Good evening. Let's open tonight's
service with hymn number 52 from the hardback hymnal, 52. Majestic
sweetness sits enthroned upon our Savior's brow. Let's all
stand. Majestic sweetness sits enthroned
upon the Savior's brow, His head with rage and glories crowned,
His lips with grace o'erflow, His lips with grace o'erflow. No mortal can with Him compare
among the sons of men. Fairer is He than all the fair
who fill the heavenly train, who fill the heavenly train. He saw me plunged in deep distress
and flew to my relief. For me he bore the shameful cross
and carried all my grief, and carried all my grief. To him I owe my life and breath
and all the joys I have. He makes me triumph over death
and saves me from the grave. And saves me from the grave. Please be seated. Saves me from the grave. The
last enemy he's conquered. Will you open your Bibles with
me to Psalm 71? Psalm 71. Now flip over page to Psalm 72.
We're going to preach from Psalm 71. I want to read a few verses
from Psalm 72 for our call to worship. Give the king thy judgments,
O God, and thy righteousness unto the king's son. He shall
judge thy people with righteousness and thy poor with judgment. The mountains shall bring peace
to the people and the little hills by righteousness. Already three times righteousness
is mentioned. This is at the heart and soul
of the gospel, isn't it? These little hills, that's the
church. Those are the individual congregations that bring to God's
people the righteousness of Christ. He shall judge the poor of the
people. He shall save the children of
the needy. He shall break in pieces the
oppressor. Those who have no righteousness
of their own are in need of a righteousness before God. They shall fear thee
as long as the sun and moon endure throughout all generations. He
shall come down like rain upon the mown grass as showers that
water the earth. In his days shall the righteous
flourish and abundance of peace so long as the moon endureth.
He shall have dominion also from sea to sea and from the river
unto the ends of the earth. They that dwell in the wilderness
shall bow before him, and his enemies shall lick the dust.
The kings of Tarshish and of the Isles shall bring presents.
The kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts. Yea, all kings shall
fall before him. All nations shall serve him.
For he shall deliver the needy when he crieth, the poor also,
and him that hath no helper. He shall spare the poor and the
needy, and shall save the souls of the needy. He shall redeem
their soul from deceit and violence, and precious shall their blood
be in his sight. He shall live, and to him shall
be given of the gold of Sheba. Prayer also should be made for
him continually, and daily shall he be praised. There shall be
a handful of corn in the earth upon the top of the mountains.
The fruit thereof shall shake like Lebanon and they of the
city shall flourish like grass of the earth. And his name shall
endure forever. His name shall be continued as
long as the sun and men shall be blessed in him and all the
nations shall call him blessed. Blessed be the Lord God of Israel.
who only doeth wondrous things. And blessed be his glorious name
forever, and let the whole earth be filled with his glory. Amen
and amen. The prayers of David the son
of Jesse are ended. Let's pray. our merciful and gracious and
glorious heavenly father. We would not dare approach your
presence without pleading the blood of thy dear son, his righteousness
and our acceptance in him. But oh, what comfort and what
hope and what peace we have in knowing that you are satisfied
with him, you are pleased with him and for all those that are
in him. Lord, all your works are wondrous. We pray that you would do a work
of grace for us tonight. For Lord, we are the poor and
needy that you have spoken of in your word. We have no righteousness
of our own. We're in need of. Of your help,
Lord. In our time of need and we ask
that. That you would. Be gracious to
us now in this hour. We prayed in Christ name. Amen. Number 40 number 44 from the
spiral handbook number 44. Let's all stand. Precious Savior, friend of sinners,
we as such to Thee draw near. Let Thy Spirit dwell within us
with that love that casts out fear. matchless savior let us
know thee as the lord our righteousness cause our hearts to cleave unto
thee come and with thy presence bless open now thy precious treasure
let thy word Give to us a gracious measure,
Tis Thyself we long to know. Come and claim us as Thy portion,
Let us all find rest in Thee. leave us not to empty notions. We would find our hope in Thee. Please be seated. I don't know how many times the
word righteous or righteousness is found in the Word of God,
but I know it's many, many, many times. It is at the heart and
the soul of the gospel of God's saving grace in the finished
work and perfect obedience of the Lord Jesus Christ. The word
righteousness translated means perfect obedience to the law,
