The

I AM
Series
His Name in You is Great

Week 9 – Jehovah Tsidkenu

KNOWING YAHWEH
TSIDKENU!

“The Lord Our

Righteousness”
 JEREMIAH 23:5-6
“Behold, the days are coming," declares
the LORD, “When I will raise up for David a
righteous Branch; And He will reign as king
and act wisely And do justice and
righteousness in the land.
In his days Judah will be saved, and
Israel will dwell securely; and this is His
name by which he will be called,
YAHWEH TSIDKENU
‘The LORD Our RIGHTEOUSNESS.’ ”
 When we study the Bible, it’s
important to notice the NAMES of God!
GOD’S NAMES REVEAL HIS NATURE
God has revealed Himself by many names…
• Yahweh SHAMMAH – The Lord is Present”
• Yahweh JAIRA – “The Lord Who Provides”
• Yahweh M’KADDESH – “The Lord Who Makes
HOLY”
• Yahweh RAPHA – “The Lord Who Heals!”
God wants you to KNOW Him by each of His names,
and walk in the reality of every part of His nature!
Today we want to look at another
one of God’s names…
YAHWEH TSIDKENU
The LORD Our RIGHTEOUSNESS
tsid-ke’nu OR tsid’-ke-nu (ISBE)
YAHWEH TSIDKENU means it is part
of God’s NATURE to bring His people
into the full experience of true
RIGHTEOUSNESS!
To know God as Yahweh Tsidkenu, we first
need to know what righteousness is!
What is RIGHTEOUSNESS? HONESTY

RIGHTEOUSNESS is a DESCRIPTION LOYALTY

of the CHARACTER OF GOD.
GOD’S CHARACTER… INTEGRITY

THAT’S WHAT GOD IS LIKE!

GENEROSITY
RIGHTEOUSNESS is living in
Line with GOD’S CHARACTER! TRUTH
Righteousness is foundational principle
of the UNIVERSE. Universe is designed MERCY
so RIGHTEOUSNESS will bring SUCCESS
LOVE
If living in Righteousness…
…living IN HARMONY with God of the universe!
…living IN HARMONY with the laws of success
God has built into His universe!
 WHAT DOES RIGHTEOUSNESS LOOK LIKE?
To show what righteousness is, God gave us
Several PICTURES of righteousness:
1. Conscience (What is RIGHT & wrong!)
(Valuable, but distorted)
2. LAW (TORAH) “teaching of God”
A window into God’s heart.
(Accurate… meditate  success)
3. JESUS (Perfect expression of Father’s will)
These show us what righteousness is!
Like a PLUMB LINE hung into the earth-realm…
Allows you to see if your life is lined up
with God’s Nature & Character.
 If Life is “Out of Plumb”  SIN
Life is out of sync with foundational
principles of the universe!
It leaves you open for destruction!
1. Natural Results – “wages of sin”
promiscuous  problems
drunkenness  many issues
2. Oppression of the Devil
When we sin, it removes our God-given protection, &
allows Satan to harass & oppress us!
Includes things like confusion, anger,
depression, sickness, sorrow, & lack!
Righteousness protects us from great harm!
Ephesians 6 teaches that
RIGHTEOUSNESS is part
of our spiritual armor!

Eph. 6:14 “Stand firm then…

with the breastplate of
RIGHTEOUSNESS
In place!”
Righteousness is like a breastplate!
THE BREASTPLATE WAS A VERY
IMPORTANT PIECE OF ARMOR!
It protected the soldier’s vital organs!
As Long as Breastplate is Intact…
He is PROTECTED from the enemy!
If Breastplate is Damaged…
He is VULNERABLE!
God says righteousness is like a Breastplate!
It will shield you from the enemy’s attacks!
If you walk in righteousness you are safe!
When we SIN, it creates holes in our breastplate!
The enemy is free to attack!
HOW DO WE PUT ON OUR

BREASTPLATE OF
RIGHTEOUSNESS?

How do we live a RIGHTEOUS life that

pleases God & protects us from harm?
Most Christians, when they got saved,
were taught something like this:
“You’re a Christian now! You need to go
to church, pray, tithe, read your Bible,
and live a life that pleases God!”
They are give a set of RULES to follow:
“DO THESE THINGS & YOU WILL PLEASE GOD!”
And most Christians really TRY!
Problem: That is NOT a formula for life
of joy and fellowship with God.
That is a formula for a life of
TERRIBLE FRUSTRATION!
WHEN YOU SET UP A LIST OF RULES AND TRY
TO FOLLOW THEM… YOU ALWAYS FAIL!
(Remember your New Years resolutions!)
So when Christians TRY to please God that way…

