When God Rests Under the Tree — Carter Conlon

When God Rests Under the Tree

Genesis chapter 18, I'm going to speak about when God rests under the tree, when God rests under the tree. Father, I thank you for the anointing of the Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit, if you didn't come, this would be a worthless exercise.

It would be dead letter. It would have no effect on any heart or any life. God, you have spoken this to me first. And I'm asking, Lord, that you give me the ability to simply speak it to your church. I know this is from your heart.

Help me not to get in the way of it. God, I'm asking for a clarity of thought and mind. Lord, that you would quicken my mind and physical body. And I thank you for visiting me this season in such a powerful way.

God, I thank you, Lord, for giving me grace where I lack. I thank you, God, for your supply is all that I will ever need. Now, minister to the church, O God, through this vessel. I thank you for it in your mighty and your precious name.

Abraham Welcomes the Lord at Mamre

Amen. Genesis chapter 18, beginning at verse 1. Now, of course, this is about Abraham and the Lord appearing to him. And the Lord appeared to him in the plains of Mamre, as he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day.

Verse 2 says, he lifted up his eyes and looked, and lo, three men stood by him. And when he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door and bowed himself toward the ground and said, My Lord, if now I have found favor in thy sight, pass not away, I pray thee, from thy servant.

Let a little water, I pray you, be fetched and wash your feet and rest yourselves under the tree. And I will fetch a morsel of bread and comfort you your hearts. And after that you shall pass on. For therefore, that means for this reason, are you come to your servant.

And they said, So do as thou hast said. Now, verse 1 of Genesis 18 tells us that the Lord appeared to Abraham in the plains of Mamre. Now, this is a significant thing because Mamre represents a place of separation.

In Genesis chapter 13 and verse 18, it tells us that Abraham removed his tent and came and dwelt in the plain of Mamre, which is in Hebron. And it's in this place that he built an altar unto the Lord.

Now, Abraham was called initially to be separated from his former way of life, his former house, and all that he was familiar with. We know that story. But this is a secondary separation. And it's a separation from a carnal following of Christ.

Separation from Carnal Christianity

In 1 Corinthians chapter 3 verse 3, Paul says to the Corinthian church, For you are yet carnal. For whereas there is among you envying and strife and division, are you not carnal and walk as men? Paul says, You may declare that you are a spiritual man or woman, whatever the case is.

But if you are involved in strife and division and envy of other people's gifts or position, you are carnal and still walking as natural men walk. And this is really a strong indictment of the Apostle Paul to the Corinthian church because they were divided.

They were saying, I'm of Paul, I'm of Apollos, I'm of Peter, I'm of Christ, etc., etc. Now, Genesis 13 tells us that there was a strife that got in between the herdmen of Abraham and his nephew Lot who was a family member.

Both of them on this journey began to increase in goods. And of course, there's an increase in knowledge as we walk with Christ. There's an increase of God's blessing. His favor comes into our lives and there's a decrease of what used to afflict us and an increase of the strength and blessing of God.

And in Genesis chapter 13 verses 7 and 8 tells us there was strife between the herdmen of Abraham's cattle and the herdmen of Lot's cattle. And the Canaanite and the Parasite rather dwelled then in the land.

Parasite might be probably a better way to pronounce that. And Abraham said to Lot, you see, Abraham takes always the high road by taking the low road. He's a servant. And he said, let there be no strife, I pray thee, between me and thee and between my herdmen and thy herdmen, for we be brethren.

He said, the whole land is before you. Separate yourself, I pray you, from me. If you take the left hand, then I'll go to the right. If you depart to the right hand, I'll go to the left. That's why Jesus said, blessed are the peacemakers.

They shall be called the children of God. Abraham's a man who knows that if I'm walking with God, this journey I'm on is not to be a place of striving. It's to be a place of peace. The end result of the man or woman who walks with God, the scripture says, is peace.

A desire to walk in peace. An inward peace that does not vaunt itself. Is not puffed up. Is not proud. Does not seek its own. Is not offended at the slights of others. Even though Abraham clearly knew what was in the heart of his nephew.

His nephew was a type, as it is, of a carnal Christian. A carnal follower. A man who's not given to hearing the voice of God and walking by faith. But he walks by his sight. He walks by his senses. And Abraham knew that.

