Jeremiah 23:5-6

Sermon Notes

Happy Stir Up Sunday! Happy Christ the King Sunday! Happy Sunday of Doom!

The coming of Christ into this world means that God wants His family back and in the person and work of Jesus Christ, God has come to us and for us!

“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, ‘the LORD our righteousness.’”
Jeremiah 23:5-6

1. The Promise of a King

“We don’t live on explanations, we live on promises, and the promises of God are based on the character of God.”
Warren Wiersbe, Be Amazed

“If Jeremiah the man spoke in his day, and if Jeremiah the book still speaks today, in both cases it is because of the God who called the man to speak and commanded the book to be written. So we must encounter the God of Jeremiah, an encounter that should be both profoundly disturbing and ultimately reassuring, as it was for him.”
Christopher J. H. Wright, The Message of Jeremiah: Grace in the End

God is full of surprises. And in Jesus, every surprise becomes fulfillment.

“We should ask God to increase our hope when it is small, awaken it when it is dormant, confirm it when it is wavering, strengthen it when it is weak, and raise it up when it is overthrown.”
John Calvin

2. The Purpose of His Reign

• Zedekiah’s name means “the righteousness of the LORD.”
• The righteous Branch is called “the LORD our Righteousness” = YHWH Tsidqenu
• In stark contrast to Zedekiah, the righteous Branch (Messiah) of Jeremiah 23 not only reflects God’s righteousness but goes further on to convey God’s righteousness to His people!

“There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”
Romans 8:1

“But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption, so that, just as it is written, ‘LET HIM WHO BOASTS, BOAST IN THE LORD.'”
1 Corinthians 1:30-31

“He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”
2 Corinthians 5:21

“This world is a great sculptor’s shop. We are the statues and there is a rumour going round the shop that some of us are some day going to come to life.”
C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

3. The Peace That Only He Can Bring

“The Christmas message is that there is hope for a ruined humanity – hope of pardon, hope of peace with God, hope of glory.”
J. I. Packer

4. Jesus is the King We’ve Always Wanted and Jesus is the King We’ve Always Needed

• Stir us up, Lord, and awaken us to our need for redemption.
• Stir us up, Lord, to acknowledge that we are hungry for something only You can give.
• Stir us up, Lord, to place our faith in King Jesus, who is Himself our righteousness, sanctification and redemption!

“Because in no other person but the historic Jesus of Nazareth has God become man and lived a human life on earth, died to bear the penalty of our sins, and been raised from death and exalted to glory, there is no other Savior, for there is no other person who is qualified to save.”
John Stott, The Authentic Jesus