Open your Bibles, if you will,
to Jeremiah 23 again. Jeremiah 23, we'll begin reading
at verse 5. Our text is a word full of grace
and full of instruction, and you'll find it in the midst of
a passage of scripture full of judgment. judging the prophets and the
priests of Israel and of Judah, because they had led the people
in fornication and sodomy, swearing to Baal. The fornication, the
sodomy, the swearing, the adultery with which he charges Israel
is not here a physical thing, though certainly the physical
things are abominable. But this is something far more
abominable. It is adultery and fornication
and sodomy and all that's involved in worshiping a false god in
the name of God in the house of God. All that's involved in
the worshiping of the works of our own hands. If ever there
was a passage of scripture that relates to the day and the age
in which you and I live, Jeremiah 23 does. It is a word of stern
judgment. God says these prophets who come
and have a dream, they pervert my words and they speak their
dreams and my people follow them. But I sent them not. He said,
my word is like a fire. to consume the chaff. My word
is like a fire to melt the heart. My word is like a hammer to break
in pieces every idol and like a hammer to break the heart of
stone. And he gives us his word here
in Jeremiah 23, beginning at verse five. Behold. Stop and listen to what I'm saying. Pay attention now. Behold. Believe
me. The days come, saith the Lord,
that I will raise unto David, that is to the elect of God,
to the house of David, to the Israel of God, a righteous branch. Christ's name is the branch,
a fruitful branch. This righteous branch shall bring
forth fruit. He is divine. We are the branches
in him. We gather all life and fruit
from him and the king shall reign and prosper And notice the Lord
says I will raise to David a branch and the king Not that Christ
is going to come here to be a king Our Lord Jesus did not come in
the first place in his first advent to be a king He came as
the king There's a huge difference. People these days have the notion
that the Lord Jesus came here to be king over in Israel so
that they might let him sit on the throne over in that little
nation across the water. That's absurd. The Lord Jesus
is that one who is David seated on his throne spiritually from
everlasting. He was king from everlasting.
He's God, our Savior. When he came here, he was born
king of the Jews. And when he returns, he will
return king of the Jews, not just of the physical seed of
Abraham, but of those who are Jews inwardly, the spiritual
Israel of God, and indeed king of the universe. King because
he's God, king because he fully fulfilled everything written
in the book of God concerning the Christ of God, earning the
right to dispose of, to reign over and dispose of all flesh,
giving eternal life to whom he will. I will raise up a king,
and he shall reign and prosper. He's the blessed man described
in Psalm 1. Whatsoever he doeth, it shall
prosper. He reigns always everywhere and
prospers always everywhere. Now watch this. This king who
reigns and prospers shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. He will execute judgment. Perhaps
the word would better be translated righteousness. Certainly that's
true. Leave it as it stands in our
text judgment. All the events of providence
that are judgments of God upon men. Hurricanes, floods, tornadoes,
sickness, famine, pestilence, disease, wars, all those things
are judgments of God upon men. Understand that. They are judgments
of God upon men. They are judgments of God resulting
from our sin. There would be no sickness where
there's no sin. There will be no pain where there's
no sin. There will be no war where there's
no sin. All these things are judgments
by which God warns us and gives us a foretaste of certain judgment
to come. He will execute justice. Whatever God does is right. Whatever God has done is right. Whatever God shall do is right. There's a book that became popular
some years ago during the time when I had some sickness and
somebody had the gall to send it to me. Why me? Why mine? I've got a better title for a
book. Why not you? Why not yours? Why me? Why? What arrogance? What arrogance? What God does is right. If he
sends men to hell, it's right. And if he saves them by his grace,
it's right. He does everything in strict
accordance with justice. Read on. He will exercise judgment
and justice in the earth in his days, in the days of this king,
in the days of this righteous branch. Judah shall be saved. not just that tribe in Israel,
not just that portion in the land of Palestine, not just that
portion of the physical seed of Abraham, Judah is talking
about the host of God's elect and Israel, the whole of Israel,
all God's elect gathered from among the four corners of the
earth, all Israel shall be saved. And when he has come and saved
Judah and Israel dwells safely, this is the name whereby he shall
be called. This is the name by which he
shall be worshipped. This is the name by which he
shall be trusted. This is the name by which he
shall be served. This is the name by which he
shall be believed. The Lord, our righteousness. What a name. The Lord, our righteousness. That's my subject this morning.
