So I want to ask you to turn to Jeremiah, chapter 23. I'm not going to ask you to stand today for the sake of time, but I want to start off by telling you that like any message that's preached, there's always a problem. There's always a problem we want to address. But I believe the problem we're looking at today is something that has always permeated, it's always been around. And it's something that you and I must ask today.

What is the place of morality in my life? What is the place of morality? Why is it needed? What's its purpose in civilization? In a sense, morality is concerned with instructions and virtues and morals that holds a society together.

But the problem that we have is what drives morality today. There are so many definitions in our culture for what is right and wrong. I mean, we can go back into the Book of Judges and see that something was wrong when it said that there was no king and everyone did what was right in their own eyes. The very definition of immorality, the idea that morality should be determined by something else other than a higher power. And honestly, when I began to look at right and wrong, if I'm imposing myself as the judge and the standard of right and wrong, there is no security.

I would want to argue with you today that the biggest problem society faces today is insecurity. You look at your bank account and it's depleted. You go to the gas, the gas station and prices are up. You go to the grocery store and you're blown away with how much stuff cost. We can't put our security in these things, though, can we?

Because the prices go up and down and up and down. And we need to find a way to reseat ourselves in the security that God provides by providing us a moral code. It's called righteousness. Say righteousness. In his book, C.S.

lewis wrote in Mere Christianity, he tells about talking about morality. He tells the story of a schoolboy who was asked what God was like. And the little boy stated as far as he could make it out, that God was the sort of person who is always snooping around to see if anyone is enjoying himself and then doing something to stop it. Y' all know that to be true. How many of you had your mama sitting in church and you over there acting a fool?

She touches you on the leg, says, wait till you get home, boy. Y' all know what I'm talking about. Because see here, CS Lewis goes on to explain how morals are like a machine, and it's there. Our Bodies is like a machine. It's there to prevent a breakdown, a strain, a friction in the running of that machine.

In fact, he says, it affects us in three different ways. Morals affects our relationships, how I relate to somebody else and how they relate to me. It affects me internally, how I think and the decisions that I make. And then it affects me in my plans and my future to think that there's something else out there and my purpose in life. If the machine is not running well, it's not efficient.

If a choir is not in sync, it sounds horrible. I remember this former student of mine. I'll leave nameless since we're being broadcast on Facebook, right? I'm telling you, we could sit down and he could run a major scale on a guitar faster than anyone else I'd ever seen. He knew his minor scales, he knew his arpeggios.

Y' all didn't even know I knew that word, did you?

But he was tone deaf and couldn't keep time to save his life. So we let him play one Wednesday night. And the dogs began to howl and the cats were screeching and there was weeping and gnashing of teeth because he couldn't tell he wasn't in the same key with the rest of everyone else. And that is what it's like when everyone does what's right in their own eyes. There's no moral code.

There's no foundation of what is right in our lives. It becomes subjective.

Charles Dawkins Known Atheist and I want you to hear this, parents, because I want you to know why things such as Darwinism is dangerous. Because Darwinism for some reason believes that there is no good and there is no evil because there is no higher power. In fact, Charles Dawkins, Richard Dawkins said this. The universe we observe has precisely the properties we should expect. Like, kind of in a base sense, except there is, at bottom, no design, no purpose, no good or evil.

Nothing but blind, pitiful indifference. And this is the foundation of the science being taught in our secular schools.

If there is no evil, then why do we worry about what's good or what's bad? The scientist was answered, well, that's why we have natural selection.

Yeah, that's what I said, too.

My generation. My generation. Gen X. If you're a Gen x, listen up. 74% of our generation answered this question when asked about absolute truth.

They said, whatever is right for your life and works best for you is your truth. Three out of four of our generation, oh, it gets worse. Gen Z, we've got Some in the room. Do you know how Gen Z is defining truth? When I tell you this, it's going to blow your mind but make a lot of sense.

