What is the Good Life? How do we obtain it?

2 Peter 3:13 (ESV) 13 But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.

Revelation 21:1–2 (ESV) 1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

Revelation 2:7 (ESV) 7 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.’

What is the Good Life? How do we obtain it?

Genesis 2:8–9 (ESV) 8 And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed. 9 And out of the ground the Lord God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Genesis 2:15–17 (ESV) 15 The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. 16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”

Genesis 2:15–17 (ESV) 15 The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. 16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”

What is the Good Life? How do we obtain it?

Genesis 3:22–24 (ESV) 22 Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever—” 23 therefore the Lord God sent him out from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken. 24 He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.

Deuteronomy 30:19 (ESV) 19 I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live,

What is the Good Life? How do we obtain it?

Psalm 1:2–3 (ESV) 2 but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. 3 He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers.

Proverbs 3:18 (ESV) Proverbs 11:30 (ESV) Proverbs 15:4 (ESV) 18 She is a tree of life to those who lay hold of her; those who hold her fast are called blessed. Proverbs 11:30 (ESV) 30 The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and whoever captures souls is wise. Proverbs 15:4 (ESV) 4 A gentle tongue is a tree of life, but perverseness in it breaks the spirit.

Isaiah 1:6 (ESV) 6 From the sole of the foot even to the head, there is no soundness in it, but bruises and sores and raw wounds; they are not pressed out or bound up or softened with oil.

Jeremiah 8:21–22 (ESV) 21 For the wound of the daughter of my people is my heart wounded; I mourn, and dismay has taken hold on me. 22 Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why then has the health of the daughter of my people not been restored?

Luke 22:40–43 (ESV) 40 And when he came to the place, he said to them, “Pray that you may not enter into temptation.” 41 And he withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, and knelt down and prayed, 42 saying, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.” 43 And there appeared to him an angel from heaven, strengthening him.

1 Peter 2:24 (ESV) 24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.

Acts 13:29 (ESV) 29 And when they had carried out all that was written of him, they took him down from the tree and laid him in a tomb.

Deuteronomy 21:22–23 (ESV) 22 “And if a man has committed a crime punishable by death and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree, 23 his body shall not remain all night on the tree, but you shall bury him the same day, for a hanged man is cursed by God. You shall not defile your land that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance.

The Cross (Tree of Death) is the Tree of Life for us.

What is the Good Life? How do we obtain it?

“(Adam and Eve) had nourishment in other trees; in the (the tree of life), however a sacrament.” —Augustine, The Literally meaning of Genesis

Views of the Lord’s Supper Catholic = Transubstantiation Zwingli = Memorial Luther = Consubstantiation Reformed = Spiritual

Sacraments are a true means of Grace Avenues in which the Holy Spirit works to portray the visibly promises of the Gospel and to mature us in Christ.

Sacraments are always tied to: Promises of God Preaching of the Word Faith

“The first covenant made with man was a covenant of works “The first covenant made with man was a covenant of works. In it life was promised to Adam and through him to his descendants, on the condition of perfect, personal obedience.” —Westminster Confession of Faith Chapter 7, Paragraph 2

John 6:48, 53-54 (ESV) 48 I am the bread of life. . . .53 So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. 54 Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.

Fall  Tabernacle/Lampstand Heaven  Tree of Life/River of Life Garden  Tree of Life Fall  Tabernacle/Lampstand Jesus  The Cross Now  Lord’s Table Heaven  Tree of Life/River of Life

Revelation 22:1–3 (ESV) 1 Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb 2 through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. 3 No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him.

What is the Good Life? How do we obtain it?

By the Grace (Promise) of Jesus What is the Good Life? How do we obtain it? By the Works of Jesus By the Grace (Promise) of Jesus

John 3:16 (ESV) 16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

John 14:6 (ESV) 6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

John 10:10 (ESV) 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.