Hurry up here. Yeah, she's just
doing it. How do I get off the stage? You're
good to go. I'm glad to know your wife does
that too. I want you to turn with me, if
you would, to Judges chapter 9. And I pray that the Lord will
enable me this morning to talk to you again about the gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ, this time from the gospel according
to Judges. While you're turning, let me
remind you that in Hebrews chapter 11, that blessed passage of scripture
that many call the Hall of Faith. Know that through faith, we,
God's people, understand that the worlds were framed by the
word of God. The Lord said, let there be light.
And there was light. His word is effectual. in the
hearts of sinners and I'm so thankful for that. My cold dead
heart could not believe if God had not intervened and enabled
me to believe, give me life. This blessed book from cover
to cover constantly reminds us that we're saved by grace through
faith. and that is a gift of God. Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ,
not blind faith. People today make faith their
gospel, but faith has an object, and that's Christ. By faith,
Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain. It was the blood of the lamb,
picturing Christ our Lord. By faith, Enoch was translated
that he should not see death. And we all have that hope, don't
we? In Christ, we shall not see death. We'll be ushered right
into glory to forever be with him that loved us and gave himself
forth. Without faith, it's impossible
to please God. By faith, Noah, being warned
of God, moved with fear and prepared an ark, and that ark was Christ.
God's wrath fell upon the ark, but those in the ark were safe
and found refuge. By faith, Abraham received an
inheritance when he obeyed God and left his country and family
to go where God called him. He didn't know where it was.
He, by faith, went. It was by faith that Sarah conceived
a son. By faith, Abraham offered up
Isaac, a picture of God offering up his son. By faith, Isaac. By faith, Jacob. By faith, Joseph. By faith, Moses. By faith, Rahab. And by faith, Gideon. That's
the subject. Well, my subject is Christ. I
love the pictures and types of the Old Testament only because
they picture him. You know, I don't know if you're
like us, but we have pictures of our children on our refrigerator
and I can't ever go past that refrigerator without looking
at those pictures because I love those children. But when my children
come to visit, I don't look at that picture, I look at them.
I love that picture because it pictures them. And we love the
pictures of Christ in the Old Testament because of who they
picture. Now Gideon, the chosen judge
of Israel, I don't know if you remember the story, I'm sure
you do, but he delivered Israel out of the hand of the Midianites,
defeating 135,000 Midianites with 300 men. It's a miraculous
story. He started out with several thousand.
The Lord said, no, that's too many. Too many against 135,000?
Yep, too many. You're going to know when I'm
done that I delivered you. Cut it down to 300 men. And after
that, the people of Israel told Gideon in chapter 8, verse 22,
they said, rule thou over us, both thou and thy son and thy
sons' sons also, for thou hast delivered us from the hand of
Midian. And that was a selfish request.
wanted Gideon to be king because the Lord had blessed him. And
they knew if he was their king, they'd be blessed too. But Gideon
said, I will not rule over you. Gideon knew something that many
don't know. It's God that rules. It's God
that reigns. He said, my son shall not rule
over you. The Lord shall rule over you. Now Gideon had 70 sons. He had
many wives, 70 sons, plus at least one illegitimate son from
a Canaanite concubine. And his name was Abimelech. It's
interesting, as we mentioned last night, that names in the
scripture mean something. And Abimelech's name meant my
father is king. And Abimelech thought that he
was entitled to the throne. And he acted accordingly. So Abimelech meets with his own
people, the men of Shechem, and they finance a campaign to hire
assassins to kill the 70 sons of Gideon. And that's exactly
what they do. They kill 69 of Gideon's 70 sons,
but the youngest son, Jotham, hid and escaped. Jotham's name
means Jehovah is perfect. And what a picture he is of the
Lord Jesus. Now here in Judges 9 verse 7,
we find Jotham going into the Mount Gerizim, and he's a safe
distance away, probably some high place where he could be
heard, yet not close enough for them to do him harm. And he's
lifting up his voice and crying unto the men of Shechem. And
that's what preachers do. We simply are voices crying in
the wilderness. And it's here that he preached
to them the gospel in a parable. And, you know, wherever we preach
from, Genesis, Exodus, Judges, Joshua, it doesn't matter. It's
the gospel. This is a gospel according to
Judges. It's all about Christ. Jotham said, hearken unto me,
hear what I'm saying, for if you do, God may hearken unto
you. And that's what God's servants
do. We stand here and preach and we warn sinners to hearken
unto God. The Lord, as I said Friday night,
said, this is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased, hear
ye him. May God enable us to hear him.
