The Names of God Part 10: Jehovah Tsidkenu, The Lord Our Righteousness

The names of God are not cold titles but God introducing Himself, and in this tenth message the name is Jehovah Tsidkenu, the Lord our righteousness. The pastor shows how Jeremiah, preaching in one of Judah’s darkest seasons, received a prophecy of a righteous King, and then a second prophecy that the people of that King would carry the very same name. The result is a message about waking up to the righteousness God gives rather than the righteousness we try to earn.

Below you will find the full video, a structured summary, the redemptive names covered so far in the series, every Scripture he uses (linked to the New King James Version on Bible Gateway), a timestamped outline and practical steps for living as the righteousness of God in Christ.

Sermon at a Glance

This message was posted by NTC Ministries on January 9, 2024, as part ten of a series the pastor prefers to call an introduction to God. He says each name could fill four or five hours of Bible college teaching, so this is a focused look at one name and what it means for a believer today.

The sermon moves from why names matter, through a review of the redemptive names already covered, into Jeremiah’s two prophecies, and then into a long New Testament section on being made righteous in Christ. It closes with a call to wake up to righteousness, a word about discipline, and Malachi’s promise of the Sun of Righteousness rising with healing in His wings.

The Names of God Are an Introduction, Not a Title

The pastor begins by explaining why he studies the names of God at all. These are not God’s titles; they are God introducing Himself. After Adam fell and was separated from God, God had to introduce Himself again and again, saying in effect, this is what I do and this is who I am. He compares it to introducing a friend: this is John, he is a farmer, so you have something to relate to.

Early names were tied to what a person did or to a relationship, which is how a name like John’s son came about. When one of the names of God is used, it speaks of the quality and character of His existence.

He notes that Jehovah, translated Lord, is used more than any other name in the Bible, 6,823 times, and that it expresses God’s redemptive relationship to us. The more we understand His names, the more we grow in relationship with Him.

Before turning to the new name, he reviews the redemptive names the series has already covered. Here is how he summarizes each one:

Jehovah Tsidkenu: Perfect in All His Ways

The Hebrew word behind Jehovah Tsidkenu, the pastor explains, means righteous straightness, or what is right and just. He mentions that it can also carry the sense of equity or prosperity.

The name emphasizes that God’s character is perfect and His ways are perfect. There is no fault in God. Whatever He does or says is always in love and always for our good, even when we have a different idea. Psalm 145:17 says the Lord is righteous in all His ways and gracious in all His works.

The problem, he says, is that the way we see things and the way God sees things are two different things. He points to a common prayer among the children in the church’s school: Lord, help us have a good day. The whole world says have a good day, but your idea of a good day and mine can be very different, and God’s good day may look totally opposite to ours.

That is what we have to learn in Jehovah Tsidkenu: to have confidence in the Lord our righteousness even when His ways differ from what we would have chosen.

Jeremiah and the Righteous Branch

The name first appears in Jeremiah 23:5–6: the Lord will raise to David a Branch of righteousness, a King who will reign, prosper and execute judgment and righteousness in the earth, and His name will be called the Lord our righteousness. The pastor identifies that King as Jesus Christ, Emmanuel, God with us, whose every word and act was perfect.

He sets the scene. Before Jeremiah, Manasseh reigned 55 years and was so wicked that, as the pastor tells it, he had the prophet Isaiah killed. His late repentance did not turn the country around. Later, good King Josiah died, and Judah went downhill fast, full of violence, oppression, corruption and unrest.

Israel had already gone into exile, yet Judah learned nothing. 2 Chronicles 36:16 describes this time: they mocked the messengers of God, despised His words and scoffed at His prophets until there was no remedy. Under the law there were 613 commands, not just ten, and a steady diet of thou shalt not leaves people ready to give up.

Jeremiah could have given up too. But when he was called, he protested that he was only a youth, and God told him not to say that, because He would deliver him (Jeremiah 1:6–8). The pastor calls that a good word for every pastor. Jeremiah asked for eyes to see the people as God saw them, and God showed him His desire to draw them close, not destroy or even scold them.

Then came the second prophecy. In Jeremiah 33:15–16 the wording changes: this is the name by which she will be called, the Lord our righteousness. The pastor explains that the subject in the first prophecy is the King, and in the second it is the people He raises up. He teaches that the Hebrew preposition there means belonging to, for the purpose of.

So the King is the Lord our righteousness, and His people, the church, the one new man with Jesus as the head, will be called by the same name. To religious people under the law, he says, that must have been shocking: no difference between the people and the Lord. And Jeremiah, far from preaching doom and gloom, began to see the people through God’s love.

Filthy Rags and a Broken Spirit

Many Christians, the pastor observes, dwell on their own unrighteousness, and he knows it because they spend so much time pointing out everyone else’s. God says He does not want that kind of relationship. As Jehovah Tsidkenu He is perfect and willing to make us perfect.

