Invite your attention to the
book of Isaiah chapter 54 Isaiah chapter 54 My text is verse number 17 it
is a conclusion to verses 1 through 16 in verse 1 Jehovah told his people to sing,
O barren, you who have not born. Break forth into singing and
cry aloud. And he then gives to them reasons
why they should sing. Now we have good reason for singing. We sang just a moment ago two
hymns. When you look at the subject
of the hymns, And you do read the words when you sing, do you
not? There's good reason to sing. Because of whom and what our
God is. Here, they sing because of his
blessings to them. And you can read those verses
later today. I want you just to come with
me to verse number 17. No weapon formed against you
shall prosper. Boy, now that is sweet. No weapon. Lord, you ought to see the weapons
my enemies have. Don't you worry about it. No. No weapon formed against you
shall prosper. I will not let it prosper. Every
tongue which rises up against you in judgment you shall condemn.
Oh Lord, there's some very important people been speaking against
me in persecution and ridicule and mockery. Do not worry about
it. You're gonna stand up and condemn
them. Why? Why is this true? Because
this is the heritage of the servants of Jehovah. That's my heritage,
folks. That is my heritage. that no
weapon formed against me shall prosper and my tongue will have
a right answer to those who rise up in judgment against me. It's my heritage. And then, here's my text. Here's my text in the end of
verse 17. And their righteousness is from
me. says Jehovah. You see that word
Lord in all uppercase letters? Whenever you see the word Lord
or God in the Old Testament in all uppercase letters, that's
God's name Jehovah. It's His covenant name. It is
His name with His covenant people. In the beginning Elohim created
the heavens and the earth. He is Elohim, the Great One,
with regard to the nations and to the creation. But when He
speaks to His people, Moses said, well, whom shall I say sent me?
Jehovah. What does it mean? The ever-present
one. I am what I am. Well, exactly
what are you? Whatever I need to be. Whatever
you need, I am. I am Jehovah. And the ancient
Jewish fathers were so afraid of taking God's name in vain
that when they came across it, Here it is in all uppercase letters,
you know. It's the name Jehovah, or Yahweh,
if you will, but who is it speaking? Their righteousness is from me,
says Jehovah. So we're gonna look at the subject
today. Righteousness from God, that is the title of my message.
Righteousness from God. Righteousness, it's an interesting
word, comes from the word righteous. Our modern word righteous is
an early 16th century alteration of the old word right-wise. What is it to be righteous? It's
to be right-wise. It is to be what you should be,
right-wise. Righteousness is right-wiseness. Now I can understand that. Righteousness,
where'd it come from? Came from God. Their righteousness
is from me. We're gonna consider three points
today. First, this righteousness defined. Second, this righteousness completed. Third, this righteousness applied. Here is Jehovah's righteousness,
defined, completed, and applied. So let's define it first. First
point, there righteousness is from me, this righteousness defined. What is this righteousness? I
believe I can probably give to you four expressions that will
let you know what this righteousness is. First, this righteousness
is perfect and complete conformity to every precept of God's law. Perfect and complete. In no way lacking in relationship
to God's law. That is righteousness. If you
have that, you have righteousness. Perfect and complete. Never failing
conformity to every precept of God's law. When the law speaks,
you say, I got that. Law says, do not do this. I've
not done it. Law says, you shall do this. I did, and I do. Righteousness,
complete and perfect conformity to every precept of God's law.
Second, we might say that it is the fulfillment of the righteous
requirement of the law, Romans 8.4, which is the law of righteousness,
Romans 9.31. It is the law of righteousness. There's a law of this country
and the law of that country and then there's the law of God and
it is the law of righteousness. The law of righteousness. Righteousness
is the fulfillment of the righteous requirement of the law. It means
that if you have this righteousness, you have perfectly kept God's
law. Now somebody has. Some people have because Jehovah
said their righteousness is for me. They are perfect and complete
in relationship to my law. Byron's Dictionary says it is
the character or quality of being right or just. And Thayer says
it is the state of him who is as he ought to be. So when Jehovah
gives to you his righteousness, he looks at you and he says,
you are exactly what you ought to be. You are right-wise. You have right-wiseness. Why? You please me, my law looks at
you and says, find no fault in him. Find no fault in him. This righteousness defined. Therefore,
this righteousness is not the original righteousness of mankind,
he lost it. Solomon says in Ecclesiastes
7.29 that God made man upright, but they have sought out many
schemes. God made man upright. Yep. There he is in the garden. He has a righteousness he does
not even know he's naked. He's got no shame in it. He's
righteous. He's righteous. Innocent and
holy before God. He is as he ought to be because
God would come down just to walk with him and to talk with him
and to commune. He communed with God. You can't
do that in sin and shame. With the righteous, God makes
himself available. But they have sought out many
schemes. You said, don't eat this fruit.
