The Names of God #14
Jehovah –Tsidkenu
“The Lord our Righteousness”
(Jer. 23: 1-6)
Intro: Not much at all in way of review since we took all of last week to do that. But what an exciting name of God that we have before us today!
--So many today try to rely on themselves or try to give themselves something that they do not have. Beloved we are not the first generation to do that.
--Beloved the Lord is our righteousness and He always tells us the solution to the problem that we have or that we face…but most of the time we do not like the answer…so we don’t listen and we disobey God.
--The Israelites were doing just that when God revealed this name. They departed from following the one true God and were following foreign gods…
I. Backdrop of the condition of the People
--A little context about the book of Jeremiah…let me first just say that if you are already feeling down…then Jeremiah is most likely not the book that you want to start in.
--So the book of Jeremiah chronicles a time when Judah (the southern kingdom) was wandering from God and experiencing a decline.
--Israel (the northern kingdom) had long since departed from God and had been deported by the king of Assyria. Now the remainder of God’s people were about to go under the judgment because they too had turned from God.
--So in this particular situation, Israel had gone after other god to meet their needs…meaning they wanted and easier life and therefore did not obey the commands of Almighty God.
--The book of Jeremiah details the warning of impending judgment the Israelites were to face due to their rebellion.
--Now from our text Jeremiah addresses Israel’s leadership (Jer. 23: 1). God is giving a warning to the shepherds, of this day (and to us today) that they were/are creating more confusion then clarity concerning who God is.
--Rather than using their position of influence of the Israelites to guide and direct God’s people toward Him, the leaders were actually driving people away from God.
--We see this today!! We see today where God’s Word is not the standard in worship or in living and conduct. The WOG is compromised on many levels.
--Many pulpits across this nation are conforming to the world and not holding to the truths of God’s Word.
--And this is why God has giving such a stern warning to Pastor’s…we are accountable to God for the instruction of His people…we must obey God and teach the people to do the same!
--All of this destruction in the culture leads us to the introduction of this wonderful name of God. After God declared the spiritual leaders were failing in what God called them to do…God raised up new leaders that were to teach people according to the WOG! (Jer. 23: 4-5)
II. The Lord our Righteousness (Jer. 23:6)
--We see again the combination of Jehovah (which is the self-revealing/relational God) with Tsidkenu, which stands for righteousness. So God proclaimed His righteousness in the midst of the cultural chaos of the day.
--Beloved we live in a day where people make their own reality…and if they can convince themselves that something is right…then it is right, just like in the days of old (Jer. 21:25).
--People want to determine what is right and wrong…or that a government should determine it…
--But here is the thing…God tells us what is right in His Word!
--So God is telling His shepherds that He is the standard by which everything else should be measured! God is the bar that separates right from wrong! It is His name by which we distinguish good from bad.
--Righteousness can be defined as the standard required for people to be acceptable to God. It’s the divinely ordained value of rightness.
--And since (Isa. 64:6) all righteousness comes from God and God alone! God alone defines righteousness!
--And it is God that imputes unto us His righteousness…because we do not have it. (Rom. 1:16-17)
--And for us that are saved and have the righteousness of God (Matt. 5:6) …we must desire and strive to live for God and follow that which God as given to us.
--Beloved we need to hunger for God and as we do our appetites for the things of the world will decrease. We don’t need more of the world in us…but more of Jehovah – Tsidkenu.
--So we need to be preaching from pulpits across the world that the Lord is righteous! That it is God’s viewpoint that truly matters! –Pastors need to teach the people God’s standard, nothing more, nothing less.
III. Living by Actions, Not feelings
--Living a life of righteousness may not always feel good at the moment. Actually when you hunger after righteousness (as we are told to do) most of the time we become more aware of our sinfulness, and that does not always feel so good.
--But when our sinfulness is exposed –then are we able to look to the righteousness of God for our direction and answers! Beloved in the end remember “the Lord our righteousness”
--Again righteousness exposes areas where sin has infected your life! And sometimes it is through the preaching of God’s Word that we are convicted and corrected!
--That is why it is so important for the Preacher to stick to the standards of God’s Word. (Jer. 23:5)
--Beloved this is important as our Lord and Saviour came from the Davidic line!!
--The Lord Jesus Christ as you know is both fully God and fully human. And Christ who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth…paid the penalty for our sins and hung upon the cross! (2 Cor. 5:21)
--Did you hear that? “we might be made the righteousness of God in him” so because of Christ’s righteousness, you are credited with righteousness when you trust in Him as your Saviour.
--Only by His perfect righteousness are we going to heaven…not by anything that we have done…but all because of what the Lord Jesus Christ has done!
--Beloved then we live for Him, through His righteousness!! (2 Cor. 5:17) and he is our righteousness (1 Cor. 1:30)
--Beloved each and every day we must put on the Lord Jesus Christ…be clothed in His righteousness! (Eph. 4:24) (Isa. 61:10) –we need to continue to live by His standards and do what He tells us to do in His Word.
--So to grow in righteousness get in the WOG and hang out with people that love the Lord and His Word. You are not going to learn more about the righteousness of God by hanging with the people of the world…!
--Beloved yes we are to be in the world…but the purpose of that is to preach the gospel. You do not become clean by rolling around with the pig in the mud…
Conclusion: I hope that you are encouraged and blessed by this today. And I really pray that God will use this message to save sinners.