Good morning. Every time we sing that hymn,
I think of all the different assemblies around the country
and the world, actually, that are meeting without pastors and
watching our service. I know of five groups that do
that. And the Lord said, say not that
there be yet four months to the harvest for the fields are white
unto harvest now. Pray to the Lord of the harvest
that he would raise up laborers unto the harvest." That's my
prayer is that God would be pleased to raise up young men to preach
the gospel. And I want us to pray now to
that end and ask the Lord if he would be pleased to do that.
Let's bow together. Our Heavenly Father, we come
before Your throne of grace in the name of Your dear Son. We
thank You that we have access and acceptance in Him, and that
You are pleased with His accomplished work of redemption on our behalf. We ask, Father, that you would
send forth your gospel here in this place this morning in power.
That you would open the eyes of our understanding and that
you would bless your word to our hearts and that you would
cause us to find our rest and our hope in Christ. We pray for our brethren that
meet in so many other places and Father I have to rely upon
just a electronic transmission of the message. We ask, Lord,
that you would be pleased to raise up laborers unto the harvest. Lord, that you would speak to
young men and put upon their hearts a burden for lost souls
and a love for Christ and for the gospel of your grace and
enable them to stand and to declare without apology the truth of
your word. We ask it in Christ's name. Amen. Our Lord said, unless your righteousness
exceed the righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees you
shall in no case enter in to the kingdom of God unless your
righteousness exceed the righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees
how righteous were the scribes and the Pharisees many of them
were above reproach when it comes to the outward performance of
their obedience." Paul in giving his testimony said, concerning
the law, I was blameless. If you knew Saul of Tarsus before
the Lord arrested him on the road to Damascus and knocked
him off his high horse, you would not have been able to bring a
charge against him as far as his outward behavior was concerned. When that Pharisee stood in the
temple, and prayed thus to himself and said, God, I thank thee that
I'm not like other men. Truth is the outward appearance
of his life was not like other men. He truly did fast twice
a week. He truly did tithe of all of
his substance. He was a very religious man.
Nicodemus was highly esteemed in Israel as a leader of the
Jews. You would have looked at his
life and thought, well there's a man that has righteousness. But the Lord said, if your righteousness
does not exceed that righteousness, you will in no case enter in
to the kingdom of heaven turn with me if you will please
to Romans chapter 10 Romans chapter 10 verse one brethren my heart's
desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be
saved. Nicodemus, as outwardly righteous
as he was, the Lord said to him that night, lest you are born
again You cannot see the kingdom of God. You can't even perceive
of it. You have no understanding of
it, Nicodemus, unless the Spirit of God causes you to be born
from above. And that's what our Lord's saying
here through the Apostle Paul, I pray to God that Israel might
be saved, for I bear them record. And Paul knew, he had come out
of that religious lifestyle. Circumcised the eighth day of
the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews, a Pharisee, as concerning
the law, blameless. He came out of that, he knew
all about the religious behavior of the Pharisee's life. And he says, I bear them record
that they have a zeal for God. Oh, they're very zealous. Very
zealous. They're very religious. They're
very concerned about how they live their lives before men.
But it's without knowledge. It's without knowledge. For they
being ignorant, and that's what that word means, without knowledge.
Didn't mean they were stupid. These were obviously very well
educated, very intelligent people, but they were ignorant. They
had no knowledge. The Lord had not opened the eyes
of their understanding and revealed to them what God's righteousness
was really all about. And so they were interpreting
righteousness simply in terms of outward lifestyle, comparing
themselves to themselves, thinking that they were getting better,
comparing themselves to the law, thinking that they were satisfying
its demands, comparing themselves to one another, thinking that
they were better than other men. The sect of the Pharisees is
alive and well today. This is the description of all
religious people. going about to establish their
own righteousness. Look what he says. They have
a zeal for God. They're very religious. But they
have no knowledge of the truth. They don't know what God's righteousness
is. They, being ignorant of God's
righteousness, are going about to establish their own righteousness. They've not submitted themselves
unto the righteousness of God. The righteousness of God is not
demonstrated by your behavior, it's demonstrated by your surrender. They're going about trying to
establish by their behavior a righteousness that God doesn't recognize. The
righteousness that God recognizes has to be submitted to. For Christ, and He's the one
that is submitted to, is the end of the law for righteousness
to everyone that believeth. David said, I will speak of thy
righteousness even of thine only. My righteousnesses are as filthy
rags before God. The only righteousness that there
is before God is the Lord Jesus Christ. For Moses describeth the righteousness
which is of the law. You think you're going to earn
favor with God through your outward obedience to the law? You think
because you've impressed other men that you've impressed God?
