Among all of the names by which
our Savior is revealed in Holy Scripture, none is more comforting,
more assuring, more delightful, more instructive, important,
or precious than that sweet name which is found in Jeremiah chapter
23 and verse 6. Jeremiah 23 and verse 6. This is a prophecy of the coming
of our Lord Jesus Christ. of the accomplishment of redemption
and salvation by his finished work. In verse 6, we read, In
his days, that is, in the days of Christ's revelation, in the
days of his glory, 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. Savior divine,
we know thy name, and in that name we trust. Thou art the Lord
our righteousness, thou art thine Israel's boast. This blessed
name of our Savior is my subject for this evening. If you've been
taking notes on these names of God, I'll spell it out for you.
It is Jehovah Sidkenu. That is T-S-I-D-K-E-N-U, Jehovah
Sidkenu, the Lord our righteousness. Now my purpose in preaching this
message is to show you this one glorious gospel truth. Somebody
said the best way to accomplish the task of driving the nail
is to hit the nail on the head and keep on hitting it until
you sink it in. I want to hit this one nail on
the head and keep on driving it until it's sunk in, I trust,
by the Spirit of God. The Lord Jesus Christ alone is
the righteousness of his people. We have no righteousness but
Christ. We want no righteousness but
Christ, and we will own no righteousness but the Lord Jesus Christ. Now,
when we sinned in our father Adam, by his fall, we sustained
a great, terrible loss in the matter of righteousness. By Adam's
transgression, we suffered the loss of both a righteous nature
and the loss of legal righteousness in the sight of the holy God.
Adam sinned before God and we sinned in him. and therefore
man is no longer innocent of the transgression. Man did not
keep the commandment of God. He is therefore guilty of the
omission of keeping God's word. In that which he committed and
in that which he omitted, man's original character of uprightness
was completely wrecked and ruined so that there is no righteousness
remaining in us. so that there is none good, no,
not one, so that there is not in our flesh a single good thing
by which to commend ourselves to God. Our Lord Jesus Christ
came into the world to undo the mischief of the fall, to restore
that which he took not away. insofar as the sin of our father
and our sin in him, insofar as our transgression of God's law
is concerned, our breach of his commandment, it is removed by
the shedding of Christ's precious blood. His agony and his death
have completely removed from his people all sin and all the
consequences of sin. So that in Jesus Christ, insofar
as the law and justice of God is concerned, His people are
completely freed from sin. Completely freed from sin. Now, please remember, I am not
talking about some kind of a experience of sinless perfection. That's
not what I'm talking about. I'm not talking about our experience.
You and I have lived for the last couple of minutes and we
know something about sin just in that time. We experience sin
continually. I'm talking about in the sight
of God, insofar as God's law and God's justice is concerned,
through the blood of Christ, all who believe are completely,
totally, absolutely forever freed from sin, pardoned, forgiven. so that God will not, in accordance
with his own justice, ever charge his own with sin. Not in this
world, not in the world to come. Not today, not at the Judgment
Day. The Lord Jesus Christ, his own
self, bear our sin in his own body on the tree. He died just
for the unjust, and in doing so, he put away our sins. By his sacrifice, through his
blood, all the sins of all God's people are forever washed away. Being pardoned by the blood of
Christ, we are without sin in the sight of God. This is what
John says in 1 John 3. He was manifested to take away
our sins, and in him is no sin. But that's not enough. That in
and of itself is not enough. It is not enough that we simply
be freed from the guilt of sin. It is not enough that we simply
have our sins and our transgressions removed. Atonement alone is not
enough to give fallen men acceptance with the Holy God. It is required
of man that he keep the whole law of God and keep it perfectly. It's not enough not to break
the law or to be regarded through the blood of Christ as though
we did not break the law. God requires of man a perfect
righteousness, a perfect obedience. He must continue in all things
written in the book of the law to do them all the days of his
life. Now that's what God requires.
You read it in Galatians 3 in verse 10. The law demands perfect
obedience from the cradle to the grave. The law demands perfect
obedience inward as well as outward throughout the life of a man.
How can this necessity be supplied? Man must have perfect righteousness
or God will not and cannot accept it. Man must have perfect obedience
to the law and to the will of God or the holy character of
the Almighty will not allow him to be rewarded with heaven and
eternal life. God cannot, I repeat and stress
the word cannot, God cannot accept anything less than perfection. Suppose that God were to give
heaven to a soul that had not perfectly kept his holy law.
That would be giving the reward where service was not rendered.
