Would you turn to Jeremiah chapter
33 now? We read Jeremiah 23. This is the name wherewith he
shall be called Jehovah Tzidkenu, the Lord our righteousness. Now let's read Jeremiah 33, beginning in 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 land. In those days shall
Judah be saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell safely, and this
is the name wherewith she shall be called, the Lord our righteousness,
Jehovah Sidkenu, the Lord our righteousness. I've entitled
this message Jehovah Sidkenu. Now I've never preach from this
passage of scripture. I've referred to it, I don't
know how many times, but I've never preached from it. A superlative is a word that
expresses the highest degree of something. The greatest. The most glorious. The most profound. The most stupendous. the most
awe-inspiring. You see what a superlative is.
And yet, there are no superlatives that are adequate to describe
that which cannot be explained, only proclaimed and believed. The Lord, our righteousness. There isn't anything more glorious,
more foundational to understanding the gospel than this. The Lord, our righteousness. Now in verse 15 of Genesis, I
mean Jeremiah chapter 33, we read pretty much the same thing
that was said in Jeremiah 23 in those days. And at that time,
Will I cause the branch of righteousness to grow up unto David? Now, only he executes righteousness. I love the way that speaks of
him executing righteousness and judgment. Men could not come
up with a way. A way, is that the right word?
Men couldn't come up with something like this. This is beyond human
ability to even think up that the Lord Jesus Christ can actually
be my righteousness before God. Men couldn't come up with this.
They couldn't come up with a way for God to be just and justify
the ungodly. And if they could come up with
a way, they couldn't execute it like he does. But look what
he does. Verse 15, in those days, at that
time, will I cause the branch, the sprout, is the word, that
which springs up. He is who we see of the invisible
God. You want to see who God is? You
look at the Lord Jesus Christ. He is all we see of the invisible
God. I will cause the branch of righteousness
to grow up into David, and he shall execute judgment and righteousness
in the land. In those days, in his days, shall
Judah be saved. When were you saved? In his days. That's when I was saved. In his
days. When he accomplished my salvation. When he brought in everlasting
righteousness. That's when I was saved. In his
days. In his days, Judas should be saved. When you talk about
the time of salvation, you can talk about before time began.
You can talk about his days. You can talk about when he was
raised from the dead. You can talk about when you believe all
of them are true in. But here in this passage of scripture,
it says in his days, should Judah. Be saved. And Israel should well. Jerusalem should dwell safely,
this is our security, and this is the name wherewith she shall
be called. Let's talk about me. Let's talk about every believer.
This is the name wherewith she shall be called the Lord our
righteousness." Now this, in my mind, is the most comforting, soul-cheering
truth of Scripture. This is the most foundational
truth of Scripture. There is no understanding of
the gospel without some understanding of this, that the Lord Jesus
Christ himself is my righteousness before God, the Lord our righteousness. Now, it is comforting for me
to know that my sins are forgiven, but it is more comforting to
know that I stand righteous before God's holy law, that I've done
all the thou shouts And I've not done any of the thou shalt
nots, that I stand perfect before God in his law, perfectly righteousness. Now, it's comforting to know
my sins are all paid for. It's more comforting to know
that the righteousness of Jesus Christ is my personal righteousness
before God. It's comforting to know that
all my sins are covered by the blood, but it's more comforting
to know that in Jesus Christ I have no sin. And that when God looks at me,
he looks at somebody with no sin. With perfect righteousness. Now this is the name wherewith
he shall be called. Speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ,
Jehovah Sidkenu, the Lord our righteousness. Here in Jeremiah
33 it says this is the name wherewith she shall be called. What's your
name? Jehovah Sidkenu. That's my name. The Lord our righteousness. That's the name of every believer.
The Lord our righteousness. Now the Lord our righteousness
is a person. I love that passage of Scripture
in 1 Corinthians 1.30 where it says, For of him are you in Christ
Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and
sanctification and redemption. Our righteousness, the Lord our
righteousness. Our righteousness is a person
who is right now seated at the right hand of God. That is my
personal righteousness before God. Now, does that give you
some comfort? Does that give you some security? Does that
give you some boldness to know you can come into his presence
and expect to be heard? The Lord, our righteousness. Now what does the Bible mean
by righteousness? It means a perfect standing before
God's holy law. I have no sins of commission. If I have righteousness, I have
never break broken any, thou shalt not, and I have no sins
of omission, I have perfectly performed every thou shalt. I have both a negative righteousness,
I've never done anything that was wrong, and I have a positive
righteousness, I have always done that which is right. Now that's what the Bible means
by righteousness. The Lord Jesus kept God's law
perfectly. No sins of commission. He never
did anything wrong. No sins of omission. He never
failed to do that which was right. And His righteousness is our
righteousness before God the Father. Isaiah 54 verse 17 says
their righteousness, their personal righteousness, is of me, saith
the Lord. Now, if Jesus Christ is my righteousness
before God, what do I have to fear? What do I have to be afraid
of? What is there for me to mistrust? Christ Jesus is my righteousness
before God. Now, the first time the word
righteous is used is in Genesis 7.1. Would you turn with me there?
