Sermon #1589 Miscellaneous Sermons
Title: Christ Our
Righteousness
Text: Jeremiah 23:6
Subject: Christ – The Only Righteousness of His People
Date: Sunday
Morning—
Tape # Y-43a
Introduction:
In Jeremiah 23 the Lord God
gives a word of judgment against the false prophets who lead
(Jeremiah
23:3-6) "And I will gather the
remnant of my flock
· out of all countries whither
I have driven them,
· and will bring them again to
their folds;
· and they shall be fruitful
and increase.
· (4) And I will set up shepherds
over them which shall feed them:
· and they shall fear no more,
nor be dismayed,
· neither shall they be
lacking, saith the LORD.
· (5) Behold, the days come, saith
the LORD, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch,
· and a King shall reign and
prosper,
· and shall execute judgment
and justice in the earth.
· (6) In his days
· and this is his name
whereby he shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS."
“This is the name whereby he
shall be called, The Lord our Righteousness.” Our blessed Savior has many
names given to him in the pages of sacred Scripture, which we delight to use
when speaking of him. He is called the Righteous Branch, the King of kings,
Immanuel, Wonderful, Counsellor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, and
the Prince of Peace.
Seven
Names
Here are seven names by
which our Lord Jesus Christ reveals his glorious character and saving
operations in the Old Testament.
1. JEHOVAH-JIREH: — the LORD will provide (Gen.22:14). This is
a good description of our Lord's character. He has provided for His people
everything necessary to secure our everlasting salvation (I Cor.
2. JEHOVAH-RAPHA: — the Lord that healeth thee (Ex.15:26). How
suitable is this name to describe the Lord Jesus Christ in taking our sins to
Himself and making atonement for them. Isaiah said, "With His stripes we are healed" (Isa.53:5; Isa. 61:1-3; Psa.
103:1-4).
3. JEHOVAH-NISSI: — the Lord our banner (Ex.
4. JEHOVAH-SHALOM: — the Lord our peace (Judges
5. JEHOVAH-RAHA: — the Lord my Shepherd (Psa. 23). Our Lord
is called the Good Shepherd (John
6. JEHOVAH-SHAMMAH: — the Lord is present (Ezek. 48:35). Our
Lord has eternally promised that He would justly redeem His church (Rom.
7. But, among all the names
by which our Savior reveals himself to us, there is none more sweet,
comforting, and delightful than this — JEHOVAH-TSIDKENU:
— “the Lord our righteousness”
(Jer. 23:6). It is established in Scripture that we cannot produce any
acceptable righteousness of our own (Isa. 64:6;
Savior divine, we know Thy
name,
And in that name we trust;
Thou art the Lord our
Righteousness,
Thou art Thine Israel’s
boast.
Great
Loss
We sustained a great loss by the fall of our race in Adam in this matter of righteousness. We suffered the loss of a righteous nature, and the loss of all legal righteousness in the sight of God. In Adam we all sinned. By Adam’s disobedience, man’s original character of uprightness was completely wrecked. We all became sinners in Adam’s revolt against the Lord God. Because of that fall, when our race went astray from God, speaking lies, every descendant of fallen Adam is born in sin. We come forth from the womb as transgressors, speaking lies, and ever going astray from God, unless God by an act of omnipotent grace steps in to save us from ourselves.
Blood
Atonement
The Lord Jesus Christ came to undo the mischief of the fall for God’s elect. He came to restore that which he took not away. By his death upon the cross as our Substitute, the Son of God paid our debt, made atonement for our sins, and redeemed us from the curse of the law by making satisfaction to divine justice for us. By the shedding of his blood, he washed away our sins! His agony and death have forever removed our sins from us. — “As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us” (Ps. 103:12). Christ Jesus, by his one sacrifice, has satisfied the penalty of sin his flesh. He, his own self, bore our sins in his own body on the tree. Through the blood of Christ, our sins are washed away, and we are pardoned.
Righteousness
Required
But, it is not enough for us to be pardoned of all sin.
