A Sermon For You
A Ministry of Huckaby’s Evangelism
Trees Of The Bible
By- Evangelist Gary Huckaby D.D.
This sermon was the last message that my dad got to hear his son preach before taking off for heaven. It has been, and still is blessed of God in reaching many souls for our Lord Jesus. It is my prayer that you will be touched by God, to follow Him, or to come to Him for salvation.
Psalms 1: 3, says,"And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper."
I grew up in the country. We lived approximately three miles from the nearest town which is a small town to this day. The population is around 2.500 in this small town even today. Being that I grew up away from the city folks, I had a lot of time to explore and learn about the woods, or forest around our home. My grandfather owned a small farm of some 300 acres and forest and swamp were a part of his land. So I had the opportunity to get to know about trees. Later just as I had turned 20 years of age, I went to work with a state survey party which worked quite often in the forest, plotting right-a-way boundaries for road construction. I learned then a lot more about trees that I was associated with in this line of work. One year my brother and I made a living cutting and splitting hardwood to sell. This too taught me more about trees. In my children’s early school years, I helped them too learn about trees their leaves and their uses for mankind.
Trees are an important commodity for man. They are used in almost every home in some way. Many houses are built totally with wood. Desks, are built primarily of wood in some form, paper that we use in our daily tasks are a product that is made from wood. Furniture uses wood in their constructions. Wood comes from trees, and man has been blessed to know how to use it for his benefit. Joseph, Jesus earthly step father was a Carpenter, and they are the profession that knows and uses wood in their profession. So trees play an important part in the life of mankind in general.
Today I want to take a look at some of the trees in the Bible. Some I can put a name to, others are left to speculation, nevertheless the Bible speaks of trees and their uses in many ways. So get your bible open and read along with me at some of the Bible instances in which trees are found.
Our first look at a tree and man is:
Man Behind A Tree
In Genesis 3:8, And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden, in the cool of the day; and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden."
For our first Bible picture of man and trees, we see Adam and his wife, Eve, hiding among the trees of the garden of Eden. They were hiding for a reason, they were not just playing hide and seek, they were hiding from God. They had disobeyed God’s command and now they were running from Him. So the first picture of a man and the trees, is a man hiding behind a tree, in Adam. Today many hide behind a tree; sin always forces us to run, but to escape the penalty for sin, no man can. Sins wages will always collect it’s reward. Death! Mankind today is hiding from God behind the tree of sin.
Secondly we see the use of some trees and a man with;
Man In A Tree
Genesis 6:14, " Make thee an ark of Gopher wood; rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch."
The second Tree or Trees I would like for you to see is the trees which made an ark to save mankind from a flood of judgment. God said that mans wickedness at this time in his history, was so evil; that the LORD purposed to destroy all of mankind, except there was one man; a man who walked with God, his name was Noah. God put this man and his sons, his wife, and their wives along with two of each animal, seven of the clean animals, and two of the unclean into an are that was made from trees. Gopher wood trees. So the second time we notice the trees in the Bible is when man was saved floating in a tree. Jesus is our ark of salvation, we are free from sin, because of His sacrifice for us on the cross. In Christ we are in the ark of safety, forever!
Our third look at a tree is when one of God’s Prophets used it.
Man Under A Tree
1 Kings 19:4, "But he himself went a days journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a juniper tree; and he requested for himself that he might die; and said. it is enough; now, O LORD, take away my life; for I am not better than my fathers."
Elijah, was a man of God. He was God’s prophet sent to Israel, to show forth the only true God, for Israel had as they often did, succumb to idolatry. They had forsaken The True God and started serving and worshipping false gods. Elijah in the scene had just come from a great display of God’s power to the unbelieving people on Mount Carmel. God answered Elijah’s prayer and consumed the altar, the water around the altar and on the sacrifice. The stones were also consumed, along with the sacrifice. Elijah prayer for God to prove to these lost unbelieving souls, that He is the Great I Am!
After this contest was won by the Almighty, the wicked queen Jezebel had sent God’s man a message that she was going to kill him, as were her false prophets were when they failed the test of the LORD God, and the false gods. His victory had turned to despair. The joy on the mountain top, had now become the valley. So too are we much like this man of God. On the mountain at times, but in the valleys often. He was in such diaper, that he wanted to die. But you have never been at that point have you? Most all have at one time or another, during our life time. We feel distanced from the Loving Father, but always remember that for the believer He is always here. Don’t stay under the juniper tree, come out from under it, and go to work for God. One day at the judgment seat you will be glad that you did.
The fourth use I want us to look at is when a tree helped a man to see Jesus.
Man Up A Tree
Luke 19:1-6, "And Jesus entered and passed through Jericho, And, behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus, which was the chief among the publicans, and he was rich, And he sought to see Jesus who he was; and could not for the press, because he was little of stature, And he ran before, and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him; for he was to pass that way, And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up, and saw him and said unto him, Zacchaeus, make haste, and come down; for today I must abide at thy house. And he made haste, and came down, and received him joyfully."
In this story we see a man up a tree. Zacchaeus the chief of publicans. A short man, so short that he went and climbed a sycamore tree, a difficult tree for a grown man to climb. It took some physical effort to climb it, but he wanted to see this One of whom he had heard so much about. He had heard of His miracles, His healing, and how He had cast out devils from those possessed. He wanted to look at the One who was called the Messiah. He wanted to meet Him so much that he was willing to climb to see Him. Are you willing to climb a tree to see Jesus? Are you willing to repent of your sins, that is turn from them? Are you willing to publicly confess that Christ is Lord, and Saviour? Will you come to Him? Zacchaeus did, and Jesus went to his home, and spent some time with him. He will come to you, if you will just ask Him to.
Our last look at the use of a tree is when it symbolized our means of salvation from sin.
Man On A Tree
Acts 5:30, "The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew and hanged on a tree."
The last tree we see from this message, is a man on a tree. The cross was a tree, hewn and shaped by mans hands to be the instrument of death, to the crucified. Jesus the only human who knew no sin, became sin for us. He took our place on the cross. He took our sins and paid for them in full. He made the way to God for mankind. He is the bridge that spans the great gulf between us and the Almighty God. Jesus was God’s perfect sacrifice, given to mankind to redeem us from a curse of sin and death, separation forever from God.
Jesus is a living Saviour, though He once had hung on a tree. Do you know Him as your Lord and Saviour today? If you do, are you telling others about Him? If you do not know Him, confess Him right now, pray this prayer with me from your heart; Lord Jesus, come into my heart and life. I repent of my sins; I believe you died on the cross for me, I believe you rose from the dead to save me from my sins, I put my total life in your hands, now, and forever. In the Name Of Jesus Christ, Amen!
If you have made a decision to trust Christ we would love to hear from you. We will send you some material to help you get started in your new life in Christ.
Huckaby’s Evangelism
P.O.Box 1011
Pine Mountain, Ga.31822
glhuck@earthlink.net
glhuckaby@yahoo.com
glhuckaby@excite.com
