Alright brethren, if you will,
let's turn to Romans 8. I hope you left a marker there
in Jeremiah 23, but let's turn over to Romans 8 first. If you were to do a word study,
I know some people like to do word studies. If you were to
do a word study on righteousness, you're going to be busy for a
minute. You're going to be tied up. for eternity. You ain't going
to get a good handle on it. We ain't going to have it nailed
down in a short period of time. That's what the title of my message
is this morning. Jehovah Sitkenu, the Lord our
righteousness. And this is something that's
widely, more than I can explain, necessary. Necessary. You're going to die and in your
sins, in your natural man, you're scared to die. I can prove it. I can prove my old man is scared
to die. Let a snake come out in front
of me. Matt chased me the other day
with a snake. He didn't know he was chasing me with a snake.
He was showing me, and I said unkind things to him, and I thought
it might hurt him if he got any closer to me, and I meant it.
I was scared of snakes. I don't like them. But whenever
somebody has a close call, we understand that, right? You ever
had a close call? You about to fall off the edge, you about
to have a car wreck, and you're scared. It's because you're afraid
to die. And we're going to die. And inside
of us, the Lord's written his law on our hearts. You don't
have to go teach a heathen in some jungle somewhere that it's
wrong to steal. They know that. The Lord's written
it on their hearts, isn't it? And there's a judgment coming.
It says in Hebrews 9, "...is appointed unto men once to die."
We know that. Ain't nobody still alive from
the 1800s. Nobody. We're going to die. It
may be today. God give you ears to hear me.
Each one of you. Lord give you ears to hear me.
We may die today. And after this, it's appointed
for a man once to die. After this, the judgment. That's
why he's scared to die. We know, as we looked at last
week, Wednesday, deep down inside, there's a judgment coming. All
of mankind knows that. That's why they turn themselves
inside out and they drink magic potions and do whatever they
can, rain dances, to stay alive a little longer. Oh, can I just,
oh, can I stay up? I gotta do something to stay
alive. Because after this is the judgment. Many people have
thoughts about what that's going to be like. They'll say there'll
be a big old scale laid out and all your good stuff will be on
one side and all your bad stuff will be on another. You better
hope not. You better hope you have some
other good works on there because we don't have any. The Lord's
a just judge and if we're judged in ourselves, we will come up
lacking, hands down. That's eternal damnation. Some
say you'll be judged on what you think of that country over
in the Middle East, on physical Israel. Have you sent them enough
guns? Have you prayed for them enough? Have you sent them any
money? What nonsense. I'll tell you this. Judgment
is hinged. It's all wrapped up in one word. Righteousness. Righteousness. That's what judgment has to deal
with. There will be a time when every person that lived will
have to stand before the Son of God. They'll have to meet
Christ our Maker, our holy God in human flesh, it manifests
in human flesh. It says in John 5, our Lord spoke, said, For
the Father judges no man, but hath committed all judgment unto
the Son. That time will come and our righteousness,
our goodness, will be measured against Him, the Lord our righteousness. What will be the role of a believer
in judgment? That's a great concern for many
people. What's that going to be like? I physically have to
go through death, but even if it's a year, that's a twinkle
in eternity, isn't it? That's quick. What's going to
happen after? What will be the role of a believer in judgment? People have speculated this,
and I have no desire to speculate on it. I have a desire to tell
you what God says. The first role we'll have is
that we will not be judged for our sin. Turn over to Romans
chapter 8. Verse 1. We're going to turn
a little bit this morning, but it'll be all right. Romans 8.1
says, There is therefore now no condemnation. That's judgment. There's therefore
now no condemnation, no judgment to them which are in Christ Jesus. For those that Christ died for.
If we're judged again, then Christ will have to be brought back
and put on trial one more time. Even in this sin-filled world,
we got better sense than that. We call it double jeopardy. Don't
we? Even a heathen knows that. That's
already been settled. Christ, if we were in Him, and
our sins were put on Him, and He's been judged, and that judgment's
finished, there will be no judgment. There is, right now, no condemnation. There's no judgment for those
that are in Christ. What about those outside of Christ?