THEY FAIL!
They think: “I must not be trying hard enough!”
They come forward for invitations to dedicate and
rededicate their lives!
THEY STILL FAIL!
 They promise God they will do better
next time…but they keep SINNING!
They make resolution after
resolution & really mean it!
THEY FAIL AGAIN!
Grit their teeth & strengthen their resolve
“I WILL LIVE A GODLY LIFE!”
THEY ALWAYS FAIL!
WHAT’S THE PROBLEM?
Problem: On the wrong PLAN!
THERE ARE TWO WAYS TO TRY
TO LIVE A RIGHTEOUS LIFE!
PLAN A PLAN B
You get a list of You admit you are
rules (THE LAW) a sinner & allow
& try to discipline God to produce
yourself to obey His righteousness
them! (legalism) in you!
God gave mankind a chance to try to achieve
righteousness on PLAN A!
When God made a Covenant With Israel at Sinai…
He Gave Them the LAW!
PLAN A
The Law was a Gracious Gift of God!
The law was not an arbitrary list of rules.
The Law is a PICTURE of RIGHTEOUSNESS.
God gave the LAW so we could see
what righteousness looks like!
If you want to be righteousness…
DO THESE THINGS!
And Israel determined to do them!
They said, “We will do
EVERYTHING God commands!”
 But when Israel TRIED to keep the LAW
They discovered that they had a problem!
They Kept Falling into SIN!
Law gives a PICTURE of righteousness,
but not the POWER of righteousness!
They found they were not ABLE to be righteous!
Suddenly, they became aware of the fact
that they are SINNERS! (Romans 7)
That’s what ALWAYS happens
when we try to keep law!
Secret: PLAN A doesn’t work!
 Why Did God Give Us LAW?
“To help us live a righteous life!” – FALSE!

Rom 3:20 “No one will be declared

righteous by observing the law…”
but “Through the law we become
conscious of sin.”

Rom 7:7 “I would not have come to know

sin except through the Law.”
 Here’s a secret about the law that
most Christians do not understand…
GOD NEVER EXPECTED THAT LAW
WOULD MAKE US RIGHTEOUS!
LAW can never make ANYONE righteous!
LAW was not the medicine to cure our sin
problem!
LAW is the thermometer to show us how
sick we really are!
God gave the law to reveal SIN
In Rom 7, Paul describes how he tried
to keep the law but always failed!
“The good things I want to do,
I do not do, but I practice the
evil that I do not want to do!”
Finally, he cried out to God for mercy!
“Wretched man that I am!
Who will deliver me?”
God gave the law to reveal SIN
That’s what God DESIGNED
the law to do!
God gave Law to show us our problem,
so we would cry out to God for grace!
that’s when God steps in
With John 3:16!
Gal. 3: LAW was “schoolmaster”
to lead to Jesus!
 When we use LAW to try to
make ourselves righteous…
WE ALWAYS FAIL!
So we cry out to God: “Lord! I’m a sinner! I can’t
keep the law! Is there another way to be righteous?
…and the good news is:
THERE IS!
Back in OT God promised that He would give us
NEW way to be righteous… a way that worked!

God had a PLAN B!

 JEREMIAH 23:5-6
“Behold, the days are coming," declares the LORD,
when I will raise for David a RIGHTEOUS Branch
[THE MESSIAH]
And this is the name by which he will be called,
‘The LORD Our RIGHTEOUSNESS!’
[Yahweh Tsidkenu!]
Messiah will provide us with a new way of
righteousness! He will by Yahweh Tsidkenu!
He will BE our RIGHTEOUSNESS!
 Ezek. 1:19-20 tells HOW…
I will… put a new SPIRIT within them…
Then they will follow my decrees and be keep my
laws. They will
be my people, and I will be their God.
Instead of an external law, God will put
a NEW SPIRIT within us… & that SPIRIT
aill produce a life of righteousness!
We don’t have the POWER to live a
righteous life by keeping the law…
So God said, “Here’s PLAN B:
I will send My SPIRIT to live in you & He
will produce My RIGHTEOUSNESS in you!”
How Yahweh Tsidkenu HONESTY
Makes us righteous:
LOYALTY
All of God’s
INTEGRITY
righteousness HOLY
GENEROSITY
is found in SPIRIT
the Holy Spirit TRUTH

MERCY

LOVE
 When you trusted Jesus, God put the
HOLY SPIRIT in YOU!

There’s enough righteousness in Him for ALL of us!

YOU NOW HAVE THE

LIFE OF GOD IN YOU!

ALL the righteousness of

God dwells IN YOU
through the Holy Spirit!

