#6 The “Names of God”
Series
"JEHOVAH-TSIDKENU!"
(The Lord our Righteousness)
TEXT: Jer.
23:5-8 Col.
2:6-3:4
INTRO: Have you
ever met someone who likes to remind you or tell you how spiritual they
are? They can do this in many
different ways:
1. By pointing out how
unspiritual you are, or at least hinting at it.
2. By telling you how much they
give to the Lord, or how many gifts of the Spirit they possess,
etc.
3. By telling you of how close
they are with some giants of the faith, Billy Graham, David Wilkerson,
etc.
4. By telling you how many
different important positions they have held in God's work or the
Church.
We cannot win succeed by attaching
ourselves to the wrong source!
ILLUS: In Actions
Speak Louder Than Words, Herb Miller writes: Two
The professional jockey remounted
quickly and rode on to win the race.
Returning triumphantly to the paddock, the jockey found the farmer who
had hired him fuming with rage.
"What's the matter?" the jockey
asked. "I won, didn't
I?"
"Oh, yea," roared the farmer. "You won all right, but you crossed the
finish line on the wrong horse."
In his hurry to remount after the
fall, the jockey had jumped on his competitor's horse. Success is meaningless unless we are in
the right. -- Judy C. Knupke,
PROP.
SENT: The Bible teaches us
that Jesus Christ is our Righteousness, not our works, nor the gifts we possess,
nor our friendship with giants of faith, it is our relationship to Jesus, the
Lord our Righteousness!
I. RIGHTEOUS RULER Jer.
23:5-8
A. Right Living
Jer.
23:5-6
1. Since no man since Adam had
lived sinless, how could man become “righteous” before
God?
ILLUS: If we or
the world could be saved through human kindness or clear thinking, Jesus either
would have formed a sensitivity group and urged us to share our feelings or
would have founded a school and asked us to have discussions. But knowing the ways of God, the way of
the world, and the persistence of human sin, he took up the cross, called
disciples, gathered the church, and bade us follow him down a different path of
freedom. -- William H. Willimon, Leadership, Vol. 10, no.
4.
a. It was going to require
something unique.
b. No regular stuff would
work.
2. A ruler who will live
right. No one has completely done
this before, but God promises that someone will; a ruler who will live
righteously.
a. Before
God.
b. Before
man.
3. He will be
wise.
4. In his day there will be
salvation.
5. He will be the “Lord Our
Righteousness.”
6. He will bring us into right
relationship to God. (This is the idea of Righteousness: a right
standing before God.)
7. This destroys the idea that
righteousness can be achieved by our own deeds or works, it will be accomplished
through a relationship through this ruler.
B. Restored Life
Jer.
23:7-8
1. As great as the deliverance
of Israel from Egypt was, this Ruler’s deliverance will be even
greater!
2. The former gave Israel a new land, the latter a new
life! Moses led them toward new property, Jesus would give them
a new position.
a. The former glory will be
nothing compared to the latter.
b. The new righteousness from
the new ruler will greatly outdo the old
righteousness.
c. It won’t be our efforts or
wealth or position that get us into this new life, it will be the “new ruler”
Himself that will do this.
ILLUS: A person
may go to heaven without health, without riches, without honors, without
learning, without friends; but he can never go there without
Christ. -- John Dyer (1699-1757) -- Edythe Draper, Draper's Book of
Quotations for the Christian World (Wheaton: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.,
1992). Entry 9792.
3. Restored life for all who
accept this righteous ruler ... JESUS CHRIST!
II. RIGHTEOUSNESS RECEIVED Col.
2:6-15
A. Received the Lord Col.
2:6-7
1. Jesus is not only the
starting point of righteousness, but the continual flow of it! Col.
2:6
2. We cannot be righteous
without Christ! Only His robes of
righteousness are large enough to cover our filthy
rags.
ILLUS: In the day
of horse and buggies, a father went to the school house to pick up his three
children ages 9, 11, and 17. As
soon as he had them in the buggy -- just before he stepped in -- probably out of
fear of the storm, the horses bolted and took off in the blizzard. Hours and miles later, when he found his
children, the 17-year-old girl stood over the dead and frozen bodies of her
brother and sister ages 9 and 11. Sobbing uncontrollably, she collapsed
into his arms. When she had
regained her composure, she explained to her dad that she tried to take her big,
heavy coat and wrap it around them all. But she said, "The coat wasn't big
enough."
The blood that Christ shed on the
cross was big enough to cover all of your sins and mine -- all your lusting, all
your lying, all your cheating, all your hatred, all your own
faults. -- R. Larry Moyer, "Right Smack in the Middle of Sin,"
Preaching Today, Tape No. 148.
3. We must always depend on
Christ to keep us in right standing before God!!
4. He is to be Lord of all my
life or He is not Lord at all in my life!
5. He is my constant source of
righteousness!
a. Not my good works, efforts,
positions, etc.
b. This is what produces
thankfulness, He has done it! (Otherwise I could thank myself!) 2:7b It is Christ’s garment of righteousness that we
wear, not out own.
