Our text this evening will be
taken from Jeremiah 23. The title of the message is Jehovah
Sidken. This is another of the names
of our Lord in our study, The Names of Jehovah. Now, according
to the commandment of scripture, we preach Christ and Him crucified. But now that means a whole lot
more than preaching the death of Christ. who died on a cross
because he was crucified there. Preaching Christ and him crucified
means that we preach the person and the work, what he accomplished,
what Christ accomplished. We preach his life, his death,
his resurrection, and his ascension on high. I want to say this very,
very carefully, and you listen to me very carefully so you don't
mistake what I'm saying. The death of Christ alone is
not enough to save a sinner. Yes, it is the blood. It's only in the blood of Christ
that our sin can be paid for. The only way our sin can be washed
away is in the blood of His sacrifice. The only hope of eternal life
any sinner has is that Christ died as our substitute. The only
way we'll live is if He died in our place. But the death of
Christ by itself in a vacuum cannot save. Salvation also requires
the life of Christ. Salvation requires the life,
the death, the burial, and the resurrection of the Lord Jesus
Christ. The atonement alone is not enough
to give us acceptance before a holy God. God requires perfect
obedience to His law. Not only must our sin be washed
away, God requires perfect righteousness. before he can accept us in his
presence, and it is the life of Christ that produce that righteousness
in which God's elect are accepted. Salvation requires both the blood
and the righteousness of Christ. We must have the blood to cleanse
us from our sin. We must have the blood to pay
for our sin, and we also must have the righteousness of imputed
to us to make us accepted before a holy God. The death of Christ
cleanses us from all sin. And the life of Christ, the righteousness
that he worked out in his life, clothes his people from head
to toe in perfect righteousness. We must have that righteousness
to be accepted by God. And the name, our text says,
the name by which the Savior shall be known. The name that
his people will truly know him by is Jehovah Sidkenu, the Lord
our righteousness. This is the name that his people
will call him, the Lord our righteousness. Of all the names of our Lord,
you can't really put one above another, but now this name is
a glorious name. I've been studying it for several
days. I talked to Janet on the phone last night. I said, Janet,
I could preach from this name for the next 30 Wednesdays. I
mean, this is a glorious name. If you're a sinner, without any
righteousness, the name Jehovah Sentenu is the most precious
name you've ever heard. I'll limit myself, not to 30
Wednesdays, to four points. Number one, the name of the Lord. is Jehovah Sidkenu, the Lord
our righteousness. Number two, why is that name
important to me? What does that mean to me? Number
three, how can this righteousness be mine? And number four, how
effectual is this name Jehovah Sidkenu? Number one, the name
of the Lord is Jehovah Sidkenu. Any Israelite who is familiar
with the Old Testament scriptures, these verses that Brother Eric
read for us a minute ago, would know these verses are a prophecy
of the coming Messiah. The branch of David is the son
of David. There's Christ, the son of David.
He's coming from the loins of David to be king. King of kings
and Lord of lords. But in their blindness, Israel
knows this prophecy. It's a prophecy of the Messiah.