True, being pardoned by the blood of Christ, we are without sin in the sight of
God. But that is not enough. The holy Lord God requires each of us to keep the
whole law perfectly. It is not enough that we be regarded through the blood of
Christ as though we did not break it. God requires perfect obedience. It is
written, “Cursed is everyone that continueth not in all things which are
written in the book of the law to do them” (Gal.
We must be perfectly
righteous, or God cannot accept us. We must have a perfect obedience, or God
cannot reward us with eternal life. The holy God cannot accept anything less
than perfection. — “It shall be perfect to be accepted” (Lev.
Where?
Where then is the
righteousness with which the pardoned sinner may be completely covered, so that
God will justly regard him as having perfectly kept the law and reward him for
so doing? How can a sinner have such righteousness in the sight of God?
No
Righteousness in Us
Surely, we are all sensible
enough of our own sinful condition that we realize there is no possibility of
accomplishing this righteousness for ourselves. — “By the deeds of the law
there shall no flesh be justified in his sight.” If righteousness must be
produced by us, we are full of despair. Hell must be our eternal portion! We
sin every day. We are a constant mass of iniquity. The law of God is too high,
too holy, too pure, too perfect for any of us to meet its standard. We cannot
keep it. Though we have passed from death unto life, the old Adam struggles for
dominion within us. By the force of our lusts, we are still held in the
captivity of sin in our members. The good we would do, we do not. The evil we
hate, we continually perform. If anything is plain in the Word of God, it is
this ― There is nothing righteous in any man and nothing righteous can
come from man. If we would be righteous, we must have the righteousness of
another.
Not
Sanctification
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. I would say nothing to demise the work of the Holy
Spirit. He is God. But the work of the God the Holy Spirit in us does not
supplement the work of God the Son for us. Those who teach that the Holy Spirit
enables us to keep the law, and that God will accept this, are woefully
mistaken. In sanctification the Spirit of God does not conform us to the law,
but to the Son.
We know that each Person of
the blessed Trinity has a branch of salvation espoused to him. And each of the
sacred Persons has carried out his work to perfection. We were chosen by the
Father. We are called by the Holy Spirit. But the work of our redemption and
justification is that which was performed by Christ alone as our Substitute and
Surety. We are accepted in the Beloved.
Christ
Alone
Our acceptance, therefore,
must be by something that the Beloved has done. If we are justified in Christ,
then our justification is not the work of the Holy Spirit, but of Christ. The
righteousness by which we are accepted and with which we are made worthy of
heavenly glory (Col. 1:12) is the work of Christ. According to the Book of God,
it is the life obedience of Christ that constitutes that righteousness with
which we are clothed before God. His death washed away our sins, and his life
covers us from head to foot. His death was the sacrifice to God, and his life
is the gift to man, by which all God’s elect have satisfied the demands of the
law.
Only in this way is it
possible for the law to be honored and our souls accepted by God. Many who appear to be
perfectly clear about the merits of Christ’s death, do not seem to understand
the merits of his life. Remember, brethren, that from the moment that our
blessed 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 that he was seen in Mary’s
arms, until the moment that he was in the arms of death when “he bowed his
head and gave up the ghost,” he was performing the work of our salvation.
The Lord Jesus Christ
completed the work of his obedience in his life, and said to his Father, “I
have finished the work which thou gavest me to do” (John 17:4). Then
he finished the work of his atonement in his death. And, knowing that
all things were accomplished, he cried, “It is finished” (John 19:30).
Throughout his earthly life,
the Savior was spinning the fabric of that royal, priestly garment in which we
are, and in his death he dipped that garment in his blood. In his life he was
gathering precious gold, and in his death he hammered it out to make for us a
garment of wrought gold. We have as much to be thankful for in the life of
Christ as we do in his death. In his life, Christ Jesus rendered perfect
obedience to the law as our Substitute. And in his death, he satisfied the
claims of the law as our Substitute. Therefore, the prophet of God declares of
Christ, “This is the name whereby he shall be called, the Lord our Righteousness.”
