Matthew chapter 11, three verses. Verse 28, 29, and
30. The Lord Jesus says, Come unto
me, all ye that labor, and are heavy laden, and I will give
you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn
of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart. And you shall find
rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden
is light. Isaiah chapter 11 and verse 10. In that day there shall be a
root of Jesse. This is speaking of the Lord
Jesus Christ. He's called the root of Jesse,
the root of David. which shall stand for a sign
of the people and to the people. And to it and to him shall the
Gentiles seek, and his rest shall be glorious." The first passage
I read to you there was speaking of us. We who are laboring and
are heavy laden, we come and find rest. This year is speaking
of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. And to Him shall the Gentiles
seek. Plural. The Gentiles. A great
host of people shall seek Him. And then He goes to the singular.
His rest. The rest of the Lord Jesus Christ.
In Hebrews 4 we are told that you and I must be diligent, careful,
Lest the promise been left us of entering into His rest, Christ
Jesus finished the work. It is finished, and He rested. He's entered into His rest, and
Isaiah here calls it a glorious rest. A glorious rest. Now let's read a text over in
Genesis chapter 18. Another time here, the Lord appears
to Abraham and two angels with him. And here's the account of
it, beginning in verse 1 of Genesis 18. And the Lord appeared unto
him, unto Abraham, in the plains of Mamreth, that's where Abraham
lived, and 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
towards the ground. And verse 3 begins to tell us
who these men were. One of them he addresses in verse
3. Abraham said, My lord, if now
I have found favor in thy sight, pass me not by. Pass me not,
O gentle Savior. I pray thee, pass not away from
thy servant. 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 ye your hearts. After that, ye shall pass on.
For therefore are you come to your servant, and they said,
So do as thou hast said. And Abraham hasted 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 to a young man, and he hasted and dressed 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
they said unto him, 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 him. 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 child
which am old? Is anything too hard for the
Lord? At that time, at the time appointed,
I will return unto thee according to the time of life, and Sarah
shall have a son. And Sarah denied saying, I like
not, for she was afraid. And he said, Nay, but thou didst
laugh. And the men rose up from the
fence and looked toward Sodom, and Abraham went with them to
bring them on their way. And the Lord said, Shall I hide
from Abraham that thing which I do?" Now that ends our reading. And my text this morning, the
title of our study this morning, is something that I noticed as
I was reading here in this passage last week. And it's found in
verse 4. And it's this, rest yourselves
under the tree. Rest yourselves under the tree. And as I thought about this passage,
the tree and rest, I can't help but believe that the Holy Spirit
has put this in here to teach us a spiritual lesson. So often
in the Scriptures you and I read of trees. Many, many times trees
are used from Genesis through Revelation. And the statement
that Abraham makes here to the Lord Jesus, the Son of God, and
these angels that appeared to him in this human form, I can't
help but believe he has a spiritual lesson in this little phrase
alone to teach us. Where can a man find rest? Under
the tree. Under the tree. When you and
I come to the New Testament, so often the cross of the Lord
Jesus Christ is called a tree, and it represents to us Christ
and Him crucified. Let me mention just a few places
in the Scripture. The Apostle Peter was preaching
to the Jews in Acts chapter 5 and verse 30, and he made this statement. The God of our fathers raised
up Jesus, whom you slew and hanged on a tree. You hanged him on
a tree. And he was preaching to the Gentiles
in Acts chapter 10, and he made this statement. We are witnesses
of all things which Christ did, both in the land of the Jews
and at Jerusalem, whom they slew and hanged on a tree. And there's
another place where the Apostle Paul was preaching in Acts 13,
and he was preaching to Jews and Gentiles, and he made this
statement. When they had fulfilled all that
was written of him, they took him down from the tree and laid
him in a sepulcher. And then Peter adds this wonderful
verse about the Lord Jesus upon the cross. Who his own self bare
our sins, in his own body on the tree. So as I read my text
here last week, I thought, sure, this is meant by the Holy Spirit
to represent something to us, some spiritual lesson to us,
not just physical rest, but a higher rest, where you and I can find
rest for our souls. And where is that? Under the
tree. And I want you to look with me
this morning, and I'll give you one or two good examples of how
the cross of Jesus Christ is represented to us as a tree. And it's very familiar. Look
in Deuteronomy chapter 21. Here's the most well-known example
that I can think about when it speaks about a tree. in the Old
Testament, and we compare it to the New Testament, and we
see that it represents to us the cross of Jesus Christ, the
tree upon which the Prince of Glory died. Look in Deuteronomy
chapter 21 and verses 22 and verse 23. This is a wonderful
example of the cross of Christ and why it's called a tree. Look
in verse 22. If a man have committed a sin
worthy of death, and he be to be put to death, and thou hang
him on a tree, his body shall not remain all night upon the
tree, but thou shalt in any wise bury him that day. For he that
is hanged is accursed of God. that thy land be not defiled,
which the Lord thy God hath given thee for thine inheritance."