The universe would mock the justice of God. His righteous holy character
would be ridiculed. Where then can this righteousness
be found with which the pardoned sinner may be completely covered
so that God can, in consistency with his justice, his holiness,
his law, and his truth, accept the man as though he were perfectly
holy and reward him for being so. Surely, we're sensible enough
of our own sinful condition that we realize there is no possibility
of our accomplishing this righteousness for ourselves. By the deeds of
the law, there shall no flesh be justified in God's sight. If righteousness must be produced
by us, we are full of despair. Hell must be our eternal portion,
for we sin every day, every moment. All that we do, everything we
do is marred by sin. I don't think we've yet come
to see the implications of that. Everything we do is marred by
sin. Our best ambitions, our best
desires, our noblest thoughts, all are marred by sin. These
hearts of flesh are such horrible cesspools of iniquity that everything
coming from this heart, passing through this heart, is defiled
and corrupt and vile. It is full of sin. So that as the prophet Isaiah
speaks concerning himself. Now this is God's prophet speaking.
He's speaking of himself and he's speaking of all the people
of God. Not the ungodly, the unbelieving,
the rebel, the idolatry, the pagan. He's talking about you
and me. Our righteousnesses. Our righteousnesses
are as filthy rags in God's sight. Filthy rags. It's not impossibility. that you and I can keep the law
of God. It's too high. It's too holy.
It's too pure. It's too perfect. We cannot attain
its requirements. We cannot keep its precepts.
Though we pass from death into life, old Adam still struggles
for dominion within us. By force of our lust, we are
still held in captivity to sin in our members. The good that
we would do, we do not. The evil we hate, that we often
perform. If anything is plain in the word
of God, and most plain in the experiences of God's people,
it is just this, that there is nothing good in any man in and
of himself. The saints of God recognize it
and cry with Paul, I know that in me, that is in my flesh, in
my flesh dwelleth no good thing. If we would be righteous, We
must be made righteous by another. Many are of the opinion that
the work of the Holy Spirit in sanctification gives us a righteousness
by which we may stand before God. Now, understand me. I would
do nothing to minimize the work of God, the Holy Spirit. We recognize
that he is God. He is one with the Father and
the Son and the Holy Trinity. He has a specific work which
he does in the accomplishment of our salvation along with the
Father and the Son. We are ourselves chosen of God
from eternity. We are regenerated and called
by God the Holy Spirit. But the work of justification
and of redemption is entirely the work of God the Son. It is not the work of the Father
nor of the Spirit, though they cooperate, though they are all
in one heart, mind, and purpose. The work of redemption, the work
of justification, was accomplished in its entirety by the God-man,
Christ Jesus. Those who teach that the Holy
Spirit enables the believer to keep the law and that God will
accept his obedience to the law are woefully mistaken. In sanctification,
the Holy Spirit does not conform us to the law. He conforms us
to Christ. He does not cause us to go back
to Mount Sinai, but rather to Mount Calvary. He does not tell
us to follow Moses, but to follow Christ. That's always the work
of the Spirit. Each person in the blessed Trinity
has his work of redemption or the work of salvation to perform
for us. The Father, the Son, and the
Holy Spirit are one. But I remind you again that in
the matter of justification and the matter of redemption, it
was accomplished by Jesus Christ alone. We're accepted in the
beloved. Our acceptance is based upon
something which is done by the beloved, by Christ Jesus. We
firmly believe, according to the testimony of Holy Scripture,
that the life of Christ, the life of Christ from the cradle
to the grave, constitutes that righteousness with which his
people are clothed. His death washed away our sins
and his life covers us from head to foot. His death was the sacrifice
to God to make atonement for sin. His life is his gift to
man by which he satisfies and we satisfy in him the demands
of God's law. Only in this way was it possible
for God in his holiness and justice to honor both his law and his
righteous character, to magnify his law and make it honorable,
while at the same time accepting us as the objects of his love
and grace. I find many who are perfectly
clear about the merits of Christ's death, who seem to understand
nothing at all about the merits of his life. The fact is that
from the moment that the child Jesus drew his first infant breath
until the hour when he bowed his head and gave up the ghost,
he was at work for his people. From the moment that he came
forth from the virgin's womb until the moment that he laid
down his life for us, Christ was performing the work of our
salvation. The Lord Jesus Christ completed
the work of his obedience in life. And he came to the father
on that eve before his crucifixion. And he said, Father, the hour
has come. Glorify thy son that thy son also may glorify thee.
