Welcome to Reign of Grace. This
program is brought to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries,
an outreach ministry of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany,
Georgia. It is our pleasure and privilege
to present to you the gospel message of the sovereign grace
and glory of God in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. We pray that today's program
will be a blessing to you. Thank you for listening and now
for today's program. Welcome to our program today.
I'm glad you could join us and I hope and pray that the Lord
will bless you as you're in your studies of the Bible, the scriptures,
as we go through various passages in the Bible concerning the gospel,
the gospel of God's grace in Christ. For the past few messages,
I've been dealing with issues of the Old Testament and the
New Testament in the way of understanding what this is all about. People,
a lot of times when they think of the Old Testament and the
New Testament, they have sort of a confused view of it. And
what I want to emphasize in messages that I preach, various ones from
different passages, is how the whole Bible, from Genesis to
Revelation, when we speak of the books of the Old Testament,
from Genesis to Malachi, and then in the New Testament, Matthew
to Revelation, that this whole book is about Christ, the Lord
Jesus Christ, who he is, what he did, what he accomplished,
for his people to save them from their sins, why he did it, where
he is now. And that's the gospel message
in the Old Testament and the New Testament. Well, today I'm
going to look at the book of Jeremiah in the Old Testament. Last week or so, I dealt with
how Christ after he went through the crucifixion, shedding his
blood, redeeming his people from their sins, and he died, he was
buried, he arose the third day, and he stayed on earth for a
little while and taught his disciples before he ascended unto glory,
unto the Father. And he taught them about the
Old Testament. He taught them about the law,
what the law was all about, meaning the writings of Moses. And he
taught them what the things that the prophet spoke and the things
of the Psalms that concerned him and the gracious work and
powerful work that he would accomplish on Calvary to save his people
from their sins. And so what I want to do today
is look at a passage from the book of Jeremiah, Jeremiah 23,
and it's verse five, Jeremiah 23, five. And it speaks of, we're
gonna look at verses five and six mainly, is my text, Jeremiah
23, five and six. And the title of the message
is, The Lord Our Righteousness. The Lord Our Righteousness. And
in this passage of scripture, Jeremiah is giving a prophecy. of Christ who is identified in
this passage as the Lord our righteousness. Some of you may
have studied some of the old transliterated names of Christ, of God in the Old
Testament. And this one would be the name
Jehovah Sidcanu. That's the transliteration of
it. As Jehovah is a is a transliteration
of an Old Testament name for God, which would go back to Yahweh. But I'm not gonna get into all
that. What I want you to see now is that when Jeremiah mentions
the Lord, our righteousness here, he's talking about Christ. That's who he's talking about.
We're gonna see this in two passages in the book of Jeremiah. But
Jeremiah prophesied in Jerusalem, actually, in the southern kingdom
of Judah. The northern kingdom of Israel was already dispersed.
And Jeremiah prophesied in a day of great rebellion, both morally
and religiously. And God was about to, Jeremiah prophesied
to Judah, to Jerusalem, up through the time that God brought judgment
down upon the nation for their sins by having them be conquered
by the Babylonian army and taken captive in three waves into Babylon. And the temple of Solomon at
that time, finally was destroyed, completely obliterated. And Jeremiah
is talking about the coming destruction because of their sins, and he
defends God. See, Jeremiah, when he prophesied
to the people, he did not. He did not try to make excuses
for God. He did not try to apologize for
God. Preachers who try to make excuses
for God or try to apologize for Him, I've heard preachers go
to passages like Romans chapter nine, where it talks about God's
election of a people. God chose a people to save before
the foundation of the world. And they preach it in a way like
they have to make excuses for God or apologize for God. Well,
my friend, listen, God is the potter and we're the clay. And
that's the bottom line. And we don't have to make excuses
for God. He is just and righteous. Yes,
He is merciful. Yes, He is gracious. But not
without justice. And so Jeremiah, when he preached
in his prophecy to the people of Jerusalem, he told them basically
this. He said, God's gonna bring judgment
down upon this nation. He's going to conquer this nation
and you're going into captivity for 70 years. and you're getting
what you deserve. That's what Jeremiah said. And
here's his message. It's not a message we like to
hear because we're so proud and so independent, autonomous, you
see. And what Jeremiah told him was
that you might as well accept it. You're going to get what
you deserve. Now accept it and repent, he
says. Now he didn't tell them, he didn't
say, now if you repent, God will hold it back. See, that's the
way people think today. No, you're getting what you deserve. Now repent. And we could talk
about all the sins of Judah and all the different things that
Jeremiah brought out, but let me show you a passage back in
Jeremiah chapter two, where he kind of summarizes the whole
problem. in Jeremiah chapter two. Look at Jeremiah chapter
two and verse 13. This is a summation in one verse
of, I believe, the problem of all people without exception
by nature. In this one verse. Now, there's
a lot of verses around it. I'm not trying to pull it out
of its context. But it's just one of those full
statements that kind of just says it all. And it says in Jeremiah
2.13, it says, for my people have committed two evils. Now,
if you go through the history of Israel, you would say, well,
they've committed countless evils, more than two. And if you know
yourself, you'd have to say of yourself, of myself, I've committed
more than two evils. But here's what Jeremiah's saying.
