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Let me express my sincere thanks 
for this opportunity to be with you here, representing Grace 
Baptist Church Eldorette, and that you, dear ones, should allow 
me to occupy your pulpit now a second time, and in the morning 
over there, I'm very, very grateful. And I will be going back when 
the time comes to be able to express the joy that it has been 
being among you. The relationship we enjoy together 
because of Christ is genuine, it's real, it's very encouraging 
to us. We have received so much from 
you, dear brethren, and we thank God for that. We will never be 
able to repay, but we are very, very grateful for what the Lord 
has done that we can be in this kind of fellowship, of a togetherness. I have the opportunity to bring 
God's Word, and I would want to use this opportunity again 
to be an encouragement. And as I think of the Christian 
life, the Christian life is not lived in a vacuum, the Christian 
life is not lived in cloud nine, as it were, whatever that may 
mean. And I say that, I use that expression 
because particularly among the health and wealth, you know, 
believers or those who claim such kind of a gospel want to 
tell us that if you are a believer, then you should be living a life 
that basically goes up like this. But the truth of the matter, 
if you are a believer, is that you will be experiencing an up, 
it's basically an upward trend, but with ups and downs. And there 
are moments when you wonder, how low will that go? Before 
Asitua, you make an upward movement again. Dear brethren, dear friends, 
that is the reality in the Christian life. So exactly what am I talking 
about? It is this, that as we live our 
lives as Christians, practically we go through trials, we go through 
challenges, we go through problems which make us wonder. Lord, where are you? Lord, how 
long? And that becomes even harder 
when you see the non-believers not only appearing to be going 
up and up and up, but the non-believers, as it were, turning against you 
as a believer. using words that they can use 
to corrupt their way, to make it sound that you are, they use 
their tongues to manipulate or even outrightly to accuse you 
and make you wonder, Lord, do you know what is happening in 
this situation? Maybe in a work situation, maybe 
in a home set up. As a believer, you want to please 
the Lord, but then in your very home, in your very workplace, 
in your school, in your college, There are those who do not know 
the Lord, they do not love the Lord, they then use everything 
before them to make life hard for you. And you wonder, Lord, 
how long? Lord, do you care? Lord, will 
I survive? Well, I trust that this will 
be an encouragement as we look in God's Word now to be able 
to see that yes, the Lord does care and the Lord mocks all that 
happens, all the evils, all the unfairness. all the wrong accusations, the 
Lord marks them and that the Lord will act. At the end it 
will be seen indeed He is in control And it wasn't at your 
speed, it wasn't as you would have liked, but it's that which 
the Lord wants. So the Lord is never late. If 
you are about to throw in the towel and say, I have waited 
for the Lord for so long, this cannot continue like this. If 
the Lord is there, why has he left me in this situation? Friends, 
I don't know your situation, but the Lord knows. Well, let's 
use His Word so that we can receive encouragement from Him. Please 
turn with me to the book of Psalms, Psalm 52. This is a psalm that I trust, 
it's only nine verses, and I trust it will be for our good. I read Psalm 52. To the choir 
master, a muskel of David, when Doeg, the Edomite, came and told 
Saul, David has come to the house of Haimelech. Verse one. Why do you boast of evil, O mighty 
man? The steadfast love of the Lord 
endures all the day. Your tongue plots destruction 
like a sharp razor, you worker of deceit. You love evil more 
than good and lying more than speaking what is right. Sell 
her. You love all words that devour 
a deceitful tongue. But God will break you down forever. He will snatch and tear you from 
your tent. He will uproot you from the land 
of the living. The righteous shall see and fear, 
and shall laugh at him, saying, See the man who would not make 
God his refuge, but trusted in the abundance of his riches. He sought refuge in his own destruction. But I am like a green olive tree 
in the house of God. I trust in the steadfast love 
of God forever and ever. I will thank you forever because 
you have done it. I will wait for your name, for 
it is good in the presence of the godly." Well, that's God's 
word, and I just want to... understand this passage and then 
draw some helpful lessons for ourselves. It's a psalm of David, 
