he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water; out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. And you told me this, spake he of the Spirit. Oh, my soul! Now the root comes alive again; the water comes and through the water… listen to what Job says. Job doesn’t just say “the root begins to live”, he goes from the root to the stalk and from the stalk he goes to the boughs. Yet through the scent of water it will bud (he goes from the root to the budding) and will bring forth boughs like a plant. He starts talking about the evidence of Christ’s resurrection is His glorious church. Ye are the branches.You will bring forth fruit… more fruit and much fruit. John 15…Read it! What is the fruit of the Christian? Galatians 5:22-23 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. You will become Christ-like and you will understand. In myself, coming from a daughter of Jerusalem, I am to howl like the fir tree because there is nothing in me that is good! Everything that I have is in the green tree and that is Christ. And Christ alone is my acceptance before God and the reason that I am being cut down, and the reason God keeps cutting at me with His pruning hooks, lobbing off those glorious branches, lobbing off all of that pride and all of that which we take pride in, and the reason God is your enemy is because you are standing there trying to get God to accept a turnip, like Cain did, and if doesn’t have blood, God isn’t going to accept it!!
You aren’t going to bring those turnips into the presence of God. You can swap those turnips to Abel for a sheep; that’s where Cain messed up. I don’t have any doubt that those were good turnips. They were probably better turnips than you have produced or seen in your lifetime. But dear soul, they weren’t acceptable to God. Cain could have used that except how many turnips would you take for that lamb over there? I’m going to tell you something, if I drop dead before I get home, you are going to hear this: you are not going to be accepted by God for your good works! You are not going to be accepted by God by your good feelings. Howl, fir tree; for the cedar is fallen! Dear soul, the only reason the boughs are going to grow and the buds are going to come back is because the root died in your place and He is revived by the sweet, savory smell of the Holy Ghost bringing life back into Him.
I would like…I would plead…I would beseech you, dear soul, just for a minute…for your souls’ sake, right now, I would like for you to go through your heart and cast out everything that comes from the daughters of Jerusalem. Get the kindling away…the fire is coming. Get rid of everything that will burn from the dry tree. The fires of God are coming. Open thy doors, O Lebanon, that the fire may devour thy cedars Zechariah 11:1. The fiery judgment of God is coming. And dear soul, every day of your life you are going to be standing against God as long as you stand in the energy of the flesh. For you cannot accomplish the will of God through even religiously trained flesh. You are going to have to be cut down. How much of me does God want? Nothing.
You see, we lost everything in the first Adam. We should not get another opportunity to know God. It should be over, for as in Adam all die. Here you have opportunity, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But it isn’t that ye are your own because the way God got you is through a purchase. Acts 20:28 which he hath purchased with his own blood. Jesus purchased you and ye are not your own, for ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s. What are you doing Christian? Trying to live your own life? What are you doing religionist? Trying to make your own way? What are you doing professor? Trying with the energy of your own strengths to accomplish the will of God? You know what you need to do today? I implore you! I entreat you! I beseech you! Get into your hearts right now and throw all that junk out! Get rid of it! God will not have it! You are to live by the root and the root is alive by the Holy Spirit and the Lord Jesus Christ said, “I will give Him to you as a gift.” That is God’s love gift and His wedding gift to His bride, the Holy Spirit, the gift of the Father…and because I live, ye shall live also.
Why would you want to bring an old, dead, dry, daughter-of-Jerusalem produced branch and try to graft it on the holy humanity and the sweet body of the church of the Living God? We need to get all these dead dogs and cats out of here. We need sheep to come before God. Dear soul, I want you to know something, God showed me this when I got up this morning; I am never happier when God whispers a verse into my heart. Genesis 3:22; lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever. If you could find your way to the tree of life, you would find He was cut down, but it began to grow again as the Spirit of God gave Him the scent of the water. And then you will come to that tree. Our Master is a crucified Master. He is the Lord God with scars in His body because of my sin, because of God’s purpose and because God was not pleased when He said, “O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me.” God told Him, “There isn’t going to be a ram in the thicket for you!”
Dear soul, we come to that tree of life. Jesus said in John 6:54 “Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life.” Revelation 2 says if you will obey God, I’ll tell you what I’ll do, if you obey God I will give you access to the tree of life. And those of you Christians whose trees have been cut down and you are grafted into Christ- you are eating, but you aren’t consuming Adam’s filthy flesh. You are consuming the bread of heaven…you are obeying God…you are worshiping Christ…you are coming to God by His prescribed way, and that is His Son, and you are having eternal life. Jesus Christ is the tree of life. God said that if you make your way to the tree of life, you can eat and live forever. There is hope in a tree Job said. The tree of life is our tree. Jesus Christ is our tree of life.