The Tale of Two Trees, Part 3

Greetings, friends and new listeners and welcome to The Sound of Faith.

I'm Sharon Notts thanking you for joining us today because we know faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. Today's message, The Tale of Two Trees, begins in a beautiful garden, the original site of the tree of life. Today that Garden of Eden is gone and the tree of life now stands in heaven. Because Adam and Eve disobeyed God and chose the wrong tree, their sin brought death to themselves and all their progeny.

But the second Adam, Jesus Christ, God's Son, chose to die on the tree of death to restore us to the tree of life. This is the incomparable story of The Tale of Two Trees. I brought something, I think, yeah, here it is.

I thought you might enjoy hearing this. This little book. It's a little book, isn't it?

You see that says the New England Primer? This was the first book that was put in the schools in 1777 up in New England. The kids that, I guess kindergarten, first grade, whatever the grade was, I don't know, but this is the first elementary school book. I mentioned a moment ago how that we say A is for apple and B is for ball and C is for cat and D is for dog and that's how we teach our little kids, you know, how to spell and all. Well, that's what this book was. I'm telling you, this book is amazing.

But anyway, I'm not going to, I'm going to go to the one point. We're going to teach our kids the alphabet. Little kids now, we are not talking about high schoolers. We're not talking about middle schoolers. We're talking about the little ones going to learn their alphabet.

This book was written in 1777. Our country was only one year old and guess what it says for A? See all these little pictures? Can you see these little pictures here?

They're real small. Okay. Let me, I'm just going to read ABC.

How many want to hear ABC? Okay. A is for Adam. In Adam's fall, we sinned all. B, B is for the Bible. Heaven defined the Bible mind. C, C is for Christ. Christ crucified for sinners.

He died. This is what our nation was founded on. This is what our little five year olds learn. This is how they learned their alphabet.

They didn't learn A is for apple and B is for ball. They learned that A is for Adam and in Adam's fall we sinned all. In other words, telling a little five year old, already letting them know you are already in sin. You need a savior, but if you can get to the Bible, it'll take you to B. It'll get you to C and you can get to the Christ who was crucified for you.

That's the best ABCs I know and I don't want to get off on it, but come on people. Today, if a child chooses to write about Jesus when they're said, write about any historical person you want, just write about them and if they choose Jesus, their work will be torn up. They'll be sent to the office. They'll be ridiculed and mocked and think about teaching little kids the gospel, the gospel in Adam's fall, we sinned all. I don't care how good you are, what a good person you are. You say, I'm not a bad person, Sister Sharon. I don't lie, steal, cheat.

I don't do none of that stuff, but it doesn't matter. In Adam, we all received the sin nature. We all inherited the sin nature. Just like we inherited the physical nature.

Two eyes, two ears and nose, mouth. No, we inherited the sin nature, but let's finish reading verse 19 because I stopped halfway through. Got to read it all for it's by one man. Somebody say, thanks a lot, Adam. Disobedience. Many were made sinners. So by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous. Somebody say, thanks a lot, Jesus.

Thanks a lot. Thanks a lot, Jesus. Hallelujah.

Hallelujah. Thanks a lot, Jesus, because just like by one man sin, we were all made sinners. And remember, death follows sin. So we all die. We die a double death. We die physically. If we even live to be 99, we're still going to go back to the grave and we die spiritually. The Bible tells us in Ephesians the second chapter and you who are dead in your trespasses and sin, meaning dead to God. You have no relationship, no fellowship with him.

That's the greatest death. Amen. So we were all made sinners in Adam, but in Jesus Christ, we are all made righteous.

Let me just give it to you like this. This whole chapter, Romans five is this by one man, Jesus Christ, we were made righteous and we receive eternal life. Now by Adam, because if you read in first Corinthians, the 15th chapter, we won't go there. Jesus is called the second Adam. In other words, he took Adam's place to represent mankind. For Adam means mankind. So Jesus became the second Adam to represent mankind because he was born of a woman. Amen. The natural seed of a woman Mary, but his father was God.

Amen. So he can represent God to us and he can represent us to God. That's why he's a faithful person who ever lives to make intercession for us. By one man sin, Adam, we were made sinners by one man's obedience. Jesus were made righteous. One man sin brought us death, but one man's obedience brings us life. One man sin brought judgment, but one man's obedience brings grace and forgiveness. All of that is in Jesus. Amen. You know, I just read this yesterday, a little track I happened to pick up.

I happen to wash and say pick up. It was in my file drawer and I was looking for something. I love Holy Ghost serendipity because I was looking for something else and I came upon this little track and I read it.