Watch. And there he did it. Plunged
himself into death and took all the rest of us with him. We sinned
in Adam, we fell in Adam, we died in Adam. We are born dead
in trespasses and sins. That righteousness with which
God made man, it's gone. It's gone. You cannot bring it
back. Nor is this righteousness any
personal or self-righteousness. Contrary to some folks. Hopefully
none here today. But some folks so proud of their
righteousness. So proud of their righteousness.
Well, we're incapable of that righteousness. Solomon said in Ecclesiastes
7.20, there is not a just man on earth who does good and does
not sin. Paul says, therefore, by the
deeds of the law, no flesh shall be justified in God's sight.
and we confess all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags. Filthy rags! I'm not going to get too crass
with you, but it just simply means minstrous cloths. Minstrous
cloths. People in self-righteousness. Everything they've done is a
minstrous cloth. Dripping with the flow. And they
take all their minstrel's cloths. Take them to the sewing shop
of free will. And on the table of works, they
sew them all together. All their minstrel's cloths.
And there stand before God dripping with their depravity from their
minstrel's cloths and say, ain't I pretty? Look at me. And we
look at it and behold, all our righteousnesses are as filthy
rags. I have a righteousness, but it
didn't come from me. I have a righteousness, but it
is not that which Adam lost and which I lost in him. Their righteousness
is from me. I'm going to describe it to you
now. Second point, this righteousness completed. It was completed and
wrought by Jesus Christ in perfectly keeping and fulfilling God's
law. When Jehovah says their righteousness
is from me, he's speaking about Jesus Christ and his righteousness
and the righteousness of Jesus Christ here is that which he
himself wrought in his incarnation. In the days of his life and in
the hours of his death, he wrought. Oh, in his life, he is weaving
a garment with every act he did. In every stitch in its warp and
woof, here he is. He's weaving a garment in everything
that he did in the 33 and a half years of his life and in the
three hours of his death. Weaving a garment, and when he
got it finished, Jehovah said, I'm gonna give it to my people.
Their righteousness is from me. Consider, he completely fulfilled
God's law. What is God's law? Well, it is
especially expressed in the Ten Commandments. Very briefly, and
I know that You folks all know them, but there may be some that
are viewing this message through the media and may not know, but
I'll just let you know what they are very briefly. Ten commandments. You shall have no other gods
before me. You shall not make for yourself
a carved image or idol. You shall not take the name of
Jehovah your God in vain. Remember the Sabbath day to keep
it holy. Honor your father and your mother. You shall not murder. You shall
not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall
not bear false witness against your neighbor, and you shall
not covet what belongs to someone else. That is, if you will, that
is about as brief an expression of God's laws you can find. When men make laws for society,
why it takes a whole library full of volumes and when God
does it, he puts it in 10 words. And that's what, it's called
the Decalogue, it means 10 words. It's brief and it's to the point.
Now, Jesus summarized the 10 commandments when he was asked,
what is the great commandment in the law? And this scribe is
probably thinking, there are 10 commandments, but you know,
there are 600 more. I'll find out from this man what
he knows about God's law. Which is the great commandment
in the law? Well, Jesus is nonplussed. He was not born yesterday. And
he says, the first commandment is, you shall love Jehovah your
God with all your heart and soul and mind and strength. Now that's
the first commandment. Then the second like it is this,
you shall love your neighbor as yourself. These are the first
two great commandments. There is no commandment greater
than these and on these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets
and the scribes. Yeah, he's smarter than I am. That's God's law. God's law has
to be perfectly fulfilled to love Jehovah supremely and to
love your neighbor as yourself and to show it in every action
you do, every word you speak, and every thought you imagine. Whoa, I'm in trouble. I'm in trouble. It's got to be kept perfectly.