I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. Now, he
had not yet died. He had not yet finished the work
of redemption, but he had lived the full age of a man from the
cradle to this very moment when he came to the very eve of his
crucifixion in perfect righteous obedience to the Holy God. And
he said, I have finished the work. That is, I have finished
the work of establishing perfect righteousness in the earth. And
then when he hung his head and died upon the cross of Calvary,
when he hung his head and gave up the ghost crying, it is finished,
the Lord Jesus Christ finished the work of redemption, accomplishing
the atonement for our sins by the sacrifice of himself. Both
were necessary. Throughout his earthly life,
our Lord Jesus was spinning the fabric of the royal garment with
which his kings must be clothed. And in his death, he dipped that
garment in his blood. In his life, he was gathering
the precious gold. In his death, he hammered out
the gold to make for us a garment of wrought gold. I'm saying to
you, children of God, that you and I have as much to be thankful
for in the life of Christ as we do in his death. In his life,
Jesus Christ rendered perfect obedience to the law of God,
and he did it as our representative. In his death, he satisfied the
claims of the law as our surety. And therefore, Jeremiah declares,
this is the name whereby he shall be called the Lord our righteousness. Now, here's the lesson set before
us by the prophet Jeremiah. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
only righteousness of his people, and it's our duty, our responsibility,
but above all, it is our privilege and our joy to call him the Lord,
our righteousness. As we look at this text, I realize
the impossibility of expounding it. It's bursting with gospel
truth. Many sermons could be preached
upon it and still room for many more. But tonight, our subject
is limited to this one thing, the blessed name of our dear
Savior, Jehovah Sidkidnu, the Lord, our righteousness. I pray that God, the Holy Spirit,
might graciously flood our souls with the fullness of grace revealed
in this name. so that we can go out of this
place rejoicing to call Jesus Christ our Lord, the Lord our
righteousness. If you'll give us a heart to
grasp what's being stated in this passage, I'm confident there's
something here to meet our needs for this hour. First, let me
explain this blessed name by which our Redeemer is called,
the Lord our righteousness. Now today, we attach very little
meaning to names, but in earlier days, a man's name revealed something
about his person, his work, his family, his residence, or his
character. There are men whose last names
are Highland or Highlander. That's a name derived from someone
who lived in the high parts, usually, of Scotland, and that's
where the name came from. Others, the last name is Smith.
Generally, it means the daddy, the father's name began because
the father was a blacksmith. Others, the name is tailor. It
represents one whose business is the work of being a tailor.
When I was down in Mexico, the Mexican folks down there kind
of laughed every time they called my name because whenever they
address a man, they call him Don. The word means Lord or mighty
ruler. And so they'd call me Don Don,
and they'd always laugh, giggle a little bit, because the name
has a significance to them that it doesn't have in this day.
When our daughter was born, we were picking out names. We were
sure we were going to have a boy, but we didn't pick out any boys'
names. The doctors had told us we couldn't have any children,
and the Lord graciously gave us one. And we called her name
Catherine Faith. signifies something. The word
Catherine means pure, pure faith. Believe in God, we have a child
from the Lord. That's what the word, the name
means. Well, now this is true concerning our Lord Jesus Christ.
Every name by which he is revealed in the scriptures, every name
reveals something of his person, something of the character of
his person or of his offices or of his work or of his relationship
to his people. Look now at this name, which
Jeremiah describes for us and sets before us in this text.
This is the name by which the Christ, the Messiah, the Son
of David, the Son of God is called. Jehovah, our righteousness. Now, the first thing that strikes
me as I read the text is the fact that Jesus Christ is Jehovah. Let the Aryan, the Sassanian,
the atheist say what he will. Let the Drusillite, the Mormon,
say what he will. Jesus Christ is the Lord Jehovah. Now hear me well. Either Jesus
Christ is the Lord Jehovah, the eternal God, or this book is
a lie and there is no hope for such men and women as you and
I are. No hope for sinners. The Lord Jesus Christ, we find
plainly revealed in the book of God to be himself God. Now that's not a point of theology.
It is that, but it's not just that. It's not merely a point
of logic which we have deduced by our reasoning capacities.
It is a matter of divine revelation. And it's a matter of experience
with God's people. It is not something that we're
willing to debate. It's not something we're willing
to answer questions about. Jesus Christ is God. That's all
there is to it. Now, I'm not about to try to
prove it. I'm simply going to declare what I have found in
the Word and experienced in my soul. I want you to see that
the Scriptures do most plainly declare that Jesus Christ is
God. He is not a creature of God.
