Isaiah 61:4

We want to start our sermon today at the end of Isaiah 61:3. The Bible says in Isaiah 61:3-6, “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, the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified. And they shall build the old wastes, they shall raise up the former desolations, and they shall repair the waste cities, the desolations of many generations. And strangers shall stand and feed your flocks, and the sons of the alien shall be your plowmen and your vinedressers. But ye shall be named the Priests of the LORD: men shall call you the Ministers of our God: ye shall eat the riches of the Gentiles, and in their glory shall ye boast yourselves.” In the first three verses we were told several important truths about salvation in Jesus Christ. We are told that God calls individuals to preach the gospel. We are also told that if someone is humble, and pliable, and teachable that they can receive the gospel and be gloriously saved. Starting at the end of Isaiah 61:3 we are told some of the results of being saved by Jesus. The last part of Isaiah 61:3 says that people are given the gospel, “that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified.”

If you have bowed before the Lord Jesus, and repented of your sins, then you have a home in heaven. You will not end up in the lake of fire: you will end up in heaven, safe in the arms of Jesus forever. That is a wonderful assurance that He gives us, but He wants to do more than give us “fire insurance,” a lot more. Jesus wants to make us “trees of righteousness.” When He saved us, He made each of us a child of God. At the moment we were saved Jesus gave us His own righteousness. Without righteousness no one can enter the kingdom of heaven. The Bible says in Ephesians 5:5, “For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.” That is called imputed righteousness. There is a great accounting that is made in heaven. Every person is listed as either an unrighteous person or a righteous person. The Apostle Paul quoted the book of Genesis, and Paul wrote in Romans 4:3, “For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.” We are not saved by works, we are saved by faith in Jesus. Our position in the eyes of God is that we are righteous. The righteousness of Christ has been credited to our account. That is why according to Romans 8:1, “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.” That’s our position in Christ. That is the state in which He has put us: a righteous state.

But the Lord not only wants us to have imputed righteousness, He also wants us to have a practical righteousness. In other words, Jesus wants His believers to do the right thing. He wants us to be “trees of righteousness.” Bob Jones used to say over and over again to his students, “Do right until the stars fall.” It is better to do right and lose than it is to do wrong and win. If you do what is right, you win the battle of right against wrong. Notice that God wants us to be “trees of righteousness.” What does it take to be a tree of righteousness? First of all for a tree to grow, it must be planted. In other words its life must start. Of course, the Lord starts our spiritual life when we are saved by faith in Jesus. Even though we have eternal life as a free gift, how are we going to become a tree of righteousness? We started as a little sprout, so how do we become a mighty tree?

Before we talk about how we become a mighty tree of righteousness for the Lord, let’s talk about why we need to become a tree of righteousness. In order to become a tall tree that lasts a long time, it has got to be able to withstand the storms, because you can be sure of one thing: storms will come. Every person who walks on this earth will also face storms: storms of opposition, storms of temptation, storms of heartbreak, storms of sorrow, etc. How are you going to withstand the storms and become a mighty tree of righteousness?

Here is the first important requirement to becoming a “tree” of righteousness. The Bible says in Jeremiah 17:7-8, “Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is. For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river.” Jeremiah 17:7 says to trust in the Lord and to hope in the Lord. Both words “trust” and “hope” speak of faith: faith in the Lord. You are going to need your faith as you go through life. Therefore, build it up, guard it, and do whatever you can to strengthen your faith and to make it grow. “Now faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.” It says in Jude 20, “But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost.”

There is another well-known passage of scripture that tells us other important truths on how a believer grows to the point of becoming a mighty tree. This passage is found in Psalms chapter 1. The Bible says in Psalms 1:1-3, “Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.” Psalms 1:1 to a great degree is talking about peer pressure. In order to become a tree of righteousness in the service of Jesus Christ you must be willing to be different, and you must learn how to avoid those who will try to drag you down. Psalm 1:1 uses three words to describe those who want to drag you down: “ungodly,” “sinners,” and “scornful.” The word “ungodly” means “wicked.” This describes the character of people that you must watch out for. They are just plain wicked: they are bad through and through. The word “sinners” refers to their actions. People that you must watch out for are people who are involved in sinful activity. And the word “scornful” means “boaster” or “mocker.” It refers to their speech. They speak forth arrogantly against the ways of God.

