THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS 1 – JUNE 26, 2022

Series: “Righteousness Exalts a Nation, But Sin is a Reproach To Any People!” – Proverbs 14:34

I. JEHOHAH-TSIDKENU – “THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS” (INTRO)

• Not just “The Lord is righteous” but “He is OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS!”
• RIGHTEOUSNESS is a major revelation of who God is, in Scripture – RIGHTEOUSNESS is HIS DIVINE NATURE!
• WHAT IS RIGHTEOUSNESS?
  • “Living right and doing right”
  • “His (God’s) way of living”
  • “Uprightness- a good and upright lifestyle”
  • “His way of doing and being right—the attitude and character of God”
  • “Doing what He wants you to do – what He requires of you”
• Galatians 6:9 TLB – And let us not get tired of doing what is right, for after a while we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t get discouraged and give up.
• 2 Corinthians 3:18 – But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as [a]by the Spirit of the Lord.
• Genesis 1:26-27 – ²⁶ Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over [a]all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” ²⁷ So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
• God loves RIGHTEOUSNESS, He blesses the RIGHTEOUS –
• He hates UNRIGHTEOUSNESS! He is angry with the UNRIGHTEOUS and brings judgment upon them!
• Abraham and Sodom / Lot – Genesis 18/19
• 2 Peter 2:6-8 – ⁶ and turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them to destruction, making them an example to those who afterward would live ungodly; ⁷ and delivered righteous Lot, who was oppressed by the filthy conduct of the wicked ⁸ (for that righteous man, dwelling among them, tormented his righteous soul from day to day by seeing and hearing their lawless deeds)—
• JESUS CAME TO SAVE UNRIGHTEOUS SINNERS, AND RESCUE THEM FROM DESTRUCTION!
• Mark 2:17 – When Jesus heard it, He said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.”

II. NOT SAVED BY WORKS – WE ARE SAVED BY FAITH

• Titus 3:4-6 – ⁴ But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, ⁵ not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, ⁶ whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior,
• We are SAVED BY MERCY and because of God’s GRACE!
  • Through REGENERATION & RENEWING of the HOLY SPIRIT!
• We are NOT SAVED BY OUR OWN WORKS! We are saved through faith in Jesus, and the finished work of the cross!
• 2 Corinthians 5:21, 17 – ²¹ For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. ¹⁷ Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.

III. JEHOHAH-TSIDKENU – “THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS” (Cont.)

• Jeremiah 23:6 – 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.
• Jeremiah 33:16 – In those days Judah will be saved, And Jerusalem will dwell safely. And this is the name by which she will be called: THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.’
• Isaiah 54:17 – No weapon formed against you shall prosper, and every tongue which rises against you in judgment you shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is from Me,” Says the Lord.

IV. EPHESIANS 2:1-13 – (ALTHOUGH WE ARE NOT SAVED BY WORKS – GOOD WORKS ARE VERY IMPORTANT!)

• Through JESUS we are ALIVE FROM THE DEAD!
• We are SAVED from the consequences of sin & sinful activities of disobedience and rebellion!
• (When we know to do good, and don’t do it – that is SIN! – James 4:17). The dreadful consequences of SIN is God’s wrath!
• We have been SAVED because of God’s mercy, loving-kindness, & grace – NOT by our own works!
• We are HIS WORKMANSHIP!
• We have been created unto GOOD WORKS!
• GOOD WORKS are important – we will be rewarded according to our GOOD WORKS!
• In the past, before we accepted Jesus as our Savior we had NO HOPE!
• Now, in Jesus Christ our RIGHTEOUSNESS & right standing before God is restored through the blood that Jesus shed on the cross!      (The DIVINE EXCHANGE – 2 Corinthians 5:21)
• 2 Corinthians 5:21 – For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

V. HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS

• Matthew 6:33 – But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.
• Romans 14:17 – for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.

VI. GOOD WORKS ARE VERY IMPORTANT! (Cont.)

• James 1:22 – But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.
• Matthew 7:24-27 – ²⁴ “Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: ²⁵ and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. ²⁶ “But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: ²⁷ and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall.”
• James 2:14-17 – ¹⁴ What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? ¹⁵ If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, ¹⁶ and one of you says to them, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? ¹⁷ Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.
• James 2:26 – For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.

VII. KEEP GOD’S COMMANDMENTS!

• Romans 6:1-2,5 – ¹ What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? ² Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? ⁵ For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection,
• Don’t presumptuously sin and break God’s commandments! That is very dangerous!
• As TRUE CHRISTIAN believers, we show our LOVE AND THANKFULNESS by faithfully OBEYING THE LORD’S COMMANDMENTS!
• Matthew 28:20 –  teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.

VIII. WHAT ARE HIS COMMANDMENTS?

• JOHN 13:34-35 – ³⁴ A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. ³⁵ By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”
• The 10 Commandments – Exodus 20:1-17

IX. FRUITS OF UNRIGHTEOUSNESS / FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT

• Galatians 5:16, 19-25 – ¹⁶ I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. ¹⁹ Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, ²⁰ idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, ²¹ envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. ²² But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³ gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. ²⁴ And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. ²⁵ If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.
• Ephesians 5:9 – (for the fruit of the [a]Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth),
• Don’t give place to the world, flesh, or devil!

X. FRUITS OF RIGHTEOUSNESS

• 2 Corinthians 9:10 – Now may He who supplies seed to the sower, and bread for food, supply and multiply the seed you have sown and increase the fruits of your righteousness,
• Philippians 1:11 – being filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.
• Hebrews 12:11 – Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.
• James 3:18 – Now the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.

XI. NO UNRIGHTEOUSNESS IN GOD

• Psalm 92:15 – To declare that the Lord is upright; He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in Him.
• Zephaniah 3:5 – The Lord is righteous in her midst, He will do no unrighteousness. Every morning He brings His justice to light; He never fails, but the unjust knows no shame.
• John 7:18 – He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory; but He who seeks the glory of the One who sent Him is true, and no unrighteousness is in Him.

XII. GOD’S JUDGMENT ON UNRIGHTEOUSNESS

• Romans 1:18 – For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness,
• Romans 1:28-32 – ²⁸ And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting; ²⁹ being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness; they are whisperers, ³⁰ backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, ³¹ undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, [e]unforgiving, unmerciful; ³² who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them.
• Lake of Fire – Revelation 20:8; 21:8;

XIII. CONCLUSION

• Zacchaeus – Luke 19:1-10
• Proverbs 14:34 – Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people.
• The Lord is our righteousness – He created us to be in His image! Righteousness pleases Him. Unrighteousness will be judged! Let’s live in the fear of God, and love to live right and pursue right standing with the Lord our Maker!
• “THE LORD IS OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS”! We are being changed into His image, from glory to glory! HALLELUJAH!