If you turn again in your Bibles
to the last passage we read in Isaiah in chapter 61, I'd like
to draw your attention to those verses we read in Isaiah 61,
verses 1 to 3, which reads as follows, The Spirit of the Lord
God is upon me. Because the Lord hath anointed
me to preach good tidings unto the meek, he hath sent me to
bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives,
and the opening of the prison to them that are bound, to proclaim
the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our
God, to comfort all that mourn. to appoint unto them that morning
Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for
morning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness,
that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting
of the Lord, that he might be glorified. That they might be
called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that
he might be glorified. to draw your attention to this
phrase, the trees of righteousness. We read of trees throughout the
scriptures, there are various trees mentioned in the scriptures,
various different trees which take on certain importance in
various places. We read of the fig tree, the
olive tree, we read when Christ is teaching in Matthew's Gospel,
the Sermon on the Mount, we read how he likens true prophets and
false prophets to trees. Good trees that bring forth good
fruit, bad trees that bring forth bad fruit. Often we read of different
trees and men and conduct likened unto trees and their fruit. We
read that Christ is divine and his people are the branches on
the vine. And here in Isaiah, we read this
description of God's people, of those in Zion, of those who
mourn, who will be comforted, of those who have ashes and mourning,
who will have beauty given in its place and the oil of joy
given in its place. Those who had the spirit of heaviness,
who will be given a garment of praise. These people are described
as trees of righteousness. The planting of the Lord. Trees
of righteousness. Why trees? How trees of righteousness? What does this description remind
us of? What do we think of when we read
of trees? But if we were to go right back
to the beginning of the scriptures, as we read earlier, right back
to the garden which God planted eastward in Eden, we know that
there were trees in that garden. Many trees that God planted,
but two trees that he named. Two trees of great importance.
Two trees which affected the outcome, the destiny of man in
this world. Two trees which have a bearing
not just on time but on eternity. Two trees that all men stand
in relation to. We read in this garden the account
of how the Lord planted the garden. Of how he put these two named
trees in the garden. Of how he put the man that he
had created in the garden. Of how he brought forth woman
out of the side of the man as a help for the man. and how he
commanded the man and the woman with respect to what they may
eat in the garden. And we read the terrible account
of how the woman and then the man turned from the word of the
Lord, turned from listening to what their God had told them,
turned from obeying Him, turned from looking and depending on
Him alone. They turned to their own devices.
they turned to what seemed good in their eyes and they were beguiled
by the serpent the woman was beguiled by the serpent and through
her the man fell and they ate of the tree which the Lord commanded
that they should not touch yes there were two trees in the garden
one we read of in Genesis 2 and verse 9 and the other We read
there that out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every
tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life also in the
midst of the garden and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. The tree of life and the tree
of knowledge of good and evil. Two particular trees in the garden
with man as a representative of all mankind that would follow,
stood in relation to them. What happened in the garden when
Adam fell, when he turned against the commandment of the Lord and
ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, against the
commandment of the Lord, what happened there had cataclysmic
consequences on all his race. In turning from obeying his Lord
God, sin entered his heart, and death by sin. And death passed
upon all men, as it says in Romans 5. And sin passed upon all men. The whole race of mankind, everyone
that would be born from the loins of Adam, every child that Eve
should bring forth, all their children, all their grandchildren,
all their great-grandchildren, right down to this day and beyond. Everyone has been tainted by
what happened in this garden. Sin entered God's perfect creation,
His perfect and His pure creation that He made in six days, of
which He said at each stage, it is good, which He looked upon
in pleasure, And he made man the finest of his creations upon
the earth. And he looked upon man in pleasure,
made in his image. And yet so soon man turned his
back upon his maker and plunged not only himself but his own
posterity. Adam plunged his whole posterity
into ruin and chaos, into the depravity of sin. He fell. He couldn't have fallen farther.
He fell from life into death. He fell from innocence into unrighteousness
and corruption. Evil entered his heart. And the
consequences of this was death. And death passed upon all men.