But in their blindness, Israel missed him when he came. Because
they were looking for an earthly king and they missed the all-important
statement here in verse 5. A king shall reign and prosper
and he shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. And
that word justice, we'll see this in a little bit, can be
translated righteousness. He shall execute judgment and
righteousness in the earth. This word execute means wrought
or make. He's coming to make perfect righteousness. He's coming to satisfy God's
justice. He's coming to work out something,
to rot something, to make something that will satisfy God's justice
and will make perfect righteousness. Now, the Savior is not coming
to produce a righteousness for himself. He's already righteous. The Savior is coming to produce
a righteousness for someone else. He's coming to produce, to rot
this righteousness for his people, for spiritual Israel. And in
him, Judah shall be saved and Israel shall dwell safely. No doubt about it. That's his
name. This is how he's going to save
his people. Jehovah said, the Lord, our righteousness,
Judah should be saved and Israel shall dwell safely because he's
going to make his people righteous. Now, the name, the branch, the
first name we see in verse five is the branch. Well, the name
branch tells us that the one who's coming is going to be a
man. The branch is a man. He's a sprout
springing up from a root under dry, barren ground that seems
to be dead. This is the branch that came
from the root out of a dry ground that Isaiah prophesied of. This
is the branch in David's family tree, the man. But his name's
also Jehovah. This one who's coming is also
God and it's a good thing because only God can produce a perfect
righteousness. Only God can come and make perfect
righteousness and execute judgment. The Savior is God who's coming
as a man to produce righteousness for sinful men who have no righteousness. He's coming to pay the penalty
of the broken law for sinful men. is a clear prophecy of the
Lord Jesus Christ, and his name is Jehovah Zedkinu. Christ is
the author of righteousness. He made it. The Lord Jesus never
sinned. Ever. He obeyed God's law perfectly. He's the only man to ever live
who is perfectly righteous. He obeyed every thou shalt. Every time God said thou shalt,
Christ did. And he never did one, thou shalt
not. Every time God said thou shalt
not, he didn't. He loved the Lord God at all
times with all of his heart. And he loved his sinful neighbors
himself. As a boy, he obeyed his parents perfectly the first
time they told him to do something. Can you imagine such a thing?
I mean, when my kids were little, they did something the first
time I told them, you know, I praised them. Our Lord, the first time
His parents told Him to do something, He did it. And He did it joyfully
every time. He never had a sinful thought.
He never had a sinful look of anger or sinful look of lust.
There was never any guile in His heart or on His tongue. And
He delighted to do this. He delighted to keep God's law.
We keep God's law because we have to. We keep God's law because
we're afraid God's going to strike me down. And it's just a fear. It's not a joy. It's not a fear.
This was our Lord's joy. He delighted to keep his father's
law. He delighted in perfect righteousness. He kept the law so perfectly
that scripture says he magnified the law and made the law honorable. The lawgiver himself. obeyed
God's law as a man, bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh.
And his name is Jehovah Sidkenu, the Lord our righteousness. Well,
now, number two, why is that name important to me? Why do
we make such a big deal of this name Jehovah Sidkenu? Because
I don't have any righteousness. That's why. I lost all my righteousness
when Adam fell. When Adam fell, Adam lost all
righteousness, and everyone who was in Adam lost all righteousness
too. In Adam's fall, every human being
who would come from Adam's loins lost a legal, righteous standing
before God. And we lost a righteous nature. Adam's sin and his guilt was
imputed to everyone he represented. Look over Romans chapter 5. This
is the important teaching of federal headship. When Adam sinned,
his sin and his guilt was imputed, it was charged to everyone he
represented. Romans 5 verse 12, Wherefore, as by one man sin
entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon
all men, for that all sinned, and that is, in whom all When
Adam sinned, everyone who was in him sinned. Adam's guilt was
imputed, and a sinful nature was imparted to every one Adam
represented, to every one of his sons. And sinful men, they're
born guilty. And they do what they do because
the nature of Adam was imparted to them. We're born guilty because
Adam's sin was imputed to us, and we do what we do. Because
Adam's sinful nature was imparted to us. So, not only do I not
have any righteousness, I can't produce any righteousness. And
you can't either, because all we are is sin. We have a sin
nature, and all we can produce is sin. Romans 3.20, By the deeds
of the law shall no flesh be justified in his sight. If you
were here two Wednesdays ago, Eric knocked that in the head.
Nobody is going to obtain righteousness through the deeds of the law.
Charles Spurgeon said this, Surely, my brothers and sisters, none
of you are so drunk as to think that this righteousness can be
worked out by yourselves. Surely not. Yet by nature, that's
what we think. And let me tell you, it's not
possible for sinful men to make ourselves righteous by keeping
God's law. because we can't keep God's law.
