Genesis chapter 18, if you want
to turn there for my text this morning. Genesis chapter 18. If you have
a pew Bible, you'll find it on page 18. Genesis chapter 18,
and I want to read the first 16 verses. And the Lord appeared unto him,
unto Abraham, in the plains of memory, as he sat in the tent
door in the heat of the day. And he lift up his eyes, and
looked, and, lo, three men stood by him. And when he saw them,
he ran to meet them from the tent door, and bowed himself
toward the ground. And said, My Lord, if now I have
found favor in thy sight, pass not away, I pray thee, from thy
servant, but let a little water, I pray thee, be fetched, and
wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree. And I will fetch
a morsel of bread, and comfort you your hearts, that, and after
that you shall pass on. For therefore are you come to
your servant. And they said, So do, as thou
hast said. And Abraham hastened unto the
tent unto Sarah, and said, Make ready quickly three measures
of fine meal, knit it, and make cakes upon the hearth. And Abraham
ran unto the herd, and fetched a calf tender and good, and gave
it unto a young man, and he hasted to dress it. And he took butter,
and milk, and the calf which he had dressed, and set it before
them, And he stood by them under the tree, and they did eat. And
he said unto them, Where is Sarah thy wife? And he said, Behold,
in the tent. And he said, I will certainly
return unto thee according to the time of life. And lo, Sarah
thy wife shall have a son. And Sarah heard it in the tent
door which was behind them. Now Abraham and Sarah were old
and well stricken in age, and it ceased to be with Sarah after
the manner of women. Therefore Sarah laughed within
herself, saying, After I am waxed old, shall I have pleasure, my
Lord being old also? And the Lord said unto Abraham,
Wherefore did Sarah laugh, saying, Shall I of a surety bear a son
which am old? Is anything too hard for the
Lord? At the time appointed, I will
return unto thee according to the time of life, and Sarah shall
have a son. Then Sarah denied, saying, I
lack not, before she was afraid. And he said, Nay, but thou didst
lack. And the men rose up from the
fence, and looked toward Sodom. And Abraham went with them to
bring them on their way. The Lord Jesus Christ had taken
up to himself a human body, two angels had taken on a human body,
and they come here and sat with Abraham under this tree. Now,
they say, they tell us, and I imagine this is so, even in some places
to this very day, in these countries, back then in the Old Testament
especially, it was ingrained in the custom of these people
that if they saw any person traveling that they would literally plead
with them to come in and spend some time refreshing themselves,
washing their feet and feeding them. And I imagine that's so
because Lot, remember Lot when the two angels had taken the
human form just after this and he pleaded with them to come
in to his house and dwell there. So there's no doubt that this
was a custom of old for men to entertain one another like Abraham
did these men here. But I earnestly believe that
the Holy Spirit has something else in mind to teach us from
this passage and not just affirm to us an old custom that these
people had. These things are meant to teach
us vital lessons to encourage us and to give us comfort. One
of my favorite scriptures concerning the Old Testament is Romans chapter
15 and verse 4, where the Apostle Paul said, Those things which
were written aforehand were written that we may learn them, and through
patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope. So I think the
Holy Spirit has put this in here, this little incident in here,
to teach us something. And that's what I want to look
at this morning, just a few minutes. And the title of my message this
morning, A Tree to Rest Under. A Tree to Rest Under. Come and
rest yourselves under this tree. Now I think we need to know first
of all, what does this tree represent to us? What is this tree? I think there's places in the
New Testament that speak of a tree, and it helps us to understand
why the Holy Spirit would put so many places in the Old Testament
concerning a tree, and wonderful things, even miraculous things
that took place in the Old Testament with trees. When we go to the
New Testament, we read about a tree, don't we? Those apostles
began to preach in the early book of Acts, and they preached
about a tree. When the Lord had saved the apostle
Paul, and the first message we have that that man preached,
