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[Music] [music] ♪ In my church, in my church ♪ ♪ In my church, in my church ♪

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♪ In my church, in my church ♪ ♪ In my church, in my church ♪ ♪ You are going to fall, you are going to fall ♪ [Music]

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Hear this word, which is recorded in the book of the prophet Jeremiah, the 23rd chapter, verses 5 and 6. "Behold, the days are coming with the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In his grace Judah will be saved and Israel will dwell securely.

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And this is the name by which he will be called. The Lord is our righteousness. The subject of the message, "The Lord, Our Righteousness."

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The Lord, our righteousness. This is the beginning of the Advent season, It is a time of promise. It is a time of waiting.

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A time of expectation. It is a time when we begin to count the days before Christmas. The prophetic word which comes to us from

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Jerry Muller, which I have just read, is the promise of faithful rulers, a righteous branch. There is confusion and uncertainty in the land about the right thing to do.

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We're often told to do this or that because it is the right thing to do. And sometimes when we ask the question, "Why should I do this or that?" The answer comes, "Because I say so." "Because I say do it, you are to do it."

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And so this raises another question, "Who has the right to command us to do this or that?" who has the right to order our lives. Look on what it's seeing in our thinking about what is right. Our legal system of justice contributes to our confusion.

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Some time ago, I watched a judge as he agonized over the interpretation of the law. And finally he said, "I'll have to study this a little more, and then I will be prepared to give my opinion." Notice he said, "my opinion."

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But what his opinion happens to be in the matter may be overruled by another judge who has another opinion. And so the question remains, what is the right thing to do? We are confused many times over what is right. Huckleberry Finn says, "Since it is difficult to know what's right and what's wrong,

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I decided not to bother about it anymore, but just do whatever comes handy at the time. Well, it seems to me that this is the way it is done in the lives of many. Israel and Judah thought of right as whatever they wanted it to be at the time. They were wandering aimlessly in the wilderness of morality. Their captivity

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came because they departed from the moral and spiritual values on which the nation was founded. The history of Israel and Judah reads something of this nature that a particular king did what was right in the sight of the Lord. And then we read that another king did what was evil in the eyes of the Lord.

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And so you see the history of the people of God is one of peaks and valleys. The history of humanity is like that. A history that not only has peaks and valleys, but sunshine and shadows, freedom and bondage, sin and salvation. What is the right thing to do?

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Righteousness is what ought to be. It is a standard. It has to do with a pattern. It has to do with the path in which we are to walk.

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And often there is rebellion against what ought to be. We somehow depart from the path in which we ought to walk. This has been true of humankind since the beginning. But we hear the Prophet Micah as he expresses it in the most meaningful way,

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that he has told you, he has showed you, old man, what is good and what is required of you. And what is it that the Lord requires but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with him? That what God really wants of us is that we do the right thing. In this situation in which Israel and Judah find themselves, both of them have been carried into captivity,

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Now, when we look back and consider the history, they have rebelled against the righteousness of God. This is true during the particular time when this word comes forth from the prophet Jeremiah. What is the right thing to do? Zedekiah is on the throne and Zedekiah is confused, he's uncertain about the right thing to do.

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Jeremiah is the prophet and he is declaring what should be done. But Zedekiah is not so certain that he should follow Jeremiah, he wants to. to. He is what you might call in the language of our time, Zedekiah is Mr. Nice Guy. He really wants to get along. He wants to get along with his advisors. He wants to get along with the Prophet Jeremiah. He wants to have it both ways. He wants to go along in order to get along. And so from time to time he listens to the advisors and then he He frequently calls in Jeremiah and says, "Now look, do you have a word from God on this matter?"

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And Jeremiah says, "Oh yes, I do." And then he hears that word, and yet he doesn't have the courage to do it. And so often we find ourselves in that position. We have a respect for what's right, but we often do not have the courage to do what is right. And this is the predicament in which Zedekiah finds himself.

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And so here comes forth a word from the prophet, saying that, "Behold, the days are coming," said the Lord, "when I will raise up for David a righteous branch, and he shall reign as king wisely. I will raise up a ruler among you who will show you, who will demonstrate to you the right thing to do. Well, the days are coming.

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And, you see, not only is it true that the days are coming, but The one who comes shall demonstrate his function by the name which he bears. His name is "The Lord is our righteousness."