It ain't nothing but judgment. Ain't nothing but condemnation.
So I tell anybody to listen, run to Him. Beg Him for mercy. Beg Him for mercy. Down to verse
33, Romans 8, 33. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It's God that justifies. There
has to be a judgment taking place for there to be a charge, isn't
it? You bring up charges in court. Who can lay any charge? You can't
even bring up a charge because there's no judgment. Court ain't
held. It's already been satisfied.
You understand that? Who can lay a charge to anything
that God has let? Verse 34, who is he that condemneth? It's Christ that died, yea rather,
that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who
also maketh intercession for us. That one who died for our
sins, that one who became us and we became him, he is risen. That judgment's been executed,
it's been satisfied. How do we know? We have an empty
tomb. What if I just don't get a good handle on it and I'm gonna
stumble and fall between now and I'm with him? Good, he sets
it to right hand of God and make an intercession for us. He intercedes
for us right now in this life. Isn't that good? What's judgment
got to do with a believer? What's a believer's role? First
off, we ain't gonna be judged for our sins. What a thought
that is. How thankful we ought to live
every day of our life. There's a second role, turn over
Matthew 25. Matthew chapter 25. There won't be any sin charged
to us because it's already been paid for. We won't be judged
in our sins and there will be a public declaration that we're
cleared, that we've been justified. Matthew 25 verse 31. It says,
When the Son of Man shall come in his glory, and all the holy
angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory.
And before him shall be gathered all nations, and he shall separate
one from the other, and shall divide his sheep from the goats. And he shall set the sheep on
his right hand, but the goats on the left. Then shall the king
say unto them on his right hand, These are the ones that have
no judgment. This is when the scales come out, when the balances,
things are being weighed. He separates them. Goats over
there, the sheep over here. And he speaks to his sheep first.
And he says there, verse 34, Come ye, blessed of my Father,
inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of
the world. For I was hungered, and you gave
me meat. I was thirsty, and you gave me
drink. I was a stranger, and you took me in. Naked, and you
clothed me. I was sick, and you visited me.
I was in prison, and you came to me. There's a public declaration
of the righteous acts of God's people. There's no judgment for
them. And they will be publicly proclaimed
to be just. What's it going to say next?
Lord, when did we do this? You know what they say? When
did we ever see you hungry? When did we ever see you naked?
When did we ever... I never saw you in prison. And
He said, if you've done the least of these, you've done it to me.
That means if you've done it to one of mine, you've done it
to me. Why? Because they're one. Me and you are one. And you did
everything I did, you've done. I was conceived in sin. He wasn't.
I'm one with him. You were conceived in the womb
of a virgin. Do you know that? By the Holy Ghost. I come from
my mother's womb speaking lies. He didn't. I'm one with him.
Can you imagine that? What a thought. That whole life
he lived. I hope I don't get too ahead
of myself. We need saved. Our sins have to be dealt with.
That payment has to be made. We have to be purchased with
a price in His blood. But you also have to be righteous.
Well, I have a new seed in me. It has to always be righteous.
