When you turn back to Genesis
chapter 2, tonight I'm going to be speaking from Psalm 16. It could well be called the Resurrection
Psalm. It's the psalm that both Peter
and Paul used in their sermon to speak of the resurrection
of the Lord Jesus Christ. I've entitled the message for
this morning, The Two Trees. Law and grace. The two trees, law and grace. Verse eight, Genesis chapter
two, and the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden. And there he put the man whom
he had formed. Now what? this garden have been
like that the Lord God himself planted. I wouldn't even know
where to begin. Now, this was before the fall,
before Eve. Eve doesn't take place until
the last of this chapter. And at this time, Adam walked
with God and he was the only human being. He could look at
the other animals that had mates, but at this time, he was the
only human being. And the Lord is going to go on
to say, it's not good for man to dwell alone. But at this time,
he is the only human being. And look at this environment
he's in, verse nine. And out of the ground made the
Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and
good for food. Now, what an environment. Pleasant,
good, enjoyable. Here's Adam walking with God. The tree of life also in the
midst of the garden and the tree of the knowledge of good and
evil. Now, in the middle of the garden, we have these two trees,
the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and
evil. And I believe Adam walked by
them every day because it's pointed out that they were in the midst
of the garden. And Adam walked past those two
trees every day, the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge
of good and evil. Now, let me remind you, this
is before the fall. This is before the fall. We read about that
in Genesis chapter three, but Adam living in this garden that
God had planted, what pleasure, what privilege to be living in
this garden. And here is the tree of life
and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Now it's been said, and I've
said this before, because I heard somebody else say it, but it's
been said that the book of Genesis is the seed plot of the entire
Bible. Every doctrine of the Bible is
taught in the book of Genesis. Every single one of them. And in this tree of life and
this tree of the knowledge of good and evil, we have the two
covenants. The covenant of life, the covenant
of grace, you can call it if you want to, but this life, I
was thinking about the covenant of life. What a name, the covenant
of life, and that life is speaking of the life of the Lord Jesus
Christ. It's not just talking about life
in general. If I am saved by the grace of God, I have the
life of Christ as my life. who is our life shall appear. When we read of the book of life
of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, whose life is that
talking about? That's talking about the life
of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's life before God. I am
the way, the truth, and the life. If I'm saved in this glorious
covenant, The life of Jesus Christ is my life before God. My history is that of the life
of Christ. The tree of life. And the tree of the knowledge
of good and evil. Now that's the covenant of works.
Look in verse 17 of this same chapter. 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. Now there we have the covenant
of works, just one work, one condition. You're gonna stay
in the garden as long as you don't eat of that fruit. In the
day you do, notice he didn't say if you do. He said in the
day that it happens. This was all a part of God's
decree and God's purpose. In the day it happens, you shall
surely die. Now, the covenant of grace, the
covenant of life, and the covenant of works. the tree of the knowledge
of good and evil. Now, let me give you a story
from the book of Genesis that tells us something about these
two covenants. There's only two covenants, the covenant of life
and the covenant of works. Now, let me give you the story
and then we're gonna look at the New Testament statement with regarding
to this, but God made a promise to Abraham that out of his seed,
the Messiah would come. life would come. What a promise. So 10, 12 years later, it hadn't
happened. And Sarah said, God obviously
has restrained me from having a child. Now for God's promise
to come to pass, we need to do our part or it will not come
to pass. That's conditional, isn't it?
You need to do your part in order for God's part to come to pass.
We need to do our part, Abraham. Now you go into Hagar, my slave. That's what she was, her handmaid.
And you go into her and we'll have a seat through her and we'll
do our part. And that way God's part can come
to pass. And Abraham did. And we have
the birth of Ishmael. Now, 13 years later after this,
Sarah finally conceives according to God's promise. She's already
gone through the act of menopause, and this is a supernatural birth,
the birth of Isaac. Now, the birth of Ishmael was
man doing his part, and there was nothing supernatural about
it. and they had Ishmael. The birth of Isaac is God doing
it all. Supernatural birth. Now turn
to, keep your finger there in Genesis two and turn to Galatians
chapter four. Verse 21. Tell me you that desire to be
under the law. You desire that you meet some
kind of condition in order for God to do his work. Tell me you
that desire to be under the law. Do you not hear the law? For it is written that Abraham
had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, Hagar, which resulted in Ishmael,
Genesis chapter 16, and the other by a free woman, Sarah. The story is in Genesis chapter
21, this miraculous birth. Verse 23, but he who was of the
bond woman was born after the flesh. But he of the free woman
was by promise, which things are an allegory for these are
the two covenants. Now there are only two covenants.