perfect obedience to the law. We just read from Psalm 72 just
a few verses and we saw the word righteousness mentioned three
times. Here in Psalm 71 you'll find
the word righteousness in verse 2 referring to the ground of
our salvation. Now the doctrine is the righteousness
of Christ. That's the doctrine. But the
hope of our salvation is not in a doctrine, though doctrines
are precious to us and we do believe in the righteousness
of the Lord Jesus Christ. But our faith is in the person
of Christ. And Christ is our righteousness. Christ is our righteousness. He is the end of the law for
righteousness to everyone that believeth. And here in Psalm
71, the Lord makes it clear that the righteousness of the Lord
Jesus Christ is the ground of our salvation. In verse 15, The
word righteousness is used referring to the righteousness of the Lord
Jesus Christ as the reason for our rejoicing. In verse 16, the
righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ is made mention of as
the subject of our preaching. In verse 19, The righteousness
of the Lord Jesus Christ or Christ our righteousness is spoken of
as the unsearchable meditation of our hearts. And in verse 24,
Christ our righteousness is mentioned as the one who is our witness
and delivers us from the shame. of those who would not look to
the righteousness of Christ for their salvation. The subject of righteousness
is, as I've said, at the heart and soul of the gospel. Turn with me before we look at
Psalm 71. Turn with me to 1 Corinthians 4. 1 Corinthians. chapter 4. Now, no sinner will see his need for
Christ as their righteousness until God is pleased to reveal
Christ to them. Because until then, they will
trust in their own righteousness. They will compare themselves
to other men and believe themselves to be at least above average.
They will compare themselves to themselves and believe themselves
to be getting better. And these righteousnesses, look
what Paul says in 1 Corinthians chapter 4 at verse 3. He says, but with me it is a
very small thing that I should be judged of you or of man's
judgments, yea, I judge not my own self." Oh, the religious, the self-righteous
go about judging themselves by others or judging themselves
by themselves. And he goes on to say in verse
4, for I know nothing by myself, yet am I not hereby justified
Am I not hereby justified? How am I going to be justified
before God? Paul's saying, if you want to
compare yourself to one another, you want to compare yourself
to yourself, go right ahead. He said, I'm not going to let
you compare me to you, and I'm not going to compare you to me,
and I'm not going to compare myself to myself. And yet, I'm
justified before God. How am I justified before God?
by the Lord Jesus Christ who is all my righteousness. That
word justified means I've never done it. I've done no sin before
God. I'm perfect, sinless, obedient
to the law of God in the Lord Jesus Christ. And so Paul says,
you go about comparing yourself to one another all you want.
I'm justified before God. But he that judgeth me is the
Lord." He's going to judge me by the righteousness of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Therefore, judge nothing before
the time until the Lord come, who both will bring to light
the hidden things of darkness and will make manifest the counsels
of the heart. And then shall every man have
his praise of God. Isn't this a description? of
the world in which we live, and the description of our own flesh.
We're prone, are we not, in a fleshly sense, to compare ourselves to
one another, to compare ourselves to ourselves, and all these things
are contrary to the standard by which God judges. God judges
by the standard of His righteousness. And His righteousness is only
found in the Lord Jesus Christ. Turn back with me to Psalm 71. You remember what Paul said in
Romans chapter 10, he said, Speaking of his brethren in the flesh
that were in Judaism, he said, my heart's desire before God
is that they would be saved. And yet, he says, they are ignorant
of God's righteousness. They don't know that there's
a righteousness that God requires. They think that God just requires
them to do their best. I can't tell you how many times
I've had people say to me, well, I'm doing my best. I'm doing
my best. Well, here's the truth. Your
best will never, ever be good enough, ever. God requires perfection,
righteousness, perfect compliance and obedience to his law in thought
and in attitude and in action all the time. That's God's requirement. And the religious ignorant of
God's righteousness go about trying to establish their own
righteousness, not knowing, not knowing that Christ is the end
of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. The
Lord Jesus Christ is the only one who ever satisfied the demands
of God's law. And so, in verses 1, 2, and 3
of Psalm 71, we learn that the Lord Jesus Christ is the ground
of our righteousness. He is the ground of our righteousness.
