The Commands of Christ, the power of an endless Life
Ronel and my beloved husband, Pete, to the strangers scattered throughout the world, Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied. Speaking to the Church to comfort, edify and exhort [1 Co 14:3]. Who will believe our report?
1Pe 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
1Pe 1:4 To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you,
The Two Trees Part 1 – Knowledge
Christ first takes us out of the world [Egypt] and starts drawing us [whose names are written in His book] to Himself. He makes a Covenant with us coming out of the world and tells us He will bring us into the Promised Land, which is Christ in us, the Hope of Glory, to be a partaker of His Divine nature [2 Pe 1:4]. Here is the Covenant in type and shadow:
Exo 6:6 Wherefore say unto the children of Israel, I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will rid you out of their bondage, and I will redeem you with a stretched out arm, and with great judgments:
Exo 6:7 And I will take you to me for a people, and I will be to you a God: and ye shall know that I am the LORD your God, which bringeth you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians.
Exo 6:8 And I will bring you in unto the land, concerning the which I did swear to give it to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob; and I will give it you for an heritage: I am the LORD.
We do not continue in the first Covenant, we forget the Lord and He regards us not. We increase in knowledge and Christ is forgotten, His Commandments do not come to heart.
Jer 3:16 And it shall come to pass, when ye be multiplied and increased in the land, in those days, saith the LORD, they shall say no more, The ark of the covenant of the LORD: neither shall it come to mind: neither shall they remember it; neither shall they visit it; neither shall that be done any more.
The Ark of the Covenant, which symbolizes Christ, the Commandments, is forgotten, and the Lord casts us out of His Presence.
2Ch 15:2 … The LORD is with you while you are with Him. If you seek Him, He will be found by you; but if you forsake Him, He will forsake you.
Jer 23:39 Therefore, behold, I, even I, will utterly forget you, and I will forsake you, and the city that I gave you and your fathers, and cast you out of my presence:
We see by the mercy of the Lord, He makes a new Covenant with us after these days, finding fault with the first Covenant.
Heb 8:8 For finding fault with them, he saith, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah:
Heb 9:15 And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance.
Through God’s design working all things after the counsel of His own will [Eph 1:11], we have the Gospel preached to us, but are drawn away through our carnal minds, that is to say, our fleshly lusts, which are our carnal thoughts in our quest for knowledge. The parable of the sower explains what happens to us:
Mat 13:18 Hear ye therefore the parable of the sower.
Mat 13:19 When any one heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked one, and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart. This is he which received seed by the way side.
Mat 13:20 But he that received the seed into stony places, the same is he that heareth the word, and anon with joy receiveth it;
Mat 13:21 Yet hath he not root in himself, but dureth for a while: for when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word, by and by he is offended.
Mat 13:22 He also that received seed among the thorns is he that heareth the word; and the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful.
We spiritually go back to Egypt in our attempt to establish our own righteousness. It was ordained from the beginning of the world that we would eat the fruit of the tree of good and evil. This tree is the tree of knowledge, and is pleasant to look at and a tree to be desired to make us wise [Gen 3:6]. We do eat of this tree, because we live by every Word coming out of the mouth of God [Matt 4:4]. All things are ours [1 Co 3:22] as we keep the sayings of the prophecy of this book [Rev 1:3]. This tree leads to spiritual death:
Gen 2:17 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.
Gen 3:5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.
Knowing good and evil is making us wise, our carnal thoughts going to and fro, up and down, round and round we go, and it is the accusing and excusing thoughts we have within ourselves leading to knowledge. This law is called the law of the Gentiles, a law unto ourselves [Rom 2:15]. It is a deceiving wisdom which have many doctrines:
Job 1:7 And the LORD said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.
Eph 4:14 That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive;
Going to and fro is how we increase knowledge. We are hasty, wanting more and get our treasures by a lying tongue, vanities tossed to and fro [Prov 21:5-6]. We run to and fro seeking the Lord, and do not find Him because He is hidden from us [Amos 8:12].
Dan 12:4 But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.
Ecc 1:18 For in much wisdom is much grief: and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow.
It is a fleshly wisdom driven by the spirit of disobedience, through the prince of this world, Satan, the prince of the power of the air. Satan appears to us as an angel of light [2 Co11:14]. We are children of wrath and do not know it. Our knowledge, which is perfect in our own eyes, makes us blind and deaf, having eyes and ears that do not see and do not hear [Isa 42:19].
