[0:00] Good morning. A blessed new year to each and every one of you. Welcome here this morning as we start the new year in worship and gathering as the Lord's Church.
[0:20] How many of us took time to reflect and look back on 2024?
[0:37] Seen a number of hands go up. It's good for us to do that occasionally. Not to dwell on it, but to reflect.
[0:49] And to look back and just recognizing, was God present?
[1:02] Was He faithful? Was there evidence of Him in my life during this past year?
[1:13] You know, sometimes when we look back, depending what our year was like, we may have experienced sorrow, losing a loved one.
[1:27] We may have experienced financial hardship, stress. There's many different scenarios of what we go through.
[1:44] Maybe we look back and I feel like I failed. Or I didn't live up to what I wanted to. But we have to move on.
[2:04] And so we're in 2025 today. What are we going to reflect on in a year from now? What's going to be the memories that will flood our minds or our hearts?
[2:23] And the answer is we don't know what's in store. You know, I can remember as an 11-year-old, I had given my heart to the Lord.
[2:37] And as an innocent 11-year-old, I was full of zeal and I would start my day by reading the Bible.
[2:50] And often I can remember clearly I would pray, Lord, let this day be without any trouble. Let this day be perfect.
[3:01] And whenever I prayed that prayer, guess what happened? Things did not go so well. You know, the prayer was selfish.
[3:17] And not wanting any trouble. And allowing that day to be perfect. Yet the Lord started to teach me, even at that age, right away, that things will go wrong.
[3:31] Because we live under the curse, but He is there to see us through. And that's a lesson that He teaches each and every one of us.
[3:45] That He is present. So if you look back and you have regrets, purpose in the Lord's strength to do better.
[3:59] Purpose and do. And, you know, as we reflect what makes for victorious living for God, I think John the Baptist summed it up very well.
[4:20] When he said, He must increase, I must decrease. And to walk with the Lord means this guy's got to go.
[4:32] And so, my selfishness has to diminish for the Lord to take over my life. And so I think in very short summary, that kind of describes walking in the Spirit.
[4:49] He must increase, I must decrease. May the Lord bless you as we just share some thoughts on that. And it is good for us to purpose things in the Lord and commit it to Him.
[5:07] Whether it's your Bible reading program, your prayer life, or conquering, overcoming, being victorious over sin that you're struggling with.
[5:20] Purpose and turn to the Lord with it. And to purpose in myself is setting myself up for failure. But to go to the Lord with it.
[5:33] And say, in your strength, with your help, I desire to do this. And that is a key to victory. We're in the last chapter of the book.
[5:51] Revelations chapter 22. Thank you, Frank, for reading the passage for us. We had ended up the last message in the old year, out of chapter 21, where John is introduced or sees the new heavens, the new earth, and the new city or the heavenly city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of the new heavens upon the new earth.
[6:23] And then we have a fairly vivid description of this city, of this eternal city, in its size and makeup.
[6:35] describing the glory of God as he has designed this everlasting city. And so we left it with that.
[6:47] In chapter 22, John continues. And the same angel that showed him the new heavens, the new earth, and the new city, now shows him some more details.
[7:01] And it's one of the seven angels that had the seven last plagues. And so verse 1 says, And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb.
[7:23] In the middle of its street and 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.
[7:40] We'll stop and just ponder on these two verses. When we look at this book as a whole, what's missing from Genesis chapter 3 to Revelations chapter 22?
[8:00] The Garden of Eden?
[8:12] The Garden of Eden? Okay. Yes. And more specifically, you're on the right track. The tree of life. The tree of life is not mentioned again until Revelations chapter 22.
[8:28] And so the message titled this morning is The Tree of Life. As we look at what is God doing, what has He been doing? It's the tree of life and secondly, God's presence with us.
[8:49] And that's what we look forward to is the presence of God and the tree of life. So as John the Apostle sees this new vision, it describes a pure river of water, the water of life.
[9:08] The water of life flowing or proceeding from the throne of God and the Lamb. Now in chapter 21, we were told there was no temple there.
[9:22] So this heaven, the new Jerusalem, will not have a temple. For it says, the Lord God is the temple.
