Who Is He: The LORD IS OUR Righteousness

Please stand for the scripture reading this morning. Old Testament from the prophet Isaiah chapter 11 1 through 9. There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse and A branch from his roots shall bear fruit and the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him.

The spirit of wisdom and understanding the spirit of counsel and might the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord and His delight shall be in the fear of the Lord. He shall not judge by what his eyes see or decide disputes by what his ears hear but with righteousness he shall judge the poor and decide with equity for the meek of the earth.

And He shall strike the earth with a rod of his mouth and with the breath of his lips. He shall kill the wicked. Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist and Faithfulness the belt of his loins. The wolf shall dwell with a lamb and the leopard shall lie down with a young goat and the calf and a lion and a fattened calf together and A little child shall lead them.

The cow and the bear shall graze their young shall lie down together and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. The nursing child shall play over the whole of the Cobra and The weaned child shall put his hand on the adders den.

They shall not hurt or destroy in all my mountain for the earth Shall be full of knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. New Testament is Matthew chapter 1 18 through 25. Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way.

When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph before they came together. She was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. And her husband Joseph being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame Resolved to divorce her quietly.

But.

As he considered these things behold an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream saying Joseph son of David. Do not fear to take Mary as your wife for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.

She will bear a son. You shall call his name Jesus. For he will save his people from their sins and. All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet. Behold the virgin shall conceive and bear a son and they shall call his name Emmanuel which means God with us.

When Joseph woke from sleep he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him. He took his wife but knew her not until she had given birth to a son and he called his name Jesus.

Maybe see if you would.

Please take your Bibles and turn to the prophet Jeremiah Jeremiah.

Chapter 23 vow with me as we pray.

Lord God of heaven we thank you for your word. For Lord, this isn't just a book that we have in our hands. It is the very Word of God. It is you speaking to us. Would you help us to listen now? And Lord as we look back into this ancient text We see that it speaks directly to us and even though it spoke to your people centuries ago You intended it to speak to us even today.

Help us then to give our attention to your voice as you speak to us or the glories of Christ. Will thank you in Jesus name.

Amen.

Who is Jesus? Who is Jesus?

Well, you say that's not so hard to answer. You just turn to the Gospels and you find out who Jesus is. You say well, you know what as you read the Gospels you find out He's a teacher who does miracles and proves.

He's the Son of God and all that is true. But God revealed who Jesus is long before. The Gospels were written long before Jesus arrived on the scene. We find him described. We see him. We see all these things that are true of him.

Long before Jesus arrived then you find him described in the Bible. Now remember the Bible is a long unfolding Story, it's not just the book that we prove what we believe in. It's a it's a long unfolding story telling us about God's work amongst us and in that Unfolding story you find.

Jesus.

In that long unfolding story that goes over century after century after century You're going to find Jesus and you're going to find him with the different names and descriptions That are given to him all through that story.

It started long ago in the dawn of human history. God tells Adam and Eve after their disastrous rebellion against his goodness. He says that her seed will crush Satan's head. Then about 1 ,800 years before his birth God tells Abraham that his seed is going to be a blessing to all the nations of the world.

A couple generations later Judah would say that Jesus is the scepter the ruler staff That won't depart and that all the nations will give him obedience. About 1 ,400 years before he arrived Moses talks about the prophet of God.

And Then about 900 years before Jesus came God told David that his descendant would be a king who would rule forever. And Then Isaiah comes along 700 years before Jesus and calls him wonderful counselor the mighty God the everlasting Father the Prince of Peace.

Not to mention in a number of chapters this mysterious figure called the servant of the Lord. And we could go on and on we could go from the beginning Until the Gospels and find a ton of descriptions and names About Jesus that that ought to that ought to fill out the picture for us that what we find in the Gospels is the fulfillment is the very embodiment of all those names and descriptions that we find as that story unfolds and now.

Today, I want us to go to Jeremiah a prophet who lived about 600 years.

Before.

Jesus Arrived and he gives us another name for Jesus as he looks to the future. You follow now as I read Jeremiah 23 Verses 1 through 6 woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture.

