Chapter 7

The Lost Key

CHAPTER SEVEN

THE TREE OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOOD AND EVIL!
Strange as it may seem Man goes everywhere to deal with his troubles except at the source or the place where things went wrong! What motorist with a puncture in his back wheel would pull the plugs out to rectify his troubles? Who seeks the dentist when he has sprained his ankle? On the greatest issues of life how many there are who go anywhere and everywhere but the spot where things went wrong! The law of cause and effect is certain and relentless - more certain is a fly of stopping a steam roller in its track than of my defeating this inexorable law! In the beginning God gave man ONE command and ONE only. THAT COMMANDMENT HAS NEVER BEEN RESCINDED! The first commandment is still the first commandment! Notice it is the tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil NOT trees! One tree produces two fruits and it is not the fruit of the knowledge of evil that is forbidden to man but the tree of the knowledge of GOOD and the knowledge of EVIL.

What does this mean? It means that from the beginning THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOOD was forbidden to man! Out of my knowledge of good comes my knowledge of evil! If I don't know the first I cannot know the second! Therefore if I do not eat of the tree, I do not know and if I do not know I cannot judge. Jesus says "Judge not that ye be not judged" Matt. 7:1. If I refuse to eat this produces a situation of helplessness that Jesus declared - "I can of my own self do nothing; and so I must hear to judge (John 5:30) Not eat to judge but hear to judge! Matt. 4:4. Jesus declared that man should live by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God! This is the vital difference between the sons and the slaves! The sons of God and the slaves of Satan! As many as are led of the Spirit they are the Sons of God. (Roms. 8:14) They wax strong in spirit as they are led and they are led as they listen! Not as they eat! The slaves listen to their master Satan and as they eat of the Tree are tied to it in bondage!

This eating of the forbidden fruit is not an enlargement of the small boys escapade of scrumping apples in the farmer's field - no, this tree is INSIDE YOU! Every time man eats of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and from that knowledge pronounces a judgment he breaks the first commandment of God and partakes of death! I see WHAT you do, but do not know what your motive is, hence I cannot judge you! - I do not know WHY you do it! From the moment that I know what is good I presume that I know what is evil - it has an attendant twin! This is the seat of man's glory and the enemy of the glory of God! You will find this is the launching platform of ALL your troubles! Deal with this you deal with the lot! You have now found the LOST KEY! The Greater includes the lesser! No need to keep the ten commandments. Keep the first and you will keep the ten! Satan said (Gen. 3:5) "Yea shall be as gods to know good and evil!" The Lord Jesus, God's perfect man, the pattern for us declared - "I can of My own self do nothing - as I hear I judge!" He judged as He heard NOT as He ate!" Unless His Father spoke to Him - He did not know because He had never eaten of the Tree! He shall not judge after the sight of His eyes nor after the hearing of His ears!" (Is. 11:3).

This is the way the other sons must live; as many as are led by the Spirit of God - they are the sons Roms. 8:14. Spirit guidance or guidance by the Spirit will come only to that man who refuses to eat of the Tree - God's first command - Thou shalt NOT eat of it! The greater includes the lesser - if you keep the first commandment you will automatically keep the ten - ALL have sinned and come SHORT OF THE GLORY OF GOD! (Roms. 3:23) The man who learns to stay still will move quickest when the Spirit prompts. Man's pride is always born out of what he knows - his exaltation out of what he thinks is good.

When tremblingly Adam said to his Maker - I was naked and I hid myself - the Lord said to him "Who told thee? Who told thee thou wast naked?" WHERE DID YOU GET YOUR INFORMATION FROM? Hast thou eaten of the Tree? When a man goes the devil's way and eats of the Tree, he will know what is TRUE but never the TRUTH! He is deceived because he accepts what is true in the place of the truth. His knowledge of good becomes the enemy of God even as the good, and not the worst, is the enemy of the best. To illustrate - Many of my friends have heard me say "All the time I stopped at such and such a house, they have never given me a cup of tea!" This is true, and, of course, makes them appear very inhospitable, but - the TRUTH is I do not drink tea! I am given to understand that, because of the superiority of the enemy ships Nelson was ordered to retreat - he put the telescope to his blind eye and declared "I see no ships".

He wasn't likely to - true but not the truth! He could have done so if he had wanted to! There is no deception in truth but men will lie with what is TRUE and use it to conceal the truth! We are two hours late because (the truth), we were lazy and laid in bed too long, so we explain our late arrival by the fact we had a puncture on the road (which is true) - the TRUTH however was we changed the wheel in less than ten minutes! I knew of a woman who every night would say "I'm just taking pinky for a walk" (Pinky was the pet poodle). Her husband would grunt from the depths of the evening paper or television - the door would shut and she was gone! This was TRUE! She did take Pinky for a walk but she used what was true to hide the truth. She was meeting another man every night! All men do this, you have done it, I have done it, the devil does it! Only deceivers are deceived!