Now, the reason I say this is a perfect example of how the
Holy Spirit represents to us the cross of Christ by these
different trees that we read about is because in Galatians
3.13, the Apostle Paul quotes this passage of Scripture in
Deuteronomy that I just read to you. And he says it like this,
Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made
a curse for us, for it is written. And then he quotes Deuteronomy,
this verse that I read to you. It is written, cursed is everyone
that hangeth on a tree. Now, you read in this passage
here, and as you read these verses carefully, you'll notice some
things. that took place here at this
tree. First of all, it speaks to us
of sin and guilt. Did you notice that? If a man
have committed sin and he be worthy to be put to death, what
do we see here at this tree? What does it represent to us?
Well, you find there sin. You find there a man that is
worthy to be put to death. The soul of that sinner fits
Yah's eye. Ain't that what this verse tells
us? When you saw the children of Israel out there, taking this
thief or this murderer or this rapist, and they hang him on
a tree, you look at him and you say, there is a sinner. There
is a man who is worthy to die, and that's why they've hung him
on that tree. He's to be put to death. But secondly, it not only speaks
to us of sin and guilt and punishment, but it speaks of the justice
of God, the wrath of God. For He said here in our text,
He that is hanged on a tree is accursed of God. He's condemned of God. They hung
Him there because He's a criminal. He's done things against God
and against man that he should not have done. God says, I've
cursed him. I've condemned him. He's not
only suffering here at the hands of these Jews, but the Scripture
says he's condemned of God. But something else very interesting
that took place here and that this tree speaks of, and it's
the last thing he says there in verse 23. that thy land be not defiled,
which the Lord thy God hath given thee." What does this tree tell
us of? What does it speak of? It speaks
of cleansing. It speaks of removing the defilement
of the land. The criminal is punished and
therefore the land is kept from defilement. Now brothers and
sisters, I just cannot believe that a passage like this would
be penned down here by the Holy Spirit if it wasn't meant to
represent to us something that was spiritual. That He wasn't
just teaching the Jews how to put a man to death by crucifixion.
But it had a greater meaning. And we find that meaning in the
cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. the tree upon which the Prince
of Glory died. And let me compare these two
trees just for a minute. What does the cross of Jesus
Christ speak of? When you and I think of Calvary,
what does that speak to us of? Doesn't it speak to us of sin
and guilt and suffering? Doesn't the Scripture say He
bore our sins in His own body on the tree? If you look at the
cross, what do you see there? You see sin. You see sins. And we see a number of sins that's
untold there in the body of Jesus Christ. Not His own sins, for
He had none. He could not sin. He did no sin. But he took the sins of his elect
people from all ages, old and young. And those sins had to
be without a number, and he took them in his own body there upon
the tree. And if I had to say this, I think
this would be truthful. There were more sins congregated
together there at the cross than you will find any place else
at any other time in all of this world. Because He took all the
sins that His people could ever commit, and He made them His
own there upon that cross. When you see the Lord Jesus hanging
there, you see sin, and you see guilt, and you see suffering. Here's what he himself said in
Psalms chapter 40 and verse 12. This is an amazing scripture.