All die. And they die because they're
sinners. Their hearts are corrupt. and sin entered because of the
two trees which were in the garden and because of the Lord's command
regarding one of these trees and because of what man did in
regard to that tree. The whole state of man, the fall
of man, the destiny of man revolves around these trees and man's
relationship to them and to their fruit. This doesn't just concern
Adam many years ago in the garden. This concerns us today. Where
we stand, our actions, our attitude in relation to these two trees
governs where we stand before God both now and in eternity. There were two trees. One in
the midst of the garden called the tree of life. And another
tree called the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Each had fruit. Each could be eaten from. But
the Lord God commanded that one tree should not be eaten off. He made no such command with
respect to the tree of life. we don't read that Adam and his
wife went to eat of the tree of life but the one tree in the
garden of many that they were told not to eat of that they
desired when the serpent, the subtle serpent came alongside
the woman and beguiled her and began to ask her questions and
began to cause her to doubt the word of the Lord to her tempted
her into taking a catastrophic action. He says, yea, hath God said ye
shall not eat of every tree of the garden? For the Lord God had told the
woman and the man that of every tree of the garden that thou
mayest freely eat, but of the tree of the knowledge of good
and evil thou shalt not eat of it. For in the day that thou
eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die. That's what the Lord God
said. And the man and the woman, made
in innocence, made in the image of God, with a perfect understanding,
an unfaltering memory, with capacity and capability far above what
we have today, they knew what they'd been told. And yet the
serpent comes alongside and casts these doubts. as he continues
to do today, comes alongside with his subtle whisperings in
the ears of man, in the ears of women, in the ears of children,
and he says, yea, has God said? Has he said? Is his word true? Can he be trusted? Are you sure
you know what the Lord's will is? Are you sure you know what
the word of God is? Has he said? And with his persuasion,
he leads many forth after him. He said, yea, have God said,
ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And the woman
said unto the serpent, we may eat of the fruit of the trees
of the garden, but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst
of the garden, God hath said, ye shall not eat of it, neither
shall ye touch it, lest ye die. Now here the woman's response
is not quite accurate. For the tree of life is described
as the tree in the midst of the garden in chapter 2 and verse
9. And then the tree of knowledge
of good and evil is described. It may be that the tree of knowledge
of good and evil is in the midst also. But the one described as
in the midst is the tree of life. and they had not been told that
they could not eat of the tree of life which is in the midst
of the garden yet her response to the serpent is not specifically
with regard to the tree of knowledge of good and evil but she speaks
of the tree in the midst but the serpent goes on and beyond
casting doubt upon God's word now his tactic is more aggressive
He flatly denies God's word. He says unto her, you shall not
surely die. And God had said of the tree
of knowledge of good and evil that if you eat of it, in that
day thou shalt surely die. He is a liar from the beginning.
And he's a liar today. And if you listen to his whisperings,
all you will hear is lies. He comes today in many fashions. He comes alongside man today
and tells man how clever he is, how wise he is, how advanced
he is. This is the 21st century. You
don't believe in those myths from long ago, that simple people,
your simple ancestors used to believe. You don't believe fairy
tales and myths. You're above that. You're too
smart. You know the world was not created. Your science has shown otherwise.
You know that this world evolved, that there was a big bang, that
you came about by chance. Don't believe that nonsense that
people tell you about God and about the creation. and about
sin, and about the consequences of sin. Oh, don't believe that. They're just out to control you.
They're just out to bind up your conscience and make you feel
bad about yourself. You want to be free, you want
to live, you want to do as you like. You don't want all this
worry about what you've done, whether what you do is right
or wrong. and all this worry about what
will happen after death, whether you go to heaven or to hell.
That's for a past generation. Surely you're too smart to believe
that. And so he beguiles, and so the people follow, and so
they listen. And it's pleasant words to hear.
They're pleasant words. They hear what they want to hear.
