If you would, and you wanna follow
along, please turn to Psalms 52, the 52nd Psalm. It's nine verses, I'm gonna read
the whole thing. Psalms 52, beginning in verse
one. Why boastest thou thyself in
mischief, O mighty man? The goodness of God endureth
continually. Thy tongue diviseth mischiefs
like a sharp razor working deceitfully. Thou lovest evil more than good
and lying rather than to speak righteousness. Selah. Thou lovest all devouring words,
O thou deceitful tongue, God shall likewise destroy thee forever. He shall take thee away and pluck
thee out of thy dwelling place and root thee out of the land
of the living. Selah. The righteous also shall
see and fear and shall laugh at him. Lo, this is the man that
made not God his strength, but trusted in the abundance of his
riches and strengtheth himself in his wickedness. But, but I
am like a green olive tree in the house of God. I trust in
the mercy of God forever and ever. I will praise thee forever
because thou hast done it. And I will wait on thy name for
it is good before thy saints. I like that psalm, I like that
psalm. Now this is a psalm of David.
David wrote this and it says it in the introduction above
it. relating about a man called Doeg. Doeg was his name. And according to the scriptures,
he was an Edomite. Well, he was also a witness to
when David, having been warned by Jonathan, started fleeing
Saul. And he went to Ahimelech, who
was the priest, and he asked Ahimelech for bread. And Ahimelech
gave it to him. He also asked him, Ahimelech
for a sword, because he said he was in a real big hurry when
he left going on this errand for the king that he had forgotten
his sword. So Ahimelech gave him the sword
of Goliath, whom David had slain. He said, that's the only sword
I got. And David said, I'll take it. Well, this Doeg was there,
and he was a witness to this. So later on, when Saul asked
where the heck did David go, Doeg came forth, and he told
He ratted out Ahimelech is what he did. He ratted him out, which
is a bad thing in prison. He ratted him out and he told
it in such a way that Saul was incensed against Ahimelech. Because
David told Ahimelech, I'm on business for the king. Ahimelech
did not think he was doing anything wrong because he was, David,
he told him, he said, Saul, he says, he's your son-in-law. But
Saul was incensed and told his servants to kill this priest,
kill these priests, plural. And Saul's servants wouldn't
do it. But then he turned to Doeg and told him to do it, and
he did. And he killed 85, and it says
it, priests of the Lord that day. And this is what David wrote
about that man. That's not what I'm gonna spend
my message on, but I wanted to give you the background because
you understand. Why boastest thou in mischief? And that's
evil. O mighty man, the goodness of God endureth continually.
Thy tongue devises evils, mischiefs, like a sharp razor working defeatfully. And then here it is, thou lovest
evil more than good. And what did our Lord Jesus Christ
say when he came here? They hate the light, and they
love the darkness. You understand, this man hated,
he loved the evil. That's the way men are. That's the way we are without
Christ. But, David said God's coming for you,
and God did. What was it Darwin Pruitt said?
Well, may God strike me dead, somebody told him. He said, may
God strike me dead now. Darwin Pruitt said, hey Will, you can't
rush God. God struck no egg dead. God destroyed
him. Just like David promised. Well,
God promised David. He's writing here under the inspiration
of the Holy Spirit of God. But what I want to talk about
is that green olive tree. That's why I'm here. Because I like this, but, you
know, this is a man that made God not his strength, or made
not God his strength, but trusted in the abundance of his riches
and strengthened himself in his wickedness. And you can see that
all around you right now. There are men strengthening themselves
in wickedness right now. Some of them are doing it from
pulpits. I'm not getting into that, but just beware folks.
That's all I got to say. And y'all beware out there too.
But David says this word, but I am like a green olive tree. And not only that in the house
of the Lord, I love this, you know, this is the illustration
David picked. Okay. I didn't, I didn't pick
this. This is the illustration and
I'm going to run with it. But first of all, let's point
out this. David said, I am like Dave's talking about himself.
You understand? I can talk about myself because
I can know about myself. I don't know about you except
for anything that we have in common. Now, Hey, we do have
our depravity in common. We all have that in common. And
I will speak of our salvation and being a believer as in common,
and I hope it is. I hope we have that in common.