It's contrary to us. And you can't substitute something
else that you think is good in place of keeping God's law. No
amount of religious activity will make us righteous before
God. No amount of helping the less fortunate will make us righteous
before God. It might get you a plaque down
at City Hall. It won't make you righteous before God. Righteousness
in Scripture is described as pure white linen. The righteousness
that we can produce, Scripture calls filthy rags. Our righteousness
is non-existent. Now, Scripture talks about righteousness. Let's always talk about righteousness
with the definition that Scripture talks about. Righteousness is
not reforming your behavior. Reforming your behavior is morality.
God's not going to accept our morality. He'll only accept perfect
righteousness. And there's a big difference
between morality and righteousness. Morality is man's decision. Righteousness comes in regeneration. Big, big difference. Man's determination
produces morality. God produces righteousness and
regeneration. And we cannot produce any righteousness. So here's our problem. Without
this perfect righteousness, without holiness, no man can see the
Lord. That's what Scripture says. So
if we're going to be righteous, we must have the righteousness
of another. Somebody else has got to make
us righteous. Somebody else has got to produce
a righteousness and give it to us. And that's where this name,
that's where Jehovah Zikinu comes in. That's why this name is so
important to us. A sinner's only claim to righteousness
is Jehovah Zikinu, the Lord our righteousness. The sinner's only
claim to heaven is Jehovah Zikinu, the Lord our righteousness. Our
only claim that God will ever accept us is Jehovah Zikinu,
the Lord our righteousness. Look over Matthew, chapter 22.
This is the parable of the marriage supper that the king had for
his son. In Matthew 22, verse 11, And when the king came
in to see the guests, he saw their man which had not on a
wedding garment. And he saith unto him, Friend,
how camest thou in hither, not having a wedding garment? and
he was speechless. Then said the king to the servants,
bind him hand and foot and take him away, and cast him into outer
darkness. There should be weeping and gnashing
of teeth." Now, that wedding garment in this parable represents
the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ, and this is telling
us God will never accept anyone who is not clothed in the perfect
righteousness of His Son. Well, how can I have that righteousness?
How can I have that garment? Look over in Isaiah 61. Isaiah 61, verse 10. I will greatly
rejoice in the Lord. My soul shall be joyful in my
God, for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation. He
hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom
decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself
with her jewels. This is the wedding garment of
the bridegroom and the bride. The garment of salvation is the
robe of Christ's righteousness. Now, how can that righteousness,
how can the righteousness of Christ be mine? Let me give you
four or five things. Turn to Romans 5 again. First
of all, The righteousness of Christ is mine by a gift of free
grace. It's a free gift. In Romans 5,
verse 17. For if by one man's offense death
reigned by one, much more, they which receive abundance of grace
and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus
Christ. Therefore, as by the offense
of one, judgment came upon all men to condemnation, even so,
by the righteousness of one, the free gift came upon all men
unto justification of life." Righteousness is the free gift
of God's grace. If you want this righteousness,
asking for it. It's a free gift of God's grace.
Second, the righteousness of Christ is mined by imputation. Now, divine imputation is one
of the chief foundation stones of the gospel. We must understand
God's imputation. When Adam fell, Adam's sin and
his guilt was imputed to everyone he represented. Well, who's that? It's everyone. Everyone that
came from his loins. Even though we personally did
not do anything good or bad in the garden, we all became guilty
when Adam sinned, because he was our representative, he was
our federal head, and what he did was imputed to us. Sin and
guilt were imputed to us because of what our federal head did.