He is not some kind of a secondary God. He is the second person
of the triune Godhead. And this is a fact plainly taught
in the Scriptures. Turn over to Psalm 110. Psalm
110 in verse one. Here David speaks and says, the
Lord said unto my Lord, the Lord Jehovah said unto my Lord, my
master, set thou at my right hand until I make thine enemies
thy footstool. But what's the significance of
that pastor? The apostle Peter quotes this
verse on the day of Pentecost. And he says, he's talking about
Christ. The Apostle Paul quotes this verse in Hebrews chapter
10, and he says, he's talking about Christ. This Lord is Jesus
Christ, our Savior. He is Jehovah, our Master, our
King, and our Creator. Prophet Isaiah in Isaiah chapter
9 verse 6 tells us of that one who was to be born of the virgin
and he says, his name shall be called the mighty God. He's called
the mighty God because he is God. The writers of the New Testament
constantly refer to Christ as God and never offered one word
of proof, never offered one word of defense. They did not attempt
to prove or defend the doctrine as though it were a matter of
debate. They simply stated it as a fact both known and believed
by all Christians. And I'm here to tell you it is
a fact known and believed by all Christians. Folks talking
so much about charity, charity, charity. I have some interest
in the glory of God. And in all charity and concern
for the glory of God in the souls of men, I tell you plainly that
that man, that woman who lays in question the deity of Jesus
Christ does not know God. Doesn't matter who they are or
what they profess, that person who denies the Godhead of Christ
denies the very essence of the gospel itself, the very foundation
of the gospel. For if Christ is not God, Hubert,
he's a liar. He's a liar and the word that
we preach by him is a lie and we are but the deceiving false
prophets to men's souls. Jesus Christ is God. He's plainly
declared to be such. Paul says in Acts 20 in verse
28 that Jesus Christ who purchased the church is God who purchased
the church with his own blood. He tells us again concerning
him that the Lord Jesus Christ, the Messiah, who sprang out of
Judah, is himself over all God, blessed forever. He told Timothy
God was manifest in the flesh. And he tells us by Titus that
our hope is in the great God and our Savior, Jesus Christ. Our Lord Jesus Christ was crucified
by the Jews for one great reason. For one great reason. He, being
a man, claimed to be God. Turn over to John chapter 5.
I'll show you. John chapter 5, verse 18. Other folks may misunderstand
his words, but the Jews understand. Are they understood? He said
in verse 17, Jesus answered them and said, My father worketh hitherto
and I work. What's he saying? Look in verse
18. Therefore the Jews sought the
Lord to kill him because he not only had broken the Sabbath,
but said also that God was his father, making himself equal
with God. They understood that. He said,
what I'm doing, God's doing. That means I'm God. That means
I'm God. Look here in John 10, verse 33.
John chapter 10, verse 33. The Lord Jesus said in verse
30, I and my Father are one. We're one. What the father is,
I am. What I am, the father is. We're
one. Then the Jews took up stones again to stone him. And Jesus
answered them, verse 32, many good works have I done or have
showed you from my father. For which of those works do you
stone me? And the Jews answered him, saying,
for a good work we stone thee not, but for blasphemy. and because that thou, being
a man, makest thyself God." They understood exactly what he was
teaching. This is exactly the teaching of the New Testament.
That man who was born the son of Mary, that man who was raised
as Joseph the carpenter's son, that man who walked the streets
of Nazareth, that man who taught in the synagogue, that man who
grew up with his brothers and grew in wisdom and in stature
as a man, that man who confounded the learned doctors of theology
in the synagogue, that man is himself almighty God. He's God. Always has been. Always will be. He never ceased
to be God. We fully believe that that one
who bear our sins in his own body upon the tree, though he
was a real man, was and is the eternal God. I am astonished
by the fact, but I believe the fact. Well might the sun in darkness
hide and shut his glories in, In our hymn book it reads, when
Christ the mighty maker died, that's true. But it's not the
truth that was written by Isaac Watts. He wrote the hymn, well
might the sun and darkness hide and shut his glories in, when
God the mighty maker died, for man the creature sin. But preacher,
God can't die. He can when he's in the flesh
of man. He can when he's one with man, for he did. That one
who died upon the cursed tree is himself the eternal God. That man who hung on the tree
as our substitute is God Almighty. Because he is God, his sufferings
and his death, his works and his deeds are of infinite merit
to satisfy the holiness and the justice of God for us. the whole
of divine creation attest to the deity of Jesus Christ. Turn over to John chapter one,
John the first chapter. I hear and read things even for
men that I highly regard that disturb me. Things where men are trying to
make concessions. and make the Word of God fit
science and make the Word of God fit the reason of man so
that it's more palatable to the mouth of the carnal man. Let
me tell you something. The Word of God stands. And if
it is contrary to that which man calls science, reason, and
logic, then man's science, reason, and logic is a lie. Totally so. I say to you young
