If you'd like to follow along,
I'm going to be in Psalms 92. The 92nd Psalm. And I'm gonna begin reading in
verse 12. I still have this habit of wanting
to say Psalm chapter 92. It's not. It's the 92nd Psalm. Verse 12. The righteous shall
flourish like the palm tree. He shall grow like a cedar in
Lebanon. Those that be planted in the
house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God. They shall still bring forth
fruit in old age. They shall be fat and flourishing
to show that the Lord is upright. He is my rock and there is no
unrighteousness in him Got something for you here over
300 years ago a man by the name of William beverage he wrote
this Man's understanding is so darkened
he can see nothing of God in God nothing of holiness in holiness,
nothing of good in good, nothing of evil in evil, nor anything
of sinfulness in sin, nay, is so darkened that he fancies himself
to see good in evil, to see evil in good, happiness in sin, and
misery in holiness. Now, this might seem like a strange
thing to say, but that statement gives me a little bit of joy.
I like that quote. I mean, it does, because here's
the thing. Believers are different. Believers
are different. And it does give me joy that
for hundreds, and actually, to be perfectly honest, thousands
of years, others have seen their own true condition. and they
know the condition of man. And it hasn't changed. Because
I see the same thing here in my own condition. In my flesh
dwelleth no good thing. Now in me does dwell a good thing,
but in my flesh dwells no good thing. Because believers and
only believers know the true condition of man. And here's
the other part, only believers know the truth of this psalm
right here. Verse 12, the righteous shall
flourish like the palm tree, he shall grow like a cedar in
Lebanon. Now very clearly, very clearly,
the righteous in this verse is singular. Singular, it's one
person. And here it is, I'll just say
it flat out, the righteous one here, spoken of, is Jesus Christ. It's not me. It's not you. I have to watch out for that
sort of thing. But that's the thing, this is the truth. The
righteous here is singular, Jesus Christ is the righteous. The righteous one is the Holy
One of Israel. He's the Redeemer, and He's the
Lord of hosts. Born of a woman, made under the
law, born from above, He alone, He alone came to save sinners. He alone came to save His people
from their sins, and He alone is the righteous. He alone is
the righteous. But here's what it says. And
I like this part, the righteous shall, shall flourish. Flourish. Now my title for this,
I meant to say it earlier, is the Lord is upright. And after
a while we're gonna get to that. But we're gonna be talking about
it, I'm gonna be talking about it along the way. The righteous
shall flourish. What's that mean? According to
the Hebrew, the righteous shall bud and blossom. I like that, I do. The righteous
shall flourish. It means the righteous shall
show forth evidence of life, of life. The righteous is alive
and all life is in him because he is life. And even better from
our point of view, this is a personal thing, The righteous brings forth
life. Oh, he gives life. The righteous
shall flourish. The righteous brings forth fruit. And not only fruit, fruit to
perfection. To perfection. Because the fruit
of the righteous is righteousness. Is holiness. Is justice. Love, love. Now, well let's just look at
the next phrase of this verse because the psalmist tells us
specifically the righteous is a singular, singular specific
person. The righteous shall flourish
like the palm tree. What's it say? He shall grow. Singular, specific. He shall
grow like a cedar in Lebanon. This is the Lord Jesus Christ,
plainly. We always need to look for the
Lord Jesus Christ in the Psalms. Well, let's be more specific.
You need to look for Jesus Christ in every book of the Bible. But
in the Psalms, oh, there's some great, wonderful things here.
Well, we all know Psalms 22 and 23. You know, and you know, I'm
not gonna go into it. But just, we need to look for
the Lord Jesus Christ. But it says here, he shall grow
like a cedar in Lebanon. Now the cedars in Lebanon are
famous because of the scripture. That's why they're famous. But
they are famous. And how do cedars grow in Lebanon? They grow straight. and tall. You understand, you can look
it up online, you can Google it. Now, if you put in Cedars
of Lebanon, you may get the state park in Tennessee, but that's
not the one we're talking about. But you can see pictures of the
Cedars of Lebanon, I'm seriously, these things are huge, and they
just grow straight up. They can get to be 120 feet tall,
which is about the same as a 10 or 12 story building. They are
huge, they grow, but they grow straight. No curves, no splits,
it's one big massive trunk going straight up. And then once you
get up near the top, way above the ground, you'll see the canopy
on a cedar grows out like this. It looks like an umbrella almost. You know what that means? There's
plenty of shelter under a cedar in Lebanon. And I'm gonna tell
you something, there's more shelter than we will ever need in the
righteous, who grows like the cedar in Lebanon. They are also
known, interesting fact, for their longevity. Now, how true
this is, I don't know. But I'm gonna pretend it's true.
