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I. THE PLANTING. It sounds odd to hear of planting a tree in a house, and of its flourishing in courts; but remember an oriental house is a sort of quadrangle. It is a four-square building, with the middle open to the sky, and generally there is a small garden, in which a palm-tree, or an olive, or some other evergreen tree will be found planted: so that what seems strange to us — a tree planted in a house — was not at all strange to David or to anybody else who lived in the city of Jerusalem. And it is a very beautiful figure — this being planted within the four courts of God's house, that we might grow right in the middle of the place where God with His family deigns to dwell. Well, we are planted in God's house in two respects. First, in regeneration, when we are born into the house; and secondly, at our profession of faith, which should be by baptism, when we are publicly brought into the house and planted in the likeness of Christ's death by being buried, after His commandment, in the water.

1. Planting implies, first, that there has been something done for us that we could not do for ourselves. A tree cannot plant itself. And you know, there is a necessity that there should be a work of grace upon our souls, which shall come, not from ourselves, but distinctly from God.

2. It implies, too, that there must be a great change in our position, for a tree that is planted has been growing somewhere else. Do we know ourselves to be "new creatures in Christ Jesus"?

3. It implies also that there is life in us. God does not intend to have dead stumps standing in His court. If we do not know the life of God, we know not God at all.

4. And it implies that we ourselves have taken hold of the soil wherein we have been planted. Are you seeking for vital truth to sustain your soul's vitality? Do you in the ordinances send out the rootlets of your desire, to seek after what God has prepared for you? Is there in you a living sap flowing, which sap is being fed by what you draw in from the soil in which God has placed you?

II. THE PROMISE. "Those that be planted shall flourish."

1. Because God has said that they shall. His promises are sure to be fulfilled. If He plants a tree He will cause it to flourish. Therefore, be very hopeful. As your needs arise, they shall be supplied.

2. Because of the goodness of the soil. They are planted where the means of grace abound, and where the Holy Spirit has promised to abide.

3. Because they are planted in a sheltered position. are you not like a vineyard on a very fruitful hill, which He has hedged about and walled, and in which He has put a wine-press, and which He has watered every morning, and, lest any should hurt it, has kept night and day?

4. Because they are so near the husbandman (John 15:1). Now, if any of you are not flourishing, though you are planted in the house of the Lord, I am sure it is not through any faultiness on God's part. Let such ask Him, and ask themselves, the reason why, and go to Him in prayer, and say — "Good Lord, I am planted in Thy house; make me to flourish according to Thy word."

III. THE CONTINUANCE OF THIS FLOURISHING. "They shall bring forth fruit," etc. There are some that begin with a spurt, and it is soon over; and there are some trees that promise exceedingly well for fruit, but the blossoms did not knit, hence they fail to yield fruit in due season. But those whom God plants, and whom He makes to flourish, bring forth fruit, and continue to bring it forth till old age.

1. What fruit, then, you will ask, do they bring forth?

(1) There is the fruit of testimony. I distinctly recollect hearing a blind old minister talk of the lovingkindness of the Lord when I was sixteen or seventeen, and the encouragement that he gave me has never departed from me. A young man could not have done that, because he had not attained so much experience; but the weight of years, and even of infirmities, made that venerable blind man's testimony very, very weighty to my soul.

(2) Saints bring forth fruit in the way of savour when they grow old. Many young ministers can rattle out some of the truths of the Gospel very readily; but if you want to taste the sweetness, to feel the unction, to enjoy the savour, you must hear one that has had long and deep experience. It must be so. There is an inimitable mellowness about the Christian who has grown old in his Master's service.

(3) The aged Christian ought to have the fruit of patience. You remember Dr. Hamilton's story of poor old Betty, who could not do anything but lie in bed and cough, but she said, "Well, bless the Lord, whatever the Lord has told me to do I have tried to do it; and when He said, 'Betty, bring up your family,' I tried to bring them up in the fear of God. When He said, 'Betty, go to the house of God and sing My praises,' I was delighted to do it. And when He said, 'Betty, go upstairs and lie in bed and cough;' well, I will do it," she said, "and bless the name of the Lord for letting me do it, so long as there is anything to be done for Him."(4) One of the most delicious fruits that Christians produce in their old age is calm, quiet confidence in God.

2. The text does not speak of old age merely bringing forth fruit, but it says — "They shall be fat and flourishing," which means that Christians, in their advanced years, shall have a fulness of savour and life in them.

IV. THE MANIFESTATION THAT AFFORDS CONCLUSIVE PROOF OF THE DIVINE FAITHFULNESS. "To show that the Lord is upright." These good folks are to bring forth fruit, and to be fat and flourishing, on purpose to manifest before the eyes of all men." That the Lord is upright: He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in Him." "That the Lord is upright." Well, how does the fruit-bearing of an aged Christian show that? Why, it shows that God has kept His promise. He has promised that He will never leave them nor forsake them. There you see it. He has promised that when they are weak they shall be strong. There you see it. He has promised that if they seek Him they shall not lack any good thing. There you see it. He has promised them, "Thy bread shall be given thee; thy water shall be sure." Hear what they have to say, and you will see it. He has said, "Even to hoar hairs I am He. I have made and I will bear, and I will carry you as in the days of old." There you have it. Ask them. There you see it. We put "Q. E. D." at the end of a proposition when it is proved. So you may put that down at the end of the problem of life. God is good to His people.

( C. H. Spurgeon.)

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KJV: Those that be planted in the house of the LORD shall flourish in the courts of our God.

WEB: They are planted in Yahweh's house. They will flourish in our God's courts.