In thee, O Lord, do I put my trust. Never, let me never be
put to confusion. Confusion. Lord, give me singleness
of mind and heart to trust the Lord Jesus Christ alone for my
righteousness. To not be confused in trying
to figure out whether or not I've got enough good works to
please God. Deliver me in thy righteousness
and cause me to escape caused me to escape. That's what you
and I need. We need a way of escape. We need a way of escape. The Lord said, there is no temptation
taking you, but such as is common to man. God is faithful. He's faithful. Who will not suffer
you to be tempted above that which you are able, but will
with the temptation provide the way of escape that you might
be able to bear it. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
way of escape. And now David's praying, Lord,
cause me to escape. Incline thine ear unto me and
save me. Save me. I've had people say
to me, well, you know, God's already saved me. I don't have
to pray for God to save me again. I confess to you, that's the most
often prayer I pray. Lord, save me, save me. I know you've, I've asked you
to save me in the path, Lord, I need saving again and again
and again. To whom coming? Be thou my strong
habitation where unto I may continually resort. That's how we come, don't
we? As you received Christ Jesus
the Lord, so walk ye in Him. How did you receive Him? As a
dead dog sinner in need of being saved, that's how you received
Him the first time, with no righteousness of your own. You came to Him
poor and needy as a mercy beggar. Isn't that true? We never grow
beyond that, do we? Never get beyond that. We just
keep coming the same way we came the very first time. Not by works
of righteousness, which we have done, but according to his mercy,
he hath saved us by the washing of regeneration and the renewing
of the Holy Ghost. The renewing of the Holy Ghost.
We're always in need of having the Holy Ghost to be renewed
in our hearts, aren't we? We grieve the Spirit of God,
we lose sight of Him, and we're always in need of coming back
the same way over and over and over again. Listen to what Isaiah
said in Isaiah 51 verse 8. My righteousness shall be forever
and my salvation from generation to generation. My righteousness.
shall be forever. My salvation shall be from generation
to generation. Oh brethren, we have no righteousness
outside of the Lord Jesus Christ. None. None. You and I have never
ever kept one of God's laws one time. Not to his satisfaction. Not to his satisfaction. Paul
said, considering the righteousness which is by the law, I was blameless
before men. Before men. Oh, and he was proud
of himself too, wasn't he? He had excelled among the Jews
as a young man had already been a part of the Sanhedrin. And oh, he was moving on up. Why? Because he was impressing
his peers with his righteousness. And that which I thought was
gained to me, that which I thought was to my advantage was the very
thing that was keeping me from the Lord Jesus Christ because
I thought I had a righteousness. And my righteousnesses are now
dung. There's nothing to them. There's
nothing to them. All of my righteousnesses are
in Christ. The very first time that righteousness
is mentioned in the scriptures is found in Genesis chapter 15
verse 6 when the scripture says, of Abraham he believed in him
and he, God, counted it to him for righteousness. And that passage is repeated
back in Romans chapter 4, isn't it? Turn with me to Romans chapter
4. The righteousness, the Lord Jesus Christ as our righteousness
is the ground of our salvation. There's no salvation outside
of that. And until the Lord is pleased
to reveal himself in his perfect obedience to God, in his glorious
deity, we will trust in our own righteousness. We will think
that we've got some righteousness. We'll be just like Saul of Tarsus. We'll be just like those Jews
of Romans chapter 10. We'll be just like everybody
else. going about trying to establish our own righteousness, comparing
ourselves to one another, comparing ourselves to ourselves, and comforting
ourselves with a false peace. That's what the false prophets
say. They say, peace, peace, when there is no peace. They
point men to look to themselves. When I'm listening to preaching,
If I'm left looking to myself, I'm in confusion. I'm in confusion. I'm confused. Am I saved? Am I not saved? Have I done enough? Have I done it right? There's
confusion when you're looking to yourself. Romans chapter 4, you have your
Bibles open there. Paul, the Lord, is giving us
that experience of Abraham in Genesis chapter 15. He says in
verse 1 of chapter 4, What shall we say then that Abraham our
father as pertaining to the flesh hath found? Now what's Abraham?
Abraham is called the father of the faithful. So however Abraham
was saved is how we're going to be saved. And if Abraham were justified
by works, he hath where the glory, but not before God men, glory in their works. Paul said in Colossians, he said,
I do not frustrate the grace of God for salvation come by,
by works. Then Christ has died in vain.
Christ had died in vain. If it's of works. And you can't
mix works and grace. It's either one way or the other.
