November 19, 2025 • 34 mins
When leaders fracture and communities lose their way, the question becomes painfully simple: where can we find a righteousness that actually holds? In this session, we open Jeremiah 23 and trace a golden thread through Israel’s story—Abraham’s faith, Moses’ covenant, David’s throne—until it resolves in a name that reorders everything: Jehovah Tsidkenu, “The Lord Our Righteousness.”
We walk through Jeremiah’s sharp indictment of failed shepherds and his tender promise to a scattered people. His prophetic rhythm—commands to do justice, warnings about covenant drift, and assurances of future restoration—builds toward the coming of a Righteous Branch who will reign with wisdom. That promise is not abstract; it points directly to a person. In Jesus, justice and mercy meet without compromise. The New Testament’s language of justification brings this home: our sin imputed to Christ, Christ’s righteousness imputed to us, and peace with God established as our new, unshakeable standing. From that standing grows a transformed life—one that seeks the good of the vulnerable, speaks truth in a world of tempting idols, and holds hope even when kingdoms tremble.
This session also brings the theme down to street level. If you’re anxious about the world your children are growing up in, worn down by constant outrage, or numb from the headlines, Jeremiah’s hope reaches into that exhaustion. The Good Shepherd doesn’t just comfort; He clothes His people in a righteousness they could never earn. That gift frees us to repent without fear, act justly without despair, and rest in the faithfulness of a King whose rule isn’t shaken by human failure.
“The Lord Our Righteousness” is more than a title—it is a shelter for weary hearts, a summons to integrity, and a steady joy for those who trust in the One who makes sinners whole and fractured communities new again.
We are Trinity Community Church in Knoxville, Tennessee.
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Episode Transcript
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Noah Seiple (00:19):
Going back and listening to these offline has
been awesome.
For example, so let's let's doa quick recap on what we call
here so far.
So Jehovah Jira, award ourprovider, Abigail, a great
lesson on that, Jehovah Rafa.
We got De Heels by Adam.
Jehovah Nisi, award our banner,and a silver Jehovah Rohi.
(00:46):
I love the banner's off thewinners.
That's for camp.
I love that.
That was Jehovah Rohie, God ourshepherd, right here, and
Jehovah Shalom, God our peace,Kai Ra.
Jehovah Meccadishim, Lord oursanctifier.
(01:08):
And tonight, brings us toJeremiah 23.
If you want to return there, Ican be reading through the ESD.
Jeremiah 23, verses 1 through6.
And we will learn another name,another revealed name the Lord
gives us Jehovah Satan, the Lordour righteousness.
(01:30):
All right.
Starting first one, chapter 23.
Woe to the shepherds to destroyand scatter the sheep of my
pasture, declares the Lord.
Therefore, thus says the Lord,God of Israel, concerning the
shepherds who care for mypeople, you have scattered my
(01:52):
clock and have driven them away.
You have not attended to them.
Behold, I will attend to youfor all your evil deeds,
declares the Lord.
Then I will gather the remnantof my flock of all the countries
where I have driven them, and Iwill bring them back to the
fold, they shall be fruitful andmultiply.
(02:13):
I will set shepherds over them,who will care for them, and
they shall fear no more, nor bedismayed, neither shall any be
missing, declares the Lord.
Behold, the days are coming,declares the Lord, when I will
raise up for dead a righteousbranch, and he shall reign as
king and deal wisely, and shallexecute justice and
(02:36):
righteousness in the land.
In his days, Judah will besaved, and Israel will dwell
securely.
And this is the name while shewill be called.
Jehovah Sitkenu.
Let's just pray real quick.
Heavenly Father, we thank youfor your word.
(02:58):
We thank you for revealingyourself through history.
Or help uh just open our heartstonight, work, help our minds
to more clearly, draw ourattention to you.
May you be glorified.
Jesus' name, amen.
Jehovah Sid Kenu, the word ourrighteousness.
Um, verse 6 there, where itsays, the Lord.
(03:22):
Uh the Lord is ourrighteousness.
That can be translated YahwehSedek, which that gives us
Jehovah Sidkinu.
Ryan Durfee actually gave alittle exclamation Jehovah
versus Yahweh, how we canunderstand that in scripture.
And for there, you'll see alittle QR code on your study
(03:46):
page at the very bottom.
That's just also for reference.
You can look at later.
Uh, it's a little video byWesley Huff, uh, a Canadian
apologist that does really gooduh quick little snippets of
great information.
So that's just something tokeep in mind as we're reading
through these Hebrewtranslations.
But um, getting back to theJehovah Sidkenu, derived means
(04:10):
to be stiff, to be straight, astraight pathway, or righteous
in Hebrew.
So when the two words arecombined, we we understand them
to be Jehovah Sid Kane.
It's translated as the Lord,our righteousness.
So I want to start through thistext, and I want to thank
tonight big picture, context ofthe people that Jeremiah is
(04:33):
speaking to, where they've beenthrough the generations, what is
God calling the people tothrough Jeremiah?
So that's kind of the approachwe're gonna take with this big
picture over many years.
And too, we'll read severalverses tonight, and I feel like
that's okay because this issmall, unique.
Um, probably more Bible versesthan I would have in a sermon or
(04:58):
some kind of preaching, right?
Normally, so uh we brought ourbrains and our Bibles, so that's
how you can do it.
But this will be good.
We'll kind of be going througha lot of scriptures.
You don't have to turn throughall of them.
Um so let's start with thebackground, the context of
Jeremiah.
Let's think of his role andwhat he did.
The book of Jeremiah, majorprophet, and it details the
(05:22):
warnings and the messages fromGod delivered by Jeremiah to the
people of Judah.
At this time, there was anorthern and a southern uh
kingdom, if you will, Israel andJudah.
So Jeremiah emphasizes thecoming judgment due to idolatry.
He calls the people torepentance and foretells
(05:43):
actually the Babylonian exile.
Yet he also offers hope forrestoration.
His message truly was a hopefulmessage, even though he's
calling people to repent.