Because this is the way David was writing here. David was writing
as a believer. And as that, I will say this. This, what David wrote, should
apply to every believer. Like I said, I don't know about
you, I know about me. And some days I'm not sure about
me, but I know this. I have a good hope of some of
you. I can't know, but I can tell you this. When David says,
I'm like a green olive tree in the house of God, I want you
to see if you fit into this description, in this illustration. Because
this is the illustration given by a man after God's own heart. That's what God said. So we need
to pay attention. This is not the illustration
that I picked. It's not the words of a man.
It's the words of the Holy Spirit as written down. These are the words of the man.
God chose to be king of Israel and then worked him all the way
there to be that king. It's just amazing. But what was
the illustration? It says, I am like a green olive
tree. Now, first thing I want to point
out, David is basically just talking about a green tree, okay? Green olives, I don't know how
familiar you people are, I know most people are, there are green
olives and there are black olives, right? They come off the same
tree. There's not a black olive tree
and a green olive tree. The green olive is not quite
as ripe. The black olives are ripe before they're picked. I'm explaining this because I
don't know who knows what. I didn't know this for sure. But listen, these people were
surrounded with olive trees. These people were surrounded
with the olive tree industry such as it was. You know it was
against the law by the Romans to cut down an olive tree. They
were so tied to the Roman, the Greek, before them, economy,
that it was against the law to cut down an olive tree. Imagine that. Get arrested for
cutting down an olive tree. Oh, you ain't never gonna cut
down this tree. Not that Dave's talking about.
We don't need no law for that. Because that olive tree that
David's talking about is in the house of the Lord. I like that, I do. But here,
the first thing I want to say about a green olive tree is just
this simple fact. A green olive tree lives. Understand
it's not a black olive tree, it's not a brown olive tree,
it's not a dead olive tree, it is a living tree. And I look this up, there are
olive trees estimated to be 2,000 to 3,000 years old that are still
living today. You understand what that means? There are olive trees around
that were around when David was around. When Christ was around. And they're still around today.
What's that say about a green olive tree in the house of the
Lord? It's going to be there forever. It's going to be there
forever. This is the tree that David used
as an illustration. And they're beautiful trees.
They're not tall trees. They go usually, you know, at
the most 50 foot tall, 45 foot tall. And that's if you don't
trim them. Because a lot of people trim them because they're running
an orchard. And they don't want them to get
too tall. But if you don't trim them, they can get about 60 foot
tall. That's nothing compared to a cedar of Lebanon. That's
nothing compared to a couple of willows I've got. They're
not a big tree, not a tall tree, but as they live, what they do
is get thicker. I don't know if you ever, I looked
them up online and I told Debbie, I says, oh, you got to see this
because you're going to love olive trees. Because I don't
know if you ever, if you ever look them up and you see some
of the old ones that are around, you know, they have that kind
of warped turning grain in the wood and the bark on the outside
and it twists and it turns and it's just an old, you can tell
it's an old, old, well-established tree. And you know what? It just don't go straight and
tall. No, it gets bigger and it gets a little more twisted,
because you know what? That olive tree's been through life. You
understand? You see what God put through
David through. You understand? He didn't just
go, boom, you're king, and there you are, let me put this on your
head. No, he made himself son-in-law. He made himself son-in-law, married
to a woman who hated him. Married to a woman who didn't
want him. And he took him long, I mean, it seemed like he took
him the long way around to become the king of Israel. But guess
what? As David went through all that
and God put him through all those tests and those trials, tribulation
worketh patience. You understand, you may get twisted,
you may get turned around because it's you, but listen, the husbandman
knows what he's doing with his tree. You know, and I know Debbie
loves the looks of those old trees that are just old and gnarly
and everything else. And that's what it is. I think
it's beautiful. Some people might think it's an ugly old tree.
