Trees

Trees

10/31/21

Scripture: Psalm 1:1-3

This passage opens strange it opens with a negative

· Negative things and negative people get on our nerves

· That’s why we have caller ID so we can weed out the negative

· Some people come to church and sit through the whole service and see only the negative

· Never nothing positive

· I’ve had people after church tell me about everything; they saw wrong in the service but never anything positive

You may or may not agree

· Negatives can be beneficial

· Because sometimes you don’t appreciate the positives until you have been confronted with the negatives

· And if we’re not careful, we will let negatives take us off courses

· If you were to try and give your car a jump with the cables and you only connect the positive and not the negative, it will not start

This text starts with some negative things; he says you have some negative things that would do damage to you

· And you need to be held accountable for the negatives

Read vs1: 1 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;

2 But his delight is in the law of the Lord,

And in His law, he meditates day and night.

3 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.[1]

He keeps approaching us with the negatives, don’t make much sense

· He says you have some negative things that will do harm to you, and you need to be held accountable for the negatives.

He says: I know you are looking for happiness because he says, “Blessed.”

· 1:1 Blessed is The Hebrew term used here, ashre describes someone who is privileged or happy. Wisdom Literature commonly uses this expression to indicate someone who is fortunate or privileged (Job 5:17; Pr 3:13; 28:14). Its Greek equivalent—makarios—is found in Jesus’ beatitudes (Matt 5:3–11).[2]

· Where Jesus said, “Matt. 5:3.” Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. [3]

· Jesus himself had to show us some negatives before we appreciate the positive

In Matt 6:25, he says NKJ: Therefore, I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?

· Take no thought, (the Greek word for thought means) don’t get stressed out over your future

· About your life: that’s your future

· About what you shall eat: that’s your food

· And for your body: that’s your fitness

· Of what you shall put on: that’s your fashion

In Matt 6:19

· Lay not treasures for yourself: that’s your finances

He says you have five negative things that are messing with your happiness:

· Your future

· Your food

· Your fitness

· Your fashion

· Your finances

Those are the negatives, but the positives are found in Matt 6:33: But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.[4]

The Psalmist says if you want to be blessed, there are some things you should not do:

First, he says:

· Don’t get counsel from the ungodly; there are ungodly people everywhere, those who are not walking in the will and the way of God that is an ungodly person.

Next, he says:

· Don’t stand in the way of sinners: How do you do that? You claim to be one thing, but you are another.

o As Christians, we carry our Bibles to many of us, but our heads are down because we let things worry us.

o And what we are doing is saying our problem is too big for God to handle.

o Or that God doesn’t care

o God is so awesome that there are some things He has never seen

§ There’s not one problem He can’t solve

§ God has never seen a sinner that He cannot save

§ God has never seen a substitute for Hid Son

§ God has never seen a sinner that could save himself.

David said in Psalm 37:25: I have been young, and now am old,

yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken

or his children begging for bread. [5]

We have to be careful how we conduct ourselves:

· Walk in the consul

· Or stand in the way

· Or sit in the seat of the scornful- we laugh at those who are struggling in life.

Then in verse (2), he interjects conjunction (BUT)

Roman 6:23: 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. [6] it goes a different way

Jonah 1: 1-4: Now the word of the Lordcame to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying,

2 “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me.”

3 But Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish. So he paid the fare and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish, away from the presence of the Lord.

4 But the Lord hurled a great wind upon the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea so that the ship threatened to break up. [7]

When you see the word (BUT), God sends it in a different direction

Vs1 of Psalms

· He deals with the negative

Vs2, he deals with the positive: people will always tell you about the negatives but never the positives in life

· But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law, he meditates day and night. [8]

· Whenever you delight in something you want to be a part of it

o If you delight in a song, you will try to sing it

o If you delight in a book, you will read it

The Bible is two books, or it’s 66 books put together

· 39 books in the Old and 27 books in the New

· The Old contained, the new explained

· The Old concealed the New revealed

· The Old promises, the New produces

· The Old Testament localizes, the New Testament Universalizes

· The Old is the foundation; the New is the superstructure

· The Old is centered around Moses, and the New is centered around Jesus

· In the Old Testament, Moses turned water into blood, the New Testament Jesus turned water into wine

