2
Kings 19:30
And the remnant that is
escaped of the house of Judah
shall yet again take root
downward, and bear fruit upward.
Isa..37:31
And the remnant that is
escaped of the house of Judah
shall again take root downward,
and bear fruit upward:
WHAT A GLORIOUS TRUTH:
If you would take bear fruit upward,
you must take root downward.
I. THIS IS AN INTERESTING METAPHOR,
GOD COMPARES HIS PEOPLE TO TREES.
Many of you are familiar with
Ps.1:3
And he shall be like a tree planted by the
rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season;
II THE UNGODLY, on the other hand, SEEM TO LACK ROOT
Ps.1:4
The ungodly
are not so: but are like the
chaff which
the wind driveth away.
Mk.4:17
And have no
root in themselves, and so endure but for
a time: afterward,
when affliction or persecution ariseth
for the words
sake, immediately they are offended.
WHEN YOU GET TO THE ROOT OF THE
MATTER,
they are
not rooted & grounded in the truth.
Their roots do not
extend toward truth.Roots will grow toward water.
A church service, hymn singing, Bible reading,
special music, preaching, etc.
should solicit A REACHING OF THE ROOT.If a reaching of the root is not solicited,
could it be that there is no root in you?Roots reach for water, for nourishment.
The water of life; the nourishment of the Word.
THE BIBLE SAYS GROW IN GRACE -
You can't actually grow anywhere else
May swell - think you are growing,
But, you will ultimately wither & shrink
if planted in anything else but grace.
GRACE IS THE ONLY CURRENCY
GOOD AT HEAVEN'S BANK& it takes the endorsement of faith
to cash the proceeds
YOU CAN'T WITHDRAW FROM HEAVEN'S BANK
ON THE PROMISSORY NOTES OF HELLIll. - PERHAPS YOU HEARD OF
THE STUPID CRIMINAL
who went into a bank to rob it.
He wrote out his demand note
on one of the bank's deposit slips.NOT A VERY GOOD WRITER or speller,
He wrote: "This is a stikkup.
Put all yur muny in this bag."While waiting in line to present it to the teller,
he got nervous, left the bank (afraid someone might
have seen him draft the note), and went to another
bank across the street & presented the note.THE TELLER saw the misspelled words, looked at the
nervous man, and told him that she could not accept the
stick-up note because it was written on the deposit slip
of the bank across the street, and that he would have to
go back across the street and present it there.HE DID, and was arrested by the police
who were notified.WELL, ANYONE KNOWS THAT YOU HAVE TO BE
AT THE RIGHT BANK , WHERE YOU HAVE AN ACCOUNT,
WHERE THEY KNOW YOU, TO CONDUCT BUSINESS..
If you have no account with the Bank of Heaven,
if you have done all your business with the Bank of Hell,then remember
YOU CAN'T WITHDRAW FROM THE BANK OF HEAVEN
ON THE PROMISSORY NOTES OF HELL.I KNOW THAT I AM MIXING MY METAPHORS,
BUT I DO SO INTENTIONALLY.The point is by analogy,
Just as you must make your withdrawals from where a deposit
has been made in your name,In the same way, a root will pull from the soil
where it has been planted.
III. IT IS CLEARLY EVIDENT THAT THE CHILDREN OF GOD
ARE ROOTED IN DIFFERENT SOIL
THAN THE CHILDREN OF THE EVIL ONE.
For example,
THE CHILDREN OF GOD ARE NOT TO BE
ROOTED IN BITTERNESS
Heb.12:15
Looking diligently
lest any man fail of the grace of God;
lest any root
of bitterness springing up trouble you, and
thereby many
be defiled;
Watch where your roots run.
De.29:18
Lest there should
be among you man, or woman, or
family, or tribe,
whose heart turneth away this day from
the Lord our
God, to go and serve the gods of these
nations; lest
there should be among you a root that
beareth gall
and wormwood;
WE WHO ARE SAVED ARE NOT
ROOTED IN ROTTENNESS
Is.5:24
Therefore as
the fire devoureth the stubble, and the
flame consumeth
the chaff, so their root shall be as
rottenness,
and their blossom shall go up as dust:
because they
have cast away the law of the Lord of
hosts, and despised
the word of the Holy One of Israel.
REMEMBER THAT GOD WILL EVENTUALLY
ROOT OUT ALL ROTTENNESS.
Ps.52:5
God shall likewise
destroy thee for ever, he shall take
thee away, and
pluck thee out of thy dwelling place, and
root thee out
of the land of the living. Selah.
