Proverbs chapter 12. Now I will
tell you this, I looked over and double looked over and triple
looked over the passages that I'm supposed to look at. So hopefully,
if you look at me like it's the wrong one, I've read it wrong
like I was told the other day. It's Psalms 132 and I said Psalms
123. So, I can't say it's these glasses. It's probably just getting old. Let's look at Proverbs 12. We're
going to look at one verse. I just, again, was reading. And on the 12th month of June,
Proverbs is a good... it's got 31 chapters. So if you don't know where to
read, just grab a chapter a day for each month, for most months.
So I did that and I didn't get past verse 3. We're going to
look at one verse and one phrase, really. One phrase. Proverbs
chapter 12 and the latter part of verse 3. But the root of the righteous
shall not be moved. The root of the righteous shall
not be moved. What a wonderful phrase we find
in verse 3 in the second part. There are two little words which
begin with the letter R. Root and Righteousness. And they're very interesting,
and I believe it affords much comfort to the child of grace,
because that's who he's talking about, the righteous. The righteous. But as in all things, we need
to back up a little bit, because we were not just born righteous.
No, we're born in sin, and do not know God. Actually, we're
at enmity. We're enmity, the Scripture says,
and that word is war. And that's hate. So whether a
person shows outward disdain for God and the Gospel, that's
what we are by nature. That's what we are by nature
and therefore the importance of continually hearing the Gospel,
the truth of Christ and Him crucified. So, and I noticed another thing,
it appears, and it's more than appearances, it's fact. The root
of the righteous shall not be moved. It appears to be an absolute. An absolute. Now in this world,
absolutes are very difficult to come by. I remember when I
was in high school and I was at a basketball camp, because
I was going to be a professional basketball player, you know,
everybody knows that. And there's a Hall of Famer, he came to visit
the camp. And he said, his daddy, he said,
I told my son there's three things in life that are absolute, death,
taxes, and he says, and your daddy at the top of the key.
And as he's telling us this, he's just looking around, and
he didn't miss, he's like 20 shots, and he never missed one.
And he's talking, and he's talking to us, and he's shooting. He
says, you gotta know where your spot is. So I thought that was
cute. But as I got older and grew older, taxes maybe, death for sure. But this book, this book that
declares a God who is sovereign, who is in charge of all things,
man and women and children who are depraved, who are born in
trespasses and sins, that's what this book talks about and it's
absolute. Read the newspaper, read the
news, go to school, go to your jobs. You see depravity everywhere. And that old nature is still
in us. If we're born again, we have new creatures. There's no
question. Old things are passed away. But
we will wrestle with this old nature. with depravity until
we die. So I like how this verse speaks
in absolutes. And indeed, it should because
it shows forth the ways of God or His works with the sons and
daughters of men. It's absolute. If it weren't
absolute, how else can we who are sinners have peace and everlasting
life? If it's up to me, if it's up
to my choosing, or if I want to or not want to, Tomorrow I
may get up in a bed, be in a bad mood, get up on the wrong side
of the bed. I may not feel like doing anything. But God is perfect
and He demands perfection. And He finds that perfection
in Christ and in those who are in Christ. So how else can we
who are sinful have peace at all? Or how else can the preacher
or a pastor or any believer have any substance to speak about
if all there is in this world, and even in this book, and there's
a lot of people say, well, it's just written by men, as they
were inspired by God. And that word inspired means
God breathed. Now is your God Does he govern or is he governed? It's either one way or the other.
Either he governs and sovereign over everything, which he tells
us, not a single sparrow hits the ground without him knowing
it, without him directing it. It says that the king's heart
is in the hand of God and he turns it however he wants to.
The purpose of God shall stand fast. And that's an absolute. And therefore I have peace. I
have comfort. But how else would we have any
substance to speak of if all there is is just assumptions
and suggestions, speculations or fables? No, God is true says
the scripture even if all men and women are liars. No, this
book is the foundation of our eternal hope for it all speaks
of Christ who loved us and gave himself for us. The New Testament,
when the New Testament was being written in the Gospels, time
and time again, the Pharisees would quote Scripture, and this
and that, and he said, Abraham, rejoice to see my day. He said,
these are they, he's speaking about the Scriptures, these are
they which testify of me. So when we gather together, we
testify. I'm responsible. Paul says, woe
unto me if I preach not the Gospel. So that's what I need to do.