He describes the high priest, whose robe was hemmed with bells and pomegranates. If he entered the Holy of Holies without being perfectly covered by the blood, the bells stopped and he was dragged out by a rope. God never wanted a religion like that.

Isaiah 64:6 is true: all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags. Everyone born into the world is born with a sin nature, which is what produces the sinful acts. The pastor cites what he calls a scientific law: you cannot clean anything without making something else dirty. He cleans a mirror with a handkerchief to show it. The dirt has just moved.

Trying to get right with God by effort, he says, is like a hamster on a wheel: the more you do, the faster it spins and the more worn out you get.

Under the old covenant, the blood of animals covered sin so God could relate to His people, because the life of the flesh is in the blood (Leviticus 17:11). But they worked more at the rituals than at a relationship. David saw past it in Psalm 51:16–17: God does not desire sacrifice; the sacrifices of God are a broken spirit and a contrite heart.

That, the pastor explains, is what God wants: people who stop trying harder and say, God, forgive me, I am a sinner, I cannot do this, You will have to do it for me. The blood of Jesus does not just cover sin; it takes it away. To be righteous means to be free from sin, and when you give your life to Jesus you become the righteousness of God.

Made the Righteousness of God

The pastor teaches that we are a spirit, we have a soul (mind, will and emotions), and we live in a body. A believer’s spirit has been made new by the Spirit of God. The soul then has to learn to yield to Him rather than to the spirit of this world, and the body follows like a servant. That happens through ongoing fellowship, talking and listening to God.

When a host pastor once asked him to teach him how to hear God’s voice, he answered that he could not; you have to get in the Bible daily and listen. A mother calls one child’s name on a crowded playground and only that child looks up. Jesus said His sheep know His voice (John 10:4–5).

Some say their spirit is holy but their thoughts and actions will never change. The pastor answers that this is still not believing in Jehovah Tsidkenu, because righteousness is an inside job that springs up and flows out like rivers of living water (John 7:38). Romans 3:21–24 says the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, unto all and upon all who believe.

He leans on the words unto all and upon all. The Lord our righteousness is not only in your spirit; His righteousness is meant to come upon your thinking and actions too.

Romans 5:19 says that by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, and by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous. People born with a sin nature sin; people born again with a righteous nature will do righteousness. Children become like their parents, he says, and if you are God’s child, you are righteous too. It is not a self-help program but falling on God’s mercy with a contrite heart.

Justification is the legal side of this. Romans 8:10 says the body is dead because of sin, but the spirit is life because of righteousness. And 2 Corinthians 5:21 says God made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

Then, so they can carry this name of God, he leads the church in confessing Romans 10:9–10: with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. Too many say Jesus is Lord but I am just an old sinner saved by grace. He has them declare instead: I accept His righteousness, I am a new creation, I am the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus.

Wake Up to Righteousness: The Names of God Lived Out

If righteousness could come through the law, Christ died for nothing (Galatians 2:21), and Christ is the end of the law for righteousness (Romans 10:4). David knew it centuries early: the Lord will perfect that which concerns me (Psalm 138:8).

Does that mean we can sin and it is fine? No. If righteousness is in you, there should be change. Someone born again for twenty years who is getting worse has something wrong in the picture. Romans 6:13 says to present our members as instruments of righteousness, and 1 Corinthians 15:34 says, awake to righteousness, and do not sin.

The key, the pastor teaches, is to be righteousness conscious. Stop renewing your mind to sin and nitpicking yourself. Ephesians 4:23–24 calls us to be renewed in the spirit of our mind and put on the new man, created in true righteousness and holiness. As a man thinks in his heart, so is he (Proverbs 23:7).

No child with a new bicycle keeps showing friends his old broken one, he says. In Christ, old things have passed away and all things have become new (2 Corinthians 5:17–18). Scripture is profitable for instruction in righteousness (2 Timothy 3:16), so read a little every day and think about who you are.

Discipline is part of this training. It is not punishment, he says, remembering how the Navy drilled him to march. No discipline seems joyful at the time, but afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness (Hebrews 12:11). He shares a word the Lord gave him while preparing: “don’t stay faithful to an old version of yourself.”

Peacemakers sow in peace and reap a harvest of righteousness (James 3:18), so be a peacemaker, not an accuser. Righteousness is also armor: the breastplate of righteousness (Ephesians 6:14) and the armor of righteousness on the right hand and the left (2 Corinthians 6:7). Nothing, not even death, can tarnish it. We are filled with the fruits of righteousness to God’s glory (Philippians 1:11).