He calls he he gives thepromise, um, God gives him words
to speak to the promise of thenew covenant, Jesus.
So Jeremiah was called by Godat an early age, very young man,
(06:08):
and he's often described as aleaking prophet, just really
show his heart for the people ofum of Judah and where he's
called to speak to.
And one more phase a Jeremiahprophesizer in the period
standing in the reigns of thelast five kings in Judah.
So he's being Josiah, Jehoias,Jehoiakim, the boy again,
(06:30):
Zedekiah.
So his ministry, we didn'tunderstand this.
Think of it as about 627 BCuntil the fall of Jerusalem in
586.
So a lot of instability goingon.
Right.
Um, a declining kingdom, if youwill, if you think of that way.
And truly a pending judgmentcoming from Babylon.
(06:52):
So this um the first verse Iwant to kind of read, setting up
Jeremiah, is talkingspecifically about his call.
So right in the beginning ofthe book, first chapter one
through five, it says, Before Iformed you in the womb I knew
you.
This is God's arching toJeremiah.
Before you were born, Iconsecrated you, and I appointed
(07:13):
you a prophet to the nations.
Then I said, Ah, Lord God,behold, I do not know how to
speak, for I am only a youth.
The Lord said to me, Do not sayI am only a youth, for to you,
for to all to whom I send you,you shall vote.
And whatever I command you, youshall speak.
(07:34):
Do not be afraid of them, for Iam with you to live, declares
the Lord.
Somewhat unpopular message theJemra had to share with our
evil.
Okay.
And their nation as it was notcould say that it was not
direct, and they had a lot ofenemies besides them.
So he's selling the do not beafraid.
(07:56):
I'm gonna be with you, I'veappointed you as a prophet.
So Jeremiah repeatedly callsIsrael to repentance back to
God.
It was a call to righteousnessand justice, and a reminder of
the covenant God had made withthe people.
We could kind of understandthis as three things that made
up this professor uh propheticmessage.
(08:19):
Commands, which something likeforsake evil and follow God in
righteousness, the warnings or areminder of coming judgments,
and promises of hope.
An example of the commands thathe gave to the people.
Jeremiah to you don't have togo there, but you can if you
(08:41):
want.
It's Jeremiah 22.
Hear the word of the Lord, OKing of Judah, who sits on the
throne of David, you and yourservants, and your people who
carry these gates.
Thus says the Lord, do justiceand righteousness, and deliver
from the hand of the oppressorhim who has been robbed, and do
no wrong or violence to theresident alien, the fatherless,
(09:04):
and the widow, and all shedinnocent blood in this place.
He's calling people to justice.
He's calling people to yourrighteous life, to walk before
her.
Number two, the warnings orreminders of the covenant in
Jeremiah 11.
This is an example.
Thus says the Lord, the God ofIsrael, curse be the man who
(09:28):
does not hear the words of thiscovenant that I commanded your
fathers, where I brought themout of the land of Egypt, from
the iron furnace, saying, Listento my voice and do all that I
command you.
And then this phrase you seeover and over and over again in
Old Testament scripture, soshall you be my people, and I
(09:49):
will be your God.
He's calling them to thecovenant, something that he
established between two parties,God and Israel.
And the promise we read it,verse 6, Jeremiah 23, 6.
We've read the promise.
I will raise up for David arighteous branch, and he shall
reign as Cain and do wisely, andshall execute justice and
(10:12):
righteousness in the land.
In his days, Judah will besaved, and Israel will dwell
securely.
And this is in the name by whatyou will be called, the Lord of
righteousness.
Jehovah said King.
That sounds really good.
That is a promise that they canhold on to, that we can hold on
to.
How is this promise hope thatthis rule in Judah, as well as
(10:37):
our current internal hope today?
This was 600 BC.
400 years and or 400 years agoin righteousness to Israel who
are already God's covenantpeople.
So Israel was already wasalready called I doubt for a
specific person or purpose andwalked before him languistly.
So Jeremiah's call is tosomething greater.
(10:59):
Not just coexisting as a moralor kind of conservative who
respected his peers andcommunity.
It was to remind Jia of theliving God and the covenant he
made with him.
So let's talk quickly about thecovenant.
What was it?
Um, I think it would be good toremind ourselves of the
(11:21):
specific language God calls thenation to.
Um the covenant in generalcould be thought of as a few
things (11:29):
a great nation that included land promises, that
there would be a blessed nationor a blessed people.
That they would be multiplied,that uh to be fruitful and
multiply, there'd be many anumber.
Or to be righteous, a holynation set apart.
Um, an outward sign of thisthat God commanded them was
(11:52):
circumcision.
Then we see this phrase again: I will be their God, and they (11:53):
undefined
will be my people.
No other gods.
There's one God, Yahweh, theexisting one.
We see this with Abram inGenesis 12, where God says, I
will make you a great nation, Iwill bless you, and to your
offspring I will give this land,the land of Canaan.
(12:15):
Genesis 15, he continues thisdown it to get uh it says to get
an heir, his offspring will begreat in number.
And it says that Abrambelieved, he had faith in the
Lord, and this was counted tohim as his righteousness.
Genesis 17, his Abram's name ischanged Abraham, he father of a
(12:36):
multitude, or our chief ofmultitude.
And it says, he instructsAbram, I am God Almighty, walk
before me and be blameless.
This is the same message forall these generations that we
hear in Jeremiah, reminding thepeople.
God continues, I will make yourdescendants like the stars in
the sky, a father of a multitudeof nations, make in the
(12:59):
nations, kings will come fromyou, and I will be their God,
and they will be my people, aholy people set apart for God.
It says in the next chapterthat the Lord shows Abraham and
says that his household Africakeep the way of the Lord by
doing righteousness and justice.
So there that aligns with theheart of God, calling people to
(13:22):
walk equal and blameless, to bea people of executing justice
and a righteous people.
And this truly was an examplefor all future leaders, kings,
and shepherds, hops, people, ofall the people Israel to lead
them into right relationshipwith God.
We see that the Lord commandedthat they walk with him as he,
(13:51):
the only God, the one true God,and to walk before him in
righteousness, the peopleanyways.