The Lord, our righteousness. What do we know about righteousness? Let me assure you of something.
Whatever you think righteousness is by nature, Whatever you presume
is righteousness by the way you were raised, whatever you had
been taught righteousness is, whatever it is, it's dead wrong. You don't have a clue what righteousness
is. You who don't know God, you don't have a clue what righteousness
is. Righteousness is not morality. There are lots of people who
are moral, but there are none righteous. No, not Righteousness
is not uprightness of character. I have known a good many people
in my life who were upright in their character. We read of a
man by the name of Uzziah, that king who was Isaiah's cousin
who reigned in Judah for 52 years and did that which was right
in the eyes of the Lord for 52 years. And yet he died under the judgment
of God. Ron, he did things that were
right, but he wasn't right. He did that which was upright,
but he himself was not upright before God. He did things that
men looked at and God said were right, but he was not a righteous
man. He never knew God. So righteousness
is not morality. Righteousness is not uprightness
of character. Righteousness is not a matter
of religious duty, performing religious exercises and ceremonies. Righteousness is a matter of
law. Righteousness has something to
do with rightness before the law. When you think of righteousness,
principally think of this, rightness before the law. I like to watch
detective stories and I like to watch fact-based movies, things
that have some basis in reality. And often you will run across
a statement like this watching those things. Somebody is shot
in a bank robbery or during an attempted holdup and the policeman
is put on suspicion and they do an investigation while he
sits behind a desk. And if the things were done according
to the regulations given to the police department, then that
policeman is exonerated and they declared that the shooting was
a righteous shooting. Now the man's still dead. Just
as dead if he had been, if the policeman had sneaked up on his
backside and slit his throat. But it was a righteous shooting
because it was right before the law. You understand that? Righteousness
is rightness before the law. You and I incurred a great loss
through the sin and fall of our father Adam. When Adam walked
on the earth before God in the original creation, he walked
before God in righteousness. In righteousness. You might say,
well, that wasn't real righteousness. Oh, yes, it was. It was creature
righteousness, but it was righteousness. He was right before the law until
the day of the fall. We walked with Adam in the garden
in the cool of the day, and God walked with man as friend with
friend until sin entered the world. And when Adam lifted his
fist in God's face and says, you have no right to be God,
when we sinned in our father Adam, we lost everything that
has anything to do with righteousness. Man who was upright sought out
many inventions, and that upright man became unrighteous. Unrighteous
before God, for we sinned. And when we sinned, we died.
We died spiritually and we were ruined as a race so that men
since the fall of Adam are born with Adam's nature under a sentence
of death and condemnation because we sinned against God and that
sin we committed in Adam is imputed to man everywhere and all men
are born in sin. Born under the curse of the law.
born under judgment, born with a sentence of death in themselves
so that every man in his conscience is aware that he'll meet God
in judgment after he dies. Every man is terrified at the
thought of meeting God in judgment. There are no exceptions. I know
folks pretend to be brave and pretend to have no fear of death. That's a bunch of hogwash. That's
a bunch of hogwash. Oh, no. You are terrified at
the thoughts of meeting God with no righteousness. So you try
to produce some. You try to do good and you point
to things that you've done and say, there's my righteousness.
But you're still terrified of judgment because you have a sentence
of death in yourself. You have no righteousness and
no ability to perform any. No ability to. You see, man's
not only born under a sentence of death, we're born in this
world with Adam's sinful nature. So that as Adam sinned in the
garden and we sinned in Adam, something is passed along by
natural generation. It's called sin. Every man passes
along to his children his nature and his nature is sin. Sin. That's the nature of man, so
that all children come forth from the womb speaking lies.
