Let's read one verse, verse 6. Jeremiah 23, verse 6 reads, In
his days, that is, speaking of this one who is to come, the
branch of David, the king, in his days Judah shall be saved. Israel shall dwell safely, and
this is his name, whereby he shall be called the LORD our
Righteousness." And I hope you have a marginal reference in
your Bible. If you do, it says beside those
big capital letters, the LORD our Righteousness, it gives the
original Hebrew name or words for that which is, which are
Jehovah, Sid Kenu, Jehovah. Every time you see the word Lord
in the Old Testament, capital L, capital O, capital R, capital
D, it's the word Jehovah. The word Lord is an English word
that we use in the original Hebrew, it was always Jehovah, Jehovah,
Jehovah. Jehovah, all right? The Lord,
our righteousness, Jehovah Sidkenu. I know it's a big word, but Sidkenu
means our righteousness. Now, I'm going to deal with this. I don't want to sound condescending,
but I'm going to try to do it as simply as possible so that
our young children will understand it. The word righteous, or some
form of that word, righteousness, is recorded in God's word over
500 times. It must be important. It must
be important. I have dealt with this one verse
here one time. So to deal with it again, well, we've hardly exhausted
it. Over 500 times, it's very important. All right? Very simply, the word
righteous. What word do you see in the word
righteous? You get a root word in there,
right. All right, very simply, righteous
or righteousness. Righteous simply means what's
right. What is right? Whatever is right
is righteous. Whoever is right is righteous. If they have this If they have
this character of right being righteous, it is their righteousness. Okay? Very simple. Whatever is
morally right, whatever is legally right, or that is according to
the law, the right way, the right way to be. Now you have to be all right
to be righteous. You have to be completely right.
Thoughts, word, deed, acts, motives, everything about you to be really
righteous. It all has to be right. Orally
right, legally right. I know this is a popular word
today. It was back in the sixties. Amusing
how things come back around, isn't it? Back in the 60s, it
was kind of a, you know, just a catch word. Oh, that's righteous,
man. Surely you remember that. Well,
they're saying it now again, you know. But they don't know
the meaning of the word. Somebody, oh, he's righteous.
Right, to be righteous means everything about you is right. Scripture says there's none righteous. No, not. Then, the scripture
says, God's word says this in Psalm 11, verse 7, the righteous
Lord, that is everything about him, is right. What he does,
what he thinks, what he says, is right. Are you with me? The
righteous Lord loveth righteousness. If he loved anything wrong, he
wouldn't be righteous. You understand? We love sin. Why? We're sinners. If we had no sin in us, we wouldn't
love sin. We wouldn't love anybody or anything
that had sin in it. You understand that? The righteous
Lord loved it righteously. People think we're too strict,
that we're splitting hairs. No, we're just telling God's
Word. This is the God of the Bible.
The righteous Lord loveth righteous. The Lord God is righteous. Everything
about Him is right. And so He loves only righteous
things and righteous people. Okay? Are you with me? Let's
do it. And He hates unrighteousness. That's what makes Him right.
He hates what's wrong. All right? Most people, now this
is what most people think. Most people, the majority of
people think that if you live right, if you do right, you'll
go to heaven. That that's a place where God
rewards people who are living right. That's what people think,
don't they? You know it's so. It's what you
thought at one point. that God is pleased with and
rewards people if they just live right. You've heard people say
things when something good happens, well they say, you must be living
right. Turn with me to Romans chapter
10. Alright, Romans chapter 10. Did
you know I was going to go over there? Surely you did. Romans
chapter 10. Romans chapter 10. And do you
know that many people, many, many people are going to miss
heaven for trying to do what's right? Now, that's a strange thing,
isn't it? Many, many people, if not the
majority of people, are going to miss the heaven they think
they have earned by trying to do what's right, thinking God's
going to reward them for doing what's right. Did you hear that? Now, this is strange doctrine
to most people, but this is what God's Word said. Romans chapter
10, Paul says this in Romans chapter 10, Beginning with verse,
well, verse 1, look up there. He said, Brethren, my heart's
desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be
saved. He's talking about his community, the people he lives
with, his brethren, his kinsmen, according to the flesh, Jews. He was a Jew. And he said, I
really, down in my heart, I want these people to be saved. And
he said in verse 2, I bear them record. I do. I admit that they
have a zeal of God. They're sincere. They're sincere. They have a zeal of God. But
it's not according to knowledge. They're wrong. What they're doing
is wrong. They're all wrong. My neighbors and even some of
my relatives and people in our community, there's nothing I
would love more than to see this, for us to have to build a new
building. I don't mean a gymnasium. It astounds me. Doesn't it astound
you how religion can't build enough buildings to hold the
people? for all the stuff that they do. But all we're doing is trying
to teach what God's Word says, right here. I'm trying to be
just as plain from God's Word. It's hard to attract a crowd
when all you've got to offer is truth. Well, I want people to believe the
truth, I really do. There's nothing I'd like more,
and we've invited many, I want them to be saved. And
I recognize that people are sincere in their religion. I know they
are. I listen to them. They're very zealous. Read on. It says they have a zeal of God. Verse 2. They have a zeal of
God. They're very zealous, very enthusiastic. That describes
modern religion, does it not? People are very enthusiastic.
