FOUR MEN AND FOUR TREES

Sermon of the Week #200921--June 14, 2009

In the Word of God there is an account of four men and four trees. In Genesis chapter three Adam was behind a tree, in John chapter one Nathanael was under a tree, and in Luke nineteen Zacchaeus was up a tree, and the theme of every book, chapter, and verse of the Word of God is the story of Jesus on the tree.

Genesis chapter three is one of the most important chapters in the Word of God, and begins with these ominous words, “Now the serpent was more subtle, than any of the beasts of the field which the Lord God had made,” and he was not the fearful creature to Eve that he is to modern man.

A slow-motion picture of the strike of a rattlesnake in full color appeared in a national magazine. Several frames showed the snake coiled up, and gradually with each frame you saw the snake open his mouth and close in on his victim. At the end of the picture was the statement, “The strike of a rattlesnake is a thing of exquisite beauty.”  I thought to myself, “What kind of a mind does a person have to see something beautiful and exquisite in something as deadly as the bite of a rattlesnake?” Actually the old serpent can make the poison of sin look beautiful. An advertisement of a nightclub had this message, “Where to sin, in Cin-cinnati”.

Sometimes the Devil gets his way with one person by going through another. That is how the serpent got to Adam, by going through Eve. He persuades some to live together without marriage, by observance of the Hollywood stars, and others to become addicted to drugs by some of the sports stars.

The serpent persuaded Eve, “This is good stuff, Eve, eat it and your eyes shall be opened, and you shall become wise knowing good and evil.” The serpent was right; her eyes were opened to sin, and closed to the Word of God, and he was also right when he said, “You shall be wise knowing good and evil,” because she did learn a lot of things she never knew before; many of them things she could not afford to know. A person may not know what it is like to get drunk, and commit a murder, and that is something that a person cannot afford to know. So, she ate of the tree, and gave to Adam, and he did eat, and the eyes of them both were opened and they knew that they were naked. They had been stripped of their sheen of immortality, and left naked, and cold, and afraid.

When they realized they were naked they tried to cover up by making aprons of fig leaves, genuine perma-press, 60 percent polyester. The label on the inside of Adam’s coat read, “Made in Hell.” That is why Adam and his wife hid themselves among the trees of the garden when they heard the voice of God walking in the garden, in the cool of the day.

God had several questions to ask the guilty pair, “Where art thou? Who told thee thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee, Thou should not eat? What is this that thou hast done?” They had no answer that made any sense, and if we had been there our answer would not have been any better. We were fairly represented by the actions of Adam and Eve.

This scene will be duplicated on the Judgment Day for the un-forgiven, especially the question, “What is this that thou hast done? What is this that thou hast done with my Son who died to save you? What is this that thou hast done to my Church? What is this that thou hast done to my Word? What is this that thou hast done with my baptism?” Any person with the mind of an Einstein could not do any better than Adam and Eve. What is this that thou hast done?

If God had said, “How do you feel standing there behind that tree?” The appropriate answer would have been what God told the Church of Laodicea in Revelation chapter three, “Thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked.” And that is the predicament of every person whose life is not in sync with the will of God.

The fall of Adam and Eve demonstrates the power of one sin. Because of the one sin the entire human race will die. If that one sin had that much power, what would be the price to pay of even a half dozen of our sins? Paul tells us in 1st Corinthians 15:23, “As in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.” Adam was the federal head of the human race and he hid behind a tree. What we lost in the first Adam we can regain in the second Adam if we hide behind the tree; the tree of the cross.

NATHANAEL WAS UNDER A TREE

And now here comes Nathanael under a tree. The first chapter of the gospel according to John tells us that Philip findeth Nathanael, and told him they had found the Messiah. Nathanael said, “Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?” When Nathanael heard about Jesus he was not concerned about hearing anything else. He had already made up his mind. He was prejudiced and Philip did not argue the point; he told him, “Come and see.” When people have already made up their mind about the Word of God and salvation, Philip’s method is the best for overcoming prejudice. Come and see. Read it yourself. There is no need to argue the point, it is plain enough. Let God’s Word speak to you. You don’t need professional help. The gospel song says, “Open your Bible and read it, ponder its message so true-You will find the great plan of salvation, why Jesus died for you.” Come and see.

Now when Jesus saw Nathanael coming, He said of him, “Behold, an Israelite indeed in whom there is no guile.” Nathanael replied, "Whence knowest thou me?" Jesus told him, "Before Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig tree, I saw thee." Nathanael answered him, "Rabbi, Thou art the Son of God; Thou art the King of Israel.” Then the Lord’s promise to Nathanael; “You shall see greater things than these. Ye shall see the heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.” This reminds us of the reference to the Old Testament story of Jacob’s ladder in Genesis 28:12, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon it.

Jesus refers to Himself as the real ladder to Heaven. Jesus was the fulfillment of Jacob’s dream of the ladder. Jesus is the ladder to Heaven. Heaven is not gained by a single bound, but by climbing the ladder round by round. The first rung is hearing the Word. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. The second rung is faith. Without faith it is impossible to be well-pleasing to God. The third rung is repentance. Except ye repent ye shall all likewise perish. The fourth rung is confession. Whosoever shall confess Me before men, I will confess before the Father. The fifth rung is immersion. Why tarriest thou? Arise and be baptized and wash away thy sins calling on the name of the Lord. The sixth rung is a faithful life. He that endureth until the end, the same shall be saved. Heaven is not gained by a single bound, but by climbing the ladder round by round. And don’t forget the angels who descend and ascend upon the Son of Man. Are they not ministering spirits sent forth to do service for them that shall inherit eternal salvation? Adam was behind a tree; Nathanael was under a tree and now consider Zacchaeus who was up a tree.