No mother ever had to teach her child how to lie. You don't have to teach them
that. You got to work hard at teaching them not to lie all
the time. Lying is just part of our nature. That's the deceitfulness
of the human heart. Breaking forth as soon as it's
able, speaking lies. So that the whole law has been
broken by us, and the whole of God's law is broken by us continually. And yet, God requires righteousness. Now the sin must be punished. The soul that sinneth, it shall
die. Alan, keep you just saying about
the love of God. Thank God for that wonderful
love that will not let me go. But you still got to die. The
soul that said it must die. No exceptions. Every transgression
shall receive its just reward. God is going to visit the fury
of his wrath upon every sinner that's ever been or shall be.
No exceptions. Well, how can that be? And some
folks still be saved. The Lord Jesus Christ, God's
Son, came into this world specifically to save sinners from their sins
by the sacrifice of himself. And when he who knew no sin was
made sin for us, God in his justice slaughtered his son in the violence
of his wrath because his son fully deserved all the fury of
God's wrath when he was made to be sin for us. And thereby
justice was fully satisfied for every sinner for whom Christ
died. He laid down his life for the sheep. The sheep cannot die. He died in the room instead of
his people. His people cannot die. We died under the wrath
of God in Christ, our substitute. So justice is satisfied. But
still something more is required. God demands righteousness. If you and I would enter into
glory, we must be righteous, righteous. righteous before God,
righteous with the law. You see, the law is not only
to be satisfied for our crimes, the law must be fulfilled by
us. God says, walk before me and
be thou perfect. Walk before me and be perfect. That is, walk before me in complete
compliance with all my holy law. That's what righteousness is.
It's walking before God from the breaking of the womb to the
entering of the tomb in complete compliance with everything revealed
in his law. God demands that you love God
with all your heart, soul, mind, and being, and love your neighbor
as yourself. And the Lord Jesus Christ came
here to do that too. Brother Don, does God really
require that we live in righteousness? Absolutely. Cursed is everyone
that continueth not in all things written in the book of the law
to do them. Brother Matt preached to you
from Matthew 5, 20, Tuesday night. Accept your righteousness, our
Savior said. Shall exceed the righteousness
of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into
the kingdom of heaven. You've got to be more righteous
than the scribes were, more righteous than the Pharisees were. And
these folks, they might have been mean as snakes, but they
sure looked good. The outside of the platter looked
good. They live by law. They live by law. They tithe. They prayed three times a day,
fasted twice in a week, tithed on everything they had, tithed
on the corn coming out of their garden and the money coming into
their pockets. They tithed on everything. They
prayed. They prayed such fine prayers.
Folks looked at them and looked at their lives and they said,
if anybody goes to heaven, surely one will be a scribe and the
other a Pharisee. Our Lord said, not them. And
except you're better than they, you won't either. Except your
righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes
and Pharisees. You shall in no case enter into
the kingdom of heaven well Who then can be saved? Who then can
be saved that was the response of the Lord's disciples when
that rich young ruler came to it? He said Lord what good things
lied that I should inherit the kingdom of heaven. He said Go
and sell all that you have come follow me first. He told him
said keep the commandments. And the fellow said, well, I've
done all that. I love God with all my heart. Always did. My
mama taught me I loved Jesus when I was on her breast. I was
raised loving Jesus. Always loved Jesus. I can't remember
a time I didn't love Jesus. Well, your memory is not very
good then. You love your neighbor as yourself.
Well, I always did. Always did. Well, prove it. Go sell what you have. Come follow
me. And the rich young ruler went away sorrowful. And the
disciples said, if that fella can't be saved, who could be saved? Do you remember
the master's answer? With men, it's impossible. Oh, but that's not all he said.
But with God, all things are possible. God can save folks
just like that rich young ruler. God can save folks like you and
folks like me. How does he do so? By a substitute,
by a surety, by another Adam in whom all God's elect lived
on this earth and in whom all God's elect suffered his wrath
at Calvary. So that when Christ came into
this world, he came into this world to perform righteousness
for us. And many have the idea that when
we're sanctified by God, the Holy Spirit in the new birth,
then we supplement the righteousness of Christ. And and by our growing
sanctification, by our growing more and more holy, becoming
more and more righteous, we are more and more accepted with God.