he preached about a tree. And this is what Peter said about
it. In Acts chapter 5, he said, The
God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom you slew and hanged
on a tree. Christ and Him crucified. This
is this tree that Abraham and the Lord and these angels sat
under. That's what it represents to
us. Come and rest yourselves under this tree. When Peter went
down to preach to the Gentiles, he preached about a tree. Listen
to this. We are witnesses of all things
which Christ did in the land of the Jews and at Jerusalem,
whom they slew and hanged on a tree." There's the tree, Christ
and Him crucified. When the Apostle Paul preached
the first message to the Gentiles, he said, when he had fulfilled
all things that were written of Him, they took Him down from
the tree and put Him in a sepulchre. But God raised Him from the dead. So what does this tree represent
to us? It represents to us Christ and
Him crucified. Christ and Him crucified. Now,
I want you to turn to two or three scriptures with me and
I want us to see that. Look over in Deuteronomy chapter
21. I want you to look at the Old Testament, a place where
a tree is mentioned and it's so important. And then we turn
over to the New Testament in Galatians 3, and we can see the
tree is Christ and Him crucified. Look what he says in Deuteronomy
chapter 21, and look in verse 22. It's on page 281 in your
few Bibles. Deuteronomy chapter 21, and look
in verse 22. Look at this. If we hadn't had
the New Testament to explain what this means, we may have
never known. But the New Testament tells us
plainly what this means. Now look in verse 22. If a man
have committed a sin worthy of death. Now they didn't put you
to death for everything. Some sins you had to pay money. Some sins you offered a sacrifice.
Some sins they put you to death for. They caught you committing
adultery, committing idolatry, certain sins they'd put you to
death for. So he says, if a man have committed a sin worthy of
death, and he be put to death, they're going to put him to death,
and you hang him on a tree, crucify him, his body shall not remain
all night upon the tree. Why? But thou shalt in any wise
bury him that day, For he that is hanged on a tree is accursed
of God. And here's why they did that.
That the land be not defiled which the Lord thy God giveth
thee for an inheritance. And what he said, if you let
men sin, and they're not punished, They will begin to sin presumptuously,
and the land will be filled with wickedness. Justice must prevail. Therefore, if a man has committed
a sin worthy of death, hang him on a cross, and when he is dead,
take him down and put him in a sepulcher, and that will make
sure your land is not defiled. Now, what does that mean? How
does that apply to the gospel? Is the gospel here? Well, look
over in Galatians chapter 3. In Galatians chapter 3, and look
in verse 13. This is the truth. Look in verse
13. Christ hath redeemed us from
the curse of the law, being made a curse for us, for it is written,
Cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree." That's amazing, ain't
it? Now, we could find that all the
way over in the Old Testament in the day of Moses. And lo and
behold, here is Christ in Him crucified. That's what He teaches
us. Now, they didn't put you to death in the Old Testament
for every sin that you committed. But you know something, brothers
and sisters? Every sin that you and I commit is worthy of death. You may have a foolish thought
and go on and think nothing about it, but you know that foolish
thought is sin against God. And the wages of sin is death,
and the soul that sinneth, it shall die. That's how awful sin
is before God. And the law, the law, there's
a law. God has a law. People don't read
it very much. Sometimes we see the commandments
hanging on somebody's wall, but God has put that law in a man's
conscience. And that law says, Thou shalt
not do this. And when men do that, then they're
cursed. When the law says, Don't do that,
and men do it anyway, they're cursed. They're cursed. And how in the world are we who
were born and lived under the curse of the law How in the world
are we going to be redeemed from that curse? And that's where
the Gospel comes in, isn't it? Christ who knew no sin, Christ
who had no sin, was made a curse for us to redeem us from the
curse of the law. And where did He do that? On
a tree. on a tree. Look over here in
another place. Look in 1 Peter chapter 2. This
is one of my favorite passages in all the scriptures. In 1 Peter
chapter 2. You'll find it on page 1322.