You have to walk this earth in complete perfection. He gave
that. The Lord is righteous. That's
what He provided. And His acts are our acts. His blood is my
blood. We'll see in the end, His name
is my name. We know that for the believer, there will be no
judgment of sin. There'll be a public declaration
that we're justified because we're one with Him. And then
we'll judge with Christ. I can't enter into that, but
I know it's so. Turn over to 1 Corinthians 6. 1 Corinthians 6. Paul's telling the folks here
in Corinth, they're suing one another. He said, ain't you got
no better sense than that? You taking folks to court? Is
that what you're doing? There's several times Paul's laid things
out. He said, I'll sort the rest out when I get there. And I thought,
boy, that was rough him writing. I'd hate to have been there when
he showed up. I may have went and hid. 1 Corinthians 6 verse
1. Dare any of you. That's strong
words. 1 Corinthians 6 verse 1. Dare any of you. Having a matter
against another, go to law before the unjust and not before the
saints. Do you not know that the saints
shall judge the world? And if the world shall be judged
by you, are you unworthy to judge the smallest matters? Know you
not that you shall judge angels? You know those fallen angels,
that legion that left with Satan when he fell like a lightning
bolt out of heaven? You'll judge the angels. How much more things
that pertain to this life? If that's what's going to happen
to us, if we're going to be ones that aren't judged by our sins,
ones that's declared just to the whole eternity, to all of
mankind ever, we'll be the ones that judge them. That's what
he says. Now, if that's the case, and
you know him, like when we look at the first hour, you understand
the Almighty God. You knoweth him. You love him.
You wouldn't have it any other way. Can we put our big people
pants on and settle an earthly matter? Is this really a point
of contention? Do we really have to have it
out? Do we have some strong emotions? Come on now. That's what Paul
said. How dare you all take us to court? What's wrong with you?
That happened before. Brother Rupert's gone to be with
the Lord now, so I can tell it. He started preaching the truth
in that church he was in, and they took him to task. It was
a church that was better. They had a statement of faith
and all these fancy things. But it just said what God said,
what His Word said. And all of a sudden, that became
new. He understood, and now he knew God. Oh, something changed. It wasn't a doctrine, it was
a person. And Rupert started preaching the truth, and they
took him to court. They're trying to get that building.
Oh, got to keep that building. Got to keep that real estate.
We'll get you out here. We'll find some puppet that'll come
up and do what we tell him to do. You're acting like a pastor. We want a preacher." That's what
was wrong with it. And they took him to court, and a judge, a
man whose life has been committed to the law and the interpretation
of words and how that means, how the law means, he sat down
and he looked at what they believe on paper, and he sat down with
the Bible, and it took him a couple weeks, and he come back and said,
everything that man's saying is what you all say you believe.
He said, that's right. He said, I don't believe it,
but that's what it says. That was a just judge. He validated
what was said. He knows those things. Shall
we not judge angels? This judgment is fully focused.
The judgment that consisted of us not having our sins counted
to us, it's not in our account. It ain't there. It's gone as
far as east is from the west. That judgment that consists of
us being publicly declared just, and that judgment that consists
of us judging, I can't even enter into that. I'd have to be completely
without sin, wouldn't I? Would you? Would it be just and
fair? All that depends and it's hinged
on one word – righteousness. How do my sins not there? Righteousness. How could I be public? Me, of
all people, how can mankind from Adam on to the end of eternity,
I stand in front of him and say, look at that one, he's perfect.
Well done, my good and faithful servant. How could that be? Righteousness.
How could it be that I could judge righteousness? Turn back
to Acts 17. Acts 17. All of this judgment that's coming
is hinged on righteousness. Acts 17 31 says, because he hath
appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness
by that man whom he hath ordained." All of this world is going to
be judged. It's going to be judged in righteousness, and it's going
to be judged by both the standard and the officiator. The man whom
he hath ordained, whom God the Father, the Lord of hosts, the
self-existent one had declared, this is him. That's who he purposed,
who his mind elect, he said. All who commune with God, all
who are accepted by Him, everyone who's going to be able to be
in His presence, this holy God we offended, they must be righteous. They must have the acts of a
holy nature. They must be holy on the inside, through and through,
without the inability to sin. There's no possibility of us
wearing out and failing down the road. Adam came onto this
earth and he was made morally innocent. He was upright. He
had not offended. But the potential of falling
was there. Not this second Adam. It ain't possible. He shall prosper. He shall prosper. That's what
the Lord said. All those who come to Him that
are not righteous are going to be judged. The Lord said in Romans
1.18, For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against
all ungodliness and unrighteousness. Know ye not that the unrighteous
shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Our Lord spoke in Matthew
25, said, And these shall go away into everlasting punishment,
those goats on his left hand, but the righteous unto eternal
life. The reason and the cause for
judgment is righteousness. Why is there going to be a judgment?