He says, "...innumerable evils have compassed me about." What
evils? What evils have compassed him
about? Well, he tells us in the very
next word, "...mine iniquities have taken hold upon me." Mine
iniquity. But He had no iniquity. But He
took ours. And the Scripture says God made
Him to be sin for us. Where? At the cross. At the cross. Upon the tree. Therefore, he said, I am not
able to look up. They are more than the hair of
my head. Therefore, my heart fell at me."
Minor iniquities. If he leaves them upon us, then
we're the criminals. Then we're judged of God. Then
you and I must grapple with the awful wrath of God. But if He
takes them and makes them His own, then He can truthfully say,
they're mine now. Okay then. What's the consequence? Well, you see the cross. There's
the tree. And there you see sin. Somebody
says, I can't have that. I can't have that. Just so you
can't be saved then. And don't come here to cross.
Don't come here at the cross and talk about a martyr that
was put to death for the cause. Or talking about Christ just
as a good example. He was more than that. When you
come to the cross, you must see your sins upon someone else. He's hanging, being made a criminal
in your stead. And that's the only place you're
going to find any rest for your soul. Under this tree. Why was Christ crucified? For
sins. Why did He suffer? For sins. Why did He die? For sins. If a man have committed sins
worthy of death, and you hang him on a tree, well, why was
Christ hanging there? He was worthy of death for our
sakes. He was a criminal for our sakes. I love what old Luther used to
say, and some people can't receive this, and I don't judge them
if they can't go this far. A man's got to walk in the light
he has, and he can't violate his conscience. But I love what
Luther said. He said, when you see the Lord
Jesus hanging upon that cross, then what that is telling us,
He's hanging there, and He is saying, I have now become Peter
the denier. I have now become David, the
murderer and the adulterer. I have now become the awful fornicator
and the idolater and drunkard and liar. I have become what
my people are, sin. That's what we see there at the
cross. He took our sins. He took the guilt of them. He
said, I can't look up, they're so heavy. And He took the punishment,
suffering. What do we see at the cross of
Calvary? We see justice. We see God punishing
sin. He that is hanged is accursed,
not just of man, not just of devils, but of God. Listen to what the Scripture
says, and so often you read these statements like this in the Old
Testament. Lamentations chapter 1. This
is a passage where the Lord Jesus is speaking. And here's what
He said. Is it nothing to you that pass by? When you pass by
the cross and you gaze upon Me, is it nothing to you who pass
by? Behold and see if there's any
sorrows like unto My sorrow that is done unto Me. What is being
done to him upon that cross? Well, he says this, these afflictions
were where the Lord hath afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger. He was accursed of God. The Lord
hath smitten him. God has stricken him. God has
afflicted him. It pleased God to bruise him.
God had put him to grief. God spared not his own son, but
delivered him up. Where? On this tree. On this
tree. My God, my God, why hast thou
forsaken me? We know the answer to that, don't
we? Because you're cursed. Because you're cursed. God forsook
him. that He may not forsake you and
I. God afflicted Him. God punished our sin in Him.
He poured out every drop of wrath that was in His heart against
sin upon His Son. And now He turns to you and He
turns to me. And what does He say? Come and
rest yourself under this tree. He speaks of cleansing. That's
what the tree speaks to us about. Hang him on a tree that the land
be not defiled. These criminals of Moses' day
deserve to die or the land would be defiled. So what happens? They're put to death. Sin is
punished and therefore the land is cleansed from its defilement. That's what the tree speaks of
us. It speaks of cleansing. speaks of removing the defilement
from the land. What does the cross of Christ
speak to us about? Reconciliation. Reconciliation. Listen to this blessed passage.