people, listen to me. Don't be ashamed and don't be
baffled by the foolish learning of men in this world, your teachers
and educators, who stand to tell you that this world just kindly
exploded one day from a particle of an atom somewhere out in the
universe billions and millions and billions of years ago, and
things have just sort of evolved into what they are. You talk
about foolishness, ignorance, the height of stupidity. It simply
shows you that the carnal mind is enmity against God, and man
would prefer to believe the most ridiculous than to believe the
testimony of God. This world was created in its
entirety, not as we now see it by any means, for the world has
degenerated, not evolved, since the day of creation. It has degenerated
because of the sin of our father Adam and the curse that God put
upon the ground for his sake. But the Lord Jesus Christ originally
created this world in perfection and he still rules this world
according to his sovereign will. Look here in John chapter 1 verse
1. In the beginning was the Word.
The Word. That's Jesus Christ. The Logos. The Word. The revelation of God. The Word. We know God by the
Word. And the Word was in the beginning
with God. Now look at the next line. And
the Word was God. Do you see that? The Word is
not a word of God. It's not a word that was a God.
But the Word was God. The same was in the beginning
with God. That is, from everlasting to
everlasting, the Word is with God. and one with God, for the
word is God. The word with. There are many
words translated with in the scriptures. One means to be with,
but a step behind. That's the way I'm with my wife
when she goes shopping. She's out running through the
store, she in faith like chickens with their heads cut off. In
and out. And I'm with them, but I'm a
step or two behind. I'm not really right there alongside
them. Another word means To be with,
but a step ahead of. The word that is here translated
with, means to be face to face with. Face to face with. Equal with. The Lord Jesus Christ,
the Word, from eternity to eternity, is face to face with God. For He is God. Two distinct persons,
but one blessed Godhead. Three distinct persons, really,
for the Trinity includes the Father, the Son, and the Spirit.
But here John is dealing with the deity of the man, Christ
Jesus. And he tells us that this one
who is with God, while he is a distinct, separate, individual
person and identity in himself being the second person of the
Trinity, he is equal with the Father in all things. Now look
at verse 3. And all things were made by the
Word. By the Word. It was not an act of God in His
essence that created the world. It was not an act of the triune
God in His essence that created the world. But it was an act
of God in the mediator, the Word, Jesus Christ, who made the world. All things, everything, Everything
were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made that
was made. You look around in this world,
when you step outside at night, you have a clear night, and you
look up and see the stars. That sparkling star in the sky
declares that Jesus Christ is God. And if there's not a clear
night, but an overcast night, The sky is full of clouds and
you can't see that sparkling star. The clouds that hide it
attest that Jesus Christ is God. He made it. He made it. More
than that, all of providence proclaims his deity. For he is
before all things and by him all things consist. The Apostle
Paul in Hebrews 1, 3 tells us that he sits upon the throne
of sovereign supremacy, upholding all things or maintaining all
things by the word of his power. Certainly, you and I who have
been saved by his grace can never doubt that Jesus Christ is anything
less than God Almighty, the infinite, omnipotent Jehovah, who is our
Savior. Why, he's God. He's God. Who but God? could have put away
our sins? Who less than God could have
delivered us from the jaws of hell and brought us up from the
pit of destruction, having found a ransom? Who less than God Almighty
could say, lo, I am with you all the way, even to the end
of the world? Jesus Christ is God. He's with
us. He's with us. I talked to Brother
Mahan yesterday morning. He's preaching down in Shreveport,
Louisiana tonight. He's there too. I don't mean
He's here part of time, there part of time. I mean He's here
and there. He's everywhere. Lo, I am with
you always, even to the end of the world, for He's God. The
preacher, isn't he seated in the heavens? Yes, sir. His manhood
is forever manhood. It never becomes divinity. And
there is a man seated in glory, but that man seated in glory
is the incomprehensible, infinite God who is everywhere present
at all times. None but God could answer all
the prayers of his people according to his sovereign will and pleasure
and for their good. Let others scoff and mock as
they will. Jesus Christ is God. We know
that he is. The scripture states it plainly.