God's righteous. That's the reason. That's the
cause. What's the foundation of this judgment that's going
to take place? Righteousness. That's what it is. Do you want
to come to Him on your own? If it were possible that you
had anything, would you want to bring that to Him? What do
you have that you didn't receive? Are you willing to do that? Don't
we have to be made willing in the day of His power? It's all
hinges on His righteousness, isn't it? God demands that we're
righteous to be in His presence. He demands absolute holy perfection. We don't have it, and that's
the judgment. That's eternal condemnation.
That's where it starts, right there. That's what he demands. You have
it? Yes, we're not. All throughout Scripture, we're
told what we are. There in Genesis, the Lord said,
the thoughts of man are only evil continually. There's none
that understand. There's none that seek wisdom.
None of these things. We've all gone astray. Full of
said in his heart there in Psalm 14, there's no God. They're corrupt.
They've done abominable works. There's no good. None that doeth
good. As they look down on all the children of heaven, from
heaven, all the children of men, to see if there are any that
did understand, that sought God, and they're all gone aside. Did
you find Him? When we look at wisdom, strength, nobleness,
riches. Did you find Him? Did you figure
out God by your wisdom? So there's none that seek Him.
While I was finding, I was looking for God. You wouldn't unless
He found you first. There's none that seek Him. They're
all gone aside. They're all together become filthy. There's none that
doeth good. Comma. No. Comma. Not one. Kevin, I don't think that's fair.
Take it up with him. You'll meet him. What hope do we have? There's a righteousness that
God provides. We've been going through these
names of the Lord. The Lord provides. What did he provide us? Righteousness.
The Lord that healeth thee. What did he heal us from? Our
sin. How did he heal us? What's the end state of him healing
us? Us being righteous. What's our banner? Look at my good works.
Look at me. That's our old man, isn't it?
Look at me. Look at me. Look at what Christ
did. He's our banner. He's healed
us. He sustains us. Who's with us? Righteousness
is with us. That's who it is. Turn over to Jeremiah 23 now.
Jeremiah 23 verse 5. Behold, The days come, saith the Lord,
that I will raise... Who's going to raise this up?
Are you going to make him your king, make him your personal
savior? The Lord said, I will raise unto David a righteous
branch, and a king shall reign and prosper, and shall execute
judgment and justice in the earth. This is a king. This righteous
branch that was under David that the Lord raised up. This is a
king. It's a person. Do you know that?
It's not a theory. This is a king who we're messing
with. Isaiah 11 said, "...and there shall come forth the rod
out of the stem of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his
roots." It's a person. "...and the Spirit of the Lord
shall rest upon him, and the Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
and the Spirit of counsel and might, and the Spirit of knowledge,
and of the fear of the Lord." It's all going to rest on him.
That's who he's speaking of. This is the king. said the government
shall be on his shoulder and the king shall reign and prosper. Does he want for anything? Poor
little Jesus trying to do something and wringing his hands. No! He
shall reign and try to do anything. But what if that man is an immovable
object and he's an irresistible force? He shall prosper. He will accomplish what was given
to him. He will accomplish the will of
his father. He shall save his people. He will not fail. And he shall execute judgment
and justice in the earth. He will exercise. He will execute. He will create and maintain judgment
and justice in this earth. It says in verse 6, In his days,
the one God raised up, the king, the God-man, the only person
that he's accepted, the Lord Jesus Christ, Judah shall be
saved, and Israel shall dwell safely. That's what I said before. There's some people that think
judgment is how you treat national Israel. Didn't Paul make this
as clear as it can be? He said, he's not a Jew which
is one outwardly. He's a Jew which is one inwardly,
one that's been circumcised of the heart. Isn't that right?
The Lord said, my people is every nation, tribe, kindred, tongue,
and heaven. And in glory, will they be male
and female? No. Will they be Jew and Greek?