[9:34] And so here, out of the throne of God, flows a pure river of water, the water of life, described as clear as crystal.
[9:49] And it's proceeding from the throne. And so it's, we have the river of life and the tree of life mentioned in two consecutive verses here.
[10:02] And so we want to just look at this life that is mentioned here. Now, the living waters, the waters of life, are mentioned in scriptures in several places.
[10:20] And in Ezekiel, now I won't turn there, 47, the first half of the chapter, it describes living waters flowing out of Jerusalem.
[10:33] Jerusalem. It's a description of the thousand-year reign, the millennium. And it describes how the Dead Sea will be transformed into life.
[10:47] And it will be, become living. Zechariah 14 describes the same, as that prophet also describes, when Jesus returns to reign on earth, the amount of olives will be split and a river of water will flow out of Jerusalem down to the Dead Sea.
[11:11] Living waters. And yet, these waters are not to be confused with chapter 22 of Revelations, where we have a stream of water flowing directly from the throne of God.
[11:28] So I believe the millennial streams described by the prophets prophesy or are a picture of what's to come.
[11:40] The life-giving water. And, but probably more specific, when Jesus, in John chapter 7, I want to turn there.
[11:55] Let's turn our Bibles to John chapter 7. And verse 37.
[12:15] John 7, 37. On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink.
[12:36] He who believes in me, as the Scriptures has said, out of his heart will flow rivers rivers of living water. What are, what are the, the rivers of living water referred to here?
[12:54] The Spirit? And what does it represent? What does it equal? Eternal life.
[13:08] Thank you, thank you, Abe. That's, it is eternal life represented by the living waters. And, and so, Jesus says, he who believes, out of him shall flow rivers of living water.
[13:24] There is life from within that flows out from our lives as we turn our hearts to Jesus Christ and we believe. and so, Jesus prepared, or he prepared us for salvation by, by making this prophecy about himself and, and as he died on the cross for us and as we put our faith in God's substitutionary sacrifice, this promise holds true.
[13:59] And, we may call it the new birth, being born again, being regenerated. These are all terms of what has happened. But, rivers of living water flowing out of us as we are a new creation and we now have eternal life.
[14:19] And so, that is, that is a reference here in, in, in, uh, John chapter 7, referring, or probably looking ahead to Revelations 22.
[14:31] 2. And then, and then in, in verse 2, the tree of life, in the middle of its street, on either side of the river was the tree of life which bore twelve fruits.
[14:45] So, now we have, again, the tree of life mentioned, which, uh, which grows up and it says it's on both sides of the street or of the river, yielding its, uh, fruit, uh, twelve fruits.
[15:02] And also, that the leaves were for the healing of the nations, which will bring, uh, some questions. But, uh, the tree of life mentioned in Genesis chapter 2 and, and, uh, I think it'd be good for us to turn there.
[15:20] Let's just go back to the beginning. Genesis chapter 2. And we'll read verses 8 and 9.
[15:47] Genesis 2, verse 8. The Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden and there he put the man whom he had formed. And out of the ground the Lord God made every tree grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food.
[16:06] The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. So, so we're told here after creation God planted a garden eastward in Eden and, uh, and he made all the trees and the shrubs and everything come out, come up.
[16:28] But then he planted two specific trees in the midst of the garden. And, and these two trees have an impact, a spiritual impact on his creation, on humanity.
[16:42] and, uh, and he, and he describes further the garden of the rivers that flow out and so on. Um, jumping down to verse 15.
[16:54] And then the Lord God took the man, put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man saying, of every tree of the garden you may freely eat, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in that day you eat of it you shall surely die.
[17:18] Now we know that, that, uh, this command was broken, but God, God put a test before his creation, a test of obedience.
[17:37] And there's two trees, one is forbidden and the other one is not forbidden, not even mentioned, uh, anything about it. And, uh, and so the tree of life, eternal life, to live forever, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, if you eat thereof you will die.
[18:00] and history and our very own life tells us what happened. Adam and Eve disobeyed, they ate of the forbidden tree, they died spiritually and eventually physically, and me and you struggle this very day with the consequences of the curse that has come upon mankind.
