Wednesday, October 1, 2025 PM

Join me in prayer. God, we thank you so much that we all get to come together and enjoy each other's fellowship and company, encouragement that we get from being here. I thank you for the gifts that you've given to each person here, how you have created us in your image, and yet we are all varied in our skills and our concerns.

And I thank you that we have unity in you. I pray that as we go to your word, that your spirit would illuminate it, and that you would apply it to our lives, and that we would live it out each day, finding opportunities to give you glory, to have your glory spread throughout our nations and other nations.

Help us to find people that are in darkness and do not know you, who are in misery and suffering, living in this world without your covering. We ask that we would be able to find those people and preach to them, and they would hear the shepherd's voice as you call to them.

We thank you for these opportunities. We thank you for this church. We thank you for TAG, and ask that you would be with the teachers there and with the students. And again, we thank you for your presence in our lives.

In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. All right, we're continuing our study in Psalm 1. So if you'll open to Psalm 1. Excuse me. Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful, but his delight is in the law of the Lord.

And in his law he meditates day and night. He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither, and whatever he does shall prosper.

The ungodly are not so, but are like the chaff which the wind drives away. Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous, for the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the ungodly shall perish.

As we were speaking the last time we talked, we left off in verse 3 leading into verse 4, speaking about the trees and some of the ways that the Bible uses that word, starting in the garden and talking about Israel as a tree or as a vine, and ultimately leading up to Jesus Christ who is the tree.

That the ax was laid at the root of the tree of Israel, and out of that stump grows salvation. A root of Jesse grows forth, and this is Jesus Christ. Just as two trees were set before Adam in the garden, one unto life another unto death, two covenants were set before the early church.

A covenant of knowledge of good and evil, a collection of laws to be kept, but which leads to death, or the tree of life living and breathing in their midst. Isaiah 28 18 talks about this. This is from the Old Testament.

It says, your covenant with death will be dissolved, and your agreement with Sheol will not stand. When the overwhelming scourge passes through, you will be trampled by it. It calls this a covenant of death.

How does the New Testament describe it? We'll start in Hebrews. I've asked Josh to read from Hebrews chapter 8, starting in verse 6. So we see here that Jesus has a more excellent ministry. He says that it's a better ministry.

There are better promises, and that fault was found with the first one. And so a second one was made, a new covenant, and it says that he found fault with the people of that old covenant. And so he declares that he would make a new covenant.

I've asked David to read 2 Corinthians chapter 3 verses 6 through 9. In there it says, the ministry of death engraved in stone. It says the letter kills, but the spirit brings life. So set before them, just like with Adam, there were two covenants, one leading to death, one leading to life.

The tree of the old covenant was not bearing fruit. And so Jesus says to them, the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation bearing the fruits of it. Israel was the nation that was not bearing fruits.

And he says, it'll be taken from you and given to a nation that will bear fruit. It's clear that the nations are described as various plants. Sometimes it uses the word tree. Sometimes it uses the word vine.

But what holy nation is Jesus talking about here? What is this nation that produces fruits? Is it America? Is it a new Jerusalem in geographical Israel? What is Jesus talking about? Well, I think Peter gives us clarity.

1 Peter chapter 2, starting in verse 9, he says this, but you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, his own special people that you may proclaim the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light, who once were not a people, but are now the people of God who had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.

These are the people that are in Christ Jesus. He calls us his own special people. It says we are a royal priesthood, a holy nation. This is not a geographical nation that has lines on a map that we can define.

This is a spiritual nation. We are in Christ Jesus as a nation, and it says that we will bear fruit. I find it interesting that when it talks about the Holy Spirit, we're told to bear fruits of the Spirit.

We bear those fruit. We have the Holy Spirit within us who guides us and leads us, and we bear the fruit of the Spirit. So we have in the New Testament, we have one tree that is withering and not producing fruit, and then we have Christ and who says that we will bear fruit in him.

If you'll turn to Revelation chapter 22, in the previous chapter, Revelation 21, it tells us the Bride of the Lamb. It says, behold, and look, the Bride of the Lamb, and we know the Bride to be the church, right?

The church is the Bride of Christ. The Bride of the Lamb is also described as New Jerusalem, the New Jerusalem. And in Revelation 22, we get further insight into what this New Jerusalem looks like, starting in verse 1.

And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the middle of its street, and on either side of the river, was the tree of life, which bore twelve fruits, each tree yielding its fruit every month.

The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations, and there shall be no more curse, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and his servants shall serve him. They shall see his face, and his name shall be on their foreheads.

Therefore, there shall be no night there, they need no lamp nor light of the sun, for the Lord God gives them light, and they shall reign with him forever and ever. This is a description of New Jerusalem.

We've got the river of the water of life flowing from the throne of God, and it says the throne of God and of the Lamb. This is an interesting description, which seems to be that of the Holy Spirit pouring forth from the throne, God and the Lamb, the Spirit of Christ.

And then it says in the middle of the street, on either side of the river, was the tree of life. There it's singular, tree of life. But if you keep reading, it says it in the plural, the tree of life which bore twelve fruits, each tree yielding its fruit every month.

And the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. I want you to hold that in mind. And then it also says they need no lamp nor light of the sun, for the Lord God gives them light. This is an interesting description.

A couple of weeks ago, I read from Jeremiah 17, and I'll read this and see if you can notice any similarities. This is Jeremiah 17 verse 7. Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord and whose hope is in the Lord, for he shall be like a tree planted by waters, which spreads out its roots by the river, and will not fear when heat comes.

