Psalm 85, we have three more verses in this psalm, and I believe this has truly been a special study. I've just so enjoyed taking the time to really enter into what our Lord has written here. And as it has been with the first 10 verses, the last three are just precious. These are precious. Glorious, comforting, wonderful verses.

Verse 11 says, truth shall spring out of the earth, and righteousness shall look down from heaven. Yea, the Lord shall give that which is good, and our land shall yield her increase. Righteousness shall go before him and shall set us in the way of his steps. Clearly, that's Christ. Clearly, that's the Lord Jesus Christ.

Look at verse 7. It says, Show us thy mercy, O Lord, and grant us thy salvation. Show us your mercy. and grant us your salvation. And the Lord's answer to that was verse 10. Mercy and truth are met together. Righteousness and peace have kissed each other. Show us your mercy. Grant us your salvation. And he said, mercy and truth are met together. Righteousness and peace have kissed each other.

And verse 11 says, this is how that happened. From the time of this psalm looking forward, it said, this will happen. From the time this psalm was written, it said, this will happen. And from our time now looking back, we know it did happen. But verse 11 is saying, this is how that salvation came, all right? This is how mercy and truth met together and righteousness and peace kissed each other. This is how.

Verse 11 says, truth shall spring out of the earth. This is how it will happen. Truth shall spring out of the earth. Is that not what happened? Is that not what happened? Truth sprang out of the earth. Now what does that mean exactly? What does that mean?

Turn over to 2 Samuel 23 with me. Second Samuel 23, I was reading over this earlier thinking, you know, some of these portions of scripture, it's like, how many times have we read this? And it's just, it can be as exciting as the very first time you ever got a hold of it. Second Samuel 23, verse one says, now these be the last words of David. David, the son of Jesse said, and the man who was raised up on high, The anointed of the God of Jacob and the sweet psalmist of Israel said, the spirit of the Lord spake by me and his word was in my tongue. The God of Israel said, the rock of Israel spake to me, he that ruleth over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God, And he shall be as the light of the morning when the sun riseth, even a morning without clouds, as the tender grass springing out of the earth by clear shining after rain.

Although my house be not so with God, Yet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and sure, for this is all my salvation and all my desire, although he make it not to grow. David said, God has made an everlasting covenant with me concerning the one who is the light of the morning, the one who will spring out of the earth Well, who is that? He said, he is the one who is just. That's who it is. He is the one who is just, the just one who rules over men in the fear of God. That's who it is.

Turn over to Isaiah 11. Isaiah 11 verse 1, it says, and there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots. And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord. and shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord. And he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears. But with righteousness shall he judge the poor and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth. And he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, And with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked, and righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins.

The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid, and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them. and the cow and the bear shall feed, their young ones shall lie down together, and the lion shall eat straw like the ox, and the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice den.

They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. And in that day, there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for and sign of the people. To it shall the Gentiles seek, and his rest shall be glorious.

It's one of my favorite lines in the scripture. I have about 97,000 favorite lines in the scripture, and that's one of them. His rest shall be glorious. It could be, I rested this afternoon and I enjoyed it. It could be rest is one of my favorite things to do. His rest shall be glorious.

Now who is this speaking of? Who is this speaking of? The heading at the top of my page says this is the peaceable kingdom of Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ, this is speaking of Christ, the root of Jesse. Proverbs 12 calls him the root of righteousness. The one of which David said, a covenant was made concerning me. What was the covenant concerning? It was concerning something that this root springing forth out of the earth would do. It was concerning a work of salvation that this one who is called truth would accomplish.

Turn with me over to Isaiah 53. Verse one says, who hath believed our report and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant and as a root out of dry ground. He hath no form nor comeliness and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. That's amazing, isn't it? He made himself to come forth that way.

He is despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, and we hid, as it were, our faces from him. He was despised and we esteemed him not. How sad. Surely he hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed.

All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned every one to his own way, and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth. He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth. He was taken from prison and from judgment and who shall declare his generation for he was cut off out of the land of the living for the transgression of my people was he stricken. Aren't you so glad that it doesn't say you were cut off.

He made his grave with the wicked and with the rich in his death because he had done no violence neither was any deceit in his mouth. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him, this one that came as a tender plant, a root out of dry ground. It pleased the Lord to bruise him, he hath put him to grief. When thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed He shall prolong his days and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. He shall see of the travail of his soul and shall be satisfied. By his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many for he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great and he shall divide the spoil with the strong because he had poured out his soul unto death and he was numbered with the transgressors. And he bear the sin of many and made intercession for the transgressors.