Understand something. The work of the Holy Spirit does
not supplant the work of God the Son. We recognize God the
Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit work as the triune
Godhead in our salvation. The Father chose us, the Son
redeemed us, the Spirit calls us, but the work of the Spirit
does not supplant the work of the Son. Righteousness is the
prerogative of the Son of God alone. He makes us righteous. He comes and makes us perfect
and right before the law by His death and by His obedience unto
death as our substitute. The Spirit comes in sanctification
and gives us a righteous, a holy nature conforming us to Christ,
but the Spirit of God doesn't conform us to the law. Christ
fulfilled all that's required that we be accepted and right
before the law. According to the book of God,
It is the life obedience of Christ that constitutes the righteousness
with which we are clothed before our God. His death washed away
our sins. His righteousness covers us from
head to foot. So the only way it's possible
for the law to be honored and our souls accepted is in Christ
Jesus, our Lord. Remember, from the moment our
Savior broke his mother's womb, Until the hour that he ascended
up on high, he was at work for his people. From the moment he
was seen in Mary's arms until the moment his arms were stretched
out in death, he bowed his head and gave up the ghost. All the
while, he was performing a work of our salvation. The Lord Jesus
completed that work of his obedience in life, saying, I finished the
work thou gavest me to do. Mark, he said that in John 17,
four, but he hadn't died yet. He still got to go to Gethsemane.
He still got to go to Calvary. How could he say, I finished
the work now gave us me to do. He lived in perfect righteousness
all the days of a man to full age of manhood, never deviating
from the will of God, the revelation of God and the word of God. And
then he finished his work at Calvary. making atonement for
our sins, when he cried, it is finished. Throughout his earthly
life, he was spinning the fabric of that royal priestly garment
in which we are clothed. In his death, he dipped the garment
in his blood. Throughout his life, he was gathering
gold. In his death, he hammered us
out a garment of wrought gold. We have as much to be thankful
for in the life obedience of Christ as we do in the death
obedience of Christ. The theologians call it active
and passive obedience. That's a mistake. Our Lord Jesus
was just as active in his death as he was in his life. But we
have every bit as much to be thankful for in the righteous
obedience of Christ in life as we do in his death obedience,
giving himself for us. His death is our atonement. His
life is our righteousness. Turn to first Corinthians chapter
one. Now here's the message set before
us in Jeremiah 23. The Lord Jesus Christ is our
only righteousness, and it is our joyous privilege to confess
him so. Look in 1 Corinthians 1, verse
30. Of him, of God, are you in Christ? How did Babi Estes get
in Christ? God put you in him before the
world was. Made you one with Him. God put
you in Him by His grace when you're born of His Spirit. So
that Christ comes by His Spirit and dwells in you who are in
Him from eternity. Of Him are you in Christ Jesus,
who of God is made unto us wisdom. He's described in Proverbs chapter
eight is that wisdom who stood before God on our behalf before
the world was that wisdom by whom God would make himself known
to us and make God make us known to God in the acceptance of his
obedience. The Lord Jesus is the word by
whom God is known, by whom God is revealed and righteousness. He's made of God and to us, righteousness,
rightness before the law. Rightness before the law so that
the law looks at Don Fortner and says he's right and That
same law being satisfied by the blood of Christ looks at Don
Fortner and says not guilty never guilty of any crime perfectly
right having done all things in accordance with God's law
and then he says and sanctification Christ is made of God and to
us, sanctification. Actually, the word is holiness.
Christ comes by His Spirit and gives us a new nature so that
we're made partakers of the divine nature in the new birth, given
life by the Spirit of God, a holy thing born in us, created in
us that cannot sin, and redemption. Christ has made to us deliverance. Redemption is deliverance from
all sin and all its consequences through the blood and obedience
of Christ and the power and grace of God into the glorious liberty
of the sons of God so that redemption takes in the whole thing. From
everlasting election and union with Christ to our resurrection
glory and our everlasting union with Christ in the next world.
Him are ye in Christ Jesus who of God has made him to us wisdom
and righteousness and sanctification and redemption well pastor What
you said so far makes it look like This whole thing is God's
work. Is that what you got out of that?
