Believe it or not, trees tell stories. Have you
experienced that before? It's not there anymore,
but when I was at Southern back in the 1900s,
the old days, if you walk down the promenade
of Southern, there's a little detour down on
the one end and it's called the Prayer Garden.
That's still there. There's some little seating
places, some places to pray or contemplate. But
there used to be there a big giant slice of a
tree that was there. A big tree. And there was
a bench in front of that tree. And I see a few
people nodding like they saw that tree as well.
And if you look at a cross -section of a tree,
there's a bunch of rings, right? And what do
those rings represent? Each ring is approximately
a year. how much the tree has grown during the
past year. And someone had taken the time to
count the rings on this tree. And I forget what
year it started, but the year it had fallen down
or the year it was chopped down, and they began
to count back. And they could say, well, this
was the year that Southern was founded. And this
was the year that the school first started in
Graysville. And this was when the Civil War was.
And this was when George Washington was president.
This was when the pilgrims came on the Mayflower.
And it counted back about 400 years of history
from that one tree. And we can recognize that
trees tell stories. If you were to go down to
Camp Kalaqua in Florida, High Springs, that's
where the one gentleman was transferring to.
At Camp Kalaqua, there's a... spring that bubbles
up out of the ground and it's cold if you go
swimming in there and around that spring and
down the river there's a boardwalk and you can
begin to walk down that boardwalk and it's not
too far that you get and there's a little overlook
and there's a sign and there's a particular tree
that has a name this particular tree anybody
know what it's named not no it's called big dan
Big Dan is the name of this tree. And they haven't
counted the rings because the tree is still alive.
But just from its size, they estimate that this
tree of Big Dan is about 2 ,000 years old. 2
,000 years old. Perhaps starting to grow around
684 B .C., before Christ. So 2 ,000 years old.
So you can imagine. how much history that big
tree has observed, how much history that tree
has witnessed. Many of you know that I used to
teach just down the road at Georgia Cumberland
Academy. The very first pastor of the church
that first formed on that campus before it was
a school was a gentleman by the name of Arthur
W. Spalding. He later became kind of famous for
writing children's books. There's a school that
used to be named for him right up the road. And
if you were to read his biography, I don't know
if it's an autobiography, but it tells the story
of when he was a young preacher, he would go
into the woods on that property and he would
practice his sermons preaching to the trees so
they could hear that message of God, so he could
work on it, so he could... practice. Years later,
when that campus was purchased by the conference
to become Georgia Cumberland Academy in the 60s,
they actually planted some trees there for beautification
so it would look nice. And they planted several
rows along the entry road of dogwoods. And by
the time I was there in the 2000s, some of those
trees, you know, 40 years old now, had become
diseased, had died. And so they had to cut some
of them down and they planted new ones. But as
they cut some down, they cut some of them up
into little wood slivers and they passed them
out with a little stamp of the school seal there.
And on the back it says, this slice of dogwood
is a little piece of GCA history taken from a
tree planted here in 1962. So over... 40 years?
50 years? How many families did these trees have
drive by as they're dropping their kids off on
the first day of school with probably tears in
mama's eyes and excitement in the kids' eyes?
So those trees can certainly tell stories. And
today we're going to look at some stories in
the Bible of trees, that trees share with us.
We're going to go back to the very beginning.
To Genesis is where we're going to start. But
before we're through, we're going to see about
three different scenes that involve trees. And
these scenes actually sum up the entire story
of salvation. You know, in just less than two
weeks, right in this room, we're going to start
a series called The Future Unfolding. Looks kind
of like this. The Future Unfolding. That starts
two weeks from yesterday, from last night. And
then for about two weeks, every night but Wednesday,
we're going to invite people to come and to learn
that story of salvation through the lens of Bible
prophecy. We hope that you will plan, you'll
put that on your calendar, but more than that,
that you will invite someone to come with you.