ZACCHAEUS WAS UP A TREE

Luke tells us that Jesus was passing through Jericho. And behold a man called by name Zacchaeus; and he was a chief publican and he was rich. And he sought to see Jesus, who He was, and could not for the crowd, because he was little of stature. And he ran on before and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see Him, for He was to pass that way.

When Jesus saw Zacchaeus perched up in the tree and said to him, “Zacchaeus, make haste and come down, for today I must abide at thy house,”  Zacchaeus came down, and received Him joyfully.

This was a wise decision; he wanted to see Jesus, who He was, but he found out he could not really see Jesus, who He was, while perched up in the top of a sycamore tree. Jesus said, “Come down,” and he came down.

No one can find out about Jesus while perched up in the tree of good works. Come on down. The Scripture provides a good example, how good works is not enough, in the tenth chapter of Acts. There was a Gentile Centurion who is described as a devout man, who feared God with all his house; he gave much alms to the people and prayed to God always, yet he was not good enough for salvation because an angel appeared to him, and directed him to send for Simon Peter, and he would be told what to do to be saved. This man was devout, feared God, prayed always, gave much money, and yet God said he was not good enough, he had no hope of Heaven.

Notice that Jesus called him by name. He seemed to know who he was. This is normal procedure for the Lord. He one time said that the Good Shepherd knoweth His sheep, and calleth His sheep by name. The Lord knoweth them that are His. Come on down. Zacchaeus made haste and came down. He called him by name, “Come on down,” was a personal message to Zacchaeus, however, every time the Word of God is preached there is a personal call in the message, “Come on down.” The invitation continues today; Jesus said, “Come unto Me all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” Come on down. He that cometh unto Me, I will in now wise cast out. Come on down. The Spirit and the bride say come. Come on down. Behold I come quickly. Come on down. He calls us through faithful gospel preaching. Come on down. He calls us now through the working of our conscience. Come on down. He calls us through the providence of sickness, or accident, or the loss of a loved one. Come on down. Zacchaeus made haste and came down and received Him joyfully. He made a wise decision. Come on down; don’t be left up a tree on the Judgment Day.

JESUS WAS ON THE TREE

And now the fourth Man is Jesus on the tree. The first mention of the Lord’s sacrifice on the cross is Genesis 3:15 when God the Father served notice on the Devil in these words, “And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shall bruise his heel.” That statement was the opening gun of the battle of the Lord Jesus Christ for the souls of men; and victory was announced the day when the angel at the empty tomb in Matthew 28:6 spoke, “He is not here for He is risen, as He said.”

Twice the Apostle Peter refers to the cross of the Lord Jesus as a tree, “The God of our Fathers raised up Jesus whom ye slew hanging Him on a tree,” and again he said, “Who His own self bare our sins in His body on the tree.” Now we'll consider Jesus who is the fourth Man--the Man on the tree. In Revelation we hear the voice of ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands, saying with a great voice, “Worthy is the Lamb that hath been slain, to receive the power, and riches, and wisdom, and might, and glory, and blessing.” And every created thing which is in the Heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and on the sea and all that are in them, heard I saying, “Unto Him that sitteth on the throne, and unto the Lamb, be the blessing and the honor, and the glory, and the dominion, for ever and ever.” The story of the Man on the tree could be the starting point of any sermon that could be preached.

If a sermon on money is preached, what better starting place than, “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son.” You cannot out-give God. Your pocketbook is the only tangible measuring stick to measure the distance between you and the tree on which the Savior died.

If a sermon on the second coming of Jesus is preached, what better starting point than, “Behold, He cometh with the clouds and every eye shall see Him, Yea and they that pierced Him.”

If a sermon on living the Christian life is preached, what better starting point than, “For as touching those who were once enlightened and tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Spirit, and tasted the good Word of God, and the power of the age to come, and then fell away, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh and put Him to an open shame.”

If a sermon on the Judgment Day is preached, what better place than where Paul told the audience on Mars Hill, “God hath appointed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through that Man whom He hath ordained whereof He hath given assurance unto all the world in that He hath raised Him from the dead.”

How about a sermon on the Lord’s Supper? What better place to start than with the verse that states, “As oft as ye do this ye show forth the Lord’s death until He comes.”

On the day of the resurrection, Jesus preached to two disciples on the road to Emmaus, how it behooved the Christ to suffer and enter into His glory. He interpreted to them in all the Scripture the things concerning Himself. Any doctrine in the Word of God starts with the Man on the tree.

Actually there is no theme in Scripture that is not sanctified by the blood of the Man on the cross. In Revelation 7:9 John records the shout of victory when he declares, “I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude which no man could number, out of every tribe, and tongue, and nation, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes and palms in their hands: and cried with a loud voice, Salvation unto our God which sitteth on the throne and unto the Lamb. And all the angels were standing round about the throne, and about the elders, and the four living creatures; and they fell before the throne on their faces, and worshipped God, saying, Amen: Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, honor, and power, and might, be unto our God for ever and ever.” And one of the elders said, "These that are arrayed in white robes, who are they, and whence came they?" And he said to me, “These are they that come out of the great tribulation, and they washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb; the Lamb who was hanged on the tree.”