So a holy God requires a holynation under himself, a
righteous people for God alone.
So these texts also point tosomething else: that it's not
only the covenant for Abraham,but rather the everlasting
(14:15):
covenant for Abraham'sdescendants or his offspring.
Okay, that set the example, thefoundation of this covenant,
and it continues with Isaac.
We see that in Genesis 26.
Jacob, who's renamed Israel,which means God prevails, from
which the 12 tribes uses similarlanguage.
(14:37):
Um he says, I am God Almighty,be fruitful and multiply a
nation and company of nationsshall come from you, and king
shall come from your own body,solidifying the covenant that
he's made with people.
God does not forget, and hecalls us active, a righteous
covenant that he makes with us.
This continues with Moses fromthe tribe of Levi in Exodus 19.
(15:00):
The Lord instructs Moses totell the people of Israel, thus
you should say to the house ofJacob, and tell the people of
Israel, You yourselves have seenwhat I did to the Egyptians,
and how I bore you on theeagle's wings and brohe and
myself.
Now, therefore, if you willindeed obey my voice and keep my
covenant, you shall be mytreasured possession.
(15:22):
A kingdom of priests and a holynation.
Holy mean set apart for GodAllah, that your heart is free
from defilement and idolatry.
This was in part done throughthe law of Moses, revealing men
their shortcomings, how to obeyGod and what Moses' charge was
(15:45):
telling the people to keep thiscovenant and the law.
And that's the promise you willbe a treasured people before
God, a righteous people.
Let's continue.
We're almost getting up to, orwe're almost at the place where
Jeremiah here um takes off.
Jeremiah called us to what?
(16:05):
David.
Why does he remind us fromData, who was also king of
Israel?
What we see in the text ofJeremiah is that through the
line of David, this covenantcontinues, and that it's an
everlasting covenant.
2 Samuel 7 tells us that.
It says, Your house and yourkingdom shall be made sure
forever before me, and yourthrone shall be established
(16:28):
forever.
God continues his covenant withKing David, saying that it will
last forever.
King David reigned from 1010 BCto 970 BC, a long time before
Jeremiah.
And Jeremiah is pointing backhundreds of years, generations
(16:50):
ago, that don't forget thepromise that's coming.
Something is coming, aneverlasting deterral that is
changing everything.
Probably arguably the mostpopular and one of the greatest
(17:10):
kings of Israel that weunderstand in the Bible.
Though sinful, all in thenature, God tells us, scripture
tells us, he's a man afterNazareth.
Well, we know David anointsSolomon.
David personally does notreign.
His throne does not lastforever.
David does an off throne.
(17:31):
He anoints Solomon in 970 BC,king of Israel.
Then David dies.
David's personal kingship failsto last forever.
Solomon, a wise and dead king,had his heart turned.
Yeah.
He disobeyed the Lord.
He gave his heart over to theidols of his foreign lines.
(17:52):
He did not shepherd inrighteousness and could not
execute justice.
Solomon reigns.
It was after Solomon's reign.
The Israel splits in two, thenorthern ten tribes of Israel
and the southern Judah,containing two tribes.
And that brings us to at leasta this structure that we
(18:16):
understand that Jeremiah is.
Jeremiah living in Shuddah.
And that's what that's who thepeople specifically that he's
talking to.
That's the important of thecovenant.
It is speaking, it is drawing,it is teaching the people to
something to while he wassitting before the Lord.
At least one flaw, at least onephale plot, at least a sinful
(18:52):
makesha.
Unable to walk in therighteousness and justice.
And oftentimes their heartsbeing turned by idols, by other
things.
In Jeremiah's day, I I told youthat he um that he was a proper
during the last five kings ofJudah.
The last five kings were noexception to, let's say, not
(19:18):
being able to keep the covenantthat the Lord had commanded at
all times.
Josiah, the first king, he wasactually a really good king.
The Lord commends him extremelywell.
But he still suffers from theBaalflah, the sinful nature.
Jehoaz, the son of Josiah, whoruled for three months and then
(19:43):
was deposed by Egyptian Pharaohand taken to Egypt where he
died.
He actually predicts this inJeremiah 22.
It says of him, Woe to him whobuilds his house by
unrighteousness, and his upperrooms by injustice, who makes
his neighbor serve him fornothing, and does not give him
(20:03):
his waities.
We see the pattern here.
And the last king, Zedekiah.
(20:52):
His reign is often reviewed asa period of missed opportunities
and tragic decisions, hisfailure to keep prophetic
glories and his reliance onpolitical alliances other than
faithfulness to tell.
Only they would have had a noking's protest.
Maybe they needed all thesepoor shepherds and bad kings to
(21:33):
see the true light.
So Jeremiah, looking at it in adeclining kingdom, kings and
leaders and people falling awayfrom the Lord.
He references the shepherds.
Woe to you.
The Lord takes this seriously,those who leave after, and leads
people into unrighteousness andinjustice.
(21:54):
So what can we learn?
Jeremiah saw good kings and badkings.
Some the Lord commended, andothers he detested.
Yet all sinful and fallen.
Jeremiah's priority wasrepentance and calling all to
walk in righteousness, callingin who God was, the righteous
(22:15):
king.
So his prophetic ministrycalled people to sanctification.
It's truly what it was.
A quote from John Piper that Ilike it the study of prophecy
does not produce sanctification,it is being studied wrong.
If gazing into the futurehinders our responsiveness to
(22:35):
present needs, we may be surethat we are not gazing with the
eyes of God.
Jeremiah pointed to the onefinal solution and ultimate hope
(23:00):
of fallen man, of fallenshepherds, of fallen kings.
The eternal promise is the Lordof righteousness.
Jehovah Sidkenu.
The promises Jesus poured fromthe light of David.
Righteousness incarnate tofulfill the law or to fulfill
(23:21):
the law, the prophets, and thepsalms.
And isn't it interesting?
Two verses after Matthew 5.17,the Lord says that unless your
righteousness exceeds thescribes and Pharisees, you'll
never enter the kingdom ofheaven.