Yeah, is that what you given that? it looks like man contributes
nothing and It looks like man doesn't do anything to give himself
life and righteousness and sanctification and redemption and salvation.
It looks like this is all God's work. That's exactly right. That
according as it is written, he that glorieth, let him glory
in the Lord. All right. Now, this morning,
I want to do three things with our text, with this name by which
our Savior reveals himself, the Lord righteousness first let
me explain the name and then I want to encourage you to call
him by this name and then I'll briefly urge you to glory in
this name by which our Savior is revealed Jeremiah 23 6 this
is the name whereby he shall be called the Lord our righteousness
the Lord our righteousness Now our savior is revealed by many
names in scripture. Names by which he reveals his
character, his person, his relationship, and his work with his people.
He's called Emmanuel. He's called the mighty God. He's
called the Lord who provides, the Lord our shepherd, the Lord
who sanctifies, the Lord who heals. Many, many names he's
called in scripture. None of those names are more
delightful, more blessed, more assuring, or more instructive
than the name given of our Savior here in Jeremiah 23 and verse
6. Savior divine, we know thy name,
and in that name we trust. Thou art the Lord, our righteousness. Thou art thine Israel's boast.
Now this is what that means. Christ is the Lord, our righteousness. The word Lord is the word Jehovah. The word righteousness is the
word Siddiqui. Jehovah Siddiqui, the Lord, our
righteousness. That being said, the first thing
that's obvious is that Jesus Christ is Jehovah. The man Christ Jesus is God,
our Savior. I'm not going to make any effort
to prove that. and it doesn't need proving in this congregation,
but it is asserted everywhere in the book. The Word was made
flesh and dwelt among us. And we beheld His glory, the
glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace
and truth. Why is that? Because in the beginning
was the Word, and the Word was with God. God was the Word. In the beginning was the Word,
And God was the word. So the standing as our surety,
our mediator, the Lord Jesus before the world began, stood
before God as the last Adam, as our representative. And this
one in whom God makes himself known, in whom God reveals his
glory. He is God. The word was God. Great is the mystery of godliness.
God was manifest in the flesh. Jesus Christ who lived in our
stead and died in our place at Calvary is himself God. Now, men may have trouble understanding
that. They may have difficulty understanding
that. But do you know why the Jews
crucified our Lord? Do you remember why they did? The Jews were about to stone
him to death in John chapter 10. And the Savior said, for
what work are you stoning me? They said, oh, we're not going
to kill you for a good work, but because you, being a man, make
yourself God. Our Lord Jesus, then, claimed
to be God. His disciples worshipped Him
as God, and the Jews nailed Him to the tree because He claimed
to be God. Either He is, or He is no Savior,
and this book's a fairy tale. There's no in-between ground.
The Word of God clearly declares that our Savior is God. All creation
tested He is. All the providence declares that
he is he upholds all things by the word of his power. And certainly
you and I have experienced his divinity if we've experienced
his grace. Who but God could put away sin?
Who but God can forgive sin? Who but God can speak peace to
the guilty conscience? Christ is Jehovah and Christ
is righteousness. The Lord, our righteousness. means that Jesus, the Christ,
is the embodiment of righteousness. He who is God. Jesus, the Christ,
is the embodiment of righteousness. He who is God. We read the law
and read the commands of righteousness. But God tells us over here in
Jeremiah, if you want to look at it, just a second, Jeremiah
30. 32 verse 23 Look right here in the middle of this verse They have done nothing of all
that thou commandest them to do Now that's some statement You
see that there Jeremiah 20 31 32 rather verse 23 they had done
nothing of all that thou commandest them to
do. Nothing. Are you listening to me? Merle
Hart, you have never done anything God commanded in His law. Nothing. That's what it said. Nothing. Never loved God with all your
heart. Never loved your neighbor as
yourself. Never been free from idolatry. Never been free from
taking God's name in vain. Never been free from theft. Never been free from covetousness. Never been free from adultery. Never. Been free from shedding
innocent blood? Never. Never. You've never done
a thing God said do? Never. Well, Brother Don, you
don't know me. I know I don't, but God does. And all I can see, Brother PJ,
is what's outward. God sees what's inward. Even
that lady been married to you nearly all her life doesn't see
what's inward. God sees what you are. All righteousness is done by
Christ. He performed it, and he alone.