Jas 3:15 This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish.
Jas 3:16 For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work.
Eph 2:2 Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:
Eph 2:3 Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.
We are commanded to abstain from fleshly lusts [carnal thoughts] that war against the soul. The sin in our members is our carnal minds, having carnal wisdom, dreaming dreams, listening to the false prophets within and without [Jer 23:9] who lie to us and give us false visions and divinations, for example, idols of our hearts, thinking our knowledge will save us in the day of trouble [Jer 14;14]. Let us drink and eat and be merry. Drinking and eating without the Lord is sin [Rom 14:17].
1Pe 2:11 Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul;
Rom 6:11 Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Rom 6:12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.
We love and reap the wages of unrighteousness, not building and founding our houses upon the Rock [Christ] but going astray and falling into a deep sleep [Acts 20:9-11].
Jer 22:13 Woe unto him that buildeth his house by unrighteousness, and his chambers by wrong; that useth his neighbour’s service without wages, and giveth him not for his work;
2Pe 2:14 Having eyes full of adultery, and that cannot cease from sin; beguiling unstable souls: an heart they have exercised with covetous practices; cursed children:
2Pe 2:15 Which have forsaken the right way, and are gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Bosor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness;
Our accusing and excusing mindsets are of our Father, the devil, which is the mark of the beast. The Lord’s Words are spiritual [John 6:63]. We do not have the mind of Christ, nor have we the Father, and the Promise of the Father is not yet given to us [Luk 24:49]:
Joh 8:44 Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.
Satan, the spirit of the carnal mind, is a murderer and a thief.
1Pe 4:15 But let none of you suffer as a murderer, or as a thief, or as an evildoer, or as a busybody in other men’s matters.
Eating of the tree of good and evil is likened unto money, the god, mammon, which is the pride of life. The fear of the Lord is to hate pride [Pro 8:13], but pride and violence cover us in spirit [Ps 73:6]. We cannot serve two masters, two tables at the same time [Luk 16:13]:
1Jn 2:16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.
1Jn 2:17 And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.
This worldly wisdom is the corruptible silver and gold, the corruptible treasures that we heap up during this time of our walk, working out our own salvation without fear and trembling. Our idols are our own doings. Our idols are the work of our own hands [Ps 115:4]:
1Pe 1:18 Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers;
1Pe 1:19 But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:
Jas 5:2 Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten.
Jas 5:3 Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days.
Our treasures are not saving us, nor do it save any man. Our wisdom is cankered silver and gold. We are sinning angels reserved unto judgement [2 Pet 2:4].
Eze 28:2 Son of man, say unto the prince of Tyrus, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thine heart is lifted up, and thou hast said, I am a God, I sit in the seat of God, in the midst of the seas; yet thou art a man, and not God, though thou set thine heart as the heart of God:
Eze 28:4 With thy wisdom and with thine understanding thou hast gotten thee riches, and hast gotten gold and silver into thy treasures:
Col 1:12 Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light:
Col 1:13 Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son:
Col 1:14 In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins:
Our foolish wisdom is found on our lips, being fools, which swallow us up, babbling all day long in our vanity and vain deceptions, lying to ourselves and to others, promising them and us liberty whilst we are servants of corruption [2 Pe 2:19]. We sit as God in the temples of our hearts [2 Th 2:3-4]:
1Co 1:20 Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?
1Co 3:19 For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, He taketh the wise in their own craftiness.
1Co 3:20 And again, The Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain.
This worldly knowledge is not from above, but it is the wisdom that is reveling in our cunningly devised fables, genealogies, imaginings, and wishful thinking, dreaming to establish our own salvation. We are modern-day fortune tellers, saying we see and we do not know that our sin remains [John 9:41].
2Pe 1:16 For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty.
1Ti 1:4 Neither give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which minister questions, rather than godly edifying which is in faith: so do.
1Ti 1:5 Now the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned:
The heaping up of great treasures to ourselves gives us itching ears that turn us away from the Truth of the Gospel. We warm ourselves by the fire and the resurrection of Christ, that is to say, to bring Christ up from the grave, bringing Him into remembrance to know and obey Him is past or future tense for us. We are typical Sadducees and Pharisees. We do not desire Christ at all [Isa 53:2-3]:
2Ti 4:3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;
2Ti 4:4 And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.