They're zealous. They go door to door. And they're telling everybody
about their religion and inviting everybody and so forth. But now look at verse three.
He says, they're ignorant of God's righteousness and going
about to establish their own righteousness and have not submitted
themselves unto the righteousness of God. Let me see if I can make
that very simple. He says they're ignorant of God's
righteousness. What word do you get out of the
word ignorant? What's the root word of ignorant? Ignorant. It's not that people don't understand
what this book is saying. It's not that poor people are
just, they're just not smart enough to understand and they're
really sincere and so it's alright because they're They ignore. Because it goes on to say they
have not submitted themselves. They won't have that. They ignore
it. They ignore. And Paul wrote in
chapter 1, this is what Paul meant in chapter 1 where he said
they hold the truth in unrighteousness. In unrighteousness. They hold
the truth. Literally have a Bible in their
hands and they read it. And it's as plain to them as
it is to you, but yet they ignore it. Nothing could be clearer from
God's word. It says it over and over again,
by the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified. There's
none righteous, no not one. There's none that doeth good,
no not one. Nothing could be clearer. Nothing could be clearer. that
man is not a good creature, basically a good fellow, and yet God loves
him. That's all a lie, people. This
book does not say that. They get a whole theology from
John 3.16. And as noted in the radio program
this morning, if you listen, the last verse in John chapter
3 concludes that some are under the wrath of God. God's word
is not confusing. God's word is not contradictory. Who's confused? Man is. He pulls one verse out and says,
this is what I believe. So he's confused, if you don't
take it all together. Alright, Paul says this, they
ignore God's righteousness and they're going about, verse 3,
going about to establish their own righteousness, trying to
do what's right. The scripture says there's a
way which seemeth right unto man. What he thinks is right. The standard by which he judges
himself, brother Dan. Man gets his own ruler to measure
himself by. Not just the rule of God, the
word of God. Man does not measure himself
up to God's perfect standard. And God said this, He said, They
which compare themselves to themselves are not wise. I could get Rick Williams and
a couple of fellows in here, well, Rick and I about, Kevin Barry back there, and I
could get them and stand them beside me and say, I'm tall! We're tall, aren't we, guys?
Huh, Kevin? Shoot, we're your big dudes. Now, you stand Mike Torrance
up next to me. Some of you were laughing at
me over my own house the other day, standing beside Mike. That's cooking your food. How did he get as tall as he
is, by the way? He had nothing to do with it.
Anyway, they that compare themselves with themselves are not wise. A worm standing beside another
worm, saying, I sure look good, compared to worms you do. But now God Almighty's standard
of judging fresh is Jesus Christ. And he came to this earth the
righteousness of God personified. He's called the righteous one,
the holy one of Israel. That's who he's called, the righteous
Lord. Everything about Jesus Christ
was right. And he came to this earth, and
everybody looked, he stood out, head and shoulders above. Head and shoulders above the righteousness
of God, alright? So people are going about trying
to do what's right. What they think is right, what
they think is good enough, And they think that God will accept
that. Surely. Surely God will accept me if
I'm just sincere. Surely. No. That's not what this book
says. This book says in Leviticus 22,
21, it shall be perfect to be accepted. That's what this book says. Perfect. Well, Paul says they're ignorant,
they ignore, they don't pay attention to God's righteousness, God's
standard. Scripture says that. Listen to
the law of God. People just, they get the Ten
Commandments, the Ten Commandments, and they think, if I can live
by them, then I You know, I'll be all right. Well, the Lord commented on and magnified
the law. The Lord said, not just in the
New Testament, but later on in Deuteronomy 6, the Lord commented
about, Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Calamity coming
up, number one. He went on to say, Thou shalt
love the Lord thy God. How? With all thy heart. with all thy might, with all
your strength, all your substance, thou shalt love your neighbor
half as yourself." That's what the Lord loves, a
righteous Lord, love of righteousness. That's what's right. It's only
right. Most people ignore that. Most
people, they're not aware of it. It's not that they're unaware
of it, Barbara. It's in the Bible. But they ignore
that and take what they think they can live up to. Is that
good enough? Well, all right. And people think,
well, if I just live right, if I just go to church, pay my bills,
don't lie, I'll be all right. God will let me into heaven for
being a good boy, a good girl. But God said it's not good enough.