This declares the Lord therefore thus says the Lord the God of Israel. Concerning the shepherds who care for my people. You have scattered my flock and have driven them away and you have not attended to them.

Behold, I will attend to you for your evil deeds declares the Lord. Then I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the countries where I have driven them and I will bring them back To their fold and they shall be fruitful and multiply.

I will set shepherds over them who will care for them and they shall fear no more nor be dismayed. Neither shall any be missing declares the Lord. Behold the days are coming declares the Lord when I will raise up for David a righteous branch and he shall reign as king and deal wisely and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land in his days.

Judah will be saved and Israel will dwell securely and This is the name by which he will be called. The Lord is our righteousness. He is called the Lord is our righteousness. Why? Well, he's called the Lord is our righteousness because of the great love that God has for his people.

He loves him with such an intense love that he promises to shepherd them in a way never before experienced. But in order to accomplish that loving care, he must raise up a branch that will be called. The Lord is our righteousness.

Now when you look into that manger, whom do you see?

The Lord.

Is our righteousness the Lord. Our righteousness is who you see in that manger. Now let's get a feeling for where we are in this text. I Was reminded of several years ago. Well, there was a couple in our church.

We're being drawn away by an insidious teaching that took them away from the gospel. It was leading them away from the gospel. And I remember meeting with them and spending some time with them and after that writing a letter to them Saying more about what needed to be said and I said to them at one point.

My heart is breaking. I'm afraid that someone is misleading you with another gospel a gospel quite foreign to the grace of God revealed in.

Jesus.

Some of the things I have written may not sit well with you. But surely you must know that it comes from one who has loved you over these many years. Do not forget the many hours we spent together recall how we have opened our hearts to you and you to us.

Please read and consider carefully what I have written, but I can tell you right now I was more than heartbroken. I.

Was.

Angry, I was if you want to use the word Furious. I was consumed with anger towards these people who would lead these dear people that I loved astray with another gospel. Why was I so angry? Because I loved them.

That's why I was so angry. I was furious because I love these people and eternity was hanging in the balance because because to follow another gospel Is to walk into condemnation. And as you read this passage from Jeremiah you see that God is Extraordinarily angry.

He is extraordinarily angry here. Why? Because God has an intense Love for his people if we're gonna understand who Jesus is We have to see this. God has an intense love for his people. Look at the first two verses again.

Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pastor declares the Lord. Therefore thus says the Lord the God of Israel concerning the shepherds who care for the people my people. You have scattered my flock and have driven them away and you have not attended to them.

Behold I will attend to you for your evil deeds declares the Lord. You see he had entrusted the welfare of his people to shepherds who proved unfaithful and even destructive. He expected his Kings he expected his Kings to rule his people by caring for them and Leading them in faithfulness to the covenant that God had made with them.

But instead they neglected the people committed to their care. They neglected them. They've not bestowed care upon them. And so they are destroyed scattered driven away because of those shepherds they suffer.

These shepherds were lazy. They neglected the sheep they betrayed and deserted them instead of leading them to meet with their God. They took them down the road to idolatry. They took the easy path as it were.

Promoting idolatry and encouraging ungodliness and immorality. They were not leading them to God. Look over chapter 22 for a moment. You get a sense of this chapter 22 verse 13. Woe to him who builds his house by unrighteousness and his upper rooms by injustice.

Who makes his neighbor serve him for nothing and does not give him his wages. Who says I will build myself a great house. With spacious upper rooms who casts who cuts out windows for it. Paneling it with cedar and painting it with vermilion.

Do you think that you are a king because you compete because you compete in cedar? Did not your father eat and drink and do justice and righteousness then it was well with him. He judged the cause of the poor and needy then it was well.

It's not this to know me declares the Lord but you have eyes and heart only for your dishonest gain for shedding innocent blood and for practicing oppression and violence here. He's talking to the Kings and he says to them you are more interested in living in palaces than in leading my people to worship.

He says instead of promoting justice instead of defending the rights of the helpless you are actually Abusing and exploiting the people entrusted to your care. Instead of loving God's people they were using them and abusing them and Such neglect led the flock of down the the flock of God down the road to destruction.