The spirit of whoredom is in our midst. We look everywhere else for the Kingdom of God. This is all by God’s design, becoming like gods, before we are allowed access to the tree of Life, Christ, through great judgment and mercy.
Joh 5:38 And ye have not his word abiding in you: for whom he hath sent, him ye believe not.
Joh 5:39 Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.
Joh 5:40 And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life.
Psa 82:6 I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High.
Psa 82:7 But ye shall die like men, and fall like one of the princes.
We have eyes full of adultery rioting in the daytime after our idols increasing in riches, forgetting Christ drawing men after us and hindering them from entering into the Kingdom of God themselves. Our high places are where we burn incense to other gods, for example, via the traditions of men naturally and spiritually [2 Ch 28:4]. We love the high places in the congregation, and our spiritual wickedness at this time is found in high places [Eph 6:12].
2Pe 2:13 And shall receive the reward of unrighteousness, as they that count it pleasure to riot in the day time. Spots they are and blemishes, sporting themselves with their own deceivings while they feast with you;
2Pe 2:14 Having eyes full of adultery, and that cannot cease from sin; beguiling unstable souls: an heart they have exercised with covetous practices; cursed children:
2Pe 2:15 Which have forsaken the right way, and are gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Bosor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness;
We go back to the days of our youth, we go back to Egypt, the place of bondage and slavery. We make Christ’s House a den of robbers [Matt 21:13] and are the merchants trading with the souls of men spiritually [Rev 18:11-13].
Eze 23:19 Yet she multiplied her whoredoms, in calling to remembrance the days of her youth, wherein she had played the harlot in the land of Egypt.
Jer 7:8 Behold, ye trust in lying words, that cannot profit.
Jer 7:9 Will ye steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and burn incense unto Baal, and walk after other gods whom ye know not;
Jer 7:10 And come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, We are delivered to do all these abominations?
Jer 7:11 Is this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, even I have seen it, saith the LORD.
Gal 5:19 Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,
Gal 5:20 Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies,
Gal 5:21 Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
As Christ’s Bride, we commit adultery with strange flesh. We do not keep to our first estate, hearing and obeying the Commands of Christ, but rather treasure up wrath for the Day of Judgement. We commit adultery with a strange woman who flatters with her lips and are that evil man that delights in the forwardness of the wicked [Prov 2:14]. Asking amiss, we do not receive because we ask to spend it on our pleasures, which are our treasures of worldly knowledge [Jas 4:3-4]:
Jud 1:6 And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.
Jud 1:7 Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.
Pro 2:16 To deliver thee from the strange woman, even from the stranger which flattereth with her words;
Pro 2:17 Which forsaketh the guide of her youth, and forgetteth the covenant of her God.
Eze 16:32 But as a wife that committeth adultery, which taketh strangers instead of her husband!
We have many lovers and provoke the Lord to anger and jealousy [Zec 8:2-3]. We are in deep deception, the devil/our carnal minds have overtaken us [Rev 20:3]. Christ has given us over for the destruction of our flesh, that is to say, He is marring our carnal minds.
Deu 32:16 They provoked him to jealousy with strange gods, with abominations provoked they him to anger.
Son 8:6 Set me as a seal upon thine heart, as a seal upon thine arm: for love is strong as death; jealousy is cruel as the grave: the coals thereof are coals of fire, which hath a most vehement flame.
1Co 10:22 Do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he?
1Co 10:23 All things are lawful for me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but all things edify not.
We forget the Lord and say His table is contemptible. We are thieves that steal from the Lord because we do not worship or honour Him. His Commandments are a light thing to us :
Mal 1:6 A son honoureth his father, and a servant his master: if then I be a father, where is mine honour? and if I be a master, where is my fear? saith the LORD of hosts unto you, O priests, that despise my name. And ye say, Wherein have we despised thy name?
Mal 1:7 Ye offer polluted bread upon mine altar; and ye say, Wherein have we polluted thee? In that ye say, The table of the LORD is contemptible.
We have the spirit of divination, which is rebellion against the Lord and His Christ. We have neither godly wisdom nor understanding. Our necks are stiff, and we are cruel/hardened as ostriches:
Job 39:13 Gavest thou the goodly wings unto the peacocks? or wings and feathers unto the ostrich?
Job 39:14 Which leaveth her eggs in the earth, and warmeth them in dust,
Job 39:15 And forgetteth that the foot may crush them, or that the wild beast may break them.