It's not about what works right in my life. Gen Z, the majority of Gen Z believes truth is determined by whether or not it offends somebody else. And you know the problem with that system is you've got a bunch of aristocrats who are walking around with their feelings on their shoulders getting offended about everything. And so then I'm determining my truth by their feelings.

Every one of our wretched politicians are starting to buy into that garbage and they expect us to conform to their offenses. But I'm telling you there's a God in the universe, the everlasting God, God Most High, who is our absolute authority and truth. No, no, no, no. Some of you just said amen. But I don't think you believe it.

Because if you believe that God is absolute and that he's an all powerful God, we base our lives on that.

Where are we, Church? We can't preach a God of grace without a God of judgment. And he judges based on his righteousness and we're devoid of it. And we have a society that is floundering like fish out of the water trying to catch a breath of some life and they can't do it when truth is relative and subjective. Your feelings do not determine your truth.

God determines our truth. The reason they kicked God out of school is so that they could control and manipulate the masses.

What if the people of God decided I'm going to stand on what I know to be absolutely true? And it begins with this fact. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, died on a cross and he busted that grave wide open and he lives forever and evermore. Christians, do we not believe that I have life today because my Savior lives? Not because I'm good, not because I think I might be good.

I'm good because he gave me his goodness, a gift. Come on Church, let's get excited about that. If I can get excited about that, then I can go out in the world and say, yes, it is true. God is going to return and he is going to judge us according to his righteousness. But that 100% truth is countered with 100% mercy and grace.

If I would just believe in His Son. Y' all ready for the altar call now or later? I want you to look at your study guides and I want you to see this definition of righteousness. In Hebrew, the word righteous means straight. It means straight.

You ever walk driven behind somebody who's swerving on the road, you kind of wonder if they're about to catch the ditch in a surprise. When you and I are walking in righteousness, we're walking straight. We're not veering to the right and to the left, we're walking straight. And who determines what is straight? It's time to stop letting culture and the world and our flesh determine what is straight and look to God Almighty.

In Jeremiah, the kings had led their people astray for a long time. King Josiah was the last good king in Judah, and his subsequent descendants were all described as evil. In fact, the sad part of this is you go all the way back to King David, and David has Solomon, and Solomon becomes king. And he did some good stuff, did he not? But just because he did good stuff didn't mean he was good, because the last thing we know about Solomon was that he fell from grace.

He went after the idols of his wives. That's not a good epitaph to have on your tombstone. And Rehoboam comes along, and in his haughtiness and arrogance, he splits the kingdom. There wasn't any good kings in the Northern kingdom, and by 722 BC, they gone. They're banished.

The Assyrians came and took them away, and all you have left is Judah and a little bit of Benjamin. But then they begin to follow after the kings of. Of the Northern Kingdom. So here's the thing. You know, I know Americans, we excel in everything, right?

And we also follow after what's going on in Europe. So if you think that the debauchery in Europe is bad, wait till it gets over here and gets ceded. We haven't seen anything yet because we do it good.

There was a study done of the seven leading liberal churches in America, and it's disturbing to see what was believed. But here's the thing I want you to hear, because it sets up the first point that we're about to read in those liberal churches. The pastors of those churches are more liberal than their congregants. What do you think is making the congregations liberal? The shepherds, the leaders?

Jesus said in Matthew 9:36, he saw the people and he felt compassion for them because they were distressed and dispirited, like sheep without a shepherd. So if you're breathing in this room today or joining me online, you are a sheep. It is a great metaphor. God should be our shepherd. He is, as this text is going to say, our righteousness.

In fact, that's the only place, out of all these names that We've studied. It's the only place where you see the first person plural possessive used. We saw the singular possessive used. Does anybody know where the singular was used? Do you remember our study?

Psalm 23. The Lord is my shepherd. But here's the problem. I can say he's my shepherd, but he's talking about conclusively. Is he our righteousness?

Is he our righteousness? And so let's just jump feet first into this because I will go until 1 o' clock if we don't first point. Evil misdirection leads to lostness.