and you will appreciate that's why we had read a number of verses 
from 1 Samuel chapter 21 and chapter 22. And in that passage 
that we read, David runs from King Saul is out hunting after 
him, wanting to kill him. And David runs for his life, 
comes to Ahimelech, the priest, and asks for help. And it so happened. It so happened that there was 
a man there in the presence of Ahimelech, a man called Doeg. And this man called the Edomite 
happens to just be there and to see and to hear the things 
and the conversation that went on between David and Himalik. And then Doig reports this to 
Saul, who then is even more and more angry and orders the murder 
of Ahimelech and all the other priests with him, 85 in number. Doig, very gladly, pulls the 
trigger, as we would say. And this story, what we read 
in 1 Samuel and now captured in Psalm 52, is something briefly 
what I described. How a believer would feel. In this sinful world, a believer 
sees the unbeliever using his or her, but using their influence 
for their own gain against the people of God to such an extent 
that a child of God looks and says, is it worth it? Where is God in all this? Will 
I survive? This little psalm divides itself 
I think fairly simply, easily. We look at the boasting of this 
evil doer and all evildoers like this evil man described here. And then in the second place, 
we see God's response from heaven to such who seem to take the 
law into their own hands and make life hard for the believer. And then finally, what would 
be the response? What should be the response of 
the believer When things happen the way they do, and I trust 
we'll be able to see in all this that it's never a loss. It's a sum, actually, as we will 
see at the end, that does point to the Lord Jesus Christ, and 
therefore, our hope. So in the first place we see 
the boasting of the evildoer in verses 1 to 4. Here is described 
a person, indeed in the person of the doig, boasting. And his boasting is highlighted, 
but highlighted in a negative way. And this, we may say, is 
a very evil boasting. Verse 1, why do you boast of 
evil, almighty man? Why do you boast of evil? It 
reminds us of the book of James. James is a very straightforward 
book, calling us paid as paid, as it were. calling white white 
and black black. There are no gray areas. And James describes a boasting 
person. Let me just quickly read James 
chapter 4. You will see what he's talking 
about here in James chapter 4. The boasting of an evil person. I think it is chapter 4, verse 
16. As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. James calls it ever so plainly. And even in an earlier verse 
and later we will be seeing how James It talks about the tongue 
in a moment. But there is a boasting that 
is negative, a boasting that is evil. It is a feeling of self-sufficiency. It's a feeling that I have it 
all. I am powerful. No, I am untouchable. There are people in my own country 
in our present government, they behave in such ways, the things 
they utter or the things they cause to happen, they behave 
as though they are untouchable. A recent case of Deputy Inspector of Police uttered 
some words that some particular blogger, a young man, had talked 
ill of him or accused him unfairly, and so this person then sends 
his juniors to the home of this person, gets hold of that person, 
takes him over 300 kilometers away from the home to the city 
of Nairobi, and the person, this young man is harassed and finally 
is tortured to death and to date that particular officer is untouchable. And it makes people feel ever 
so vulnerable. This man, Doig, is behaving just 
like that. In fact, he so behaves in such 
a way that he, as I use the language, he pulls the trigger and he kills 
the 85 unarmed men. And he's not ashamed. Even though evil has happened, it doesn't affect him. And when 
things happen like that, it is so easy to say, does God care? Does God care? Please look at 
the last part of verse 1. which tells us this, the steadfast 
love of God endures all the day. There is that statement, it is 
put right at the beginning after we are introduced to the boasting 
of a wicked man in his might, the untouchable, we are being 
told that as we go through this psalm, we should have in mind, 
have it underlined that the steadfast love, the mercies of the Lord 
endure forever. And so there is a hook there, 
a hook of hope in the midst of uncertainty. And that should 
encourage everyone who is a believer Well, in verse 2, this man, his 
wickedness is further explained or is narrowed down to precisely 
where it was we are told his evil is through his tongue. It's 
what he said, how he used his tongue, verse 2. Your tongue 
plots destruction like a sharp razor, you worker of deceit." 