Well, righteousness is imputed the exact same way. Because of
what Christ did as the federal head of his people, his people
are made righteous. Christ obeyed the law perfectly. Our Lord Jesus lived a life of
perfect righteousness, and even though none of his people ever
did one good thing, the righteousness of Christ is imputed to God's
elect, to all those people that Christ represented. Even though
none of God's elect did anything good, they became righteous because
our federal head was righteous. The sin of God's elect was imputed
to Christ our substitute at Calvary, and he put that sin away. with
the sacrifice of himself. And sin was imputed to Christ
and his righteousness was imputed to his people. And that made
his people as righteous as God's own Son. Perfectly righteous. You see, that's why I say salvation
took both the life and the death of Christ. Sin must be put away
and righteousness must be imputed for us to be saved. And it took
the life of Christ to produce that righteousness that God requires
of us. And it took the death of Christ
to atone for our sin. And this righteousness is imputed
by faith. Look back a page, if you're still
there in Romans, Romans 4. Romans 4, verse 3. For what saith
the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it
was counted unto him for righteousness. That's how it's imputed, is by
faith. Third, the righteousness of Christ
is mine through a vital union with the Lord Jesus Christ. Now,
you don't have to turn over there. I'll turn and read this to you.
Genesis chapter 7. This is the law of first mention.
This is the first time the word righteousness is used in Scripture.
And whatever it means here, according to the law of first mention,
it means everywhere else you read this word righteousness
in Scripture. Genesis 7, verse 1. The Lord said unto Noah, Come
thou and all thy house into the ark, for thee have I seen righteous
before me in this generation. Now, Noah is a sinful man, just
like you and me. Just wait for him to get off
the ark. He's going to show it. He's not righteous. God said
he is. God said he is. Don Forder said
here one time, That's all that matters in God's eyes. That's
all that matters. Why did God say, I see Noah's
righteous? Because he saw Noah in the ark. He saw Noah in the Lord Jesus
Christ. That's that vital union. Now
look over Hebrews chapter two. We're made righteous through
a vital union with Christ. There's no other way to be made
righteous except in Christ. Hebrews 2 verse 11. For both he that sanctified and
they who are sanctified are all one. For which cause? He's not ashamed to call them
brethren. He's not ashamed to call them brethren because he's
made them exactly like he is. This union with Christ is so
much of the complete union. It's so complete. We are. what he is, and he's not ashamed
to call us brethren. We are made the righteousness
of God in him because we have this vital union with him, because
we're united with him. Four, the righteousness of Christ
is mine because I have the nature of Christ. I've been given a
righteous nature in the new birth. Now earlier I told you when Adam
fell, his guilt was imputed and his sinful nature was imparted
to everyone he represented. So sinful men do what they do
because Adam's sin nature was imparted to them when Adam fell.
Well, when Christ produced a perfect righteousness, innocence was
imputed to his people. A legal, righteous standing before
God was imputed to his people. And when Christ produced a perfect
righteousness, a righteous nature was imparted to his people in
the new birth. And believers do what they do
because the nature of Christ is imparted to them. Righteousness
is imputed and a righteous nature is imparted. If you look over
Romans chapter 8, I'll show you that. Romans 8, verse 8. So then, they that are in the
flesh cannot please God. But ye are not in the flesh,
but in the Spirit. If so, be that the Spirit of God dwell
in you. Now, if words mean anything,
that means Christ dwells in you. His nature has been imparted
to His people. Now, if any man have not the
Spirit of Christ, he is none of His. But if Christ be in you,
the body is dead because of sin. but the Spirit is life because
of righteousness." 2 Peter 1, verse 4, "...whereby are given unto us
exceeding great and precious promises, that by these You might
be partakers of the divine nature. You can't be a partaker of the
divine nature unless that nature has been imparted to you. You
may partake of the divine nature. Look over 2 Peter 2. One more
page over, verse 6. Now this is about Lot. This is
interesting. You get this picture of Lot in
your mind. A man who, despite what he saw
in Sodom, chose to stay there, didn't he? Okay, verse 6, 2 Peter
2. And turning the cities of Sodom
and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them with an overthrow, making
them an example unto those that after should live ungodly. And
he delivered just Lot. What? Just Lot. Vest with the filthy conversation
of the wicked, for that righteous man dwelling among them and seeing
and hearing Vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their
unlawful deeds. Know what? Made a lot of mistakes. He chose to stay in that city. It's wrong. Yet what he saw going
on there vexed his righteous soul. There was another nature
in life. It was a righteous nature. His
soul was righteous and that's why God called him a righteous
man. I might not have called him a
just man, but God did, because he saw that righteous, holy nature
that was in him. Christ must be made what he is
not, so that I can be made what I am not. Now listen, why don't
we talk about this righteous nature being imparted. Don't
mistake what I'm saying. There is nothing good of me.