Your friend, your neighbor, the person you work
with. Right outside this door by the exit way,
there's a box of these signs. There's about 20
of them, I think. I hope that you'll take one
and make sure you get the little metal stand
in the other box and that maybe you could put
it in your yard. And so the people that drive
by your house could maybe be interested and follow
the website. Or maybe you live down a country
road and there's no place that would be good.
I bet you drive past some intersections. where
there's signs for realtors or signs for elections,
get one carefully, look out for traffic, but
stick that sign into that place so that in the
next two weeks, people will have the opportunity
to know that something is coming so that they
can come and hear the story of salvation. If
you're on social media, if you're on Facebook,
you may have already seen some ads that have
popped up. that have started to be displayed.
And there's at least two people or four people
already this far out who have clicked and said,
hey, we want to register for this. We want to
be a part of this event. Whether or not they
come, we don't know for sure. We can only pray
about it. But we can recognize that they have
seen it and that they have been invited to hear
this story of salvation. Today we're going to
look at the story from the perspective of trees.
So turn in your Bibles. all the way back to the
beginning, to Genesis. Of course, the very first
verse, you probably don't even need to look it
up, but Genesis 1 .1 says, in the beginning,
God created the heavens and the earth. And if
you read down through the rest of Genesis 1,
over and over it says things like, and God said,
let there be light. And it was so. And the light
came into existence. And each day, God spoke
and something else was created. Something else
came into existence. And when God looked at it,
each day He said, this is good. Until finally
He gets to the end of creation and He says, this
is very good. And then if we turn to Genesis
2, we begin to see another portion of the story
take place. Genesis 2, we'll read verse 8. It
says, So right there in the heart of the garden,
there were... Lots and lots of trees, but there
were two trees that were named in particular.
The tree of life, and then the tree of the knowledge
of good and evil. And particular directions were
given for these trees. Skip down to verse 16.
It says, Not eat. The tree of the knowledge of
good and evil. You shall not eat. And the day
that you eat of it, you shall surely die. So
there in the midst of the garden were trees.
Trees that could tell stories. Trees that in
essence were just like any of the other trees.
It doesn't say that these trees were toxic. It
doesn't say these trees were on fire, were poison,
anything like that. The only thing that set this
tree apart is that God said, no. God said, don't
eat from this particular tree, and so that set
it apart. But, we know the story, and we know
what happened. That even though these trees were
set apart, by the time you flip one more chapter
to chapter 3, you see Eve. there with a beast,
with a serpent and a tree. And this serpent,
it says, is more cunning. And it begins to talk
to her. And it begins to question her. Did God
really say you can't eat of every tree of the
garden? And she said, well, God said we can eat
of the trees, but the fruit in the midst of the
garden, you shall not eat it, nor shall you touch
it, lest you die. God never said don't touch
it. She added that part. And then the serpent
said to the woman, the very first lie, you shall
not surely die. The very, very first lie. For
God knows that in the day you eat of it, your
eyes will be opened and you will be like God.
Now they weren't going to be like God and have
the power to speak things into creation. They
weren't going to be like God and be all -knowing.
And be omnipresent and omnipowerful. But it said
that they would be like God, knowing good and
evil. Now they already knew God. They had a growing
relationship with the loving God. God is love.
They knew that aspect. But if they were to take
that fruit and disobey, then they would begin
to know and realize. The evil part. And that's
what God wanted them to avoid. But unfortunately,
Eve listened to that serpent and tried to argue
with that serpent and tried to have a conversation
and was tricked and deceived. And in verse 6
it says, So the woman saw that the tree, it was
good for food, it was pleasant to the eyes, and
a tree desirable to make one wise, because she
would know disobedience. She would know evil.