Evil misdirection leads to lostness. What do I mean by that? Well, look at verse number one. Woe to the shepherds who are destroying and scattering the sheep of my pasture, declares the Lord. Therefore, thus says the Lord God of Israel concerning the shepherds who are tending my people.

You have scattered my flock, driven them away and have not attended to them. You have to attend to to a sheep. Behold, he said, I'm about to attend to you for the evil of your deeds, declares the Lord. Remember when I talked about how mom would reach over and tap, say, wait till you get home. That was a promise that my dad was going to attend to me.

Remember me describing, sorry, dad, I'm just apologizing to you online, brother. Dad had Mouse embroidered on the back of his belt. And you did not want to meet Mouse because there was nothing and still isn't anything mousy about my dad. And you also learned your lesson because you probably weren't going to repeat that again. He said, woe to those shepherds.

Zedekiah was probably the king at this time. Two deportations have already taken place and he is saying, woe to you kings. Woe to you shepherds. You have led my sheep astray. It's the same thing.

Jesus had to deal with the Pharisees and scribes when he said, whoa, you have used and abused my people. And we see it today. And I'm telling you folks, you need to be careful what you read, who you read, who you follow, who you listen to. I'd rather you be a group of bereans that every time I preach this word, you're digging in the scriptures to make sure I'm saying what I should say because I'm a fallible human being just like you are. You don't take somebody's words at face value.

Use the brain that God's given you to test it. To test it? Why? Because if you don't, evil will misdirect you and lead you into further lostness.

In verse, in chapter. Excuse me, in chapter 22, just a chapter before this, he says, woe to him. It's the only other. It's the first woe Jeremiah uses to him who builds his house without righteousness. Woe to him who builds his house without righteousness.

Why? Because it will not stand and it will fall. Sin may have its pleasure for a season, but it is nothing that you want to put your stock and barrel into. Verse fifth, chapter 50, verse number six, he says, again, my people have become lost sheep and. And their shepherds have led them astray.

So whether that's your pastor, whether that's some preacher online, whether that's some self help guru, whether that's social media, young folks, stop listening to the voices that are leading you astray. Paul wrote in First Corinthians 15:33, do not be deceived. Bad company corrupts good morals. You need to ask the question, who is. Am I around?

Because you will become right, Steve Payson, just like the people I'm around. If you have issues in your life of following and doing right, then you need to ask your question. Who is around me? Hey, and I don't. Equal opportunity offender, right?

For some of us in our older generations, we need to stop going to certain restaurants and gossiping about things. It's the same thing. Stop it. It's not good, it's not righteous. We need to follow the straight line that's ahead of us.

One NIH study said this 68%. 68% of people distinguish between right and wrong when they see a headline in the news. But that means that one out of three don't. We are easily duped and misled, and that misdirection will lead us to lostness. And a lot of times when you're lost, you don't know you're lost.

No one gets up in the morning going, you know what? I think I'll just go get lost today. Because even when somebody says, I just need to go meander and run around and do errands, that's not lost. Lost means you don't know where you are and how to get back. In fact, there's a study in 2003 done by this group called Survival Dispatch, kind of working out of the Yosemite National Forest Search and Rescue.

They found in 2023 that 4,661 people were lost in the woods over there and needed help. In that year, 4661 nationally, they said it was more like 50,000 people. Two years ago, 50,000 people decided to go enjoy nature and got lost. They didn't plan to get lost, they just got lost. Whether they just got in and just didn't know where they were going, the trail got a little bit fuzzy, didn't know what it was doing.

Maybe it just got late and they got excited and got over this ridge and couldn't find their way back. But there was a group of people there whose job was to go and rescue them. And that's why in our situation, whether I have chosen my lostness or whether I have been deceived and led into lostness, the only hope I have is point two, divine intervention will lead to restoration. He says in verse three, then I myself, the emphatic of the pronoun, I myself will gather the remnant of my flock out of the countries where I have driven them and bring them back to their pasture and they will be fruitful and and multiply. There's an intention of this verb where he says, I will gather my people, my flock, my remnant.