Nothing, absolutely nothing. I can say with the Apostle Paul,
I know that in me that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing. There is nothing good of me. But now there's something good
in me. It's the nature of Christ, this righteous nature that he's
imparted. A believer is righteous through
this vital union with Christ. And it's such a close, complete
union. that we have His nature. His nature has been imparted
to us in the New Verse. And number five, I have the righteousness
of Christ by faith. Now that's a big statement to
say. For a sinful man like me to make the statement, the righteous
nature of Christ has been imparted to me. How do you know that the
righteous nature of Christ has been imparted to you? When I
look in me, I don't see it. Anywhere I don't see it. I can't
tell you which part of me is righteous and which part of me
is sin. When I look at myself, all I see is sin. Nothing else. Then how do I know I have the
nature of Christ? Faith. Faith. I know I have this
nature of Christ if I believe God. Faith can't come from the
flesh. It's impossible. That which is
born of the flesh is flesh. It will never be anything but
flesh. Faith can only come from the new man, from the new nature
that we receive in the new birth. Look over to Hebrews chapter
11. Faith is the evidence that you have a righteous nature. Hebrews 11 verse 1. is the substance of things hoped
for, the evidence of things not seen. I don't see that righteous
nature in me, but faith is the evidence of it. We have this
righteousness by faith. So now the name of the Savior
is Jehovah's Akinnu, the Lord our righteousness. Why is that
name important to me? Because I don't have any righteousness.
How can that righteousness be mine? It's God's free gift. He imputes to his people. We
have it through this vital union with Christ. We have this in
a nature that we receive in the new birth. And we have this righteousness
by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, how effectual is this name,
Jehovah Sidkenu? How effectual is this righteousness? If you were in Dan's Sunday Scopes
last Sunday, you talked about this word effectual. It means
it got the job done. Is this righteousness going to
get the job done? Is this righteousness going to make a sinful man like
me righteous? Yes, it will. Yes, it will. In
our text, in verse 4, we read this name of God is so effectual,
God's elect won't be lacking. They won't lack a single thing
God requires. This name is so effectual that
the Savior, is going to accomplish his will and he's going to make
his people righteous. They shall be saved. They shall
dwell safely. And if you look in Jeremiah 33, I know you've read this a hundred
times, but every time I read it, I want to shout for joy.
Nothing can more clearly tell us this righteousness of Christ
is a factual. It gets the job done. It makes
his people righteous. In those days, at that time,
will I cause the branch of righteousness to grow up unto David, and he
shall execute judgment and righteousness in the land. In those days shall
Judah be saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell safely. And this
is the name wherewith she shall be called." Jehovah Sidkenu, the Lord our
righteousness. Now, wait a minute. I thought
that was his name. Jehovah Sidkenu. I thought that
was his name. This says she. Did it make a
mistake? This is talking about God's elect,
the bride of the Lord Jesus Christ. Jehovah Sidkenu is so factual
that the believers name becomes Jehovah, Sid Kidd, by marriage
to Christ. Now, when you all see my wife
Janet, you think there's Janet Tate. Not a person in this room
thinks there's Janet Conley. But that's how she was born.