Somebody asked the question, how old are the cedars of Lebanon? Well, supposedly, the oldest
cedar in Lebanon is 3,000 years old. That cedar in Lebanon was 1,000
years old when Christ came. Think about that. He shall grow
like a cedar in Lebanon. He's gonna grow tall, he's gonna
grow straight, he's gonna cover as much as he wants to cover.
And he's gonna be around forever. He's gonna be around forever.
Oh, I like that. He shall grow like a cedar. Now what does the scripture state
about Jesus of Nazareth? You don't have to turn there,
but Luke two and verse 40 does say this. And the child grew. The child grew and waxed strong
in spirit, filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon
him. Oh, he shall grow like a cedar
in Lebanon, I like that. Because here it is, Isaiah also
says, a child is born, but the son is given. Oh, I like that,
I like that. And this child grew like a cedar
in Lebanon. Who is the righteous? Jesus Christ
is the righteous. Because John put it this way.
First John two and verse one, my little children, These things
write I unto you, that ye sin not. And, not but, and if any
man sin, we have an advocate with the Father. Now who is our
advocate with the Father? Jesus Christ, the righteous. The righteous, what? The righteous
shall flourish like a palm tree. He shall grow like a cedar in
Lebanon. I like that, I do. Now, very
carefully here, notice in verse 13, the psalmist goes
from the singular, the righteous, to the plural. Folks, we're the
plural. We're the plural, believers are
the plural. Those that be planted in the house of the Lord shall
flourish in the courts of God. Oh, I like that, I do. Because
we've gone, we've gone from the singular, from the righteous,
because you gotta start with the righteous. It starts with
the righteous. Then it goes to you. If it doesn't
start with the righteous, it ain't never gonna make it to
you. It's never gonna make it to me. But let's be clear. Well, here's the word first,
where it says, those that be planted, Literally, that word
means, I like this too, transplanted, transplanted. What's that mean?
Well, you were somewhere else, but you're not there anymore.
You were somewhere else, unconcerned, and I can tell you this, wherever
you were, it wasn't in the house of the Lord, because that's where
you are transplanted to. Those that be planted, Let's
be clear about this. These are not plants that planted
themselves. Those that be planted. You understand? I'm gonna plant
myself right here. Well, you plant yourself, you're
gonna die. You plant yourself, you're lost. You need to be transplanted
by the master because that's the illustration here. That's
the illustration. This is a reference, an illustration
to a garden or if you want, an orchard. The righteous are compared
to specific plants purposely planted in a certain place at
a certain time by the gardener, or more scripturally if you want,
the husbandman. The husbandman, I like that.
And they were planted for the purpose of the planter. the purpose of the planter, the
husbandman. This is the illustration because
here it is, folks, we believers, those who trust Christ, those
who know Christ, right, are his husbandry. We're his creation,
we're his work, his workmanship. Created in Christ Jesus, we are
his workmanship. Oh, I like this. And here's where
it says, we are planted. Those that be planted, guess
what, folks? They are planted. I like that. We are his husbandry, his work.