I need to be faithful. And I know it's easy, boy, it's
easy to look right, left, up, down. It's easy to do certain
things. But no, we must continue to preach
the Gospel. Because I know in the Gospel,
that is how God can be just and justify the ungodly. How God,
who is holy and righteous, can save the guilty. I know if I
keep on preaching that, I know enough that every single situation
in your life can be taken care of by the gospel. Husbands, wives,
children, paying taxes, rendering in Caesar, all these things,
you can honor Christ in speaking about Him. And I thought about
this, Melinda and I were talking, and I thought about something
that Henry said a long time ago. I love this illustration. I've
used it many, many times, and I haven't used it for a couple
of years, so if you heard it, that's good. Here's the problem
with modern preaching and modern preaching. Here's the scene.
You're in a kitchen and the kitchen sink spigots are full blast and
the sink is clogged and the water's coming up and it's overflowing.
Modern day preachers and preaching, they're not preaching the truth.
They've got a mop and they're just continually mopping. The
gospel preacher, aided and assisted by the Holy Spirit, by the grace
of God, it turns off the spigots and unclogs the sink. But man,
they're looking at secondary, third, fourth, different causes.
If we only did this, this, and this, this would be right? No.
Preach the Gospel, and the Gospel believed, then it'll be right. And that's the only way it's
going to happen. So, let's look at this one word, root, And I
can title this message, The Root of the Matter. But the root of
the righteous. Before we can be righteous, we
have to have a good root. Okay? I looked up this word,
because I like to look up words, and I was humiliated once again.
The word means root. You know what a root is, right?
You know, Dr. Gill, all these people, you got
all these tools, and I looked it up and it's like, it means
root. Okay, well that's, and again,
I have a degree in forestry and a minor in botany. I know a little
bit about plant flora and that kind of stuff. But even these
children know what roots are. Now what Annika brought in Melinda,
the top part of a goat's beard, that was not the root. That was
just the top part, that was the flower. Now if Linda takes that,
takes it home, and puts it in water, probably by tomorrow or
the next day, it's going to root. It's going to wither. And it's
going to die. And I've seen it where you can
cut down a tree, and then next year, it'll sprout. Why? Because the root is still
good. And that root is not us. Turn to Isaiah 60, that root
is Christ. That root is Christ. Roots in
plant life are absolutely vital or critical in the plant's existence. Roots, it provides stability
for the plant, it provides anchorage, it provides support, food production
or food transmission, health, and protection. Now I tell you
this, this root is Christ. He is our anchor. So if the root
is good, and he is good, the top, it's going to bear fruit,
some 30, 60, whatever. But I tell you that Christ is
the root. Just like the plant cannot abide except with the
root, so we cannot abide, spiritually speaking, without Christ. Turn
to Isaiah 61. How did this root get there?
How did this root get there? Ah, man's free will. That did
it. That did it. I just decided to
choose Jesus one day. I thought we were dead in trespasses
and sins. I've never seen a dead man, as
many funerals as I've done, as many funerals as I've been to,
I've never seen anybody get up out of that coffin. Like one
old preacher said, if you can take the first step, you can
take them all. But you can't take the first step. Spiritually
speaking. And that's what we're dealing
with. The truth of God. to the spiritual, all things
are spiritual. How did this root come about? Did it just plant
itself? Isaiah 61 and verse 3, well,
let's start reading in verse 1. And the Spirit of the Lord
God is upon me, because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good
tidings unto the meek. Speaking of Christ, He has sent
me to bind up the brokenhearted, only He can, to proclaim liberty
to the captives, only He can do this, and the opening of the
prison to them that are bound. to proclaim the acceptable year
of the Lord, the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all that
mourn, look at verse three, to appoint unto them that mourn
in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for
mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness,
that they might be called trees of righteousness. Look at this
next phrase, the planting of the Lord, that He, the Lord,
may be glorified. If you do it yourself, He gets
no glory. That's the bottom line. If there's
anything that you can do to produce your salvation or a positive
outcome by way of life, spiritual life, you get the glory and not
God. This was a created... the new
birth. How much did you have to do with
your first birth? Second birth? Oh, now we've got
something to do. No, we don't. It's a pure act of His sovereign
grace. From conception to birth, to
babes to full maturity, He's the first, He's the last, He's
the Alpha, the Omega. To be honest with you, I hadn't
looked at this in years, but this is the verse that the Lord
used to awaken my heart. I'll just share it with you.