God commendeth His love toward us, and that while we were yet
sinners, Christ died for us. much more than being reconciled,
we shall be saved by His life. For if, when we were enemies,
we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more
than being reconciled, we shall be saved. Being justified by
His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. What does the tree speak of to
you and me? It speaks of punishment upon
sin. But it speaks of God there removing everything that stood
in His way, that stood in His way. I know what stands in some people's
way from them going to God. It's a rebellious heart. It's
unbelief. If I went to a lost person this
morning and I said, what stands in your way for you going to
God in Christ and by Christ? I know the answer to that question
already. But first and foremost, there
was something that stood in God's way coming to us in mercy. And that had to be removed. And
what was it? Sin. Sin. And in Jesus Christ upon the
cross of Calvary, everything that stood in God's way from
Him showing us His smiling face and coming to us and saving mercy,
it was taken out of the way. And now He can smile upon us
and bless us and remove our sin and our guilt from our conscience.
Are you here this morning, dear soul? And you're apprehensive about
your sin. You begin lately to think about
your sin and the guilt of it and what you're worthy of because
of it. Maybe you're here this morning
and you've had some apprehension in your conscience of God's wrath. And you begin to think of that
lately, that you don't want to die and you don't want to face
God. Because you know and you've been
made aware that you cannot stand before Him in yourself, that you'll cry with the wicked
for the rocks and the mountains to fall on you. You can't face
Him as you are. Anybody here this morning having
any apprehensions in your conscience about the awful wrath of God,
but I tell you a place where you can rest, I tell you, a place
where you can come, where your agitated and guilty conscience
can find rest and be relieved. And that's under this tree. If
you can get to the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ, if you can
come to God through Jesus Christ, the Crucified One, and you can
sit down there under Him, I tell you, you'll find rest for your
conscience. That's what the Spirit means to teach us by this text.
Rest ye under the tree. Let your conscience be quiet.
Let your soul be still and at ease. Rest yourselves under this
tree. And I noticed in my text here that the Lord Himself rested
under this tree. Did you notice that? The invitation
was to the Lord. Rest yourselves. And this Lord,
the spell with all capitals, the self-existent One, the Eternal
One, Jehovah, the One in this chapter that Abraham calls in
verse 25, the Judge of all the earth, He Himself, sets down
under this tree, and he rests. Oh, what a lesson must be taught
in that. That when Jesus Christ set upon the cross, it's finished.
He himself is at rest. He's not angry anymore. He's
not disturbed at all. Not even about sin anymore. He's
resting himself. He's done all that's needful
to be done. Justice has been satisfied. He
Himself is at rest. God rests at the cross of the
Lord Jesus Christ. He's not disturbed. You meet
Him there, and you'll not meet an agitated God. You meet God
at the cross, and you'll not meet a God with a frown upon
His face. You'll see only the smiling face
of God, only the love of God. For heaven is at rest under this
tree. And notice this also. These two
men that were with the Lord, in verse 22, then chapter 9,
verse 1, we're told that these were angels. These two angels
had come down from heaven with the Son of God. And all of them
had taken to themselves the form of a human being. They had taken
this temporary body and they appeared in human form to Abraham. And they all, the Lord himself
and these two angels, they all sat under this tree and rested
themselves. What does that tell us? It tells
us that heaven itself, has found rest beneath Calvary's cross." There's peace in heaven. That's
what that tells us. There's peace in heaven as well
as on earth under this tree. Come and rest yourselves. And
He rested. All the attributes All the perfections
of the eternal Lord are at rest and cannot be disturbed under
this tree. The Lord rests in His love for
His people, and here mercy and truth meet together, and righteousness
and peace kiss each other under this tree. Rest yourselves, attributes
of God. Rest yourselves, perfections
of God. Rest, mercy of God! Rest, justice
of God! And they do, under this tree. It's here that all creatures,
great and small, heavenly creatures, these holy angels, and earthly
creatures, even fallen Abraham, can meet together undisturbed. and be so familiar and friendly
