Rabbi Schneider — Yahweh Tsidkenu and Shammah
This is my final message today on a series that I've called The Covenant Names of God. We've been going through the Old Testament, the Tanakh, and identifying where Father God has attached his personal covenant name that he gave the Jewish people, Yahweh, with one of his saving functions that he's doing in and for his people.
This so relevant for you and I today because he's the same yesterday, today and forever. And so every time Father God connected his sacred name to a function of salvation, that means that you and I can trust him to do that very thing in your life and in my life today.
I really want to encourage you, go get this entire series because it really can transform your life as you make it an emphasis of trust and an emphasis of prayer. I'm telling you, friends, you can trust God to do the things that he said he would do through his sacred names. You can trust him to do those things for you.
Now I'm not gonna go back and review today. Again, this is the final message so I'm gonna get right into it and we're gonna look at a brand new covenant name right now as we look at God's covenant name, Yahweh Tsidkenu, the Lord is our righteousness.
We're gonna look at our primary Scripture today in the Book of Jeremiah, chapter number 23, beginning in verse number 5. Hear the Word of God. Yahweh Tsidkenu, we're looking at where this covenant name is revealed and what it means for you and I today.
Hear God's Word: Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, When I will raise up for David a righteous Branch king and act wisely and do justice and righteousness in the land. In His days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely His name by which He will be called, Yahweh, our righteousness, or Yahweh Tsidkenu.
So I want you to consider with me that this is, first of all, a messianic prophecy. Father God is revealing here something he's gonna do in the future. And what he's gonna do, he's gonna bring forth a branch. What does a branch mean? It means it's an extension of himself that Father's the source but he's gonna bring forth from himself a branch.
Who is the branch? The branch is Yeshua HaMashiach, Jesus the Messiah, who is in and is from the bosom of the Father. And one of the characteristics or the attributes of God's righteous branch who is the Messiah, one of the things that the Messiah does is he becomes, listen now, the righteousness of God's people. And so we read in verse number 6 that his name will be called the Lord our righteousness, or in Hebrew, Yahweh Tsidkenu.
So I want to consider with you for a few moments today on this final broadcast in this series, what does it mean to you practically speaking that Jesus is your righteousness, that Yahweh is your righteousness, that the Lord is our righteousness? What this means, beloved one, is that Jesus stands before Father for you. You see, a lot of times when we think of standing before Father God, we get afraid because we know ourselves.
We know the wrong things that we think, the hateful thoughts that we sometimes have, the wrong words that we speak to people. We know all the things wrong with ourselves. And because of that, when we think of standing before Father God, we tend to shrink back sometimes because we're afraid of condemnation because of our sin.
But to understand that the Lord is our righteousness, that Yeshua, that Jesus is your righteousness, that he's the one that's standing before Father God in your place, and because you know he's sinless and approved, and because he's standing in your place, you can be assured that you now are gonna be accepted before the Father because you're in Jesus.
In other words, you're in Jesus and it's Jesus that's standing before the Father. And because you're in him, you can be assured of God's favor on your life. One of my favorite verses is this, that it's not by deeds of righteousness which we have done, but it's according to his mercy has he saved us. He that knew no sin, speaking of Jesus, he that knew no sin became sin on our behalf that we could become the righteousness of God.
In other words, your sin and my sin was transferred into the body of Jesus on the cross. He took our sin in his own body and died in our place on the cross or on the tree. And because he took our sin in his own body and died in our place and gave us his righteousness instead, we can be confident that we're righteous in God because our righteousness in God is not based on the good works that we've done or how good or bad we've been, but rather our righteousness, beloved, is based on the fact that Jesus took our sin and gave us his righteousness instead, and that Jesus is our righteousness us that's gonna be standing before the Father to determine whether we've been righteous or not or are righteousness in him.
But rather, it's Jesus that's standing before the Father in our place. And because we're in him those of us that truly are, we are now deemed as righteous because Jesus is the banner over our lives. You see, Paul said no man shall be justified by the works of the law.
In other words, no one's gonna stand before God and deemed righteous because of just their own works. We're gonna be rewarded for the good things we've done in Jesus when we're his. But we're not righteous for our good works in God because we've done so many bad things as well. The only way that we can stand before God in perfect righteousness is when we're in Jesus, who stands before Father in our place.
So Father God, beloved ones, wants you to be confident that you're not condemned before him, but that you're righteous in Christ before him. This is why, I want you to get this, listen to me very carefully. This is why every one of Paul's letters in the New Testament begins the same way. Hear the Word of God. He says, Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
If Father God was mad at you, if he was condemning you, if he was judging you, and penalizing you for your sins, why then would every one of Paul letters, Paul's letters begin the same way? Grace and peace to you, from who? From God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Look in the Book of Colossians, Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Look in the Book of Ephesians, Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Look in the Book of Philippians, Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Every one of Paul's letters begins virtually the same way, because Jesus, Yahweh, is your righteousness. He took your sin in his own body on the tree, it's been removed, and now you stand before the Father righteous in him. And God wants you and I to know this.
The Bible says, He that's been perfected in love does not fear, because fear involves punishment. John says this in one of his letters. What does God mean here? When we really understand God's love for us, and because of his love what he's done for us, we're not gonna have the looming fear of judgment and God's wrath over our lives.
But if we don't know how much God loves us, and how he really feels about us, and what he's really done for us in Jesus, then we're gonna be afraid and we're gonna have fear, because we're not gonna know that he really loves us. We're gonna be afraid of being judged by him. But instead God says, Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. He wants us, beloved, to be assured of his love and to know we're righteous in Messiah Jesus.
Now of course when I speak these words, I'm not speaking these words to the world at large. I'm not condoning sinners, saying just do what you want to do. Keep sinning because God loves you and you don't need to worry about it. I'm not speaking to sinners. I'm speaking to the remnant. I'm speaking to the children of God.
I'm speaking to those that are born again. I'm speaking to those that really love God and are seeking to do his will. You might not be perfect, but there's a big yes in your heart. You're falling and stumbling but deep inside there's a big yes in your heart. You're seeking to do his will. You're seeking to overcome. You're giving your life over to him.
You're talking to him all the time. I'm speaking to you. God doesn't want you to be afraid of being judged. He wants you to know, you're righteous in his eyes because you're in Jesus, and he loves you, and he wants us to be confident of that. Beloved, one of God's covenant names is Yahweh Tsidkenu. He is the Lord your righteousness. Jesus is standing before the Father for you, and your, your standing is in Jesus. Therefore, you're righteous.