Father Heart in the Names of God 10

Part 10: Jehovah Tsidkenu- God is My Righteousness

Jeremiah 23: 1-6: “Woe to the shepherds who are destroying and scattering the sheep of my pasture!” declares the Lord. 2 Therefore this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says to the shepherds who tend my people: “Because you have scattered my flock and driven them away and have not bestowed care on them, I will bestow punishment on you for the evil you have done,” declares the Lord. 3 “I myself will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the countries where I have driven them and will bring them back to their pasture, where they will be fruitful and increase in number. 4 I will place shepherds over them who will tend them, and they will no longer be afraid or terrified, nor will any be missing,” declares the Lord.

5 “The days are coming,” declares the Lord,
    “when I will raise up for David[a] a righteous Branch,
a King who will reign wisely
    and do what is just and right in the land.

6 In his days Judah will be saved
    and Israel will live in safety.
This is the name by which he will be called:
    The Lord Our Righteous Saviour.

Jehovah Tsidkenu is only mentioned twice in the OT but carries heavy weight status amongst the names of God!  

Context:

When Jeremiah uttered this prophecy, the kingdom of Judah was about to fall.  More than 100 years earlier, the 10 tribes of Israel had been taken captive never to return because of their unfaithfulness towards God and Judah was on the threshold of joining their misery because they had sinned even more grievously than the kingdom to the north. 

Judah was in the shape of many Christian lives today. They were on the roller coaster ride of a few years with God and a few years of serving other gods.  Depending on who was king (on the throne) it would determine whether or not they followed God.  If an evil king ruled, then Judah would follow in sin, but if a good king ruled, then they experienced reform and awakening. 

At this point in Judah’s journey, the people had once again turned from God and were pursuing the lead of Zedekiah – the successor of Josiah who cast aside the Godly reforms and pursued a way that seemed right to himself.  

Not even a generation had passed and God was once again cast to the side and forgotten.

It’s amazing and scary how quickly we’re capable of turning from righteousness to sin – how quickly we can run from the church singing “I Have Decided to Follow Jesus” to humming, “I Did It My Way!”

Jeremiah had warned his contemporary, King Zedekiah, who was a puppet king, not to rebel against King Nebuchadnezzar and his Babylonian army.  Zedekiah did not listen, and therefore he, and the people of Judah suffered the tragic consequences—they were taken into Babylonian exile for seventy years. 

However, as Jeremiah prophesied, the story did not end there.  In verses three and four, Jeremiah tells us what God will do: 

First, he will gather the remnant of his scattered flock in exile and will bring them together to the fold.  They shall return to Judah.

Second, they shall be fruitful and multiply, in fulfilment of the covenant God made with his people.

Third, God will raise up good shepherds-leaders over them who will shepherd them.  These shepherds will not be corrupt or selfish or vain—they will genuinely care for the people. 

According to Jeremiah the consequences of these liberating actions of God for the people of Judah are: they shall not live in fear any longer nor be dismayed, nor shall any of the people be missing. They shall live together in community and enjoy their freedom.

Then, in verses five and six, Jeremiah, speaking of the future, prophesied that the long-expected Messiah would eventually come. 

One scholar, Professor Ralph Klein, Points out that Jehovah Tsidkenu in Hebrew is Zedekiah spelt backwards!  Which underscores the important reign of the coming Messiah:  This king can be seen as the direct opposite of Zedekiah.  

In other words, just as the name of King Zedekiah is the reverse of the coming Messiah-King, so too shall the reign of the coming Messiah-King is the opposite of Zedekiah’s reign as well as that of all previous unfaithful shepherd-kings of Israel and Judah. 

God has given us fair warning too. His Word clearly states what will happen if we turn from Him to other gods:

Gal. 6:7-8: Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked.  A man reaps what he sows.  The one who sows tonplease his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.

Meaning in the OT.

Word: Tsidkenu – “still or straight” – it’s a standard of measurement – our sinful nature is measured against God’s holy nature.

Ps. 5:4: You are not a God who takes pleasure in evil; with you the wicked cannot dwell.

The one thing we must come to understand is the God is righteous, holy and just, and that our lives are measured by the standard of His righteousness.  

However, there is no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1).  Let’s look a little more of what righteous living is about!

The Prerequisite  of Righteousness

Have you not ever heard that God is a God of perfect holiness - holy in His character, holy in His laws, holy in His dwelling place? 

Leviticus 19:2: …Be holy because I, the LORD your God, am holy.

Joshua 24:19: "…He is a holy God…”

What is God’s primary characteristic?  It is Holiness.

Holiness finds expression in what two essential qualities? Perfect Love and Perfect Justice.

And that is what God not only expects - but what His righteousness requires from us. 

The law of God requires not only that we be without sin, but also that we be completely obedient to holiness - that we actually love God with all our hearts, souls, minds and beings, and that we actually love our neighbours as ourselves. 

How many of you know that that is not going to happen in and of ourselves!

The righteousness model that Christ demonstrated is the standard of righteousness that God will accept.