Proposition: Here is the message that is
set before us in Jeremiah 23:6 ― The Lord Jesus Christ is our only
righteousness, and it is our joy to confess that he is (1 Cor. 1:30-31).
(1
Corinthians 1:30-31) "But of him
are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness,
and sanctification, and redemption: (31) That, according as it is
written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord."
Division: As I studied this text, I
gave up all hope of expounding its fullness to you. It bursts with the most
blessed truths of divine revelation. I trust that it shall fill your soul with
joy, as it does my own; so that, when you leave here this morning you will
delight to call the Savior by this name ― “The Lord our Righteousness.” Therefore, I want to do
three things with my subject.
1. I will explain this blessed name of our Savior.
2. I want to encourage you to call Christ by this name.
3. Let us glory in this name by which our Savior is revealed.
Jehovah-tsidkenu
I. First,
I will try to show you the meaning of this name by which our Savior is called.
― “The Lord our
Righteousness.’
Today, we attach very little meaning to names. But it was
not so in days gone by. In earlier days, a man’s name revealed something about
him. And this is true concerning our Lord. All of the names by which Christ
reveals himself in the Scriptures tell us something about his person, his
offices, his work, or his relation to his people. Look then at this name
whereby the Messiah, the son of David, our Savior is called, —
Jehovah-tsidkenu, “The Lord our
Righteousness.”
Christ is
Jehovah
A. The
first thing that strikes me, as I read this text is the fact that Jesus Christ
is the Lord Jehovah.
1. Either the man Christ Jesus is Jehovah, or the Word of God is false and there is no hope for sinners
Let the atheist, the Socinian, and the Arian say what they will. Jesus Christ is himself the Mighty God. I will not make any effort to prove that he is. I simply testify of that which God has revealed, both in the Scripture and in my own experience.
a. The Scriptures plainly declare the Godhead of our Savior (Ps. 110:1; Isa. 9:6, Tit. 2:13; 1 Tim. 3:16).
(Psalms
110:1) "A Psalm of David. The LORD
said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy
footstool."
(Isaiah
9:6) "For unto us a child is born,
unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his
name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting
Father, The Prince of Peace."
(1
Timothy 3:16) "And without
controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh,
justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed
on in the world, received up into glory."
(Titus
2:13) "Looking for that blessed
hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus
Christ."
b. Our Lord was crucified because he claimed Godhood (John 5:18; 10:33).
c. We fully believe that one who redeemed us from our sins was the Son of God.
2. The whole creation attests the deity of Christ (John 1:3).
3. Providence attests the Savior’s Godhead (Heb. 1:3).
4. Certainly, you and I, who have experienced his grace can never doubt his divinity.
a. Who less than God could have put away our sins?
b. Who less than God could have delivered us from the jaws of hell and brought us up from the pit of corruption, having found a ransom?
c. Who less than the omnipresent God could say, “Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world?”
d. Who less than God could hear and answer the prayers of his people?
Christ is
Righteousness
B. But our text tells us also that ― Christ is “the Lord Our Righteousness,” and so he is. What does this mean?
1. It means that Jesus Christ is the incarnation of the law. He is righteousness embodied.
Christ in his life was so righteous, that we may say of his whole life, that it is righteousness itself. Understand me. Christ Jesus lived out the law of God perfectly. While we see God’s law written in stone upon Sinai, we see it embodied in the person of his Son.
My dear Redeemer and my Lord,
I read my duty in Thy Word,
But in Thy life the law appears
Drawn out in living characters.
a. The Lord Jesus Christ never offended the commandment of God in thought or deed.
b. He loved God with all his heart.
c. He loved his neighbor as himself.
Christ is Our
Righteousness
2. It is most blessed to know that Christ is himself righteousness, but the joy of our text lies in the fact that ― Christ is our Righteousness. This is the precious doctrine of sacred Scripture ― Christ is our righteousness for justification.
It is in, by, and through Christ alone that we are justified. — “Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins; And by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses” (Acts 13:38-39).