Notice what he says in verse 3. And when he says then I will gather remnant of my flock out of all the countries where I have Driven them and I will bring them back to their fold where I have driven them.

You say wait a minute. I thought God was angry at the shepherds. He certainly is but God's judgment has to fall on his people because they are in sin and God is just and he cannot overlook sin. But nevertheless you see that the emphasis of his judgment is on the shepherds.

He must punish the sin of his people, but he cannot he cannot and will not overlook the part that the shepherds played in their disobedience and Destruction. They led them down that path and so God calls down curses upon Such shepherds and promises judgment by the way such shepherds exist today.

People still follow shepherds. People who they they follow they fell follow those who think that will take care of them.

All right.

Those who say they represent who are such shepherds today? There are those who say they represent God but who ignore and twist the Word of God. Now right away. Right away. Our minds go. Go straight to those who would say oh.

Listen. God's not a God of judgment. God's a God of love. He accepts you the way you are. Our church is gonna hang the rainbow flag. Because you know what. God's inclusive and so are we. Well God is not inclusive.

He is not. He draws the line and brings judgment on people who who violate his word.

But lest we.

Lest we Get really upset about those on the left. The woke. Let's not forget. There's people on the right who would use Jesus and the Word of God just to achieve their political ends. They just become the stepping stone.

To.

To to making us what we're supposed to be. Both have the same problem. The shepherds on the right the shepherds on the left have the same problem. They ignore that Jesus is the Savior and He has come to save people from their sin.

He has come to avert the judgment of God and We must always keep that in mind. Jesus is central and so God expresses his love in the face of horrendous sin by bringing judgment. But that's not all by the way, if all we do is preach the judgment of God.

We've missed the point and Jeremiah doesn't do that here. He doesn't. What does he do? He now he talks about judgment, but he talks about promise. Does he not? And by the way, let me just say this just off.

If all we do is preach judgment, we're not faithful to the Word of God. We must preach judgment and Rescue. Oh Listen don't hear me wrong. Now. We have to we have to preach judgment. There must always be that there is what God demands and Yet God doesn't leave us condemned under his law.

Does he?

No, he he pronounces rescue and that's what he does here. In verses 3 through 6 God promises to shepherd the people he loves. Verses 3 through 6. Then I will gather the remnant of my flock out of the countries where I have driven them and I will bring them back to their fold and they shall be fruitful and multiply.

I will set shepherds over them who will care for them and they shall fear no more nor be dismayed. Neither shall any be missing declares the Lord. Behold the Lord the days are coming declares the Lord when I will raise up For David a righteous branch and he shall reign as king and deal wisely and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land in his days.

Judah will be saved and Israel will dwell securely and this is the name by which he will be called. The Lord is our righteousness. God promises to appoint shepherds and reverse his judgment and he does that through a Promised coming king.

Whenever the prophets offer hope they bring forward this this Messiah because in him in Him are all of God's all of God's promises are fulfilled. Notice. He says the days are coming when all these things will be accomplished.

The days are coming when all these things will be accomplished and they will for all find fulfillment in this Messiah. They will find fulfillment in this Messiah and Through this Messiah God will reverse the judgment brought on his people and he will bless them in verse 3.

Notice. He says I will gather a remnant a remnant he says He will save the people of Judah and Israel. That is a united people under the rule of a Davidic ruler.

There no longer be missing.

They'll no longer be terrified for no one will be able to separate this flock from God and his blessings now. Again, you have to see that these promises are fulfilled and continue to find fulfillment in Jesus.

They're fulfilled when he came. Continue to find fulfillment. Jesus brings the beginning of the fulfillment when he arrives and Continues to fulfill until the day that he returns when all will finally be complete.

And so he begins his fulfillment with his coming. What do we do with what Jer what Jeremiah is saying about. About Gathering this remnant. Well turn over to Romans 11 for a moment. Romans 11 for a moment.

Romans 11 in the first five verses we read this. I Am a member of the tribe of Benjamin. God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew. Do you not know what the scripture says of Elijah how he appeals to God against Israel Lord?