But still, he gave place to this young nephew of his. And verse 10 of Genesis 13 tells us that Lot lifted up his eyes and he beheld all the plain of Jordan. That it was well watered everywhere before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.

He lifted up his eyes, but not quite high enough. He lifted them up halfway and he looked at what was around him. And even though in some measure he was on this journey of inherited blessing that was being given, or as he understood it, through God to his uncle Abraham.

He still had not learned to lift his eyes and to behold and to embrace things that are in heaven. Where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God. As, of course, applies to the church today. But he lifted up his eyes only as high, perhaps, as the highest building of his generation.

Looked around him. And all he couldn't see God. All he saw was grass and water, buildings, commerce going on around him. And he said, oh, this is a good place to go. And here's how he describes it in chapter 13, verse 10.

He says, as the garden of the Lord. In other words, oh, this looks like what we've been searching for. You know, in the garden of the Lord, of course, was the tree of life. And that's always been man's quest for eternal life.

For that which satisfies, not just temporally, but eternally. And he looked out at the area, actually, surrounding Sodom and Gomorrah. And said, oh, this is like the garden of God. This is where life is.

You know, we look at that today and say how foolish that is. But think of the myriads of Christians today who are not looking any higher than the tallest building. In cities like New York and saying, oh, this is where the garden of God is.

This is where I'm going to find life. And they pursue the very same things that were leading Lot. And he says, and it's like the land of Egypt. As thou comest to Zohar. If you really understand this. He starts by talking about this looks like the garden of God.

Then he moves down to the land of Egypt. Egypt, which has always symbolized that which attempts to captivate the people of God. Incredible. He's seeing it, but he's not understanding it. And Zohar is a little city.

Zohar means little. He could have had everything that God promised Abraham. But he settles for little. And he winds up in this place called Zohar in a cave with his two daughters. In eventuality, he has an ancestral relationship with his daughters.

Fathers two tribes of people. The Moabites and the Ammonites who are consistent and persistent enemies of the ways of God. It's an amazing thing when you see that God was actually revealing to him what he was looking at.

But he simply refused to see it. Now, Abraham might have been separated from Lot, but he recognized that Lot was still family. And we need to be careful today. We can open this Bible and there are many things that we can see.

And quite often we become aware of perhaps where others have failed in their pursuit of Christ. But we need to be careful how we treat them if indeed they are family. And Abraham was willing to do all in his power to even risk his own household.

To try to deliver Lot from the captivity that was all around him. Lot was a man who was destined to be captivated. But instead of Abraham washing his hands of him. Or standing at the gates of his place of dwelling and pointing the finger.

Saying, well he's only getting his just reward because he's carnal. And pursuing these things that he should have known would have brought him to destruction. No, Abraham goes after him. And I believe that's the heart of every true Christian.

We don't write anybody off in the body of Jesus Christ. No matter how foolish their practice might be. We go after them. And God can only use people with this kind of a spirit to bring deliverance. To those who might be caught in the pursuits of things that are going to lead them to little.

It's funny, his name is Lot but he ends up in little. It's kind of a play on words. There were four kings that came against. Or the scripture mentions four kings that came against this dwelling place of Lot.

It's a place where he chose to live. And in the same way those who live in a carnal or a flesh led Christianity. Will be attacked by these similar types of attack in their walk with Jesus Christ. I'll just read them to you.

Genesis 14 .1 mentions Ariok. Which by name means servant of the moon God. And it speaks about an attack of other concepts. Of the origins and purpose of divine power. And there are many, many people today living in carnality who are under this attack.

This attack of who is Jesus Christ? Why did he come? What is the origin? What's the purpose of his life within me? And they're confused and they're running all over the country. While this king is attacking them.

Always trying to undermine the foundation. And the essential purpose as it is of the reason why God chose to come and dwell among them. The king of Elam. And Elam in the ancient biblical times was a center of political power.

And it represents man's attempt to dominate his own world. Those who walk in carnality will always be trying to make things happen. And even spiritualizing it by saying we're doing something for God. The concept is really backwards.

We don't do anything for God. We open our hearts and we let God do what he wants to do to us. We simply become channels, vessels of God's goodness. And it can be big, it can be small. It really makes no difference as long as you and I are walking in obedience to the Lord.