Job 39:16 She is hardened against her young ones, as though they were not hers: her labour is in vain without fear;
Job 39:17 Because God hath deprived her of wisdom, neither hath he imparted to her understanding.
1Sa 15:23 For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, he hath also rejected thee from being king.
Rom 10:21 But to Israel he saith, All day long I have stretched forth my hands unto a disobedient and gainsaying people.
We rebel/gainsay against the Lord and His Christ. We eat and drink in the kingdom of darkness and wax fat, and are the drunkards of Ephraim who do not inherit the Kingdom of God [1 Co 6:10]. The Lord has no pleasure in us and accepts nothing from our hand, yet He loves us but hates the Esau in us [Mal 1:1-4].
Jud 1:11 Woe unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Core.
Jud 1:12 These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear: clouds they are without water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots;
Our Rock, Christ, has sold us out, and we do not consider our latter end [Deut 32:29-30]. We are spiritually dead, twice plucked up by the roots. Not knowing that we are in a deep sleep whilst we live, we keep on feasting.
Deu 32:15 But Jeshurun waxed fat, and kicked: thou art waxen fat, thou art grown thick, thou art covered with fatness; then he forsook God which made him, and lightly esteemed the Rock of his salvation.
Deu 32:17 They sacrificed unto devils, not to God; to gods whom they knew not, to new gods that came newly up, whom your fathers feared not.
Deu 32:18 Of the Rock that begat thee thou art unmindful, and hast forgotten God that formed thee.
Walking to and fro, up and down, round and round in circles, accusing and excusing thoughts lead us to have many idols, fables, and imaginings, which are the work of our own hands. We do not hear and do not obey the Commandments of Christ, but spiritually commit sacrilege with our idols of knowledge, but there is no life in them.
Hab 2:18 What profiteth the graven image that the maker thereof hath graven it; the molten image, and a teacher of lies, that the maker of his work trusteth therein, to make dumb idols?
Hab 2:19 Woe unto him that saith to the wood, Awake; to the dumb stone, Arise, it shall teach! Behold, it is laid over with gold and silver, and there is no breath at all in the midst of it.
Rom 2:22 Thou that sayest a man should not commit adultery, dost thou commit adultery? thou that abhorrest idols, dost thou commit sacrilege?
Rom 2:23 Thou that makest thy boast of the law, through breaking the law dishonourest thou God?
Rom 2:24 For the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles through you, as it is written.
We fornicate with our father, the devil’s wife, and uncover the devil’s nakedness, which are the kingdoms of this world. We have great knowledge, and there is no end to our treasures, yet without Christ. We are the man.
1Co 5:1 It is reported commonly that there is fornication among you, and such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles, that one should have his father’s wife.
1Co 5:2 And ye are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he that hath done this deed might be taken away from among you.
1Co 5:3 For I verily, as absent in body, but present in spirit, have judged already, as though I were present, concerning him that hath so done this deed,
We reap the reward of this action, and are imprisoned by our carnal reasonings, delivered up to Satan for the destruction of our flesh that our spirits may be saved in our Day of Judgement. We are the Corinthian fornicators, sinning against our own body within and without:
1Co 5:4 In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when ye are gathered together, and my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ,
1Co 5:5 To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.
1Co 6:18 Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body.
We commit spiritual idolatry, which is the spirit of covetousness, never having enough, having a strong desire for knowledge and more knowledge, and are never satisfied with what we have. We are always hungry and cold, and our wages are put into bags with holes in them. We are not content, and our riches are rotten [Joel 1:17].
Col 3:5 Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry:
Rev 2:20 Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols.
Rev 2:21 And I gave her space to repent of her fornication; and she repented not.
Hag 1:6 Ye have sown much, and bring in little; ye eat, but ye have not enough; ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink; ye clothe you, but there is none warm; and he that earneth wages earneth wages to put it into a bag with holes.
We are merry, never thinking that our bags wax old and our treasures fail. We are rich but we are not rich towards God. Read the parable of the rich man [Luk 12:16-19]. Our flowers, which are beautiful in their time, fade away quickly as James notes.
Luk 12:20 But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?
Luk 12:21 So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.
Jas 1:11 For the sun is no sooner risen with a burning heat, but it withereth the grass, and the flower thereof falleth, and the grace of the fashion of it perisheth: so also shall the rich man fade away in his ways.