[18:38] As man chose to put his attention on what was forbidden. And, uh, and then in God's grace and mercy, as we look at chapter 3, verse 22 of Genesis, chapter 3, verse 22, and then the Lord God said, Behold, the man has become like one of us to know good and evil, and now, lest he put out his hand and also take of the tree of life and eat and live forever, therefore, the Lord God sent him out of the garden of Eden to till the ground from which he was taken.
[19:24] So the implication is, if God had not chased out and protected the tree of life, sinful man would have potentially eaten of that tree and lived in eternity in their sinful state.
[19:47] And God, in his mercy, prevented that. in order to bring about his plan of salvation, to redeem us from where we had fallen.
[20:01] And so, the tree of life is not mentioned again till the end when we'll be back in his presence. So the tree of life then, therefore, represents God himself, eternal life, forever and ever and ever.
[20:18] and that's what the prophet John, the apostle John, is seeing there. The tree of life.
[20:31] There's some details here that we don't understand fully when it talks about, you know, was this tree big enough to reach over both sides of the river?
[20:42] it talks about the twelve fruits, the leaves for the healing of the nations. You know, the curse has been lifted.
[20:55] Why do we need fruit? And why do we need healing? And there's some things here that we don't fully grasp.
[21:07] One thing that I want to just point out, that it says the tree, the leaves were for the healing of the nations. The word healing here in the Greek is, I don't know if I can pronounce it, therapean, and it's where we get our English word.
[21:27] therapeutic from. And what does the word therapeutic mean? How do we describe that?
[21:46] Oh boy. Peter, you're in trouble. He says it's called fishing. That's therapeutic. And you know what? For him, that might be therapeutic.
[21:59] And for others, it might be stressful. But, and so that is a very, very good answer, Peter. Therapeutic is something that enhances our well-being.
[22:17] It's for our good, our well-being. healing. And it promotes the enjoyment of life. It's healing in that sense.
[22:31] It's for our well-being. And for the next person, it might be reading a book. It's therapeutic. Or having a nice nap. But, so it's not that the Bible is telling us we will be healed from sickness or death, but rather these leaves will act as, excuse me, therapeutic and that they'll be for our well-being.
[23:05] It'll be soothing. It'll be, it'll keep our well-being healthy. And so that's more of that intent.
[23:17] So it's going to be for the enjoyment of our life in the New Jerusalem. There's no reference here to us eating those leaves or eating the fruit, but they're there, for that therapeutic effect.
[23:34] The tree of life, the water of life. You know, eternal life is mentioned, is used 32 times in the New Testament.
[23:49] Eternal life. What is eternal life? How do we describe eternal life? Okay, it's endless.
[24:12] Yeah. Without end. Living forever. Living forever. Okay, let's build on that.
[24:23] what more does it mean? Living for Jesus? Okay, living for Jesus. Living with God.
[24:40] Eternal life. Okay.
[24:50] Okay. So living in the absence of time. Okay, so you're looking ahead, right? So can we have eternal life today in the presence of time?
[25:05] Yes, the scriptures would clearly teach us that, that we have eternal life when? By the way, when does eternal life start? When time ends?
[25:20] When we're born again? Again? Are those two the same? when does eternal life start?
[25:39] At conception? Okay. Of the Holy Spirit or of our physical bodies? Okay. So can I direct that comment, Mike?
[25:59] Eternity starts at conception, but eternal life, so we have to distinguish eternal life is life with our Father, our Heavenly Father.
[26:14] And eternal life begins the moment that we are born again, believers. it is when God gives us His Spirit to reside in us.
[26:32] John chapter 1 verse 12 and 13. Just paraphrasing, to him who believes and receives, God gives the right to become children of God, and then He proceeds to make us born again by giving us His Spirit.
[26:52] That's a very rough paraphrase. But that's where it begins. And Jesus mentions it numerous times, as do the other writers.
[27:04] In fact, 32 times. I want to look at three of them, just to remind us it's very, very real. We need to know what eternal life is and how long it's good for.