You think because you've impressed yourself that somehow you're
getting better that God's satisfied? Well, here's what Moses says
about that. Moses described the righteousness
which is of the law, that the man which doeth these things
shall live by them. In other words, you're going
to keep the law? Galatians chapter 3 says you have to keep every
bit of it. and not just in outward behavior
before men, but in motive of heart before God. That's how God knows. He knows every thought that goes
through our mind. He knows every attitude, every
word before we speak it. But the righteousness, verse
6, which is of faith speaketh on this wise, say not in thine
heart who shall ascend into heaven, that is to bring Christ down
from above. What can I do to make God visit
me? What can I do to force Christ
to come to me? What can I perform? What righteousness
can I display in order to make what Christ did work for me? That's the gospel we hear in
religion today. The gospel we hear in religion
today is that God loves everybody, Christ died for everybody, God
wants everybody to be saved. Now you've got to do your part
to make what Jesus did on Calvary's cross work for you. And what the Lord is saying here
is, perish the thought. That's self-righteousness. That's
being ignorant of God's righteousness. Christ is the end of the law
for righteousness. Say not in your heart. Don't
even entertain the thought. What can I do to bring Christ
down from above? That's man's righteousness. What
can I do to bring Him up? from beneath. What can I do to
make his work work for me? Our Lord said, I think not that
I came to destroy the law and the prophets, for I came not
to destroy them, I came rather to fulfill them. The Lord Jesus Christ came into
this world in order to fulfill everything that God required
in His holy law for us to have any access to His presence. That's what He came to do. I
came to fulfill them, to satisfy them wholly, to complete their
demands. And when he bowed his head on
Calvary's cross and said, it is finished, the righteousness
of God was satisfied. Justice had been paid. Obedience
had been offered up. Turn with me in your Bibles to
Jeremiah chapter 23. Jeremiah chapter 23. Tom and Joy, when we finish here,
I want us to sing number 83 in the Saltback Tendon before we
conclude this hour, if you don't mind. You have your Bibles open
to Jeremiah chapter 23. Look at verse 5. Behold, the
days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous
branch. That's the stem that comes from
the root of Jesse. It's the Lord Jesus Christ. We're
dealing with different names and titles that are given to
the Lord Jesus Christ this first hour each Sunday morning. We've
been doing that for a couple of months now. Today is Christ Our Righteousness. In the next week or two I hope
to bring a message on the righteous branch because he's called the
branch in several places. And a king shall reign and prosper. Prosper. That means that when
he comes he's going to succeed in doing what he came to do.
What did He come to do? He came to establish the righteousness
of God for God's elect. He came to save His people. Did He prosper in doing that? Or is He in heaven frustrated
with man's unwillingness to let Him have His way? That's what
you hear in religion. Won't you let Jesus into your
heart? What a weak God that is. No, our King reigns. Our God reigns. He occupies the
highest throne in all the universe. He's unthreatened by man. He
always has His way. And whatever He ordains comes
to pass. Why? Because He's King. He's God. He's prosperous. And He shall execute judgment
and justice in the earth. When he hung on Calvary's cross,
he executed judgment. Isaiah chapter 53 says it pleased
God to bruise him and the judgment of God was fully satisfied for
the sins of God's people through the sacrifice that Christ made
of himself on Calvary's cross and justice was fulfilled. Righteousness
was established. Justice was fulfilled. And He
did that all by Himself without our approval, without our participation. And He doesn't need it now. When
He's ready to make Himself known, He opens the eyes of our understanding
and makes us willing in the day of His power. He doesn't depend
upon us for anything. Salvations of the Lord. He gets
all the glory. He did it all by Himself. All
by Himself. Look, verse 6, And in His days
Judah shall be saved. God's not trying to save anybody. He's not trying to save anybody.
He's already done it. Judah is saved. All of Judah
is saved. Aren't we concerned about people
being saved? When God opens the eyes of your
understanding, all He does is reveal to you the salvation that's
already been accomplished. That's what He's doing. Judas shall be saved, Israel
shall dwell safely. If your salvation is in any way
determined by anything that you have to contribute, then you
have no reason to feel safe. You have no reason to feel safe.
Not if you know yourself very well. If you know anything about
yourself, you know how unreliable you are. You know how fickled
you are. You know how easy it is for you
to believe one day and not the next and be up and down. You're
just all over the place, aren't you? If you know yourself very
well and you have no reason to feel safe, did I really mean
it? Was I sincere enough? Am I showing enough evidence
of my salvation to be sure that I was really saved? There's no
safety in that. There's no security in that.