And she took of its fruit and ate. And she also
gave to her husband with her, and he ate. And
suddenly, as you read on down through the story,
they took and they ate from that tree and they
recognized that something had changed. Because
now they suddenly... What happened? We're seeing
each other differently. We're naked here. We're
not clothed with this robe of the glory of God
anymore. And then, oh no, here comes God coming
in the cool of the garden. And they hid themselves
away from their Creator. Have mercy. They hid
themselves away from God. And just as Satan had
told the first lie, God comes and asks the first
question. And He says, where are you? Why are
you hiding from Me, your Creator? But as we skip
down to the end of that chapter, verse 22, it
says, Then the Lord God said, Behold, the man
has become like one of us, one of the Godhead,
to know good. They knew good. They were supposed
to know good. To know good and evil. And now,
lest he put out his hand and take also of the
tree of life and eat and live forever, because
they had disobeyed and ate from the tree of the
knowledge of good and evil, they were now forbidden
to eat from the tree of life. Notice the next
verse. It says, Therefore, the Lord God sent
him, Adam, out of the garden of Eden to till
the ground from which he is taken. So he drove
out the man. And He placed cherubim, angels,
at the east of the Garden of Eden, and a flaming
sword which turned every way to guard the way
to the tree of life. And so there they were in
that perfect place. They knew the goodness of
God, but because they disobeyed, now they were
experiencing the evil of sin and its consequences.
And because of that, that is why we have wars.
That is why we have crime. That is why we have
death and heartbreak and all those different
things which keep our attention off of God. It's
because a choice was made and they were cast
out away from that tree of life. But even in
the midst of that, there's this very first gospel
promise. If we go back to Genesis 3 .15. God
is speaking to the serpent and He curses him
because you have done this. And then God in speaking
to the serpent said, I will pit enmity or I will
pit conflict. I will pit strife between you serpent
and the woman and between your seed and her seed.
Between those who are following in the ways of
Satan. And those who are choosing to follow in
the ways of God. There's going to be conflict.
There's going to be strife. And then the verse
shifts just a little bit. It goes from plural
to singular. Because it says there's going to
be conflict between descendants. That's a group
of people. That's plural. But then it turns to
singular. And it says he. One particular descendant.
One particular individual. who would arise from
the line of those following God. It says, He
shall bruise your head, snake. And snake, you're
going to bruise His heel. Who is that talking
about? Who is that individual? It's Jesus. The
Savior who is going to arise from that line of
godly people. The Creator who is going to step
into the midst of the creation. And the picture
there is someone voluntarily reaching out and
stepping on the head of a venomous snake. I know
some people like snakes. Maybe some people here.
I am not one of those people. I'm not going to
step on a snake. I may shoo it away. I'm probably
not going to kill it unless it's after me. But
I'm not going to voluntarily step on the snake.
Which is worse, a wound to the foot or a wound
to the head? You can survive a foot. You can
survive a broken leg. You can survive with no
legs. But a head wound is harmful. A head wound
is deadly. And this is the picture of Jesus,
the Creator, coming into the midst of the creation.
And in verse 21, it says, For Adam and his wife,
the Lord God made tunics of skin and clothed
them. They had seen themselves as naked because
of their disobedience. But this symbol pointing
forward to the death of Jesus Christ allowed
them to be clothed with something else, clothed
with an animal, just as Jesus would be the Lamb
of God to take away the sins of the world. But
that first sin, we can point to Adam and Eve,
but we can remember that it's not just Adam and
Eve. Because in the New Testament, In Romans
3, it says, for all have sinned. And in the way
that's written, it says all have sinned and are
falling short of the glory of God. And just a
page over from that in Romans 6, it says, and
the wages of sin is death. We have all sinned.
We have all earned that wage. We have all earned
that paycheck, that paycheck of death. And because
of that, that is why the world is the way it
is. That's the story of some trees there in Genesis.