Christ is Jehovah, and Christ is our righteousness. He's the
righteousness by which we are justified before God. Now, I don't know a better way
to illustrate what I'm talking about than this. Look at your
bulletin. Pull it out of your Bible where
you got it tucked away and look at it. Look at the second page. You see this line right here?
You see that? Now, look at the front page.
In the hymn, see that straight line on the left-hand side and
the other lines on the right-hand side? They're not the same, are
they? Turn to the back page. Left-hand
side. And the right-hand side, exactly
the same. Do you know what that's called?
That's called justifying the margins. Back before we got computers,
I used to write the bulletin articles and then Shelby would
type them. And then she'd take a ruler and mark it down at the
closest letter to the left-hand side. And then she would retype
them. on a stencil, counting the spaces
so that the bulletins look just like this. But she did it manually,
stretching out the sentences to justify the right-hand margin.
And if she did it on a stencil, it got real aggravated. You get
down to about right here and have to start all over if you
made a mistake. But she'd go back, start all over, and justify
the right-hand margin. Now, if you use a computer, you
hit that button that says J and it's justified. What's that mean?
This margin that was ragged and uneven is now exactly justified
with this margin. Hear me. Here is God's law. Got it. This is God's law. Joe. Here we are in Christ. Exactly equal to God's law. How can that be? We obeyed God's
law in his son. Just as we sinned in our father
Adam, we obeyed God's law in his son. And the Lord God has
justified us in his son. So that now being justified,
we are equal to the law, equal to the demands of the law. God
treats us as though we had ourselves obeyed the law. Don Renner, he
can't do that. God can't do what's not right.
God will not justify a wicked man. Read Exodus chapters 33
and 34. God will not clear the guilty.
Well, how then can he treat us as though we had obeyed the law
when we didn't? He can't. We did. And you got
that? We really did obey God's law. We really did obey God's law
because we're one with his son and what his son did we did in
him, so that from the time I was conceived in my mother's womb,
through all the days of full manhood, my God, I'm as holy as your son. This is the name whereby he shall
be called the Lord my righteousness. Let's see if we can make good
on that. Turn over four or five pages to Jeremiah 33. Verse 15.
Hold your hands in Jeremiah 23 verses 5 and 6. Look at chapter
33 verses 15 and 16. In those days, And at that time, I will cause
the branch of righteousness. A little slight difference. I
will raise unto David a branch. Here he says, I will cause the
branch of righteousness to grow up unto David. And he shall execute
judgment and righteousness in the land. He will execute judgment
and righteousness in the land. Now watch verse 16. In those
days shall Judah be saved, and Jerusalem, Israel, shall dwell
safely. And this is the name wherewith,
if you haven't underscored it, I suggest you draw a circle around
it and star it and underscore it, highlight it. This is the
name wherewith she shall be called. This is the name wherewith she
shall be called. You who are gods, His church,
his bride, you who are born of the spirit, you who believe on
the son of God, this is the name whereby she shall be called the
Lord, our righteousness. Does God call us by the name
of his son? Does God declare that we are
one with his son? one indeed with Christ our Savior,
one with him. We were lost and ruined by Adam's
transgression. And being ruined by Adam's transgression,
the imputation of his sin to us when we sinned in him is a
just imputation. It is only by our obedience to
God in Christ and the imputation of Christ's righteousness to
us because we obeyed God in his son, that we rise to justification
and life in Christ Jesus. He finished the transgression.