That's what we do. We warn sinners to hearken unto
God and believe the gospel, and he'll hearken unto them. He's
never once denied anyone who truly wanted him to save them. He's always said, I can't find
anywhere in the scripture where he didn't. God always has, and
God always will use the means of preaching to save them that
believe. And I want to read this parable,
this prophecy, this gospel message that Jotham gives. And if God
be willing, maybe he'll be pleased to show us Christ again this
morning. That's what I love about Drew.
And I want to encourage you to lift him up in prayer. This is
not an easy thing to do. It's not. To stand, sinners,
to stand, we're sinners. Preachers are sinners. Have you
figured that out yet? Well, if not, follow me around
for a little while. But it enables sinners to speak
for God. What an awesome, amazing thing. Verse eight, this is the parable
of the trees. Verse eight, the trees went forth
on a time to anoint a king over them. And they said unto the
olive tree, reign thou over us. But the olive tree said unto
them, should I leave my fatness wherewith by me they honor God
and man and go to be promoted over the trees? Well, that would
be a demotion. And the trees said to the fig
tree, come thou and reign over us. But the fig tree said unto
them, should I forsake my sweetness? and my good fruit, and go to
be promoted over the trees? And then said the trees unto
the vine, come thou and reign over us. And the vine said unto
them, should I leave my wine, which cheereth God and man, and
go to be promoted over the trees? And then said all the trees unto
the bramble, thornbush, Come thou and reign over us. And the
bramble tree said in the trees, if in truth you anoint me king
over you, then come and put your trust in my shadow. And if not,
let fire come out of the bramble and devour the cedars of Lebanon. Now here we have a story, a parable
of four trees. And I want us to see the first
three trees, the olive tree, the fig tree, and the vine. They
all picture Christ. And the bramble, the thorn tree,
pictures the will and the work and the choice of man. Now, Jotham
is addressing the men of Shechem. And again, Shechem means shoulder
of burden. And it's a picture of religious
men and women bearing the burden of their own sin. Something we
can't do. It's a picture of religious men
and women who think that they can choose for themselves a savior. These trees seeking a king pictures
religion. This is what modern day religion
does. Those who believe they choose
their own king. Those who think that they determine
their own destiny. But man's destiny has been predestined
by God. Now these trees asked the olive
tree to be their king and the olive tree said, I'm not going
to give up my fatness, the abundance of my oil at your choosing. So
then they asked the fig tree to be their king and the fig
tree said, I'm not going to give up the sweetness of my fruit
at your choosing. That's my decision to make, not
your Then the trees asked the vine to be their king. And the
vine said, I'm not going to give up the joy of my wine in order
to serve you. All three trees said this fatness,
this sweetness, this joy, why it's reserved for those that
I choose, not for those who you choose. And men and women choose
and get their own way. You know what they wind up with?
A thorn bush, a bramble tree. Now I found this to be amazing.
Did you know that the words choose and the word heresy in the scriptures
mean the same thing? In the Hebrew and Greek they're
the same word. All the heresies and false religion
are based upon man's free will and man's choosing. John Gill wrote that those that
choose their own way of heresy all wind up with a bramble thorn
bush. What a lesson. And you know,
trees in the scripture are very relevant, very important. The
first reference to the Lord Jesus Christ found in the Bible shows
him to be the tree of life. In Psalm chapter one, we also
see Christ is the tree of life planted by the rivers of water.