I haven't looked at it in a long time, I think of it often. Romans chapter 4. Romans chapter 4. Dog gone it. I did it again. Brandy, you may need to help
me on this one. If it's grace, it's no more works. I got 4.16. Okay, I guess this is correct.
Therefore it is of faith. What is he talking about? He's
talking about salvation or righteousness. Therefore it is of faith that
it might be by grace to the end that the promise might be sure
to all the seed, not that only which is of the law, but to that
also which is of the faith of Abraham who is the father of
us all. It is of faith that it might
be by grace. Yeah, let's look at Romans 11. I remember where I was sitting,
and this was just read by the preacher, and I said, I thought I knew
what grace is and I thought I knew what works was. If it is by grace,
if salvation, if righteousness, if peace, if it is by grace,
then it is no more works. Otherwise, grace is no more grace. But if it be works, then it is
no more grace. Otherwise, work is no more work.
It's oil and water. You cannot mix the two. And when he said this, I thought
I understood grace. I understood the definition of
grace. Unmerited favor, all these different things. But it hadn't
dropped. It hadn't sunk in. It's either
grace or work. There's only two religions in
the world. Only two religions in the world. Cain and Abel. Cain brought the best he could. He brought the best he could
and was rejected. Abel brought a substitute, a lamb, a covering. And in the Garden
of Eden, when they sinned, God says, where are you? And they
were hiding because they had already sinned. They tried to
put fig leaves. That's what free will is. That's
what works is. That's what seeking your own
your own glory, your own salvation by any merit or work that you've
done. That's what you're doing. You've got fig leaves on. God
took them off and clothed them. He clothed them. He clothed them. Romans chapter 11. Stay there. Verses 13 through 18. For I speak to you Gentiles..."
That's us. If you're not a Jew, you're a
Gentile. That would be us. Paul says, "...I speak to you
Gentiles, and as much as I am the apostle of the Gentiles,
I magnify my office. If by any means I may provoke
to immolation them which are of my flesh, and might save some
of them." Now he says, if I may provoke the Jews to emulation.
For if the casting away of the Jews be the reconciling of the
world, what shall the receiving of them be, the Jews, but life
from dead? For if the first fruit be holy,
the lump is also holy. And if the root be holy, So are
the branches. Continue. And if some of the
branches be broken off, the Jews, thou being a wild of olive branch,
the Gentiles, were grafted in among them, and with them partakest
of the root and the fatness of the olive. Now look at verse
18. Boast not against the branches. But if you boast, you bear not
the root, but the root bears you. This thing of salvation,
this work of grace, it's all of the root. And it's Christ. So we have no right to boast
and say we know more than somebody else, or we're a believer because
I'm the middle son, or I'm the middle daughter, and mom and
dad like me better. No, there's no merit. None whatsoever. The root bears us. Grace, that's
faith, that's Christ, is our root. And therefore, our text
states back in Proverbs, we shall not be moved. Eternally, we shall
not be moved. We may be struggled, we get bounced
around, banged around, persecuted, tried, afflicted, but eternally,
we're secure. Colossians 2. Colossians 2. chapter 2, verses 6 and 7, "...as
ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him,
rooted and built up in Him, and established in the faith as ye
have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving." He's speaking
to the saints, which is in verse 1, to the saints of Colossae.
He's speaking to the saints. And he says that we are rooted
and built up in Him. In Him. We're rooted in Christ.
We're rooted by Christ. We're rooted because of Christ.
And we're rooted through Christ. And who's that root? Well, in
Isaiah 53, you don't have to turn there, 53 verse 2, he says
Christ is a root out of dry ground. In Revelation 5, 5, he says He's
the root of David. Turn with me to Isaiah 11. Isaiah
11. Isaiah 11 and verse 10. And in that day there shall be
a root of Jesse. He's called the root of Jesse.