And we experience his very Godhead every day. Every day. This morning, I had a bite to
eat. Given to me by the hand of God. Had another one a little while
ago. And I'm going to have another one in a little while, the Lord
willing, given by the hand of God. He feeds me and clothes
me, watches over me and protects me. But more than that, all this
day long, he's been speaking to me. Oh, no, not in an audible
voice. You've got better sense than
that. through his word, by his spirit in this heart, declaring
this is the name, this is the name by which I am called. Call me it, the Lord, our righteousness. He's God. We experience it daily,
hourly, moment by moment. But the text, also tells us that Jesus Christ
is Jehovah, who is our righteousness. Now, what does the Bible mean
when it describes such a name as this, to the Son of God? For one thing, it means that
Jesus Christ is the embodiment of righteousness. Quite literally,
Christ is the incarnation of the law and the will of God. He is the incarnation of divine
righteousness. In his life, our Redeemer was
so righteous that we may say of his whole life, this is righteousness. His whole life, this man, in
his life, this is righteousness. Understand what I'm saying. Jesus
Christ lived out the law of God perfectly. in thought, in word,
and in deed. While we see God's law written
in stone at Sinai, we behold it embodied in the living person
of his dear son. The Lord Jesus never offended
the commandment of God in thought or in act. He loved God with
all his heart, soul, mind, and being, and he loved his neighbor
as himself. Among all that are born of women,
it can only be said of Jesus Christ, He is righteousness. We are made righteous by Him,
but He alone is in and of Himself righteousness. It is a blessed
thing to know that Christ is Jehovah, and it's delightful
to know that He is a man of perfect righteousness, a man who is righteousness. But here's the great joy of our
text. Christ Jesus is the Lord our righteousness. Our righteousness. Read the text again. Rex read it like this. The Lord
Rex's righteousness. That's presumptuous. Oh, no.
No, that's believing. I tell you, I find great joy
in being able to read the text like this. The Lord dons righteousness. He is the Lord, our righteousness. Turn over to first Corinthians
chapter one. First Corinthians chapter one. Verse 30. but of Him, that is, by God's
decree and God's grace, by God's work and God's power, are ye
in Christ Jesus, in Him, in Him so as to be one with Him, in
Him like the vine, the branches are in the vine, in Him like
the limb is in the body, in Him, you're in Christ Jesus, who of
God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification
and redemption. This is the precious doctrine
of Holy Scripture. The Lord Jesus Christ is our
righteousness for justification. And the matter of justification,
Christ is everything. In Acts 13, you can jot it down.
I'll read it to you. I'm already here. Acts 13, verse
38. Be it known unto you, therefore,
men and brethren, that through this man, through this man is
preached unto you the forgiveness of sins and by him all that believe. Do you? Do you believe? I do. I do. I believe him. I trust him. All that believe
are justified from all things from which you could not be justified
by the law of Moses. The Lord Jesus Christ established
righteousness by his hands and he is our righteousness without
any contribution of anything from ourselves, nothing. If you and I attempt to stitch
one thread in the garment of his perfect righteousness, We
mar the whole thing and we have not any righteousness before
God. God looks upon those who believe,
all who believe, as though the life which Christ lived had been
lived by us. He graciously accepts, blesses,
and rewards us as though all that Christ did had been done
by us, his believing people. God so perfectly imputes righteousness
of Christ to all who believe that we are called ourselves
the Lord our righteousness. Turn over to Jeremiah 33. I ran
across this text some years ago. I've shared it with you before,
but it's it's astounding. Jeremiah 33 verse 15. In those days, And at that time
will I cause the branch of righteousness to grow up unto David and he
shall execute judgment and righteousness in the earth. He's talking about
the same thing as the prophecy in chapter 23 was speaking of.
Look at verse 16. In those days shall Judah be
saved and Jerusalem shall dwell safely. And this is the name
wherewith she, she, the church of the living God, the body of
God's elect, This is the name wherewith she shall be called,
the Lord our righteousness. It's the very same word. Jehovah
said, can you? How perfect is divine imputation? So perfect that God looks upon
us in Christ Jesus as Christ Jesus. Just that perfect. God looks at His Son and says,
there is righteousness. And looking upon us in His Son,
He says, there is righteousness, perfect righteousness. God graciously
so imputes the righteousness of Christ to us that we are made
the righteousness of God in Him. By divine imputation, the work
is done. And this imputation is the very
foundation of the gospel. Oh, that God would enable us
somehow to declare from the housetops of the world that righteousness
comes only by imputation. That is, only by God laying it
to the account of his people by the free grace of his own
heart. We fell in our father Adam and
became sinners by the imputation of Adam's sin to us. without
doing anything personally. In Romans 5 verse 12, when Adam
sinned, we sinned and we became sinners in him. We became sinners
in him. By his disobedience, we were
made sinners. What did we do? Nothing. Nothing. But preacher, what are you telling
us? That men became sinners without
ever committing a sin? Yes, sir. That's what I'm telling
you. We became sinners by a representative man committing sin in our name. And in exactly the same way,
we are made righteous without ever doing a righteous thing. Do you see that, Bob? without
ever even experiencing a righteous thing. It was done before we
ever were born in this world when Christ said, I have finished
the work. We were made righteous before
God. Completely, perfectly righteous.