That's the expression of it. You mean it demands perfection
and completion? Yep, it sure does. But back to
Jesus Christ, he was duty-bound to keep and fulfill God's law. Duty-bound, he had to. And I mean he had to do so from his mother's womb. No, he
had to do it in his mother's womb. Then from his mother's
womb, then through every day of his life. Paul the apostle through divine
inspiration said Jesus was born under the law, meaning the law
had governance over him. Born under the law to redeem
those who were under the law and he could not do so unless
he kept it. He is duty bound to keep it. Jesus in his incarnation
said behold I come in the scroll or the volume of the book it
is written of me. Let me tell you about this book,
or this scroll, if you will. In the scroll of the book it
is written of me. What is this scroll? This scroll
is Jehovah's decree of predestination from before the foundation of
the world. God's eternal decree of predestination. It's written
in a scroll, as they used to write books in the olden days.
And every day as the sun rises, that scroll is unopened and it
reads, this shall happen today. Later today, this shall happen.
It is written in the scroll of the book in the decree of God's
eternal predestination from before the foundation of the world.
And Jesus said, in the scroll of that book, it is written of
me from old eternity. Jehovah recorded it. And I agreed
to it. I delight to do your will. That's
what it says of me. In his incarnation, what did
he say? He said what was predestined
of him from old eternity, I delight to do your will. I love to do it. Oh, it is my
pleasure. It is my pleasure. I delight
to do your will. And I know what your will is
because your law was written in my heart. Moses delivered the 10 commandments
on tablets of stone. Jehovah's law was written in
the tablet of Jesus's heart. It's written in my heart and
I delight to do it. I don't need to go over there
and find a tablet of stone to find out what your will is. I
know what it is. Here it is in my heart. Oh, I
delight to do it. Your law was written in my heart. I delight to do it and I am duty
bound to do it. Jesus also said, do not think
that I came to destroy the law or the prophets. I did not come
to destroy but to fulfill. For surely I say to you, till
heaven and earth shall pass away, one jot or one tittle will by
no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled. And I'm the
one to fulfill it. I'm duty bound to do so. I'm
telling you, I'm going to do it. I'm duty bound to do so. Not a jot or a tittle shall pass
away until it's fulfilled. Jot, what is a jot? It is, actually
this word jot, our English word jot, translates the Greek word
iota, which we pronounce i-o-ta, which is the smallest character
in the Greek alphabet, which translates the Hebrew letter
yod, which also happens to be the smallest letter in the Hebrew
alphabet. So, when you want to consider
what a jot is, it is the smallest thing in the alphabet, whatever
alphabet you're looking at, all right? The smallest. Now what
is the tittle? The tittle was a little mark
that would be put over a letter to distinguish it from another
letter, such as the dot over the I or the J. Some letters might look the same. But the difference in them is
that little tiny dot, you see, or a little horn, you see, coming
out of the letter. And Jesus says, even those little
dots and those little horns on those letters, they must be fulfilled. It is not the great commandments
that must be fulfilled in them alone. Even the smallest part
of God's law, nothing can be overlooked. Nothing can be overlooked. The plan in every detail must
be made to pass. I'm gonna do it, he says. And
he did! He committed no sin, nor was
deceit found in his mouth. There have been times when, yeah, I restrained myself from
committing some great sin, but yeah, but you shoulda heard what
I said under my breath. Not so with Jesus. Not so with
Jesus. He committed no sin. He did not
even mumble in under his breath because he never even conceived
it in his mind. No sin. No deceit. No guile in his mouth. He never
sinned in deed, in word or thought. Everything God's law required,
he did, and everything God's law forbade, he did not. He did not. If God's law said
do it, he did so. If God's law says do not do it,
he did not. He's duty bound. He's duty bound,
even to the very jot and tittle of the smallest commandment. He completed or fulfilled God's
law in a twofold manner. First, as the representative
or vicar of God's chosen people in his active obedience to God's
law. He's the representative. When
he's keeping God's commandments, it's not just for him. He's weaving
a garment for those for whom he represents. God's elect were in Christ from
before the foundation of the world. God's elect were in Christ
when he walked upon this earth. When Jesus kept God's law, everybody
in him kept God's law. And he's weaving a righteousness
for them as their representative. And every time he keeps God's
law, so does everyone in him. That's his active obedience,
his active obedience. Everything he did was righteous.