[27:19] John chapter 3. So I just chose three of them. All three are in the book of John. John 3, 15 and 16.
[27:42] Probably the most memorized verses in entire scriptures. I'll back up to 14. As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
[28:07] Okay? For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life.
[28:20] Everlasting life, and they're the same. Everlasting is more descriptive in endurance. How long is everlasting?
[28:32] everlasting? It has no end. Thank you for bringing out time.
[28:43] Time has an end, and Revelation 22 marks that end. But eternal life already will begin here, and will continue into timelessness.
[28:57] John chapter 5, verse 24 and 25.
[29:14] Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears my word and believes in him who sent me has everlasting life.
[29:25] life, and shall not come into judgment but has passed from death to life. Not physical death, spiritual death to spiritual life.
[29:45] He who hears and believes. Action words, putting our trust in God's provision.
[30:00] Verse 25, Most assuredly, I say to you, the hour is coming and now is when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live.
[30:15] And this is referring to the resurrection from death to life. and the next verses, he talks about coming out of the graves.
[30:29] John 10. John 10. Verse 24 down to 28.
[30:42] John 10. Then the Jews surrounded him and said to him, How long do you keep us in doubt? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.
[30:55] Jesus answered them, I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father's name, they bear witness of me.
[31:09] But you do not believe because you are not of my sheep, as I said to you. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me, and I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish.
[31:32] perish. When shall they perish? Never. Never. Neither shall anyone snatch them out of my hand.
[31:48] My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of my Father's hand. I and my Father are one.
[31:59] He says, my sheep hear my voice, I know them, and they follow me.
[32:11] This is the evidence that we have eternal life when we hear his voice and we follow him. We cannot be one of God's sheep and not hear his voice.
[32:27] but to his sheep he is given eternal life and they are eternally secure in him for no one can snatch them out of the Father's hand.
[32:48] Eternal life, the tree of life, represented in Revelations 22. God is life. And Jesus says, I have life within myself.
[33:03] I have power to lay it down and have power to take it again. And we saw that as he hung on the cross and he breathed his last.
[33:16] And he voluntarily gave up his life and decided when his soul would depart. Something that me and you cannot do.
[33:35] And the Father gave him the power to come back to life. So our Lord has the life himself.
[33:48] He equals life. and without him, apart from him, we have no life. We have physical life, very temporary, but eternal life is only in him.
[34:04] And that is the message of the scriptures. Let's turn back to Revelation 22.
[34:20] verse 3. 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.
[34:32] They shall see his face, and his name shall be on their foreheads. 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 forever and ever.
[34:47] Let us focus on this aspect, there shall be no more curse there, but rather the throne of God and the Lamb.
[35:03] What happened in the Garden of Eden when they ate? What happened to mankind? What happened to earth?
[35:16] The curse and God removed himself from their presence. God who cannot be in the presence of sin removed himself and the curse of disobedience fell upon the earth and we know that that Satan was cursed first and he is cursed more than any other animal the serpent and he was made to crawl on the ground and today in general snakes are repulsive to us because because of what they represent I won't ask if there's anyone that likes snakes but they're repulsive to us
[36:18] Satan was cursed he's cursed banned from God the woman was cursed and in the very thing that God had commanded in chapter one be fruitful and multiply and now the curse said in hardship you're going to be fruitful and multiply it's going to be painful to bear children relationships between husband and wife will struggle authority will struggle it's part of the curse it's all there it's very real in our lives we experience it but we learn to overcome in the spirit in
[37:25] God the man was cursed in providing for his family the earth was cursed and so that anything that he does to provide things will go wrong as we find out very young in life things go wrong it's cursed and yet here we are celebrating in chapter 22 the lifting of the curse in the thousand year reign of Christ it will be largely lifted in that the earth will be blessed but there will still be time there will still be aging there will still be illnesses and there will still be death and evil even though it will be under the restraint of Christ but here in the eternal state the curse is gone remember we read the old heavens the old earth vanished it had no place anymore and with it the curse was gone the fallen state and here
[38:41] John is revealed to the fact there will be no more curse it will be replaced by the throne of God and of the Lamb so here we see the father and the son equal it is equal have you ever been asked or challenged prove to me that there is a God with all the evil that's going on in this world have you been asked that I seen odds some how do you answer how do we answer if