All the evils of mankind can be summarized in these two evils. Jeremiah chapter two and verse
13. For my people have committed two evils. Number one, they have
forsaken me, the fountain of living waters. They've forsaken
God. They've forsaken Christ, who
is the revelation of God, who is himself God, as he was preached
in the Old Testament in prophecy as the coming Messiah. You see,
Christ is the water of life. He's the living waters. He gives
life. And you know how He gives life?
By establishing righteousness. Sin demands death. Righteousness
demands life. And the sins of God's elect were
imputed, charged, accounted to Christ, and that's why He died
on the cross. And then, in dying on that cross,
He put away my sins. He made an atonement. He redeemed
me from my sins. He washed away my sins. He paid
my debt in full. See, all of those terms are beautiful
terms to describe the work of Christ on the cross. He is a
propitiation, which means that He satisfied the justice of God
against the sins of His people, and His people are known as they
are brought by God to faith in Him. And He did that. And out of His death comes righteousness. Now that's why Jeremiah over
in chapter 23 calls Him the Lord our righteousness. I have no
righteousness but Christ. And because He is righteousness,
and He is my righteousness, He gives His people life. He's the
fountain of living waters. You remember in John chapter
four maybe. where Christ was talking to the Samaritan adulteress
at the well. And he spoke of that. He said,
I am the living water. He's the living waters. So that's
the first evil. My people have committed two
evils. They have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters.
God saves sinners. God justifies sinners. God gives spiritual life to sinners
through Christ, who is the Lord our righteousness, the fountain
of living waters. And my friend, if you reject
Christ, If you don't have Christ as your salvation, as your righteousness,
as His blood to wash away all your sins, His righteousness
imputed to justify you, if you don't have life from Him, it's
all sin in the sight of God. You fall short. So that's the
first one. Well, here's the second evil
in Jeremiah 2.13. He says, not only have they forsaken
me, the fountain of living waters, they have hewed out or carved
out, they have hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns like
a well that can hold no water. Now that's a way of talking about
false religion. Any religion, that puts salvation
conditioned on you, or on me, on sinners. Any religion that
rejects Christ as God in human flesh, as God manifest in the
flesh, any religion that rejects Him as the only righteousness,
whereby God justifies the ungodly, is like digging out a well, or
you might even say some kind of a cistern, some kind of a
water pot, that will not hold water. There's no water there. There's no life there. And that's
a summation of what they've done. So here they are back over here
in chapter 23. Now Jeremiah is telling them.
They called Jeremiah the weeping prophet. They called him the
prophet of doom. They called him the burden. Did
you know that? They called Jeremiah the burden
of the Lord. He never has anything good to
say about us. And this is while they were worshiping
at the temple. There's one picture in Jeremiah's
prophecy where he's talking about the people standing before the
temple with their hands raised and they're backing up. They're
getting farther and farther away. And it's like people today who
worship, who claim to be believers, but they don't know Christ. They
don't know the gospel. They think they're getting closer
to God. They base that on feeling, on emotions. They base it on
numbers. They base it on anything but
the only thing that will bring a sinner to God to be accepted
and to be in fellowship, and that's Christ crucified and risen
from the dead. And so in their religion, they're
getting farther and farther away from God, even though they don't
know it. And so Jeremiah comes along, he tells them, he said,
you've sinned against God as a nation. and God's gonna bring
judgment, now accept it. But Jeremiah has a message of
hope. Where's the hope? Where's the
joy in any of this? Well, Jeremiah told him. He said,
now you're going into captivity, and he told him specifically,
as God had revealed to him, that this is going to be for 70 years,
70 years of captivity in a foreign land. And while they were in
that foreign land, that's where you have Zechariah and Daniel's
prophecy, for example, while they were in that foreign land.
Zechariah is the only prophet in the Old Testament that never
prophesied in Israel, in Palestine, in what they call the Holy Land.