They don't know what they're looking at. And ain't that the
truth when they're looking at a believer, right? They don't
know what they're looking at. Much less who. They don't know
what. Ah. But as they live, they get
thicker, and guess what? They get more branches as they
go on. Because they're still living. They're still living. They go on year after year after
year, and guess what? Because they're still living,
olive trees, second thing, they grow. They grow. A green olive tree grows. That's the nature of a green
olive tree. It's gonna grow. Some years it may grow more than
others. Some years it may grow a lot more than others. Depends
upon the weather and the moisture content and the temperatures
and the sun and the moon and everything else. I don't know,
it doesn't matter, but guess what? Year after year after year,
that olive tree's gonna grow, especially in the house of the
Lord. And like I said, it doesn't get
taller, but it gets thicker. and it doesn't get taller, but
it gets more branches. It grows all year round because
a green olive tree is an evergreen. I didn't know that. I didn't
know that. It's an evergreen tree. It never
loses its leaves. Now there is a season for fruit. It flowers in the spring and
it brings forth fruit in the fall. Once a year, but those
leaves and that growth grows all year round. There's no sleep
like death and as a deciduous tree like this oak out here,
it's gonna lose its leaves and fall asleep and look like it's
dead until next year. No, no, and all the trees are
alive all year round. I like that, I like that. because that was the third thing,
it's evergreen. It never loses its leaves. And here's the fourth thing.
The green olive tree in the house of the Lord bears fruit. It bears fruit, it bears fruit.
Like I said, it bears fruit, the green olive tree, in its
season. It lives all year long, but it
flowers and bears fruit in its season. And I'm gonna tell you
something about that. The first thing about the fruit
of a green olive tree, I did not know that there's a
lot of it. There's a lot of it. Because
olives aren't big. You understand? Some of them
are a little bigger than others. Some are little bitty things.
The fruit is small, but there's a lot of it. I like that. I like that thought. I am like
a green olive tree. It may not be big fruit, but
there's a lot of it. They're not big. Some mature. Some mature
green olive trees that haven't been pruned down like for an
orchard, okay? can produce 1,700 pounds of olives. Now that's a lot more olives
than I will ever eat. Because I don't particularly
care for olives. There you go. My wife loves them.
I had one the other day. I went to this grocery store. After I was studying on this,
I went to the grocery store, Walter. I had to buy a jar of
olives. Because there wasn't any in the house, okay? I didn't,
I never liked olives when I was a kid. I never liked, because
most of the time they had that old red pimento thing in the
middle there, and I hate pimentos. But that's just, that's another
thing. But I got so wrapped up in this, I bought a jar of olives.
And I ate one yesterday, and I survived. I'm not gonna tell you that I
still, I like them, but I can eat them. Because hey, there's
a lot of them on an olive tree. It's got a lot of fruit. I mean,
others that have been trimmed down, they said, can still produce,
what, 120 pounds of olives. That's still a lot of olives.
But the second thing I want to point out about this fruit, the
fruit of the green olive tree is full of oil. Oil. Guess what that is? I mean, everybody's heard of
olive oil. You know? It was a staple of these Old
Testament people. Used olive oil for lights. They
used it for cooking. They used it for preservatives.
They used it in seasoning. They used it for everything.
But that oil, I'll tell you something, you can just squeeze an olive
and oil will come out. That's the first thing you have
to do is get rid of the oil. And then you still got the olive
left. But listen, every single olive on the green olive tree
is full of oil. Now, oil is a type, a shadow,
a picture, an illustration of the Holy Spirit of God. Now that green olive tree in
the house of the Lord is full of fruit and that fruit is full
of oil. Every single olive is full of
oil. You understand? You're not a
fruit in the house of the Lord unless you're full of oil. That's
it. Without his Holy Spirit, we're
nothing. We're nothing. Absolutely nothing. Without the oil, it's not a fruit. It's not a good olive. And listen,
the husbandman in the house of the Lord is gonna make sure every
piece of fruit on that green olive tree in the house of the
Lord is chock full of oil. Mm. because David and every single
believer is just like this. They're full of Holy Spirit of
God. Doesn't matter whether you feel it or not. You may not. But listen, you may grieve the
Holy Spirit but you're not running him out of anywhere. You understand? You didn't put him in you and
you can't take him out. I didn't put him in me, and I
can't take it, because it's part of my nature as a believer. It's
the only reason I have the nature of a believer, is because of
his Holy Spirit. And that husbandman is gonna
make sure that if you're one of his fruit, you're gonna be
a good fruit full of oil. Thirdly, the fruit is edible. The fruit is edible. I guess
technically it wouldn't be fruit if it wasn't edible. Then we'd
call it poison. But here, but this, this is also
especially something else I learned. Because you can't, I mean, you
can't take an illustration and make it go, cover everything. But I'm going to tell you something,
these people knew more about olive trees than we ever do.