It's emphasized, it's strong. And look at what he said. He'd bring them back to their pasture and they will be fruitful and multiplied. Where's the first time in the Bible we heard that phrase to Adam and Eve and he told them to be fruitful and multiply for the divine purpose of God. He wants his covenant people following his covenant.

And in that they will be fruitful and multiplied, not just physically, but spiritually speaking as well. He said, I will raise up shepherds over them and they will tend to them. Because kings, you have failed. The kings of Israel had failed in Jesus time, the high priest had failed. And today I'm telling you, your pastors have failed.

They have failed and we need to be careful whom we follow.

If they're not preaching Jesus and pointing attention to him, don't follow them. If they're standing in a stage and just trying to be cool and come across, it's going to tell you you called the least cool pastor on the face of this planet. There's nothing cool about me and I don't want to be on a pedestal, but you need to be careful. Those men putting themselves on pedestals and exerting their power and authority. Jesus said whoever would be first must be last and the last must be first.

If you are not following somebody who is a servant in their heart, don't follow them.

I just opened up a can of worms for myself.

Truth is we're lost because we don't have righteousness. Paul was reflecting On Old Testament. In the Old Testament, on Psalm 14:1:3, when he said, there is none righteous. No, not one. But God demonstrates His love for us, though.

Here's the hope that while we were sinners, Christ died for us. He said he would gather us back. It would be his work. Let me ask you a question. If you're a believer in Jesus Christ, where were you when he found you?

I want you to think for a moment. I want you to reflect back. Where were you when Jesus found you? You didn't go looking for him. You didn't go looking for Him.

Steve, I was trying to tell your story the other day. I can't tell it. I messed it up. I butchered it. Steve Payson, I know one of many in this room would tell you Jesus found me in the depths of despair and he rescued me.

I didn't rescue myself. Remember that video I showed you guys about the sheep that was stuck in this pipeline had been dug and the sheep stuck in there. And this guy takes a belt, girds it around the sheep, and he pulls the sheep up and then he loosens the belt and that sheep takes off and jumps, goes right back in the ditch. That's me. He pulls me out of the ditch and I jump right back in there because I'm a dumb sheep.

I hope this doesn't bust your bubble. You are too.

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me. Your rod and your staff comforts me. He says in verse four, he said, I will raise them up and they will no longer be afraid or terrified. The reason our Gen Z or our Gen Z generation is the way that they are is because they're afraid. They have no security in society.

If somebody just decides that they're mad about something and offended, they change their truth for that. Gen Xers, we're no different. We get into situations and we're like, well, you know, maybe I do need to slip at $1,000 out of that. Come on, I gotta feed my kids. So I'll steal $1,000 to feed my kids.

That's relative truth and it affects your identity. When you're insecure, it affects your identity. So let me just go ahead and just keep offending you. Reason we're struggling with transgenderism in this world today is because they are not secure in who they are. I don't want to offend anybody by that, but it's just true.

The reason why, I mean, even in my own family, I saw one of my family Members struggle with steroid use because they weren't secure in the way they looked and it ruined their life. And you probably have made choices in your life too, to try to find security in things of this world. But there is nothing in this world. Everything that you see in this world someday will burn in the judgment of God. Put your trust in something that's eternal, not in what's temporary.

Put your trust in the good shepherd. Who said, I am the good shepherd? And the good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep today. Somebody here, I believe, needs to hear that God is intervening to work in your life right now. You know that it may not seem like it.

God may have seemed silent in your life. Anxiety and depression may be weighing down you. But I'm telling you, he's coming after you. He's coming after you. You don't have that strong arm.

You need divine intervention. And when we get that divine intervention, that straightness, that righteousness, that dependability, that trustworthiness, then point number three, I submit to righteous rule that will bring me to security. Listen to what he says in verse number five. Behold, the days are coming. This is a promise.

God's declared it. When I will raise up for David a righteous branch. That's a symbol, not just used in Jeremiah, but also in Isaiah. What better place to start Christmas than to know that there's a branch of David and he will reign as king, say king. And he acts wisely and he does justice and righteousness in the land.