Now I think it seems like it, it was just a little bit dawned on me that I used to know this. I used to, I think, but I forgot about it, but I read it yesterday. I want to share it with you.

Maybe you already know it. How many have heard of Rembrandt, the painter Rembrandt? He is one of the most famous painters of the world of all times and he did something very remarkable in one of his paintings. You know, they give the paintings a title like they do books and he has a painting called the Raising of the Cross and it's Jesus on the cross, but how many know they would have nailed him to the cross on the ground and then with ropes they would have pulled him up. So that's what his painting depicts, pulling Jesus up on that cross, but he did something remarkable. He included amongst the crowd that was at the bottom of the cross, he included a self portrait. He painted himself in. He stands out because he's wearing the blue beret that all painters and artists wore in his era, which I believe were the 1600s. He had that painter's blue beret on, so he stands out. He's out of character amongst all the other ones that would have been at the cross in the first century.

Amen. But he painted himself there with those who are crucifying Jesus. He was identifying saying, I crucified Jesus. My sins nailed him to the tree.

Oh, what a revelation when we can come to the place that we realize. Did Pilate crucify Jesus? Did Herod crucify Jesus? Did the chief priest crucify Jesus? Did the Jews crucify Jesus?

Yes, yes, yes, yes. But so did I and so did you. Amen. But the good news is second Corinthians 5 17. If any man or anyone be in Christ, he is a new creature. All things pass away and behold, all things become new. Did you notice that in that verse new is repeated twice? It's the word that is repeated twice because God wants to make all things new for you. He wants to make you new and he starts by giving you a new heart. And when you have a new heart, you got a new mind, new thoughts, new speech, new action. Amen. A new lifestyle.

He wants to make everything new and he wants to give you life in that more abundantly. Hallelujah. But there's a condition. There's a condition. There's a prerequisite. If how many know that means conditional clause?

What's the condition? You gotta be in Christ. It all happens after you're in Christ.

Amen. Because Adam chose the wrong tree. We all inherit sin and death.

Oh, I don't know. Maybe somebody sitting here saying, Sister Sharon, I don't think that's fair. It's not fair. Why should I have to inherit Adam's debt of sin and death? I don't think that's fair. And that's what a lot of people in the world will tell you. Well, you know, I didn't I didn't sin.

That was Adam. Why should I have to inherit? That would be true. It would be true that it wouldn't be fair if you were stuck in that condition with no way out. I agree.

That would be unfair. But there is a way out. God gave a way out. There is a way out. Amen. But there's only one way out.

Only one. And that is through his son, Jesus Christ. And because Adam chose the wrong tree and he ate of the tree of death and not the tree of life. Jesus in order to restore us back.

What we read in Revelation when we started off to get us back to that paradise, to get us back to that garden, to get us back to life. He had to choose the tree of death. I mentioned about the fact that Pilate and Herod and the chief priest, if you read all four gospels of what happened that that night before they crucified him, they sent him. He went to Pilate, the chief priest first. They first had their little trial and they said he's a blasphemer. He said he's the son of God. And that's blasphemy. He's not the son of God. They take him to Pilate. Pilate said, look, I don't know anything about your religion.

I don't even want to get into your religion. You take care of him. You just judge him and do whatever. They said, we can't because we've already decided he should die and we don't have the authority to put him to death. Only you have the authority, Pilate. You represent Rome. You can put him to death.

We can't, but we want him put to death. And as Pilate began to talk to him, at first Jesus wasn't answering him, but as time went on, their conversation began to develop and they were saying, he says he's the king of the Jews. And he said, are you a king?

Are you a king? And Jesus said, if my kingdom was of this world, then all of my disciples would fight for me. And when he said that it pierced Pilate's heart with truth, Jesus did not deny that he was a king. He just said, my kingdom's not of this world. And the holy fear of God came upon Pilate. And not only that, his wife said word to him and said, whatever you do, don't have anything to do with this just man because I have had a dream about him.

Have nothing to do with him. And so now Pilate is under all this pressure, what to do, what to do. The chief priests are insisting he be put to death. And somewhere in the conversation, somebody mentioned the fact that Jesus was from Galilee.

Pilate says, wow, I'm off the hook now. That's Herod's jurisdiction. Send him to Herod. So they take Jesus to Herod.

Now, you know, Herod was a puppet king over the Jews that Rome put in place just so that the Jews had someone between them and Rome. Amen. But he was an evil man.

Amen. He was an egomaniac. He was so paranoid, so paranoid and his father was so paranoid that somebody was going to take his throne. His father's the one that had all the babies killed in Bethlehem, killed his own wife and son because he thought they were going to try to steal the throne.