one with another. Did you notice this? Did you
notice? As all three, our Lord and these
angels and Abraham, was there under that tree, what a mutual
respect and love they seemed to have one for another. They
seemed so friendly and free to talk and commune. There was no one repulsed by
the other. There was no one fearful of the
company that they were in. The Creator in His holy elect
spirits, and those elect spirits in other places are said to be
like lightning for their swiftness. And sometimes they saw them as
chariots of fire, holy, holy, holy angels. But Abraham, this poor fallen
Abraham that counted himself as dust and ashes, they weren't
repulsed by his presence. Neither were they fearful, neither
was he fearful over their presence. But they conversed so freely
as one friend with another under this tree. You and I are told that we'll
come unto Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant. That's where
we've come to. We've come to Jesus. And we've
come to the blood of sprinkling that teaches us better things
than that available. But there's some place else we've
come to too. Coming to Jesus, we have come
into the very presence of an innumerable company of angels. And they're not repulsed by us,
and we're not fearful of them. We feel right at home. Ain't
that your experience? Under the tree. Under the tree. And though we, as poor sinners,
and they as heavenly beings seem so far apart, yet we share one common Lord. He has created them sons of God,
and we are sons of God by new birth. And at the cross of Calvary,
heavenly creatures And poor believing sinners can sit with their eternal
Lord and Savior in mutual love and respect and friendship and
communion. Ain't that wonderful to think
about? Oh, come and let us rest ourselves
under this tree, and we'll find in a spiritual sense that heaven
and earth are one. We are one. Our Lord and angels
and poor, fallen, believing sinners are one under the cross. There's another tree, and I'll
now turn to it. But it's found in Exodus chapter
15, if you want to turn there sometime and read it, and you
remember it. It's a very well-known text. Moses and all of Israel had left
the Red Sea, and they had gone three days into the wilderness,
and they came upon this place that they named Myra. And they
called it Myra because the waters there were bitter. That's what
Myra is, bitter waters. And they were thirsty and they
could not drink of the waters of Myra because they were bitter
waters. And the Scriptures there says
that Moses cried unto the Lord because of these bitter waters.
And the Lord showed him a tree. He showed him a tree. And Moses
took this tree, and the Scripture says, he cast it into the midst
of the waters, and the waters became sweet, and they drank
it. Now this is what the tree does
when it's cast into the midst of the waters. And this is what
the cross of Christ does when it's cast into the midst of our
troubles. How often does it seem to you
and I as children of God that everything in this world at one
time or another becomes bitter to us? We can't enjoy it like we had
before. It loses its sweetness. How often have you and I started
an occupation And at first we loved it so much. But then after
a while, for some reason or another, that occupation, instead of the
joy that it did give us before, it now is a grief. Have you ever
experienced that? And you got to the point you
almost loathed to go to work. Those sweet waters had become
bitter. How many of us have experienced our relationships in our families, our close family, and some dear
friend that we used to enjoy so much, and yet those relationships
have turned strained and have lost their sweetness? Have you
ever experienced that? Those that we should enjoy, we
should have sweet communion with, instead they become a grief to
us. They've lost their sweetness,
and we can't enjoy their fellowship anymore. Are those things that we used
to count as privileges, and now they've turned to bitter duties? Are what we used to be thankful
for and count as blessings, Now we begin to think of them as
a right. That's our right. Life and living have turned bitter
and they taste to us now as the bitter waters of Myra. Every child of God experiences
these things in his life. Well, there's a remedy for your
bitter waters, dear soul. It's not always easy to see. The Lord had to show Moses the
tree. But if you've got eyes to see,
there is a tree that you can cast into the midst of your bitterness,
and He'll turn it sweet. He'll turn it drinkable. I can
only speak for myself. But it wasn't long after the
Lord saved me that I began to see the bitterness of this world.
The sinfulness of my old nature, the emptiness and the vanity
of this world, Vanity of vanities. That's what the preacher said.