He goes to John and says, baptize me. And John says, oh Lord, you
should be baptizing me. And Jesus said, no, you do this
because it behooves us to fulfill all righteousness. Everything
he did, fulfilling all righteousness. And he did it. as the vicar or
the representative of God's people, everything he did. Then his second
obedience was as the penal substitute of God's people in his passive
obedience, especially during the three hours of his death
on Calvary, when he was led as a lamb to the slaughter and never opened his mouth. Pilate had him punished, oh,
so severely. And then told him what the people
were saying, and Pilate marvels, do you have nothing to say about
all this? And Jesus opens not his mouth.
He opens not his mouth. Men revile him. He does not revile
them in return because he did not even conceive that thought
in his mind. Did not. What's he doing? Fulfilling the
law. Yeah, but wait a minute, he never broke it. That's true. But he was born under the law
to redeem those that were under the law and they broke it. They
broke it. And God took every transgression
of his people Every violation of his law that
they committed laid them on Christ. Christ bore
them to calvary and he died for them. Every sin ever committed
deserved one penalty and the penalty is death. Do not care
what the sin is. Matters not. The soul that sins
shall die, the wages of sin is death. Somebody's gotta pay for
that, for God's people, somebody's gotta pay. And Jesus did it as
the penal substitute of God's people, particularly in the three
hours of his death, when God plunged the world into darkness
at high noon and said, nobody's gonna watch what's gonna happen
now. my law's gonna be fulfilled. And Jesus says, my God, my God,
why have you forsaken me? It is because he was fulfilling
God's law, dying in the place instead as the penal substitute
of God's elect. And as he did so, he's still
weaving that garment. He's still weaving that robe
of righteousness, he's still weaving that righteousness that
Jehovah calls his. And then, in his active obedience
in what he did, in his passive obedience as the penal substitute
to God's people, When he had fulfilled every commandment of
the law in every jot and tittle and paid for every violation
of God's law committed by God's elect, he shouted, it is finished! And the garment was done. The
righteousness was wrought. How do we know? He was delivered
because of our offenses and raised because of our justification. Jehovah said, by his knowledge,
my righteous servants shall justify many. And when he said, it is
finished, Jehovah said, they're justified. They're righteous. And it is my righteous that they
have. And my righteous was wrought
by you, my son. And I'm gonna give it to my people.
So let's look at this aspect here. Third point. Third point. We have looked at this righteousness
defined. We have looked at this righteousness
completed. Now we're gonna look at this
righteousness applied. My final point. Now we know that
this righteousness wrought by Jesus Christ was applied to God's
people because Jehovah says their righteousness is from me. So
if their righteousness is from Jehovah, then it must have been
given to them because they did not have it before he gave it. Are you with me? Okay. All right. It is applied. It is given. Jehovah gave it to his people. Christ wrought it. Jehovah applied
it to his people. How? First, God imputes Christ's
righteousness to believers in him, Romans chapter four. We
read, God imputes righteousness apart from works. It shall be
imputed to us who believe in him, who raised up Jesus, our
Lord from the dead, who was delivered up because of our offenses and
was raised because of our justification. It is imputed to us. People say, and I have been asked,
why do you not keep the law? Well, for one reason, I'm not
under it because of Christ. But if you really wanna raise
their eyebrows, when they ask you why do you
not keep the law, tell them I've already kept it. I've already kept it. Paul says
that the righteous requirement of the law is unto us who believe
in Christ. God looks upon me and says, in
my son, you have kept every part of my law. Every part of it. The righteous requirement of
the law is fulfilled in us who believe, Romans chapter eight,
verse four. Fulfilled, I love that, in us. God looks upon his people and
says, every one of them has kept my law perfectly. Balaam says,
he beholds no iniquity in Israel. And that's true, that's true.