If it is of works, it can no longer be of grace. Otherwise,
works is not. Grace is not grace. You cannot
mix the two. For what sayeth the scriptures?
That settles every controversy, doesn't it? It doesn't matter
what this denomination says or what that denomination says or
what this preacher says or what I think or what you think. It
doesn't matter. All that's nothing but speculation,
theory as we saw Sunday, isn't it? Men just have their theories,
don't they? What say at the scriptures? Abraham, Genesis chapter 15 verse
6, Abraham believed God and it was counted or imputed or charged
to his account for righteousness. Now, does that mean that Abraham
offered up his faith to God? as the means of his righteousness?
And that God accepted that faith and rewarded him for that faith?
No. No. Faith is a complete admission
of my total inability before God. That's all faith is. Faith isn't my spiritual strength
that I offer to God. to be rewarded with his righteousness. Faith is my confession of not
having any righteousness. It's saying, Lord, if Christ's
righteousness is not sufficient for me, I have no hope. I have
no hope. Now to him that worketh is the
reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. If salvation is
by works, then God owes you. It's not a grace, it's a debt. You have made God to be a debtor. He must reward you for your works. But to him that worketh not,
but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly. See, if faith is some sort of
a spiritual strength that we have in ourselves
that we can offer to God, And why does God say that in the
same verse that we're ungodly? You see, let me read it again.
To him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth
the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. For by grace
are you saved through faith, through faith. and that not of
yourselves, it's a gift of God. Faith is nothing more than the
rope that connects the boat to the anchor. It's the anchor that
holds us. The anchor of our soul is the
Lord Jesus Christ. And faith is that line that connects
us to him. And faith is the gift of God.
For by grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourself,
it's a gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. We're
dependent upon the Lord to make, to give us faith, to believe
on Christ. Turn me to Hebrews chapter one,
Hebrews chapter one. Look at verse eight. But unto the son, he saith, thy
throne." Now this is God the father speaking to the Lord Jesus
Christ. And he calls his son, God. He says, but unto the son, he
saith, thy throne, O God, is forever and ever. A scepter of
righteousness is the scepter of thy kingdom. Now a king's
scepter is a symbol of his power, of his authority. and now the
lord that the father speaking to the sun says your authority
is your righteousness now has loved righteousness and
hated inequity therefore god even by god have anointed the
with the oil of gladness above by fellows and we are the fellows
of the lord jesus christ and we have the spirit of god by
measure by measure you see that in your own experience don't
you There's times when you just feel like you're being overwhelmed
with the grace of God by the power of His Spirit, enabling
to rejoice in the Lord Jesus Christ and rest in Him. And there's
other times when you feel like the heavens are brass. And that's
the Spirit of God. We have Him in measure. But the
Lord Jesus Christ came as the Christ, the anointed one, in
the full power of the Spirit of God. So God says, because
of your righteousness, I've anointed you with the oil of gladness,
that's the Holy Spirit, above your fellows. And thou, Lord, in the beginning
hath laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the
works of thy hands. The ground of our salvation is
the Lord Jesus Christ, who is our righteousness. One more passage
of scripture. Turn with me to Isaiah chapter
45. Isaiah chapter 45. Verse 24. Surely, shall one say, In the Lord have I righteousness. Here's what God's children say.
In the Lord have I righteousness. In the Lord Jesus Christ I have
righteousness before God. His kingdom, his scepter is a
kingdom of righteousness. and strength, even to him shall
men come, and all that are incensed against him shall be ashamed. In the Lord shall all the seed
of Israel be justified, and in the Lord shall all the seed of
Israel glory." Glory. They glory in Him, don't they?
We glory in the Lord Jesus Christ. We have nothing to glory in ourselves.
Why is self-righteous religion so offensive? Why is it something
that you would never go back to? Because men are glorying in themselves,
aren't they? They're robbing from the Lord
Jesus Christ His glory. And they're, they're, they're
taking upon themselves the righteousness that belongs to the Lord Jesus
Christ only, only. Go back with me to Psalm 71 verse
four. We didn't read verse 3. Be thou
my strong habitation where unto I may continually resort thou
hast given commandment to save me. What did God command the Lord
Jesus? If righteousness is obedience
to the law of God, perfect obedience, compliance to God's command and
God's will, with all your heart, all your mind, and all of your
soul all the time, what did God send the Lord Jesus Christ to
do? He sent him to save his people, didn't he? He commanded him,
and he kept that commandment. He accomplished their salvation.