Notice the phrase “the counsel of the ungodly.” “Counsel” refers to advice. The wicked people of the world are going to give you advice: advice on how to live life, advice on what your goals should be, advice on what kinds of actions are acceptable, and advice on what to do to have fun. Of course, it is the wrong advice because it is the advice of unbelievers who do not reverence the Word of God as their guide for behavior, and who do not love Jesus. Their advice will lead to sinful actions. Ideas often lead to action, and thoughts often lead to action. Therefore, have the right thoughts, and that will help lead you to the right actions. Have the wrong thoughts, and that will help lead you to the wrong actions. Take the advice of the ungodly, and that will lead you to sinful actions.

The “scornful” are those who boast of their iniquity, and who even mock God. They are perhaps the most unpalatable of unbelievers because of the degree to which they are loud and obnoxious. But notice that Psalms 1:1 shows a terrible downward progression to sin. At first someone is “walking” in the counsel of the ungodly. They have gotten close enough to hear what the ungodly say, but at least they are still moving: they still might be able to get away from the ungodly advice. Unfortunately everyone in our society from the youngest ages and upward hear the worst of advice every day. That is what the music, and the commercials, and the television shows, and the movies are: advice recommending one action or another. That is one reason why so many people today end up taking the worldly counsel: they are bombarded with it so much. One of the challenges of the Christian life is: how do you organize your life in order to minimize listening to all of the propaganda.

Notice in Psalms 1:1 that when a person is influenced by the ungodly advice that they go from walking to standing. We are told that blessed are those who do not “stand” in the way of sinners. And then we see the final result of the progression downward is to sit in the “seat” of the scornful. The word that is translated “seat” comes from a word that means “to dwell” or “to inhabit.” When a person gets to this point of sitting in the seat of the scornful, not only are they are living in sin, they are comfortable with it. They have gone past the point of just thinking about some ungodly advice, and committing some individual acts of sin; but now they are willing to dwell in, and abide in an environment where the most repugnant of unbelievers dwell: like a hog wallowing in the mire.

Psalms 1:1 says that blessed is the man that walketh not, standeth not, and sitteth not. This is the Biblical principle of separation from the world, or separation from unbelievers. As believers in Christ we are to love the souls of the unsaved, and we are always to seek from the Lord to be compassionate towards them. But we are not to accept the philosophies of the unsaved or their ways of thinking, nor are we to commit the sinful acts that they so readily commit. This is called separation. We are to be separated from the world. “Love not the world, nether the things that are of the world, for all that is of the world: the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life are not of the Father, but are of the world.”

That is the downward path, so what is the upward path? Remember we want to grow upward from a small seedling to a mighty tree. It says in Psalms 1:2, “But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.” If you reject the counsel of the ungodly and find ways to minimize its influence on you, then that will take away the negative input to your thoughts and to your heart. But you are not going to be able to rely upon your own intuitive powers or your own imagination to find out what thoughts you should have, what should be the goals for your behavior, or what God wants you to do. Every believer needs the Bible. I would recommend the KJV (King James Version) for reading, studying, learning, memorizing, and meditating on the Bible. God’s Word is truth. God’s Word reveals to us Jesus and His great love. God’s Word is our spiritual food. Jesus said in Matthew 4:4, “Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.” Jesus spoke of “every” Word of God. Psalms 1:2 tells us to meditate on the Word of God “day and night.” To follow Jesus is a call to a very high standard and a very great challenge. Jesus did not say that some of the Word of God would be enough. Psalms 1:2 does not say that it would be sufficient to think about the Word of God during part of the day only or part of the night only. It says “day and night”. I think the principle is this: you need all of the Word of God in order to know all of the truth from God. That is why it is a life-long pursuit in order to grow in the understanding of the Word of God. It is a daily pursuit in order to be fed spiritually from the Word of God. We must have “bread” every day for our bodies, and thus we need the Word of God every day for our spiritual vitality and growth.

If we do these things mentioned in Isaiah chapter 61, Jeremiah chapter 17, and Psalms chapter 1, then we will become “trees of righteousness:” We must learn to continually rely upon the Lord, we must learn to reject the counsel of the ungodly and learn what it means to be separate from them, and we must learn to get the proper spiritual nourishment from God’s Word on a daily basis.

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