They like to know that there's no guilt for their sins and their
evil deeds. They like to know that they can
indulge their lusts in every way and face no consequence. They like to feel that there
will not be a God before whom they will surely stand. They
like to be told that when they eat of the tree that they want
to eat of, that they shall not surely die. They want to feel
like they will live forever on their terms, not God's terms. Yes, his message is a message
which is very appealing, very beguiling, one that no one will
refuse. So you can see how easily Eve
was beguiled, if we're taken in so was she. He goes on, for God doth know
that in the day thereof then your eyes shall be opened and
you shall be as gods knowing good and evil. There's wisdom on this tree,
there's knowledge on this tree, you'll be as gods, you'll be
like your maker, you'll know all that he knows. He's keeping
something from you, he's keeping all this knowledge from you,
you need that knowledge. The man and the woman communed
with God, their maker. They knew and they should have
known and stood on the ground of the fact that all they needed
was in him. All they needed was to walk with
Him and to listen to Him and to trust Him, to trust His Word,
to believe His Word, to walk in faith with Him, to never doubt
Him, to never turn from Him. They needed not knowledge of
their own. Their God was omnipotent, omnipresent,
omniscient. He knew all. He was all-powerful. He was everywhere. They had all
they needed in their maker. They needed not their own knowledge.
Yet when presented with this idea, that eat of this tree and
you'll know all, how appealing this seemed. Not to rely on another,
to be able to stand on their own two feet, to be all-powerful
themselves, to be as gods. And no sooner did the woman hear
this, than she looked at the tree, and she looked at the fruit,
and it was pleasant to the eyes. A tree to be desired to make
one wise, and she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and
gave also unto her husband with her, and he did eat. And the
eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were
naked. and they plunged into sin and
into ruin and into death. Oh they had knowledge but that
knowledge slew them. That knowledge slew them. Of course this is not so much
teaching us about literal fruit on a literal tree. Whether there
was a literal tree or not is not really the point. It's the
spirituality of the actions behind this. It's what that tree stood
for and represented. It's what the eating of that
tree stood for and represented. They were told not to eat and
yet they ate. That tree was named the tree
of the knowledge of good and evil. And it was the knowledge
of good and evil which was so tempting to man in the garden. And it's to know good from evil
that is so tempting to man today. You present two trees to men,
even today. You present before them the tree
of life and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. And without
hesitation, there is one tree they will run to. There is one
tree that they will leap from. They have no time for the tree
of life, no interest, but the tree of knowledge of good and
evil beguiles. Now what do these two trees mean? And I'll tell you first, that
tree of life, it's a picture of Christ. And of that life,
that eternal life, which is found in Christ and in Christ alone.
And if the man and the woman were to have eaten of the tree
of life in the midst of the garden, they would not only have not
died, but they'd have eaten of that spiritual tree. which would
have given them eternal life, not just in the garden in Eden,
not just in this world, but eternal life forevermore. You may say,
how do you know that? Well, you can turn to Revelation
and chapter 22 to see. Well, that new heavens and a
new earth, that city that will be built there has a tree in
the midst. Revelation 22. And he showed
me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding
out of the throne of God and of the Lamb, in the midst of
the street of it. And on either side of the river
was there the tree of life, which bared twelve manner of fruits,
and yielded her fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree were
for the healing of the nations. And there shall be no more curse,
but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it. And
his servants shall serve him. And they shall see his face,
and his name shall be in their foreheads. And there shall be
no night there, and they need no candle, neither light of the
sun, for the Lord God giveth them light. And they shall reign
forever and ever. And he said unto me, these sayings
are faithful and true. And the Lord God of the holy
prophets sent his angel to show unto his servants the things
which must shortly be done. Behold, I come quickly. Blessed
is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book.
And I, John, saw these things and heard them. And when I had
heard and seen, I fell down to worship before the feet of the
angel which showed me these things. then saith he unto me see thou
do it not for I am thy fellow servant and of thy brethren the
prophets and of them which keep the sayings of this book. Worship
God. And he saith unto me, seal not
the sayings of the prophecy of this book, for the time is at
hand. He that is unjust, let him be unjust still. And he which
is filthy, let him be filthy still. And he that is righteous,
let him be righteous still. And he that is holy, let him
be holy still. And behold, I come quickly. and
my reward is with me to give every man according as his work
shall be. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning
and the end, the first and the last. Blessed are they that do
his commandments that they might have right to the tree of life
and may enter in through the gates into the city. for without are dogs and sorcerers
and whoremongers and murderers and idolaters and whosoever loveth
and maketh a lie. I, Jesus, have sent mine angel
to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root
and the offspring of David and the bright and morning star.