Thou hast given commandment to save me, for thou art my rock
and my fortress. Deliver me, O my God, out of
the hand of the wicked, out of the hand of the unrighteous and
cruel men. We can see in these Psalms, once
again, the prayers of the Lord Jesus Christ from Calvary's cross. Those cruel men that hated him
without a cause. Those men that said he saved
others, himself he cannot save. If God be his Father, let him
come down. Let him come down. And the Lord
Jesus Christ is praying to his father and saying, Father, deliver
me from these unrighteous, cruel men. For thou art my hope, O
Lord God. Thou art my trust from my youth,
from my youth. What gives more beauty and glory
to the Lord Jesus Christ Apart from his crucifixion, that's
where all of his attributes are most glorified at the cross.
But the incarnation of Christ from my youth, he's going to
say from my mother's bowels, you've been with me. Here we
have God being made flesh and dwelling among us. By thee have I been holding up from
the womb. Thou art he that took me out
of my mother's bowels. My praise shall be continually
of thee." Continually. The Lord Jesus Christ was righteous,
not only in that he kept the commandments, but that he continually
worshipped God in truth and in spirit. I am as a wonder unto
many. But thou art my strong refuge. He came unto his own. His own
received him not. He was a wonder to his disciples.
He was a wonder to his brethren. They didn't understand. Here
was God in the flesh living among them. Let my mouth be filled with thy
praise and with thy honor all the day. Cast me not off in the
time of old age. Forsake me not when my strength
faileth. I was reminded in preparation
for this message, something that I'd never seen before in the
scriptures. Here the Lord Jesus Christ is speaking of his old
age. We know that he was but 30 years old when he began his
public ministry and 33 years old when he died on Calvary's
cross. But here's a wonder. Here's a
wonder. He was a man of sorrows. Suffered
the contradiction of sinners. Here he was God. God. In all of his holiness. living
in the body of flesh, born of a woman, born after the law,
born under the law, in the likeness of sinful flesh and suffering
the contradiction of sinners. And when the Pharisees heard
him say before Abraham was, I am, do you remember what the Pharisees
said to the Lord Jesus Christ? Okay, you're about 30 years old,
aren't you? Adam, you're about 30 years old. That's how old
the Lord was. Do these men look 50 years old?
They look old like me? Or like Scott? No, they don't,
do they? And yet the Pharisees, when they
spoke to the Lord Jesus Christ, they said, you're not yet 50
years old. Was it that the countenance and
the appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ was so aged that they
mistook Him for being almost 50 years old? We just have no idea. We live
in this world most of the time enjoying the majority of it,
don't we? He got all his joy from his father. And he experienced nothing but
grief from what he saw in this world. Now that's a holiness
that you and I can't relate to. And here he's praying, in my
old age, Cast me not off when my strength
faileth. I'm beginning to appreciate that
prayer more and more myself. For my enemies speak against
me, and they that lay wait for my soul take counsel together,
saying God hath forsaken him, persecute and take him. And there
is none to deliver him. O God, be not far from me, O
my God. Make haste for my help." Oh,
Lord, come quickly. Make haste. I've been thinking
about that prayer that we saw in Psalm 70. Lord, make haste. How often times you and I need
to just stop and say, Lord, you're going to have to come deliver
me right now. Right now. You give me another minute, I'm
falling into this. I'm going to be overwhelmed with
this. Make haste, Lord. Come right
now. Oh God, be not far from me. Oh
my God, make haste for my help. Let them be confounded and consumed
that are adversaries to my soul. Let them be covered with reproach
and dishonor that seek my hurt. But I will hope continually.
And we yet praise thee more and more. Now we have in verse 15
the second mention of righteousness and it has to do with rejoicing.