And so it is through his tongue that he causes injury to the 
child of God. It is what he said, actually, 
that brought the death of the 85 helpless unarmed people. It was the sin of speech. And so we turn, I had mentioned, 
we will be looking at the book of James a few times, but then 
James again, chapter 3, and in verse 6 now. We could begin in 
verse 5, but we want verse 6. James 3, verse 5. So also the tongue. It's a small 
member, yet it boasts of great things. How great a forest is 
set ablaze by such a small fire, verse six. Under the tongue is 
a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, 
staining the whole body. setting on fire the entire course 
of life and set on fire by hell. Oh, the tongue, the tongue. And so it was the tongue of this 
man, Doeg, that ultimately brought the death of all these people. You see, we are then, as we move 
on, we are shown something about the state of Doeg's heart. The tongue speaks, yes, but the 
tongue does not just speak accidentally, actually. Verse 3 tells us, we're 
back in Psalm 52, look at verse 3. You love evil more than good. lying more than speaking what 
is right. And we see the word cellar at 
the end there. In other words, this is a verse 
or this is a passage we just don't read and move on. We read 
and it should cause us a moment, as it were, of reflection, that 
we don't just gloss over it and move on. No. We take a moment 
and say, wow. Verse three again. You love evil 
more than good and lying more than speaking what is right. So we are truly told the state 
of Doig's heart. He loved it so it did not come 
out as an accident. And like Doeg, we have people, 
even today, people who love to use their tongue to cause problems 
to others. And particularly we are thinking 
those who belong to the Lord. They use their tongue to hurt, 
to bring pain upon God's people. So as it was then, so now. in societies, in communities. Obviously, the authorities, even 
the police, they are there and they would They have their place 
as Romans chapter 13 would tell us. The authorities have their 
place, Romans chapter 13 verse 4, which tells us, for he is 
God's servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, 
for he does not bear the sword in vain, for he is the servant 
of the Lord. We have, if the government is 
working well, they are there, they should be there to make 
sure that wicked people, people who love to do wrong, people 
who love to use their tongue to indict others, to cause problems 
to others, then they are brought to book, they are challenged 
to you know, to verify their talks so that they do not escape 
or get away with their evil speaking, which then can land others into 
problems. But of course, as we know, government 
does not always get it right, and they will not always apprehend 
those who are bent in evil. Of course, many evil people escape 
that. But, and thankfully, it is a 
clear big but. But, look at verse four. Okay, 
you love all words that devour all deceitful tongue. Here is 
a person who loves it that way. They speak evil. and they appear 
to get away with it. But they will not be the end. That will not be the end. They 
do not have the last word because verses 5 to 7 now reveals to 
us that the God in heaven sees and will act. God's response 
from heaven against those who are bent in such evil. Doeg and 
people like him. Verse five. Verse five. But God will break you down forever. He will snatch and tear you from 
your tent. He will uproot you from the land 
of the living cellar. There we have it again. So we 
had looked at this phrase at the end of verse 1. And I said, 
even though we were introduced to the boasting of the wicked 
and the The stage was set. A statement is made about the 
wicked appearing to reign in might. And we were told at the 
end of verse 1, the mercies of the Lord or the steadfast love 
of the Lord endures forever. Now that is explained, how will 
the Lord work it out in verse 5? And there is hope. There is hope because here in 
verse 5 the psalmist brings out four things in a very dramatic 
way, four things, strong images that are used to show what the 
Lord in heaven is going to do and should encourage every true 
believer. Because the Lord in heaven is 
going to do this. One, he will break down forever. He will break down. In other 
words, he's going to destroy the wicked. In fact, he will demolish. And 
let's remember who is talking here, being described, it is 
the Lord from heaven. And oh, friends, The mighty used 
his tongue to cause problems, but now it is the Lord, the Lord 
himself, the God from heaven is the one who is going to do 
this. One, he is going to break down forever, and that is to 
destroy, to demolish the wicked. Two, he will snatch, he'll take 
away. And the implication or the idea 
there, the picture there is something must be removed. It's in the 
wrong spot. Visitors are about to enter the 
house and you realize there's a dirty piece of cloth on the 
floor, I mean on the table. and you don't grab it ever so 
gently and find, no, they're just at the door and there is 
the dirty stuff on the table. You snatch it away, you remove 
it. It is undesirable there. And so the wicked will be snatched 
away, taken away. It's in the wrong spot, as it 
were. The third thing, He will tear 
you from your tent. In other words, he'll pluck you 
away from where you would have called home, where you go to 
rest, where you feel this is your belonging, a place where 
you belong. It is said the Lord will tear 
you from your tent. And that does speak hopelessness 
on the wicked. He's torn from where he had anchored 
himself as it were his dwelling. Here referred to as a tent, clearly 
showing before the Lord it's not permanent, it's just a tent. 