If there is one thing worse than bad eggs labeled bad eggs it is bad eggs labeled good eggs! Whilst the devil abode not in the truth he is quite "AT HOME" in juggling with what is true. Even the WORD OF GOD can be handled deceitfully! The old old excuse of the husband who is kept late at the office - fortunately for him his wife can only hear him over the phone and not see him. "Sorry dear, my hands are so full with things at the office, I won't be home until eight!" His hands are full all right - coffee and biscuits, his arms around the typist, as he sits nursing her! The pressure (?) of business has got him down! The erstwhile salesman - "Yes madam - this is definitely the last one!" It is - until he opens another box! So true - but not the truth! Like the shopkeeper with the box on the counter marked "FOR THE BLIND". When it was filled, he bought himself a new sunblind! Well, so what? Maybe we know something about these things on the basis that the old huntsman knows the crack of the whip! One thing is definite (Ps. 51) "Thou requirest TRUTH in the inward parts! "

The Truth will never magnify man because it is not the glory of man, but the glory of God! In our search for the lost key, we need to go to the garden because it was lost in the garden. Only where man lost it will he find it! Once man made a choice to know, Satan was there to supply him with all the information, and apparently true information to feed his reason not his soul. "Ye shall not surely die! - ye shall be AS gods."

This was true - Adam went on living - after he took of the Tree - physically! However the truth is, that in the day, IN THAT DAY, Adam died to God in his soul, and like his descendants ever since was dead while he lived! That is why I must be BORN AGAIN because in Adam all die - (Ephes. 2) "dead in trespass and in sins!"

Everything the Devil offers is a clever counterfeit of the real. TRUE but not TRUTH!! He is a bluffer, a forger, a counterfeiter - the father of lies, and a liar from the beginning - his stock-in-trade - mirages, masks, colored bubbles that burst when grasped, snares, traps, dummies, camouflage, delusions, imaginations, ambushes and in a nutshell, anything that is not real, you name it, Satan has got it - plus, of course, darkness; he cannot operate in the light!

PRIDE IS ALWAYS BUILT ON A LIE! Man will never know dominion except in the realm where he lost it - the other side of the TREE!

The Holy Spirit alone, will guide into all TRUTH (revelation). I remember, years ago, being lost in a maze, I think it was Hampton Court Palace, and how the man in the box, high up, pointed the way! Because God will not give His glory to another, He drove man out of the garden (Gen. 3:22) lest he eat of the Tree of Life, and placed a flaming sword that turned every way to keep the way! Ever since, man has been deliberately confused and confounded like someone seeking the way and confronted with a signpost that swings aimlessly any way the wind blows. Do you understand what this means? Only by God's Holy Spirit sent to guide me into ALL TRUTH can I ever find my way back into dominion in the Garden.

No one will ever climb up, some other way! Jesus said "I thank Thee Father that Thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and revealed them unto babes, even so, (amen) for so it seemed GOOD IN THY SIGHT" Thine is the Glory! God is now working to bring some back into the garden, to dominion, to the measure of the STATURE OF THE FULNESS OF CHRIST! (Ephes. 4) As big as Jesus! To be conformed to the image of the Son (Rom. 8:29) that He (Jesus) might be the firstborn of MANY brethren! He SHALL see of the travail of His soul and be satisfied.

Greater works than these shall YE DO! Oh dear reader, do you see it? Has God's Holy Spirit shown you the lost key? Has the eternal plan been revealed to you? Do you see it? If not humble yourself NOW and ask God to reveal it - the words are in this little book but only the mighty Spirit of God can quicken and impart revelation - I cannot! Only in the life where "Thine is the Glory" is wrought in, will this work be done and dominion will be given. They said of Jesus - What MANNER of Man is this? (Luke 8:25). Even the wind and the waves obeyed Him. God's plan will never be fulfilled until even greater works are done in the second body of Jesus Christ which is His Church, or "called out ones," of which ye are members in particular.

This will bring even greater glory to His great Name! If you are the father of a little boy; you love him, care for him, feed him, correct him and do everything to bring him to maturity, to the fulness of manhood.

It may be expedient for you to leave him, that you might go to work, to provide the money to make this possible - many parents have sacrificed much for their children - until the day when they reach fulness - I myself have three sons who are bigger than I am. Jesus has declared "Greater works than these shall ye do!" So some must attain to the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ - have WE begun yet? It is recorded of Jesus that - "He waxed strong in Spirit". "As many as are LED of the Spirit - they are the Sons of God!" Are you? Am I? It is the Spirit that quickeneth! NOT by might, nor by power but BY MY SPIRIT saith the Lord' (Zech, 4:6)

You cannot ride to Australia on a bicycle but in another realm you may soar above earth and sea and arrive.