All is vanity. What profit does a man have in
all his labor under the sun? He comes into this world and
he's burdened with the cares and the concerns of it. And he
spends his life laboring, trying to lay up a little bit and get
some property and have a little pleasure. But then he gets old
and sick and he dies and he leaves it to who knows who. And most
of the time it's wasted on the devil's jobs. What does it advantage
to live in this world and work and labor? Vanity of vanities. All this vanity. And sometimes
we look upon this world and our living in it and that becomes
our attitude. And I saw that in myself and
I soon began to realize that if I was to have any lasting
joy, If I was to have any fulfillment
and satisfaction in this world, it must be in a spiritual sense. Old Scott Richardson said one
time, he said, when you find a believer, you'll find him in
three situations. He's either going into trouble, or he is in trouble, or he's
coming out of trouble. And that being so, there's only
one place that you're going to find any spiritual contentment,
any true enjoyment in this world, and that's beneath this tree. When you bring the cross of the
Lord Jesus Christ, when you bring Christ and Him crucified, right
down into the midst of your daily troubles and trials and cares,
that's the only time you're going to be able to enjoy anything
of this world. Now I've learned that by experience,
and some of you have too. We go from one thing to another,
from one project to another, and nothing satisfies us. And
soon we reach the place That we're not even enjoying the Lord,
and we're not even enjoying anything of this world. It's all become
bitter waters unto us. But when God gives us eyes to
see this tree, and we cast it into these waters, these bitter
waters, then and only then will they become sweet. There's a
passage of Scripture I think that explains this very well.
In Colossians 2.6, Ye as ye have received Christ Jesus the Lord,
so walk ye in Him. Walk ye in Him. That's what we're talking about
this morning. Come in here and rest in ourselves under this
tree. How did you receive Christ? He's
your everything. You were nothing and He's your
everything. That's the way you receive Him. Walk in Him that
way. You're nothing and what you have
and what you do in this world is nothing but vanity. But walk
in Christ. Rest under His cross. And then
look what happens. As you have received Christ Jesus
the Lord, walk ye in Him, rooted and built up in Him, and established
in the faith as you have been taught, abounding therein with
thanksgiving." Your blessings have ceased to
become right. I've got a right to these blessings.
That attitude will cease when you come and sit under this tree.
They return to blessings again. And then you say, oh, how thankful.
Oh, I'm thankful. I'm thankful. Thankful. Ain't that the problem in our
society today? I saw last week where they said
the misery index was higher than it had been in
many years. The misery index. Everybody's
miserable. I don't know how they get these statistics. But some
way they get them, and up around 80% of the people in our country
is miserable. We're the richest people in the
world. We've got more money than we know what to do with. We've got more time on our hands,
more avenues of pleasure. We're rich, and yet we're miserable. What's wrong with us? What's
wrong with us? But when a man begins to live
to this world, and for this world, and for himself, he's going to
be miserable. And I'm not just speaking of
lost sinners, I'm speaking of God's children. I'm speaking
of saints. You cannot drink in the waters
of this world without tasting some bitterness in them. And
if you want to enjoy anything of this world, I'm talking about
your family, I'm talking about your property, I'm talking about
your house, your job, your relationship with your loved ones. If you're
going to enjoy these things and be able to partake of them without
them being so bitter, then you're going to have to partake of them
in the light of your relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. Seek
ye first. Seek ye first. Did you know how
the Holy Spirit wrote this here? I will fetch a morsel of bread
and comfort ye your hearts. After that ye shall pass on. Come first and rest yourselves
under this tree. After that. After that. Dear soul, when you leave your
bed in the morning, come here and rest yourself under this
tree. And then after that, face the day. Before you run your
water and your sink to wash your dishes, dear ladies, come here
first and rest yourself under this tree. After that, wash your
dishes. After that. After that. Life become bitter to you? Relationships
have become bitter to you? Your job become bitter to you?
