The Lord Our Righteousness

Hey, hey, good morning. Welcome to Coffee and Devotions. This morning we're going to talk about the Lord, our righteousness. Let's have some coffee, we'll pray, and we'll find out how did Jeremiah get there. Let's have some coffee, we'll pray, and we'll get into God's word. Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for this day. We thank you for the joy and the blessing it is to get to worship you, to hear your word, to sit at your feet, Lord, we pray that as we hear your word, as we read it this morning, your Holy Spirit would teach us. Lord, it is a great blessing to have your word in a language we can understand. So please instruct us, God, we pray in Jesus' name, Amen. Here we go, Jeremiah chapter 23, the first eight verses.
Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture, says the Lord. Therefore, thus says Jehovah 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 Jehovah."
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. 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.
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. 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. Therefore, behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, that they shall no longer say, as Jehovah lives, who brought up the children of Israel from the land of Egypt, but, alas, as the Lord lives, who brought up and led the descendants of the house of Israel from the north country and from all the countries where I have driven them, and they shall dwell in their own land. Well, we need to ask our three ABC questions. A, what's this about? B, what's the best verse to summarize this? And C, what are we called to do in response to this? So A, what is this about? Well, God is saying that he's turning against the corrupt and crooked shepherds of Jeremiah's day. And he himself is going to raise up shepherds who are going to care for his people.
And there's one specific one that he says he's going to do. This is the amazing part, right? He says it's in the plural in verse 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." But it's the Lord who's doing these things, right? Verse 3. But I will gather my remnant of my flock out of the countries where I have driven them. This is very clearly God's working. He's going to raise up shepherds. He's going to gather back together His people. But then there's this declaration in verses 5 and 6. There's going to come a day, though. There's going to come a day, though. Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord. And what's going to happen?
Verse 5 is, that I will raise to David a branch of righteousness. If you imagine King David as a tree, and he's got all sorts of descendants that are coming off, and a whole bunch of them are just wicked, idolatrous, evil. turning away from God's covenant. And here the Lord is saying, I'm going to raise up one who is righteous. I'm going to raise up one who is righteous. A king shall reign and prosper and execute judgment and righteousness on the earth. This is a king who would actually judge with equity. In His days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell in safety.
Now this is His name by which He will be called, the Lord our righteousness. Jehovah is Tzavahot, right? Or Tzadikunu. And this is this God who Himself is Tzadikunu. He's our righteousness. He's the one who is upright and perfect. But notice this is a branch, a human descendant who is going to be called the Lord. This is all in caps here. If you're looking at your Bible, it would be capital Y, capital H, capital W or V, capital H, capital L-O-R-D. This is Yod-Heh-Vav-Heh. This is the divine name being applied to a human descendant of David. I'm not going to hide this, right? What is this ultimately about? This is about Jesus Christ coming back. This is about Jesus, the Lord, our righteousness. This is the name that is above every name. And that the name of Jesus, every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that He is Lord.
See, He was put to death for our sins, but He was raised for our justification, our legal declaration of righteousness. He was the one who was tempted in every way as we are yet without sin. And someday He will come again to judge the living and the dead. And He will judge with a perfect scepter because He reigns with a perfect scepter of righteousness. He is the one who perfectly judges. There's no hiding it. Verses 5 and 6 are my favorite verses. They're the best verses to summarize this section. And so this is the beautiful thing about what we believe. Jesus was like a lamb led to slaughter. He was indeed Immanuel, God with us.
And he indeed rose again from the dead, ascended up into heaven, and he will come back someday as he went up. And when He comes, when the Trump blast happens, our King, our Judge, shall return, and His name is the Lord of Righteousness. Do you hope in Him? Is He your righteousness? Do you know that even though you may sin, Jesus is the one who gives us His righteousness? He's the perfect propitiation for our sins. He's the one who has wiped clean, cleared away all of our sins, and made us right with God. Do you trust in Him? Do you walk in Him? Do you hope in Him? He will come again to judge the living and the dead.
Let's pray. Father, we pray that we would walk in confidence, knowing that the Lord of Righteousness has been sent, the Lord Jesus Christ, and He will come again someday. Lord, we pray that we would trust in Him, our Righteousness, and that, Father, we would walk in His ways. Help us, God, we pray, in Jesus' name. Amen. May God bless you as you rest in the Lord, our Righteousness, Jesus Christ Himself. I'll see you next time. Bye.