ILLUS: Like
wearing an expensive coat, you put it on ... then you act like what you’re
wearing -- like wearing a mink coat, notice how the person acts ... like royalty
and rich, we put on Christ's righteousness and we should act the part ...
hold our head up high and live what we wear! Our behavior should be different, our
dignity is found in Christ! – Dennis Marquardt
c. Don't disgrace this beautiful garment of
righteousness.
d. Joseph wore the "coat of many
colors" and his brethren became mad and jealous ... it was a coat his
father had given him and later was instrumental in God's plan for Joseph's
life.
e. That coat changed Joseph’s
life, so should the coat of Christ’s righteousness change
ours.
B. Rejecting Lies
Col.
2:8
1. The world judges goodness by
what it sets up as the standards of goodness.
a. It's philosophies change from
generation to generation.
b. It's ideas of morality change
constantly (sexuality, murder, convenience rules).
c. It's traditions are empty of
giving satisfaction.
2. As God's people righteousness
cannot and must not be determined by this world or its standards, but by Christ
and His Word!
ILLUS: We've lost
sight of the fact that some things are always right and some things are always
wrong. We've lost our reference
point. We don't have any moral
philosophy to undergird our way of life in this country, and our way of life is
in serious jeopardy and serious danger unless something happens. And that something must be a spiritual
revival. -- Billy Graham in a speech at Gordon-Conwell Theological
Seminary's Founder's Day (April 4, 1989).
Christianity Today, Vol. 33, no. 9.
3. We are to reject this world's
thinking and standards that don't line up with
Christ's!
a. Even when this world makes
its standards sound so reasonable.
b. They may even be logically
convincing ... but they are still lies if they contradict the Word of
God!
c. Ever met a liar that is
convincing? (Satan is good at
it!)
C. Righteous Life
Col.
2:9-15
1. Christ has it all! Col.
2:9
ILLUS: Heaven
goes by favor. If it went by merit,
you would stay out, and your dog would go in. -- Mark
Twain, Leadership, Vol. 17, no. 2.
2. In Christ we have it all.
Col.
2:10
a. All the righteousness we need
we have in Christ.
b. Christ Jesus is our
righteousness.
c. In Him we are accepted and
clean!
3. In Christ the work of
righteousness is complete! Col. 2:11-15
ILLUS: There is a
difference between religion and salvation. Religion is man trying to do something
for God -- salvation is God doing something for man. -- Croft M. Pentz, The Complete Book of Zingers (Wheaton:
Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., 1990).
4. Praise God we have a
righteous life!
a. We can live free from
condemnation!
b. Now we overflow with
thankfulness. Col.
2:7
III. RIGHTEOUSNESS RULING Col. 2:16-3:4
A. Regulations are Lifeless
Col. 2:16-23
1. Religious motions don't give
us righteousness! Col. 2:16
ILLUS: The
repeated promises in the Qur'an of the forgiveness of a compassionate and
merciful Allah are all made to the meritorious, whose merits have been weighed
in Allah's scales, whereas the gospel is good news of mercy to the undeserving.
The symbol of the religion of Jesus
is the cross, not the scales. -- John Stott in Authentic Christianity. Christianity Today,
Vol. 41, no. 1.
a. Unlike other religions that
require you to “earn” your righteousness, we receive ours in Christ as a
gift!
b. Jesus paid the price for our
righteousness.
2. They Old Testament laws and
practices were all shadows of truth to be found in Christ anyways. Col.
2:17
a. The
temple
b. The
sacrifices
c. The
festivals
3. Don’t let others fool you by
making you believe they are more righteous than you. Col.
2:18
a. In Christ we are all
righteous together!
b. We are either in Christ or not, righteous or not, Saint
or sinner!
c. False humility is really
covered up pride!
4. The one who brags on his righteousness has
lost touch with God! Col. 2:19
5. Quit trying to be
righteous by what you do, rather do because you are righteous in
Christ! Col. 2:20-23
a. Regulations won't control sinful
appetites.
b. Righteousness will control sinful
appetites.
ILLUS: Spiritual
authority flows not from titles and positions but from a life that is
genuine. -- Wayne Jacobsen, pastor, Leadership, Vol. 13, no.
1.
c. This is the secret to overcoming a sinful habit, quit
trying to do it by law and regulations, rather let Christ's righteousness be
your strength!
B. Resurrection Living Col. 3:1-4
1. Set your hearts on things
above!
a. Don't live in such a way that
you have to be ruled by the things of this life.
b. Take away fretting over this
life.
2. Christ is our life ...
resurrection life begins now -- not just in the
future.
ILLUS: Somebody
asked a Christian, "Are you saved?" "In what tense?" was the strange retort
of the Christian. "What do you
mean?" "Well," said the Christian,
"salvation is in three tenses: it is in the past: 'Not by
works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved
us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy
Ghost'
(Titus
3:5). Here is salvation in the present:
'Moreover,
brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye
have received, and ... by which also ye are saved.' The Greek word “sozesthe” is
inadequately translated in the King James Version. It should be 'ye are
being saved'
(1 Cor
15:2). Not only were we saved in the past, but
we need salvation continuously. Finally there is salvation in the future:
'Much
more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath
through him'
(Rom
5:9)." Is your salvation in all three
tenses? – SOURCE UNKNOWN
a. We are alive in Christ, not
dead in sins.
b. Resurrection life flowing
through us now!
CONCLUSION: The bible teaches us that
Christ is our righteousness, not our works, nor the gifts we possess, nor our
friendships with giants of faith, not our positions in the church, it is our
relationship to Jesus ... THE “LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS!” (Jehovah-Tsidkenu)