[39:43] God was real there would be no evil he would stop it I've often heard those words and you know what they're right he will stop it in his time in his time and yet the answer in the meantime is that we're living under the curse as mankind rebelled against God and even in the curse God allows me and you every day to choose when's the last time you did an action that hurt a loved one we probably don't have to think back very far our choices hurt others when they're done without the spirit amen do we acknowledge that why does evil exist because we are living under the curse and we're not fully walking with the spirit of
[41:17] God we're growing and when we achieve we'll be in heaven and this side of heaven we will struggle with that and yet we are encouraged to keep going Jesus became a curse when he hung on the tree because it is written cursed is everyone that hangs on a tree and it's referring to the cross and it was reserved for criminals for whom there was no hope the most evil of evils in Jesus became the curse for us in order that we might bear his righteousness to bring an end to the curse the forgiveness of sin to bring about the blessing that was promised through
[42:23] Abraham as we look at this book just a quick observation as we just summarize this morning what does this book start with what's the first words without opening your Bible in the beginning in the next word in the beginning God the book starts with God in the beginning right and we and we learn about creation about the fall about the God's plan the Old Testament the last verse in the Old Testament ends with what does anyone know huh amen and the words before it it ends with a curse let's turn there it ends with a consequence of disobedience
[43:35] Malachi chapter four I'm going to back up to verse five Malachi four five and six you know in in Sunday school this morning we we just rehearsed and and how the children of Israel rejected God at Mount Sinai and they said Moses you go for us we we can't stand to be in God's presence we're scared he's gonna we're gonna die and and then later Moses in Deuteronomy said that the Lord will raise up a prophet him you shall hear now hear in Malachi behold I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord and he will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the hearts of the children to their fathers lest
[44:43] I come and strike the earth with a curse Elijah came in the form of John the Baptist to prepare the way for Jesus Christ a forerunner and that is the prophet whom we are to hear if we reject a second time the voice of God lest I come and strike the earth with a curse you know the Old Testament the Old Testament reveals first of all who God is but it it throughout the whole book reveals that mankind is lost that we need
[45:47] God if you want to sum up the Old Testament there it is it ends in summary that we are cursed and we need help now if we turn the page the New Testament starts with the gospel the good news but more specifically Jesus Christ this is the genealogy of Jesus Christ and it ends with chapter 22 the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all the answer to the Old Testament is Jesus God's provision the good news and all of it all of it will climax in this eternal state in
[46:59] Revelations 22 as the curse is lifted and it's all in Jesus Christ who has replaced the curse and so then what is man's responsibility what is our purpose in life is to respond to God in faith it's that simple to respond to God in faith to give him glory to worship him that is our all in all and when we talk with people that struggle with the meaning of life or if we ourselves struggle with the meaning of life you remove God from that picture there's no meaning it's empty
[48:03] God is at the core of it all it starts with him and it ends with him and so our purpose then is to seek him to worship him to adore him with the short physical lifespan that we have in preparation for the eternal one there shall be no night they need no lamp nor light of the sun for the Lord God gives them light and they shall reign forever and ever and in verse three we're told we will serve him and in verse five we're told we'll reign with him forever and ever and so our purpose will change in that we will be reigning with him
[49:08] I'm going to save the remainder of the chapter for next week Lord willing as we finish off this series but if you're struggling and finding purpose you will not find it apart from this book apart from God who is the tree of life if you're if you're privileged to share it with someone else remember it all hinges on the father who has created us and has a plan for eternity so may the Lord give you wisdom and thinking these things through and may he bless you with the ability to share with some other person let's close in prayer
[50:09] Lord we see that the end that you intend is so beautiful it's so far beyond what we have ever experienced or even can imagine we praise you for that Lord as we as we toil onward we look to you for strength each and every day as you have promised to never leave us nor forsake us you don't remove our trials but you help us through and our faith grows we thank you for that Lord we anticipate your coming the glory of your coming in
[51:09] Jesus name amen