The one who brings forth fruit, whose leaf, whose righteousness,
his righteousness, shall not wither, and everything that he
does prospers. Christ is that tree in Exodus
chapter 15 that was cast into the bitter waters and made sweet. Christ is the apple tree spoken
of in Song of Solomon chapter two, verse three, and all who
are under the shadow of that tree protected and made sweet
to his taste. In Genesis chapter 1 verses 11
and 12 Christ the tree of life has the seed of his church in
him after his own kind and I immediately think of that passage in 1st
John that says as he is so are we in this world for both he
that sanctified and they who are sanctified are all of one
for which cause he's not ashamed to call them brethren. Oh, it's
an overwhelming thought to me that God would call me brother,
brother, brethren, call us brethren. What a sweet privilege. We can only yield fruit after
our own kind. Sinners can only produce sin.
that being the seed of sin that's within us all. And unless the
Lord engraft us into Christ, the tree of life, sin is all
we can and will produce. But when he does, he produces
one like him, a seed of his own kind. I've often, I've heard
the old preachers say that when God looks at this sinner that
stands before you this morning, he sees Christ. That's just how,
that's just the union that we have with him, can't be separated.
And I'm so thankful for that. According to Romans chapter 11,
verse 16, we're told for if the first fruit, Christ, be holy,
the lump also is holy. And I was, of thinking, again,
that that's pretty much what we are, isn't it? Lumps. He's
able to make the same lump a vessel of righteousness or a vessel
of unrighteousness, but it's his choosing, not ours. Verse
17 says, but if some of the branches were broken off, and that's out
of Romans chapter 11, I'm sorry, but if some of the branches were
broken off, speaking of the natural Jew, which was not a spiritual
Jew, and you and I being a wild olive tree, Gentiles after the
flesh were grafted into Christ, and we now partake of the root
and the fatness of Christ, the olive tree. I think about the
promise that was made to Abraham and his seed, singular, not plural,
but one in Christ. That's what this parable of the
trees is all about. Man cannot save himself by his
own choice. The seed of God is in us by his
choice. Christ in us is the hope of glory,
the only hope that any of us have. of being reconciled to
God is that of Christ being in us. After our first parents disobeyed
God's one commandment, their eyes were opened, the scripture
says. They saw they were naked. They saw they had no covering.
And what did they do? What men still do today. They
immediately sewed fig leaves together to cover their nakedness. Can't be done. Can't be done. That's what mankind has endeavored
to do ever since. Adam and his wife hid themselves
from the presence of the Lord amongst the trees, it says. Today,
men and women are still hiding among the trees of humanity. Men and women say, I'm not perfect,
but compared to others, I'm no worse than they are. The issue
is not being as good as others. It's not. The issue is being
as perfect and as holy as God. Comparing yourself to others
is hiding among the trees. It's the same with religion.
They do the same. They hide themselves among the
trees of religion. They say, look at our numbers.
Why? This many people couldn't be
wrong, but the scriptures are quite clear. Many there be that
travel the road of destruction, and few there be that enter the
narrow gate and the narrow road unto life. That's hiding among
the trees. Maybe that is where the old saying
came from, people can't see the forest for the trees. meaning
that men and women cannot see the big picture because they
get caught up in all the small details. The works religionists
can't get past the small details of their own will, their own
works, and their own way to see the bigger picture of the will
and the purpose of God. Verse 61 in chapter Isaiah, excuse
me, chapter 61 of isaiah verse 3 says god's people are the trees
of righteousness that are planted of the lord that he might be
glorified the psalmist wrote in psalm 104 verse 16 the trees
of the lord are full of sap the cedars of lebanon lebanon which
he hath planted it's god that does the planting The trees of the Lord are full
of sap. Sap represents life, bigger,
energy. God's trees are full of life.