For all time, every man, woman,king, and queen suffer the same
(23:52):
problem.
We in and of ourselves areunrighteousness, our nature
opposed to God and his holiness,and history proves it.
Let's think of this man sinnedin the garden by failing to
uphold the Lord's commands.
We could think of this as thefirst cover, the covenant of
works.
(24:12):
Two parties involved, Adam andEve and God.
However, God intervened with acovenant of grace.
Let's read this from WayneBrian.
In systematic theology,comments on the covenant of
grace by saying, When man failedto apply to attain the blessing
offered in the covenant ofworks, it was necessary for God
(24:34):
to establish another means, oneby which man could be saved, an
amazing plan of redemptionwhereby sinful people come into
fellowship, right relationshipwith God.
The parties of this covenant ofgrace are God and the people
who He will redeem.
Christ, or the righteous branchof David, fulfills a special
(24:56):
role as mediator between God andman in the covenant of works,
and thereby reconciles us toGod.
What is the condition?
Faith in God alone, the samefaith God counted to Abraham as
his righteousness.
Paul echoes this in Romans 4,starting at verse 20.
(25:19):
No unbelief made him waiterconcerning the promise of God,
the promise that Jeremiah calledus to.
But he grew strong in his faithas he gave glory to God, fully
convinced that God was able todo what he had promised.
This is why his faith wascounted to him as righteousness.
But the words it was counted tohim were not written for his
(25:42):
sake alone, but for ours also.
It will be counted to us whobelieve in him, who raised from
the dead Jesus our Lord, who isdelivered up for our trespasses
and raised for ourjustification.
Justificate justificationmeaning declare righteous.
Paul continues in Romans 5.
(26:05):
Therefore, since we have beenjustified by faith, we have
peace with God through our LordJesus Christ, the righteous
branch.
Through him we have alsoobtained access by faith into
his grace in which we stand andrejoice.
Hope of glory of God.
The Lord our righteousness isour justification to a holy God
(26:29):
through him.
We walk blamelessly, like Hecommands, are the righteousness
of Christ as our legal standingbefore Him.
In wait your Lord.
(27:03):
In Romans, in Romans five, wecan see what is the doctrine of
justification.
It's Adam's sin imputed to us.
That's one.
That's part of it.
Therefore, just as sin cameinto the world to one man and
death through sin, and so deathspread to all men, because all
sin, for sin indeed was in theworld before the law was given.
(27:26):
But sin is not counted wherethere is no law.
Yet death reigned from Adam toMoses, even as those who whose
sinning was not like thetransgression of Adam, who was a
type of the one who was tocome.
The second part of thisdoctrine, our sin imputed to
Christ on the cross.
For our sake he made him to besin, he knew no sin, so that in
(27:52):
him we might become therighteousness of God.
And number three, Christ'srighteousness imputed to us.
We see this in Romans 5, 17.
For if, because of one man'strespass, death reign through
(28:13):
that one man, much more willthose who receive the abundance
of grace and the free gift ofrighteousness reign in life
through one man, Jesus Christ.
Thank you, Roar.
This hundreds of years ago,isn't it amazing?
Hundreds of years of scripturethat we have that point to this.
(28:36):
That in and of itself is amiracle that this lines of, but
this is the truth.
The righteous life of Christ,his obedience, his life of
enduring, penalty, daring, andsuffering in our place, and his
resurrection from the dead,seated on the throne as king, is
(28:57):
our new life and legal standingbefore God, his righteousness.
This is the promise, theeternal promise revealed to
Jeremiah.
It's how God chose to revealHimself at this appointed time
(29:18):
in a well of chaos to Judah.
The circumstances got worse,but the promise remain.
Yet it doesn't keep him fromsaying, I will cleanse them from
all guilt of their sin againstme.
(29:39):
I will forgive all the guilt oftheir sin and rebellion against
me.
Behold, the days are coming,declares the Lord, when I will
fulfill the promise I made tothe house of Israel.
And Jerusalem will dwellsecurely, and this is the name
by which it will be called.
The Lord.
(29:59):
Is our righteousness.
That little excerpt, Jeremiah33, only too tired in scripture,
Jehoola Sid Kane, is use.
This is how we understand thatwe're fulfilling the promise,
the law.
It's how we can execute, bothbe just and merciful, how he can
(30:22):
be righteous and loving at thesame time towards us.
Is what he says, he is our Godand we, his people.
This is the good shepherd, theone that attends to us, who is
unlike any other shepherd.
His righteousness.
(30:47):
It is not comfort, but it'srather his righteousness imputed
to us, is our secure dwellingplace.
For Israel, however you want tothink of Israel in today's
time, pray that they find theirsecure dwelling place like all
other mankind in Christ'srighteousness.
(31:07):
Any story, this is the enduringlove of Christ.
It's what David looked to whenhe wrote Psalm 23.
(31:27):
David, being a king, said, TheLord is my shepherd.
I shall not want.
Surely goodness and mercy shallfollow me all the days of my
(32:05):
life.
What else would from arighteous king?
And all and I shall dwell inthe house of the Lord forever.
The Lord shepherds his peoplein righteousness, and he
executes justice.
This is where we dwell secure.
If you're looking for security,look no further than faith in
(32:27):
Jesus.
And if you're looking for agreen pasture, if you're looking
for rest or peace, look nofurther than faith and
repentance to the Lord.
This is the enduring love andhow he has shown mercy
throughout the ages.
This is our God.
(32:47):
I think personally, where thiscomes to me is that it's easy to
get caught up in what's wrongwith the world that we live in,
thinking about the future.
What will happen to my kids?
What kind of world are theygoing to grow up in?
There are so many people nothaving kids.
They're not interested becausethey don't like the world they
(33:09):
live in.
A declining kingdom, a peoplefar away from God.
But do we trust him to executejustice because he's righteous?
That's that's our hope.
We have to hope in that, or wehave nothing.
And he's proved it.
He's proved it with his wordand what he's sent Jesus.
(33:31):
Yeah.