Christ says, which shall stand for an incent of the people and
to him shall the Gentiles seek, and his rest shall be glorious."
Christ is that root. Christ is that root. Ephesians chapter 3. Ephesians
chapter 3 and verse 17. Let's read verses 14 through
21. Paul says, for this cause I bow
my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the
whole family in heaven and in earth is named, that He would
grant you according to the riches of His glory to be strengthened
with the might of His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ
may dwell in your hearts by faith, that ye, being rooted and grounded
in Him, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the
breadth, length, depth, height and to know the love of Christ
which passes knowledge that she might be filled with all the
fullness of God now unto him that is able to do exceeding
abundantly above all that we ask or think according to the
power that worketh in us unto him the root be glory in the
church of Jesus Christ throughout all ages world without end Look at this in verse 17. I thought
this was interesting. That Christ may dwell in your
hearts by faith, that ye being rooted. Being rooted. It's past tense.
It's already done. If we're righteous, we have that
root. Not because we chose Him, but
as the Scripture says, He chose us. Not because we first loved
Him, but because He first loved us. Because we are the sinners
in need of rescue. We are the offenders in need
of divine reconciliation. We are the vain ones in need
of sovereign humility. We are the vile and full need
of the robe of Christ's righteousness to be provided for us. So therefore
we bless His holy name, because it is only by the work of our
Lord Jesus Christ who stood perfect before God's law, who walked
perfect and pure before God and men and honored all that was
to be honored, satisfied every single jot and tittle against
us, and cried, it is finished. He was buried, rose, and now
sits at God's right hand of power and authority. And as Daniel
says, who can stay his hand or say unto him, what are you doing? That's what Nebuchadnezzar said.
Remember that? I just love that story. Nebuchadnezzar,
he walks out of the palace. And he's standing, he's looking
over this kingdom. And he says, look at this kingdom that I have
done. by my might and my power." And
you can throw in anything itself. I've done this. It's because
of my legislation this has happened. Because of my this, this and
that. Me, me, me. Look at what I've done. And before
he finished speaking, look at it, the Lord brought him down
in feathers like eagles, claws. I don't know what he was, but
he wasn't pretty. The Lord humbled him. The Lord humbled him. And
then, just as miraculously as he humbled him, he gave him his
right reason back. And that's right after they said,
I praise and extol the Lord God of heaven. He saw God as sovereign. He saw himself as nothing. But all this is nice and true
and indeed is scriptural. But because we have the root
in us, this gracious union with Christ, what are the results?
Well, back in our text in Proverbs 3, "...but the root of the righteous
shall not be moved." And in Proverbs 12, verse 12,
"...the wicked desire not the net of evil men, but the root
of the righteous yields fruit." Well, if I believe like you said,
Pastor, that everything was predestinated according to His purpose and
glory and all these different things which Ephesians... Look
at Ephesians for one. If I preach that way, then we're
just going to do what we want to do. No. The love of Christ,
says the Scripture, constrains us. Not whips and biscuits. Not I'm not going to reward you.
You know, put your name or something, a little star on the pew. We
don't do that. This is ridiculous. But I know that He says, the
root of the righteous yields fruit. Yields fruit. Hosea 14 verse 8, you don't need
to turn there, He says, from Me, the blessed root, is our
fruit found. From Me is thy fruit found."
And Christ Himself says, without Me you can do nothing. Look at 2 Kings 19. 2 Kings 19. And verse 30. Here's the righteous, and the
remnant, that's the righteous, not everybody, not all men, the
remnant, that has escaped of the house of Judah shall yet
again take root downward and bear fruit upward." So basically,
we act like we say we believe. Wow! You mean I don't have to go to
confessional every Saturday and say my sins as some silly man
with a goofy looking hat? And ask for pardon? Rub a few
beads? No, we don't have to do that.
Because they say that there's still a priest. No, the only
priest we have regard to is the Lord Jesus Christ, our High Priest.
Isaiah 27. Isaiah 27. And verse 2, 3, and
6. Isaiah 27. In that day, singing unto her a vineyard of
red wine. I, the Lord, do keep it." Do
keep what? The vineyard. Who's the vineyard? That's His
church. "...lest any hurt it. I will keep it night and day."