Those who were dead in trespasses and sin now, full of sap, full
of life. The trees of mankind say to the
God of their imagination, come reign over us. We choose you
to be our king. We've decided to make you our
Lord. Too late. too late. God made
him Lord long before you could make him Lord before the foundation
of the world. He is Lord. We don't make him
anything. But the olive tree, the fig tree,
and the vine tree said, no, no, it's not your choice. It's not
your choice. It's our choice. And the Father,
Son, and the Holy Spirit are God in three persons. That's
what this parable is showing us. God does the choosing. And the very thing the trees
of righteousness and love and the fallen and then it's the
fallen trees of humanity hate what we love what's precious
to us the world hates and that's God's sovereignty his right to
choose The men of Shechem bearing the
burden of their own sin, that's what the name means, as I said,
said to the olive tree, the fig tree, and the vine, come and
we'll let you be our king and reign. And they all representing
Christ said, that's not your choice, not your choice. That's our choice. We're not
going to leave our fatness. We're not going to leave our
sweetness. We're not going to leave our gladness. Because of
your choice, these things are reserved for those trees of our
choosing and our planting. The people of Israel would have
taken the Lord Jesus by force and made him king, but he departed
into a mountain alone. How do sinners make Jesus Lord
when he's already Lord? And he's Lord of Lords and King
of Kings. How do we let God reign when
he's always reigned? Our Lord said, you've not chosen
me, but I've chosen you. And I ordained you that you should
go and bring forth what? Fruit. and that your fruit should
remain. You see, it's God that does the
choosing. It's God that does the ordaining. It's God that
brings forth the fruit in us. And he causes that fruit to remain.
It's God that keeps us by his power. In Luke chapter four,
when our Lord Jesus went back to his hometown, that place that
he was raised and lived for 30 years, well, everyone knew him.
small community he went into the temple on the sabbath and
as was his custom and he read from the scriptures that day
that portion in isaiah which said the spirit of the lord is
upon me because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the
poor he has sent me to heal the brokenhearted to preach deliverance
to the captives and the covering of sight to the blind to set
at liberty them that are bruised to preach the acceptable year
of the Lord and he closed the book and he gave it again to
the minister and he sat down and the scripture says all the
eyes of them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him. They were captivated. Every eye
fastened on him. They marveled at the gracious
words, it says, which proceeded out of his mouth. And then he
said, this day is the scripture fulfilled in your ears. In other
words, I am the Christ. I am the Messiah. I am the one
that Isaiah spoke of. And he told them directly that
it was him who did the choosing and the saving. You say, well,
I don't remember that part. Well, he said, in the days of
Elijah, there were many widows in Israel. when the heavens were
shut up for three and a half years with a great famine throughout
all the land. But to none of them was Elijah
the prophet sent, except in Sarepta, a city of Sidon, unto a Gentile
woman who was a widow. And God didn't send his servant
to anyone in Israel. but to the Gentile nation. And many lepers were in Israel
in the time of Elijah the prophet and none of them were cleansed
except Naaman the Syrian who was also a Gentile. God didn't
save one leper in Israel during that time because the Lord saves
whom he wills. I'll have mercy on whom I'll
have mercy. I'll be gracious to whom I'll
be gracious. That's the Lord's glory. His
right to choose, not ours. Men don't choose who rules and
reigns as king, but the one who reigns does the choosing. And
that day, everyone there in Christ's hometown, all been knew him.
Why, they said, how many times did we read in the scripture?
He's Joseph's son, we know Joseph. Remember, he fixed the table
for us. And we know his sisters, we know his other son, his brother,
the Lord's brothers, we went to school with them. Their wonderment
turned to wrath and their marvel turned to murder and they would
have cast him off the hillside. But he walked through the midst
of them. Why? Because he's king. He's
the Lord of glory. He does what he wills. His time
had not yet come. Why would they so angry? Because
he claimed to be the Christ who did the choosing for himself.
The trees of the forest wanted to decide and to choose who would
be their king and reign over them. But the olive tree, the
fig tree and the vine said, you don't have that right. You don't
have the right. Our fatness, our abundance, our
sweetness, our fruit, and our wine, which cheers God and man,
is for the trees of righteousness. It's reserved for those who are
one with Christ. And friends, let me say this.
This is more than just a difference of opinions. You know, people
say, can't we just agree to disagree? No. No, we can't. Can't we just
go along, get along? No. No, we can't. More than a
difference of opinion. Matter of fact, I told the church
at home, I said, let me answer you in French. No siree. We don't have the right. This
is a different gospel. This is a different God. And
what did the citizens of this earth who hate the Lord say?