1322. Look at verse 21. 1 Peter chapter 2 and verse 21. Look what he said. This is the most amazing passage
of scripture. Well he said, look in verse 21. For even year and two were ye
called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example
that we should follow his steps, who did no sin, neither was any
guile found in his mouth." Then how could God curse him? Why
did he die the death of a sinner if he had no sin and he didn't?
No guile was found in his mouth. We've said it often, haven't
we? Christ didn't do anything for Himself. He didn't suffer
for His own sins. He had none. But look at verse
23. Who, when He was reviled, reviled
not again. When He suffered, He threatened
not, but committed Himself to Him who judgeth righteously.
Who, His own self, bare our sins in His own body, were on the
tree. on the tree. That we being dead to sins should
live unto righteousness by whose stripes we are healed. You know what happened, brothers
and sisters, on the tree? Nowhere else. Not in His birth,
not in His life, not even in the garden, but on the tree.
There was a transfer of sins. God took the sins of all His
sheep of all ages and put Him on His Son. Put Him in His Son. And He bore those sins. He bore
them on the tree. And look what He says in chapter
2. And look in verse 18. For Christ also hath once suffered
for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God,
being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit. You quoted it this morning, Wayne.
God forbid that I should glory in anything save the cross of
our Lord Jesus Christ. What is this tree then? Why does
the Holy Spirit even mention this incident all the way back
in the Old Testament? Come and rest yourself under
this tree. What is that tree? That's Christ
and Him crucified. There's where sin was transferred.
There's where Christ suffered for sin upon the cross of Calvary. There's where He reconciled His
people to God. On the tree. On the tree. Look back over at our text now.
What is the tree? It's Christ and Him crucified.
What is the invitation? Rest yourself under this tree. Ain't that a wonderful thought?
Rest yourself under this tree, under Christ and Him crucified. There is a tree fit to rest under,
to find shade, to find shelter. The Lord Jesus Himself and these
angels and Abraham took a load off and rested themselves in
the heat of the day. Do you notice that's where Abraham
was sitting? In the tent door under this tree. And the Lord Jesus came and this
body of the angels came in the body and it said, rest yourselves
under this tree. They physically rested. I wonder what that tree looked
like. You ever get that in your mind to see Abraham sitting there?
I imagine when he saw that tree, he said, Sir, we're pitching
our tents right here. This tree's so big it'll cover
our tent and have a good cool yard. We can sit under this tree
and rest ourselves. Boy, Christ and Him crucified
is a place to sit down and rest your screaming conscience, is
it not? It's a place to take a load of
guilt and apprehensions of God's crown and God's judgment off
of your conscience. Come and rest yourself under
this tree. What is this tree? Christ and
Him crucified. Come unto me, all you that labor
and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Rest for your
soul. I tell you, there's no rest like
soul rest, is there? You ever had your conscience
screaming at you and you couldn't get it to quieten down? I mean,
you tried everything. I'm going to be a better person.
I'm going to make all these promises to God. I'm going to work harder. And you're just getting heavier.
And your conscience is so heavy and you're afraid. And there
ain't but one place to find rest for a guilty soul. That's under
the tree. Come and bring your conscience,
your guilty conscience. to Christ and Him crucified,
and look out of yourself to Him who suffered for sin and atoned
for iniquity, and there you'll find rest." Rest yourself under
this tree. Listen to this. There's a place
where sin has been punished. Sin has been punished. Justice
has been satisfied. The wrath of God Almighty has
been poured out until there is none left. No wrath left. No fury left in God. A place
of forgiveness of all sin and where God's smile is seen and
where God Himself is enjoyed. There's a place like that. Christ
and Him crucified. That's where it is. I labored,
too, Wayne. You talk about you labored in
no silly religion. I labored there, too. Had no
rest, either. I was always trying to find rest.
That's why I was doing all those silly things, trying to find
rest. I made restitutions for things I hadn't even done, trying
to find rest for my conscience. But you know there's one place
to rest a screaming conscience? That's Christ and Him crucified.