You don’t have to rely on your

own ability to be righteous!
 THE SECRET TO A LIFE OF
RIGHTEOUSNESS IS TO ALLOW
THE HOLY SPIRIT TO PRODUCE
HIS FRUIT IN YOUR LIFE!
GAL 5: When we yield to the
Spirit, He produces FRUIT!
“Love, Joy, Peace, Patience,
Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness,
Gentleness, & Self-Control!”
That is a Picture of Perfect Righteousness!
Just the first one FULFILLS all the Law!
In PLAN B, RIGHTEOUSNESS comes
from God’s Holy Spirit within us!
“writes the law on our hearts”
Rom 8:1 “What the LAW could not do…
God DID!” (Law could not make us righteous!)
Rom 8:4 “the righteous requirements of the law are
fully met in us, who live according to the Spirit.”
Rom 7:6 “We have been RELEASED
FROM THE LAW (released from PLAN A)
“That we serve in NEW WAY of the
SPIRIT!” (that’s PLAN B)
 Our problem is that many HONESTY

Christians don’t WANT a LOYALTY

new way of righteousness INTEGRITY

Most of us are RELIGIOUS
GENEROSITY
enough that we want to be
TRUTH
righteous in our own power!
We want to do it ourselves! MERCY

We want to stay on PLAN A! LOVE

“If I just try a little harder,

I CAN DO IT!”
 When we do that… we are HONESTY
taking the path of LEGALISM! LOYALTY
I can discipline myself
INTEGRITY
to be kind of person
the LAW describes! GENEROSITY

I can be honest, TRUTH

truthful, & generous!

MERCY
I can resist the
LOVE
temptation to sin
And live a
RIGHTEOUS life!
 WHAT WE ARE HONESTY

REALLY SAYING IS: LOYALTY

I can Trying to stay on INTEGRITY

PLAN A means you

GENEROSITY
I can are trusting your
TRUTH
SELF to make you
I can righteous! MERCY

LOVE

YOU DON’T END UP IN RIGHTEOUSNESS

YOU END UP IN SELF-RIGHTEOUSNESS
What you are doing is this…
You see your breastplate has holes…
You find a pile of DIRTY OLD RAGS
And you try to repair armor by
wrapping yourself in RAGS!

God says HUMAN RIGHTEOUSNESS

(being God in your OWN POWER)
Is like filthy rags!
IT DOESN’T WORK!
 Trying to Gain Righteousness
Thru Self-Effort DOESN’T WORK!
Problems with Plan A:
1. You can’t make it work! (it won’t produce
righteousness!)
2. What is does produce doesn’t please God!
3. It doesn’t fool Satan! (he will attack!)
4. It isn’t any fun trying!
 You cannot become righteous
through legalism!
ALL LEGALISM CAN PRODUCE…
IS A LIFELESS IMITATION OF
RIGHTEOUSNESS!
It may look good from a distance, but it
Will never produce fruit in your life!
Joe’s Apple Tree!
JOE WAS LOOKING IN A MAGAZINE AND SAW A
PICTURE OF A BEAUTIFUL APPLE TREE!
 Joe’s Apple Tree
HOW CAN I GET A TREE LIKE THAT IN MY YARD?
Studied the picture & made detailed plans.
Got lumber & built a sturdy framework.
Carefully carved the bark and branches.
Painted it, lots of silk leaves, glued in place.
Bought fresh apples and hung them in place.
Very proud of his apple tree.
PROBLEM: It would not produce one apple.
It was just a DEAD imitation!
That’s legalism! “PLAN A!” Using own effort to
produce something that looks like righteousness!
 PRINCIPLE OF LIFE
Get a LIVING SEED.
Plant It in Good Soil.
Nurture It and Water It.
Give It Time to Grow.
And the LIFE in the Seed
Will Produce its Fruit!
THE KEY TO BEING RIGHTEOUS
IS THE HOLY SPIRIT IN YOU PRODUCING FRUIT!
To walk in Righteousness…
You need the HOLY SPIRIT.
You need His LIFE planted in you.
Nurture & Water His Work in you.
Give it Time to Grow.
And the LIFE of the Spirit
Will Produce His FRUIT!
 Secret of Righteousness it to
DRAW CLOSE TO HIM!
When we draw close to Him, He
Produces the Fruit of the Spirit in us!
“Fruit” – Not something you labor to produce
It grows automatically in His presence!!
As you walk in a daily relationship with Him,
He produces His fruit AUTOMATICALLY!
The result is a life of RIGHTEOUSNESS!
DOES IT REALLY WORK?
Can I really take my eyes off
the external law and actually
end up living a godly life?

YES!
 DOES IT REALLY WORK?
Edge of the road is the BOUNDARY: “LAW”
Center of road is the GOAL: “JESUS”
If you take your eyes off the edge,
And put them on the goal…

JESUS
YOU AUTOMATICALLY STAY
WITHIN THE BOUNDARIES!
Thru HOLY SPIRIT, Jesus produces
His fruit of RIGHTEOUSNESS in you!
 So REJECT legalism!
Draw near to Jesus and
begin to live in the freedom
of the Holy Spirit!
 Thank Jesus that He IS

YAHWEH TSIDKENU!

Let Him BE the Lord Your

RIGHTEOUSNESS!