There's no rest in that. If any part of your salvation
is determined by anything on your part, you're standing on
shaky ground. That's not a safe place to be. But in His day, Judah shall be
saved, and Israel shall dwell safely." Oh, they'll be hid in
the cleft of the rock. They'll be in that city of refuge. They'll be under the blood of
the Lord Jesus Christ. And they'll be safe. And this is His name. wherein he shall be called the Lord our righteousness." You see, righteousness is an
absolute. It's perfect holiness. It's perfect obedience before
God. There can be no chink in the
armor of righteousness. Not one. If there is one small chink in
that armor, the fiery darts of Satan are going to find that
hole. No, the righteousness of God is pure and perfect and complete
and can only be found in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ,
who according to God's word, his name is Jehovah Sidkenu. That's the word here, the Lord
our righteousness. Now turn with me 10 chapters
into the book of Jeremiah. to chapter 33. And look with me at verse 15. In those days, and at that time,
I will cause the branch of righteousness to grow up unto David, and he
shall execute judgment and righteousness in the land. In those days shall
Judah be saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell safely." Does that
sound familiar? It's the same thing we just read,
isn't it? But now notice the next phrase,
"...wherewith she shall be called the Lord our righteousness." As He is, so are we. By virtue
of union with Christ, God sees us as righteous as He sees the
Lord Jesus Christ. When God imputes the righteousness
of Christ to our account, He sees us in Christ. If I didn't know this was true,
I'd be scared to death to say it. That God Almighty would see me
exactly how He sees the Lord Jesus Christ? I mean, on its
face value, that sounds blasphemous, doesn't it? But here it is. It's true. It's the only hope
we have. If he doesn't see me as perfect
as he sees the Lord Jesus Christ, I can't be found accepted in
his sight. If he charges us with one sin,
If he imputes one bit of our iniquity to our count, Psalm
32 says, who shall stand? And that's a rhetorical question.
Nobody can stand before God. We've got to be perfectly righteous
or we'll be condemned to separation from God for all eternity. How
are we going to be righteous? only if Christ stands in our
stead. That's why Paul said in Romans
chapter 10, Christ is the end of the law for righteousness
to everyone that believes. Romans chapter 5 verse 19 says,
For by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, and so
by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous. By the obedience of one shall
many be made righteous. And Isaiah said in Isaiah chapter
42 verse 21 that he would magnify the law and make it honorable. The law stood in inspection, if you will,
of the Lord Jesus Christ, every thought, every word, and every
deed, and had nothing to say against Him. He was tried and tempted in all
ways even as we are, yet the difference is that He was without
sin. He honored it in all of its precepts. He satisfied all of its demands. The law found no offense in Him. He satisfied its justice. against the elect. Turn with
me to Galatians chapter 3 at verse 10. Galatians chapter 3. Oh, don't measure yourself by
the law. You're not under the law. You're
under grace. The Law had nothing to say to
the Lord Jesus Christ and the Law has nothing to say to those
who are found in the Lord Jesus Christ. The Law has been silenced. The Law has been satisfied. Verse 10 of Galatians chapter
3, For as many as are of the works of the Law are under the
curse. Are you going to measure yourself
by the Law? You're going to motivate service by the law. You're going
to compare yourself to yourself. You're going to compare yourself
to other folks. You're going to have to use the law. You're
going to have to go back to Sinai. That's the only measurement that
there is. You know, how am I performing? How am I doing? If you do, you're under the curse.
What's the curse of the law? in the day that you eat of the
fruit of this tree." That's the law. You can eat of any fruit
except this tree. You can't eat that fruit. That's
God's law. Adam was not under a covenant
of grace. Adam, before the fall, was under
a covenant of works. Adam was under the law. Adam
had to either obey the law or break the law. And he violated
the law of God, didn't he? And then God said in the day
that you eat of that fruit, you shall what? Surely, surely die. Death in the Bible is described
as separation from God and spiritual death in eternal death is eternal
separation from God. That's the curse of the law.
So if you're under the law, then cursed is everyone that continueth
not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do
them." The law has nothing to say to
you except guilty. That's all the law can say to
you. That's all it can say to me. The law inspects us. Oh, it doesn't have to look far.
The law doesn't have to Have to shine a searchlight into the
recesses of our hearts to find a violation of it, does it? The
law in a cursory view of us finds us to fall short of it. But, verse 11, that no man is
justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident. Oh, it's evident. Paul fooled
himself, Saul of Tarsus fooled himself and fooled others thinking
he was keeping the law. But then in another place he
said, but when the law came, sin revived and I died. In other words, when the real
law of God came, he had lessened the law, he had adapted the law
to where he could keep it. You know, men still do the same
thing today. Oh, religion is so full of rules and regulations.
And in fact, the only difference between one religion and another
religion is the list of do's and don'ts that that religion
ascribes to compared to another. That's it. Every religion in
the world is exactly the same. It's based on something you do
in order to get yourself into good graces with God. And the
only difference is, what do you have to do or abstain from? And
each religion's got its own sets of rules and regulations. No man's justified by God's law. When the law of God comes by
the power of the Spirit of God, I tell you what's going to happen.