· The Lord God looks upon all who trust his Son as though we had ourselves lived the life that Christ lived, as though the life of our Savior had been our own.
God graciously accepts, blesses, and rewards us as though all that Christ did had been done by us, his believing people. God so perfectly imputes the righteousness of Christ to us that we are called by this very name (Jer. 33:15-16).
(Jeremiah
33:15-16) "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. (16) 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."
· This is the doctrine of imputation; and it is the very foundation of the Gospel (Rom. 5:12, 18-19).
(Romans
5:12) "Wherefore, as by one man sin
entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for
that all have sinned."
(Romans
5:18-19) "Therefore as by the
offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by
the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto
justification of life. (19) For as by one man's disobedience many were
made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous."
· We were lost and ruined by Adam’s transgression, by the imputation of his sin to us.
· It is only by the imputation of Christ’s righteousness that we rise to the justification of life.
·
Here is the ground of our confidence and
assurance before God ― Christ is our righteousness.
· The Law-Giver has obeyed the law in our stead, and his obedience is sufficient.
· In his death our sin was imputed to Christ.
· And, now in his resurrection life, his righteousness is imputed to us.
He finished the transgression. He made an end of sins. He
made reconciliation for iniquity. And he brought in an everlasting
righteousness. Christ is the Sun of Righteousness, who has risen with healing
in his wings. — “Of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us
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.”
1. Look back upon your past sins, look upon your present infirmities, and look upon your future errors, and while you weep the tears of repentance, rejoice that there is now no condemnation to them that are in Christ, because Christ is “the Lord our Righteousness.”
2. Child of God, today you stand before God robed in the garments of Christ. I am not at all hesitant to declare that which makes many squirm. — In Christ we are as holy as our Holy Redeemer.
“With His spotless garments on,
Holy as the Holy One!”
· We have a better righteousness than Adam had in the garden.
· Christ righteousness is compared to fine linen; and if I wear it, then I am without spot.
· In this robe we are worthy to sit at the wedding feast of the great King.
·
In the parable of the prodigal son, this is
called the best robe. — It is a better robe than the angels have. — It is a
robe that shall never be worn out.
3. Not only is Christ our righteousness for justification, he is our righteousness for sanctification, too (Heb. 10:10-14).
(Hebrews
10:10-14) "By the which will we are
sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
(11) And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes
the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins: (12) But this man,
after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right
hand of God; (13) From henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his
footstool. (14) For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that
are sanctified."
· It is only in Christ that God is well pleased.
“This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.” — Not with whom, but “in whom I am pleased,” satisfied, delighted. And in Christ, God is well pleased in us.
· It is only through the merits and mediation of Christ our righteousness that God accepts us and the sacrifices that we bring to him (1 Pet. 2:5).
(1
Peter 2:5) "Ye also, as lively
stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up
spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ."
·
The only claim that we have to the heavenly
inheritance is Christ our righteousness. — But, blessed be his name forever, we
need no other claim!
Use This Name
II. So much then for the explanation of our subject. Christ is the incarnation of righteousness. He is our righteousness for justification, and Christ is our righteousness for sanctification. Now, I want to encourage you use this name, to call our blessed Savior by this his holy name, “the Lord our Righteousness.”
A. Is there a poor sinner here who is broken over sin, one who longs to be righteous? — Christ alone can make you righteous.
1. You have no righteousness of your own.
2. You can never produce any righteousness for yourself.
3. You must confess your sin and claim the righteousness of Christ by faith. Call him by this name ― “The Lord our Righteousness.”
(Romans
10:9-13) "That if thou shalt
confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that
God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. (10) For with
the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is
made unto salvation. (11) For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth
on him shall not be ashamed. (12) For there is no difference between the
Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon
him. (13) For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be
saved."
B. Children of God, “This is the name whereby he shall be called, the Lord our righteousness.”
1.