Christ finds us lacking [Matt 19:16-22, Rev 3:2] and does not find us perfect. He has something against us; we are the sons of Belshazzar and are weighed in the balances:
Puffed up with knowledge, not entering into Christ’s true Sabbath [Heb 4] because of disbelief, we do not seek the Kingdom of God and the righteousness found only in the holy commandments.
Mat 19:23 Then said Jesus unto his disciples, Verily I say unto you, That a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven.
Mat 19:24 And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.
Dan 5:27 TEKEL; Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting.
Heb 13:5 Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.
We are the covering cherub that sits in the seat of God, being full of pride [Eze 28:14]. We are the man of lawlessness, we appear beautiful on the outside but are full of dead men’s bones [Matt 23:27]. The inside is full of excess [Matt 23:25]. Perfect in our own beauty, not holding to our Head, Jesus Christ, and not having the faith of Christ, the Lord, rejects us at this time [Co 2:18-19]. We do not see Him anymore [John 16:16, Luke 22:18], until He comes again.
Hos 4:6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.
Eze 28:4 With thy wisdom and with thine understanding thou hast gotten thee riches, and hast gotten gold and silver into thy treasures:
Eze 28:5 By thy great wisdom and by thy traffick hast thou increased thy riches, and thine heart is lifted up because of thy riches:
Here in Deuteronomy, in type and shadow, the Lord warns us about this state of affairs. He warns us not to forget Him. Who has eyes to see and ears to hear?
Deu 8:11 Beware that thou forget not the LORD thy God, in not keeping his commandments, and his judgments, and his statutes, which I command thee this day:
Deu 8:12 Lest when thou hast eaten and art full, and hast built goodly houses, and dwelt therein;
Deu 8:13 And when thy herds and thy flocks multiply, and thy silver and thy gold is multiplied, and all that thou hast is multiplied;
Deu 8:14 Then thine heart be lifted up, and thou forget the LORD thy God, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage;
Sitting like the eagles, secured in our knowledge, making our nests up high with our fenced cities [Jer 49:16], we do not see evil coming, we say peace, peace when there is no peace [Isa 59:8, Rom 3:17]. We sin more and more, adding sin to sin, and do not know that destruction is on its way. We are haughty, jingling as we go, and puffed up one against the other. At this point, we have no reward in Christ, as we put our trust in the pride of life [1Jn 2:16-17], the love of money, and loving not God. We have strayed from the faith of Christ.
1Ti 6:10 For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.
Hos 13:2 And now they sin more and more, and have made them molten images of their silver, and idols according to their own understanding, all of it the work of the craftsmen: they say of them, Let the men that sacrifice kiss the calves.
Isa 3:16 Moreover the LORD saith, Because the daughters of Zion are haughty, and walk with stretched forth necks and wanton eyes, walking and mincing as they go, and making a tinkling with their feet:
This is the way of an adulterous woman, Spiritual Babylon within us, that all go through in our appointed time. Here we have great wealth, forgetting the One who begat us. Our table becomes a snare to us to this day.
Pro 30:20 Such is the way of an adulterous woman; she eateth, and wipeth her mouth, and saith, I have done no wickedness.
Rom 11:9 And David saith, Let their table be made a snare, and a trap, and a stumblingblock, and a recompence unto them:
Rom 11:10 Let their eyes be darkened, that they may not see, and bow down their back alway.
We worship the hosts of heaven [symbolic of the tree of good and evil], never ending, coming to the Truth of the Gospel. Observing traditions of men, birthdays, Christmas, Halloween, and many more. This is worshipping the hosts of heaven, even in the natural, partaking in all of these heathen practices. The Lord gives us over to our fleshly desires and lusts and deceives us [Ez 14]:
Jer 8:2 And they shall spread them before the sun, and the moon, and all the host of heaven, whom they have loved, and whom they have served, and after whom they have walked, and whom they have sought, and whom they have worshipped: they shall not be gathered, nor be buried; they shall be for dung upon the face of the earth.
Gal 4:9 But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage?
Gal 4:10 Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years.
Eating of this tree is the sin of hypocrisy. We make our brothers stumble who follow after us [Matt 15:19]. Our meat [knowledge] becomes a stumbling block to the weak [Rom 14:15].
Isa 32:6 For the vile person will speak villany, and his heart will work iniquity, to practise hypocrisy, and to utter error against the LORD, to make empty the soul of the hungry, and he will cause the drink of the thirsty to fail.