His blood cleanses from all sin. Come and rest your soul. This
is a place of rest. This is a place of acceptance
with God. Rest yourself under this tree. Somebody may be here this morning
and say, Bruce, you think there's room under this tree for me?
You think I could come and rest? I'd say there's room there. I
think this is a pretty big tree, wouldn't you? Covered Abraham's
entire tent. And His yard, I'd say a man could
find a place here to rest. Come and rest your soul in Jesus
and Him crucified. There's room at the cross for
you. Though millions have come, there's
still room for one. There's room at the cross for
you. You know, I've been resting under
this cross now for about 43 years. I found it a right cool place.
It's a good shady place to rest. The third thing is this. You'll
see it here in verse 4. Under this tree is a place to
wash your feet. Let a little water, I pray, you
be fetched and wash your feet and rest yourselves under this
tree. Wash your feet. I tell you, in those days, they
didn't wash shoes and socks like we have today. You can walk all day on a dusty
road and take your shoes and socks off and your feet will
still be clean. But back in those days, they wore sandals. Some
of them went barefoot and they walked those dusty paths and
those dusty roads. Their feet got filthy. That's
why Abraham said, let us fetch some water and wash your feet.
He was a good host, wasn't he? That's what a good host did.
He brought water and you could wash your dirty feet. You think
Abraham is going to outdo the Lord Jesus? You think Abraham
is going to bring water to wash the feet of his friends and his
Lord and the Lord of glory and not provide anything to wash
the feet of his saints? I tell you, under this tree is
not only a place to rest your soul, but I tell you, dear children
of God, when you walk through this world and it's a filthy
place This world is a filthy place. You go off in the morning,
you go to work, or you work around the house, you talk to neighbors.
Everywhere we walk through in this world, we get our feet dirty,
don't we? You come home of a night and
there you've got dirty feet. And what are we to do? Well, here's the thing to do.
When you get home and you say, oh, why in the world did I do
that? Why in the world did I say that? Why in the world did I
have an attitude like that? Oh, how filthy I am! How filthy
I feel! Well, there's a pan to wash it. There's a fountain open to wash
it. You don't have to go to bed guilty. You don't have to go to bed carrying
that up on your conscience. If we confess our sins, He is
faithful and just to forgive us our sins and, listen, to cleanse
us from all unrighteousness. If we walk in the light as He
is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood
of Jesus Christ God's Son cleanses us from all sin. So we just confess it, don't
we? We don't have to hide it anymore. It's there and we confess
it. And boy, there's water to wash
us. And I've never known a saint to walk through this dirty world
and not get some of it on his feet. Come and sit under the tree and
let a little water be fetched to wash your feet. Oh, aren't
you glad for such a tree? Oh, you're glad for such a tree.
Don't have to despair. We've got an advocate with a
Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, and His blood cleanses us from
all sin. Well, I've just scattered my
notes around here, everybody. This is worse than when my wife
gets old. Look at the fourth thing. Look at the fourth thing.
Under this tree is a place to comfort your hearts. Look in
verse 5. And I will fetch a morsel of
bread, and comfort ye your hearts." Comfort ye your hearts. I asked Scott Richardson one
time, a dear old friend of mine. He was a very old man. Reached
the place where he wasn't pastoring any longer. And I was going through
a rough time myself, and I said, Scott, does it ever get any easier? And he said, not for me. Not
for me. Boy, this world can be a tough
place, can't it? It can be a tough place. I've
had people to lie on me and tell things about me, about vital
issues. Just lied on me. And that hurts. You know, if it's some little
something, but boy, they'll go up and lie on me and tell things.
And it breaks my heart. And not only breaks my heart,
sometimes it just makes me mad. And then sometimes I feel bitterness
churning up in me, and that's dangerous. That's dangerous.