We will not have this man to rule and reign over us, Luke
19, 14. Man's will will not. Have Christ rule over them. We will decide who will reign
over us, says man. Is that right? No, it's not. And that's what we see from this
parable of the trees. Folks need to get their Bibles
out and dust them off. They do. People need to open
their Bibles and read them. Folks need to take the Bible
off the coffee table and put it in their laps and start studying
it. This book tells us plainly. We
need to find out who chooses who. We need to find out who
salvation is of. Is it of man or is it of the
Lord? The book plainly tells us, doesn't
it? Salvation's of the Lord. It's
become a little, I think about this often, but you know what
follows that in the scripture, salvation's of the Lord? A period. Salvation's of the Lord, period. End of discussion. He does the
saving, we did the sinning. The rulers whose servants would
not have him to rule or his son to rule over them later said,
but these mine enemies which would not that I should reign
over them bring hither and slay them before me. This is serious,
serious business. What think ye of Christ? That's
the most important question I think ever asked from scripture. Whose
son is he? People need to be careful what
they wish for. Why do the heathen rage and the
people imagine a vain thing? Why do the kings of the earth
set themselves and take counsel against the Lord? Because they're
ignorant of God's righteousness and they go about to establish
their own righteousness. We don't do the choosing. God
does. Women, men will hold tight to
their choice until the sovereign breaks their hands. Oh, I remember
Levi when he broke my hands and I had to let go, let go of my
will, let go of my way, let go of my worth. And I'm so thankful
that he broke my hands. So in the end, what do these
self-choosing trees do? They choose a bramble tree, a
worthless, fruitless briar bush good only for the fire. And that's
all it's good for. The first mention of the olive
tree is found when the ark rests upon Mount Ararat after the waters
begin to diminish and the dove is sent out by Noah and it returns
with an olive leaf. What a picture that is of the
symbol of life. That newness of life. That new
creation in Christ Jesus. If any man be a new creature
all things are passed away and behold all things have become
new. Christ Christ, it's all about Christ. In Exodus chapter
27, the oil in the tabernacle used in the lamp to enable it
to always burn was the oil of the olive tree. Christ is the
light of life that burns always and forever. He's God's olive
tree. In Zechariah chapter 4 where
there were two olive trees, one on the right side and one on
the left of the golden candlesticks with a golden pipe that poured
into the candlestick. What a picture of Christ and
the Holy Spirit. Christ is the anointed one. The
Holy Spirit is the oil of gladness. The olive tree in Jotham's parable
is the fatness and the abundance of eternal life. That's Jesus
Christ. When the Lord gave instructions
on how the incense was to be formulated, the olive oil was
a part of the ingredients. And if anyone tried to duplicate
that incense for any personal use, they were to be cut off
from Israel. See, this is serious, serious.
That's the problem that we have today. Men and women think that
they can duplicate the sweet-smelling sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ
by their own choosing. And in the end, their choice
is always themselves. Men think that they're their
own god. They think that they ordained their own destiny. No,
no, no. It's not of your choosing. The
incense pictures the prayers of the saints, mostly the prayers
of Christ that ascended up to heaven. Peter knew something
about that. The Lord said, Satan desires
to sift you as wheat, but I pray that your faith fail you not. The Lord said, I pray not for
the world, but for them which thou, the Father, has given me
out of the world. The olive tree says, this is
the fatness of my oil. It's my decision, not yours,
who receives it. The anointing of the Spirit of
God, the prayer of the saints, they're all reserved for the
ones that I've chosen, not for those who think they chose me.
The trees then go to the fig tree. They say, come and rain
over us. And the fig tree says, no, no.
Why should I leave the sweetness of my fruit for you? I was thinking
about Nathaniel. He was found under the fig tree.
And Andrew, his brother, came to him and said, we found the
Messiah. And he said, really, who is it? Jesus of Nazareth. And he said, is there anything
good that can come out of Nazareth? And when Nathanael came to the
Lord, the Lord said, behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom
is no guile. Now, Nathanael was a sinner just
like you and me. And how could He be without guile? That word means deception. How
could He not be deceptive and full of fraud? Well, what Christ
was saying was this, Nathaniel, you're one of Mine. I in you and you in Me, therefore
you're made just like Me. Perfect. Perfect before God. You know why when the Lord looks
at you, the believer, He doesn't see any sin? Because you don't
have any. The Lord took your sin upon himself. And he's given you his perfect
righteousness. Adam and Eve covered themselves
with fig leaves. That's not what fig leaves were
for. The fig leaf is the sweetness
of Christ's fruit. And that fruit is Christ. We
must be covered with him as our righteousness. There was a fig
tree without fruit one day, and the Lord cursed that fig tree.