They're not three, they're not four, they're only two. The covenant
of life, the covenant of grace, and the covenant of works made
with Adam in the garden of Eden. Now I think it's interesting
in verse nine, which tree is mentioned first? The tree of
life. is mentioned before the tree
of the knowledge of good and evil. Because the new covenant,
the covenant of grace is a whole lot older than the old covenant,
the covenant of works. You see, this is the covenant
God made before time began with his son. The other was made with
Adam in the garden in time. Now, it's difficult to imagine
As we go on reading in chapter two, we find where the Lord made
Eve for Adam, and you put yourself in their place. I know it's impossible
to do it, but you have the perfect marriage without sin, to spoil
it. You have a perfect man, best
looking man to ever live. You have a perfect woman, the
best looking woman to ever live. when the Lord presented her to
Adam, and Adam was probably stunned. And they had a relationship of
perfection, marriage, without any sin at all. In such a pleasant environment,
the Garden of Eden, there were no weeds. He was put there to
till the ground, but it was a good thing. It was a good thing. It
was not a laborious thing. And what a life they must have
had. Now we're not told whether or
not they ate of the tree of life, but I don't believe they did
because if they had eaten of the tree of life, they'd live
forever. There would be no death, but they walked past the tree
of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil every day with
one commandment. And that was always on their
mind. One commandment. That's all it takes. One commandment. One law. That's all it takes. Here they were with innocent
natures. They didn't have sinful natures
at this time like you and I have. They had innocent natures. One
commandment is all it takes. It's certain for failure. every
time. Now I want you to think about
this. If there is one condition I need to meet, love is impossible. Now let me repeat that. I want
you to think about this. If there's one condition I need
to meet for God to accept me, I'm not going to love him. Now,
this is true even in life. You children, what if your parents
said to you, I'm going to provide for you. I'm going to be a good
parent to you. Everything you need, I'm going
to give you. There's only one law you need to keep. Only one
law. You need to get straight A's.
And if you don't get straight A's, you're out the door. Wouldn't
be much love there, would there? And you wouldn't really love. You would be resentful, and you
would feel like you were not loved, that there's some kind
of something you had to measure up to before they would love
you, and that would create resentment. You husbands, what if your wives
said, I'll be everything you want as a wife? I will be the
perfect wife to you in every respect. There's only one commandment.
You have to make 500K a year. And if you don't, out the door,
you're not able to supply me with what I need, how do you
think the husband's going to feel? There's going to be resentment. What about you wives? What if
your husband said, I'm going to be everything you need as
a husband. I'm going to be all you need as a husband. I'm going
to be a great husband to you. There's only one condition. If
you gain five pounds, you're out the door. Now, how would that be received. Not well at all, would it? Not
well at all. You see, law, there's no love
in law. If you've got to meet a condition,
there's no love in law. Paul put it this way in 1 Corinthians
15, verse 56, the strength of sin is the law. Now you think about that statement.
The strength, the power of sin is the law. You put me under
a law and sin will reign over every thought I have. The strength of sin is the law. All I gotta do is say, don't
do it. That's what you're wanting to do. That's all it takes. As soon as I hear a thou shalt
not, my thought is I will. I will. Furthermore, under the
law, you cannot possibly have a good motive for service. It's impossible. If you're under
law, all you're doing is trying to gain reward or avoid punishment
or loss. It is impossible. Let me repeat
this. It is impossible to have a good
motive for any kind of service if there's some condition you
need to meet in order to gain God's favor and acceptance. Tell me you the desire to be
under law. Do you not see how crazy that
is? It's mad. But let me say this, and I love
saying this, God never intended to save by law. Let me read you
some scriptures. Romans chapter eight, verse three
says this, what the law could not do in that it was weak through
the flesh. You see, God never intended to
save by the law. The problem's not with God's
holy law. The problem's with the flesh.