And the Spirit and Bride say, Come. And let him that heareth
say, Come. And let him that is a first come,
and whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely. Yes,
John had this wonderful revelation, where the angel of the Lord showed
him things that would surely come to pass. And here at the
end of the book that he was told to write down, he wrote down
of this vision of that new heavens and new earth. And the city of
God in it. And how the Lamb of God would
reign in that city. And how in the midst of it is
the tree of life. Whose fruit is for the healing
of the nations. The tree of life. The tree of
life is Christ. It's Christ, it's that life which
is in him, that eternal life, that life which he would bring
for those who were dead, for those who were sinners, for those
who would turn their backs on him, for those like Adam and
Eve, who turn in their backs on God and on his commandment. turned their backs on this tree
and went to another tree and ate of its fruit and in so doing
fell into sin and into corruption. This is a tree in which there's
life but they went for the other tree and we today when we hear
this message By nature we turn our backs on the tree of life. Man doesn't want anything to
do with Jesus Christ. Mankind hates him. When he came into this world,
God as man, the life of God, eternal life, when the light
and the life stood upon a dark and an evil world, when the light
entered he came unto his own and his own received him not.
He came unto mankind and mankind had no room for him. Even at
his birth there was no room for this babe to be born. And at
his end, when he'd been around doing good, healing many, teaching
the truth, setting the captives free, making the blind to see,
making the deaf to hear, the lame to walk, when all he'd done
is show peace and love, when all he'd done is show mercy,
when all he'd done is declare the truth, the people rose up
and said of this one, the life of God. this one in whom is eternal
life, of this one of whom the tree of life is a picture. The
people rose up and said, we do not want this man to reign over
us. Away with him. Crucify him. Crucify him. What of you? What was your reaction
to Jesus Christ? What is your reaction to Jesus
Christ? Do you listen to the beguiling
whispers of that serpent from the garden? Who would have you
believe the lie that he puts around in this world this day? That Christ is but a figure from
the past. A nothing. Perhaps a great teacher
but of no relevance now. Do you believe the lie when he
would have you believe that the historical records are perhaps
to be doubted? that we cannot even be sure of
who this Jesus Christ was or whether he was really nailed
to a cross or whether he really was supposed to have risen again. Do you believe his whisperings? Have you spurned the tree of
life? Have you turned your back on
it? Do you turn your back on it? Of which tree do you eat? When one comes to you speaking
of a tree of knowledge of good and evil, does that seem more
appealing? Well I tell you it does. To all
men, all women, all children, we love the tree of knowledge
of good and evil. We eat of that. Its fruit is
pleasant to the eye. A tree to be desired to make
one wise. But the tree of life, we hardly
know if there even is a tree of life. We've never sorted out. We don't care for it. We don't
want it. Well what is this tree of knowledge
of good and evil? What does it represent if the
tree of life is Christ? What is that tree? The answer's
in its name. It's very plain. It gives the
knowledge of good and evil. It tells us what is right and
what is wrong. It tells us what to do. It takes
our dependence away from the tree of life. It takes our dependence
away from him in whom there is life. We think through this other
tree that we will gain life through the fruit of this tree. That
to know good and evil will bring us life. That we can live by
our own strength. That to eat of this tree will
make us wise. Will make us wise. That with
this tree and its fruit we can walk, we can do, we can think,
we can act. This is a tree that leads man. from God. It led man from God. It led the woman and the man
from the presence of the Lord God. Having eaten of it they
fled in the garden. The knowledge it brought told
them that they were naked, that they were exposed that they could
not hide, they tried to hide themselves under fig leaves.
When they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden,
they tried to hide themselves from the presence of the Lord
God. This knowledge made them scared. What they thought would
bring them life made them guilty. It brought them condemnation. It brought them ruin. They fled
from the Lord's presence. And the Lord God called unto
Adam and said unto him, where art thou? And he said, I heard
thy voice in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked and
I hid myself. Is this pleasant knowledge? no sooner had they eaten of this
pleasant fruit than they fled from the presence of the Lord
then fear swept into their hearts they knew not what he would do
in response they knew that he had said that the day that thou
eatest thereof thou shalt surely die oh what had they done Have you eaten of this tree?