And the next day, it was withered. And the disciples were just amazed
that it had died so quickly. You see, friends, all our fruit
is in Christ alone, and without it, we're cursed. The fruit of
Christ is for those that he chooses. Then they went to the vine. Well,
we know who the vine represents, don't we? The Lord Jesus said,
I'm the vine, you're the branches. Without me, you can do a few
things? No. You can do nothing. Nothing means nothing. There's
not anything we can do. He that abided to me and I in
him, the same bringeth forth much fruit. Not just fruit, but
much fruit. But without me, you can't do
anything. God is the vine dresser. He's
going to prune the branches. And have you been pruned lately?
I have. He's the vine dresser. And when
we're pruned, we bring forth more fruit. The vine tree tells
the trees, I'm not going to leave my gladness. It cheers both God
and me. When the Lord Jesus Christ died,
you know, he died for God. He died to appease the wrath
and the judgment of God. And of course, man was a beneficiary
of that. What was God cheered with? Well,
it wasn't the wine that men drink. He's satisfied only with the
blood of Christ. That's when we take the Lord's
table. That's what it represents. We're partaking of the wine,
the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. We're saying this is my only
hope that his body was broken for me and that his blood was
shed for me. to an inheritance incorruptible
and undefiled that fadeth not away. Someone asked Brother Mayhem
one time, do you believe once saved, always saved? And he said,
well, it all depends on who saved you. If God saved you, yes. If you saved yourself, no. But
we believe because we trust in Christ that when we're saved,
we're always saved. It's an inheritance incorruptible,
undefiled, that fades not away. Reserved in heaven for you, who
are kept by the power of God through faith into salvation,
ready to be revealed in the last time. It's got to be revealed
to you. If not, you'll continue to trust in your will, your works,
and in your worth. Now, they went to the bramble
bush. What's a bramble bush good for?
What's man's will, work, and way good for? It's good for the
fire. And one day, the Lord's gonna
burn it up. Good for nothing but the fire. Good for nothing
but hail. Good for nothing but fiery indignation. You see, our works produce nothing
but thorns and thistles. It's a result of God's curse.
It was a bramble bush that burned and was not consumed when Moses
stood on holy ground. Our works are consumed by the
fire of God's wrath, but Christ's works are not. Christ's work
of righteousness consumed the wrath of God, and God was satisfied. And the sinner, the beneficiary
of his mercy and grace, goes free. It was a crown of thorns,
a crown of bramble that the cruel soldiers placed upon our Lord's
head. They meant it for evil, Bruce, but God meant it for good. This showed that Christ assumed
our works of righteousness and finished it by his own perfect
work upon Calvary's cross. And our Lord's earthly crown
was a crown of thorns proving that our fruitless works are
just that, fruitless, fruitless, worthless. But Christ our substitute
took upon himself and did for us what we couldn't do, and that,
dear believer, is the thorn of crowns that Christ wore for us. The scripture talks about the
sower that sowed the seed, and it says some of the seed fell
on thorny ground and it got choked out. But thank God that some
of that seed fell on plowed and fertile ground. I remember when
the Lord began to plow my cold, hard ground and made it fertile. And what happens? It springs
forth unto eternal life. Christ is the tree of life. And
we find eternal life in His choosing of us, not our choosing of Him. May God be pleased to make fruitful
to you the preaching of the gospel. Amen. Thank you, brother. Let
me again tell you how much I appreciate all that you've done. Everything
has just been wonderful. And it's a labor of love. And
I know you love the gospel. You wouldn't have these meetings
if you didn't. And I'm thankful for you. I'm
thankful for your pastor and his wife. I'm thankful for the
work that God has put here. As you said, Melinda said, in
Jackson, Missouri, in Madisonville, Kentucky, the Lord has raised
up a work where his gospel is proclaimed. May we never ever
take that lightly. Springfield, Missouri, doesn't
matter where. Thank God for his mercy, his grace, and his choosing
of us.