Problem's with me and you. What the law could not do. Law
couldn't save. Law couldn't justify you. Law
couldn't sanctify you. Law couldn't make you love God. Galatians chapter three, verse
21 says, for if there had been a law given which could have
given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law.
but it never was given for life. Life comes only by the tree of
life. Grace, the tree of grace. 2 Timothy, or 1 Timothy 1.9 says,
the law was not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and
the disobedient, for sinners, the profane, unholy, ungodly,
murderers of fathers, murderers of mothers. That's what the law
is made for. If I need to be under law, all I say about that
is I'm a God hater and I need something to hold me down. Turn
with me to Hebrews chapter seven. I want you to read this with
me. Hebrews chapter seven. Here's what the word of God has
to say about salvation by law. after the verse 17, for he testified
thou art a priest forever after the more order of Melchizedek,
not Aaron, but Melchizedek, the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, his priesthood
is infinitely superior to the Levitical priesthood. Now verse
18, for there is verily a disannulling of the commandment going before
the weakness and the unprofitableness thereof." Now that's what the
Holy Spirit says about the law. He talks about the weakness and
the unprofitableness thereof. Now let me remind you, the problem
with the law is not the law, it's us. The law was given by
Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. But he speaks
of the weakness Listen, there's a weakness and an unprofitableness
in any kind of law. Let's go on reading. Verse 19,
for the law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better
hope did, by the which we draw nigh unto God. This better hope
that's not according to the Levitical law or the Ten Commandments or
even don't eat of the tree. Law is anything that you're responsible
to do in order to make what God did work. Law is Abraham going
into Hagar doing his part, so God's promise will come to pass.
Any law is doomed for failure. Let's go on reading. And inasmuch
as not without an oath he was made a priest, for those priests
which were made with an oath, but this with an oath by him
that said the Lord swear and will not repent, thou art a priest
forever after the order of Melchizedek. Now here's that better hope,
by so much was Jesus made a surety of a better testament. Now what does the Bible mean
by this word surety? Once again, Genesis is the seed
plot. Every New Testament doctrine
is found in the book of Genesis. Now look in Genesis 43 for just
a moment. Here's what is meant by surety,
and you're probably familiar with this passage of scripture. Verse eight, you remember that
Jacob did not want to send his favorite son, Benjamin, to Egypt. He didn't wanna have anything
to do with that. You'll remember when Reuben said, I'll take him,
he said, he ain't going with you. He had no confidence in
Reuben at all. He's not going with you. Now
Judah, who's Judah? Christ came from Judah. The lion
of the tribe of Judah. Look what Judah says with regard
to Benjamin. Verse eight, and Judah said unto
Israel, his father, send the lad with me. and we will arise and go, that
we may live and not die, both we and thou, and also all our
little ones. I will be surety for him. Of my hand shalt thou require
him. If I bring him not unto thee
and set him before thee, then let me bear the blame forever. Now listen to me, believer. Christ
Jesus the Lord said with regard to you, to his father, I will
be surety for him. I will take complete responsibility
for their salvation. Everything you require of them,
you look to me for. I will be surety for him. Of my hand shalt thou require
him. Now this is the tree of life.
My life will be their life. If I don't bring him and set
him before you on judgment day, perfect and accepted, let me
bear the blame forever. Now here we have Jesus as the
surety, the guarantee of the better testament. Now, back to Genesis two, but of the
true verse 17, This is that tree of the knowledge of good and
evil that the Lord put in the midst of the garden. We read
in verse 17, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and
evil, thou shalt not eat of it, for in the day thou eatest thereof,
thou shalt surely die. Now listen real carefully. The
fall of Adam was just a part of the decree of God. the purpose of God. Could God have prevented it? Of course he could. Did he know
it was gonna happen? Of course he could, he did, he
decreed it. But it was all a part of God's
purpose. You see, God never intended to
save by law. We've seen that from the New
Testament, these scriptures I've read. God never intended to do
that. You see, The gospel is found
in the tree of life. Salvation, dependent, contingent
upon man's obedience is always doomed for failure. It'll never
happen. But God never intended that to
be. It's always been by grace. The tree of life. Now look in Genesis chapter three,
We're going to get more into this in a few weeks. Now, the
serpent was more subtle, deceitful, intelligent than any beast of
the field, which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the
woman, yea, hath God said you shall not eat of every tree of
the garden? No, God didn't say that. He said,
you can eat of any tree you want, but the one. the tree of the
knowledge of good and evil. 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
has said, you shall not eat of it, neither shall you touch it,
lest you die. And the serpent said unto the
woman, you shall not surely die. For God doth know that in the
day you eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, And you
shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. God's holding out on
you. This'll be better for you. And when the woman saw that the
tree was good for food and that it was pleasant to the eyes and
a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit
thereof and did eat, nothing happened. She could look at her
husband and say, look, I'm not dead. I ate of this fruit. God
never said in the day that the woman eats of it. in the day
that Adam, the representative, eats of it. I'm sure even Satan
himself might've said, you know, I think this might've happened.