Because ultimately when it's all over, it's not that we did many things. It's that we did a few things and we did them well. This is what the Lord Jesus will hold as the criteria when he finally judges his people who stand before him.

The king of title, his name was. It means the king of nations. It means the king of people, of the Gentiles. And it represents a battle with common wisdom which seems to be prevailing. And those who are living a carnal Christianity are always struggling with what the Bible is saying as opposed to what society is saying.

And there's this battle in the mind with common wisdom. And this attempt to take common wisdom and somehow put it into the scriptures and make the scriptures say what they don't say. For example, why is it so bad that homosexuals should get married?

After all, they're people and they have feelings and such like common wisdom. But yet the scripture is clearly opposed to this type of thing and calls it an abomination. But those who walk carnally will become confused and you'll see it even more in the coming days.

Carnal Christians believe that it's God's desire that everybody be always happy, always healthy, always prosperous. Yet you cannot cram that into the scriptures because there are scriptures directly opposed to this.

That it may be appointed to some to suffer. There may be times of difficulty coming into people's lives. I challenge you to go to Uzbekistan where I just was and try to preach that to those who are still being arrested and tortured and put in prison.

And given 25 year sentences for their faith in Christ. Tell them that it's God's will everybody always prosper and be happy. There are times of deep sorrow that come into the hearts of those who walk with God.

But God Almighty Himself becomes the source of their indwelling strength. Their joy is not in the things of this world. Their joy is in the risen Christ. Their hope is in His sustaining power. Their future lies in the fact that one day God will return and take His church home to be with Him for all of eternity.

Prosperity, Suffering, and the Treasure of Christ

There's another king came against Lot, the king of Shinar. And in Zechariah 5 .11 it represented, Zechariah described it as the spirit of godless commercialism that originated in Babylon. Daniel 1 .2 describes it as the place where the temple treasures were taken from Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar.

And this is a spirit of lust for prosperity which seeks to take captive the true treasure of Jesus Christ. And folks, you see all of these battles. You see these four kings still gathered in array against those who have that same spirit that Lot had upon them.

They lift their eyes but not quite high enough. Their aspirations are only for happiness in this world. They really don't want to understand what it means to be part of the body, the church of Jesus Christ.

They do not want to yield to the purposes of God. So therefore they always battle with confusion about the identity of Jesus Christ. They battle with confusion about the purpose of the church of Jesus Christ.

They move in fleshly wisdom. They attempt to dominate their world. They attempt to build the kingdom of God by committees and ideas, a kingdom you can't even see, let alone build with the natural mind.

They have a battle constantly with common wisdom, always trying to infuse itself into the church and change the very nature and the doctrine of Jesus Christ. And ultimately the true foundation of their walk comes to the surface.

It is a lust and unbridled lust for prosperity which comes to take the true treasure of Christ away from them. All of this Abraham walked away from. He kept his eyes fixed on a higher purpose which God had for his life.

He walked away from it and said, I'm not going to live here. If you want to go there, go there. And so Abraham chose to simply dwell in a tent. And this is where God comes in chapter 18 to meet him. Now, the Lord appeared to him in verse one in the plains of memory, as he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day.

You see, there are battles that come to men and women of God that the carnal Christian will never fight. Carnal Christian will never even be aware of this battle. These types of battles come to those who are truly seekers of Jesus Christ.

They want to walk with God with all of their heart. And here's where we find Abraham. He's in the tent door. He's there in the heat of the day. It's not comfortable. It's not a pleasant time. He's not involved in all of the things that Lot is involved in.

Here's a man who's a passionate pursuer of God. But tremendous struggles are upon him. Verse two tells us by reference that his eyes are down. He's sitting in the tent door and perhaps looking at the ground.

And I can't help but wonder, what is he thinking about? I wonder if he's battling like the psalmist did who said, Why do the heathen prosper? It seems like they're not afflicted like I am. His eyes are looking down at the sand because he has to raise them to see the men.

In verse two, he has to lift up his eyes and see the men, God and the two angels who are standing before him. He's most likely very aware of his own weaknesses. It's been 24, going on 25 years since he began to follow this word of the Lord.