Here it is. Isaiah put it this way in Isaiah
4, 3, 1. But now, thus saith the Lord
that created thee, O Jacob. and he that formed thee, O Israel. Fear not, for I have redeemed
thee. I have called thee by name, thou
art mine. You understand, Jacob and Israel
are the same person. Jacob was created, oh, but that's
not all, Israel was formed. And what I'm here to tell you
today is Israel was planted. And where was he planted? What's
it tell us? In the house of the Lord. In the house of the Lord. Oh, I like that. Oh, we're planted
not just anywhere, we're planted in the house of the Lord. And
listen folks, to be planted in the house of the Lord is to be
in the house of the Lord. The righteous plants his people
in his house. And I can tell you this, at one
time, those that be planted did not know the Lord's house. They did not know the house of
the Lord. They did not go to the house
of the Lord. They didn't care for it. Didn't
want it, but now. Here's the beautiful thing. Now,
that's where they reside. Those that be planted in the
house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God. Do
you understand? We're not only planted in the
house of the Lord, we're gonna bud and bring forth fruit. We're going to flourish. It's
the exact same word which says the righteous shall flourish.
It says here, those that be planted in the house of the Lord They'll
flourish, they'll flourish. This is where we reside, this
is where we live, in Christ Jesus. Oh, I like that. This is where
we now, right now, live, in him, in his house, in him we live,
we move, and we have our being. Here's the other thing. Right
now, that's where I want to live. That's where I want to be. Didn't
used to care. Didn't even know. If you asked
me, I'd have rejected it out of hand, because some people
did ask. Now, whether they knew whether the house of the Lord
was, I don't know. But here's the thing. I didn't want any
part of it. And now, now, I wouldn't want
to be anywhere else. I don't want to be anywhere else.
Why? because they shall flourish in the courts of God. Oh, I like that. Oh, Jesus Christ
is who I want to know. Now, right now. Oh, I like that. And more importantly
even than that, Jesus Christ is who I want to know me. Yeah, he said, I'll never leave
you, I'll never forsake you. And when he talks about it, I
still remember, I think it might have been Tim James, first time
I'm talking about it, when he says, when you heard the gospel of your
salvation. Oh, that's something else. The
gospel had been all around before. Never heard it, never cared.
But when I heard the gospel of my salvation, I rejoiced, I rejoiced. and I'm still rejoicing in him. So what about those that planted?
Like I said, they shall flourish. They shall flourish because here's
the thing, the same one he plants shall flourish. Why? Because the same one who plants
you is going to be keeping you. He's going to be taking care
of you. You understand, Jesus Christ said, I am the vine and
ye are the branches. But he also said this, my father
is the husbandman. And guess what? That husbandman
is gonna keep his garden. He's gonna dress his garden.
It's gonna look exactly like it is. Now the branches draw
life only from the vine. And we are planted by the vine. and his branches will bring forth
fruit. Matter of fact, his branches
bring forth fruit in his season. That's his fruit. So his branches
bring forth his fruit in his season. They flourish. You know why? Because he sees
to it. He sees to it. The branches flourish
in the living vine. And then this next verse which
says, they shall still bring forth fruit in old age. They shall be fat and flourishing. Understand. I understand. I'm understanding more every
day. Things change with age. We change with age. But this
is just as true as everything else. Those planted by him in
the house of the Lord Never stop. Never stop. What'd he say? If ye continue in my word. Oh, then. Then, you are my disciples. Indeed. Indeed. Paul wrote this. If ye continue in the faith,
what? Grounded and settled. That means
planted. That's what it means. If you
continue in the faith, planted, grounded and settled, and be
not moved away from the hope of the gospel. Okay, who's the
hope of the gospel? I already gave it away, didn't
I? Jesus Christ is the hope of the gospel. Oh. Be not moved
away from him. You know why? because those that
be planted shall flourish. They shall flourish. And here's
the thing, in old age, heck, actually in young age, you or
I may not recognize the fruit, but it's there. But I can tell
you this, you should be able to recognize love, joy, peace,
Long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. Why? Against such there is no
law. That's the fruit of the spirit,
folks. And that never goes away. I may not feel it some days.
I may feel my aching neck this morning like I did. I didn't
know if I was gonna make it here, Walter, but I finally got the
thing to move. But I slept funny, and I've had this neck surgery,
so it happens. But here's the thing, that love,
joy, and peace is still there. My body may ache, my knees may
hurt, my hip may give me fits. And I'm not gonna go into what
Debbie goes through every day, but here's the thing. Love, joy,
peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and
temperance is the fruit through the old age. It's his fruit. And it's his season, his season.