Pr.2:22
But the wicked
shall be cut off from the
earth, and the
transgressors shall be rooted
out of it.
Mt.3:10
And now also
the axe is laid unto the root of the trees:
therefore every
tree which bringeth not forth good fruit
is hewn down,
and cast into the fire.
Mal.4:1
FOR, behold,
the day cometh, that shall burn as an
oven; and all
the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly,
shall be stubble:
and the day that cometh shall burn them
up, saith the
Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them
neither root
nor branch.
CAST INTO HELL - THE LAKE OF FIRE
THINK OF IT - LIQUID FIRE (Lake)
Have you ever seen
a volcano?
IMAGINE:
DROWNING IN LIQUID FIRE
RIPPED FROM YOUR ROOTS, & cast into the fire.
THE LOST WILL
BE TORN LOOSE
FROM THEIR ROOTS
(Those false securities that they have clung to)
Jude, verse 12
These are spots
in your feasts of charity,
when they feast
with you, feeding
themselves without
fear: clouds they are
without water,
carried about of winds; trees
whose fruit
withereth, without fruit, twice
dead, plucked
up by the roots;
Mt.15:13
But he answered
and said, Every plant,
which my heavenly
Father hath not planted,
shall be rooted
up.
IV. CONTRAST THIS WITH THOSE
WHO ARE ROOTED IN RIGHTEOUSNESS!
OH, GLORIOUS TRUTH,
WE WILL NEVER BE TORN LOOSE
IF WE ARE ROOTED IN CHRIST.
Pr.12:3
the root of the righteous shall not be moved.
A root is a fixed and a fastening thing.
Ill. - a strong oak tree.
WE ARE ROOTED IN CHRIST, AND
WE CAN BEAR FRUIT FOR HIM, EVEN NOW.
Pr.12:12
the root of the righteous
yieldeth fruit.
Take root downward,
Yield fruit upward.
This is what made America great.
She was rooted in humility & righteousness.
That is why she produced the fruit
she has produced.
As we send out roots
in wrong directions, we are headed for trouble.
We are already seeing the fruit.
V. THE HIDDEN ROOT
PRODUCES VISIBLE FRUIT.
What we are seeing in our world today
is the fruits produced from bad roots.THIS ROOT THING IS NOT AN OUTWARD THING
ROOTS ARE GENERALLY HIDDEN.
Job 19:28
But ye should say, Why persecute we him, seeing the
root of the matter is found in me?
IF THE ROOT IS RIGHT, THEN THE FRUIT SHOULD BE RIGHT.
Ro.11:16 -
For if the firstfruit be holy, the lump is also holy: and if
the root be holy, so are the branches.
In this instance:
If the root is wrong,
(sunk, as it were, in the wrong soil),
Surely we are not surprised
if the fruit be foul.
IT IS A HEART MATTER
WHERE ARE YOU ROOTED (WHERE ONLY GOD CAN SEE)?Are you rooted in humility or pride?
(Well, actually sometimes people can see that!)You'll never grow taller
Than you grow deep.The only way up is down.
THE REAL QUESTION IS,
ARE YOU ROOTED IN CHRIST?
Do your roots drink deep from the hidden fountain?
Ep.3:17
That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith;
that ye, being rooted and grounded in love,Col.2:7
Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in
the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding
therein with thanksgiving.
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The preceeding is a sermon written by Ben Shepherd
Copyright 1999 - Ben Shepherd
Keep this copyright notice attached.
Permission is freely granted to those who minister
to use in public proclamation without stating attribution.
All other rights reserved.
Written and edited after reading & rereading from the sermon(s)
cited
below by C.H. Spurgeon. Some of the thoughts and ideas were
inspired by Spurgeon's sermons, which are in the public domain.
A PSALM FOR THE NEW YEAR; Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit,
Volume 8, NO. 427; A SERMON DELIVERED ON SUNDAY
MORNING, JANUARY 5TH, 1862, BY REV. C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.
THE ROOT OF THE MATTER, METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE
PULPIT, VOL. 9, NO. 505; A SERMON DELIVERED ON
SUNDAY EVENING, APRIL 12TH, 1863, BY THE REV. C. H.
SPURGEON. AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.
Editors note: Frankly, if you looked at the two sermons, you would
have difficulty even perceiving in this instance any similarity, but
I
wanted to cite the sermons anywhere as inspiring me to study on this topic.
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