Will they be learned and unlearned? We'll be rich and poor. No, we're
one in Christ Jesus. This is Judah he's speaking of.
This is his people. That's who he's talking about.
And they shall dwell safely. And this is the name whereby
he shall be called. This one that did all this. The
one that God ordained. The one that God sent. The one
that accomplished it. The one that shall prosper. Here's his
name. The Lord our righteousness. I was reminded of what a friend
said a while back. All power is of God. The psalmist said,
God has spoken once, twice, have I heard this? That power belongeth
unto God. He's all-powerful. You know what
that means? We don't have any power. He's life. Can you make life? He has to
give it. What if I have power to drive
down the street? He has to give me the power to move a steering wheel,
don't he? The Lord provides. We don't provide. It all comes
from Him. The Lord heals. I don't heal. A snake oil don't
heal. God heals. He provides it. He's our banner, not man. He
provided himself a banner. He's our peace. We're tossed
to and fro. We're calm, cool, and collected
until we see a spider on the wall. We're prone to wonder. Peace comes from the God of all
peace. How are you going to have peace? He has to give it to us.
The Lord's our shepherd. That's his name. Does Martian
orders come from a man or me or you? No, it comes from him.
It's his will, not ours. The Lord's present. I may come
and go. I may forget, my mind may go from me." But he said,
I'll never leave or forsake you. He said, I know my thoughts towards
you. Aren't you thankful for that? How could someone understand
all that and still think they need to make themselves better? Take the place of God and making
themselves more holy than Christ is holy. This is His name whereby
He shall be called the Lord our righteousness. All righteousness
is His. He is righteousness. And if you're
going to have any, it's going to come from Him. It's going
to be His. What about another kind of righteousness?
There ain't none. It's only Him. What about another
kind of power? There ain't no power. It's His
power. We get that, don't we? How are believers given this
righteousness? Paul wrote to the church at Corinth,
said, now we are ambassadors for Christ as though God did
beseech you by us. We pray you in Christ that be
reconciled to God. How? How is a worthless dead
sinner that's corrupt, nothing but evil thoughts, how are they
gonna be reconciled to God? For, because, he hath made him sin
for us. People can get, there's like
propitiation, I want y'all to know this too. Right there in
2 Corinthians 5, 21, he hath made him sin. That's the feminine
noun. Do what? It's a feminine noun. What's a feminine noun? Another
feminine noun. Bride. His bride. His church. He was made us. He has made Him sin for us who
knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God
in Him. Not the righteousness of God
if you clean up your act and you do right and you quit smoking
and drinking and cussing and running with people that do.
Made. the righteousness of God in Christ
who has made us. We were made one. We lost it
all in the fall. In Adam, the family name is tarnished
forever. We lost it in him. We lost it
in impartation. When we were born, it came to
us. We have it physically in our
nature. The name's gone, the lineage is gone, now I'm gone.
And then in willful unbelief, On purpose, we lost it. But God,
He chose the people. He loved them first. He laid
down His life for the sheep, those that hated Him. He lived
a perfect life of righteousness. And now, it's His bride's. Everything
He earned, everything He worked for, everything He bled for,
is hers. Why? They're married. They're
one. Is that complicated? Is there
a continent on this earth that doesn't understand marriage?
When we get married, we're French now. It's we. Everything I got
is hers. And that marriage, that atonement,
that making of one, we received Christ. We're one with Him and
received all that He has and all that He is. Can you imagine
that? I can do all things through the
Lord who strengthens me. He's my strength. Do I know all things?