This promise that God said, I'm going to make you a blessing. And all the world is going to be blessed through you. An incredible promise. He leaves home at 75. He's now 99, going on 100. And what does he have to show?

Oh, there's been partial blessing. Of course, foreign kings have blessed him in spite of his mistakes. God has increased him in servants and flocks and herds and all. This is amazing. All these things that Lot is lusting after, God just gives naturally to the men whose attention is fixed on him.

But his leading had brought difficulty. He brought his family first into famine, telling them we're on this journey to the promised land. How many fathers here or mothers came home and you came to Christ and you walked in and you've been sitting in church and you found Christ as your Savior.

You began to understand what God wants to do in your life. You walked home. You made these pronouncements. And the first thing that happens, he walks into the promised land and it's a place of famine.

There's no food. He has to lead his family now into Egypt. And in Egypt, he led his family into fear and compromise. He has trouble now in his own home. Sarah, perhaps in some measure, has lost respect for her husband because he has lied to save his own skin.

In reality, he said, This is my sister and ran the risk of her being taken into another man's harem and become another man's wife to save his own life. He has now two wives and now he's really got problems.

For those of you who think you have problems with one, he's got two now and he really has trouble. I remember an older man one time was a friend of mine, shook his head mournfully, said only a fool would want more than one wife.

Sarah and Hagar don't get along. There's tension in the house. He's got a son by Hagar and Hagar has begun to resent Sarah. And there's a lot of tension in that house. Maybe that's part of the reason why he's sitting at the door in the heat of the day.

God Meets Those Who Know Their Need

He had to get out of the kitchen wherever that was. But he has promises. In Genesis 17, 17, he's aware of that. There's no power left in him to fulfill them. He says,. And Abraham fell on his face and laughed and said in his heart, Shall a child be born to him that is a hundred years old?

And shall Sarah that is ninety years old bear? In Genesis 17, 18, he's tried his best, but he's aware that it's fallen short of what God has intended for him. And he said, Oh, that Ishmael might live before thee.

God, it's been 25 years. I've done my best. I've tried my hardest, but I've failed. And if this this is so doesn't look like a blessing. God, please, will you just bless the little effort of my hands?

This little bit that I've added to your kingdom. Can you not bless this? God says, No, Abraham. Yes, there will be a blessing there of another sort. But I have something much greater for you than what your works of your own hands can produce.

And folks, so many people give up in this place. So many righteous people, the seekers of God, come to the place where they're so aware of their failings. And if you are a seeker of God, you will become aware of your failings.

You have to. You can't escape it. Charles Finney said it this way. I read it years ago. He said the man who's far from God feels very good about himself. Quite happy with all his directions and plans and purposes in life.

The man who's getting close to God becomes increasingly aware of the depth of his failing. He sees the glory of God like Isaiah and says, Woe unto me, I'm undone. I've seen God. I've seen his holiness.

I've seen something of God. And I am now aware of how deeply I fall short of what he has intended me to be in him. But so many turn back, not realizing that you are on the pathway to the blessing of God.

You're on the pathway to every promise that God has ever made to you. You're on the pathway of being a man or woman through whom God can flow and bless the nations. Don't turn back. Don't turn back, no matter how hard it gets.

The principle Jesus spoke about in Luke 11, 24. This is only the principle. He says, but when the unclean spirit has gone out of a man, he walks through dry places seeking rest and finding none. And he says, I will return to my house from whence I came out.

Now the end result of that is he ends up worse than he was in the beginning. Because now he's gone into deeper depravity. He had knowledge of God, but didn't use it wisely. Didn't pursue where this knowledge should have taken him to in Christ.

You see that same principle in the children of Egypt, Israel rather, when they wanted to turn back in the wilderness and go back into Egypt. They wandered in dry places. Remember that the call of God to Egypt was to serve me in the wilderness.

We're not called just to serve Him when things are going well. When there's all kinds of food in the cupboard and all kinds of shingles on the roof. That's wonderful. Thank God for that. But if you wind up in jail for the cause of Christ, you're to serve Him there too.

If difficulty comes to your door, you're to serve Him there too. We're called to serve Him in the wilderness. It's not a circumstance-dependent religion we're called into. God asked through Isaiah the prophet in chapter 66, verse 1.