He ends with Malachi 4:2: to you who fear My name, the Sun of Righteousness shall arise with healing in His wings, and you shall grow fat like stall-fed calves. He teaches that the Hebrew word for sun speaks of brilliance and radiance. Jesus, the brilliance of righteousness, heals condemnation, hopelessness and backsliding.

Living as the Lord Our Righteousness

The pastor closes by pleading with the church to wake up to righteousness and use the gift, not the old nature. These steps come straight from the message:

• Trust His ways. When God’s idea of a good day differs from yours, remember He is righteous in all His ways and gracious in all His works.
• Stop the hamster wheel. Quit trying to clean yourself up and come with a broken spirit and contrite heart, letting Him do the work.
• Confess who you are. Say aloud that you are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus, not an old sinner who can do nothing right.
• Read a little every day. Let Scripture instruct you in righteousness, and listen until you know His voice.
• Welcome discipline. Treat correction as training that yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness, not as punishment.
• Sow peace. In strained relationships, stop accusing and start planting seeds of peace, and watch righteousness grow.

His final prayer asks the Lord our righteousness to help the church rely on the righteousness He has given, renew their minds, and humbly accept discipline. Righteousness, he says, is the most important thing for a believer, which makes this one of the names of God most worth waking up to.

Timestamped Outline

• 0:00 An introduction to God, not just titles
• 1:02 Why names mean so much
• 2:13 Jehovah: His redemptive relationship to us
• 4:44 Review: Jireh, M’Kaddesh, Nissi, Rapha
• 5:49 Jehovah Tsidkenu: the Lord our righteousness
• 6:59 Psalm 145:17: righteous in all His ways
• 9:06 Jeremiah 23:5–6: the righteous Branch
• 10:25 Manasseh, Josiah and Judah’s decline
• 14:35 613 laws and wanting to give up
• 15:56 Jeremiah asks for eyes to see
• 18:29 Jeremiah 33:15–16: she shall be called
• 22:46 Christians dwelling on unrighteousness
• 25:35 Isaiah 64:6: filthy rags
• 30:46 Psalm 51: a broken and contrite heart
• 33:20 Spirit, soul and body
• 37:03 Romans 3:21–24: unto all and upon all
• 41:17 Romans 5:19: made righteous
• 46:36 2 Corinthians 5:21
• 50:30 Romans 10:9–10 and a confession
• 52:58 Galatians 2:21 and Romans 10:4
• 55:29 Romans 6:13: awake to righteousness
• 1:00:31 Discipline and the Navy
• 1:03:42 James 3:18: seeds of peace
• 1:07:50 Malachi 4:2: the Sun of Righteousness

Names of God Series

This message belongs to the pastor’s series introducing God through His names. Continue with the next teaching:

• You are here: The Names of God Part 10: Jehovah Tsidkenu, The Lord Our Righteousness
• Next: The Names of God Part 11: Jehovah Shalom, The Lord Is Peace

Frequently Asked Questions

If I am righteous, why do I still have old habits?

The pastor admits that he still sees some old habits in himself, yet he is as right as God is right because righteousness is a gift, not a performance. He distinguishes being made righteous from being as good as God is good. The new nature is a seed that grows as you meditate on it, renew your mind and accept discipline. Dwelling on the old only replants the old.

Does this teaching mean sin no longer matters?

No. He asks directly whether being born again means we can do whatever we want, and answers that it is not God’s will. If righteousness is in you, there should be visible change, and someone who grows worse over twenty years has something wrong. Righteousness consciousness is meant to lead you away from sin, which is why Paul says to awake to righteousness and sin not.

Why does Jeremiah 33 say “she” will be called by this name?

The pastor explains that the two prophecies have different subjects. In Jeremiah 23 the subject is the King, Jesus. In Jeremiah 33 the subject is the people the King raises up, Judah and Israel, which he applies to the church as one new man. Those people belong to the Lord our righteousness and exist for His purpose, so they carry His name.

Scripture References

All passages open in the New King James Version on Bible Gateway:

• Jeremiah 23:5–6 — the King called the Lord our righteousness
• Jeremiah 33:15–16 — His people called by the same name
• Psalm 145:17 — righteous in all His ways
• Isaiah 64:6 — our righteousness as filthy rags
• Psalm 51:16–17 — a broken and contrite heart
• Romans 3:21–24 — righteousness apart from the law
• 2 Corinthians 5:21 — made the righteousness of God
• Romans 10:9–10 — believing unto righteousness
• 1 Corinthians 15:34 — awake to righteousness
• Malachi 4:2 — the Sun of Righteousness

How this summary was made: written with AI assistance from the sermon’s own transcript and checked against the Scriptures listed above.

Watch More Messages

If this introduction to the Lord our righteousness encouraged you, there are many more teachings from NTC Ministries to explore. Browse the full sermon archive and keep getting to know God by His names.