He was always in Babylon. Daniel started out and then he
was taken. to Babylon. But they were 70
years, but Jeremiah said at the end of the 70 years, God's gonna
gather you back together. Now why is that? Well, is it
because while they're in captivity that they became better people?
That they repented? That they began to believe in
God? And the answer is no. Read Daniel. Read Zechariah. Read the prophets after they
came back to the land. The prophets that prophesied
at that time, Zechariah, I said Zechariah earlier, it's Ezekiel
that never prophesied in Israel. Ezekiel, he's the one who prophesied
in Babylon. But Zechariah prophesied to him
and others when they came back. And they were rebellious people
still. You see, that's what we are by
nature, we are sinners. And we sin against God, that's
why we need grace. So, why did God bring them back
together and keep them together? And you know, from that time
on, they were under foreign rule. They were under Babylon, and
then they were under the Medo-Persian Empire, and then they were under
the Greek Empire, under Alexander, and then the Romans. But God
kept them together, the tribe of Judah. Now, why did he do
that? Here's why. And let me tell you,
right here's a summation of the message of the whole Old Testament.
The reason he did that is because God had purposed to use this
nation for one thing only, or mainly, one thing mainly, and
that was it was through that nation, according to the flesh,
that he would bring Messiah through. Christ. Christ. Christ was of the seed of Abraham
according to the flesh, of the tribe of Judah according to the
flesh, of the seed of David according to the flesh, all of that. And that refers to Christ's holy
humanity. And so what happens here in Jeremiah
23, he first of all brings an indictment against the preachers,
the pastors, the prophets, who were leading the people astray
with false religion, and then he tells them, now that God's
not gonna put up with this, he's going to judge you, but he's
not through with you, the Messiah has not yet come. He says in
verse four, Jeremiah 23, four, look at it, he said, God says,
or verse three, rather, he says, and I will gather the remnant
of my flock out of all countries, whether I have driven them, and
will bring them again to their folds, and they shall be fruitful
and increase." Not because they're better people. Not because they've
repented. Not because they deserved it.
That's not the reason. It was totally mercy, you see.
Verse four, he says, I will set up shepherds, that's the pastors
or the prophets, over them which shall feed them. And they shall
fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall they be lacking,
saith the Lord. Now, if you look at the time, period when God
brought Judah, the southern kingdom, back into the land of Judah,
the land of Palestine after the Babylonian captivity, you're
going to find that this does not describe them. And here's
the concept you need to understand. Do you know that every prophecy
of the regathering of the nation Israel in an eternal
way refers not to national Israel, not to the ethnic Jews, not to
an earthly land, but to spiritual Israel. How do I know that? Because every prophecy of the
ingathering or the regathering of God's people first of all,
is always under the headship of Christ. So whoever he's talking
about, as far as Israel, eternally, they'll believe in Christ. They
won't reject Christ, Jesus of Nazareth as the Messiah, they'll
believe in him. They'll see him and they'll know
him. And we're gonna see that in other passages, in other messages
that I preach. And that's what he's saying here.
He says, they'll fear no more, they'll not be dismayed, neither
shall they be lacking. Now how in the world can it said
that I'm not lacking? And see, here's the thing too.
God always through the prophets told them that a remnant of the
nation Israel, the ethnic nation, the physical nation, a remnant
will be saved. You remember Isaiah told them
that, that even though the number of Israel will be as the sands
of the sea, a remnant shall be saved. And then they always told
them that the eternal Israel, the spiritual Israel, would be
made up of God's elect out of every tribe, kindred, tongue,
and nation. Remember when he told Abraham,
he said, I'll make you a blessing to all nations. God has a people
out of every tribe, kindred, tongue, and nation, Jew and Gentile.
And that's why the emphasis in the New Testament is on the word
world, because what he's saying is not that God's gonna save
everybody in the world or trying to save everybody in the world.
He's saying that God has a people all over the world whom he intends
to save and they shall be saved. And that's what he means. And
look at verse five now. He said, behold, the days come,
saith the Lord, Jeremiah 23, five, that I will raise unto
David a righteous branch. and a king shall reign and prosper
and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. And in
his days, verse six, in his days, Judah shall be saved and Israel
shall dwell safely. And this is his name whereby
he shall be called the Lord, our righteousness. Jehovah Sid
Canu. Now this is the reason Jeremiah
tells them. He says, you're going into captivity
for 70 years, but God's gonna bring you back because he's not
done with you. What's God gonna do? He's gonna send the Savior. And the days are coming. He said,
and who is this Savior? Well, he's the righteous branch
of David. Now that speaks of Christ's humanity. His sinless humanity. Christ
had a human nature without sin. He was born of the seed of David
according to the flesh. He's a branch. See, Christ is
both God and man. And so he's describing Messiah
here. And then Jeremiah describes the success of the work that
this righteous branch of David would have. First, he starts
off calling him a king. A king shall reign and prosper.