He's done the work for us.
I think let me just say thisthat we don't ever move past.
And I know we've heard theseverses, we've heard these over
and over again, but we nevermove past this.
This is the highest where Jesusis our righteousness.
(33:52):
Um, and that Jesus is our hopefor all mankind for all time.
So let's pray, and then we cango through these questions, uh,
three questions.
So Heavenly Father, thank youfor tonight.
Thank you for these awesomepeople in this awesome church.
(34:13):
Thank you, Lord.
Thank you for helping us toremember what you've done
through your word.
God, you were we just saw thatyou were praised and glorified
by this.
God, draw us, show us where weneed to repent.
Draw us near like you have yourpeople for all time, Lord.
(34:36):
We thank you for the finishedwork of Jesus, and that we can
hope in you in Christ alone asour righteousness.
Thank you for changingeverything, Lord.
Amen.
Going back and listening to these offline has
been awesome.
For example, so let's let's doa quick recap on what we call
here so far.
So Jehovah Jira, award ourprovider, Abigail, a great
lesson on that, Jehovah Rafa.
We got De Heels by Adam.
Jehovah Nisi, award our banner,and a silver Jehovah Rohi.
(00:46):
I love the banner's off thewinners.
That's for camp.
I love that.
That was Jehovah Rohie, God ourshepherd, right here, and
Jehovah Shalom, God our peace,Kai Ra.
Jehovah Meccadishim, Lord oursanctifier.
(01:08):
And tonight, brings us toJeremiah 23.
If you want to return there, Ican be reading through the ESD.
Jeremiah 23, verses 1 through6.
And we will learn another name,another revealed name the Lord
gives us Jehovah Satan, the Lordour righteousness.
(01:30):
All right.
Starting first one, chapter 23.
Woe to the shepherds to destroyand scatter the sheep of my
pasture, declares the Lord.
Therefore, thus says the Lord,God of Israel, concerning the
shepherds who care for mypeople, you have scattered my
(01:52):
clock and have driven them away.
You have not attended to them.
Behold, I will attend to youfor all your evil deeds,
declares the Lord.
Then I will gather the remnantof my flock of all the countries
where I have driven them, and Iwill bring them back to the
fold, they shall be fruitful andmultiply.
(02:13):
I will set shepherds over them,who will care for them, and
they shall fear no more, nor bedismayed, neither shall any be
missing, declares the Lord.
Behold, the days are coming,declares the Lord, when I will
raise up for dead a righteousbranch, and he shall reign as
king and deal wisely, and shallexecute justice and
(02:36):
righteousness in the land.
In his days, Judah will besaved, and Israel will dwell
securely.
And this is the name while shewill be called.
Jehovah Sitkenu.
Let's just pray real quick.
Heavenly Father, we thank youfor your word.
(02:58):
We thank you for revealingyourself through history.
Or help uh just open our heartstonight, work, help our minds
to more clearly, draw ourattention to you.
May you be glorified.
Jesus' name, amen.
Jehovah Sid Kenu, the word ourrighteousness.
Um, verse 6 there, where itsays, the Lord.
(03:22):
Uh the Lord is ourrighteousness.
That can be translated YahwehSedek, which that gives us
Jehovah Sidkinu.
Ryan Durfee actually gave alittle exclamation Jehovah
versus Yahweh, how we canunderstand that in scripture.
And for there, you'll see alittle QR code on your study
(03:46):
page at the very bottom.
That's just also for reference.
You can look at later.
Uh, it's a little video byWesley Huff, uh, a Canadian
apologist that does really gooduh quick little snippets of
great information.
So that's just something tokeep in mind as we're reading
through these Hebrewtranslations.
But um, getting back to theJehovah Sidkenu, derived means
(04:10):
to be stiff, to be straight, astraight pathway, or righteous
in Hebrew.
So when the two words arecombined, we we understand them
to be Jehovah Sid Kane.
It's translated as the Lord,our righteousness.
So I want to start through thistext, and I want to thank
tonight big picture, context ofthe people that Jeremiah is
(04:33):
speaking to, where they've beenthrough the generations, what is
God calling the people tothrough Jeremiah?
So that's kind of the approachwe're gonna take with this big
picture over many years.
And too, we'll read severalverses tonight, and I feel like
that's okay because this issmall, unique.
Um, probably more Bible versesthan I would have in a sermon or
(04:58):
some kind of preaching, right?
Normally, so uh we brought ourbrains and our Bibles, so that's
how you can do it.
But this will be good.
We'll kind of be going througha lot of scriptures.
You don't have to turn throughall of them.
Um so let's start with thebackground, the context of
Jeremiah.
Let's think of his role andwhat he did.
The book of Jeremiah, majorprophet, and it details the
(05:22):
warnings and the messages fromGod delivered by Jeremiah to the
people of Judah.
At this time, there was anorthern and a southern uh
kingdom, if you will, Israel andJudah.
So Jeremiah emphasizes thecoming judgment due to idolatry.
He calls the people torepentance and foretells
(05:43):
actually the Babylonian exile.
Yet he also offers hope forrestoration.
His message truly was a hopefulmessage, even though he's
calling people to repent.
He calls he he gives thepromise, um, God gives him words
to speak to the promise of thenew covenant, Jesus.
So Jeremiah was called by Godat an early age, very young man,
(06:08):
and he's often described as aleaking prophet, just really
show his heart for the people ofum of Judah and where he's
called to speak to.
And one more phase a Jeremiahprophesizer in the period
standing in the reigns of thelast five kings in Judah.
So he's being Josiah, Jehoias,Jehoiakim, the boy again,
(06:30):
Zedekiah.
So his ministry, we didn'tunderstand this.
Think of it as about 627 BCuntil the fall of Jerusalem in
586.
So a lot of instability goingon.
Right.
Um, a declining kingdom, if youwill, if you think of that way.
And truly a pending judgmentcoming from Babylon.
(06:52):
So this um the first verse Iwant to kind of read, setting up
Jeremiah, is talkingspecifically about his call.