This is the one true ground of our acceptance with God. Christ
Jesus is the Lord, our righteousness. The lawgiver has obeyed the law
in our stead, and his obedience is sufficient for us. His death
washed away our sin. In his death, our sin was imputed
to him as our substitute, and he was punished for sin. And
now in his resurrection life, his righteousness has been imputed
to us, and we shall be rewarded for his righteousness. He was
delivered for our offenses and raised again for our justification. Christ Jesus is the son of righteousness
who has arisen with healing in his wings for the nations. The
Lord Jesus Christ has finished the transgression. He has made
an end of sin. He has made reconciliation for
iniquity. He has brought in an everlasting
righteousness. He has magnified the law and
made it honorable, for he is the Lord our righteousness. He
hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might
be made the righteousness of God in him. Child of God, look
back upon your past sins. Look upon your present infirmities
and look even upon your future errors and weep with bitter tears
of repentance, heartfelt repentance. But while you're weeping, rejoice. Oh, rejoice. There is no fear,
no possibility of condemnation because Christ is the Lord, our
righteousness. My brother, my sister, I'm telling
you with the authority of God's own word, if you believe on Christ,
if this night you truly trust Jesus Christ, anybody here, everybody
here, if you truly trust Jesus Christ right now in the sight
of God, oh wonder of You are as holy as your Holy
Redeemer. Oh, that baffles my mind and
raptures my heart. With his spotless garments on,
holy as the Holy One. We have a better righteousness
than Adam had in the garden. His was the created righteousness
of an innocent man. Ours is the earned, purchased,
imputed righteousness of the perfect God-man. Christ's righteousness
is compared to fine linen, clean and white. If we wear it, then
we're without spot before God. In this robe, this garment of
perfect righteousness, covering from head to toe, in this robe,
we are right now worthy. Right now worthy. to sit down
at the marriage feast of the great king as a bride adorned
for her husband with all things made ready, worthy of God's approval,
worthy of God's acceptance. In the parable of the prodigal, this robe of righteousness is
called the best robe The father said, bring hither the best robe
and put it on him. It's a better robe than Adam
wore. And it's for sure a better robe than the legalist, the ritualist,
or the hypocrite wears. It's even a better robe than
the holy angels wear. It is the robe that God's own
dear son wears as our mediator. And blessed be God, this robe
shall never be worn out. Not only is Christ the incarnation
of righteousness, the embodiment of righteousness, and the righteousness
of God for our justification, but the Lord Jesus Christ is
our righteousness for sanctification, too. Now, the apostle tells us plainly that Christ
is made of God unto us sanctification. And he tells us in Hebrews 9
or Hebrews 10 that we are sanctified through the offering of the body
of Jesus Christ once for all. God our Father says, this is
my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. Not with whom, not with
whom. He used deliberate words. If
I look out here and see something that Hubert Montgomery has done
and it pleases me, I'll say, well, I'm pleased with that.
I'm pleased with that. But when the father looks at
the son and sees what he's done, he says, this is my beloved son
in whom I'm well pleased. And Paul tells us that we are
in Christ, in Christ. You see it Wes? In Christ. And
in Christ, the father's well pleased with us. Well pleased,
delighted, satisfied. Pleased with all who are in his
Son. Pleased with them. The only question
to be settled is, am I or am I not in his soul? I received
a letter today. The latest writes to me and says,
oh, I want to be, I hope to be, I want to know that I am one
of God's elect. I plan to write it tomorrow.
Believe on Christ. It's just that simple. Believe
on Christ. Preacher, am I one of God's elect?
Do you believe? Do you trust the Son of God? Do you trust His blood, His righteousness? Can you, from your heart, declare
He is the Lord, our righteousness? I have none else. If so, you're
in Him, and God's pleased with you. God's pleased with you.