Do you know all things? We do. We understand and know
Him. Because Christ is our wisdom. What about righteousness? How
you gonna stand before a holy God? Because it ain't mine. He's
my banner. He's my righteousness. I'm bringing
Him. It's all His. Because we're one. And that's
legal, isn't it? Is that legal? Kimberly can't steal that ban
out there. My name's on the title. It's hers! If I called the cops
and she stole it, they'd laugh at me. We're one, it's rightfully
hers. Turn to Ephesians 5, we'll see
this. We get some instruction, we looked at this a couple years
ago. We get instruction here, but then we see it applied. Ephesians 5, beginning verse
22. Ephesians 5, 22. Wives, Submit yourselves unto your own
husbands, as unto the Lord. For the husband is the head of
the wife, even as Christ is head of the church, and he is the
savior of the body. Therefore, as the church is subject
unto Christ, so let wives be to their own husbands and everything.
Husbands, we ain't getting out of this. Love your wives, even
as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it, that
he might sanctify set it apart, declare it His, make it holy,
and cleanse it with the washing of water by the Word, that He
might present it unto Himself, a glorious church, not having
spot or wrinkle or any such thing. There's nothing that can charge.
It's all gone, isn't it? But that it should be holy and
without blemish. We're without blemish and holy. Doesn't that mean the same thing?
The Lord put it there on purpose, didn't He? It's like we look
at it this morning, and. We're holy and without blemish. We're holy and without sin. We
have to be without sin. We have to be purchased. We have
to have a righteousness. He provided that to his bride, didn't he?
Therefore, so ought men to love their wives as their own bodies,
because they're one. He that loveth his wife loveth
himself. For no man ever yet hated his own flesh, but nourish
it and cherish it, even as the Lord the church. For we are members
of his body, of his flesh, and of his bone. For this cause shall
a man leave his father and his mother, and shall be joined unto
his wife, and the two shall become one flesh." This is a great mystery. But I speak concerning Christ
in the church. What's he talking about? Christ
and his bride that he was made one with, that we were made one
with. We are married to Christ, our
kinsman redeemer. Why do we have the book of Ruth?
Because he's our kinsman redeemer. He's our great husbandman. Those
are terms and actions in our nation, in our society, we can
understand. And he's talking about that incorruptible seed.
Go out and put a tomato seed in the ground. You'll see it
rot and you'll see a plant come up. He speaks in terms of catching
fish, go down the ocean. He speaks in ways we can understand.
And this is what our great, patient, loving husband does to his people.
Provides himself, lays down his life, gives his all for his bride. Now turn over to Jeremiah 33.
Jeremiah 33. I've read this, I don't know
how many times, and it's wonderful every time I read it. Jeremiah 33. His name, we saw
in our text, Jeremiah 23, is the Lord our righteousness. Would it have been correct? Would
it have been accurate? There's so many people just worried
about accuracy, ain't they? Would it have been accurate for
the Father to declare Christ the Lord that is righteous? Would that have been right? That
would have been right, wouldn't it? For God the Father to say,
His name shall be the Lord that is righteous. Of course that
would be right. That would be accurate, wouldn't it? But His
name is the Lord our righteousness. Isn't that precious? Our righteousness. That being
His name. Him being our great eternal husband.
Him being our kinsman redeemer. We his bride that he loved and
he gave himself for. We're given his name. Isn't that
what happens? You get married and the wife
takes the husband's name. We ain't getting no hyphenated
last name. I'll tell you that right now. That ain't happening. That's
some new fangled new age stuff. That ain't happening. If we're
his bride, we take his name and we're glad to take his name.
She's a thacker now. You said it the other day. All
the girls were lined up, and she said, Thacker women come
in three sizes, small, medium, and large. One's taller than
the other one. She said that, I thought of this.
She has my name. That's hers. It's her name now.
We was at a wedding one time. I'll
tell you something real quick. There's light and candles and
all kinds of nonsense. I just made fun of the guy running
the place. He ought not have been doing it anyway. But both
of them had a candle and they lit a unity candle. And they
said, these are two flames and they're becoming one. I was like,
well, you're kind of there. You're just making a mockery
of how God weds Christ to his bride. I was kind of upset, and
they said, now, they normally blow them out, I guess. That's
common practice. You light a unity candle, now we're together. Well,
they both lit the candle, and then they went back. And they
said, now they're together, but they're separate. But they're
still together, but they're still independent people, you know.