God said, as I quoted, it shall be perfect to be accepted. All
right, what's everybody going to say? What do most people say? Well, nobody's perfect. That's
right. That's right. That's right. That's what God
said. So what does that mean? That
nobody can earn heaven. Doesn't it? It means by doing
right, you can't go to heaven. Is this as simple and plain as
it can be? Because nobody's perfect. But
God said it must be perfect. But nobody's perfect. So then
nobody can get to heaven by trying to be. Is that simple? Simple enough. Alright, non-righteous. But we
must be righteous. We've got to be righteous. Got
to be. For God to love us. He's righteous.
He can't love what's not right. People say God loves the sinner
but hates his sin. Where does it, where in this
book? I give a five thousand A $5 bill,
all I've got is $5. If I had $5,000, it wouldn't
be a gamble. I'd win, because it doesn't say
that in here. I'd love to put a big ad in the
paper. $5,000 reward for whoever can show me that in the Bible. There's a denomination that doesn't
believe in music, doesn't believe in music in their worship service.
Well, they're Campbellites is who they are, but they've got
another name they use, but they follow this fellow named Campbell.
That's who started the whole mess. Anyway, they did put an
ad in the paper, so much reward for whoever can show us in the
New Testament where musical instruments are allowed and told to be used
in God's Word. But folks, I could have collected
that. I could have collected that reward of revelation that
says they took us! I could have collected the money,
but they weren't worth fooling with. But it doesn't say that
anywhere in this Bible. It doesn't say that anywhere
in this Bible that you do the best that you can, or if you're God said there's none righteous,
no not one. And we must be righteous. It
doesn't say anywhere that God loves a sinner but hates a sin.
Doesn't say that. Nowhere. God wouldn't be righteous
if he loved. We are what we do. How can you
separate what we do from what we are? What we do is because
of what we are. Right? What we do, why do we
lie? Oh, I can't help it. That's a
lie. That's a lie! That was a lie,
wasn't it? Why do we steal? Oh, I couldn't
resist my sin. We do that because we're thieves
and liars. And God said, you are poor, miserable,
naked, blind, wretched. You are. People are. And since
they're sinners, they sin. Well, all right, but we must
be righteous for a righteous Lord to love us. Is that simple? That's what this book says. God
can't be righteous and love unrighteousness. The righteous Lord loveth righteousness. All right, is that established? Offense and defense rests. There is no argument, no more
witnesses. Let them bring forth, Paul said, bring them forth.
Let them bring their arguments. This is God's Word. They can
say what they think, but they can't argue against the plain
truth. God is only going to let us in
his heaven if we are righteous. God can only love us if we're
righteous. God's only pleased with us if
we're righteous. God only accepts us if we're righteous. Not the
best we can do. The best. All right? Verse 4. Look at this.
Romans 10, verse 4. I've got to turn back there.
Romans 10 verse 4 says, For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness
to everyone that believeth. Jesus Christ, as I said, the
righteousness of God is a man. The perfect man. Holy man. No sin in him. Righteous. Everything
about him. God Almighty said it out loud
from heaven, this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. God never ever said He was well
pleased about any man, ever. He said it out loud about His
Son for everybody to hear. He said, I'm well pleased, you
better hear Him. I'm well pleased, and John, you
know this psalm, it says He's well pleased for His what? Righteousness
sake. You know, human beings don't
love goody-two-shoes people. We make fun of them. No, he's
a goody-two-shoes. Did anybody ever find, did anybody,
Dan, did you find out where the, that was your, that was your
homework. Goody-two-shoes. Somebody find
out where the saying came from. Goody-two-shoes. People don't
like, he's a goody-two-shoes. People, God, only loves what
is absolutely right. He hates lies, he hates envy,
murder, he hates jealousy, he hates it. He only loves those
that walk in paths of righteousness. He's righteous. And you know,
let me ask you believers, you love what's right too, don't
you? Oh, you love what's right. Yeah, you do. You love what's
right. Not perfectly, not like you want
to, but you do. That new nature put in you, that
God's put in you, created in the image of Christ. You don't
sin in this world? Huh? Aren't you getting to the
point where you just detest it? Want to be done with it? This
was the person, the personality, the character of the Lord from
the Lord God. Anything that loves or make up
a lie or what's wrong, even wrong, that's wrong! He hates it. But love what's right. Things
that are right are good, holy, just, true. It's good. It's good
for all concerned. It's good for God. It's good
for man. It's right. Nobody's nodding
their head. Don't you love what's right?