The Lord Jesus Christ is declaring that he's going to rejoice in
the righteousness of his father. My mouth shall show forth thy
righteousness and thy salvation all the day for I know not the
numbers thereof. You and I don't know how many
days we have. Scripture says that we should
redeem the time for the days are evil. Scripture also makes
it clear that life is a vapor. And we don't have many days we
have. We don't. I think three score
and ten, maybe, maybe not. Maybe not. It is appointed, it
is appointed by God unto every man to die. God has an appointed
hour for each one of us to depart this world. And after that, the
judgment. Oh, we don't want to stand in
the presence of a holy God based on anything other than the perfect
righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. Rejoice, rejoice in the Lord. And again, I say, rejoice, let
your gentleness be known unto all men. Why? Because the Lord's
at hand. The Lord's at hand be anxious for nothing, but in all
things by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, with thanksgiving,
let your requests be known unto God and the peace of God. That's better than understanding.
We'll keep your heart and your mind in Christ Jesus as your
righteousness. That's the Lord saying here,
my mouth shall show forth. And this word mouth has to do
with singing. It has to do with praise. He's saying, I'm going
to sing praises from my heart of thy righteousness. Now look
at verse 16. Not only is the Lord Jesus Christ
as our righteousness, the ground of our salvation, not only is
He the cause of our rejoicing, but He's the subject of our preaching.
You've heard me quote this verse here many times. I will go in
the strength of the Lord God. I will make mention of thy righteousness
and even of thine only. This topic of righteousness is,
and yet, I'll say this again. Every, every person who's righteous,
believes themselves to be unrighteous. And every person who is unrighteous
believes themselves to be righteous. They believe they have some righteousness,
something to offer God. And it is their unrighteousness.
It is their iniquity. And David says here, I will make
mention of thy righteousness even of thine only. I have got no other righteousness
to speak of other than yours. You remember the vision that Zechariah had in
Zechariah chapter 4, the two olive trees? representing the
Spirit and the Word of God. And then in between was a candlestick
with seven candles on it and a bowl for oil. And what was
going from the olive trees to the candlestick? There were golden
pipes, conduits bringing the oil from the Spirit and the Word.
God never saves anyone with the Word of God only. And He never
serves anyone with the Spirit of God only. Unless you're born
of water and of the Spirit, you shall not enter the Kingdom of
Heaven. The Spirit of God blesses the Word of God to the hearts
of God's people. That's the means by which God
saves His people. And these two pipes are bringing
the oil. You know, I thought... I remember
reading how the preachers in England criticized John Gill
because he said, I only preach to believers. And what he meant by that was
believers are the only ones that hear the gospel. These pipes that were coming
out of the olive trees, they weren't spraying oil all over
the place. They were taking that oil directly to the lamp. The only place the oil ever goes.
I mean, we call all men everywhere to repent and come to Christ.
But the outward call is ineffectual. It's the inward call of the Spirit
of God. And we know that when we make the outward call, it
is only when the Spirit of God issues forth the effectual inward
call that a person's gonna come. And so I agree with John Gill.
We preach only to believers. We're not here to preach to the
world. We're not here to change the world. We're not here to
try to raise the morality of culture. or to have an influence on. We're
here to preach the gospel to God's people. And those conduits
are only going to go to the lamp. The oils, not one drop of oil
is going to be spilled. It's not going to be wasted.
The oil is going to go to God's people, only to God's people.
They're the only ones that are going to hear. Everyone else
is going to go about trusting in their own righteousness. David said, I'll make mention
of thy righteousness even of thine only. We preach Christ and Him crucified. We tell men, call upon the Lord
Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. But how shall they call
upon Him in whom they've not believed? And how shall they
believe on Him in whom they've not heard? And how shall they
hear without a preacher? God uses the foolishness of preaching
to save them which believe. This is the means. David says,
and every time we preach, he said, boy, you sure talk about
righteousness a lot. Yeah. And so does God. And it's the one subject that
men won't hear. They won't hear it. Christ is a stone of stumbling.
He is the rock of offense. Why is He so offensive? Because
He leaves men without any righteousness. He strips you naked before God
and He makes you to be nothing but sin, nothing but sin. You have nothing before God but
sin. And David said, I will make mention
of thy righteousness, even of thine only. The Lord Jesus Christ
himself is the subject of our preaching, isn't he? Because
he's the only righteousness that God's pleased with, the only
one. Verse 17, O God, thou hast taught
me from my youth and hitherto have I declared thy wondrous
works. Now also when I am old and gray-headed,
O God, forsake me not until I have showed thy strength unto this
generation and thy power to everyone that is to come. The strength
of God, the power of God, not by might nor by power, but by
my spirit, saith the Lord. The strength of God, the power
of God is the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. Thy righteousness also, O God,
is very high. Who hath done great things, O
God? Who is like unto thee? The Lord Jesus Christ and His
righteousness is the unsearchable meditation of the hearts of God's
people. Lord, don't you love Psalm 139? David said, when I go into the
heavens, thou art there. And down into the pits of hell,
thou art there. When I go to the Lord, and he goes on to say,
thy works are too wonderful for me. I can't comprehend them.
