"FRUIT OF LIFE AND SHED BLOOD"

November 4, 2001 am
MF Blume


Watch how the words given to Adam parallel the words given to Noah:

TO ADAM:

Genesis 1:28  And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.
REGARDING FOOD:
Genesis 1:29  And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.

Genesis 2:16-17 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: 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.


TO NOAH:

Genesis 9:1-2  And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth. And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth, and upon every fowl of the air, upon all that moveth upon the earth, and upon all the fishes of the sea; into your hand are they delivered.
REGARDING FOOD:
Genesis 9:3-7  Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things. But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat. And surely your blood of your lives will I require; at the hand of every beast will I require it, and at the hand of man; at the hand of every man's brother will I require the life of man. Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man. And you, be ye fruitful, and multiply; bring forth abundantly in the earth, and multiply therein.


God's words to Adam and Noah are almost identical.   So as we see such a parallel between Adam and Noah, we can get a clearer picture of the forbidden element God desires us to avoid.  Notice that every tree had the following qualities:
  1. Pleasant to the sight.
  2. Good for food.
But notice the single element the forbidden fruit had which the other fruit did not.
    Genesis 3:6  And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.
     
  1. Pleasant to the sight.
  2. Good for food.
  3. TO BE DESIRED TO MAKE ONE WISE.
 The third element is the damning element.
 
 Similarly, all the meat given to Noah was good.  The forbidden fruit and meat was so close to the acceptable.  The enemy always tries to get so close to the original, and leave one element in his offer. The meat required SHEDDING OF BLOOD before it was acceptable. Removing blood means removing LIFE OF THE FLESH.
 Galatians 5:16-18  This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.  For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law.
You cannot just train flesh to be good and not evil.  There is only one true remedy for sinful flesh, and that is DEATH.  Here is the GREAT LITMUS TEST FOR TRUE CHRISTIANITY.  DO YOU THINK ABOUT ALL THE THINGS YOU DO AND THE THINGS YOU CANNOT DO?
 
 OR DO YOU THINK ABOUT ALL THAT CHRIST DID FOR YOU?
 
 DO YOU LOOK CONSIDER GOOD CHRISTIANS TO BE THOSE WHO DO CERTAIN GOOD DEEDS AND AVOID CERTAIN EVIL DEEDS ?
 
 OR DO YOU CONSIDER GOOD CHRISTIANS THOSE WHO LOOK TO THE CROSS AND GOD'S DEEDS THROUGH IT TO LEAD THEM?  What single truth did Paul seek to stress above all truths?
  1 Corinthians 2:2  For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified.
 PAUL GAVE FRUIT OF LIFE!  Is making one wise regarding good and evil more important that taking away sin?  Its like comparing trimming hedges to chopping down the tree!   The meat that was acceptable was meat whose blood was shed.  We must translate these Old Testament commands of eating and not eating into New Testament, contemporary issues. Since the acceptable meat was meat in which there was no blood, then the acceptable Fruit of life corresponds to necessary SHED BLOOD.
Matthew 26:28  For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.
This statement of Jesus is so fitting because the picture portrays that blood has been shed.   Sandwiched between the references to BELIEVING HIS WORDS in verses 47 and 63 were symbols of that thought.   No wonder Peter said WE BELIEVE.   You must believe this and make it part of your life TO RECEIVE ETERNAL LIFE FROM IT.
 
 To eat meat with blood, with this in mind, spiritually represents people who do not believe they need Jesus.   The serpent tried to get Adam to eat knowledge of good and evil.  Even Christian circles that speak more about what we can do to do good and avoid evil than what the cross has done in supplying God's efforts of salvation is SNAKE FRUIT.
 
 Anything to get the stress off the SHED BLOOD and the CROSS is Satan's desires to kill and destroy you.  To talk only of Jesus doing good and not evil is to stray from the vital part of Jesus' life in shedding His blood.
 Acts 10:38-40  How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him. And we are witnesses of all things which he did both in the land of the Jews, and in Jerusalem; whom they slew and hanged on a tree: Him God raised up the third day, and shewed him openly;
  Peter made sure He spoke of the Gospel of death, burial and resurrection when he referred to Jesus doing good.
 
 To miss the cross is to miss the entire point of Jesus.  Watch your life.  The serpent said...
 Genesis 3:4-5  And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: 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.
  PAUL THE APOSTLE SAID:
 Ephesians 1:17  That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him:  The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places,
  SERPENT: Your eyes shall be opened to know good and evil.
 
 PAUL:  Your eyes shall be opened to know the hope of His calling, and his great power to us according to the power wherewith He raised CHRIST FROM THE DEAD.
 
I want my eyes opened to hope of Christ's calling.
 
I want my eyes open to the power towards me according to the power God used to raise Jesus from the dead.
 
PAUL:
Philippians 3:8  Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord:

Philippians 3:10  That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;

 
 I don't want to know good and evil.  Analyze every sermon you hear. Ask God to fill your soul up with revelations of His work on the cross. Read the Bible to understand more of His work.