Genesis 3:24 KJV  So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.

Genesis 22:7-12 KJV  And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?  (8)  And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together.  (9)  And they came to the place which God had told him of; and Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood.  (10)  And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son.  (11)  And the angel of the LORD called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am I.  (12)  And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me.

1 Chronicles 21:15-17 KJV  (15)  And God sent an angel unto Jerusalem to destroy it: and as he was destroying, the LORD beheld, and he repented him of the evil, and said to the angel that destroyed, It is enough, stay now thine hand. And the angel of the LORD stood by the threshingfloor of Ornan the Jebusite.  (16)  And David lifted up his eyes, and saw the angel of the LORD stand between the earth and the heaven, having a drawn sword in his hand stretched out over Jerusalem. Then David and the elders of Israel, who were clothed in sackcloth, fell upon their faces.  (17)  And David said unto God, Is it not I that commanded the people to be numbered? even I it is that have sinned and done evil indeed; but as for these sheep, what have they done? let thine hand, I pray thee, O LORD my God, be on me, and on my father's house; but not on thy people, that they should be plagued.

Jeremiah 23:29 KJV  Is not my word like as a fire? saith the LORD; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?

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The words of Jesus Christ are said to be sharper than any other two edged sword.

• He was the WORD made flesh.
• His words destroy unbelief in our lives and remove carnality.
• His word CUTS and CUTS until it removes fleshliness from our lives.

When Jesus said we cannot enter the Kingdom by just calling Him LORD LORD, but must DO the will of the Father and HEAR HIS WORDS and DO THEM, He was not talking about dying and going to heaven.

• Think of entering the KINGDOM as ENTERING THE GARDEN.
• Here on earth now.

It makes sense out of scriptures that may not have made sense to us before.

John 14:2-3 KJV  In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.  (3)  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.

John 17:24 KJV  Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world.

Jesus claimed HE WAS IN A PLACE where He wanted the disciples to be.

• They were standing there beside Him, but He was in THE KINGDOM while they were not.
• The KINGDOM is often called the KINGDOM OF HEAVEN.

John 3:12-13 KJV  If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things?  (13)  And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven.

It’s like Jesus told them of a very deep truth that was beyond speaking of being born again, as He explained his words of earthly things like wind, and hearing where it comes from but not knowing where it goes, and they could not get that, then what about HEAVENLY THINGS such as saying HE AT THAT MOMENT was IN THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN?

It’s like Jesus was in the GARDEN KINGDOM all alone, like Adam.

• No one in the world was where he was at!
• In order to have them ENTER THE KINGDOM and BE WITH HIM so He would not be alone, He had to lay down his life.

Genesis 2:18 KJV  And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.

Genesis 2:20-21 KJV  And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him.  (21)  And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof;

Jesus would experience the same thing by dying on the cross.

John 12:23-24 KJV  And Jesus answered them, saying, The hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified.  (24)  Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.


So we are saved by the cross of Jesus.

• But there is still more work for God to do in order to see us ENTER THE KINGDOM and BE WITH HIM there.
• Being born again is not enough.
• You have to be born of water and Spirit to enter the Kingdom, but that is because you need these things to CAUSE A WORK IN YOU that will being an experience that causes you TO ENTER THE KINGDOM – like ENTERING THE GARDEN.
• At that Garden Entrance is the SWORD OF FIRE.
• THE WORDS OF JESUS.
• The thing we must hear and do!
• Peter said we get an abundant entrance into the Kingdom when we add to our FAITH.
• And we become partakers of HIS DIVINE NATURE.

1 John speaks in GENESIS language.

1 John 1:1 KJV  That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life;

And refers to the thing Adam lost from the Garden – fellowship.

1 John 1:3 KJV  That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.

Then LIGHT.

1 John 1:6-7 KJV  If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth:  (7)  But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.



That sword of HIS WORD, removes all the fleshliness from our lives THAT HINDER HIS SPIRIT FROM LIVING FORTH THROUGH US.

The prophecy God gave us last week went like this, basically, “As different it is for people to merely call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and for people to hear my words and do them, it is the difference between merely mimicking me and allowing me to actually live through you.”

• The words Jesus told us to hear and do were words regarding TAKING UP OUR CROSSES AND FOLLOWING HIM.
• The way HIS WORDS are associated with the concept of allowing the Lord to actually live through us is by the fact that THE MESSAGE OF SELF DENIAL of the cross gets the fleshliness out of His way so that He can live out from within our lives.
• God does not just want people to live right for the sake of living right.
• He needs unrighteousness and carnality OUT OF HIS WAY.
• He is within us by His Spirit, and FLESHLINESS CLOGS UP THE PIPELINE OF OUR LIVES and hinder Him from coming forth from within us.

The pictures of both Abraham and David atop Mount Moriah  in Genesis 22 and 1 Chron 21 show something about this.

• Mountains speak of THE KINGDOM.
• Both these men were on top of MOUNT MORIAH.
• And in both instances a sword was shown ready to SLAY, and God commanded the hand holding the sword to STOP – what was already accomplished WAS ENOUGH.

Abraham had so much unbelief removed from his life – actually referred to later as the FATHER OF THE FAITHFUL – that he believed God would raise Isaac from the dead if he killed him since God said Isaac would be the beginning of many nations.

• When God saw that actually manifest physically until ABRAHAM RAISED THE KNIFE TO PLUNGE IT INTO ISAAC, He said, “STOP!  HOLD THE KNIFE!  IT IS ENOUGH!”