There's no possibility of failure here. Growing up, I heard preachers
as they would give what they call their modern invitations. And let me tell you something,
when the gospels preach, that's the invitation, that's the command
of God to come to Christ. And they give these modern day
altar calls, they call them. And they'd be real emotional,
and they'd have organ music playing, and they'd say, won't you accept
Jesus as your Savior? And I heard several preachers
who'd say this, they'd say, did he die in vain for you? Let me
tell you something, folks. Christ did not die in vain for
anybody. A king shall reign and prosper. Everyone for whom he died shall
live. You say, well, how do I know
that he died for me? Do you believe in him? Do you
rest in Him? Do you submit to Him as the Lord,
your righteousness? And then it goes on, how's He
going to do this? Well, verse five, He says, He
shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. Now, how's He going
to do that? That's speaking of His redemptive
work as the surety and substitute of His people, the Lord Jesus
Christ. He's going to, listen, As their
surety, God chose a people, gave them to Christ, and made Christ
their surety, and Christ willingly took upon that office. And God
imputed, charged all of the debt of their sins to Him, and therefore
in order for Him to pay that debt, which is death, He had
to come to this earth. and become human without sin. God in human flesh, God manifest
in the flesh, and he had to execute judgment and justice in the earth.
He did that when he died on that cross. God's justice against
the sins of his people, against the sins of Christ's sheep. He
said, I lay down, the good shepherd lays his life down for the sheep.
God's justice was satisfied. And then verse six says, in his
days, Judah shall be saved and Israel shall dwell safely. Now
Judah and Israel, see, Judah was the southern kingdom. Israel
was the northern kingdom that had already been destroyed and
conquered and scattered by the Assyrian empire years before
this. And what he's saying is in the
days of the Messiah, These people are not going to be separated.
There's a spiritual Israel. There's a spiritual Jew or Judah,
you see. Who are the seed of Abraham according
to the promise? Those who believe in Christ.
They're the spiritual Israel. They're the spiritual Jew. Paul
dealt with that in Romans 2, 28 and 29. He is not a Jew, which
is one outwardly, and circumcision is not that which is of the flesh,
but he is a Jew, which is one inwardly, and circumcision is
that of the heart. That's the new birth. evidenced
by belief in Christ. And he said, they're gonna dwell
safely. There'll be no more, there'll be no more conquering,
no more captivity. He's speaking of spiritual Israel.
And it says, this is his name. This is the name of David's righteous
branch, whereby he shall become the Lord our righteousness. Christ
is my righteousness. You see, as my sins were imputed
to him, His righteousness is imputed to me, charged to me.
The merit of His whole work of redemption is imputed to me. Now over in Jeremiah 33, you
have basically the same passage, except there's one little difference.
And it says in Jeremiah 33 and verse 15, it says, in those days,
Jeremiah's talking about the same prophecy, and at that time,
well I caused the branch of righteousness to grow up unto David. Now it's
the same person, branch of righteousness unto David. He shall execute
judgment and righteousness in the earth. Judgment and justice,
righteousness and justice are the same thing. And look at verse
16. In those days shall Judah be saved, and Jerusalem shall
dwell safely." That's talking about heavenly Jerusalem. And
it says, and this is the name wherewith she shall be called. Now, heavenly Jerusalem is the
bride of Christ, the city of God, as opposed to Babylon, the
great whore. who's under Satan. She shall
be called the Lord our righteousness. That's speaking of his church.
She shall be called. And that is a feminine pronoun
in the original. What do you mean she shall be
called? Well, when a man and a woman are married, the woman
takes the name of the man. And when Christ the bridegroom
is married to his bride, the bride takes his name. She shall
be called the Lord our righteousness. See, we have no righteousness
but that which we have in Christ by virtue of his merits, his
obedience unto death, wherein he was raised from the dead,
and he is the husband of the church. I hope you'll join us
next week for another message from God's Word. We are glad you could join us
for another edition of Reign of Grace. This program is brought
to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries, an outreach ministry
of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany, Georgia. To receive
a copy of today's program or to learn more about Reign of
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at 1102 Eager Drive, Albany, Georgia. 317-07. Contact us by
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today and may the Lord be with you.