· By turning water into blood was a symbol of death

· Turning water into wine was a symbol of life

· Old Testament sheep died for the Shepard

· In the New Testament, the Shepard died for the sheep

· In the make of the book

o Five books of Law

o 12 books of history

o Five poetical books

o Five major prophets

o 12 minor prophets

· New Testament

o Four books of the Gospel

o One book of the Law

o One book of prophecy

o 14 Pauline epistles

o Seven general epistles

And when you love and delight in it, you read it: But his delight is in the law of the Lord

· You enjoy the Law of the Lord

Then the text says: And on his law, he meditates day and night

· The word meditates means to exercise the mind to relax the mind

· So, when you are at home, you meditate on the Word of God

· It’s during meditation that the w

· Word will reveal something you never saw before

That’s why the Psalmist tells us to delight in the word, to keep our mind on Him meditate day and night

Vs3 he says: And he shall be like a tree

The Bible compares Christian’s like certain things

Isiah 53:6: All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned every one to his own way;[9]

· What the verse is saying is that we need a Shephard

He compares us as eagles in Is. 40:31

· But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary, and they shall walk, and not faint.

· Eagles get excited about a storm, and as Christians, we should get excited when storms come because we know God is about to do something exciting. That will strengthen us

But the Psalmist compared us to a (Tree)

· He didn’t compare us to water because water will take on whatever shape it’s in

· He didn’t compare us to wind because it changes too much

· He didn’t compare us to fire because God has it reserved for those in the lake of fire

· But as a (Tree) because a tree is different, a tree sheds its leaves in the winter, but the leaves will bloom in the summer, and like a tree, we are to be different from others; we are not like everybody else.

· Trees serve a purpose it holds the soil together, and we are to keep stuff together

· Trees purify the air, and we should purify the air clean up stuff around us

o When we clean up the air, people won’t curse around you

o We should clean up the air around us

· A tree grows down before it grows up; there is as much tree under the ground as it is above.

Because we should have enough roots in the ground like a tree that when storms come, we should bend in the wind and don’t break

Job 13:15 says: Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him:

A tree looks like strength, and we should look like strength no matter what we are going through. A tree is designed to help others.

· Adam hid behind a tree because he was a sinner

· Elijah hid under a tree because he was running from a sinner

· Zacchaeus hid in a tree because he wanted to see the Savior of sinners

· But Jesus hung on a tree because he was dying for the sins of the world.

· It was those trees on Calvary, one on the left and one on the right, but it was a special tree in the middle; all three trees dealt with death

· The tree on the left the man died a blasphemer

· The tree on the right, a man, died a believer

· But that tree in the middle a man died a benefactor

· The tree on the left a man died in folly

· The tree on the right, a man, died in favor

· But that tree in the middle a man died in fulfillment

· The tree on the left, a man died mocking

· The tree on the right a man died in mercy

· But that tree in the middle a man died ministering

· The tree on the left, a man died in rejection

· The tree on the right a man died in reception

· But that tree in the middle a man died for redemption

· Tree on the left a man died in sin

· The tree on the right, a man, died from sin

· But that tree in the middle a man died for sin

· The tree in the left a man died a sinner

· The tree on the right, a man saint

· But that tree in the middle a man died a Savior

[1] The New King James Version. (1982). (Ps 1:1–3). Nashville: Thomas Nelson. [2]Barry, J. D., Mangum, D., Brown, D. R., Heiser, M. S., Custis, M., Ritzema, E., … Bomar, D. (2012, 2016). Faithlife Study Bible (Ps 1:1). Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press. [3] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (Mt 5:3). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles. [4] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (Mt 6:33). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles. [5] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (Ps 37:25). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles. [6] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (Ro 6:23). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles. [7] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (Jon 1:1–4). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles. [8] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (Ps 1:2). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles. [9] The Holy Bible: King James Version. (2009). (Electronic Edition of the 1900 Authorized Version., Is 53:6). Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.