I said YOUR righteousness is pathetic.
Christ is my righteousness
Jehovah Tsidkenu = The Lord Our Righteousness
Jeremiah 23:6. "In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is the name whereby he shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS."
This name of the Lord is one of the most powerful and comforting ones He has given us and an understanding of it will create a heart bursting with gratitude. Righteousness means to be morally right or justifiable, but some of its other synonyms might help us more. Righteous means blameless, guiltless, holy, innocent, just, sinless. When God revealed Himself as "THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS" in Jeremiah 23:6 the people were anything but sinless and guiltless. In fact, they were in the process of being hauled off into exile and captivity for their constant and longstanding sin, idolatry, and unfaithfulness to the Lord. They had been warned over and over through the prophets God had sent to them, but their hearts were hard, finally the judgment fell. In the midst of that, the Lord still decided to reveal Himself to them in a new way that would carry them through the tough times ahead. God never gloats over our sin, He always grieves because of it. And if we are suffering the consequences of our own sin, He always has a plan to bring us back to where His blessings can again flow in our lives. The promise of the Lord for the people of Israel was that He was going to send a Messiah, one who would sit on the throne of David again and provide a permanent solution for their sin. Some 600 years after this prophecy, it was fulfilled in the person of Jesus Christ.
Since every one of us except Jesus has sinned, the promise of Messiah extends to us as well. We have no right to stand before God and say, "Here I am Lord, right, just, sinless and blameless. I'm innocent." But Jesus can stand before the Father and say all those things. So by carrying our sins on the cross, He took the punishment for our sin, blotting out the ordinances that were against us, nailing them to the cross, and in doing so He has enabled us ride on His righteousness. The Father accepts Jesus' righteousness on our behalf, as if His righteousness were our own. Now you can start to see how exciting it is to be able to call the Lord, JEHOVAH-TSIDKENU?
To some this concept seems too good to be true, what's the catch? they ask. The catch is that you have to accept it. It is not forced on anyone. We all continue to have a free will and God desires that our relationship with him is given freely from our heart with love, and then we must allow the Holy Spirit to begin to reproduce the righteousness of Christ in our own lives, by yielding to His gentile push in the right direction. We must be sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit walking in Him and no longer in our own lusts, letting Him renew us from the inside out.
Scriptures for we have all sinned.
Romans 3:9-10
Romans 3:23
1st John 1:10
Scriptures for it is not our righteousness but Christ's
Romans 3:22-24
Romans 7:13-25
1st Corinthians 1:30
2nd Corinthians 5:21
Philippians 3:9
Scriptures for Jesus took our place so we can be reconciled to God.
2nd Corinthians 5:10-21
Galatians 3:10-14
Colossians 2:13-15
Hebrews 9:28
1st John 2:2
Scriptures that we must receive the gift of salvation.
Acts 2:38
Acts 16:30-31
Romans 10:9-10
1st John 2:23
Scripture for walking in the Spirit.
Romans 6:1-4
Romans 8:1
Romans 8:14
Galatians 5:16-25
Ephesians 5:8
1st John 1:7
When we receive Jesus as our Savior He cleanses us from our sin and gives us the Holy Spirit to guide us into all truths and righteousness, enabling us to one day become sinless ourselves. I know most would disagree with that, but I honestly believe that God in us (if we allow Him) is able to conform our minds in such away that we can become sinless. Why would He command us to be perfect as He is Perfect ''Matthew 5:48'' or for us to be holy as He is Holy ''1st Peter 1:16'', if it were not attainable. Even if we were not able to reach this hieght in the Lord, it should be our goal. In doing so we must always remember that it is not by our ability or righteousness that we can acchieve this, but it is the ability given us through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit because of faith in Jesus Christ JEHOVAH TSIDKENU. With man it is impossible but with God all things are possible.
Scripture that tells us to live sinless lives
Matthew 5:48
Rom 6:20-22
2 Corinthians 7:1
Ephesians 4:17-32
1st Thessalonians 5:22
Titus 2:11-12
1st Peter 1:16
1st John 3:3
Scripture that says we are able to live sinlessly
Romans 8:3-4
1st Corinthians 10:13
Ephesians 6:11
Jude 24
However even though I do believe it to be attainable it is not smart to ever believed we have reached the penical, because then we are setting ourselves up for a fall.
Scriptures that tell us to be humble while presuing perfection
Phil 3:12-15
1st Corinthians 9:26-27
1st Corinthians 10:12
1st Corinthians 15:31
In the end we must always remember two things
# 1 Whether we are simply redemed from our sins and reconciled to God or if we one day reach full sanctification, it is not in our own power by through the Holy Spirit because of Christ that we are able to receive any level of righteousness at all.
# 2 Even though it is impossible for man to become righteous on his own, with God all things are possible.
Matthew 19:26
One last note as I stated a the begin Jehovah Tsidkenu is one of the most powerful and encouraging names of God He has ever revealed to us, and personally it is my favorite. If He had done nothing but deliver me from my sin, making me righteous in His sight, it would be more than enough, most definitely more than I could ever deserve.