These Harrods, they were wicked people. But guess what? When they brought Jesus to Herod, he was actually glad because he'd heard so much about Jesus and the miracles he did. He said, oh, great, I'm finally going to get to see a miracle. And he tried to get Jesus to do a miracle for him. And Jesus didn't even open his mouth and say a word. And after a while, Herod got bored and said, send him back to Pilate.

So now Jesus is back to Pilate. I want you to know all this is happening overnight. Have you ever heard of going to court in the middle of the night?

Amen. You don't have a lawyer. You don't have witnesses.

You don't have anything. This is what they did to Jesus. And they take him back to Pilate.

Amen. And Pilate keeps saying, I have examined him. I have examined him. I find nothing in him worthy of death. Nothing worthy of death. And he was going to let him go.

But what did they say? What was the coup de grace? If you let him go, you are not Caesar's friend. And when he heard Caesar and he thought about maybe he might lose his job if this guy really was trying to be a king, he could lose his position. And for political pressure, he ordered Jesus crucified.

Amen. And so Jesus was sent back and forth between all of these. But here's the thing I want you to know. After all of this, Jesus said, no man takes my life. No, I'm sorry, Mr. Pilate. You don't take my life. I'm sorry, King Herod. You don't take my life. I'm sorry, chief priest and high priest. You don't take my life.

I've received my father that I can lay it down and I can pick it up. No one takes my life. I choose the tree of death. I choose to die on the tree of death so that I can restore Adam's children back to the tree of life. I want you to understand that because you're going to watch a lot of movies over the Easter time and you're going to see it depicted like, you know, they just passed him around and it was too bad and they killed him and it wasn't that bad. He said, no, my father told me this is your mission, son.

And if you change your mind, you do not have to lay down your life. But in Gethsemane, as he agonized, he said, father, if you can take this cup of death, if you can take this cup of suffering away from me, take it, take it. And he prayed three times, if it's possible, let there be another way.

But he understood that in order to restore us back to the tree of life, he had to die on the cross. How many remember the time he went to his hometown to preach and afterwards, what did they try to do to him? They tried to push him off the cliff. He disappeared several times. They tried to stone him.

They're throwing stones. He disappeared because he was afraid to die. He came to die. He could not die any where, but on the cross. He could not die any where, but on the cross. Because the Bible says in Deuteronomy the 31st chapter, cursed is he who hangs on a tree. And Paul repeated in Galatians 3 13, he said, Christ has redeemed us from the law because he died on the tree becoming a curse for us because as it is written, referring back to Deuteronomy, cursed is he who hangs on the tree. Jesus could not die any where, but on the cross.

Amen. And so he chose the tree of death so that we could have the tree of life. And even hanging on that tree, even hanging on that cross, having been beaten and mutilated and nails in his hands and his feet and holes in his head, even then all that, they mocked him and said, if you be the son of God, come down off that cross and save yourself. And one of the thieves said, if you be the son of God, come down off that cross and save yourself and save us too. But like the choir sang, he would not come down from the cross because he could not save himself and save us too.

And that's why he would not come down. Amen. Because he had to die on the tree of death in order for us to be restored to the tree of life. Amen. He chose the tree.

He chose that tree. Amen. And this morning you have to choose. You have to choose the son of God. You have to choose him as to be your savior.

He's not willing that one person, not one person should die. Amen. And I don't care how good of a person you are, a fine man, a fine woman, good husband, good wife, good parent, great employee, all have sinned and there's only one savior. Amen. And you have to confess Jesus Christ, your savior, but he's offering to you this morning the way of life.

Make no mistake about it. Once you have come to know the truth, that truth is going to follow you all the days of your life, whether it follows you and you embrace it and you take it. Amen. And it takes you to heaven to what we read in revelation to that paradise of God or whether you reject it. Amen. The truth can set you free if you've received it. So as the music comes this morning, Amen.

I'm going to ask everyone here, everyone under the sound of my voice, would you bow your head? Amen. Jesus said, choose ye this day whom you shall serve. Who are you going to serve? The Bible says, spoken by Jesus himself, no man can serve two masters. You're either going to love one or hate the other.

You're going to cling to one and despise the other. You can't serve Jesus and serve the world too. And if you're serving the world, you may not have realized it before, but you're serving Satan because the Bible says he is the God of this world. He's the prince of this world.

When Adam and Eve sinned, they took the dominion and authority that they had and they gave it to the devil. And he's the prince of this world. Amen. And if you're not serving Christ, you're serving the devil.