I think Satan or the serpent was munching on that fruit while
he's talking to her. Didn't happen to me. Didn't happen to me. And the woman saw that the tree
was good for food and that it was pleasant to the eyes, a tree
to be desired to make one wise, She took of the fruit and did
eat, and she gave also unto her husband with her, and he did
eat, and the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew. And they knew. They now have the knowledge of good
and evil. And they knew what? that they were naked. Now, they were naked before this
happened, weren't they? Look in verse 25 of chapter two,
and they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not
ashamed. You know why they weren't ashamed?
They didn't have anything to be ashamed of. They didn't have a sinful
nature. There wasn't a sinful thought
that passed through their mind. It was not an issue. Now it is. Why? They now had the knowledge
of good and evil. Now before, all they had the
knowledge of was good. And now all they have the knowledge
of is evil. Now God knows good and evil because
he's God. And he's essentially good. He's
gloriously good. He's always good. The only reason
evil is, is because he has permitted, caused it or didn't cause it.
I don't know how to say that. I know there wouldn't be evil
if it wasn't for him. It was all according to his purpose.
And somebody says, are you charging God with evil? I hate it when
people say things like that. God's God. And he has the knowledge
of good and evil. He's always good. He's essentially
good. He's only good. God is good.
But Adam is now knows only evil. Look in Genesis chapter six,
verse five. And God saw that the wickedness
of man was great in the earth as a result of Adam, really,
and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was
only evil continually. Now that's God's valuation of
me and you. Every imagination of the thoughts
of the heart is only evil nonstop. He now has the knowledge of good
and evil. Look in chapter three, verse
22. This is after the fall and after he had clothed him with
skins. Look in verse 22. And the Lord
God said, behold, the man has become as one of us to know good
and evil. Now, lest he put forth his hand
and take also the tree of life and eat and live forever. Therefore
the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden to till the
ground from whence he was taken. So he drove out the man and he
placed him at the east of the garden of Eden, cherubims, and
a flaming sword, which turned every way to keep the way of
the tree of life. Now, if he would have eaten of
the tree of life, he would have lived forever in this unfallen
state, or in this fallen state, and there would be no remedy.
So the Lord, in his mercy, kept him from the tree of life. Now I repeat, salvation by works. Salvation by law, even one law,
one thing you need to do, one thing. Salvation by law is doomed
for failure. It will never work. It didn't work in the garden
and it wouldn't work with me or you because if you have to
measure up to keeping a law, love is impossible. That's true even in life. If you have to measure up and
do something in order to gain affection, in order to gain favor,
you will not love. You will only resent. That is it. There's no such thing as faith
which worketh by love. Galatians 5, 6, from Christ Jesus,
neither circumcision avails anything, nor uncircumcision, no rules
to keep or not to keep. Faith, what is faith? You rely
on everything God requires of you, he looks to his son for,
and you're relying on that. What's faith do? It works by
love. Law never works by love, but
faith, You're complete in Christ. Nothing for you to do, nothing
for you to strive for, nothing for you to reach for. You're
complete in Christ. Faith works by love. Now the tree of life. I know this, the tree of life is the tree that our Lord was
fastened on. And that's why life comes from
this tree. You're saying it's the same tree?
No, I'm not saying that's the same tree. But I know that the
principle is the same and the reason there is a tree of life
is because of the tree that Christ hung on who bore our sins in
his own body on the tree. Cursed is everyone that hangeth
on a tree. And the Lord removed the curse. He removed the sin. Hence we
have the tree of life. Turn with me to Revelation chapter
two. Revelation chapter two, verse
seven. He that hath an ear, let him
hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. To him that overcometh
will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst
of the paradise of God. Now let's don't forget this overcome
part. Only him that overcomes will
be allowed and privileged to eat of the tree of life. What's this thing of overcoming?
We'll turn to Revelation chapter 12, verse nine. And the great dragon, the serpent
in Genesis three, the dragon, the same person, was cast out,
that old serpent, called the devil and Satan, which deceiveth
the whole world. He was cast out into the earth
and his angels were cast out with him. And I heard a loud
voice saying in heaven, now has come salvation and strength and
the kingdom of our God and the power of his Christ. For the
accuser of our brethren is cast down. which accused them before
God day and night. And I have to say this, if the devil made accusations
against me to God, every single one of them would be true. He
wouldn't have to exaggerate. He wouldn't have to make up things.