And he's trying to explain it. He didn't even know what he was
saying. And out loud from the third row, I'm hard, and I used
to be worse. It's hard to believe it. And
this ain't gonna last six months. I got an elbow. I was wrong. Six and a half months later, this independence, this I'm still
my person. No. No. When there's total commitment
and total love, there's a total unity. And the two have become
one, inseparable. And for Christ that laid down
His life for His bride, those two have become one. They have
all things in common. They have all things in common.
And I'll show it to you. We have His name. We have His righteousness.
We have His wisdom, because He is our wisdom. We're one with
Him. He's there with us. Jeremiah 33, verse 14. Behold, the days
shall come, saith the Lord, that I will perform that good thing
which I had promised unto the house of Israel and unto the
house of Judah. That thing I promised you, that
I'll make the Lord our righteousness, days will come when I'll make
it come to pass. Verse 15. In those days, and at that time,
I will cause the branch of righteousness to grow up unto David. That sounds
exactly the same, doesn't it? Watch this. and he shall execute
judgment and righteousness in the land." Jeremiah 23 said he's
going to execute judgment and justice. What's different? Justice has been satisfied. Judgment's
still coming. We'll have no sin, we'll be publicly
declared just because of him, and we'll judge with him. Judgment's
still coming, but the justice has been satisfied. What's for
the believer now? Righteousness. and he shall execute judgment
and righteousness in the land. In those days shall Judah be
saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell safely. And this is the name
wherewith she shall be called." What did it say back in Jeremiah
23? This is the name wherewith he shall be called. Here's the
name wherewith she shall be called, the Lord our righteousness. That's the name of his bride.
That's their surname. Bob, Robert Sikinyu, it's gonna
be your name. And I said, why? You won with
him. He paid the dowry. He wed him, gave everything he
had, became one, had complete unity. He knows you. And we know him. And we want
to know more of him, don't we? And that day of judgment, what
right do you and I have to be there? I'm hearing the name. in the work and the person of
another that loved me and gave all of himself for me." That's
it. That's it. I'm bought with a
price. I'm wed to him, and he's all my righteousness. I'll close
with this. Paul prayed after those brethren
he had of the flesh, physical Israel, and he said, I give them
credit, but they got a zeal for God, but it's without knowledge. They had an understanding. They
didn't have knowledge. Why? Because they were seeking to
establish their own righteousness. They wanted to find something
good to do. Now, I know God saved us, but you've got to get a little
bit more holy. You've got to keep the law. That's what the
whole book of Galatians is written for, isn't it? We believe five-point Calvinism.
You've got to be circumcised. Replace that with anything. You've
got to be baptized. You've got to do this. You've got to tie.
You've got to keep a day. Whatever. They try to establish
their own righteousness. That's what a natural man does.
They justify everything. When they're met with the Word
of God, they go, what'd Sarah do? The Lord said, Sarah, you're
gonna have a child. She goes, oh, man. And the Lord said, why are you
laughing? She goes, I didn't laugh. Yeah, you did. The Lord
spoke with her, didn't he? Mr. Rogers, remember him? That
fell on TV, changed his socks and shoes all the time? He laid
on his deathbed. He graduated from a Presbyterian
seminary, some churchy thing, I don't know. religion of man,
and he laid on his deathbed. He committed his whole life to
public service and education of children, all those things.
He laid on his deathbed, and he looked at his wife, and over
and over and over, that last day he was alive, he says, honey,
have I done enough? Honey, have I done enough? Honey,
do you think I've done enough? Apart from Christ, no, you ain't.
Answer's no. Judgment's there. I pray for each of His people
on your deathbed as you lay there knowing you're going to enter
eternity. And after this, the judgment, you will have full
and complete confidence Christ has done enough. Have I done
enough? No. Has He? Yeah, He has. Justice has been satisfied and
I have righteousness now. That's what Jeremiah 33 says,
doesn't it? Amen. Brother Mark.