Genesis chapter 7. Genesis 7 verse 1, And 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 this
is God's testimony of Noah. He says regarding this man, thee
have I seen as righteous. Now if God sees somebody as righteous,
he's not playing games. That person is righteous that
God sees as righteous. Now what is righteousness? That
means you've never done anything wrong. And you've always done
that which is right. You stand perfect before God's
holy law. And God says regarding Noah,
thee have I seen as righteous before me. Now look in Genesis
chapter 9, verse 20. And Noah began to be a husbandman,
and he planted a vineyard, and he drank of the wine, and was
drunken. And he was uncovered in his tent. And that's when Ham went in,
and I don't know what was going on, but there is a stain on Noah's
character. He was drunken. That is sin. Now, he committed a whole lot
more other sins than that, but this is the one we have recorded.
He was Now, how can God say regarding
Noah, thee have I seen as righteous before me? Well, the only way
I can understand that is by understanding the Lord our righteousness. When God looked at Noah, he saw
the very righteousness of his son. Now, that doesn't diminish
sin in any way. It doesn't make sin okay in a
believer in any way. But here is my confidence. Here
is how God sees every believer. The Lord, our righteousness. The publican went down to his
house after confessing, God be merciful to me, the sinner. The
Lord testified of that publican. He went down to his house not
forgiven, although he was. He went down to his house Justified. Justified. That means not guilty.
No sin. With a perfect righteousness
before God. And this is what every believer
possesses. The righteousness of the Lord
Jesus Christ. And this is the foundational
truth of the scripture. This is how God can be just and
justify the ungodly. This is what justification means.
The righteousness of Christ is my personal righteousness. It
really is mine. Now, when God said to Noah, Thee
have I seen as righteous before me. He didn't do the way you and
I would do. When I would look at Noah, I
would say, well, God says that, but I see something different.
I see in Noah sinfulness. And so I realized that God counts
him as righteous, but he doesn't seem altogether like that because
God sees things as they really are. God sees his sin. Now, that's the way we think.
I can see where God will Save Noah for Christ's sake, because
Christ is his righteousness. But as far as seeing him in his
person as a righteous man, I can't do it. Well, God does. What are you going to say about
it? Thee, and he says this to every
believer, Thee have I seen as righteous before me in my sight. I'm looking at some people right
now, this is so thrilling to think about, I'm looking at some
people right now that God looks down and says, Thee have I seen
as righteous in my sight. And if the Lord sees me as righteous,
that's because I am. That's because I am. I'm not
like one of these fellas who maybe committed a crime, but
never got caught. And therefore, the law doesn't
seem as guilty and the law counts him as justified, even though
underneath it all he's sinful. No, no, nothing like that. When
the Lord sees me, he doesn't see someone with guilt at all. He sees someone who is perfectly
righteous without sin. God said to Noah, thee have I
seen as righteous before me. And if God sees me as righteous,
let me underline this, put an explanation point beside it.
I'm righteous. I'm righteous. Now, how can that
be? That's the mystery of the scripture. This is the foundational truth
of the scripture, how God in his holiness and in his righteousness
can look at me, can look at every one of his people and say, you
are righteous. That's how I see you. How can
that be? I said this. Within the last
year. Say it again, it's good to think
about. There are only two kinds of people
in this world. The righteous and the wicked.
You believe that? There are only two kinds of people
in this world. The righteous and the wicked. Now, here's what I find to be
so amazing. All of the wicked believe themselves
to be righteous. Every single one of them. If
I'm not acting righteous right now, I've got the potential to
be if all the Everything works out for me the way, and I'm not
tempted. I'm put in the right position. I can be righteous.