And then the last thing he will do, the Lord will uproot you 
from the land of the living like a tree is uprooted. You want 
to have some development in a particular area and there are some trees 
and shrubs, you don't spare them. You uproot them and you don't 
just cut them, you uproot them, you lift them so that they do 
not exist there any longer. And that's what the Lord is going 
to do to the wicked. In other words, God is set to 
bring judgment. upon the wicked. And if it is 
the Lord doing that, dear friends, who can restrain his hand? Who can question? Who can say, what are you doing? No one can do that. It is the 
Lord. In other words, the wicked is 
doomed. It's doomed. You see, When the 
Lord does that, when the Lord carries out these four mighty 
activities to a point where we stand and look and marvel, look 
at verse 6 and verse 7. Because the Lord is going to 
do these things to break down and to snatch and tear from this 
person, from their tent and uproot them from the living. Verse 6 
and verse 7, the righteous shall see and fear and shall laugh at him. This is an Old Testament language, 
poetic yes, but holds a lot of truth. What the Lord is going 
to do is going to cause the righteous to observe and to consider. And when the righteous sees what 
the Lord is doing and considers what the Lord is doing, brings 
it to heart what the Lord is doing, you know what? will celebrate. And you may say, celebrate? How 
does the righteous celebrate when the people are destroyed, uprooted, 
and completely face the judgment? Actually, This celebration must 
be seen in the light of the fact that God is setting things right. When God sets things right, things 
which for now are They're happening in such a way and we ask, Lord, 
how long? Lord, where are you? Lord, can 
I really maintain my Christian faith? It's because things are 
not right. Things are not right. And often 
it's like, Lord, if you are there, if you are true and you're there, 
Lord, come down and do this for me. And we so often want to give 
God time. It's like, Lord, if by tomorrow 
morning you have not done this for me, then I quit Christianity. No, that's unfair. We are dealing 
with a sovereign God, a God who is in perfect control, God who 
knows exactly, and His timing is right, and He's going to break 
down the evil. the wicked and snatch them and 
tear them away and uproot them. Let's not rush the Lord, but 
when the Lord has done that, we will see, we will fear, but 
actually we will celebrate because the Lord is setting things right. Something interesting about these 
verses, particularly now, look at verse seven, please. Or read verse six and seven. The righteous shall see and fear, 
and then they shall laugh at him. This is interesting because the 
righteous are the ones calling to attention the activities of 
God. Don't miss that point. It is 
the righteous that are observing and they're seeing this, not 
the wicked. Ordinarily, you'd have thought 
that it is the wicked who, as it were, they'll stand at the 
corner somewhere and say, it's like, oh, we got it wrong. We 
got it wrong. This is the time to change. We 
are not learning that. We are not seeing that. But we 
are seeing it is the righteous. that respond in this positive 
way. So in that case, then what is 
wrong with the wicked? It is high time that they should 
act and say, wait a minute, it's time to learn. No. Someone has 
said, Alexander, McLaren, he used to be a very faithful preacher 
back in the UK. Many years back, he died in 1910, 
so that's way back. But even though dead, something 
he said remains and just really a quote. But he says in this, 
in regards to this, he says, But this is the tragedy of life. So what is that tragedy of life? 