They've killed your prophets. They've demolished your altars and I alone him left and they seek my life. But what is God's reply to him? I have kept for myself 7 ,000 men who have not bowed the need to bail so to at the present time.

There is a remnant chosen by grace. But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works. Otherwise grace would no longer be grace. Here he says there is a remnant being saved. We will look around and say Jewish people don't recognize Jesus as Messiah.

Some do. There is a remnant being called out. I would say to you as well that there's coming a day when many Jewish people are going to turn to Jesus. According to Romans 11. He's going to gather them and I think there's going to be if you will maybe I believe what the Bible teaches is a great revival among the Jewish people in which they will see that Jesus is Messiah.

But until then we only see a remnant. But what Jeremiah did not see was how the fulfillment came in a broader way. What he did not see was that the Jewish Messiah would actually be the Savior of the world.

That is that Gentiles would also be a part of the people of God. And so he says there's going to come a day when God's going to draw in. Draw in a remnant but also He's going to draw in Gentiles through Messiah.

God will gather Jews and Gentiles. Making them all the people of God. How will God do all this? What does he say in our text in Jeremiah 23 by pointing faithful shepherds over his people? They will tend God's flock.

They will bestow care on them. They will protect them. But again, that's only accomplished through the King The Shepherd the Great Shepherd that is going to come only through this righteous branch. Well, how does that happen?

It's Messiah himself who gives these separates to his people if you look at Ephesians chapter 4, for example Ephesians chapter 4 verses 7 and 8, but to each one of us grace has been given as Christ Apportioned it that is why it says when he ascended on high He led captives in his train and gave gifts to men.

Alright, so Jesus gave gifts to men. What are they you get down to verse 11 and he says and he gave the Apostles the prophets the evangelists the shepherds and teachers. Or the shepherd teachers. All right.

It is this King who gives these gifts including shepherds to his people. I I think and again, we don't have time to look at all this place. I think of Acts chapter 20. Where Paul meets the Ephesian elders and he describes for them what the shepherds of God's people are to be like.

They are the shepherds that God has raised up Amongst his people. All right, and what do these shepherds do? They proclaim Messiah. He's the very subject of their proclamation. The very proclamation of this King advances his rule.

All right now you don't want you to think about that for a moment as these shepherds proclaim the gospel it advances the rule of Christ. He doesn't do it through force.

Right.

Listen.

Oh.

You know when I depart from my notes, sometimes I think I'm gonna go out on a limb and maybe do something say something. We live in a world right now where there's a religion who thinks that it makes its way through force.

It's always believed that Islam. It's always believed that. You read the history of Islam. It's a it's a history of conquering by arms. That's how you spread the faith their faith and Sometimes we can get drawn into that and think the only way of defeating them is by force.

I'm not making the case now that we don't Use force. What I'm making the case is the kingdom of Christ advanced through the proclamation of the gospel. It's more powerful than the arms of men. It's more powerful than the weapons of this world and and this King extends his kingdom as the Word of God is proclaimed as The Word of God as the gospel about this King is proclaimed he advances his rule.

Those shepherds are responsible to proclaim the gospel and by their proclamation Jesus extends his rule becomes the shepherd of many many many people. You see as it goes over the world now. This shepherd extends his rule as his under shepherds proclaim the gospel and they don't merely proclaim a message.

They proclaim Messiah and he comes to people in the gospel. You need to think about that Jesus comes to you.

Through the gospel.

He doesn't appear to you in a dream. He doesn't appear to you and suddenly he says follow me. He's the Word of God is preached. He summons you to follow him and the gospel itself brings you to him. It is Messiah himself.

And.

So God saves his people. He gathers his people Jew and Gentile and they increase and they find safety. How? Through a Messiah who rules them as he comes to them through the Word of God proclaimed by his shepherds.

And what kind of Messiah do they proclaim? Well, he's the promised seed of David according to our text. He is a righteous branch from David the fulfillment of the promise made to David that one of his descendants would rule forever.