What have you done? The tree of knowledge of good
and evil. You see we think if we know what's
right and wrong and if we put our hand to it that somehow we'll
be able to rise ourselves up that somehow we'll be prosperous
that we'll be as gods knowing good from evil And yet, what promises so much,
slew Adam and Eve. And what promises us so much,
slays us too. This tree is a picture of the
law. The law of God that he gave to
Moses upon Sinai. It's representative of that.
It's not that knowledge of good and evil in and of itself is
wrong. But when you turn to the law,
all that law does is condemn you. The knowledge of good and
evil does not bring life. The knowledge of good and evil
sets you up on your feet So try to walk before God by your strength,
by your zeal, by your effort, by your wisdom. And all you do
is you fall down flat on your face. When God gave the law to
Moses, he came down from the mount after being in the presence
of God, carrying the tablets. He came back down after he'd
seen the people once and he found the people had risen up to play.
and to worship an idol. And he smashed the tablets. No
sooner had they been given than they were broken. And no sooner
do we turn to the law of God and we'll find it condemns us
utterly. The Ten Commandments teach us
good and evil. What they say is true. What they
say is from the mouth of God. but there's no life to be found
if we turn into the Ten Commandments. God gave them to prove us to
be sinners and to lead us unto the tree of life. God put two
trees in the garden. He told man not to eat of the
one. Man ate of the tree of the knowledge
of good and evil. and in so doing sin entered,
and death by sin, and the whole race was ruined. But God in the
gospel sends a message to fallen man. He sends a message to him. He comes unto him and he tells
him that there's one who would come, the seed of the woman,
one who would be born, one who would be bruised, One who would
be slain in their stead. One who would die in their place. One who would die in the place
of guilty men and women. That he might take their punishment. That he might wash them with
his blood. That he might make them clean.
And that he might make them to eat of another tree. All have
sinned and come short of the glory of God. All have eaten
of this tree of which Adam and Eve ate. All have felt the corruption
that its fruit brought upon them. you and I have eaten of that
tree time and time again, we've done what we want and we've tried
to stand in our own strength and knowing that we are evil
and that we must be good before God we've gone to God's law perhaps
or gone to some wisdom of right and wrong that we know in our
conscience we should do this and we shouldn't do that and
we try to lift ourselves up in our own strength and try to make
amends. We know we're naked. The knowledge
of good and evil tells us we're naked. The law will tell us we
are naked. We have nothing. We're guilty
on every count. And knowing we're naked, we know
that we must cover ourselves. And like Adam and Eve, we sew
fig leaves together. Our knowledge tells us what to
do and we try our best. But the fig leaves cover nothing. And the eye of the Lord sees
through. Yet the Lord in mercy, as another
covering for a people that believe on his son. And to Adam also
and to his wife did the Lord God make coats of skins and clothed
them. He slew a sacrifice on their
behalf. Blood was shed because of what
they did. He clothed them. And he did so
as a picture of what he would do for his own. You may have
eaten of the wrong tree. you may keep trying to eat of
the wrong tree but if you hear of Christ in his gospel if you
hear of the one who would be born of the woman who would be
slain who the serpent would bruise and in so doing the serpent would
be bruised if you hear of this one that was promised who came
to die for sinners, even God's Son, Jesus Christ. And if you
look under Him, then there's a clothing for your sin and your
corruption, unlike any clothing or fig leaves that you could
ever make. This is that clothing that God makes, that God makes,
a sacrifice that He made, a covering that He made, one that covers
from all, one. which is in the tree of life,
one which brings life, one which brings eternal life, everlasting
life. You may have eaten of the wrong
tree, eat of this tree, flee to this tree, There's a tree
which when you've eaten of, you will never die. There's a tree
whose fruit brings eternal life. There's a tree whose fruit can
undo all that the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and
evil did. There's a tree of life, a tree
of life, a tree of righteousness. And all who eat of this tree, are described as trees of righteousness. They too are described as trees,
for they are united to the tree of which they've eaten. Trees
of righteousness. For when God comes in his gospel,
to those who are brokenhearted, to those who are captives like
Adam and Eve were when they plunged into sin, like you are outside
of Christ captive to sin, captive to death the result of sin, When