They're familiar with this illustration that David has given. And they're
familiar with this part right here. You don't just pick an
olive and put it in your mouth and eat it, like you do an apple.
Or you can do a plum. You can do it for some cherries,
I wouldn't do it with a sour cherry. But see this is the thing,
an olive right off the tree, and this goes for whether they're
green or they're black, even ripe, is bitter. And a guy wrote, very bitter. It's not edible as it is. Because it is really, really
bitter off the branch. They went into whatever chemical it has in it that makes
it bitter, okay? The fruit had to be prepared
after it's come off the tree. How is that bitterness removed? These people knew. The way you
remove the bitterness from an olive is you soak it in salt. Salt water. You make a brine
and you leave it in there for about a week, it says. I didn't
know any of this stuff. I'm just looking. And you know
what it is, what you see sometimes, guess what? You are the salt
of the earth. Now if the salt's lost its savor,
But you are the salt of the earth, and salt is good. Christ said
that. Salt is good. And you know what?
Salt is good for the fruit of the green olive tree. Guess what? You know what that salt will
do? It'll take out your bitterness. What? Believers can be bitter? Yeah, oh yeah, yeah. We're no better than anybody
else. I'm no better than anybody else. I need to be salted every
now and then. And that's the only way to make
you palatable. I like that word. You understand? God'll make you palatable. He'll
salt you. And he may use your brother to
salt you. You know, it's his word, yes. But sometimes it's his brother
pointing out his word to you. Sometimes it's my brother pointing
it out to me. Because this fruit's got to be
prepared to be edible and nourishing. But, he made a way. He made a way. He did it, he
did it. The next thing I want to point
out, this is a green olive tree, but very, very, very, very, very
specifically, Davis says, I'm like a green olive tree, not
just any green olive tree, one in the house of the Lord, in
the house of God. You understand, left mostly to
themselves, and somewhat even cultivated, the green olive tree
can live for centuries. They can be killed, but they
usually just don't die. They may lose a branch in a windstorm
or something. But David said, this is a green
olive tree in the house of the Lord. If you're a green olive tree
in the house of the Lord, you know how you got there? God put you there. God put you
there. Because the olive tree, well let me point this out. When
David wrote this, there was no temple. The house of God was
what? The tabernacle. The tabernacle. Now, what's the tabernacle? The tabernacle, overall, and
in each individual, every single little piece, jot and tittle,
and cloth, and metal, and wood, is Christ, Jesus. David is talking about being
a green olive tree in Jesus Christ. In the house of God. Ah. You understand, this is a cultivated,
tended, green olive tree. And you know who the husband
man is? It is God Almighty. I mean, he gave us other, Jesus
Christ gave us some agricultural references. I am the vine, and
ye are the branches. But wait a minute, that ain't
all. There was a husbandman for that vine. It wasn't a wild vine.
That was a vine that grew in the house of God. My father is the husband man. And I'm gonna tell you something,
if there's anybody who knows how to grow a green olive tree,
it's God. And if there's gonna be a green
olive tree in the house of God, it's only gonna be there because
God wants it there. God put it there. What does it say? I trust in the mercy
of God forever and ever. because the olive tree in the
house of God is at the mercy of the husbandman, God. The green olive tree in the house
of God is there at the sufferance, the purpose of God Almighty. What do I mean by that? Well,
I mean exactly this. That green olive tree will be
in the house of God just as long as God wants it to be. Because
why? It's his house. It's his garden. It's his tree. If it's there,
God wants it there. And let me tell you this, because
there's a great statement in Malachi three and verse six says
this. For I am the Lord, but I change not. Therefore, that green olive tree
ain't coming down. I mean, no, ye sons of Jacob
are not consumed. Guess what, it's the same thing.