But you know what? There's a place here under this
tree that will comfort an afflicted heart. I remember when Israel
was going through the wilderness, and they came to the place called
Shur, S-H-U-R. Three days they went from that
place out in the wilderness and found no water to drink. Man,
they were thirsty. Out in the hot wilderness without
water, they found a big pool of water. And somebody went and
dove in it and got their hands in it and they spit it all out.
They said, we can't drink this. This is bitter. Oh, and they
lifted up their voices and they cried and began to murmur, we
can't drink the bitter water. And you know what the Lord did?
The Bible says He showed Moses a tree. Now, this is amazing. This is
amazing. I've seen this water. I was down
at Donnie Bell's and he had a jug of some kind of dye and he put
it in his big pond and just one gallon turned that water so beautiful,
so beautiful greenish blue water, but you can't drink it. The old
cows are out in it cooling off, but you won't dare drink it.
But the Lord showed Moses a tree And he cut down that tree and
he cast it into the waters and the Bible says the waters were
made sweet. And they drank and were satisfied.
Boy, life can get like that, can't it? Life can get bitter. The most simple things in life
can get bitter. You work at a job and it used
to be such a joy to you and for some reason or another it becomes
such a burden to you and somewhat bitter. And sometimes right in
our own family strife can raise up and hard feelings and what
used to be a joy that you drank from so refreshed you becomes
bitter right in the family. Even the things of the Lord,
the worship The service of the Lord that you used to rejoice
in now becomes just a drudge and you do it out of duty. Hasn't some pleasant waters come
bitter for you sometimes? Haven't they? Haven't your heart sometimes
become so afflicted and wounded and sickly in your soul? Well,
under this tree, Under this tree is a place that
will comfort your heart. I don't hesitate to say this
a minute because I've experienced this myself. And whatever situation
I found myself in, in which it afflicted my heart and just turned
my heart inside out and hurt me, I have found in every situation
that if I can bring the Lord Jesus and Him crucified right
down into the midst of my circumstances, He takes those bitter waters
and makes them sweet. I don't know how He does it,
but He does it. And sometimes when I feel this
bitterness springing up in my own heart and know that it can
defile my conscience, Jesus Christ and Him crucified
has healed my bitterness. He's healed my wounds, my suffering.
And I tell you, one of the ways that He did it, He gets me thinking
straight. I start thinking, now listen,
that person lied on me. Those people tell them things
ain't right. I'm not guilty of that. I'm just not guilty of
that. I'm just going to strike out."
And then I see the cross. Then I begin to think, now wait
a minute. Whatever anybody's done to me
and sinned against me, it's nothing compared to what I've done to
Him. And who has sinned against Him
more than I have? Nobody. And is He bitter towards me?
Does He hold it against me? Does He threaten me? Does He
lash out at me? No! He in great love gave Himself
upon the tree to purge me from such sin. Greater love hath no
man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends
who have done so many things against him." That's love, isn't
it? That's love. The Lord Jesus was telling Peter
and those apostles, Peter's bragging about, Lord, they may betray
you. It wouldn't surprise me if James and John betrayed you.
I know those fellows. I've seen it in them. But Lord,
not me. They'll have to kill me to separate
me from you. And the Lord said, Peter, before
the rooster crows in the morning, you're going to deny that you
even know me, not once, not twice, but three times. Let not your
heart be troubled. Isn't that wonderful? Let not
your heart be troubled. Oh, this is a place of comfort,
brothers and sisters. This is a place of rest for your
soul. When you see that Christ has
borne your sins, it's a place that you can wash and stay clean,
and it's a place of heart comfort. Heart comfort under this tree. All rest yourself under this
tree. You know what? We often think,
well, when we come down to die, that's when I want comfort. But
you know the comfort. It's not just dying. I want comfort
when I come to die, too, and face eternity. But I need comfort
right now, don't you? My heart needs comfort now. Heart
trouble is the worst trouble you can have. Rest yourselves and comfort your
hearts. Fifthly, here's something else,
and this is an amazing thing. Under this tree, heaven and earth
met together and held sweet communion. Isn't this wonderful? He was
the Lord of glory. Now this was the Lord of glory.