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For you see, righteousness is that which conforms to the norm. That which conforms to the norm. Righteousness isn't something which is determined by public opinion. You don't take a Gallup poll to determine what's right.

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You don't take a Harris poll to see what's right. Righteousness is the norm. Righteousness is conformity to that norm. It's not an opinion poll because you think popular opinion, popular vote may be wrong. Righteousness is conformity to the divine will.

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And often wrong is on the throne. James Russell Lowell expresses it distinctly when he says, "Truth forever on the scaffold, wrong forever on the throne." But there is hope.

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All is not lost. The people who sit in darkness receive the shining light. Behold, days are coming when the Lord will raise up a righteous branch. His name is the Lord our righteousness. His righteousness is the basis of our acceptability before God.

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His righteousness is not a kind of righteousness which is what we call servile righteousness, not a form of righteousness which is not according to knowledge. The religious leaders during Jeremiah's day, the scribes and Pharisees during Jesus' earthly ministry, all had a form of righteousness, but it was not according to knowledge. So righteousness involves the knowledge of the right, as well as the doing of the right.

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And one has to know the right in order to do the right. But they really did not know God, so they were unable to obey his command. Being ignorant of the righteousness of God, they went about to establish their own righteousness. But days are coming when the Lord will raise up a righteous flesh from the lineage of David,

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and He shall demonstrate that righteousness that His name, the Lord our righteousness, His presence will enable us to do that which is right. One of the things I think we suffer from a great deal is self-righteousness. Self-righteousness.

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The prayer of the Pharisees was self-righteous. "Lord, I thank you that I'm not like that publican over there. I pay tithes of all I possess. I fast twice a week.

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And that's the case where there is a condemned tither. He should have done those things, but he felt that he was righteous before God because he did those things. We cannot somehow purchase some merit badges with God because we do certain things. John Bunyan says that there is a road that leads to hell from the gates of heaven.

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Think about that. That there is a road that leads to hell from the gates of heaven. that we can be in the truth. We can be right at the gates of hell and we can somehow be carrying on the right things and not doing them for the wrong reasons. And we can be on the wrong road. There's a road that leads to hell from the gates of heaven.

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The prodigal son, you see, was concerned about his own righteousness, and so he rebelled against the righteousness of his father. So we find him following the way of unrighteousness. Unrighteousness.

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Wasted opportunity. He wasted his substance in righteous living. He's wasted his time, wasted his resources, he's rebellious so he ruins himself, he misuses that which is entrusted to him. He mutilates his personhood. But there is hope of restoration, there is health and healing.

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Behold, days are coming. There is a better day. That's the meaning of Advent. There is a better day coming. Days are coming. There's a new age on the way.

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And it's dusted in by the one who rules in righteousness. His name is the Lord, our righteousness. Not the way of self-righteousness. There's a story of the Luther Chantilly.

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Who thought and went about in the barnyard boasting that it was because he crowed that the sun would rise. And if he didn't crow, the sun wouldn't rise. And sometimes people are like that Luther.

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He just thought that he, he, he, he, went around spreading the word. And when he woke up, the sun was high in the sky. And then he had to confess to himself and to others that the rising of the sun wasn't dependent upon his crowing.

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But he didn't discover that while he could not condition the rising of the sun by his crowing, that he could celebrate the sun. He didn't discover that while he could not condition the rising of the sun by his calling, that he could celebrate the rising of the sun.

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And that's what we can do. We really can establish the righteousness of God ourself. God himself establishes his righteousness. It's God himself, the Lord in us.

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It's God working in us. God speaking in us. walking in a, so to speak, God Himself somehow is capturing His righteousness upon the earth, and we can celebrate the righteousness of God.

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And oh, how wonderful it is to celebrate the righteousness of God. You see, His righteousness is not dependent upon the prosperity of the nation. His righteousness prevails in times of prosperity. His righteousness prevails in times of adversity.

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For when we do right, when we do right toward God, we have this assurance that right will win. It will win. Now God doesn't have any agreement with us that it must win during our time, but it's going to win. And what is important is that we would be identified with righteousness, not popularity, not the opinion polls, but to be identified with righteousness. And Henry Clay expresses it well when he made a speech before the Senate in 1850.

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He said, "I would rather be right than president." The law is our righteousness. The Lord, the Spirit of the Lord is our righteousness. That we do right, not because of who's looking at us, but because the Spirit of God is within us.