Christ Jesus, gives us his righteousness. It
is imputed to us in justification. That is, it's laid to our account. In sanctification, his righteousness
is imparted to us so that we are made to be partakers of the
divine nature. Now, when we were born naturally,
according to the flesh, we received from our father, our fallen sinful
nature. We were children just like Adam,
just like Adam. all of us. My father, I am told,
and I greatly resemble one another, and I expect it so. We have features
similar to one another. Not exactly alike, but similar
enough anybody looks at me and knows my dad, that's Paul Fortner's
son. Well, my father Adam and I have
the same nature. You and our father, Adam, had
the same nature. And we look at one another and
you say, well, that's Adam. That's Adam. See those children
rebelling, fighting against authority, lying, catch them doing something
they're not supposed to do. Yeah, that's Adam. That's Adam. We speak of it almost in jest,
but it's fact. Well, when we are born again
by the spirit of God, the Lord God imparts to us another nature. The old nature's still there,
but he gives us a new nature, a new heart, a new will. He gives
us the nature of Christ, that holy thing that cannot sin. We're born of God. We're his
seed. His seed dwelleth in us, and
that holy seed is perfectly holy. That's what happens in sanctification. The Spirit of God quickens us.
He gives us a holy nature, actually making us to be holy, holy, imparting
to us a holy nature. As long as we live in this world,
we're going to have to struggle with sin. The warfare going on. Flesh lusteth
against the Spirit, the Spirit against the flesh. and you'll
never get any rest. But even now, our feeble efforts
by which we seek to honor and serve our God are accepted to
God through the merits of Jehovah, our righteousness. He receives
our prayers and our sacrifices and our deeds as though they
were perfectly performed, for he receives them through Jesus
Christ, our Lord. And the day soon will come and
we'll drop this robe of flesh and rise to meet our God face
to face. And we shall meet him whose name
is Jehovah Sikkimu, the Lord, our righteousness. Now, let me briefly encourage
you to call the Lord Jesus Christ by this name, the Lord, our righteousness. you who believe not, oh, would you be made righteous
before God? That's the issue. It is not would
you go to heaven rather than hell. Everybody would. But are
you made to feel and to see the bitterness of your sin? so that
you loathe yourself and like Job you cry, I abhor myself. And you sit down in silence before
God with a broken heart and you long to be made perfectly righteous. Oh, what would you give to honestly face God in his holiness
with perfect with no guilt, with no terror,
with no condemnation, what would you do? Let me tell you, if there's
such a center in this place, this is the name wherewith he
must be called, the Lord, our righteousness. Trust him as such,
trust him. That's what it is to believe,
it's to trust. Just trust Him. Just trust Him.
Confess Him as such before God and before His people. Confess
Him. Thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus. Thou
shalt be saved. Confess Him. But for you who believe, there are special times as well
when you should call Him the Lord our righteousness. Whenever you sin, your heart's cold. You feel the motions of sin in
your heart and your members. You wonder how could it be possible
for such a wretch as you are to ever be accepted of God. Go before God and confess. His
blessed name, the Lord our righteousness. I don't have any. I don't have
any. For 20 years, I've had just constant struggle
with that thing called sin. It's what I am, Mark. It's all
I am. It's all you are. The older we get, the more we
find out about it. The older we get, the worse we
get. That's the reality of it. This flesh is sin. And in all honesty, in all honesty,
I cannot look to a single thing that I feel or do or think which
gives me any comfort in myself. Not one thing. Not one thing. But I look to him whose name is the Lord our righteousness. And I don't have anything but
confidence. Nothing but confidence. We have
an advocate with the Father. His name is Jesus, the Lord,
our righteousness. He's the propitiation for our
sins. We got nothing to fear, but everything to rejoice in. You might do a little something
for the good of your brothers, the interest of God's kingdom,
the glory of his name. He might enable you to do something
like that. Don't let your heart swell with pride. Who maketh thee to differ? The
Lord our righteousness. That's all. The Lord our righteousness. Whenever you ask anything from
your Heavenly Father, call Christ Jesus by this name. He said,
Verily, verily, I say unto you that whatsoever you shall ask
of my Father in my name, you'll do it. The Lord, our righteousness. And when you come to look death
and judgment in the face, rejoice. Oh, rejoice for the privilege
of calling Christ Jesus the Lord our righteousness. Roland Hill had a dream. We don't put any stock in dreams,
but he had a dream. He said, I dreamed that the judgment
day had come and all were gathered before the throne of the great
judge. The books were open and one by one the names men and
women were called, examined, and sentenced. And then I heard a voice that
sounded like the voice of thunder, crying, Roland Hill! And I was terrified. The hair
stood up on the back of my neck. I was speechless. And that thunderous
voice rang out again, Roland, heal! Still, I was speechless,
but there was one who stood. He said, here I am. What's required? Absolute satisfaction and perfect
righteousness. And that one who stood for me
said, I've rendered it to the full satisfaction of perfect
holiness. And that one who stood in my
name was Jesus Christ, the Lord, our righteousness. Oh, God help you to trust him,
to know him, to love him, to confess him. Jehovah Sidkenia,
the Lord our Righteous.