And look at verse 6, "...He shall cause them to come to Jacob to
take root. Israel shall blossom and bud
and fill the face of the world with fruit." People call it the Grand Commission.
Go forth. Telling everybody the truth.
Repentance. The Gospel. We're going to blossom
and bud. I'd say that illustrates life.
Isaiah 37. Isaiah 37. Isaiah 37. And verse
31. And this, verse 31, and the remnant,
there they are again, the righteous, that has escaped of the house
of Judah, shall again take root downward and bear fruit upward. Upward. What I mean when I talk about
the root, you could cut it down. They're called advantageous roots,
advantageous buds. Oaks are notorious for that.
Cut it down. Bulbs. You can take the top off,
but the bulb is still going to grow. Well, is this something
new? I know it's not new, but I didn't know the scriptures
talked about it. Let me just read to you. This is exactly
what I'm saying. It's in Job chapter 14, but I'll
just read it to you. Verses 7-9, Job 14, 7-9, For
there is hope of a tree. if it be cut down, that it will
sprout again, and that the tender branch thereof will not cease,
though the root thereof wax old in the earth, and the stalk thereof
die in the ground, yet through the scent of water it will bud
and bring forth boughs like a plant." That's exactly what I'm saying.
I'm like, wow, I guess my college professors looked at this and
based their There are theories on that. No, they didn't. But
there's nothing new under the sun. Not anything new under the
sun. So, though it be trimmed, and
as we grow together in the grace of God here in this church, you
may be looking at a brother or a sister, and they may be trimmed,
They may be shaped pretty hard, they may be trapped, perhaps
stunted, or pruned, or hurt, or afflicted, yet they will still
show forth life in Christ, who is our life. So sometimes our
outward eyes, it's not the whole picture. We don't see everything.
So, bear and forbear one another, is what I'm saying. Because we
think we know a lot, But we don't know what each one another is
going through. And if you don't want to say anything, that's
fine, but say something so we can be lifting you up. But God
knows your needs. And though the tree, like the
vine He talks about producing more fruit, and if you've raised
fruit trees or vineyards, you know you cut those things back. But it's going to develop more
fruit. It's going to develop more fruit.
So whether they're being pruned or not, brethren, come what may,
is what I'm saying. Back to our text. The root of
the righteous shall not be moved. We're going to continue believing,
continue coming, continue trusting Christ. Come what may. I ask myself when I ask you,
are we found in Him? Do we have the root? Are we united
with God in Christ? Do we find our sustenance only
in Him, in His Word, in His Gospel, in His fellowship, in His people
who are like-minded? Again, I say over and over in
the book of Acts, When they believed, they got baptized, and so they
continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine, breaking
of bread, that's what we're going to do, in fellowship, encouraging
and exhorting one another. Because as soon as you get out
of this place, not this building, because the people are of the
church, but we meet here, believe me, it's rough, and it's
tough, and it gets aggravating. But I ask, do we have root in
Him? Is He our root? Because unfortunately,
turn to Matthew chapter 13. Here is the plot, the fate of
many. The cares of the world, the love
of money, the love of position, of title, takes over. But here's the main
cause. Matthew chapter 13, let's just
look at one through six. The same day Jesus went out of
the house and sat by the seaside. And a great multitudes were gathered
together unto Him so that He went to a ship and sat, and a
whole multitude stood on the shore. And He spake many things
unto them in parables, saying, Behold, a sower went forth to
sow. And when he had sowed, some seeds
fell by the wayside, the fowls came and devoured them up. Some
fell upon stony places where they had not much earth, and
forthwith they sprang up because they had no deepness in the earth.
And when the sun was up, they were scorched, and because They
had no root. They withered away. That's why Christ is the root
of the matter. And you've seen it and I've seen it. You talk
and you talk. And some people get it and some
people don't. Those who get it, they've been gotten by God. Christ
got them to Him first. Always. But that's the nature
of it. But my desire for us here, for
myself, is that I would have a root, and therefore not be
moved. May we see Christ as our one
true Keeper of our souls. May we look to Him only. And
as I said last week, He never will look away from a true cry
of mercy, because He's put that cry of mercy in the heart. Cry
for mercy. looks away from a heart cry of
mercy. Well, to God be the glory, our
glorious root. Christ Jesus.