I've got the power of my will where I can choose the good over
the evil. If everything is just right, I believe I can be righteous. I might not be righteous right
now, but I can be. All the wicked believe themselves to be righteous
or at least have the potential to be righteous. All of the righteous, without
any exception, believe themselves to be wicked. Every single one
of them. And they sing in that song that
Ann was singing, no safety or security, comfort, and self can
I see. Jehovah's security, my Savior,
must be. Every one of God's people who
are righteous, they find their righteousness in the Lord Jesus
Christ and nowhere else. Now, how can Noah, how can Abel,
how can Lot, how can the publican, how can I be righteous before
God? Jehovah tekinu, the Lord our
righteousness. Now, here's what the scripture
declares to us regarding this altogether divide otherworldly,
not human doctrine in any way. The Lord, our righteousness. Now I've got five points to this
message. How I can actually be righteous before God. I want
you to listen real carefully. I've given these several times,
but they need to be given again. May God give us grace to enter
into this thing of being righteous. How can I actually be righteous? Like, remember Abel? God testified
that Abel was a righteous man. God testifying in this. Yes,
what about Lot? Remember what he said about Lot? Just Lot.
vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked, for that righteous
man in hearing and seeing all the ungodly deeds of the wicked,
it vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful
deeds. Now that's God's testimony of
this man. And that's God's testimony of every believer, that they're
righteous, altogether righteous. How can that be? Well, first,
righteous by union. Turn with me to Hebrews chapter
2. Hebrews chapter 2. Verse 11. For both he that sanctifies and
they who are sanctified are all of one. That's what union means.
That's what union means. They're all of one. Who he is,
I am. What he did, I did. Where he
is, I am. Union with the Lord Jesus Christ.
Both he that sanctifies and they who are sanctified are all of
one, for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren. He's not ashamed of me. There's
nothing for me to be ashamed of. Nothing for him to be ashamed
of regarding me, because I'm one with him, whatever he is
I am. Now somebody says, how far can you take that? How far
can you take that? You can take us as far as it
will go. And here's the scripture that's such a clincher to me,
Matthew chapter three, verse 15, when the Lord came up to
John the Baptist to be baptized and John said, I have need to
be baptized of me. You come to me to be baptized.
And the Lord said, Suffer to be so now, for thus it becometh. Anybody remember the next word?
Thus it becometh us to fulfill. all righteousness. When he fulfilled
righteousness, so did every other believer. I kept the law then. Let me show you another scripture.
Turn to Matthew chapter 20. Can you see why this is such
a soul comforting doctrine? I find such comfort and joy in
this. You don't Well, if the Lord doesn't
help me, I could preach this in such a way it would become
dry and so on. But this gets more glorious to
me every time I think about it. I could preach regarding this
every time I preach. And somebody says, could you
ever got anything else to preach? I'd say no. This is enough. This is what motivates God's
people. This is what thrills God's people.
This is what gives us confidence to come into God's presence and
to know we're heard because of the Lord, our righteousness.
Now look in Matthew chapter 20. Now this is when James and John
had come. Their mother had asked that they
would be seated at his right hand in glory. Verse 20, Then
came to him the mother of Zebedee's children with her sons worshipping
him, and desiring a certain thing of him. And he said unto her,
What wilt thou? She saith unto him, Grant that these my two
sons may sit the one on thy right hand, and the other on thy left,
in thy kingdom. But Jesus answered and said, You know not what ye
ask. Are you able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of? He's talking about drinking the
cup of God's wrath. Are you able to be baptized with
the baptism that I'm baptized with? And they say unto him,
we're up to the task. Great. Now, every time I've read
that, I thought, how could they say something like that? They're
able to be baptized with the baptism that the Lord Jesus Christ
was baptized with when he suffered the wrath of God, being immersed
under the wrath of God. He said, yeah, we're up to it.
We can do that. And look how our Lord responds. And he saith
unto them, You shall drink indeed of my cup, and be baptized with
the baptism that I'm baptized with. You see, everything that
I do, you do. The Lord didn't correct him for
saying that. He said, it's going to happen.
But to sit at my right hand and my left is not mine to give,
but the Father's. And that's when the other disciples
got so mad at him. They were moved with indignation
at him. In 1 John 4, verse 17, we read,
as he is, so are we in the world. Is he righteous? So am I in this world right now. So righteous by union. Secondly, I'm righteous by imputation. I'm righteous by imputation.
Turn with me to Romans chapter four. Verse six. Even as David also describeth
the blessings of the man unto whom God imputeth righteousness."
There it is. God imputeth righteousness. Without lurks, saying, blessed
are they whose iniquities are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord will not impute sin. Now, this is the act of God in
justification and justifying the sinner when he takes the
righteousness of his son and imputes it to that person. I am a very sinful man. I believe that about myself.
I in myself I'm a very sinful man. Here's my hope. That God
took my sin and imputed it to the Lord Jesus Christ so that
it actually became His. And He was guilty of my sin. And God's wrath came down upon
Him. That's why He died. He died the
way I would have died if I had no Savior. He died in darkness. He died with no light from God. He died having been forsaken
by God. He cried out, My God, my God,
why hast thou forsaken me? Why would God forsake anybody?