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And that Spirit guides us, that Spirit comforts us, that Spirit guides us wherever we are. The Lord is our righteousness. So, yes, Lord, expresses it well when he says, "So forever on this capitol, wrong on the throne,

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but that capitol, where is the future? And behind the dim and the dim unknown, and the dim, oh, my God, our Father keeping watch above us all."

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Oh, there comes one who rules not with military hardware, but who rules through the Spirit. So righteousness is the Spirit of God expressed in human action. That's what it is for you and me. It is the Spirit of God exact in human action.

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It's God's ruling in our life. It's God's righteousness. The Lord is our Lord. Why do you do this?

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Well, it's because of the Lord. If it weren't for the Lord, we couldn't do it. But why do you celebrate? Why in the midst of all of your difficulties

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Do you think that the Lord is good? Well, it's because the Lord is our righteousness. His mercy, His truth, His grace, His patience. He is our righteousness.

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And so you see, He comes to make things right. He's our righteousness. He comes to usher in a new day. Behold, days are coming.

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What a message it is for this Advent seeker to really hear that word. Behold, days are coming. That means a job for him.

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You can't bring him the day. One man was telling a story, he said, "Oh, how he was waiting to attend a service, a sunrise service,

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and it looked like the day would never come." He had an Arab guide. He was in the land of Palestine and he was wondering about whether the night ever ends so that they could see the sunrise.

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And the Arab guide said to him words that he said he would long remember. And he said, "Yes, it'll come." Because, you see, you can't hold back the dawn. God brings it.

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We can't hold back the dawn. No matter how dark the night is, there's a good word, because the day is coming, a new day is dawning, it's on its way. That's the good news. Behold, the Lord brings a new day, a new era, a new epoch. Days are coming, there's a brighter day on the way.

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So, it is ours to be ready for that day. That's our task. We ought to wait for it, but in order to really wait for it, we have to work and wait for it. That's what it means to be ready for it.

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It is to be robed in the righteousness of the one who is of the lineage of Jesus. So when you think about what happens in your life personally, you think what happens in the life of the nation, what happens in the life of the world, God has a message for us. As he said, you see, the stump is there.

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In other words, the tree's been cut down. The tree is cut down. Many times we see the tree cut down in our lives. We see many of our efforts seemingly frustrated.

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Our dreams seem to be destroyed. The tree is cut down and the stump is only there. But from that stump, there comes a new plan, new hope,

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new expression of God's love. the whole day of heaven. And the one that will be our eternal contemporary, his name is the Lord our righteousness.

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When he shall come with trumpet sound, "Oh, may I then in him be found," that in his righteous miscellany, faultlessly stand before you in Christ.

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In Christ. In Christ! There is our hope in Christ! In our dream.

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Christ is our God and our Lord. Yes, his name, Jeremiah says, is the Lord our righteous. So when we come to periods of darkness,

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remember that there are beams of heaven that shine in the midst of that darkness. And no matter what happens, you can say in the language of the poet,

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that there is a God who rules Earth and Heaven. And if I'm right, you fight my battle. Let's acquire our things now.

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We invite you to come. I have decided to follow Jesus. This is a time of commitment. This is a time of decision.

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This is the end of the mission. This is the end of the mission. [Music] I have been trying to follow Jesus. I have been trying to follow Jesus. I have been trying to follow Jesus.

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♪ So I'm glad you're here, so glad you're here ♪ ♪ So glad I found you, glad I found you ♪ ♪ So glad I found you, glad I found you ♪ ♪ And I'm glad you're here, so glad you're here ♪

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[Music] [Music] ♪ I'll be there for you ♪ ♪ Oh, there is nothing ♪

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♪ No nothing for me ♪ ♪ Nothing for me ♪ ♪ No nothing for me ♪ ♪ No nothing for me ♪

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♪ I'll be there for you ♪ [Music] We bow our heads. We tell God, we thank you for this word in the midst of the darkness of our times, in the midst of the oppression that we experience.

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Behold, days are coming when you will raise up a new king. We thank you that this reality is an experience for us, as we labor to make it an experience for many others. The Lord, our righteousness, in his name may we go forth to face the challenges of this

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day and the days ahead. mercy and peace be with you from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. [Music] [ Silence ]