The Tale of Two Trees
Victory Days Celebration • Sermon • Submitted
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· 70 viewsA tree of deathin the garden of life; A tree of life in the garden of death
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Two Trees
Two Trees
Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it.
And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat;
but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”
The word was clear, the instructions simple, “tend” the garden and “keep it”, do not eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil
The first point was that they should “tend” - the word here is “a bad” meaning to expend considerable energy and intensity to give aid, often in a social arrangement from a position of a lower status
To serve or cultivate - Man was to respect the garden to which he was entrusted, it wasn’t a free-for-all!
Be creative, be responsible, be accountable and enjoying the task of service!
And what was the service to which he was called? To “keep it”
The word keep here is sa-mar - literally to cause a state or condition to remain; Keep oneself; Guard; Be careful; Having a care and concern for the object taken care of
Watch for dangers; revere - have a worshipful trust and reliance on an object of Diety, as an extension of carefully guarding or caring for an object
Literally care for the things of God! That is a sermon in itself but we must move on!
God warned them that there was something to be aware of, be careful with that which has been entrusted to you.
It implied not only the conditions of the garden of Eden but the state of their relationship with Him!
And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat;
but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”
Why the choice? Wouldn’t it have ben easier to just not provide the opportunity to fall?
Good question, Let’s explore
In Gen 1 we find the answer:
Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
We find here a support for the trinity buried in this simple verse
The word here “let us” is the Hebrew Elohim >2 El = 1 E la=2 but here >2
We know God as Father Son & Holy Spirit a superior trinity - man being created in His image Spirit Body & Soul an inferior trinity
Not being literally “looking” like God but a reflection of God
The #1 trait of God is His self-determination - that was passed to man during His creation
Man has the capacity to choose but what is the ability to choose if the choice is not respected?
“Behold, I set before you today a blessing and a curse:
And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”
So the people answered and said: “Far be it from us that we should forsake the Lord to serve other gods;
He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created.
“Come now, and let us reason together,” Says the Lord, “Though your sins are like scarlet, They shall be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, They shall be as wool.
Because God’s greatest attribute is love, He will seek to influence your decisions but will overtake your own capacity to choose!
Before the fall, they walked in obedience because of love not because of fear!
So too God created man with the capacity to love - walk in obedience by choice
They did not know evil so their innocence was protected - we know evil so our innocence has been destroyed
Paul put it this way :
O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?
True love says “You choose” and I will respect your decison
Notice I said respect not agree! You can disagree with someone’s lifestyle but still love them and continue to influence them to righteousness, not abandon them
God certainly doesn’t agree or condone our sin but still does everything in love to influence our decisions to righteousness
In our transformation our true capacity to love is restored but we still have the choice not too!
It was this very gift of choice that Satan used against Eve - remember that she was deceived but Adam choose to sin!
A tree of death in the midst of a garden of life!
There is another tree in the life of man
A tree of life in a garden of death!
It has the same choice attached to it as the first:
Obey and receive life, disobey are receive the death penalty
As man stands at the tree of Calvary he is faced with a decision - the problem is now that we have experienced both blessing and sin!
Our spirit wants blessing but our flesh wants sin!
Just as God now seeks to influence man’s decisions for life Satan seeks to influence their decisions for death!
Everything is reversed because Satan if the father of lies
Eat from the tree, be like God and you will not die
Don’t eat from the & be like god you will live!
There are two tress in everyone’s life. the tree of life and the tree of death
IT”S YOUR CHOICE!
God has done everything in His power that His love will allow even abandoning His heavenly throne and taken upon Himself your sin!
He cries out today…Come! Come let us reason together! Though your sins are as scarlet they shall be as white as snow!
What’s you choice?