Who was it that did all of that? Who was that tender plant as a root out of dry ground? The end of verse one says, it was the arm of the Lord. The arm of the Lord. Again, the heading at the top of my page says, the humiliation and sufferings of Christ. The one who John chapter one, verse 17 says, when he came, grace and truth came. The very one who said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. If you know the truth, the truth will make you free. That's who it was. That's who came.

Now go back to Psalm 85. Verse 11 says, truth shall spring out of the earth. That's what you call the good news promise of the gospel. Christ will come. Christ will come. And he did. The gospel promise came to pass. And now the gospel declaration goes forth that Christ came. And while he was here living a life on this earth, a life that he promised to give to his people, while he was earning a record of living as a man on this earth, a man among men, with every step that he took, with every word that he spoke, with every thought that he thought, with every breath that he took, the end of verse 11 says, Righteousness was looking down from heaven.

All right, let me see if I can set this up. Truth sprang out of the earth, all right? Truth sprang out, he came forth. He came to live a life. Why didn't he just come here and go straight to the cross? It's because he came to live a life before he came to die a death. And as he lived a life for 33 and a half years, righteousness was looking down from heaven. This was the promise of redemption and justification for God's fallen people, God's sinful but elect people. Verse 11 says, truth shall spring out of the earth and righteousness shall look down from heaven. Jesus Christ will come. And God will watch his every move. God's justice will record and analyze and inspect his every move, his every motive in every move. And in every motive of every move in everything that he does, it will be said, this is my beloved son in whom I'm well placed. I find no fault in him. Perfect, holy, spotless, obedient, sanctified, just, right, good, amen. Yay and amen, amen and amen, so be it.

Turn over to 1 Timothy chapter three. First Timothy 3, verse 16 says, and without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the spirit. The Spirit of God descended like a dove and landed on him. God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory. Without controversy, this is the mystery of the gospel. God with us. God came down, God Almighty, God himself. The highest God of very God was manifest in the flesh. God came from the lowest parts of the earth. You know, God made Adam from the dust of the ground. It's what he made Adam out of. The dust of the ground, the earth. And God made woman from man. So people are the earth. That's what people are. From dust we came, to dust we will return. We are the earth.

And from the lowest part of the earth, the womb, Christ came, truth sprang forth, and he went about on this earth doing good. Everything that he did was good and well reported of. His life and his works were witnessed by the Father, they were witnessed by the Spirit, they were witnessed by the angels, Verse 16 says, without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the spirit, seen of angels. Everybody saw the good that he produced, the good that he yielded. Even Pontius Pilate saw it.

And in his goodness and kindness and mercy and grace, our Lord took all of that goodness and he traded it for the evil of his people. He traded the fullness of his spotless life. Here it is, a full life. The fullness Of his spotless life, he traded it for the fullness of his people's wicked life. And he took the wicked lives of all of his people. And he buried them back in the Earth. He took all that evil. He took all that sin. He took all that wickedness and he brought it back down into the Earth. And he did that for this reason.

Turn over to John 12. He did all of that for this reason. John 12 verse 24, it says, Verily, verily, I say unto you, except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone. But if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. for the sake of bringing forth much fruit, the fruit of His people, the living harvest of His saints. Our Lord took their sin, He was condemned in their sin and punished in their sin, and He hung on a cross to die in their sin, and He died and was buried in their sin.

And God was so satisfied with Christ's death for the sin of his people, after three days, truth sprang out of the earth. God the Father cried, roll the stone away, and truth himself sprang out of the earth. And in that moment, righteousness looked down. Righteousness looked down from heaven, and grace and mercy cried, our land has yielded her in grace. The death of the Redeemer has brought forth much fruit. That's what was promised. That's what was done.

Go back to Psalm 85. Verse 11 says, Truth shall spring out of the earth, and righteousness shall look down from heaven. Yea, the Lord shall give good. That which is is in italics. The Lord shall give good. good, and our land shall yield her increase."

And this is what all of that accomplished work of Christ means for us, for his people. This is the promise to us and what Christ has done. Verse 13 says, righteousness shall go before him and shall set us in the way of his steps. It's a wonderful promise, isn't it? Every step he takes, righteousness will set us in that same step right there with him. Every path he heads down, righteousness will lead us in that very same path right there with him. Everywhere he goes, it is said, righteous. And we will be set on the same path. We will be set in the same steps right there with him. The righteousness of Christ will make it so that he never leaves us, he never forsakes us. Wherever he is, there will we be also. That's a glorious promise, isn't it?

Let's close with Psalm 23. Psalm 23 verse 1, it says,

the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.
He maketh me to lie down in green pastures.
He leadeth me beside the still waters.
He restoreth my soul.
He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil, for thou art with me.
Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me.
Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies.
Thou anointest my head with oil.
My cup runneth over.
Surely, goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.
And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

Amen.