That green olive tree's not coming down, because God put it there,
because God wanted it there, and God's not gonna change. God wanted
it there in David's time, God wants it there now. God's always
gonna want that olive tree in the house of God. So why are we bothering with
all these Old Testament references? Well, the New Testament is plumbed
full of references from the Old Testament. Because here in the last couple
minutes, I wanna do just a little bit of looking in Romans chapter
11. Remember, we're still talking
about a green olive tree in the house of the Lord, in the house
of God. And guess what? Paul uses an
olive tree as a reference here in Romans 11. He uses it as an illustration
of believers, Jewish and Gentile believers. He also uses it as
a reference to unbelievers. Verse 13 of Romans chapter 11. For I speak to you Gentiles,
inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify mine
office. If by any means I may provoke
to emulation them which are of my flesh, and might save some
of them. Talking about the Jews. For if
the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what
shall the receiving of them be? But life from the dead. Verse
16, for if the first fruit be holy, the lump is also holy. If the root be holy, so are the
branches. And if some of the branches be
broken off, and thou being what? A wild olive tree. were grafted
in among them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness
of the olive tree. Now boast not against the branches,
but if thou should boast, thou bearest not the root, but the
root thee. Thou wilt say then, the branches
were broken off that I might be grafted in. Well, because
of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not high-minded, but fear.
For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed, lest he
also spare not thee. Who broke off those branches? For if God spared not the natural
branches. You understand? Listen very carefully,
I wanna say this. There's only one olive tree in
the house of God. There's only one, and you understand,
The tree didn't get broken off, just some branches. Just some
branches. It's still the same green olive
tree and I'm gonna tell you, it's in the house of the Lord.
Now I don't know if David, if Paul was directly referencing
David or not, this works. This is the illustration and
it's the truth of God. There's only one olive tree. Branches were broke off and we
were grafted in. But that still left some Jewish
branches still on that olive tree. There were Jews being saved
in that day. Paul just wanted more. Paul wanted
more. Paul wanted more of his brethren
to become his brethren. More of his fleshly brethren
to become his true brethren. Don't boast. We do partake of
the root and the fatness. Guess what? The foundation and
the richness. The foundation and the richness
of what? This green olive tree in the
house of God. Same tree, same root, same fatness. Fatness. Guess what? The green olive tree doesn't
go anywhere. But the husbandmen, is grafting
in and he'll graft out just as he sees fit. I like that, I do. They were
broken off because of unbelief, but you're standing by faith.
You're not standing by your own strength. You're not standing
by your own free will. You didn't vote yourself into
the olive tree and you're not gonna vote yourself out. You
understand, people don't get illustrations. I mean, people
don't get the Bible, period, but that's a whole other sermon. This is the thing. What did David
say? I will praise thee forever. Why? Because thou hast done it. That's what he meant. That's
what he said, that's what he meant. Thou hast done it. Done what? I am like a green
olive tree in the house of God. That's what God done. That's
what God did. It's the work of God. David didn't vote himself or
choose to be the green olive tree. He says it. Thou hast done
it. Thou hast done it. What? And I will wait on thy name. What's it say here? Hang on a minute, I had it written
down here. Oh, because thou hast done it. Look at Romans 11 verse
27. For this is my covenant unto
them. What? When I shall take away their
sins. When he takes away your sins,
they're took away. They're gone, that's it. They're
took away, they're took away. because thou hast done it, and
I will wait on thy name. Look at verse 28 in Romans 11.
As concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sake, but
as touching the, what? Election. I had to say election. They are beloved for the Father's
sake. I don't wanna say this wrong.
Well, I won't, I'll just read it. For the gifts and calling
of God are without repentance. What's that mean? I am God, I
change not. Therefore you sons of Jacob are
not consumed. I like that. So, all Israel shall be saved. Now, think about what he means
by all Israel. I'm gonna tell you what he means.
He means that green olive tree. And that's us, right now. That's us. We've been grafted
in. It's the same root, it's the
same fatness, this is where we live. We live in him. And you know what? He's the one
that put us in his tree. Now who am I to argue about that?
Who am I to deny that? For it is good before thy saints,
David wrote. You know what's good before thy
saints? That the gifts and calling of
God are without repentance. Partake of the root and the fatness. Praise his holy name, why? for it's good to praise him before
the saints. To praise him because he's done
it. He's done it. Like I said, I had to go out
and buy some olives after all this, you know that. And Debbie
said there's good olives though. Our Heavenly Father, thank you
for your glorious salvation Which you have given us in your son
our Lord Jesus Christ Please be with Walter as he comes to
preach your gospel And help us to grow and bear fruit and be
fruit In Christ's name we pray amen