Your family? Then come here and rest yourself
under this tree. And here's the third thing. Under this tree, in verse 4,
and notice this in Genesis chapter 4, chapter 18 and verse 4, look
at this. Let a little water I pray you
be fetched and wash your feet under this tree." It was a place
for them to rest and wash their feet. Back in this day, they
walked everywhere they went. And as far as I know, even in
the Old Testament, they wore sandals or went barefoot. You
very seldom see anybody riding an animal. They walked and their
feet got dusty and dirty and probably filthy and sometimes
maybe stinking. And it was a courtesy on the
part of the host that when someone came to his house, he would provide
a pan of water that they could wash their dust from their feet. And that's what took place here.
They washed the dust from their feet. Our blessed Lord knows that the
dust of this world cleaves to the feet of His people. You can't
stop it. Men may deny it, but you can't
stop it. You get out of your house and
go through this world, and when you come home that night, you're
going to have dust on your feet. And our blessed Lord knows we
need water to wash Him. He knows that. And He's provided
us that. Sometimes we get up to pray,
and you brethren are just exactly the way your pastor is. You get
up here to pray, and we pray publicly, and we say, Lord, forgive
us of our sins. And usually when I pray that
way publicly, I don't have any particular sin in mind. It's
usually just the farm that we pray. But boy, when we get home, and
as we go about our jobs and all the cares of this life, then in here, in here, we really
start thinking about sins, don't we? We become so conscious of
them then. Why did I do that? Why in the
world would I say such a thing? Why would I act the way I just
acted? Why did I omit doing what I know
the Lord tells me to do? And boy, then we become serious
about sin. They become a weight upon our
conscience. And then we remember under this
tree is a place to wash our feet from its filth and from its dust. Abraham was a courteous host. He was a courteous host. He's
better than that Pharisee the Lord Jesus went to eat dinner
with. And there the Lord sat with dirty
feet, and that Pharisee didn't even provide him any water to
wash his feet. What an awful and courteous host. But boy,
Abraham was courteous. Here's your pan of water. Rest
yourselves. And wash the dust off your feet.
But you think our Father in Heaven is going to be outdone? No, He
won't. He's provided us a fountain,
hasn't He? He knows we need it. So He says, if you confess your
sins, I'll forgive you your sins. And I'll cleanse you from all
unrighteousness. Come here and sit under this
tree and wash yourself from your sins every day." And he tells us something else
about this, and I'm coming to a close. This is where they ate
and drank and communed one with another. Abraham says, rest yourself
and I'll get some bread. I'll get a morsel of bread. And
then he ran in and told Sarah to fix this fresh bread, homemade
bread and butter and milk. He runs out to the herd and he
tells the young man to dress this fresh young calf. And then
he takes all of this meat and butter and bread and a glass
of cold milk and he sets it there. And they eat. And they have sweet
communion one with another. Now, I'm not being irreverent
when I say this. And I'll say this. Maybe you think I'm being
irreverent, but I'm not. I don't mean any irreverence
by saying this. And I think some of us have experienced this.
When you're right in the presence of the Lord, you're really conscious
of His presence. Don't you feel so free to converse
with Him? Can't you just pour out your
thoughts of your heart? You know, we get up here and
we read and we pray and it's thee and thou and just. Words that we can't even spell
or even pronounce. That old English we use. But boy, when we get in the presence
of the Lord in private, we just pour our hearts out to Him, don't
we? And He hears us and we feel so
free there in His presence. I think this is the way it was
here under this tree. I can't believe that our Lord
Jesus, nor these angels, would sit and eat a meal like this
that had been prepared for them without taking notice of it. When you come to my house and
when I go to your house and you fix a good meal, I myself am
conscious of it. It would be a shame. I would
be embarrassed to leave without saying, Miranda, that's some
of the best fish I've ever ate in my life. Man, those potatoes were out
of this world. You think the Lord would have
sat there and eat this meal without him complimenting those who fixed
it? I can just almost see our Lord,
as kind and gracious as He is, looking over there and said,
Abraham, this is the most tender beef I've ever eaten in my life.