Well, let's go to the bookend of the Bible. That
was the beginning. Let's go all the way to the
end. Let's go to Revelation. Before we get to
the very end, we're going to pause in Revelation
2. Revelation 2 and 3 share some messages to
some different churches that are in modern -day
Turkey. churches which were actual churches,
but also which correlate with different eras
of church history. In Revelation 2 and verse
7, it says, He who has an ear, let him hear what
the Spirit says to the churches. To him, to them,
who overcomes, I will give to eat from the tree.
of life which is in the midst of the paradise
of god so there's a promise there for those that
overcome the devil for those who stand on christ's
side there's a promise to eat again from the
tree of life which they were forbidden to after
the garden of eden and if we turn on over to
the end to revelation chapter 21 revelation chapter
21 we begin to see how the fall destroyed the
earth, and yet how through the grace of God,
things begin to turn. Revelation 21 and verse
1, it says, Now I saw a new heaven and a new
earth. For the first heaven and the first earth
had passed away, and there was no more sea. I
didn't put it on there, but I love the next verse
as well. I, John, saw the holy city. The new
Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God,
prepared as a bride, adorned for her husband.
Even if you don't have the picture with you now,
I know that many of you can remember that sight.
In verse 4, it says, God will wipe away every
tear from their eyes. There shall be no more
death. What was the... The result of them eating
from that tree, from disobeying, from having
that knowledge of not just good but also evil,
it said you will surely die. But it says that
there's going to be a time in heaven when there's
no more death. Usually when we think about heaven,
we think about what is going to be there. Streets
of gold, you get to sleep next to a lion, or
ride on a giraffe, or whatever it might be. But
this verse... talks about what is not in heaven.
There's no more death. There's no more sorrow.
There's no more crying. There shall be no more
pain for the former things have passed away.
That's what happens when that curse is wiped
away and we get to experience the wonders and
the glories of heaven for a thousand years and
then a new earth. for all eternity. There's no
more pain or death. No more tears. No more heartbreak.
Look over one more chapter to the very last chapter.
Verse 22. It says, He showed me a pure river
of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding
from the throne of God and of the Lamb. Crystal
clear water. Maybe you've been somewhere and
seen a spring or... An ocean water that is just
so clear you can see through it and see the fish
swimming. And then in the next verse, verse 2,
it says, In the middle of its street and on either
side of the river was the tree of life, which
bore twelve fruits, each tree yielding its fruit
every month. And the leaves of the tree were
for the healing of nations. Adam and Eve were
pushed out of the Garden of Eden. And an angel
with a flaming sword was placed in front of the
gate so that they could no longer have access
to the tree of life. But a day is coming when
we will have access again to that tree of life.
And it says its leaves are for the healing of
the nation. And it says there's 12 fruits, each
tree yielding its fruit every month. What's your
favorite kind of fruit? Maybe it changes depending
on the season. Maybe you like peaches during
the summer or watermelons that you can cut open
and they're juicy and the juice drips down your
chin or the blueberries that you pick off the
bush. Maybe this time of year you want to take
a trip to L .A .J. or somewhere else and pick
some apples and make some applesauce and enjoy.
So many kinds of fruit are delicious. But this
is not just fruit. This is the tree. It's the
healing of the nations. What an incredible promise
that is. But what happened from the beginning
when there's the tree of knowledge of good and
evil which they ate and it caused a curse to
this ending time with this tree of life renewed
where there's hope and there's assurance and
there's something beautiful. What happened in
between there? The Bible begins with the fall
where they're forbidden to eat from the tree
of life. And it ends with glory where there's
an invitation to eat from that tree once again.
What happened in that meantime of 6 ,000 plus
years to whenever that ending is in the future?
Well, there's another tree. And trees tell stories.
Because trees tell stories of a fall, trees still...
Stories of hope in the future. And trees tell
stories of grace. Because right in the heart
of Scripture, there's a story of a Creator. The
One who had spoken and vegetation had sprung
into existence. The One who had said, let there
be trees, and suddenly the trees grew up. And
then in the heart of that story, the Creator
decides to come. into creation. And as that Creator,
as that Word became flesh, as He grew, He followed
in the footsteps of His earthly Father, and Jesus
became a carpenter. He spent His early days smoothing
the wood with sandpaper, rubbing His hands over
those rough boards to get them to the proper
place, cutting down trees, sanding. probably
with splinters in His hands, building that chair
or that table or whatever it was that was needed.