This is the tragedy of life, that its teachings are prized 
more by those who have already learned them, and those who need 
them most consider them least. It is very sad, but it is true. In this passage, you would expect 
those who need this the most is that person or those wicked 
people who have behaved in ignorance, if we may put it that way. That 
they reach a stage and now they see the Lord for who He is and 
consider His way and fear. But no, it is the righteous who 
respond positively to the actions of God. And that's sad, but that's the 
reality. And I just pray that we will 
be those who can be considered and counted in the group of the 
righteous, that we see the actions of the Lord. that we do not rush, 
we do not hurry, we do not give up on the Lord when He is actually 
working. We need to give Him time as it 
were, we need to be patient so that as He has worked or as He 
works, it will be opportunity for us to reflect, that we may 
fear, that we may celebrate And our celebration, as we have said, 
is not evil. No, it is acknowledging, it's 
appreciating our God making things right. That should cause a believer 
to celebrate. Well, we look at verse 7, but 
as we look at verse 7, let me ask a question. And the question 
is this. Let's think of it together. Have 
you ever wanted something so badly? You genuinely, as it were, 
you sincerely want something and you want it so badly that 
you actually lie. Just let that thought sink. You want it so badly. You consider 
that, now, if I don't get this, I mean, things won't go well. My family will suffer. I might 
lose my job. I need this so badly. And you 
find yourself lying. In other words, you cut corners 
to get what you want. And why would people do that? 
Why? Why would someone express a desperate 
interest in something to a point where they add Acetone, or we 
would say adding some salt, you know, to make a matter appear 
juicy, tasty. And then you win your way, Acetone. Why? There is an answer, and the answer 
is we don't believe that God will give us if we just trust Him alone. It's 
like, no, no, no, I don't think the Lord will give me. I must 
lie. You may not call it a lie, but 
you add. Oh, friends, I think the only 
thing is so humbling because Who among us would say, no, no, 
no, that's not me. That illustration doesn't fit 
with me. It's something that is like, oh, no. Why did I add 
that last sentence? Why did I hold back that which 
I should have said? It's because you felt if you 
said it, then you, we feel, then I'll not get that which I wanted. 
Let's look at verse 7. Verse 7. Remember, the righteous 
shall see and fear and shall laugh at him. See the man who 
would not make God his refuge. Just see, see the man who would 
not make God his refuge. Instead he trusted in the abundance 
of his riches. He sought refuge in his own destruction. All he needed is to put his trust 
in God, but no, he would not. He would not. Yeah. So this is a psalm that 
does prick us to the soul. Doeg did just that. And please let's remember Psalm 
52 was written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, but we believe 
based on what had happened in 1 Samuel 21 and 22. Doeg wanted 
the favor of the king and he wanted it so badly And you would remember in the 
story we read in the Samuel passage that the soldiers of the king, 
the king had said, kill Himalik and his priests. And the soldiers 
would not. They would not. It's like they 
considered and said, no. Did they say this is God's anointed, 
this God's servant? Whatever they said, but it was 
a consideration they made, and it's like, no, no, no. Whatever 
happened to the soldiers, we don't know. But here is a man who then wanted 
the favor of the king. And so we are told he was happy 
to pull the trigger and to slaughter. all these 85 servants of the 
Lord. He would not put his trust in 
the Lord and leave it at that. He was desperate for the favor 
of the king, and you can understand. I mean, if you have the favor 