And Sarah has got everybody beat on this homemade bread. And man,
that butter, that's delicious. Abraham, you ever ate any of
my fish? No, Lord, but I'd love to. I'd
love to eat some of your fish. I love fish, but I've never eaten
any you've made. Well, I'm going to meet some friends of mine,
not too long, and not too far from here. And I'm going to fix
them some of my fish. And I'm going to say to them,
come and dine. Eat the best fish you've ever eaten in your life.
Lord, I'd sure like to be there. Can I? No, you ain't allowed
to go. You can't go. They'd love to
be here under this tree. And you'd love to be there. See
the conversation they had. And they'd lean back and they'd
eat some more. They were so relaxed under this tree. And they said,
where's Sarah, your wife? They knew where Sarah was. But
that's the way it is under this tree. You just converse and you're
so friendly. And you just feel so free. Where's
Sarah, your wife? She's back there in the tent.
Well, the tent was under the tree. That's why Sarah could
hear him. Oh, brother and sister, build
your tent under the tree. Don't just come here and rest.
Build your house under the tree. And just live under the tree.
And Sarah heard him there behind the door. And she laughed. I'm
coming next year and Sarah is going to have a son." And she
laughed. And the Lord heard her. She laughed in her heart, but
the Lord heard her heart. He listens to heart language.
And he said, Abraham, why is Sarah laughing? Sarah, are you laughing? No, no husband. Oh, yes, she laughed. She laughed. Oh, what a sweet conversation
they had underneath the tree. And the last place is this. And
I'll just comment on this. You find this in Genesis and
you find it in the book of Revelation. We read in Genesis 2 of the tree of life that's in
the midst of the garden. Remember that one? I have no
idea what that tree looked like. I don't. I know Adam. It was
said of Adam and Eve, the Lord put them out of the garden because
if they got to that tree and ate it, they'd live forever.
We know that. And in Genesis, the last book
of the Bible, we're told of that tree of life that's in the midst
of the paradise of God. And it has food on it. And they
eat of that fruit. Don't that tell us something
about this tree? You can eat of it. And our Master said this,
I'm the bread which comes down from heaven. I am the living
bread which comes down from heaven. He that eateth of me shall live
forever. There's that tree of life. He
that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood shall never, ever die. And he that eateth my flesh and
drinketh my blood, he shall live by me. Oh, when you're hungry,
I mean when you're hungry in your heart, where do you go for
food? What's the only food and drink that will satisfy your
hungry spirit? Ain't it Him? You say, Bruce, can I eat of
Him? Well, He said a man may eat.
If you're hungry, yeah, you can eat of Him. And He'll satisfy
your hunger. And you'll find so much strength.
And it was said that the leaves of this tree of life are for
the healing of the nation. Underneath this tree you can
sit, you can rest, you can eat, you can commune, and if you're
sick, the leaves of this tree will heal you. If you contracted
some kind of disease, these leaves will heal your sickness and your
disease. Have you been wounded? Has your
spirit been wounded? Is your heart sick and sore?
Well, come here under this tree. And you may not see this morning
any way that you can be healed of what's ailing you. You may
say, Bruce, it's been a long time. This sickness has been
with me a long time. I just don't see any way. But
I tell you, these leaves from this tree can heal your soul.
It can heal your spirit. They can do it. So God give us
grace this morning, each of us. May God give each of us grace
to come right here and rest ourselves under the cross of our Lord Jesus
Christ. All gracious Father, gracious God in heaven, We thank
you, Lord, for meeting our awful, awful needs. We can't imagine, Lord, in our
hearts how low you've condescended, how far you've stooped, not only in your sufferings, not only in the trials of being
made in our likeness, in your sufferings upon the cross, but
you are so meek and lowly in heart to bow down right where
we are in this world and commune with us. And let us commune with
you, to sup with us, and let us sup with you, O Lord, our
Creator and our Savior. Your past are finding out. We're
amazed. Our hearts are overwhelmed with
you, that you're so delighted to do this thing. You've not
only rested yourself, but you've invited us to come and rest with
you. Oh, we bless your holy name. May this message, this morning,
go to all our hearts. for your glory and for our good. Amen.