You're going to die. You're going to die because that's
the curse of the law. And you're going to cry out to
God. He's going to make you see the
curse of the law give you life to cry for life.
The just shall live by faith. The law is not a faith, but the
man that doeth them shall live in them. Christ hath redeemed. He didn't make an offer of redemption
to God. Now the word redeem means to
purchase. Who was God purchasing for? Who was Christ purchasing for?
He was purchasing for God. He was redeeming unto God. Did
He succeed in doing that? Or was His blood just an offer
of redemption? He's called the Redeemer. And
here, It's in the past tense. Look, Christ hath redeemed us
from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us. When Christ
hung on Calvary's cross, God charged Him with the guilt of
the sins of God's people. He imputed to Him. He had in
His body, hanging upon that tree, all the sins of all of God's
elect of every generation. And so when God punished him
with death, He satisfied his justice once and for all. He's redeemed us, being made
a curse for us, for it is written, Cursed is everyone that hangeth
upon a tree. that the blessing of Abraham might come to the
Gentiles through Jesus Christ. We might receive the promise
of the Spirit through faith. Oh Lord, give to us that faith. The Lord Jesus Christ fulfilled
all that was written in the scriptures of the prophets In Acts chapter 10 it says, to
Him, to Him, to Him, to Christ, gave all the prophets witness. The testimony of Jesus Christ
is the spirit of prophecy. All the promises of God are yea
and amen in Christ. You see, there's nothing we do
to add to His work. He's redeemed us. He's fulfilled
all prophecies. He has made all the promises,
yes and amen. He satisfied divine justice and
He established a perfect righteousness and He did it all by Himself. so that He gets all the glory,
all the glory, all the praise. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 1,
God has made Him to be for us all our wisdom, all our righteousness. all our holiness or sanctification
and all our redemption. All our redemption. You don't
make the blood of Christ effectual by saying, I do. He made it effectual. That he that glorieth, let him
glory in the Lord. Oh, we have no righteousness. Proverb in Psalm 14 verse 2,
it says, The Lord looked down from heaven upon the children
of men to see if there be any that did understand, to see if
there be any that would seek after God. Psalm 14. God looked down from heaven to
just see if there was anybody that understood this truth. If
there was anyone that sought after God. in faith? No. What did he find? They are
all gone aside, they are all together become filthy, there
is none that doeth good, no not one. And that's the passage Paul
quoted from when he confirmed that glorious truth in Romans
chapter 3. And Isaiah chapter 64 verse 6
says, we are all as an unclean thing, And all our righteousnesses
are as filthy rags. Our best deeds, our most sincere
religious duties, our most virtuous motives fall short of what God
requires for righteousness. What are we to conclude? Same
thing Paul concluded. In me, that is in my flesh, dwelleth
no good thing. In myself I am wholly sinful." Not one square inch of clean
flesh on this leper. Isaiah said in Isaiah chapter
1 that we were leprous from the sole of the foot unto the head.
There's no soundness in us. We're nothing but wounds and
bruises and putrefying sores. Now that's what we are outside
of Christ. Now let me tell you something.
I'll close with this. When we declare the truth of
the gospel, a lot of times the religious in particular will
object to the idea that the atoning work of Christ was limited to
the elect, or they will object to the idea that God sovereignly
chose a people before the foundation of the world. without any foreknowledge
or without any consideration of them? Or that the grace of God is irresistible? That when it pleased God who
separated me from my mother's womb, is pleased to make himself
known in me, that that grace, that what he opens I can't shut,
and what he shuts I can't open. It's irresistible grace. You mean I don't have anything
to say so about it? Yeah. And they object to all these
glorious truths of the gospel. Let me tell you a little dirty
secret. Their real objection Their real objection has to do
with their unrighteousness. It has to do with the first point
of the gospel, total depravity. That's their real objection.
Don't be sidelined by that other stuff. Don't be fooled into thinking,
well, there's a theological problem or debate here that needs to
be discussed because the problem is they have not yet been made
sin. That's the problem. And if God
ever makes him to be a sinner, irresistible grace and limited
atonement and unconditional election and perseverance of the saints
will be no problem whatsoever if God ever makes you to be a
sinner. If he ever causes you to know
that the only righteousness that there is, is in the Lord Jesus
Christ. and that you have none. The gospel
will become the glorious hope of your salvation. Salvation
is for sinners and it's only for sinners and every sinner
is gloriously saved by the sovereign and free grace of God in the
righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's stand together
and take our soft-backed hymnals, open them to number 83, number
83. Jim?