He said, tell me, where is the place of my rest? In other words, what can you do that will meet the need of my heart? Where is the house that you build for me? In other words, I've made all these things, he said.

Tell me, what can you do that will bring rest to me? What can you build? What can you produce by your own effort that will do something that will satisfy the need of my heart? Then he gives a very curious statement after that.

The two don't even seem to go together unless we understand something of the workings of God. In chapter 2, he answers his first question and says, To this man will I look, in verse 2 rather, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit and who trembles at my word.

God said, what can you build for me? What can you do? What can you do that will meet the need of my heart? He said, let me tell you where I will come to. I will come to a man who knows he doesn't have the resources to do it.

I'll come to those who are poor. I'll come to those who know they can never win the victory without me. I'll come to those who have failed. I'll come to those who have tried with their best efforts. And after 25 years are left in the dust saying, God, I'm dead.

If you don't raise me, there's no hope for me. He said, I'll come to that man. I'll come to that woman. I'll come to them in the heat of the day. I'll come to them when they sit in their tent door. I'll come to them in their failure.

I'll come to them in their difficulty. I'll come to you when you least expect it. I'll be at your door. Lift up your eyes for your salvation draws nigh. And who trembles at my word. He has a contrite spirit.

He said, God, he knows he has failed. He knows. He knows. And God, there's nothing I can do to make this happen. I've tried for years to make it happen. I can't do it, God. My best efforts have failed.

But I still stand in awe of your word. I still believe that you created the universe. I still believe that the God who said, let there be light, lives in me. I still believe that in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, you can change me.

Serving Christ with Little Strength

Abraham knows he's experiencing a divine visitation. Chapter 2, chapter 18, verses 2 and 3, he said he saw three men. We know one of them was the son of God. The other two were angels. He saw them. He ran to meet them from the tent door, bowed himself toward the ground and said, my lord, if now I've found favor in thy sight, pass not away, I pray thee, from thy servant.

Oh, God, stay with me. His cry. Oh, God, it's been such a long, dry journey. God, stay with me. God, why can't I keep the sense of your presence? Some cry this morning. The clarity of your voice. Why do these things have to leave me when I leave the church today?

I hear so clearly from you today, God. I have worshipped you. I've been in your presence. Oh, I feel your glory. God, stay with me. God, stay with me, because I have to go home to a dry place in the heat of the day.

God, stay with me. I know I've been promised an endless supply of blessing. Verse four. He says, let a little water, I pray you, be fetched and wash your feet and rest yourselves under the tree. He doesn't.

He's promised a river and we are promised in John 7, a fountain of life springing up. But some days it doesn't seem like we have that, does it? Or is it only me? Some days I feel I have hardly enough to moisten the dry areas in somebody else's life.

But he had a little water and he said, let a little water, I pray you, be fetched and wash your feet. I have only a little. But let me fetch it and serve you with it. Let me wash your feet, Jesus. Yeah, you might not have a lot of what you feel you should be.

But I'm telling you today, if you're a Christian, you have enough to wash the feet of Jesus. You have enough to thank Him. You have enough to say, God, thank you for coming to me in the heat of the day.

You have enough just to come and just say, let me wash your feet. Let me bless you, Jesus. Oh God, instead of complaining, let me give you thanks. Oh, thank you for the journey. Thank you, God, for the cross.

Thank you, God, that in spite of my struggles, you remain faithful. In spite of my failure, you still keep coming to me, God. You still keep speaking into my heart. Oh, hallelujah. Let me take the little I have and let me serve you with it, oh Jesus.

Let me wash your feet. Let me get the dirt off your feet. That you have endured to give me this salvation. That you have endured to come to me night and day, oh God. You come to me in the most difficult times of my life.

Let me just take the little I have and give it to you. And worship you with it, oh God. And he says, let me wash the feet also of those who are with you. Let me serve those who are called with you according to your purpose.

Let me wash their feet and rest under the tree. As a Christian, we have a sense in our hearts that we're called to do great things. And I agree with that, but the problem is our concept of greatness is askew as it is.

Finding Rest Under the Tree

What is great? The kingdom of God. It's when I help a stranger to find rest under the tree. Which is the cross, it's a type of the cross. When I bring a stranger there, I don't have a lot of water, but I say, come, let me wash your feet.