of the king in such settings, anywhere in my own country, those 
who play it right and get close to the president, they know there 
are favors for them. And if it is a church, then they 
even change their preachings. If we hear if the president is 
going to some particular church, then quickly the summon of the 
day will be changed to fit the king, you know, the president, 
and things like that. Doig was such a person. Well, how should a believer respond? We have seen the boasting of 
the evil doer. We have seen what God in heaven 
will do. What should be the response of 
a believer when things are the way they 
are. They seem to take long to be 
made right, but certainly when the Lord confirms to us, when 
the Lord reassures us, when we come to church and we hear his 
word and it's like, ah, I almost threw in the towel. It's good 
I came to church. I've heard his word. I am able 
to go back and face that challenging situation. I don't know how long 
that will be. How should a believer behave? Verses 8 and 9. But I am like a green olive tree 
in the house of God. I trust in the steadfast love 
of God forever and ever. I will thank you forever because 
you have done it. I will wait for your name, for 
it is good in the presence of the godly." And so here, Very 
interestingly, David tells us and comes to that position and 
now speaks of himself, I am, I will do, I trust. Very remarkable. So he declares in verse 8, I 
am like a green olive tree in the house of God. And the picture 
there. Well, if a green olive tree, 
not in the forest somewhere, not even along the river bank, 
no, this one is set in such a unique place in the very house of God. And therefore, one can only imagine 
a place of safety, a place of success. David is trusting in the steadfast 
love of the Lord, in the mercies of the Lord. And it's not just 
coming occasionally. No, it's coming and the language 
is used forever and ever. The mercies of the Lord stand, 
or steadfast love of the Lord stand. It's there forever. Verse 9. As we think of verse 9, When 
we first came to the Lord, at least it happened to me, and 
I believe for many of us we could bear this testimony. The day 
the Lord saved me back a few years back in 1971, I was in 
Form 1 in secondary school. I couldn't keep quiet. I mean, 
That was everything to me. I told everyone. And I was away 
in boarding and those were not the days of email or the phones. You'd have to go to a post office 
and book that you'd, if on the other end, you know, my parents 
were in the village if they had a phone. They had to know that 
the Lord had saved me, so I wrote a letter, I don't know how long 
it took, how many weeks, but finally they got to hear that 
the Lord had saved me. And that was something I could 
not keep to myself. It was exciting. I rejoiced in 
the Lord, and I don't think my example is unique. Those who 
the Lord has saved, there is excitement, there is joy, and 
we love to talk about it. I wonder, dear friends, what 
has happened nowadays? Someone can experience conversion. But it is not exciting. It's 
not the thing that they talk about that nowadays is easy. You can send a text message or 
WhatsApp or Facebook message and all your friends would need 
to know, they should know that the Lord has saved you. But that 
doesn't happen. No, let's be like David. And David in his case says, I 
will thank you forever because you have done it. Oh, may it happen afresh. Let's look back and see where 
has the joy we once knew gone so that we can once again be 
able to thank the Lord. But there are a few lessons here 
that I would like to leave with us to think about. This psalm, 
dear friends, actually talks about or directs our attention 
to the Lord Jesus. I believe it's Spurgeon who said, 
listen, Every passage, obviously, need to lead us to the Lord Jesus. 
And the student may say, but I'm not seeing the Lord Jesus 
here. Then Spurgeon would say, you know, make a way. I'm paraphrasing. 