He made an end of sins. He made reconciliation for iniquity,
and he brought in everlasting righteousness. Of him are ye
in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us righteousness. This is the ground of our acceptance
with God. We are one with Christ and we
are made the righteousness of God in him. Christ is our righteousness. In the parable of the prodigal
son, you'll remember the prodigal came home and the father said,
bring him to the fatty calf, bring the shoes for his feet,
bring the ring, put it on the finger. And then he said, bring
forth the best robe and put it on him. Look here, look here. That fit pretty good. That fit
pretty good. 54 long. I can buy it off the
rack, fits just fine. 54 long. Made just for me. Well, this
one wasn't. This one wasn't. This one I bought
off the rack. But the Lord Jesus made a garment
for me. A spotless linen garment, made,
tailor-made to fit me perfectly. And here I am. With his righteous
garments on, I am as holy as God's own Son. This is the linen
white righteousness of God's saints. Christ is our righteousness
for justification and he's our righteousness for sanctification
too. Hebrews chapter 10 tells us plainly that by one offering
he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. So that
being right with the law In justification, God the Holy Spirit comes, sent
by our Justifier, and plants a new nature in us that is righteous
in itself. So that this new nature walks
before God in uprightness. This new nature walks before
God with faith. This new nature walks before
God living. And it's not me, but Christ liveth
in me. He's my sanctification. It's
only in Christ that God is well pleased and being well pleased
in Christ. He's well pleased with all who
are in Christ and he accepts. Our gifts and our sacrifices. Because of Christ. I don't have
any idea what anybody putting off a plate this morning. I never
look. I'm not interested, I don't need
to know. But if somebody emptied his bank account last night,
sold all his stocks last week, sold all his property, put it
in the bank and emptied his bank account, write in a check, put
it in off and put it this morning, it ain't fit for God to accept. God's not going to accept your
tithes or your giving no matter how sacrificial. Should you give
your life to spend your life ministering to lepers, yourself
contracting leprosy in the process so you could preach the gospel
of leprosy? Giving your life, God won't accept it. It's not
fit for God. Well, how can he accept my two
pence? How can he accept our psalms
of praise? How can he accept our coming
here to worship him? How can he accept us? How? Accepted to God by Christ Jesus,
1 Peter 2, 5. Even your faith in Christ. Struggle
with faith. I don't, well, I believe, but
not like I should. Lindsay, if I ever heard you
suggest you believe like you should, I'd be real concerned
for you. No, your faith is not acceptable. No, sir. No, sir. You can't believe like
you ought to believe. No, sir. No, sir. It's the object
of your faith that's accepted. And because he's accepted, God
accepts your faith. He calls it the obeying of his
commandment. This is the work of God that
you should believe on his son whom he has sent. All right. Secondly very very quickly. I
want you to use this name This is the name wherewith he shall
be called the Lord our righteousness Would you be saved by the free
grace of God listen to this Whosoever shall call on the name of the
Lord, shall be saved. What's that mean? What's that
mean? Well, a fella's been shot on the battlefield and he's laying
there and he knows fixing to draw his last breath and he says,
Jesus saved me! No, that ain't it. That's the
reason I'm not an ambulance chaser. That ain't it. What's this mean,
call on the name of the Lord? If right where you are, right
now, you can find yourself worshiping God, By faith in Christ, the
Lord, our righteousness, God. I confess my sin. I'm nothing
but sin. I trust your son. With mouth confession is made
with reference to salvation, calling on the name of the Lord,
worshiping God by faith in Christ, the Lord, our righteousness,
salvation, yours. when you have sinned and you're
aware of it. Most of the time, we're not half
aware of it. Use this name. If any man sin, we have an advocate
with the Father. Jesus Christ, the, what does
it say? Anybody? Do you know? The righteous. Jesus Christ the righteous and
he's the propitiation for our sin When you think maybe you've
done something good and you get to feeling a little bit uppity Remember this name Bob you're
just seeing and The best you can offer God is just seeing
and God accepts you standing there greeting folks handing
out bullets is on Sunday morning and through Christ our righteousness,
that's all. Whosoever shall offer a glass
of cold water in the name of a disciple, just give him a little
water, just a drink of water, in the name of a disciple, that
is one who follows Christ our righteousness, he'll not lose his reward. When
you get sick and you're faced with death, use this name. my righteousness and die in peace. Children of God, glory in this
name. Jehovah said, can you the Lord
our righteousness? God forbid that I should glory
saving the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Glorying in the
cross, trusting Christ crucified is to trust Christ, my righteousness. Oh God, make him yours. Amen.