Enter the righteousness of God.  Jehovah Tsidkenu, in His great love and mercy, knowing that we are hopeless and helpless, extended His grace to us to redeem us from our lostness and bring us into a personal relationship with Him. 

Through Christ we have been declared righteous – set apart from sin to God and called to holiness – called to keep ourselves separated from sin.

But we must understand that holiness to God is perfection yet we will never be perfect.  Rather we are in the process of being perfected:

Phil. 3:12-14: Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus too hold of me.  Bothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it.  But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

In other words, that is the Requirement of Righteousness.  How many of you know you can’t get there?

That brings us to the second pillar of understanding we need to have.

The Position of Righteousness

Now watch this - God never gloats over our sin; He grieves. 

Why? Because He loves us, and He knows the damage that comes to us through our sin. 

Sin always promises you what it cannot deliver.

It offers pleasure but produces pain. 

It offers freedom but produces failure. 

It offers riches but produces rags. 

It offers delight but produces death. 

God knows that - and that is why He always provides a way out of our temptation.  Not only does God provide a way out of temptation, He always provides a way back from our sin.  

God always has a plan to bring us back to where His blessings can again flow in our lives.

What is that plan?  It is our position of righteousness. 

There are two types of righteousness spoken of in the Bible, even though the Bible does not use these terms: 

Righteousness that’s a position,

A righteousness that is not my own - it is given to me

Righteousness that’s a possession, 

is righteousness that I commit to - possess by my choices and my behaviour.

Theologians call this Imputed Righteousness and Imparted Righteousness.  When we say "Yahweh Tsidkenu" we are talking about Positional Righteousness.

We are sometimes so busy trying to get righteousness thinking that then God will give us righteousness.  If we could get it, He would not need to give it.

We’re in a relationship that does not expect perfection but the pursuit of the perfect God. 

Rom. 3:21-22 "But now a righteousness from God, apart from the law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify.  This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe."

2 Cor. 5:21 "God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.”

Not only do you have righteousness - you become righteousness.

Not only do you have ‘tsidekenu’ - you become ‘tsidkenu.’

Philippians 3:9: “…not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ – the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith.”

How do you get that righteousness?  By believing.  Not by feeling, by faith!

You are clothed in His righteousness.  Wear it.  Prepare it.  Declare it.  Share it.

The Prerequisite of Righteousness

The Position of Righteousness

The Privileges of Righteousness

Develop a righteousness consciousness.  Not a religious consciousness, but one that understand who we are in Christ!

You get to employ the power and authority of God! 

Proverbs 4:18: The path of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn, shining ever brighter till the full light of day!

You get to destroy the plans and purposes of the enemy every day!

You get to enjoy the promises and protection of the Righteous.

The Bible is full of promises to ‘the righteous.’:

• God is with the righteous.
• The eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous
• The Lord sustains the righteous.
• The righteous will rejoice.
• The righteous will be glad.
• The righteous will not be destroyed. 
• The righteous shall be filled!
• The list goes on and on and on!

The Prerequisite of Righteousness

The Position of Righteousness

The Privileges of Righteousness

The Practice of Righteousness

Now watch this - righteousness is what you are - but the test of being is doing. 

Romans 8:10: "But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness." 

1 John 3:7 "Dear Children, do not anyone lead you astray.  He who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous."

He who does right is righteous!  Whilst we make room for mistakes and growth there should be an improvement.

John Maxwell: the difference between winners and whiners is this: winners do the right thing and then feel good, whiners want to feel good before doing the right thing!

Friends do the right thing!  The righteous are blameless, upright and honest.  Another word for these terms is integrity!

The Great Wall of China:  They built it so high that no one could get over it.  And they built it so thick that no one could tunnel through it.  They built this gigantic wall that still exists today.  And then the people of China sat down behind the wall, feeling that their future was secure. 

But in the first 100 years of the existence of the Wall of China, China was invaded 3 different times. The enemy didn’t come over because it was too high. They didn’t tunnel through because it was too thick. But each time China was invaded, the enemy came through a gate left open for them.

Those who guarded the gate had been bribed. And while the people of China sat comfortably behind the security & the safety of the wall, they failed to teach their children integrity. So they sold out to the enemy.  And the enemy invaded their land.  What a parable! 

 In his book I Surrender, Patrick Morley writes that the church’s integrity problem is in the misconception "that we can add Christ to our lives, but not subtract sin. It is a change in belief without a change in behaviour." He goes on to say, "It is revival without reformation, without repentance."

How do we practice righteousness?  Put Jesus in the right place!

At the height of his fame the 19^th century artist, Whistler, was commissioned to paint a picture for a wealthy patron who insisted the artist helped him hang it. For an hour or more the patron tried it here and there, asking for Whistler’s input.  Eventually the frustrated artist could bear it no longer.  “You are approaching the problem the wrong way. Clear the room of all furniture and hang the painting where the light shows it off best, then arrange your furnishings around the picture!”

Adding Jesus to our lives is not the way!  Allow Him to be the centre of your attentions and aims and arrange your life around Him and righteousness will become apparent!