Jehovah Tsidkenu-  The Lord Our Righteousness

Jehovah Tsidkenu-  The Lord Our Righteousness
Jeremiah 23:1–6

Praying the names of God

• Yahweh – The Lord – Promise Keeper – consistent. Faithful –
• El Shaddai – God Almighty – God who is able – Nothing too hard
• El Roi – The God Who Sees – God sees me.
• Jehovah Jireh – The Lord Will Provide – A dependency on God – God desires to meet my needs –
• Jehovah Shammah – The Lord Is There – The presence of the Lord….
• Jehovah Rapha – The Lord Who Heals – God can transform the bitter into a blessing.
  • He has the power to heal…. He can fix that which is broken
• Jehovah Nissi – The Lord Our Banner. God is able to protect me.
• Jehovah Shalom – The Lord IS peace.

This morning we are going to learn another name that God invites us to use in our prayer time with Him.

Jeremiah 23:1–6 (NKJV)

¹ “Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of My pasture!” says the Lord.

² Therefore thus says the Lord God of Israel against the shepherds who feed My people: “You have scattered My flock, driven them away, and not attended to them. Behold, I will attend to you for the evil of your doings,” says the Lord.

³ “But I will gather the remnant of My flock out of all countries where I have driven them, and bring them back to their folds; and they shall be fruitful and increase.

⁴ I will set up shepherds over them who will feed them; and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, nor shall they be lacking,” says the Lord.

⁵ “Behold, the days are coming,” says the Lord, “That I will raise to David a Branch of righteousness; A King shall reign and prosper, And execute judgment and righteousness in the earth.

⁶ In His days Judah will be saved, And Israel will dwell safely; Now this is His name by which He will be called: THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS

That phrase  -“The Lord Our Righteousness”, is the Hebrew name for God –  Jehovah  Tsidkenu.

Let’s talk about Righteousness for a second – one of these words that we hear in the church but either we lost the meaning of the word – or we just don’t know what it means…

Let’s get a working definition – What is righteousness?

Dictionaries define the word righteousness as a “behavior that is morally justifiable or right.”

A layman’s definition of righteousness is simply, “right standing with God.”

Righteousness is the condition of being in right relationship with the Lord

Two kinds of Righteousness:

The Righteousness that comes from God and the righteousness that comes from self.

God’s righteousness or self-righteousness.

Self-righteousness – is the moral self-confidence and superiority arising from satisfaction in one’s own achievements.

confident of one’s own righteousness –

Romans 10:3 (NKJV)

³ For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God.

• Self-righteousness is seeking our own righteousness – based upon our efforts –
• Self-righteousness is trying to stand before God on your own merit.

The standard of righteousness is not goodness – the standard of righteousness is perfection.

How can we stand before a holy God? We must be perfect.

The righteousness of God is based upon the work of God – What God has done.

Self-righteousness is based upon our works. – What we try to do.

Let me give you a great example of the two in the Bible –

In the Garden of Eden – Adam and Eve sinned –  Eyes opened

Genesis 3:7–8 (NLT)

⁷ At that moment their eyes were opened, and they suddenly felt shame at their nakedness. So they sewed fig leaves together to cover themselves.

⁸ When the cool evening breezes were blowing, the man and his wife heard the Lord God walking about in the garden. So they hid from the Lord God among the trees.

Genesis 3:21 (NLT)

²¹ And the Lord God made clothing from animal skins for Adam and his wife.

The Big Idea:

God as Jehovah Tsidkenu – The Lord our Righteousness  – Clothes us with the righteousness of Christ.

1.    The Righteousness of God Promised (Jeremiah 23:6)

⁶ In His days Judah will be saved, And Israel will dwell safely; Now this is His name by which He will be called: THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS

This is a messianic prophecy pointing to Jesus – who is the righteous branch from the lineage of David,

It is Christ alone –  who brings righteousness and salvation to all who believe in Him.

2.    The Righteousness of God is by Faith in Jesus (Romans 3:22)

Romans 3:9–23 (NKJV)

⁹ What then? Are we better than they? (Paul was talking about the Jewish people who have a covenant with God) Not at all. For we have previously charged both Jews and Greeks that they are all under sin.

¹⁰ As it is written: “There is none righteous, no, not one;

¹¹ There is none who understands; There is none who seeks after God.

¹² They have all turned aside; They have together become unprofitable; There is none who does good, no, not one.”

¹³ “Their throat is an open tomb; With their tongues they have practiced deceit”; “The poison of asps is under their lips”;

¹⁴ “Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.”

¹⁵ “Their feet are swift to shed blood;

¹⁶ Destruction and misery are in their ways;

¹⁷ And the way of peace they have not known.”

¹⁸ “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”

¹⁹ Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.

²⁰ Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin.

²¹ But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets,

²² even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference;

²³ for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

Our works cannot earn us righteousness before God. It is only through faith in Jesus Christ that we can be justified and declared righteous.

This truth gives us hope and assurance of our standing before God, regardless of our past mistakes or shortcomings.

3.    God takes the righteousness of Christ and puts it my account.

The doctrine of imputation:

This refers to the act of attributing or crediting something to someone’s account.

In a theological context, it specifically refers to the imputation of righteousness.

Imputation of righteousness is the biblical teaching that, through faith in Jesus Christ, believers are credited with or reckoned as having the righteousness of Christ.

It involves a divine exchange where our sins are placed upon Jesus, and His righteousness is imputed or attributed to us.

2 Corinthians 5:20–21 (NKJV)

²⁰ Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God.

²¹ For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

This verse reminds us of the incredible exchange that took place on the cross.

Our sinfulness was placed upon Jesus, and His righteousness was given to us.

Let me give you a visual –

Clothed with self-righteousness vs clothed with the righteousness of Christ

In my self righteousness – God sees my sin. He sees my sin nature. He sees me dressed in filthy rags.

But when I come to Christ, God takes this old garment and crucified it with Christ. In exchange, God clothes me with the righteousness of Christ. So when God looks at me, He doesn’t see who I used to be. He doesn’t see my faults. He sees Christ. He see the righteousness of Christ which was put to my account.

Paul says it best in Galatians 2:20-21

²⁰ I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. ²¹ I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!”

Notice Paul said, If righteousness could be acquired, gained, achieved, then the death of Jesus was a huge waste. We cannot have right standing with God based upon our works. We have right standing with God based upon His work. He is Jehovah Tsidkenu – The Lord our Righteousness.

So how can I pray this name?

Adoration:

We can begin by praising and worshiping God for His righteousness.

We can Acknowledge that it is His perfect character and the righteousness that flows from Him.

Gratitude:

We can Express thankfulness for the righteousness that God has provided through Jesus Christ.

We can Recognize that it is not your own righteousness but the righteousness of Christ that covers us as believers.

I can pray, “Thank You, Jehovah Tsidkenu, for clothing me with the righteousness of Christ. I am grateful that I can stand before You justified and accepted because of Your righteousness.”

Dependence:

We can recognize our dependence on God’s righteousness for every aspect of our life.

We can Pray, “Jehovah Tsidkenu, I surrender my self-righteousness and my own efforts. I depend on Your righteousness to lead me, to transform me, and to enable me to live according to Your will.”