The Greater works and the fulness of Christ are ONLY possible in the realm of the Spirit! Not in the flesh realm! Not in the soul realm! You are equipped for this flight! God has given you a Spirit! Also, He has given you a pilot, to guide you into ALL truth. He will show you how the "joy stick" operates and all the other "controls".

I heard a brother the other week describe a flight he had taken over the Himalayan mountains - the pilot announced "You are now looking down at the highest point in the world - the top of mount Everest!" He said it was with a strange awe that he gazed down upon the grim rock that reared its head defiantly up from the midst of snowy slopes and musing upon the many lives that had been lost and endangered as they sought and fought to conquer this peak of all peaks he considered in contrast the ease and comfort with which he looked down upon what other men had struggled to climb up to! Is this not a parable? The strivings of the flesh or the conflicts of the soul can never produce or attain to this God-like realm of the Spirit where nothing is impossible.

Your mountains and valleys will cease to be - get airborne!

So much for the blue-print - the vision, now for the practical application. We have window gazed long enough at every shop - now to buy the truth - to spend our money! What does it cost? Get your purse out! No man can go the way of the Spirit without humbling or submitting to the Spirit! He is the Spirit of Truth! The essence of reality. How can two walk together except they be agreed? Whatever is sham, vanity, unreality, playing to the gallery, living to man, etc., etc., must go. You do not ask God to deliver you from your pride - you HUMBLE YOURSELF!! (1 Pet. 5:5) Admitted, it is under the Mighty Hand but you do it! Go to it! God will show you the counter where you buy the TRUTH (no good attempting to buy a cauliflower at the Drapers) With what do I buy?

Pride, man's glory, is a lie, if you are going the Spirit's Way you will have to pay for it with your pride! In other words - humbling is a way of life! God's glory comes in as yours goes out! You bow and humble TO GOD but before MAN!

THIS IS THE LOST KEY

In every situation in life you will either exalt yourself as you eat of the forbidden tree of the Knowledge of Good (and automatically of Evil) and thus become your own God (knowledge puffeth up) from thence will spring your judgments or - if you choose to humble yourself and refuse to eat of the forbidden TREE and consequently be in a place where you don't know - and hence cannot judge. You are now, in the eyes of the natural man reduced to ridiculous helplessness - "I don't know!" Thus, you are now in a place where you MUST have a proceeding word from the mouth of God (Matt. 4:4) and the Spirit will ultimately lead you, past the flaming Sword back into the Garden, back into Dominion, back to the original purpose of God. THIS MAN must operate as THAT MAN operates! May I repeat MUST not May. Christ was the only man who ever lived normally - live normally - the miracle of yesterday becomes the common - place of today - how? By an increase of revelation! Henry VIII's eyes would have nearly popped at a T.V. set - but not the child of today - he takes it as a matter of course! The miraculous will be the normal course for the Sons! Listen to the Son of God (John 5:30) Amplified N.T.: I am able to do nothing from Myself (my "self" independently - of My Own accord) - but as I am taught by God and as I get His orders. I decide as I am bidden to decide - as the Voice comes to Me so I give a decision.

Even as I hear I judge and my judgment is right because I do not seek My own will. I have no desire to do what is pleasing to My "Self" but ONLY the will and pleasure of the Father who sent Me! " Because He did not eat He did not know and therefore could only decide as He was BIDDEN TO DECIDE! Do you see this? As the Voice comes to Me so I give a decision! May I reverently say in closing this is the way the Son of God ticks! So must the other sons.

Thus THINE IS THE GLORY is safe in the heart that is yoked to Jesus - He says TAKE My yoke! This is the lost key!

THE END

If you are further interested, write the author:

Arthur W. Burt
Bron Wendon
Conway Road
Penmaenmawr
Gwynedd, N. Wales LL346BB
U.K.
Haggai 2:9
2 Chronicles 32:25.

A HOUSE FOR THE GLORY OF GOD!
(INCIDENTALLY, TO MEET MAN'S NEED)
"I was a stranger and ye took me in!"
Business men will invest their money where there are prospects of rich dividends for their capital! God will invest His Grace in human lives where there will be DIVIDENDS TO THE GLORY OF HIS GREAT NAME! We are stewards of this Grace which came WITH Truth by Jesus Christ (John 1:17).
Christ is the Answer to every problem of our sin sick civilization.

Read-1 Samuel 22:1-2. - Luke 10:30. - Joel 2:25.