It's all about grace because we've not deserved it. We've not deserved this King. But God remains faithful to his promise. That's why we have this King. He remains faithful to his promise. We have a wonderful King because of God's marvelous grace to us.

He is a righteous branch in contrast to the godless Kings they had before. Now we have this righteous branch. He rules wisely says our text. He knows the hearts of men. He knows how to rule them for their benefit.

Here's one thing to keep in mind when temptation arrives. We have a king who wants what's best for us. And he tells us what to do. Not. Not to spoil fun. Not to make life miserable, but to do what's best for you.

He rules wisely. This is a king who is just. Says Jeremiah, he is just. He punishes those who rebel against his word and does so with inerring justice. But he can also save his people because he's just.

How so.

Because the Lord is our righteousness. There's where we are. The Lord is our righteousness. You see then that this King shepherds us in a way that's totally unlike the shepherds of old. The king instead of leading us into idolatry instead of Leading us into ungodliness and immorality instead of neglecting us to our destruction.

He reveals his righteousness. Look at 1st Corinthians chapter 1 verse 30. Want y 'all to turn their 1st Corinthians chapter 1 verse 30, these are some of the most encouraging words to me. It is because of God that you are in Christ Jesus who has become for us wisdom from God.

Well, what do you mean wisdom from God? That is our righteousness our holiness and our redemption. This is Jesus. He is wisdom from God. He is our Righteousness our holiness and our Redemption instead of leaving us to face judgment.

Because of our sin he provides the righteousness. We need to escape the judgment. He provides the holiness we need. He is the one who sets us apart. He provides us the redemption. He is the purchase price for us.

He is everything that we need. The Lord is our righteousness. It doesn't depend on me. It depends on him. I Heard a statement this last week or I saw a little video. One of my Romanian friends posted it.

It's Paul Washer and some of you know who Paul Washer is. He's an evangelist that God has been using effectively and he was talking about sharing the gospel at one point. He says this. He talks about we're clothed in the righteousness of Jesus.

He says this because of that. You are imprisoned in God's love and there is no escape. So walk with him from glory to glory.

Do you hear those words?

You are Imprisoned in the love of God and there is no escape.

You see.

He is our righteousness. We've been clothed in the righteousness of Christ. The Lord is our righteousness, but that's not all. He will remove from his people all unrighteousness. He'll remove unrighteousness from us and procure for us the righteousness we need.

As.

Well as the blessings of God He not only sets the record straight. He changes our hearts and slowly but surely Slowly but surely Conquers the unrighteousness that remains just again like Paul Washer says You're clothed in the righteousness of Christ.

You are imprisoned in the love of God and there is no escape so Walk with him from glory to glory. Since you know that he loves you you can't escape his love. Walk with him now. Walk with him and that's what he does as the shepherd.

He leads us in ways of righteousness. He breaks the enslaving yoke of sin and frees his people so that they are they are free to serve our great God. Colossians chapter 1 verses 13 and 14. He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and Transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved son in whom we have redemption.

The forgiveness of our sins. We've been moved from one realm from one ruler who rules us harshly Satan and sin and has transferred us from the domain of darkness Into the kingdom of his dear son from which there is redemption the forgiveness of our sins.

There's our ruler.

Our ruler forgives sins. Our ruler rules us for our benefit. So, what do you see revealed when you look at this child in the manger. You see the Lord our righteousness. Why is he here? Because God loves his people with an intense love and delivers them into the hands of the great shepherd.

The Lord our righteousness. You need to embrace him by faith. Listen, my friend if you have never bowed the knee to Jesus, please listen you embrace This one this one called the Lord is our righteousness you embrace him by faith.

You believe in what he's done. You accept for what he's him for who he is and God then says he is your righteousness. You need no fear no judgment from me, what shepherd do you follow. Who is your shepherd.

I Pray it's the Lord is our righteousness father. Thank you.

For your word.

We thank you for the hope that it brings. We're thankful father that it brings us To the Lord Jesus Christ. Father Help us to rest in him help us to realize that he is a gift from you. Help us then To fall into his hands Knowing that he is our righteousness.

Thank you today for Jesus our only hope. And it's in his name that we pray.

Amen.