One reason, sin. My sin so truly became his that
God forsook him, he was dying as anybody would die without
a Savior, and he takes the righteousness of his son and imputes it to
the elect so that the righteousness of Christ is my personal righteousness
before God. My sin became his. His righteousness
becomes mine in this glorious act of imputation. It's only
God can do this. You know, I can't up and decide
to put my sins on Christ. But God can and God does and
God did. I can't up and decide to take
his righteousness and place it on myself. I can't. I don't have
the authority to do anything like that. But God does. Imputation
just tells us how. How God is God. He's got the
authority to do this. He's righteous by imputation. Thirdly, turn to Romans 5, righteous
by gift. 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. Now here, righteousness is said
to be a gift, the free gift of God. Look back in verse 15. But not as the offense, so also
is the free gift. Verse 16. And not as it was by
one that sinned, so is the gift, but the judgment was by one to
condemnation, but the free gift. is of many offenses under justification
free. Do you hear that free? There's
nothing you have to do to qualify to have this gift. It's a free
gift of God, the gift of righteousness. For if by one man's offense death
reigned by one, much more they would receive abundance of grace
and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one. Verse 18, 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 under justification of life. Look in chapter 6, verse
23, for the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal
life through Jesus Christ, our Lord, the gift of His grace. Now, what is the evidence that
God has given me this gift? I receive it. I take it. Here's righteousness, my gift
to you. You know what I do? I take it. Everybody who believes receives
this righteousness as their only righteousness before God. Do
you receive, do you hold on to this righteousness as your only
righteousness before God? And you, you, you glory in this.
This is your, your boast. This is, this is everything.
His righteousness. Now turn to 1 John chapter 2. Righteous by union. Righteous
by imputation, righteous by gift, and righteous by nature. Remember
where Peter said in 2 Peter 1, 4, partakers of the divine nature? Now, before I read this passage
of Scripture, I want to try to give a... hold your finger there and
turn back to Romans chapter 5. Hold your finger in 1 John and
turn back to Romans chapter 5. Therefore, as by the offense
of one, Adam's sin, judgment came upon all men to condemnation. Everybody was condemned because
of Adam's sin. I was condemned by what he did,
and you were too. Even so, By the righteousness
of one, the free gift came upon all men, and the justification
of life. For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners,
so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous." Now,
in this passage of Scripture, what this is telling us is that
Adam's sin was charged to my account. I was condemned by what
Adam did, but not only was I condemned by what Adam did, I was made
a sinner. I not only was condemned for
his sin, but I was given his sinful nature. You see that,
don't you? By one man's disobedience, many
were made sinners. I was brought into this world
with a sinful, evil nature. Now, in the same manner that
Adam's sin was charged to me so that I became guilty of it,
was condemned for it, and Adam's sinful nature comes to me as
a result in the exact same way Christ's righteousness, his perfect
obedience, is charged to me so that I'm justified. And when
I'm born from above, I'm given a righteous nature, a holy nature,
a new nature, one that was not there before. So the first John
chapter two, let's turn back there now. First John chapter
two, verse twenty nine. If you know that he is righteous. You know that, don't you? You
know that everyone that do with righteousness, is born of him,
a righteous nature. And I believe the best example
of that is Lot. Turn to 2 Peter 2. I've already
quoted it, but I want you to see this in the Word of God.
2 Peter 2. Look at this description of Lot.
And Lot, when I think of Lot, I don't think of him this way.
If you read the Old Testament account, you sure don't think
of him this way. But look what God says. 2 Peter 2, beginning in
verse 7, he delivered just Lot, justified Lot, vexed with the
filthy conversation of the wicked, for that righteous man dwelling
among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his what? His righteous
soul. His righteous soul. This is talking
about who He is now. He's got a righteous soul. Every
believer, a righteous man with a righteous soul. They vexed
His righteous soul day by day with their unlawful deeds. Righteous by nature. So here
we have Christ's righteousness. I'm righteous by union. I'm righteous
by imputation. I'm righteous by divine gift. And I'm righteous by nature.
I'm given a new nature. And the last thing we're going
to consider is righteous by faith. Turn to Romans chapter four. Verse four. Not to him that worketh. Is the reward. Not reckoned of
grace, but of debt. God would owe it to you, but
to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth
the ungodly, his faith, his faith is counted for righteousness. Righteous by faith. Now, if I believe That that means
that faith is a substitute for righteousness. Because I don't
have a perfect righteousness before God, and because we messed
up in the fall and we've all sinned, therefore God has lowered
the terms, and now you can be saved by an act of faith, I've
missed it all together. That's not what that means. My
faith didn't die for my sins. My faith didn't keep the law.