Get him there. Reveal that he's there. And even 
in Psalm 52, we see great truths about the Savior. Three things 
quickly that do come out from this and helps us to see and 
appreciate the Lord Jesus Christ. Number one, we see in this Psalm, 
Jesus is contrasted. The contrast, you know, this 
is this, this is this. And so Jesus is contrasted with 
the wicked man who will be destroyed forever. Especially when we think 
of verse 5, what God is going to do. But God will break you 
down forever. He will snatch and tear you from 
your tent. He will uproot you from the land 
of the living. When we come to think about the 
Lord Jesus, I ask you to turn to the New Testament and see 
the book of Hebrews. And you'll appreciate that indeed 
He is contrasted. Hebrews chapter 1, just listen 
to verse 8 and verse 9. While the wicked will be uprooted, 
will be snatched, and all that we have read, verse 1, 8 and 
9. But of the Son, he says, your 
throne, O God, is forever and ever. The scepter of uprightness 
is the scepter of your kingdom, verse 9. You have loved righteousness 
and hated wickedness. Therefore, God, your God, has 
anointed you with the oil of gladness. beyond your companions, 
surely you will see Jesus is being contrasted there with the 
wicked who will be uprooted and his place will be no more. The wicked will be gone while 
Jesus remains and rules forever and ever. Dear believer, don't 
throw in the towel. The Lord Jesus is on the throne, 
and it is His timing. So let's not give the Lord days 
and say, if tomorrow things don't change in my situation, I give 
up Christianity. No, don't do that. Well, then 
in the second place, Back to Psalm 52, we see not only Jesus 
is contrasted with the wicked, but Jesus is the righteous one. Jesus is the righteous one who 
will laugh at the enemies of God. It would have sounded strange 
that when we see and fear, in 52 verse 6, the righteous shall 
see and fear and shall laugh at him saying, and then it goes 
on, friends, Jesus is the righteous one who will laugh at the enemies 
of God. Those two verses, verses 6 and 
7, is a reminder of Psalm, way at the beginning of the book 
of Psalms. Psalm 2. In Psalm 2, there in 
verse 4, we indeed find this word. Psalm 2, verse 4. He who 
sits in the heavens laughs, the Lord holds them in derision. So the Lord laughs at the wicked. The wicked may appear to prosper, 
may appear to have his way, may appear to get what they want. But the Lord laughs. Well, and 
finally and quickly, we see then in the third place that Jesus 
is this green olive tree. He is the green olive tree in 
the house of God. So when you look at Psalm 52, 
what did we read in verse 8? David personalizes the matter 
and he says, but I am like a green olive tree in the house of God. That's very personal for David 
to say that. But do you see this which David 
could say about himself, the Lord Jesus later would call himself? The Lord Jesus, if you look at 
Revelation chapter 22, right at the end of the Bible, where 
we read, I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you about these things for the 
churches. I am the root and the descendant 
of David. the bright morning star. Jesus identifies himself ever 
so closely as the root and the descendant of David. He's the son, in other words, 
the son of David, the descendant of David, and therefore when 
David says he is the green olive tree, these things find their 
fulfillment in the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh dear friends, Let's stand with Jesus. Let's remain with Jesus. In the 
readings that we did, right at the very end, David told Abiathar, 
stay with me. If you stay with me, it'll be 
OK. You'll be safe. Let's stay with 
Jesus. It'll be OK with us. we will find that which we need. And for you unbelievers among 
us, again, it's great you come and we have looked at the Word 
of God. The Christian life, certainly, 
is tough, it is lived in a sinful world, and believers make it 
hard for believers, but it's never forever. And the Lord watches 
above. I invite you, I invite you to 
look to this God, to trust this God, because He will uproot all 
wickedness. There'll be no more, but those 
who trust in Jesus, the green olive tree, will be safe. And I persuade you, I call you, 
consider Jesus the very son, as it were, and descendant of 
David. Let's pray. We thank you, Lord, 
our God, for your word. We live in a real world. Christianity 
is lived in a cruel world, a world which, for the moment, you actually 
are allowing the wicked, like doig, to appear to be winning, 
to be flourishing. And we are caused to wonder, 
Lord, how long Lord, will you be silent forever? We know you'll 
never be silent forever. Time comes and you will so act 
mightily that we will see, we will fear, we will celebrate 
because you'll bring and make all things which have gone bad, 
you'll make them right and we will rejoice. And Lord, while 
it is called today, we don't want to rejoice alone, and so 
we are persuading our friends who are still outside the faith, 
oh, that they would come in, that they would consider, as 
Abiathar was told, come on, stay with me, that, Lord, we would 
persuade them to come and stay with us. because with you then 
we are victorious. Hear our prayer, be gracious 
then to us. These things we pray in Jesus' 
name, amen.