And that's the truth. You're serving Satan. Amen. And the Lord is calling you to this morning to say, come, come and I will give you life and I'll give you life in that more abundantly. If you are not absolutely certain that if you were to die today, that you would be ready to meet God, that you would go to heaven to the paradise of God and you want to be certain and you want to know for sure because we read about, blessed are they who enter into the gates of this city and the Bible makes it clear in the same book, in the same chapter, only those whose names are written in the book of life will enter into that city. Amen.

And Jesus died a gruesome, willingly painful death to give us life and that more abundantly. If you know that you need to make things right with God, why every head is bowed, would you raise your hand and say, sister Sharon, I want to make sure that I know the Lord today. I see those hands.

Come on. The Lord's talking to others there. There's others. The Lord's speaking to you.

Some of you are backsliders and you just keep, you know, taking the risk and taking the risk. But no man is promised tomorrow. Not one person is promised tomorrow. Amen.

Not one today. If you hear his voice today, if you hear his voice, harden not your heart. As I said earlier, every time you'll harden your heart, it gets harder.

It gets harder and you become more deceived by sin. If you hear his voice today, amen. Lift your hand and say, sister Sharon, I'm not sure I want to make sure I want to make sure that I'm ready. I want to make things right with God.

All right. I'm going to ask everyone to stand. Everyone. If you raised your hand, I want you to come up here. We're going to pray with you. Those who raised your hand, come on up here. We're going to pray. Every one of us is going to pray together. Amen. Don't, don't be shy. Don't hesitate.

Amen. When Jesus died on that cross, he died publicly. He died publicly. Some people say, well, why do I have to go up to the altar?

Why do I have to go up there in front of everybody? Well, Jesus died in front of everybody. He was ridiculed and blasphemed. He was stripped naked. Amen.

He died publicly and that's why. Amen. That's why you need to come and make a public confession. Just come right here to the middle. Thank God for these. As I believe there's others. Amen. Amen.

Let the little children come. Amen. Amen.

There's more. Thank the Lord. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Lord. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Oh, there's room for more.

There's room for more. Amen. You got to see yourself at the foot of Jesus cross. There's room at the cross for you. Hallelujah.

The millions have come. And there's still room for one. There's room for you at the cross of Jesus. Hallelujah.

There is room at the cross for you. Hallelujah. Hallelujah.

No millions have come. They'll see you. Hallelujah. Father, we thank you that your word does not return void. We thank you for the lives that are about ready to change. We thank you, Lord, that all things are going to pass away and all things are going to become new. Lord, as each of us stands here today, we know that in our hearts, Lord, all of us, and you said that if you were to mark iniquity, who would stand?

Who would stand? But we thank you, Lord, today that you paid the price in full. And now as we pray for these, Lord, I thank you that a new names are going to be written down in glory. If you're up here and if you did not come up here, if you chose not to come, but you still want to pray out there where you are, let us all pray together. Say Father in heaven, I receive your free gift of salvation and life through the blood of your son. Cleanse me now from all my sins.

Set me free from the powers of evil. Deliver me from the power of Satan and save me right now. I confess you as my Lord. I receive you as my savior and I thank you for forgiving me of all my sins and writing my name in the book of life. And by your grace, I will serve you all the days of my life. In Jesus' name. In Jesus' name.

Amen. What a marvelous story, the tale of two trees. Some of the most tragic words in the Bible are, and he died. Adam lived to be 939, but he still died and he wasn't supposed to die.

Why did he die? Because he chose the wrong tree and he never ate from the tree of life. We can only imagine how superbly beautiful the Garden of Eden was adorned with all manner of fruit trees.

And in the very heart, the tree of life bearing 12 different words. Yet Adam and Eve never ate from this luscious tree. They chose the wrong tree and sin entered the world through their disobedience. Sin never travels alone.

It always brings death. And God had to banish them lest they should eat from the tree of life and live forever in their fallen state. Today that tree stands on the bank of heaven's crystal sea unattainable to fallen man. But there is a second Adam, Jesus Christ, the son of God, who came to undo what the first Adam did.

But in order to restore us back to that garden of innocence and the tree of life, he chose to die on the cross, the tree of death. There are dozens of interesting nuggets in this message and it would be an excellent addition to your spiritual library. You can order the tale of two trees on CD for Love Gift of $10 or more for the radio ministry. Request SK184, Mail to Sound of Faith, P.O. Box 1744, Baltimore, Maryland, 21203. Or go online to soundoffaith.org, where you may also order on MP3s. But to order by mail, send your minimum Love Gift of $10 and mail to P.O. Box 1744, Baltimore, Maryland, 21203, and request SK184. Until next time, this is Sharon Ott saying, Maranatha.