Christ did. Faith believes that. That's what
this is a reference to. Faith believes this. Now, I cannot see, by looking at myself
or by looking at you, I cannot see union with the Lord Jesus
Christ. I can't look at myself and say, well, look at the way
I'm united to him. Well, what's the evidence that
I am? Faith. That's the evidence. Faith in
the Lord Jesus Christ. Believing the gospel is the evidence
that you're united to him. You can't look at yourself and
say, well, I must be united to him. No, the one evidence that
God gives is faith. What is the evidence that God
has imputed the righteousness of his son to me? What evidence do I have? I can't
see it. One evidence, faith in the Lord
Jesus Christ. That's the evidence that God
has imputed the righteousness of his son to me so that it becomes
mine. I believe the gospel. I rest in the Lord Jesus Christ.
What is the evidence that God has given me this gift? You know,
this gift is not something that I can see, the righteousness
of the Lord Jesus Christ. What is the evidence that God
has given me this gift? Faith. I'm resting in, I'm trusting
in the Lord Jesus Christ as my righteousness before God, and
that is the evidence that God has given me this gift. Now,
what is the evidence? that I have a holy and a righteous
nature? And this is a very important
question. What is the evidence that I have a holy and a righteous
nature? Because let's just be honest.
I look at myself. I can't see one. I see a very
sinful nature. I see that everything that I
do is sin. That's what I see about myself.
I can't look at anything that I've done and say, yep, that's
holy. That's holy. That's righteous. That was good. No, I can't do that because if
I do it, sin is there. My sin is ever before me. So
how can I say I have a holy nature? What is the evidence that I have
a holy nature? Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. I don't need anything else. Faith
in Christ. You see, faith in Christ, that's
the holy nature in me. Faith doesn't come from a natural
man, does it? Can a natural man come up with faith? Can a natural
man, enabled by the Holy Spirit, come up with faith? No! That
which is born of the flesh is flesh. It can never rise above
that. God gives a new heart. It's the
new heart that believes. It's the new heart that looks
to Christ. It's the new heart that's the
seed of God, the new and the holy nature. What is the evidence
that I have this righteous nature, faith in the Lord Jesus Christ? Now, Jehovah's Akenu is the wedding
garment called fine linen. clean and white. And this is
the righteousness of the saints. This is that wrought gold that
makes the king's daughter all glorious within. This is the
best robe that was put on the prodigal. And this is what that
man did not have who was kicked out. Remember that parable of
the wedding feast and the King comes in and sees a man without
a wedding garment. He said, where is your wedding
garment? The man was speechless. He said, cast him into outer
darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
This is the one requirement, the wedding garment of the Lord
Jesus Christ, Jehovah's Akenu, the Lord, our righteousness. Paul said in Romans chapter 14,
verse 17, the kingdom of God is not meat and drink. It's righteousness, and peace,
and joy in the Holy Ghost. Jehovah Tsidkenu, the Lord our
righteousness. Now, I want to read you the words
to that song Anne sang at the beginning of the service, and
hopefully we'll enter into it a little bit more. Jehovah Tsidkenu,
the Lord our righteousness. I once was a stranger to grace
and to God. I knew not my danger and felt
not my load. Though friends spoke in rapture
of Christ on the tree, Jehovah Tzikinu was nothing to me. I oft read with pleasure to soothe
or engage Isaiah's wild measure and John's simple page, but even
when they pictured the blood-sprinkled tree Jehovah Tzadkinu seemed
nothing to me. Like tears from the daughters
of Zion that roll, I wept when the waters went over his soul.
Yet thought not that my sin had nailed to the tree, Jehovah Tzadkinu
was nothing to me. When free grace awoke me, I lied
from on high, Then legal fears shook me. I trembled to die. No refuge, no safety in self
could I see. Jehovah said, Can you? My savior
must be. My terrors all vanished before
that sweet name. My guilty fears vanished With
boldness I came to drink at that fountain, life-giving and free. Jehovah's Akenu is all things
to me. Jehovah's Akenu, my treasure
and boast. Jehovah's Akenu, I ne'er can
be lost. In thee I shall conquer, by flood
and by field, my cable, my anchor, my breastplate, my shield. even treading the valley, the
shadow of death, this watchword shall rally my faltering breath,
for while from life's fever my God sets me free, Jehovah-Sedkenu,
my death song shall be." Is that your song? Let's pray.