So right in the beginning ofthe book, first chapter one
through five, it says, Before Iformed you in the womb I knew
you.
This is God's arching toJeremiah.
Before you were born, Iconsecrated you, and I appointed
(07:13):
you a prophet to the nations.
Then I said, Ah, Lord God,behold, I do not know how to
speak, for I am only a youth.
The Lord said to me, Do not sayI am only a youth, for to you,
for to all to whom I send you,you shall vote.
And whatever I command you, youshall speak.
(07:34):
Do not be afraid of them, for Iam with you to live, declares
the Lord.
Somewhat unpopular message theJemra had to share with our
evil.
Okay.
And their nation as it was notcould say that it was not
direct, and they had a lot ofenemies besides them.
So he's selling the do not beafraid.
(07:56):
I'm gonna be with you, I'veappointed you as a prophet.
So Jeremiah repeatedly callsIsrael to repentance back to
God.
It was a call to righteousnessand justice, and a reminder of
the covenant God had made withthe people.
We could kind of understandthis as three things that made
up this professor uh propheticmessage.
(08:19):
Commands, which something likeforsake evil and follow God in
righteousness, the warnings or areminder of coming judgments,
and promises of hope.
An example of the commands thathe gave to the people.
Jeremiah to you don't have togo there, but you can if you
(08:41):
want.
It's Jeremiah 22.
Hear the word of the Lord, OKing of Judah, who sits on the
throne of David, you and yourservants, and your people who
carry these gates.
Thus says the Lord, do justiceand righteousness, and deliver
from the hand of the oppressorhim who has been robbed, and do
no wrong or violence to theresident alien, the fatherless,
(09:04):
and the widow, and all shedinnocent blood in this place.
He's calling people to justice.
He's calling people to yourrighteous life, to walk before
her.
Number two, the warnings orreminders of the covenant in
Jeremiah 11.
This is an example.
Thus says the Lord, the God ofIsrael, curse be the man who
(09:28):
does not hear the words of thiscovenant that I commanded your
fathers, where I brought themout of the land of Egypt, from
the iron furnace, saying, Listento my voice and do all that I
command you.
And then this phrase you seeover and over and over again in
Old Testament scripture, soshall you be my people, and I
(09:49):
will be your God.
He's calling them to thecovenant, something that he
established between two parties,God and Israel.
And the promise we read it,verse 6, Jeremiah 23, 6.
We've read the promise.
I will raise up for David arighteous branch, and he shall
reign as Cain and do wisely, andshall execute justice and
(10:12):
righteousness in the land.
In his days, Judah will besaved, and Israel will dwell
securely.
And this is in the name by whatyou will be called, the Lord of
righteousness.
Jehovah said King.
That sounds really good.
That is a promise that they canhold on to, that we can hold on
to.
How is this promise hope thatthis rule in Judah, as well as
(10:37):
our current internal hope today?
This was 600 BC.
400 years and or 400 years agoin righteousness to Israel who
are already God's covenantpeople.
So Israel was already wasalready called I doubt for a
specific person or purpose andwalked before him languistly.
So Jeremiah's call is tosomething greater.
(10:59):
Not just coexisting as a moralor kind of conservative who
respected his peers andcommunity.
It was to remind Jia of theliving God and the covenant he
made with him.
So let's talk quickly about thecovenant.
What was it?
Um, I think it would be good toremind ourselves of the
(11:21):
specific language God calls thenation to.
Um the covenant in generalcould be thought of as a few
things (11:29):
a great nation that included land promises, that
there would be a blessed nationor a blessed people.
That they would be multiplied,that uh to be fruitful and
multiply, there'd be many anumber.
Or to be righteous, a holynation set apart.
Um, an outward sign of thisthat God commanded them was
(11:52):
circumcision.
Then we see this phrase again: I will be their God, and they (11:53):
undefined
will be my people.
No other gods.
There's one God, Yahweh, theexisting one.
We see this with Abram inGenesis 12, where God says, I
will make you a great nation, Iwill bless you, and to your
offspring I will give this land,the land of Canaan.
(12:15):
Genesis 15, he continues thisdown it to get uh it says to get
an heir, his offspring will begreat in number.
And it says that Abrambelieved, he had faith in the
Lord, and this was counted tohim as his righteousness.
Genesis 17, his Abram's name ischanged Abraham, he father of a
(12:36):
multitude, or our chief ofmultitude.
And it says, he instructsAbram, I am God Almighty, walk
before me and be blameless.
This is the same message forall these generations that we
hear in Jeremiah, reminding thepeople.
God continues, I will make yourdescendants like the stars in
the sky, a father of a multitudeof nations, make in the
(12:59):
nations, kings will come fromyou, and I will be their God,
and they will be my people, aholy people set apart for God.
It says in the next chapterthat the Lord shows Abraham and
says that his household Africakeep the way of the Lord by
doing righteousness and justice.
So there that aligns with theheart of God, calling people to
(13:22):
walk equal and blameless, to bea people of executing justice
and a righteous people.
And this truly was an examplefor all future leaders, kings,
and shepherds, hops, people, ofall the people Israel to lead
them into right relationshipwith God.
We see that the Lord commandedthat they walk with him as he,
(13:51):
the only God, the one true God,and to walk before him in
righteousness, the peopleanyways.
So a holy God requires a holynation under himself, a
righteous people for God alone.
So these texts also point tosomething else: that it's not
only the covenant for Abraham,but rather the everlasting
(14:15):
covenant for Abraham'sdescendants or his offspring.
Okay, that set the example, thefoundation of this covenant,
and it continues with Isaac.
We see that in Genesis 26.
Jacob, who's renamed Israel,which means God prevails, from
which the 12 tribes uses similarlanguage.
(14:37):
Um he says, I am God Almighty,be fruitful and multiply a
nation and company of nationsshall come from you, and king
shall come from your own body,solidifying the covenant that
he's made with people.
God does not forget, and hecalls us active, a righteous
covenant that he makes with us.
This continues with Moses fromthe tribe of Levi in Exodus 19.