Yeah, you do. Well, Christ did perfectly, perfectly,
as a man. Why? Why did God come down here
as a man? To show us how to live? People,
He did show us. Okay, go ahead, do it. You know what's right. Christ
did it. Do it. No, we've already concluded that
we can't do what's right. Only Christ could. Why did he
do that? To torment us? No, that wasn't cruel of him. Here's an unreachable goal. Why'd
he do it? As a substitute. He did it for some people who
couldn't do it. He did it on their behalf. The
word Christ means that. The go-between. The mediator. The substitute. The representative.
The one whom God will accept. The one whom God will look to
on behalf of the people. That's what Christ means. That's
why he came. to work out this righteousness
of the law morally, legally, in every way. He worked it perfect. God said, I'm well pleased. I
accept him. Everything about him. Now, here's
the mystery. And here's what you can't really
understand. That's all understandable, isn't
it? Here's what can't be understood is God says, now, you believe
him. You trust Christ, you look to
him, you believe on him, you ask him, you call him to be your
righteousness, and I will declare you righteous as he is. And I'll take all your guilt
that I must punish, being the righteous just God damn, and
I'll make him unrighteous. Now, I can't, this is the best
I can do to describe this, but it's a mystery. We can understand
how this could do you, but it did. God, he was made the sinner
for us. He who knew no sin. And we were
made righteous. We are righteous. No, I'm not. Yes, you are, if you're in Christ. And the simplest illustration
I can think of is a box. Don't stick
out a finger. Look covered up to where God can't see you. You're
covered up. You're in somebody. Like a baby
in a mother's womb, alright? A baby in a mother's womb. You
can't see it, it's there. Everything the mother does, the
baby does. Everywhere the mother goes, the
baby goes. If the mother's accepted somewhere,
so is the baby. Huh? If the mother's rejected,
so is the baby. If the mother's—somebody's well
pleased with the mother, Well, please, with a child. It's in
her. Well, this is what it means to be in
Christ by faith. In Christ by faith. Christ is
the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. Everyone that believeth. Look down at verse 9. Verse 9, he says, if you will
confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, what does that mean? Jehovah. That Jesus is Jehovah. Jeanette, we know why he's Jehovah.
We know why he must be Jehovah. He's Jehovah Sid Kennedy. He
has to be. If Jesus is not Jehovah, we need
to be looking for him. We're still waiting on our righteousness
to come. It says, if you confess with
your mouth the Lord, Jehovah, Jesus, and shall believe in thine
heart that God hath raised him from the dead, that means he's
accepted, thou shalt be saved. With the heart man believeth
unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made
unto salvation. Believeth what? With the heart
man believeth what? I've lost some of you already,
but somebody's with me. Let me find somebody. What does
it mean to believe with the heart unto righteousness? What does
that mean? It means to believe that Jesus Christ is your righteousness,
that you don't have any, that you need it, and He is it. That's what it means, that He
is your righteousness. Anybody that doesn't believe
that is not righteous. Anybody going about to try to,
and Jesus is just the fire escape, you know, they do the best they
can. Oh yeah, I believe, they're not right there. But believe
with all your heart, I'm unrighteous. Jesus Christ is all my righteousness. My acceptance with God. All my
righteousness. They'll be saved. They'll be
found in Him. Not having their own righteousness.
Having the righteousness which is of God, by faith, of Jesus
Christ. You're listening to me. God Almighty
considers you as Jesus Christ himself. You're well beloved
in his sight. Nobody, nothing can touch you
but what he orders and you're coming into his heaven. The gates
of heaven are going to open wide to John Davis. Why? He's in Christ. It's still like he's in Christ.
You know, we're in this dead world full of dead things. God's
going to give birth to us, Nancy, God's going to give birth to
us. We're worms here, we're going to be butterflies in this old world. We're going
to enter into a cocoon, literally, enter into a cocoon and come
forth, it doth not yet appear what we shall be. We're going
to be like him. No longer need to be in him,
but we'll be with him. We'll be just like him. But right
now, we're covered up. You're dead, and your life is
headed with Christ in God. You understand what I'm saying?
