This is a follow up post to “The Tree of Life:” Why Are We Still Refusing to Eat From It?. I would strongly encourage all to read the original post first!
In the first post, I had tried to describe how I sensed the Lord showing me, when it came to the Word of God, that I had been eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (in a Spiritual sense), as opposed to eating from the tree of life (the Christ). I’m writing this follow up post just to clarify that I believe we must seek the Word of God, but we must do so, firstly, with the leading of the Lord’s Spirit in us, as opposed to the leading of the clergy or even other believers. The Lord is the Word, and we must seek Him through the written Word He has given us:
So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ. (Romans 10: 17)
Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. (Ephesians 5: 6)
But, in so doing, we must also come to hear our Lord’s voice and recognize it, so we not be led astray by others, or even our own fleshly mind and heart:
At that time the Feast of the Dedication took place at Jerusalem; 23 it was winter, and Jesus was walking in the temple in the portico of Solomon. 24 The Jews then gathered around Him, and were saying to Him, “How long will You keep us in suspense? If You are the Christ, tell us plainly.” 25 Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe; the works that I do in My Father’s name, these testify of Me. 26 “But you do not believe because you are not of My sheep. 27 “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; 28 and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. 29 “My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. 30 “I and the Father are one.” (John 10)
Below is a quote from a series of lectures by T. Austin Sparks which clarifies (I hope) what I had attempted to communicate in the original post:
If we are walking in the Spirit, and are moving according to the life of the Heavenly Man, our lives will be ordered according to the Word of God (eating from the tree of Life). Sometimes we shall not know the Scripture that applies to a given moment, but we shall know of something happening; we shall know that at that point we were checked; it was as though within us something said: That is not right, you will have to correct that statement; there is a flaw in that, and you will have to make that good. How often we have known that. Afterwards we have discovered where we were mistaken. The Spirit of life does not let anything that is contrary to the Word of God pass, if we are walking in the Spirit. Surely that should be a great comfort to us, and a great help.
But there is a danger of which we need to beware. What we have said does not mean that we can take up a course of trying to walk in the Spirit, and neglect the Word of God… There are a lot of people who live in what they call their “spirit.” They “get it from the Lord.” They get something, and act upon it, and afterwards it is discovered that it is a direct violation of the Word of God. How often we have met that. People get things “from the Lord,” and do something which they think they got from the Lord, and it is as clear as possible that the Word of God is positively against what they have done.
Thus the matter needs safeguarding. “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom…” (Col. 3:16) as a basis for the Holy Spirit. If, however, you are doing that you will not always have the exact passage to hand to govern the thing of the moment, but the Holy Spirit will be making good in you what He knows to be the Word of God, and holding you up. How true that is. Some of us have found that our natural memories have in great measure broken down. Very often a misquotation of Scripture does not touch doctrine at all, but the point is this, that there is a governing Intelligence which makes us know the Word of God, though we may not be able for the moment to give a particular passage in its exact phrasing or call it to mind. We are governed by it if we belong to the Heavenly Man. “As He is, so are we in this world” (1 John 4:17). (emphasis mine)
via Austin-Sparks.Net – Chapter 10 – The Heavenly Man and the Word of God.
“Let the Word of God dwell in you richly in all wisdom…” I believe we, too often, overlook the meaning and importance of verses like these: I know I am guilty of this! Here is my Spiritual sense of what the Lord is saying to us, through the Apostle Paul: the Lord is the (Living) Word of God, and He is alive and sitting at the right hand of the Father (interceding for us), thus the (Living) Word of God (the tree of Life) can dwell richly in us, and bring us His wisdom in the (written) Word, if we will only “let…” Him.
What do we suppose Paul means by the following exhortation to the Roman believers:
So then, brethren, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh— 13 for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live. 14 For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. (Romans 8: 12-14)
Do we think Paul was just joking when he wrote, “for all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God”? Or have the assorted varieties of clergymen, throughout Christendom, led us to believe that they and their “bible studies”, “sermons”, “church doctrines”, and “mission statements”, have, now, taken the place of the Spirit of God in us? Or as T. Austin Sparks states,
Remember that doctrine comes out of life, and not life out of doctrine. The Church (the true Church: the Body of Christ) comes out of life, and not life out of the Church. It is not attachment to doctrine, nor attachment to the Church, but attachment to the Heavenly Man (Christ: the tree of Life) in a living way that is the vital necessity; and then you will get the doctrine and the Church. In the Word as we have it, the doctrine came after the life. The Church existed before the doctrine of the Church was given. Attachment to the Heavenly Man produced the doctrine of the Church. The Church came about by a living relationship (with Christ), not by taking up a revelation of what the Church was, and seeking to put it into operation (the tree of the knowledge of good and evil). Life comes first of all, and where life is found the rest will follow… (emphasis mine)
Where in the nominal “church” can we find the Life of Christ, so that “the rest” may follow? There is so much division in the “church”: a man-made division which is eighteen hundred years old and serves only to open our Lord and Savior to unregenerate and pagan ridicule. Why are we so mistrusting of, and separated from, other believers (other denominations), when the (written and Living) Word of God tells us there should be nothing but unity, oneness in the Body of Christ?
Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, 2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love, 3 being diligent to preserve the UNITY IN THE SPIRIT in the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling; 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all. (Ephesians 4)
Where do we see this kind of oneness, this kind of unity, this kind of Life, in the “religious institution” referred to, today, as “church” (Christendom)? We don’t see it (if we truly can see). It isn’t anywhere to be found, nor will a “revival” or “conference” ever bring it back to life again, not in this age: the Lord’s glory has left the “religious” building and now indwells the individual son and daughter of God.
“To the angel of the church in Laodicea write:
The Amen, the faithful and true Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God, says this:
15 ‘I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot; I wish that you were cold or hot. 16 ‘So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth…‘Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if ANYONE (individual, not corporate) hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me. 21 ‘He who overcomes, I will grant to him to sit down with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne. 22 ‘He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’” (Revelation 3)
With all of this said then, I guess my question to all of those who are still pew ridden, and eating strictly from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, is this: When will you walk away from the Spiritual deadness of your “churchianity” and allow the Word of God (the Lord: the Living Word) to dwell in you richly, so that you may become altered by every Spiritual blessing the Lord has already given you?
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, 4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love 5 He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, 6 to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. 7 In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace 8 which He lavished on us. In all wisdom and insight 9 He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention which He purposed in Him 10 with a view to an administration suitable to the fullness of the times, that is, the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things on the earth. In Him 11 also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will, 12 to the end that we who were the first to hope in Christ would be to the praise of His glory. 13 In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, 14 who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory. (Ephesians 1)
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