It's when I am kind to brothers and sisters in Christ. When I have my own struggles, but yet I see somebody else and I'll just, I have only a little bit of water. But I'll take that little bit and I'll speak something into their lives that will help them in their journey with God.

It doesn't have to be the whole Bible, just a sentence. Just a word of encouragement, just a little bit of water. The Lord says, this is my rest. This is where I dwell in Psalm 132. This is what I have desired.

I've chosen Zion, I've desired it for my habitation. David said, we'll go into his tabernacles, we'll worship at his footstool. Arise, O Lord, into thy rest. Thou in the ark of thy strength. In John 19, Jesus on the cross said, I thirst.

I thirst. And you know, all that mankind could provide for him was a sponge on a stick with vinegar in it. A type of water, I suppose, but is unfulfilling. It's unsustaining, it's bitter. It only dulls the senses and provides no lasting relief.

And that's not what he was thirsty for. He was thirsting for fellowship underneath the tree. The whole purpose of his journey was you and me. The whole purpose of Christ coming to the earth was for you.

When he said, I thirst, he was thirsting for you. He was thirsting for your heart to open to him. He was thirsting for you to begin to understand and me to begin to understand that he is the one who will be the constant source of supply.

He is the wellspring of blessing and life. There is no other life, there is no other reason, there is no other purpose for living. The whole purpose of his journey was for you and for me. Today we can take a little water and worship him, can't we?

No matter what situation you might be in today or how dry your tent is or how much trouble is in your home. You can take a little water and worship him. You can take a little more and encourage others who are walking with him today.

You can take a little more and help a stranger to find rest. Remember Rebecca in the Old Testament? How she's just a girl coming out to draw water. The scripture says she had a water pitcher on her shoulder.

Probably big needs back at home and here a stranger, Abraham's servant, shows up with a whole entourage of people with him and camels and all kinds of need. And he said, can I have a little drink? And this girl not only gave him drink but gave water and says she hasted.

She ran to the well to find that the supply never goes out. And she started though with just a little bit. Started just giving this stranger just a little drink. Probably a cup full out of this pitcher.

Only to find that the source of supply that God was willing to give her was a never-ending supply. And in chapter 18, verse 5, Abraham says, I'll fetch a morsel of bread and comfort your hearts. A morsel of bread.

Jesus said, I am the living bread. How does it comfort the heart of God? I don't have to know the whole Bible. But when I have a promise or two. Just a morsel. And I bring it back and I, in a sense, feed him with it.

Because I'm saying to Christ, I trust you. I believe that you are the one who is the source of my supply, who will bless my life. I believe. You gave me a promise. In Abraham's case, I'm going to have a son.

I'm going to have an heir. I believe it, God. It's only a little promise. But I have taken this thing to heart and I am bringing it to you. And I'm going to feed you. And he says, and comfort your hearts.

Did you know today you can comfort the heart of God? Were you ever aware today that God has a need as well as us? He needed you. He wanted a body to dwell in. He wanted a bride for all of eternity. How it grieves him when we don't believe him.

We choose to look at our circumstances and say these are higher law and reality than the promises of God. But how it comforts his heart when you and I come once again to him with the little morsel that he's given us and say, God, I feed you, Jesus, with trust.

I believe you. I believe that my marriage is going to be a type of Christ in the church. I believe that my children are going to walk with God. Because the scripture, Paul could speak to a dirty old centurion that if you believe your whole house will be saved, then it applies to me too as well.

I believe in God with everything that is in me. I believe that you will make me a man or woman of prayer. I believe that you'll take this stone cold heart and you'll put the love of God in it. I believe that you'll take the fear in me, the fear to stand out and be a bold declaration of Christ.

I believe that you'll take that fear out of my heart and replace it with a love that casts out fear. God, I believe it with all my heart. I believe it. It's only a morsel, but I bring it to you today, Jesus.

I wash your feet with the little strength I have and say thank you for making the journey. And now I bring you back the promise you've given me. And I say, God, I believe. God, I believe. God, I believe.

Comfort your heart, Jesus. Comfort your heart today. And after that, he said, you shall pass on for this reason or for therefore you come to your servant. Abraham had a revelation. He said, God, this is the reason you've come to me.