Luk 12:1 In the mean time, when there were gathered together an innumerable multitude of people, insomuch that they trode one upon another, he began to say unto his disciples first of all, Beware ye of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.
Defrauding our brethren, we make merchandise of them as we do not teach them the Gospel, the Commandments of Christ, instead enticing them to be like us, sitting in an idol’s temple, being covetous for more and more knowledge. We are not holy at this stage, but unclean.
1Th 4:2 For ye know what commandments we gave you by the Lord Jesus.
1Th 4:3 For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication:
1Th 4:4 That every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honour;
1Th 4:5 Not in the lust of concupiscence, even as the Gentiles which know not God:
1Th 4:6 That no man go beyond and defraud his brother in any matter: because that the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we also have forewarned you and testified.
1Th 4:7 For God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness.
1Th 4:8 He therefore that despiseth, despiseth not man, but God, who hath also given unto us his holy Spirit.
1Pe 1:16 Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.
We labour in vain and can never get enough. We are always hungry because it is not the true manna from heaven [John 6]. There is no fruit on the fig tree [Matt 21:19]. Our herds groan, there is no pasture [Joel 1:18].
Hos 4:10 For they shall eat, and not have enough: they shall commit whoredom, and shall not increase: because they have left off to take heed to the LORD.
Hos 4:11 Whoredom and wine and new wine take away the heart.
Hos 4:12 My people ask counsel at their stocks, and their staff declareth unto them: for the spirit of whoredoms hath caused them to err, and they have gone a whoring from under their God.
1Ti 6:5 Perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is godliness: from such withdraw thyself.
The Lord, Christ, gives us over to a reprobate mind, unnaturally lusting after each other, knowing the Truth, but worshipping ourselves, the creation, and not the Creator, which is Christ. His Words are spiritual [John 6:63], and we are shown the state of these things in the natural:
Rom 1:28 And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;
Rom 1:29 Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers,
Rom 1:30 Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents,
Rom 1:31 Without understanding, covenantbreakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful:
Rom 1:32 Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.
This is our state, eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. We are spiritually dead, twice plucked up by the roots:
Eze 17:9 Say thou, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Shall it prosper? shall he not pull up the roots thereof, and cut off the fruit thereof, that it wither? it shall wither in all the leaves of her spring, even without great power or many people to pluck it up by the roots thereof.
Jud 1:12 These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear: clouds they are without water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots;
Eph 5:14 Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.
What then is the purpose of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil? Why do we have to eat of this tree first? If this tree makes us to sin, why do we have to go through this?
Rom 9:19 Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will?
Rom 9:20 Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus?
Eating of this tree, we learn to discern between good and evil. We accuse and excuse thoughts to come to knowledge, and this knowledge we acquire has many truths and many lies. We learn discernment, for example, we know there is no free will and that the trinity doctrine is false. We have to know these things to speak with the enemy at the gate. The Lord first spoils us and then He is making us over, as we are like clay in the Potter’s Hand.
Jer 18:4 And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it.
Mar 2:22 And no man putteth new wine into old bottles: else the new wine doth burst the bottles, and the wine is spilled, and the bottles will be marred: but new wine must be put into new bottles.
Eating of the tree of good and evil brings us to the tree of Life, which is Christ in us, the Hope of Glory. We are brought out with great mercy and judgment in the Day of the Lord. Who has believed our report? The Lord is near us, who can know it, TODAY WHEN YOU HEAR HIS VOICE:
Rom 10:6 But the righteousness which is of faith speaketh on this wise, Say not in thine heart, Who shall ascend into heaven? (that is, to bring Christ down from above:)
Rom 10:7 Or, Who shall descend into the deep? (that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead.)
Rom 10:8 But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach;
Heb 10:6 In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure.
Heb 10:7 Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God.
Some of the commands we covered in this study include these commandments, which we strive to do in all our behavior.
Love God with all your heart, soul and mind …, love your neighbour as yourselves …, love each other as I loved you …, do not commit adultery …, flee fornication …, do not defraud your brethren …, do not let your meat be a stumblingblock …, keep away from idols …, do not covet …, be free of the love of money …, abstain from fleshly lusts …, preach and obey the Gospel of Christ …, do not be puffed up one against another …, be set apart …, keep My Commandments…, and many more.
Receive ye the Gospel. Amen.
Part 2 of this study on the Tree of Life can be accessed by clicking here.