(15:00):
The Lord instructs Moses totell the people of Israel, thus
you should say to the house ofJacob, and tell the people of
Israel, You yourselves have seenwhat I did to the Egyptians,
and how I bore you on theeagle's wings and brohe and
myself.
Now, therefore, if you willindeed obey my voice and keep my
covenant, you shall be mytreasured possession.
(15:22):
A kingdom of priests and a holynation.
Holy mean set apart for GodAllah, that your heart is free
from defilement and idolatry.
This was in part done throughthe law of Moses, revealing men
their shortcomings, how to obeyGod and what Moses' charge was
(15:45):
telling the people to keep thiscovenant and the law.
And that's the promise you willbe a treasured people before
God, a righteous people.
Let's continue.
We're almost getting up to, orwe're almost at the place where
Jeremiah here um takes off.
Jeremiah called us to what?
(16:05):
David.
Why does he remind us fromData, who was also king of
Israel?
What we see in the text ofJeremiah is that through the
line of David, this covenantcontinues, and that it's an
everlasting covenant.
2 Samuel 7 tells us that.
It says, Your house and yourkingdom shall be made sure
forever before me, and yourthrone shall be established
(16:28):
forever.
God continues his covenant withKing David, saying that it will
last forever.
King David reigned from 1010 BCto 970 BC, a long time before
Jeremiah.
And Jeremiah is pointing backhundreds of years, generations
(16:50):
ago, that don't forget thepromise that's coming.
Something is coming, aneverlasting deterral that is
changing everything.
Probably arguably the mostpopular and one of the greatest
(17:10):
kings of Israel that weunderstand in the Bible.
Though sinful, all in thenature, God tells us, scripture
tells us, he's a man afterNazareth.
Well, we know David anointsSolomon.
David personally does notreign.
His throne does not lastforever.
David does an off throne.
(17:31):
He anoints Solomon in 970 BC,king of Israel.
Then David dies.
David's personal kingship failsto last forever.
Solomon, a wise and dead king,had his heart turned.
Yeah.
He disobeyed the Lord.
He gave his heart over to theidols of his foreign lines.
(17:52):
He did not shepherd inrighteousness and could not
execute justice.
Solomon reigns.
It was after Solomon's reign.
The Israel splits in two, thenorthern ten tribes of Israel
and the southern Judah,containing two tribes.
And that brings us to at leasta this structure that we
(18:16):
understand that Jeremiah is.
Jeremiah living in Shuddah.
And that's what that's who thepeople specifically that he's
talking to.
That's the important of thecovenant.
It is speaking, it is drawing,it is teaching the people to
something to while he wassitting before the Lord.
At least one flaw, at least onephale plot, at least a sinful
(18:52):
makesha.
Unable to walk in therighteousness and justice.
And oftentimes their heartsbeing turned by idols, by other
things.
In Jeremiah's day, I I told youthat he um that he was a proper
during the last five kings ofJudah.
The last five kings were noexception to, let's say, not
(19:18):
being able to keep the covenantthat the Lord had commanded at
all times.
Josiah, the first king, he wasactually a really good king.
The Lord commends him extremelywell.
But he still suffers from theBaalflah, the sinful nature.
Jehoaz, the son of Josiah, whoruled for three months and then
(19:43):
was deposed by Egyptian Pharaohand taken to Egypt where he
died.
He actually predicts this inJeremiah 22.
It says of him, Woe to him whobuilds his house by
unrighteousness, and his upperrooms by injustice, who makes
his neighbor serve him fornothing, and does not give him
(20:03):
his waities.
We see the pattern here.
And the last king, Zedekiah.
(20:52):
His reign is often reviewed asa period of missed opportunities
and tragic decisions, hisfailure to keep prophetic
glories and his reliance onpolitical alliances other than
faithfulness to tell.
Only they would have had a noking's protest.
Maybe they needed all thesepoor shepherds and bad kings to
(21:33):
see the true light.
So Jeremiah, looking at it in adeclining kingdom, kings and
leaders and people falling awayfrom the Lord.
He references the shepherds.
Woe to you.
The Lord takes this seriously,those who leave after, and leads
people into unrighteousness andinjustice.
(21:54):
So what can we learn?
Jeremiah saw good kings and badkings.
Some the Lord commended, andothers he detested.
Yet all sinful and fallen.
Jeremiah's priority wasrepentance and calling all to
walk in righteousness, callingin who God was, the righteous
(22:15):
king.
So his prophetic ministrycalled people to sanctification.
It's truly what it was.
A quote from John Piper that Ilike it the study of prophecy
does not produce sanctification,it is being studied wrong.
If gazing into the futurehinders our responsiveness to
(22:35):
present needs, we may be surethat we are not gazing with the
eyes of God.
Jeremiah pointed to the onefinal solution and ultimate hope
(23:00):
of fallen man, of fallenshepherds, of fallen kings.
The eternal promise is the Lordof righteousness.
Jehovah Sidkenu.
The promises Jesus poured fromthe light of David.
Righteousness incarnate tofulfill the law or to fulfill
(23:21):
the law, the prophets, and thepsalms.
And isn't it interesting?
Two verses after Matthew 5.17,the Lord says that unless your
righteousness exceeds thescribes and Pharisees, you'll
never enter the kingdom ofheaven.
For all time, every man, woman,king, and queen suffer the same
(23:52):
problem.
We in and of ourselves areunrighteousness, our nature
opposed to God and his holiness,and history proves it.
Let's think of this man sinnedin the garden by failing to
uphold the Lord's commands.
We could think of this as thefirst cover, the covenant of
works.
(24:12):
Two parties involved, Adam andEve and God.
However, God intervened with acovenant of grace.
Let's read this from WayneBrian.
In systematic theology,comments on the covenant of
grace by saying, When man failedto apply to attain the blessing
offered in the covenant ofworks, it was necessary for God
(24:34):
to establish another means, oneby which man could be saved, an
amazing plan of redemptionwhereby sinful people come into
fellowship, right relationshipwith God.
The parties of this covenant ofgrace are God and the people
who He will redeem.