So here's the conclusion. The righteous shall flourish
like the palm tree, grow like the cedar in Lebanon. Those that
be planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts
of God, and they shall still bring forth fruit in old age.
They shall be fat and flourishing, what? To show. To show, what? That the Lord is upright. Now
I understand very clearly, just for the sake of argument, it
does say to show, not to make. Not to establish, it's just showing. God has always been this way,
God will always be this way. But this just shows it, what?
To us. To us. To believers, to those
that be planted. Because bless God, this is the
truth, the world will never see it. The world won't have it,
the world doesn't want it, but he is showing it to us in his
word and in everything he has done for us and to us. What'd he say? I am the Lord,
I change not. Oh, I like that, I do. I am the
Lord, I change not. because here's the thing, the
Lord has chosen to show his people some things about himself. We don't deserve to know, but
he delights to show. He delights to show. It brings
God pleasure to show a little bit of himself in his son to
his people. And you know how I can say that
he gets pleasure from it? He did it. That's all that matters. Our Lord, our God is in the heavens. He hath done whatsoever he hath
pleased. So if he's gonna show you, he's
pleased to show you. Oh, I like that. Showing just
a bit of himself to his people pleases him. And if God is pleased, to show
to you Jesus Christ the righteous. That has pleased the Father.
That has pleased the Father. But what's it say? And here's,
this is my title, I said, to show that the Lord is upright. Upright. Literally, you know
what that word means? Straight. As Earl used to say,
gun barrel straight. Straight as an arrow. What's
that mean? There's not even a shadow, a
hint of turning. You understand? God only knows
one way, forward. That's it. You understand? I am the Lord, I change not.
Because here's the point. If you're perfect, what need
do you have of change? The Lord is upright. upright,
he is straight, he is upright, there is no error in Christ Jesus,
there's no mistake in Christ Jesus, the Lord is upright. There's no indecision, there's
no hesitation, there's no second thoughts. Oh, I wish I could
live without second thoughts. And then sometimes, no, I don't
want to because I need them. Oh yeah, he don't need them.
He don't need second thoughts. You know, I go through third
and fourth thoughts sometimes. He doesn't need a second thought.
There's nothing in him. Every thought is perfect. Every word is perfect. Every action is perfect. Oh, I like that. Coming up the road this morning,
I was listening to that little Henry Mayhem and you know, I got tickled,
he was talking about when they came to get Christ, the soldiers
came to get Christ. And he told them, one of the
things he told them was, if you take me, you leave these alone. And you know what Henry said
then? Oh, there's a sermon there. That's exactly right, there is.
Because that's exactly what Jesus Christ did. He flourished, and
he said, okay, take me, but you ain't taking him. And you know
what happened? They took him, and they didn't
take the others. You know why? Because Jesus Christ
said it. And Jesus Christ, the Lord, is
upright. He's straight, he said it, that's
what happened. And guess what, that's what's
happening right now. Oh my. If the Lord, Father, accepts
the Son, and you're in the Son, you were chosen in the Son before
the foundation of the world, the Father gave you to the Son,
guess what? You're gonna be left alone, and
in a good way, because you'll never be alone. Ah, I like that,
the Lord is upright. He is the definition of upright,
and the definition of right, because He does everything right. And even more importantly, everything
he does is right. Then he says this, he's my rock. He is my rock. Now, we just did
sing this. Thou art worthy, thou alone,
thou the rock and cornerstone. You understand, he's my rock
of defense. He's also the rock on which my
feet are planted. He's lifted me out of the miry
clay and planted my feet. What, planted? I didn't pay any
attention to that. Planted, thou shalt be planted. Planted my
feet upon the rock. You know why? Because once he
plants your feet on the rock, you will never sink in the mud
again. You might fall, but you're not falling off of that rock.
You might bruise yourself. but you're not falling off of
that rock. You will not be utterly cast down. He's my rock of defense,
but I'll also tell you this, he's the rock of offense to others.
To those who aren't planted. Here's the thing, Jesus Christ
is both. The Lord is both. The Lord is
upright, right? Jesus Christ saves, and Jesus
Christ offends. Deb was watching, this is back
in Easter, she's watching a little bit of History Channel, and they're
doing, of course, the story of Jesus on the History Channel.