He had came down from heaven. And these two holy angels, these
elect angels was with him, two of them. And who were they fellowshipping
with? Who were they talking with? Abraham. What did Abraham say about himself
in this very chapter? He said, I'm dust and ashes.
So here's a marvelous thing, under this tree, heaven and earth
seems to become one in sweet Sweet communion, one with another. In the New Testament, every time
that somebody saw an angel, the first thing the angel had to
say to him, fear not, don't be afraid. These are heavenly beings,
aren't they? And the Lord of glory. And we're
poor dust and ashes. But yet under this tree, in Christ
in Him crucified, Heaven and earth has been reconciled. We've been made friends. The
enmity has been removed. And we can commune with God and
with all the hosts of heaven and not be afraid. Oh, there
was reverence. Boy, there was a holy reverence.
Abraham ran in and said, Sir, right quickly fix the bread.
He ran out quickly and got the fatty lamb and had the Servant
addressed it. They were running around. Boy,
that was a communion. Sarah was having trouble with
unbelief. But the Lord said, that ain't
going to change my promise. I'm going to come next year and
you're going to have a son. I know you're having trouble with that,
Sarah. He said, you shall have a son. What does the Bible say? In Colossians chapter 1 and verse
20, listen to this. Speaking of the tree, speaking
of the Lord Jesus, having made peace through the blood of His
cross by Him to reconcile all things to Himself. By Him, I say, were there to
be things in earth, are things in heaven. Heaven and earth have
been reconciled. And you that were sometimes alienated
and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath He reconciled
in the body of His flesh through death, through the cross, to
present you holy, unblameable, and unreprovable in His sight."
In Jesus Christ there's no more enmity. It's been all taken away. And now even the holy angels
can come down. and set with we poor sinners.
And we don't have to be afraid of them. And we won't be afraid
of them there. One big united, reconciled family
under this tree. Under this tree. You read sometimes Hebrews chapter
12, and you'll see that's so. We've not come into the mouth
that might be touched. Got the sound of the trumpet
and the accusations. This do and you'll live, but
break this and you'll die. We've come into Mount Zion. The
city of the living God. Unto God the judge of all the
earth. Unto innumerable angels. A company of angels. And to Jesus,
the mediator of the new covenant. And to the blood of Spranklin.
He's brought us together, hasn't He? That's why in heaven you'll
see saints and angels singing His praises. for all eternity. Heaven and earth made one. And lastly, think of this. Look
here in verse 4 and 5 again in our text. Look at this again.
Let a little water, I pray you, be fetched, and wash your feet,
and rest yourselves under the tree. And I will fetch a morsel
of bread, and comfort you your hearts. And then, after that,
you shall pass on. After that. you shall pass on. O children of God this morning, let everything in your daily
life, I mean everything in your daily life, all your activities,
all your chores, all your studies, everything you do in your life,
let it come after You sit under this tree. You can't enjoy God. You don't have the strength to
live the Christian life. You don't have the strength to
pass on and walk with God as dear children. But as you first
come and sit under this tree and refresh your heart and find
rest for your soul, We just can't live the Christian life except
we live it in the power of Christ. Be strong in the Lord, in the
Lord, and in the power of His might. Old John Bunyan says,
I wouldn't dare see any man's face when I leave my bed until
I've seen the face of Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Oh, that's
good, isn't it? That's good. Come and sit under
this tree. Rest yourself. Refresh yourself. Wash yourself. And then pass
on. And you see how easy your journey
will be. Much easier if you keep it in
that order. Paul said, The life that I now
live in the flesh, I live this way. You want to know how the
Apostle Paul lived? You know how he lived his life.
You know how he went everywhere and labored and preached? He
said, this is the way I live. I live my flesh by faith in the
Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. That's a good
rule of life, isn't it? Pass on that. Let us pray.