God beholds no iniquity in his people. He says, every one of
them has kept my law in my son Jesus Christ. Furthermore, in Christ we have
righteousness from God. First Corinthians 1.30. Of God
you are in Christ Jesus who became for us wisdom from God and righteousness. Jesus Christ became for us God's
righteousness God's righteousness Furthermore God will clothe the
Christ's bride in him and his righteousness revelation 19 verse
8 and To her it was granted Not earned Not merited Not bought It was granted. Granted. Somebody gave it. Somebody gave
it. It was granted to be arrayed
in fine linen, clean and bright. Fine linen, clean and bright. Some of us may remember, oh,
a little over maybe half a century ago, there was a certain household
detergent, wash day detergent. And when they advertise it on
television, you wash your sheets in this certain detergent, you
put them on the line and they sparkle. You know they sparkle?
That's what this means. The bride of Christ, she's not
only in fine linen that is spotlessly white, she sparkles. She's got
a glittering righteousness. It was granted to her to be arrayed
in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteousnesses
of the saints. Now King James Version says righteousness,
but if you look at the original, it's plural, righteousnesses. And every one of them is Christ's.
Every one of them is Christ's. She's clothed in his righteousness.
Oh, he not only has washed her, he not only has cleansed her,
he even bought her wedding dress, paid for it with his own blood,
and then gave it to her, gave it to her. And never was, I'm tempted to say that that
on our wedding day when my wife walked down the aisle, I'm tempted
to say that that was the most beautiful I'd ever seen her.
But I'm not gonna say that because I think the last time I saw her,
she looked more beautiful. And you can let her know that
I said that if you see her. But I remember the wedding day. She
came walking down that aisle and I turned to her I didn't
know she was so beautiful. And this is the day it is at
the wedding of Christ. We did not know she is so beautiful. Look at her! She's clothed in
Christ. Her righteousness is granted
to her and when we talk about how beautiful, the angels in
heaven talk about how beautiful this bride is in her garment,
Jehovah says, I gave it to her. And the son says, I wrought it
and I bought it. And it was cleansed in my blood.
All right, furthermore, Christ's bride declares that she is clothed
in Christ's righteousness from God. Isaiah 61 verse 10, he has
clothed me with the garments of salvation. He has covered
me with the robe of righteousness and that robe of righteousness
is Christ in his righteousness, the righteousness that he wrote
and which the Father applied. Jehovah applied it, all right.
Accordingly, Christ's church desires to be clothed by God
in Christ's righteousness alone. We pray to be found in him, not
having my own righteousness which is from the law, but that which
is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is from
God by faith. Philippians 3 verse 9. I want
to be clothed in him. Oh, I want to be clothed in him.
Let that man, let that woman be clothed in their filthy rags. I want to be clothed in Christ.
I want to be clothed in him. We confess Jesus Christ by his
God-given name, Jehovah, our righteousness. Jehovah said,
this is the name by which he shall be called. Jehovah Zedkenu,
the Lord our righteousness. And I'm giving him to my people.
He will be Jehovah, pardon me, Jehovah, their righteousness. And then, very last, we who have
received this righteousness from God do not boast of any personal
righteousness. Rather, we confess His righteousness alone. Psalm
71, 16. We say, I will make mention of
thy righteousness, of thy righteousness alone. Folks, it's all I have. It's the only righteousness I
have. I've broken every commandment in God's law, including every
little jot and tittle of it, every bit of it. But I have a
righteousness, and it's perfect and complete, even Jehovah said
so. And I will make mention of thy
righteousness, and thine alone. Why? Because Jehovah said their
righteousness is from me, and I confess my righteousness is
from him. And I pray that is your confession.
Oh God, our Father, be pleased, we pray, to bless this word,
this glorious gospel of your righteousness, wrought by Christ
and given by you to your people. We pray this in Jesus' name,
amen.