But its leaf will be green and will not be anxious in the year of drought, nor will it cease from yielding fruit. This is the same type of description from Jeremiah, who first describes the cursed man that trusts in his own strength, and then he talks about the blessed man.

Same blessed man as we're talking about in Psalm 1. Blessed is the man who does not walk in the way and do all these things, but the blessed man is like a tree. And we get these descriptions of what this tree is like by the river, who puts out its roots and will not fear when the heat comes.

Throughout scripture, man is seen as toiling away, languishing in the withering heat of the sun. This is often a description of man's condition without God. Just being without God, it's toil under the heat of the sun.

It's also used at times as the judgment of God, that he brings this heat, brings this judgment. And so one parable you can think of is the parable of the soil. When the seeds are scattered about, sometimes the birds come and take the seed, sometimes other weeds come up and choke it, and in the parable, the sun's rays beat down on it and it withers and it dies.

So we think of that. Do you remember the story of Jonah? The story of Jonah. If you'll go ahead and turn there, Jonah chapter 4. Jonah was sent to Nineveh, which was a foreign nation, to bring reconciliation between them, the nation of Nineveh, and God.

They were far from God. They were in rebellion of God. They did not know God's ways. They were ignorant of it. And he was sent there, but he did not want them to go because he knew if they repented, that God would relent his judgment.

It's interesting in chapter 4, we get this description, chapter 4. But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry. And he prayed to the Lord and said, Oh Lord, is this not what I said when I was yet in my country?

This is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish, for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and relenting from disaster. Therefore now, oh Lord, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.

And the Lord said, Do you do well to be angry? Verse 5. Jonah went out of the city and sat in the east city and made a booth or shelter for himself there. He sat under it in the shade till he should see what would become of the city.

So he's still waiting for judgment to see what would become of the city. Now, the Lord God appointed a plant and made it come up over Jonah that it might shade over his head to save him from his discomfort or to save him from his misery.

So Jonah was exceedingly glad because of the plant. But when dawn came up the next day, God appointed a worm that attacked the plant so that it withered. When the sun arose, God appointed a scorching east wind and the sun beat down on the head of Jonah so that he was faint.

And he asked that he might die and said, It is better for me to die than to live. But God said to Jonah, Do you do well to be angry for the plant? And he said, Yes, I do well to be angry, angry enough to die.

And the Lord said, You pity the plant for which you did not labor, nor did you make it grow, which came into being in a night and perished in a night. And should I not pity Nineveh, that great city in which there are now more than 120 ,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left and also much cattle?

Jonah had more pity for this plant, which withered and died in the sun. It provided shade for Jonah, which he was grateful for. He was glad for the respite from the heat of the sun. And he cares more about that plant than the plant that God is saying is the nation of Nineveh.

It's withering in the sun. Should I not have pity on it and give it shade? It's interesting in Revelation 22, where we read the leaves are for the healing of the nations, the plants that grow by the river, the tree of life, it describes as his servants.

We go with the gospel of life. We go to nations that are withering and dying in the sun. And we bring shade. We bring life to those countries. I think of all the stuff that we're going through in our nation.

Nation versus nation. We as God's people are called a holy nation. And it's the leaves of the tree of life that bring healing to the nations. We have the Holy Spirit. In Christ, we are the blessed man from Psalm 1.

It's in Christ. We are planted by the flowing river of the Holy Spirit and produce fruit. It is by being grafted into Christ that the nations are healed. The fruit we produce, if you think about the fruit of the Holy Spirit, love, joy, peace, patience, those are for the healing of the nations.

All of those fruits are well equipped for healing the nations. And the shade that we provide by our leaves, whether it's our suffering, whether it's our forbearance on the people around us, is how Christ heals the nations.

And you are a part of that. You are described as those trees because we are grafted in to the tree of life. I think about all of the turmoil that's going on in the world, the things that are happening.

Nation versus nation, we hear about it all the time. You see flags being flown for all these different nations. And it's like our nation versus their nation. But what is our primary concern? Our primary concern should be for the glory of God, for our nation.

We are a royal priesthood, a holy nation. We've been given a task to heal the nations, to go into all the world and to make disciples, teaching them to obey all that God's commanded. That's our job. That's our role.

I'm not saying that we shouldn't have policies or we shouldn't talk to lawmakers about the things that are happening in the world on a strictly geographic nature. This nation, that nation, border, all of that.

Yes, absolutely. But as Christians, we can't get caught up in that where we lose focus. There's work to be done. And we don't want to be like Jonah, who folded his arms and said, let judgment come on these people.

I don't care. You're sending me, but if I preach to them, they might repent. And I don't want that. We don't want to be in that position. We want to have pity on the nations around us, that God would shelter them and cover them and that they would come to the mountain of God, that they would come to Zion, come to Christ and be part of our family.

No longer enemies, but brothers and sisters in Christ. And so it's my hope that as we look for those opportunities in the world, yes, we are here in the United States of America, but we are part of another nation and we would look for those opportunities to fly that flag and say, I am a Christian and I want you to be a Christian too.

Would you join me in prayer? God, I thank you for your grace and mercy. I thank you for your covering that this task is too much for our feeble hands, too much for our hearts and our minds, but you strengthen and equip us.

You give us your spirit, Lord, that we can speak the words of life and we know that they do not return void, that you are doing the work. So we give you all the glory and we do pray for those opportunities.

Lord, we can bear much in our lives and trying to fix the things and all the things going wrong, but help us not be distracted that we could lose all of that and we get to be with you. And there are people who are toiling under the sun without you and without hope.

So I pray that we would hold onto that hope and tell others about it so they would no longer toil needlessly, but that they would bear fruit also. And it's in Jesus' name that we pray. Amen.