Christ, or the righteous branchof David, fulfills a special
(24:56):
role as mediator between God andman in the covenant of works,
and thereby reconciles us toGod.
What is the condition?
Faith in God alone, the samefaith God counted to Abraham as
his righteousness.
Paul echoes this in Romans 4,starting at verse 20.
(25:19):
No unbelief made him waiterconcerning the promise of God,
the promise that Jeremiah calledus to.
But he grew strong in his faithas he gave glory to God, fully
convinced that God was able todo what he had promised.
This is why his faith wascounted to him as righteousness.
But the words it was counted tohim were not written for his
(25:42):
sake alone, but for ours also.
It will be counted to us whobelieve in him, who raised from
the dead Jesus our Lord, who isdelivered up for our trespasses
and raised for ourjustification.
Justificate justificationmeaning declare righteous.
Paul continues in Romans 5.
(26:05):
Therefore, since we have beenjustified by faith, we have
peace with God through our LordJesus Christ, the righteous
branch.
Through him we have alsoobtained access by faith into
his grace in which we stand andrejoice.
Hope of glory of God.
The Lord our righteousness isour justification to a holy God
(26:29):
through him.
We walk blamelessly, like Hecommands, are the righteousness
of Christ as our legal standingbefore Him.
In wait your Lord.
(27:03):
In Romans, in Romans five, wecan see what is the doctrine of
justification.
It's Adam's sin imputed to us.
That's one.
That's part of it.
Therefore, just as sin cameinto the world to one man and
death through sin, and so deathspread to all men, because all
sin, for sin indeed was in theworld before the law was given.
(27:26):
But sin is not counted wherethere is no law.
Yet death reigned from Adam toMoses, even as those who whose
sinning was not like thetransgression of Adam, who was a
type of the one who was tocome.
The second part of thisdoctrine, our sin imputed to
Christ on the cross.
For our sake he made him to besin, he knew no sin, so that in
(27:52):
him we might become therighteousness of God.
And number three, Christ'srighteousness imputed to us.
We see this in Romans 5, 17.
For if, because of one man'strespass, death reign through
(28:13):
that one man, much more willthose who receive the abundance
of grace and the free gift ofrighteousness reign in life
through one man, Jesus Christ.
Thank you, Roar.
This hundreds of years ago,isn't it amazing?
Hundreds of years of scripturethat we have that point to this.
(28:36):
That in and of itself is amiracle that this lines of, but
this is the truth.
The righteous life of Christ,his obedience, his life of
enduring, penalty, daring, andsuffering in our place, and his
resurrection from the dead,seated on the throne as king, is
(28:57):
our new life and legal standingbefore God, his righteousness.
This is the promise, theeternal promise revealed to
Jeremiah.
It's how God chose to revealHimself at this appointed time
(29:18):
in a well of chaos to Judah.
The circumstances got worse,but the promise remain.
Yet it doesn't keep him fromsaying, I will cleanse them from
all guilt of their sin againstme.
(29:39):
I will forgive all the guilt oftheir sin and rebellion against
me.
Behold, the days are coming,declares the Lord, when I will
fulfill the promise I made tothe house of Israel.
And Jerusalem will dwellsecurely, and this is the name
by which it will be called.
The Lord.
(29:59):
Is our righteousness.
That little excerpt, Jeremiah33, only too tired in scripture,
Jehoola Sid Kane, is use.
This is how we understand thatwe're fulfilling the promise,
the law.
It's how we can execute, bothbe just and merciful, how he can
(30:22):
be righteous and loving at thesame time towards us.
Is what he says, he is our Godand we, his people.
This is the good shepherd, theone that attends to us, who is
unlike any other shepherd.
His righteousness.
(30:47):
It is not comfort, but it'srather his righteousness imputed
to us, is our secure dwellingplace.
For Israel, however you want tothink of Israel in today's
time, pray that they find theirsecure dwelling place like all
other mankind in Christ'srighteousness.
(31:07):
Any story, this is the enduringlove of Christ.
It's what David looked to whenhe wrote Psalm 23.
(31:27):
David, being a king, said, TheLord is my shepherd.
I shall not want.
Surely goodness and mercy shallfollow me all the days of my
(32:05):
life.
What else would from arighteous king?
And all and I shall dwell inthe house of the Lord forever.
The Lord shepherds his peoplein righteousness, and he
executes justice.
This is where we dwell secure.
If you're looking for security,look no further than faith in
(32:27):
Jesus.
And if you're looking for agreen pasture, if you're looking
for rest or peace, look nofurther than faith and
repentance to the Lord.
This is the enduring love andhow he has shown mercy
throughout the ages.
This is our God.
(32:47):
I think personally, where thiscomes to me is that it's easy to
get caught up in what's wrongwith the world that we live in,
thinking about the future.
What will happen to my kids?
What kind of world are theygoing to grow up in?
There are so many people nothaving kids.
They're not interested becausethey don't like the world they
(33:09):
live in.
A declining kingdom, a peoplefar away from God.
But do we trust him to executejustice because he's righteous?
That's that's our hope.
We have to hope in that, or wehave nothing.
And he's proved it.
He's proved it with his wordand what he's sent Jesus.
(33:31):
Yeah.
He's done the work for us.
I think let me just say thisthat we don't ever move past.
And I know we've heard theseverses, we've heard these over
and over again, but we nevermove past this.
This is the highest where Jesusis our righteousness.
(33:52):
Um, and that Jesus is our hopefor all mankind for all time.
So let's pray, and then we cango through these questions, uh,
three questions.
So Heavenly Father, thank youfor tonight.
Thank you for these awesomepeople in this awesome church.
(34:13):
Thank you, Lord.
Thank you for helping us toremember what you've done
through your word.
God, you were we just saw thatyou were praised and glorified
by this.
God, draw us, show us where weneed to repent.
Draw us near like you have yourpeople for all time, Lord.
(34:36):
We thank you for the finishedwork of Jesus, and that we can
hope in you in Christ alone asour righteousness.
Thank you for changingeverything, Lord.
Amen.
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