JEHOVAH-TSIDKENU
INTRO
1. Review the past names we have studied. This review is important if you hope that your
students will retain some of the high points of these lessons.
2. Read Jeremiah 23: 5,6.
3. This Hebrew word is pronounced: Sid’kin oo (the "T" is silent)
*Rhymes with "canoe."
4. When Jeremiah spoke this prophecy, the kingdom of Judah was about to fall.
a) The land of Judah was full of idolatry, oppression, violence, and political
revolution.
b) Israel had gone into captivity 100 years before.
c) Judah had learned nothing from God’s judgment upon Israel.
d) God had declared destruction upon Judah.
5. The time for repentance had passed.
*See II Chronicles 36:15,16.
*See II Kings 23:26,27.
6. Judah was a corrupt nation and had forsaken God.
7. Under these conditions God gave this prophecy to Jeremiah.
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I. THE MEANING OF THE WORD "TSIDKENU"
A. Note:
1. The word means "righteousness."
2. Originally "tsedek" meant to be stiff or straight.
3. Tsedek signifies God’s dealings with man under the ideas of right-
eousness, justification, and acquittal.
Tsedek Has To Do With 3 Things:
#1. To OUTWARD obligations and relationships of men being right and just. (Leviticus 19:35,36)
*You cannot be right with God if you are not
right with others.
#2. A full weight or measure toward God in the spiritual sense.
(Psalm 4:5 and 51:17)
#3. Rendering justice and making right judgments. (Deut. 16:18)
4. Tsedek is translated hundreds of times as:
RIGHT
RIGHTEOUS
RIGHTEOUSNESS
JUST
JUSTIFY
DECLARE INNOCENT
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II. JEHOVAH-TSIDKENU IS THE SOURCE OF ALL RIGHTEOUSNESS
A. Jehovah Is Himself Perfect Righteousness.
1. Psalm 129:4 says....
"The Lord is righteous:
he hath cut asunder the cords of the wicked."
2. If YOU are not righteous, you will go to Hell.
3. The only One righteous is God; this is the only source of righteousness.
4. Deuteronomy 32:4 says...
"He is the Rock, his work is perfect:
for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity,
just and right is he."
B. The Foundation of God’s Throne Is Righteousness and Judgment
1. Psalm 89:14 says...
"Justice and judgment are the habitation of thy throne:
mercy and truth shall go before thy face."
2. Psalm 97:2 says...
"Clouds and darkness are round about him:
righteousness and judgment are the habitation of his throne."
3. This is why it is ridiculous for man to think that he can come to God
in his own righteousness.
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III. MAN HAS NO RIGHTEOUSNESS IN COMPLETE CONTRAST TO JEHOVAH’S PERFECT RIGHTEOUSNESS
A. No Man Has Ever Been Righteous
1. See Romans 3:10-12,23.
B. Israel Was Reminded of Their Unrighteousness
1. See Deuteronomy 9:4-6.
C. Our Righteousness is Filthy In God’s Sight.
1. See Isaiah 64:6.
2. See Philippians 3:4-9.
D. Man’s Inherent Sin Makes It Impossible For God to Accept Man On Man’s
Terms of Self-Righteousness.
1. Psalm 51:5 says...
"Behold, I was shapen in iniquity;
and in sin did my mother conceive me."
2. This means that we inherited a sinful nature.
3. Job 25:4 says...
"How then can man be justified with God?
or how can he be clean that is born of a woman?"
E. God Will Not Overlook Man’s Unrighteousness.
1. Exodus 34: 6,7 says...
"And the LORD passed by before him,
and proclaimed,The LORD, The LORD God,
merciful and gracious, longsuffering,
and abundant in goodness and truth,
Keeping mercy for thousands,
forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin,
and that will by no means clear the guilty;
visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children,
and upon the children’s children,
unto the third and to the fourth generation."
2. Sin has lasting effects, and sometimes the consequences of our sins
are felt by our children and grandchildren.
F. God Must Pardon Our Unrighteousness.
1. See Isaiah 61:10.
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IV. JESUS IS JEHOVAH-TSIDKENU
A. Jesus Is Himself The Righteous One.
1. Hebrews 1:8,9 says...
"But the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God,
is for ever and ever: a sceptre of righteouness
is the sceptre of thy kingdom.
Thou has loved righteousness, and hated iniquity;
therefore God, even thy God,
hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows."
2. If you are going to be like God (Christ-like), you must come to love
right, and hate evil.
B. Jesus is Made Righteousness To Us.
1. I Corinthians 1:30 says...
"But of him are ye in Christ Jesus,
who of God is made unto us wisdom,
and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption:"
2. We have no righteousness of our own.
3. This was John Wesley’s favorite verse to preach on.
4. This is the ONLY way for man to get to Heaven.
C. Man Tries to Establish His Own Righteousness, Which Cannot Be Done.
1. Romans 10:3 says...
"For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness,
and going about to establish their own righteousness,
have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God."
2. By trying to walk around the cross in establishing self-righteousness,
man walks across and rejects the blood of Jesus.
D. Our New Man Is Created By Jehovah-Jesus In Righteousness.
1. Ephesians 4:24 says...
"And that ye put on the man,
which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness."
2. Who gave you the new man?............God.
3. Who is to put on the new man?.........You are!
4. The Christian life is nothing more than determining to put on the new
man.
5. This means you must make up your mind to live right.
6. This takes time, but it is a progressive sanctification that should be alive
and active in every believer’s life.
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CONCLUSION:
1. Right living is worth it all.
2. How tragic for God to give you His ONLY Son, and you accept Him, and then refuse
to live a godly life. You just live like you want to.
3. You cannot live anyway you want to, Christian, and still be right with God.