The Creator joins the creation. We're going to
look at scene 3. We're going to go to John 19.
We could go to several different Gospels. We're
going to go to John 19. And if you were to read
through 10 and 19, we know that Jesus is... spent
a week talking to His disciples. Jesus spent
an evening with His disciples in an upper room
and they broke bread and they drunk the juice
and He said, this is My body that is broken.
This is My blood that is poured out. And then
He went to pray in a garden. And as He was praying,
here comes the torches, here comes the mob, and
Jesus is arrested and taken away and those disciples
run a different direction. And there's a courtroom
scene. Kangaroo court, we'll call it, as they
were manipulating and taking Jesus and doing
what they wanted to do to Him. And then as Pilate
stands Him up and says, Who do you want me to
release? Do you want me to release Barabbas or
Jesus? And the crowd said, Release Barabbas.
Set the rebel, set the criminal free. What should
I do with Jesus? And the crowd said, Crucify
Him. crucify Him. And they put the cross upon
His shoulder and He walked down the Via Dolorosa,
the way of suffering. His back bloodied and beaten.
A crown of thorns upon His head. Weakened from
a day of being tortured from all this happening
to Him. He couldn't walk anymore and He stumbled.
They took that cross and placed it on someone
else's shoulders and He stumbled along behind.
And in John 19, verse 17, it says, and He, bearing
the cross, went out to a place called the place
of the skull, which is called in Hebrew, Golgotha.
They led Him out. They had beaten Him. They'd
done all these things to Him. They took Him to
this place. And the next verse, you read it so
simply. It says, there they... They crucified
him. You could read that in a second. They crucified
him. But that word is a verb. It's an act. It's
an act of torture that's taking place as they
took this innocent man, this perfect man, this
creator, they took this carpenter and they spread
out his hands and they took a hammer and a nail
and they attached him to that wood, to that tree.
The one who had formed trees into furniture or
whatnot. Now, They are crucifying Him. And you
can read it so easy. But it's so much more than
that. And two others were with Him. One on either
side. And Jesus in the center. Nailed to the
cross. And we remember the story that on that
day, the thunder boomed. The sun became dark.
As it seemed as if God the Father was hiding
His Son from these mocking eyes and all that
was taking place. And as Jesus hung on that cross
for several hours, at the start He said, Father,
forgive them for they don't know what they're
doing. Until the time came where He said, into
My hands I commit Your Spirit. It's finished.
It's finished and His life ended. But because
of that, because of that tree of death, that's
what that cross was all about. A picture of ultimate
evil taking place. It's also a picture of ultimate
good taking place. And that cross, that tree
of death, in reality became a tree of life. Because
we read earlier, the wages of sin is death. But
that verse doesn't stop right there. It goes
on and says, but the gift of God is what? Is
eternal life. A free gift of eternal life. I
just want to read through several verses here
as we go. 1 Peter 2 .24 It says, Jesus Himself
bore our sins in His own body on the tree that
we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness
by whose stripes, by whose wounds we are healed.
You can go to Galatians 3 and it says, Christ
has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having
become a curse for us. As it is written, cursed
is everyone who hangs on a tree. Jesus hung upon
that cross taking my sins and your sins so that
we could have the blessing that only He deserves.
1 Corinthians 2 .22 For I determined not to know
anything among you except for Jesus Christ and
Him crucified. And one more, Galatians 6. But
God forbid that I should boast. Don't we like
to boast? Don't we like people to know what we
have done this week, what we have accomplished,
the good things we have done? But Paul writes,
God forbid that I should boast except in the
cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world
has been crucified to me and I to the world.