And in his days Judah will be saved and Israel will dwell. What's your word say? Mine says, securely, if security is a problem, the solution is to base my life on Christ and His righteousness. Isaiah 4:2 says that in that day the branch of the Lord will be beautiful and glorious and the fruit of the earth will be the pride and the adornment of the survivors of Israel. You know who that is?

That's us. That's us. You know, I said in the first service, I'll say it again. You know, sometimes we sit here and think about truth. Well, if truth is good, then I follow that truth.

One of those is that the Bible says not to forsake the gathering of yourselves together, right? You're here, right? Sometimes we skip for the weirdest reasons, because that truth is relative.

If there's something else vying for my attention or my priorities, I'll skip out.

Aren't you thankful? God gives us grace and mercy and he's drawing us to say, you know what? I want you to take my truths. I Gave you my truth for a reason. But.

But if you want to find security, then follow my truths. Your word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. If I have no light on the path, I will get lost.

I want you to look at the last part of verse six. It says, and this is his name by which he will be called the Lord our righteousness. Let me ask you, how secure are you today? I'm not talking about the feeling of security. I'm talking about the fact of security.

Because your feelings may not be in line with what's true, but you need to pray that the Lord God will help your heart get in line with your head. At home, do you have family issues? At work, are you having issues with co workers or pay? Or are you about your finances? Are you having issues with conflicts with your neighbor?

Are you uncertain about your future? What I'm telling you today is stop looking at those truths through the lens of your feelings and take those glasses off and look at it by the truth of God. And if those truths in your life don't line up to what's been inspired and revealed, then it's not worth a dime.

And by his name he will be called the Lord our righteousness. We get the name here. Who is that? Who is that? That's our King Jesus.

I know him and I can trust him because he is righteousness himself. Romans 10:19. If we confess with our mouth that Jesus is. You see, I had that in the first service too. If Jesus really is your Lord, you'll want to stand up and say, he is my King and he's my Lord.

So let me give you a little bit. I don't mean to shame you. Don't take it that way. If he is our Lord, he's my King. I want to fall into allegiance with him.

Because as my well being goes, so does my security. If COVID 19 didn't teach us anything, it taught us this, that when I am insecure, my identity is subjective. When I am insecure, my well being is subjective. It'll go up and it'll go down. That's why we have gender dysphoria in our nation.

And that's not the only thing. I don't want to just pick on that. But that's the truth. I can't decide what gender I am. I can't decide which ball team I play on.

I can't decide anything. Why? Because truth's not absolute. When you decide today that whatever is true is true, always not based on how I feel about it. It will be life changing in your life.

It'll transform you like you never can imagine because it gives you hope. It gives you hope. I get to tell you today that some of you in this room have heard me do my two words talk with kids. Some of you adults have gotten it now and I finally found the perfect verse for my two words talk. Some of you are looking at what's the two words talk?

Well, the two words talk is this. How do you know when you go to heaven that you're saved? Are you going to stand before the Lord and say, well, I was a pretty good person? That's subjective truth. You just said you're good.

Jesus himself, when he was called good teacher, said, no, there's only one that is good. He wanted to make sure he corrected the truth before he ever addressed his own self. But this is the two words parents, you can borrow this, I don't mind. I give it to you for free. Because there's only two words that will substantiate why you and I get to go to heaven.

And it's these two words upon which I ought to base my identity, my purpose, my going forth, anything. These two words mean more than any two words in our English language. Do y' all want to know the two words Jesus promised? When I stand before the Lord someday, I'm not going to rattle off my Christian pedigree. I'm going to stand there and say, the blood of Jesus allows me to come in.

First John, chapter 2, verse 25 says, this is the promise which we have from He Himself that he's made to us. Eternal life. That's my two words verse. You can borrow that and you can even put it online. I won't charge you.