And it's talking to people who are professors of religion and
stuff like that, but then you also have the dramatization of
stuff like that. But after one of the stories
of Jesus Christ was off, they put this guy on, he says, you
know, the gospel was written like the Pharisees were the bad
guys. And I looked at Debbie and I
laughed. I can't help it, people are funny. I said, now you understand,
that might actually be because the Pharisees were the bad guys. But he didn't wanna bring that
part up. Theologians will theolize whatever
theologians do, however they want to. You understand? You're looking at the word of
God here. This is the word of God. And Pharisees were the bad
guys. Not all of them, because Christ
saved one I know of, named Saul of Tarsus. who was doing even
worse things, but here's the thing. He is upright and he is
my rock. But it says he's also a stumbling
stone to those that are religious. He's a stumbling stone. His message,
the message, the gospel of Jesus Christ brings joy to some and
it scares others. It makes some others mad. and
it offends others. Look verse, here, just back up
to verse five. Well, no, let's say it's verse
four of Psalm 92, same psalm. For thou, Lord, hast made me
glad. What? Through thy work. I will
triumph in the works of thy hands. And I'm gonna tell you something,
that's the only way you can triumph, is in the works of his hands.
Oh Lord, how great are thy works and thy thoughts are very deep.
But now look at the very next verse, verse six. A brutish man
knoweth not. Neither doth a fool understand
this. And folks, that's the truth.
That's the truth. What makes me glad, a brutish
man doesn't know. What gives me joy, a fool doesn't
understand. A fool doesn't understand that
the Lord is upright. What he does is right. Everything
he does is right. It's straight. And this is the thing. The same gospel preached. The minister of the gospel who
preaches it is the saver of life unto life for some and the saver
of death unto death for others. The very same man preaching the
very same message, the very same gospel. Who maketh thee to differ? Well, it's not you and it's not
me. It's God. The Lord is upright. He is my
rock. And the last statement, there
is no unrighteousness in him. None. None. What does it say? 1 John 1 and 5 says this, this
then is a message which we have heard of him and declare unto
you, here's the message, that God is light and in him is no
darkness at all. Period. You can say that again. In him
is no darkness at all. There's no unrighteousness in
God. It doesn't matter what anybody
says. It doesn't matter what anybody thinks. It doesn't matter
what I do or you do or other preachers say. There's no unrighteousness
in him. Now you can point your finger
at me all you want and talk about my unrighteousness and some of
it I might have to agree on. but there's no unrighteousness
in him. He is upright and he is my rock. Oh, but here's the
thing. What about those who are planted
in Christ Jesus, in the house of the Lord? First Thessalonians
five and five says this. Ye, this is Paul writing, ye
are all the children of light. and the children of the day.
We are not of the night nor of darkness. Now, we used to be. We used to be. What does it say? I think the word is translated.
Almost like transplanted. You've been translated out of
darkness and into what? his marvelous light, the kingdom
of light. We are the children of light,
we are not of the darkness, and we have been translated out.
The Lord is upright, the Lord is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness
in him. Now I'm gonna end with the first
verse of Psalm 92. I purposely didn't read it to
list. It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord, and to
sing praises unto thy name, O Most High. The Lord is upright. It's a good thing to give thanks
unto the Lord. The Lord is my rock. It's a good
thing to give thanks unto the Lord, and there is no unrighteousness
in him. and it's a good thing to give
thanks unto the Lord. It's good to sing praises to
his name. I like that. So what are we to
do? Well, give thanks and sing praise
unto the Lord your God. He is upright. He's my rock,
and there is no unrighteousness in him. Our Heavenly Father,
Thank you, Lord, for your Son, who gave himself for us, and
you gave us to him, so that in him, oh, we have, because he
is our wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption.
You have given us life in your Son, and we live in him. Thank you, Lord. for all the
blessings you give to us. Be with Walter as he comes to
preach. Be with Paul as he preaches out in Indiana. Be with all of
your men everywhere as they go forth and try to preach your
gospel on this day. And we'll give you all the praise
and honor and glory in Jesus' name, amen.