In the garden. There was a fall because they
ate from the wrong tree. They disobeyed. But
in Revelation, there's an invitation to eat again
from the tree of life, and that is possible only
because of the cross. That tree of death that
gives a promise of eternal life because of what
Jesus did on that cross oh so many years ago.
I want to close with a story. This took place...
In 2018, June of 2018, I recently read a book
about it to remind myself called Aquanaut. Aquanaut
is the name of the book. And it's a story of
a group of young soccer players in Thailand and
their coach. And after practice one day, they
decided they wanted to take a field trip and
they wanted to go explore a cave. And they went
about two or three miles into this cave. And
what they didn't know is that while they were
in there, something was happening outside. It
was beginning to rain. It was beginning to rain
very hard and that water was rushing into the
cave and when it came time to leave, they couldn't
because their access point was now underwater.
And it was several days before anybody realized
where they were and where they had gone missing.
It was almost two weeks before a rescue was attempted,
but eventually divers, diving in a cave, which
is one of the most dangerous things you can possibly
do. They swam these miles into the cave where
a few places it would rise up and they'd be in
the air, but it would dip back down again. And
they were able to eventually track down and find
that all of these young people were still alive
miraculously. And they were able to ferry them
in their food. and water and different things
like that, and medical supplies. But the question
was, how are we going to get them out? Because
it's rainy season. Well, we could wait. It's
going to be several months until that water goes
down. So they begin to pump out as much water
as they can. They're ferrying in supplies, but
they realize they have to do something. In the
midst of bringing these supplies in, one of the
divers from Thailand a Navy SEAL named Saman
Kunan passed out under this water. And the diver
that was with him tried to revive him and pulled
him along to the next place where the air came
up and tried to do CPR, but it was no use. He
gave his life attempting to rescue this group
of people. And finally, these divers, they came
up with a plan. get a special little mask to
put on these young people, like ages 6 to 12
or so. And they were going to take them through
these tiny, narrow passages. And in order to
do that, they were going to have to inject them
and cause those young people to go to sleep.
Because they knew if they were awake that they
would fight and they would struggle, they would
pull their air off, and then all would be lost.
the train navy seal and so they they caused one
or two at a time caused these young people to
go to sleep and strap them to a little stretcher
with a mask on their face and two divers one
in the front and one in the back would would
bring them out these two and a half miles through
the passages and after two weeks of being in
the cave believe it or not they all made it all
12 of them made it out but they they made it
out that rescue finally came, but one had given
their life. That Navy SEAL had died so that these
12 others might live. And as we remember the
story of salvation, we remember that perfect
Garden of Eden where sin came into the world.
We remember the promise of the future of eternal
life where there's that invitation to eat once
again from that tree of life and live forever
with Jesus. But it's all because one gave His
life. Because Jesus was willing to come to this
darkest earth, come into this place of darkness
and pain and despair, and was willing to give
His life for each one of us. And that's what
we're here to talk about. Believe it or not,
next week I'm at the other church, so this is
my last Sabbath here before our series begins.
This series, which is going to tell the story
that we're talking about. The story of salvation.
The story of a future hope. So my questions as
we end today is, have you heard that story for
yourself? Have you not just listened to it? Oh
yeah, I know about that whole cross thing. Have
you listened to it? Have you let it impact who
you are and how you live? Have you accepted that?
Because that's something that we have to do every
single day. Then a final question, have you shared
it? Have you invited someone else to know a little
bit more about Jesus, to know a little bit more
about the one who left heaven to come and die
for your salvation? Let's pray this week that
we can find someone to tell about the incredible,
eternal love of Jesus. Let's bow our heads. Dear
God, we thank You so much for all that You have
done for us. We thank You and recognize that
it's only because of You that we have a hope
for the future. But Lord, let us hope in You
and let us share with someone else. Be with each
one of us here. May we live our life for You.
In Your name we pray.