God said, “for now I know that thou fearest God.”

• “NOW I KNOW.”
• Does this not remind us of these words:

Matthew 7:23 KJV  And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

I NEVER KNEW…
NOW I KNOW….

It’s as though THIS ACT OF FAITH that PROVES we HEAR HIS WORDS AND DO THEM moves God to speak to the SWORD of fire at the Garden entrance TO STOP ITS WORK.

• IT IS ENOUGH!
• ENOUGH work has been done by the sword.
• Enough cutting has occurred.
• FLESHLINESS HAS BEEN CUT AND REMOVED BY THE WORD.
• This person CAN NOW ENTER THE KINGDOM GARDEN!

David had sinned by falling to satan’s temptation to number Israel without considering the atonement ½ shekel required.

• We taught how David was COUNTING ON THE FLESH, so to speak, in wanting to know how much natural man-power he had in case of war.
• The truth is it does not matter how much natural man-power we lack, for it is not by might nor by power, but by God’s Spirit that we will overcome, anyway!
• David neglected ATONEMENT sacrifice for ½ shekel for every person he counted, since atonement implies WE ARE NOTHING WITHOUT PROVISION OF SACRIFICE for us poor nothings, and David was far from thinking about RELIANCE ON GOD through sacrifice in his fleshly efforts to COUNT ON THE FLESH.

But when David realized that thousands had already died due to his sin, and he saw the angel holding a sword in his hand as though to swing it and cause plague to slay the entire city of Jerusalem, DAVID GRASPED THE CONCEPT OF ATONEMENT SACRIFICE he shirked in his former carnality.

• DAVID OFFERED HIMSELF TO DIE.
• We see sacrifice FOCUSED upon in both Abraham’s offering of Isaac, and David’s offering of himself instead of the people of Jerusalem.
• And BOTH THESE EVENTS involved GOD STOPPING A SWORD FROM CUTTING ANY MORE.
• It was as though two men were being cut in their hearts by the flaming sword of the word of Jesus Christ.
• And it had accomplished enough removal of fleshliness, that they were bereft of whatever hindrance former fleshliness had caused.
• And IT WAS ENOUGH    !
• Stop, Sword!
• IT IS ENOUGH!

The work of the CROSS is the TRUTH that the FLAMING SWORD represents.

• The message to deny self and follow Christ.
• Remove carnality.
• The sword cuts and removes fleshliness when you hear preaching to stop thinking of your natural power to deal with life’s problems, and to instead believe God to move on your behalf, and you BELIEVE IT AND OBEY IT.
• It cuts when you are preached to not lie and commit sins behind the scenes, and you ask God to forgive you and you trust in His Spirit to give you strength to live righteously!
• And when enough of that sort of cutting has occurred, where you hear the word of self denial and the cross, and you believe it and obey it, that YOU FINALLY ENTER THE KINGDOM LIFE!
• YOU FULLY TRUST GOD NOW.
• No wavering.
• And God says IT IS ENOUGH!

Luke 23:46 KJV  And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus, he gave up the ghost.

When Jesus died on the cross, He hollered, commending his spirit into His Father’s hands.

• He fully let go at that point.
• To commend something into someone’s hands is to trust them so much that you give them what is most precious.
• Jesus commended HIS VERY SPIRIT!
• He already cried about why His God had forsaken Him.
• Before that, He cried in the Garden about letting this cup of the cross pass from him if possible.
• But here he FINALLY gives His very SPIRIT into the Father’s hands, and AT THAT MOMENT, HE DIES!
• His natural life was gone!

Three days later THE SUPERNATURAL LIFE of GOD resurrected that dead body whose natural life was spent and gone.

When we COMMEND OUR SPIRITS INTO HIS HANDS, we fully and finally DIE TO SELF.

• This is not dying IN SOME AREAS to self.
• IT IS FULLY DYING TO SELF in all the areas that we must die in.
• AND WE ENTER.
• Did not Jesus tell the thief on the cross…

Luke 23:42-43 KJV  And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom.  (43)  And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise.

THE KINGDOM IS PARADISE, and PARADISE IS EDEN.

• Did you know that EDEN literally means PARADISE?
• PARADISE is specifically AN EDEN according to Strong’s Greek Lexicon.
• So when we fully deny self, we have heard His words and DONE THEM… we have let the sword cut.
• AND WE ENTER THE KINGDOM!

It was ON MOUNT MORIAH that Solomon later built the temple.

• On the very mountain where ABRAHAM and DAVID, the very two men mentioned in the first verse of the New Testament whose sons were JESUS CHRIST.

Matthew 1:1 KJV  The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.

Not only were SWORDS STAYED at the command of God on that mountain with these two men, but ABRAHAM AND DAVID each built an ALTAR for sacrifice there.

UPON THIS ROCK WILL I BUILD MY CHURCH, AND THE GATES OF THE GRAVE WILL NOT BE ABLE TO PREVAIL AGAINST IT!

The altar speaks of sacrifice.

• Jesus was sacrificed on the altar of the cross.

AND AS THOUGH GOD TOLD THE HANDLERS OF THE SWORD TO STOP, IT IS ENOUGH, Jesus died crying:

John 19:30 KJV  When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.

When we die to self, THE SWORD STOPS!

• IT IS ENOUGH!
• IT IS FINISHED!
• The necessary work is done.