Jeremiah 23:5-6 Behold, the days come, said the LORD, that I will raise to David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper… Man by the fall sustained an infinite loss in the matter of righteousness: the loss of a righteous nature, and then a twofold loss of legal righteousness in the sight of God. Man sinned; he was therefore no longer innocent of transgression. Man did not keep the command; he therefore was guilty of the sin omission. In that which he committed, and in that which he omitted, his original character for uprightness was completely wrecked. Jesus Christ came to undo the mischief of the fall for His people. So far as their sin concerned their breach of the command, that He has removed by His precious blood. Still it is not enough for s man to be pardoned. He of course is then in the eye of God without sin. But it was required of man that he should actually keep the command. Where, then, is the righteousness with which the pardoned man shall be completely covered, so that God can regard him as having kept the law, and reward him for so doing? The righteousness in which we must be clothed, and through which we must be accepted, and by which we are made meet to inherit eternal life, can be no other than the work of Jesus Christ. We, therefore, assert, believing that Scripture fully warrants us, that the life of Christ constitutes the righteousness in which His people are to be clothed. His death washed away their sins, His life covered them from head to foot; His death was the sacrifice to God, His life was the gift to man, by which man satisfies the demands of the law. Herein the law is honoured and the soul is accepted. You have as much to thank Christ for living as for dying, and you should be as devoutly grateful for His spotless life as for His terrible death. The text speaking of Christ, the son of David, the Branch out of the root of Jesse, styles Him, the Lord our Righteousness. I. First, then, HE IS SO. Jesus Christ is the Lord our Righteousness. There are but three words, "Jehovah" — for so it is in the original — "our Righteousness." He is Jehovah, or, mark you, the whole of God's Word is false, and there is no ground whatever for a sinner's hope. He who walked in pain over the flinty acres of Palestine, was at the same time possessor of heaven and earth He who had not where to lay His head, and was despised and rejected of men, was at the same instant God over all, blessed for evermore. He who did hang upon the tree had the creation hanging upon Him. He who died on the Cross was the ever living, the everlasting One. As a man He died, as God He lives. Bow before Him, for He made you, and should not the creatures acknowledge their Creator? Providence attests His Godhead. He upholdeth all things by the word of His power. Creatures that are animate have their breath from His nostrils; inanimate creatures that are strong and mighty stand only by His strength. Who less than God could have carried your sins and mine and cast them all away? How can He be less than God, when He says, "Lo I am with you always unto the end of the world"? How could He be omnipresent if He were not God? How could He hear our prayers, the prayers of millions, scattered through the leagues of earth, and attend to them all, and give acceptance to all, if He were not infinite in understanding and infinite in merit? How were this if He were less than God? But the text speaks about righteousness too — "Jehovah our Righteousness." And He is so. Christ in His life was so righteous, that we may say of the life, taken as a whole, that it is righteousness itself. Christ is the law incarnate. He lived out the law of God to the very full, and while you see God's precepts written in fire on Sinai's brow, you see them written in flesh in the person of Christ. No one that I know of has dared to charge Christ with unrighteousness to man, or with a want of devotedness to God. See then, it is so. The pith, however, of the title, lies in the little word "our," — "Jehovah our Righteousness." This is the grappling iron with which we get a hold on Him — this is the anchor which dives into the bottom of this great deep of His immaculate righteousness. This is the sacred rivet by which our souls are joined to Him. This is the blessed hand with which our soul toucheth Him, and He becometh to us all in all, "Jehovah our Righteousness." You will now observe that there is a most precious doctrine unfolded in this title of our Lord and Saviour. As the merit of His blood takes away our sin, so the merit of His obedience is imputed to us for righteousness. Imputation, so far from being an exceptional case with regard to the righteousness of Christ, lies at the very bottom of the entire teaching of Scripture. The root of the fall is found in the federal relationship of Adam to his seed; thus we fell by imputation. Is it any wonder that we should rise by imputation? Deny this doctrine, and I ask you — How are men pardoned at all? Are they not pardoned because satisfaction has been offered for sin by Christ? Very well, then, but that satisfaction must be imputed to them, or else how is God just in giving to them the results of the death of another, unless that death of the other be first of all imputed to them? I must give up justification by faith if I give up imputed righteousness. True justification by faith is the surface soil, but then imputed righteousness is the granite rock which lies underneath it; and if you dig down through the great truth of a sinner's being justified by faith in Christ, you must, as I believe, inevitably come to the doctrine of the imputed righteousness of Christ as the basis and foundation on which that simple doctrine rests. "The Lord our Righteousness." The Lawgiver has Himself obeyed the law. Do you not think that His obedience will be sufficient? Jehovah has Himself become man that so He may do man's work: think you that He has done it imperfectly? You have a better righteousness than Adam had. He had a human righteousness; your garments are Divine. He had a robe complete, it is true, but the earth had woven it. You have a garment as complete, but heaven has made it for you to wear. You will remember that in Scripture, Christ's righteousness is compared to fair white linen; then I am, if I wear it, without spot. It is compared to wrought gold; then I am, if I wear it, dignified and beautiful, and worthy to sit at the wedding feast of the King of kings. It is compared, in the parable of the prodigal son, to the best robe; then I wear a better robe than angels have, for they have not the best; but I, poor prodigal, once clothed in rags, companion to the nobility of the stye, — I, fresh from the husks that swine do eat, am nevertheless clothed in the best robe, and am so accepted in the Beloved. Moreover, it is also everlasting righteousness. Oh! this is, perhaps, the fairest point of it — that the robe shall never be worn out; no thread of it shall ever give way. II. Having thus expounded and vindicated this title of our Saviour, I would now APPEAL TO YOUR FAITH. Let us call Him so. "This is the name whereby He shall be 'called,' the Lord our Righteousness." Let us call Him by this great name, which the mouth of the Lord of hosts hath named. Let us call Him — poor sinners! — even we, who are to-day smitten down with grief on account, of sin. "I have no good thing of my own," sayest thou? Here is every good thing in Him. "I have broken the law," sayest thou? There is His blood for thee. Believe in Him; He will wash thee. "But then I have not kept the law." There is His keeping of the law for thee. Take it, sinner, take it. Believe on Him. "Oh, but I dare not," saith one. Do Him the honour to dare it. "Oh, but it seems impossible." Honour Him by believing the impossibility then. "Oh, but how can He save such a wretch as I am?" Soul! Christ is glorified in saving wretches. Only do thou trust Him, and say, "He shall be my righteousness to-day." "But suppose I should do it and be presumptuous?" It is impossible. He bids you; He commands you. Let that be your warrant. "This is the commandment, that ye believe on Jesus Christ whom He hath sent." And some of us can say it yet better than that; for we can say it not merely by faith, but by fruition. We have had the privilege of reconciliation with God; and He could not be reconciled to one that had not a perfect righteousness; we have had access with boldness to God Himself, and He would never have suffered us to have access if we had not worn our brother's garments. We have had adoption into the family, and the Spirit of adoption, and God could not have adopted into His family any but righteous ones. How should the righteous Father be God of an unrighteous family? III. I appeal to your GRATITUDE. Let us admire that wonderful and reigning grace which has led you and me to call Him, "The Lord our Righteousness." ( C. H. Spurgeon.) Parallel Verses KJV: Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. |
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