you hear the message of the Gospel which the Spirit of the Lord
brings in His good tidings unto the captives, unto the brokenhearted,
unto those like you who are imprisoned because of your sin, who are
bound because of your sin, to dead sinners, when you hear the
proclamation of the Gospel of Christ, of that Tree of Life, When you, on hearing, have your
eyes opened to see and to believe, when you hear the Lord speak
in comfort unto you, when you was one who was brought to mourn
over your sin, knowing the state you were in, knowing what Adam
had plunged you into, knowing what you yourself had plunged
yourself into when you did just what Adam did. From the day you
were born you ate of the wrong tree, willingly, zealously, you
turn from the right tree. When the Spirit comes unto you
and teaches you what you've done, and brings you to mourn, and
brings you to cry out unto God as a lost, as a desperate sinner,
who's heading for hell and destruction, when in that state as one that
mourns as one that moans as one that has the spirit of heaviness
upon your soul when you hear the gospel it comes unto you
as beauty to clothe your ashes as the oil of joy your state
of mourning. It comes unto you as something
which will clothe you with a garment of praise to take away the spirit
of heaviness. It comes unto you as a glorious
message When you heard of the day of vengeance of our God,
that day approaches when God will come to judge this world,
when he will come to judge all men for what they've done. And
you know that where you stand in that day, will determine where
you will be for all eternity. When you stand in fear as Adam
and Eve stood in the garden, clothed with fig leaves, hiding
from the presence of the Lord. When you stand quaking there
with a spirit of heaviness and mourning. knowing that justice
awaits, knowing you're guilty, knowing that all your attempts
with all your wisdom and all your knowledge of good and evil
and all your righteousness and all your good works are going
to count for nothing. When you stand there and the
message of the Lord comes unto you by the voice of the Spirit,
with a still small voice, whispering to you, follow me, follow me,
look unto my Son. look unto the tree, look unto
the cross upon which my son was nailed, look unto that cross,
that tree upon which the Son of God was nailed, upon which
eternal life was nailed, look unto the one that shed his blood,
Look unto the One that took upon Himself all the sins of all His
people throughout all time. Look unto the One that swallowed
up the wrath of God against all those sins and took it all away. Look unto the One that did everything
necessary to save the worst of sinners and bring them from death
into life, even one such as you. Look unto Him. Just look and
believe upon my Son. I have bruised my Son for my
people. I have bruised my Son for sinners. I have bruised my Son for those
that ate of that tree of corruption. look unto this tree upon which
he was nailed, this tree which brings life out of death, look
unto my son the tree of life. When you look there, when you
hear that by the Spirit, when that message enters your heart
and hearing you believe and having faith planted in your heart,
you look and you believe, then your spirit of heaviness will
go. and you'll be clothed with a
garment of praise then your mourning will be gone forevermore and
you'll bubble up with the oil of joy and you'll know what it
is to be planted of God as a tree of righteousness united to the
one that stood in your place as he washed your sins away and
made you righteous in his blood made you righteous. If you are
brought there and are brought to believe, then you will know
what it is to be called a tree of righteousness. a tree of righteousness,
a branch on the vine which is Christ, a branch on the tree
of life, a branch on that tree which brought righteousness upon
the cross, a branch which discharged sin and brought in the righteousness
of God through the faith of Jesus Christ as he died in the place
of his people, a tree of life, a tree of righteousness. I ask
you this day, where have you been looking? Have you been brought
to that point of mourning? Have you eaten of that tree of
the knowledge of good and evil? Have you been brought to eat
of the tree of life? Have you been planted of the
Lord God as a tree of righteousness? Do you know this day what it
is to be eaten of this tree? which to eat of, having eaten
of, you will never ever die, but you will live forevermore
to stand around the throne of the Lamb of God in that city
to come wherein in the midst is the tree of life with 12 fruits
for the healing of the nations. The nations need to hear this
and you need to hear it. Eat of this fruit. May God give
you grace to flee unto this tree. May he plant you if it's his
mercy and will to take you a sinner and plant you in his garden. Oh may he have mercy to make
you indeed a tree of righteousness that he and he alone might be
glorified forevermore. Amen.