Whenever you sin, call him –
Jehovah my Righteousness. — “My little children, these things write I unto
you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father,
Jesus Christ the righteous: and he is the propitiation for our sins: and not
for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.”
“In the teeth of all thy sins believe that he is thy righteousness still. Thy good works do not improve his righteousness; thy bad works do not sully it. This is a robe which thy best deeds cannot mend and thy worst deeds cannot mar. Thou standest in him, not in thyself.” ― C. H. Spurgeon
2. Whenever you are enabled to do anything good, call the Savior by this name ― Jehovah my Righteousness.
3. Whenever you ask anything from your heavenly Father, call Christ by this name, Jehovah my Righteousness. — “Verily, verily, I say unto you, whatever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you.”
4. When you come to look death and judgment in the face, rejoice to call the Judge by this name, — Jehovah our Righteousness.
Jesus, Thy blood and righteousness,
My beauty are, my glorious dress.
Bold shall I stand in that great day,
For who ought to my charge shall lay?
Glory In
III. Now, let all who trust him glory in Christ our Righteousness.
O my soul, admire that wonderful reigning grace that has
led me to call the Savior by this blessed name – “The Lord our Righteousness.” Rejoice in him. It is
written, “He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.”
A. Look around you, my friends, at this band of believers, we are living testimonies of the wonderful works of God’s grace. It is a miracle of grace that we should call him the Lord our Righteousness.
It would be a great wonder if God should cause the demons of hell to call Christ by this name. But, I would be less amazed at that than I am at the fact that he has enabled me to trust Christ and glory in him as the Lord my Righteousness.
“Now, subdued by sovereign grace,
My spirit longs for his embrace;
My beauty this, my glorious dress,
Jesus, ‘the Lord our Righteousness.’”
B. We call him the Lord our Righteousness, because we have experienced his righteousness. —We have proved that it is true.
1. What peace, joy, and comfort flooded our souls when first we called him Christ our Righteousness.
2. We are reconciled to God, because Christ is our Righteousness.
3. We enjoy the adoption of sons, because Christ is our Righteousness.
4. We have access to the Father, because Christ is our Righteousness.
5. We have the confident hope of heaven, because Christ is our Righteousness.
C. Let
every heaven born soul now call the Savior by this joyful name – “The Lord our Righteousness!”
The angels sing, “Holy, Holy, Holy.” But we have a higher note of praise. We say, “Yes, he is thrice holy. And he is Jehovah-tsidkenu — “the Lord our Righteousness!’”
Application: (Isa. 45:22-25).
(Isaiah
45:22-25) "Look unto me, and be ye
saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none
else. (23) I have sworn by myself, the word is gone out of my mouth in
righteousness, and shall not return, That unto me every knee shall bow,
every tongue shall swear. (24) Surely, shall one say, in the LORD
have I righteousness and strength: even to him shall men come;
and all that are incensed against him shall be ashamed. (25) In the LORD
shall all the seed of Israel be justified, and shall glory."
1. Sinner, you must look to Christ alone for righteousness.
2. Brethren, his name is the Lord our Righteousness.
a. In the Lord alone do we have righteousness.
b. Only by his righteousness are we justified.
c. It is only by his righteousness that we are sanctified.
d. It is only by Christ, “The Lord our Righteousness,” that we are accepted of God.
e. Let us now glory only in his righteousness.
Jehovah-tsidkenu,
The Lord our Righteousness!
We love to call You by that
name,
Our Savior, Christ Jesus.
Jehovah-tsidkenu,
The God-Man lived for us,
Bringing eternal
righteousness
Which God imputes to us.
Jehovah-tsidkenu,
Our Substitute who died!
Your blood has put away our sin,
And we are justified!
Jehovah-tsidkenu,
Your love has won our praise.
Trusting Your blood and righteousness,
We're saved by Your free grace!
Jehovah-tsidkenu
We stand in You alone.
Our only fitness before God
Is in our Lord His Son.
Jehovah-tsidkenu,
The Lord our Righteousness!
Christ Jesus You alone we call
“The Lord our Righteousness!”