But when you see her, you all think there's Janet Tate. Well,
she was born Janet Conley. But when she married me, and
Henry said, I now pronounce you man and wife, her name was Janet
Tate. And she went down got her driver's
license changed. They didn't give her any trouble
about it, because that's her name, Janet Taylor. A believer is born in this world
in sin, bearing Adam's name, bearing Adam's nature, bearing
his guilt, and bearing his name. But because we're married to
Christ, the believer gets a new name, Jehovah Zikinu. No longer do I bear my worthlessness. No longer do I bear that worthless
name of Adam. My name now, by marriage to Christ,
is Jehovah Sikhinu. When Jan and I got married, she
got a new address. We moved a little house on the
other end of Russell. We set up a house. If anybody
wants to send her a letter, they're going to have to send it to a
new address. She's got a new address. A believer has a new
address. We've been translated from the
kingdom of darkness. into the kingdom of his dear
son, a new address. When Jan and I got married, her
way of life changed. Those colonies got some weird
habits. Well, we started our own family. We kind of, you know,
now we've come to an agreement and we've met in the middle and
we've got our own way of doing things. We've got our own, she's
got a new way of life. A believer has a new way of life. We don't walk after the course
of this world anymore. Now we worship God in spirit.
We rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh.
And this name, Jehovah Sidkenu, it opens doors. It opens doors
to important places. When we were first married, Jan
worked for a temp agency. She worked for a while here,
a while there, a while here, a while there. She showed up
one day, she had an assignment at Dow Chemicals. First day,
she showed up there. The middle of the summertime,
it's hot as fire. She's pregnant with Holly. And
that guard didn't want anything to do with her. He wasn't going
to let her in. She was a bother to him. He said,
well, he didn't know if she was there. He called somebody to
find out if she was supposed to be there. He said, what's your name?
Real grouchy. She said, Janet Tate. He said,
you related to Frank Tate? She said, yes, I am. That's my
husband. He looked at her funny. He knew my dad. He's like, that
young girl's not married to Frank Tate. Well, they cleared it up. I married his son, Frank Jr. He said, my wife works for Frank
Tate. Any relation to his is a friend
of mine. Come in here. He brought her
into his car shack, his air conditioned. He said, here, sit down in my
seat. Pregnant woman don't need to be standing there. He had a water
cooler. He went and gave her a glass
of water. All because she bore a new name, a believer. is accepted in the presence of
God Almighty, because we bear the name Jehovah Sidkenu. Now, when you see Janet with
her sisters, you say, oh, I see the family resemblance. I know
where y'all came from. Clearly, you're all related.
Her last name's Tate now. There's a lot of Conley left
in Janet. A believer bears the name of Jehovah's Tekinu. It's not pretend. That's our
name. There's a lot of Adam left in
us, isn't there? I mean, most times the people's looking. That's
all they see is Adam. But the day's coming for the
believer. Every trace of Adam will be removed. No one will look at you in glory
and see any resemblance to Adam whatsoever. Adam's likeness,
now a face, stamped thine image in its place. And that will happen
when we are perfectly conformed to the image of Christ. No more
likeness to Adam. I'm telling you, this name, Jehovah
Sidkenu, it's affectional. A believer who bears the name
Jehovah Sidkenu has a better righteousness than the righteousness
that Adam had in the garden. Adam was created righteous and
he had kept that righteousness if he just kept one law. And
he couldn't even do that. And when he didn't keep that
one law, he lost all righteousness. But the believer's righteousness
can never be lost. The believer's righteousness
is a gift of God's grace. God's not going to take it back.
It's his free gift. It's a gift we can't lose because
the believer's righteousness is the earned. It's the purchased. And it's the imputed righteousness
of Jehovah Sidkenu, the Lord our righteousness. We have no
righteousness but Christ. We don't want any righteousness,
but the righteousness of Christ. And we claim no righteousness,
but the righteousness of Jehovah Sidkenu, the Lord our righteousness. You can make a whole message
on it. Our righteousness. Alright, well I hope the Lord
will bless that too.