I can't take it in. I know I have no righteousness
of my own and I know that all my righteousness is... but what
is righteousness? I don't know by experience what
it is. It's unsearchable. It's beyond my comprehension.
I don't even know what a moment of righteousness is in my experience. The only way that I can have
any righteousness is through faith. Union with the Lord Jesus Christ.
I believe that God made him who knew no sin to be sin for me. But that's unsearchable. How
can the God of glory be made sin? But he did. That I might
be made the righteousness of God in him. Oh, that's unsearchable. How can I? How can I? I can understand
how you might be righteous before God, but how can I be righteous
before God? Yeah, it's every believer's experience,
isn't it? You know your own sin more than you know anybody else's,
don't you? You can see how someone else might have a righteousness
before God, but you can't see how you could, how you could. It's unsearchable. It's incomprehensible. Thy righteousness also, O God,
is very high. It is very high. Skip down to verse 24. My tongue
also shall talk of thy righteousness. Now earlier he spoke of his mouth
declaring his righteousness and that word has to do with praise
and worship. And now he's talking of his tongue
talking. What does he say? He said, the
Lord Jesus Christ and his righteousness is going to be my witness and
my testimony to those who have no righteousness. My tongue also shall talk of
thy righteousness all the day long, for they are confounded,
for they are brought unto shame that seek my hurt." Men hate
the message of the righteousness of Christ. Men hate Christ. Just
make it simple. They hate the Lord Jesus Christ. The natural man hates Him. You will not come unto me that
you might have life. Light has come into the world.
Men love darkness rather than light. Why? Because their deeds
were evil. Their deeds were evil. That's
what the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ declares about
me and you. That our deeds are evil. All
our deeds. We've got to have Aaron our high
priest bear the iniquity of the holy things in order for us to
be acceptable in the presence of God. Our deeds are evil. Men don't want to hear that.
Tell me I'm evil. Well, until the Lord causes us To say with Job, behold, behold. I see something I've never seen
before. Now I'm not going to get into a theological debate
about when Job was converted. I've had people get angry at
me before by suggesting that Job wouldn't convert until after
he heard the gospel preached through Elihu because of the
things that were said about Job at the beginning. of the book.
But those same things were said about Cornelius also before he
heard the gospel and was converted. There's an outward righteousness
and outward godliness that men can have before they're converted.
And I don't know. I don't know when Job was converted.
But I know that after he heard the gospel, he said, I had heard
of thee by the hearing of mine ear, but now mine eyes have seen
thee, and I repent and dust and ash. Now I can't justify myself
anymore. And behold, I am vile. He thought he was pretty good
before that, didn't he? He thought he had some righteousness. He
thought he had some justification before God. He thought he had
something to offer God. And God had to strip him naked. I'm bile. I have no righteousness
of my own. What a, what a Savior. Perfectly
obedient. Even unto death. That we might
be made the righteousness of God. in him. Our Heavenly Father, we're thankful
for your word and Lord we confess to you that we have spoken of
things that we don't understand. We ask that you would give us
faith to rest all the hope of our salvation on thy dear son,
the Holy One of Israel, the righteousness of God. For it's in his name
we pray, amen. Number 24, let's stand together. Jehovah Sidkenu, the Lord our
righteousness, we love to call you by that name, our Savior
Christ Jesus. Jehovah Sidkenu, The God-man
lived for us, bringing eternal righteousness which God imputes
to us. Jehovah Sidkenu, our substitute
who died. Your blood has put away our sin,
and we are justified. Jehovah Sidkenu, your love has
won our praise. Trusting your blood and righteousness,
we're saved by your free grace. Jehovah Sidkenu, we stand in
you alone. Our only fitness before God is
in our Lord, His Son. Jehovah Sidkenu, the Lord our
righteousness. Christ Jesus, you alone we call,
the Lord our righteousness. th