Well, they that trust him. They that trust him. Well, very
quickly. The Lord said about Abraham,
and there's much written about Abraham. Abraham is the father
of the faithful. is the one who represents all
believers, Abraham. Where did Abraham get his faith?
Did he just happen to one day decide to accept God? Oh, no. He was an idolater. Henry, he was 75 years old, worshiping
a false god. No. Is anybody going to convince
a 75-year-old man of the truth? No way. But God did. God came to him, God chose him,
God called him, God changed him, God put faith in him. God gave
him the gift of faith. By grace are you saved through
faith when it's shown out of yourself. It's a gift of God. God gave Abraham faith. Faith
in what? Faith in God. He believed God. He believed
God, everything God said, everything God wanted. Faith in God's Son,
Christ. Christ said, Abraham rejoiced
to see my day. He saw it. Oh, he was glad. He
saw it up on that mountain when he laid hold on that ram and
his son's dead. And it says, Abraham believed
God and it was counted unto him, what? For righteousness. Just
believing. Not working. Not working. It goes to great lengths, doesn't
it, Jeanette, doesn't it? It goes to great lengths in the
Bible to tell us the story of Abraham, how it wasn't by working.
It wasn't by the law, but it wasn't even written yet. Oh,
Abraham kept the law. What law? Four hundred years later, what
law? Where does it say that? Abraham didn't have that. But
God said he's righteous. He believed God. He believed
God. All right, it says, Those who
confess and believe that the Lord Jesus, Jehovah, is what? Your righteousness. Turn quickly
to Isaiah 45, and I'm going to quit with it. Isaiah 45, all
right? Isaiah 45. Isaiah 45. I want
you to see this. And I hope you are one of these
people that he speaks of here in Isaiah 45. I hope this is
you. I hope this is me, Isaiah 45. And over there, it says here
in Isaiah 45, verse, you have it? Verse 20, let's read a few
verses. Look unto me and be ye saved,
all the ends of the earth. Don't look anywhere else. Don't
look to the law, don't look to your denomination, don't look
to the preacher, don't look to the baptism, don't look to the
ordinances, don't look into me. I'm the only one that can save
you and must save you. And be ye saved. Look to me,
you'll be saved. All the ends of the earth, no
matter who it is, Jew, Gentile, I am God. I'm the one that justifies
you. I'm the only one that can, the
only one that must. There's none else. I swore. God swears. He tells us not to. Why? We can't keep it. But he
does. I swear. I swear, he said. And he could swear by no greater
than himself. I swear. The word is gone out
of my mouth in righteousness. This is right, what I'm doing
and saying is right, and shall not return. Unto me every knee
shall bow, every one. Every tongue shall swear. Surely
shall one say, In the Lord have I righteousness. Surely one will
say that. One or two here and there will
say that. Jehovah said, This is a good thing to ask not
only yourself, but anybody you come across. What right do you
have to go to heaven? What right? There was an old preacher that
said he had a dream one time. He dreamed that he went to heaven,
and somebody at the gate said to him, Preacher, what right
do you have to come into this heaven? What right? And he said, I'm not here on
my rights, I'm here on the rights of another. Jesus Christ is my
rights, my righteousness. Jehovah Sidkenu, Jehovah Sidkenu. Open the gates. Whoever says
that, I'll just say it, but believe me. Well, you know, let me say
this for our young people. That doesn't mean you don't try
to live right. Our Lord said that. Do what's
right. He said that. Do it. Doesn't mean we don't
try to live right and do right. All who are born of God do. All
who are of God try to live right. They love what's right. They
try to live right. Why? Because it's right. Not
in order that God will reward them. You understand? Not that
God will—are you watching this? Keeping score? Here, I'm doing
all this, and if I earn enough points, I—not in order that God
will be pleased with them and accept them. No, that's self-righteousness. They do what's right, they want
to do what's right, they love what's right because it's Because it's right. Because they
love God, who is right. They love his word, which is
right. They love his law, which is right. They're not trying
to earn heaven. Does that make sense? But their whole confession,
their whole hope of salvation is not in anything they do, but
it's in Jehovah's security. That's what it means to believe
on Jesus Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what it means. I explained
that as simply as I possibly could. All right, and only the
Lord can make that real to the heart and a person's confession. All right, Brother John, if you'll
come up and lead us, 272. On Christ the solid rock I stand,
all other ground is sinking sand. Stand number 272. All right, Jerry. I hope it's
there on my winglet, that Jesus died and rose again. All of Christ's solid rock I
see, all of it rounded to each side, all of it rounded to each
side. When peace shall come here upon
the town, all may I ever need be found. I'll never drown in sinking sand. so