Everything he said would be true. Yes, he did do that. Verse 11. And they overcame him. Now here's the word overcometh.
Remember, it's only to those who overcome that are given to
eat of the tree of life. And they overcame him by the
blood of the lamb. Now you know what that means?
That means there's nothing to accuse me for. Who shall lay
anything to the charge of God's elect? It's God that justifies
them. Who is he that condemneth? It's
Christ that died. Yea, rather, that's risen again,
who's even at the right hand of God. They overcame him by
the blood of the Lamb. Now back to Revelation 2. To him that overcometh, Will
I give, now that word give is not the word that's generally
translated give. It's charisma. It's taken from
the word grace. To him that overcometh, will
I grace. You see, the reason for the grace
of God is the blood of Christ. The reason for the blood of Christ
is the grace of God. It doesn't have anything to do
with you, any merit in you. To him that overcometh will I
give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the
paradise of God. Now in eating that tree of life,
you have the life of Christ as your life before God. You know,
that's why I'm not afraid of judgment. I can look forward to judgment.
You know why? Because the life of Christ is my life before God. Look in Revelation 22. Verse one, and he showed me a
pure river of water of life. clear as a crystal proceeding
out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. And in the midst
of the street of it and on either side of the river was there the
tree of life." This tree that we read of in Genesis chapter
2. which bear 12 manner of fruits
and yielded her fruit every month. 12 months, 12 manner of fruits. You know what that means? That
means this grace of life is continual. It never stops. It never lies
dormant. It's always continual for everything. And the leaves of the tree were
for the healing of the nations by whose stripes Ye were healed. Look in verse 14 of chapter 22. Blessed are they that do his
commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life. Now, what is this thing of doing
his commandments? It says, blessed are they that
do his commandments. I could say, I don't think it's
what the text means, but I could say without being wrong, that
I've kept the Ten Commandments. You know, people say we ought
to try to keep the law. You know, when you say something
like that, all you manifest is an ignorance of the law in the
first place. We ought to keep the law. Well, you know, you
ought to create a universe too. That's ridiculous. I've kept
the law. I love God's law and I've kept
it. I stand before God's law without guilt. Having the life
of Christ as my personal life before God. But turn to 1 John
3. Hold your finger there in Revelation.
Turn to 1 John 3. Verse 23, and this is his commandment,
that we should believe on the name of his son, Jesus Christ,
and love one another as he gave commandment. Now, here is a commandment
every believer keeps. We believe on the name of his
son. Now, don't miss this. His name is who he is. His name
is his attributes. We believe on his sovereignty
to save us, for him to will our salvation. We believe on his
wisdom to save us, to make a way to be just and justify the ungodly. We believe in his justice to
save us. He has made a way to save us
in accordance with all of his attributes. We believe in his
power. That's what it is to believe on the name of his son. His name
is who he is, the eternal God, the wonderful counselor. We believe
on him and we love one another. We love his people. Now, back
to verse 14 of Revelation 22. Blessed are they that do his
commandments that they may have, what's that next word? Right. Right to eat. Have right to the tree of life
and may enter in through the gates into the city boldly. And this word right, you know,
Everybody's concerned about their rights. Well, I lost all rights
in Adam. With God, I don't have any rights. Somebody, the natural man's always
judging God, this is wrong, this, you don't have any rights. Whatever
God does is right, you don't have any rights. You're in the
hands of a sovereign God and he's sending you to hell or me
to hell, right, just, and holy is he. But in the gospel, I have
a right. a right, a rightness. It's called justification. Now,
I understand this about justification. Justification is not something
to cover my sin, so it can't be seen because it's covered.
Justification is me being altogether righteous and having a right
to the tree of life. And there's two covenants. One
conditioned upon you doing something, the other conditioned upon Christ
doing everything for you. Which one do you like? God will
meet you on the ground you want. If you want to come into his
presence in the covenant of works, go for it. Go for it. He'll oblige you. But if you
want to come on the ground of the tree of life, the life of
Jesus Christ being your only life before God, God will meet
you on that ground. Tree of life, grace. Tree of
the knowledge of good and evil, works. Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you for the
gospel. We pray that we might have right through thy son to
eat of the tree of life. In his name we pray. Amen. I'm
going to ask Dwayne to come lead us