But that leads us to our fourth point. Living promise leads to hope. Look at verse number seven. He says, therefore, behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when they will no longer say, as the Lord lives, who brought up the sons of Israel from the land of Egypt, but as the Lord lives, who brought up and led back the descendants of the household of Israel from the northland and from the countries where I have driven him, they will then again live on their own soil. In Jeremiah 29:10, God said, I've decreed 70 years for my people to go into banishment.

And you need to keep that in mind before you quote Jeremiah 29:11. Because the people who were reading this were sitting by the river in Babylon and God had told them, no, you need to put down roots and you live a quiet life and you do what you're supposed to do while you're in banishment. I can't look at Jeremiah 29:11 unless I consider that they're in judgment. So then God says, I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you, not to harm you, to give you a hope and a future. And everyone who read that died in the land of Babylon.

So what is the hope in the future? His son Jesus Christ was going to come and save us from our sins.

Now, does that mean God doesn't have a plan for your life? Well, he does, but sometimes those plans include our chastisement, not just our betterment. We love to quote Jeremiah 11 to say, Lord, you know, I'm going to get another hundred dollars because God's got plans for me. But we don't thank God when He leads us into chastisement, do we? But his chastisement is as important as his blessing, because it is a blessing.

Because of our sin problem, we are lost, but our Lord, our Lord came to rescue us. What he said in that text was this. Verse 7, look back, people of Israel, look back. And you recall the Exodus that had happened hundreds of years before. That he said, but now I'm going to add another step in your testimony.

You'll no longer say, well, he brought us out of Egypt. Now he's going to say, he brought us out of Egypt, sent us into punishment and brought us back, too. He restored us. He restored what the locusts had eaten. He brought them back into blessing and folks, for us.

For us. I'm glad you may have a testimony that starts when you were seven years old and you were baptized. I want to know what it looks like. Now. How has God built your resume since that point?

Somebody comes up, listen, older folks, do me a favor, please do me a favor, write down your testimony. When the time comes for you to leave this earth and I or other pastors are sitting there going, hey, tell us a little bit about your. About your loved one that just passed away. If they can't tell us your testimony, that means they can't sit there and know for sure whether you're in heaven or hell. And if nothing's happened since you made a profession, then maybe you're not saved because he's called us.

He's given us, he's imputed his righteousness to us. And now he's called us to walk straight paths. And today, if you're lost, you can be saved. If you don't know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, you know if you leave this world right now, that you will go to the devil's hell. And don't leave this place without putting your faith and trust in Christ.

And if you are saved, then the time has come in your life to decide. God's truth is my absolute truth, and it's the way I'm going to walk. Can we agree on that? Now I'm going to rattle off. It's 11:25.

I'm going to rattle off eight statements to you. Don't worry about writing them down. They're just very straightforward. There's no alliteration. There's nothing poetic about these.

But I think we need to know the straight facts of righteousness. Are you ready? I'm going to read them real quick. Just receive it. Number one.

God alone is righteous. God alone is righteous. Psalm 11 says, for the Lord is righteous, he loves righteousness. And the upright will behold his face. The upright, the ones he makes righteous will be able to see the face of God.

And because he's righteous. Number two, he holds a righteous standard. He's God. He should be able to look down at his creation and say, this is the standard I have for the way people think about themselves, the way that they relate to others, and the path that they have moving forward. He has a righteous standard.

If our righteousness does not surpass that of the scribes and Pharisees, according to Jesus, we will not enter the kingdom of heaven. So the only way that you can is if somebody gives you perfect righteousness. And who is the only person who ever walked this earth and lived a perfect life? It's Jesus. Because we're unrighteous.

Number three. We deserve judgment. There is no one righteous, not even one. There's no one who understands. There's no one who seeks God.

Isaiah 64, 6. For all have become like someone unclean, and our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment. We have a problem. It's a major problem. But hallelujah that Jesus Christ is righteous because he is God, he's righteous, and by his name by which we will be called the Lord, our righteousness.

Acts 13:14. In Peter's testimony he said, but you disowned talking about Jesus, the holy and righteous one, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you.

John said in John 1st John 2:1. My children, I'm writing these things to you so that you may not sin. Did you catch that? He. He's writing so they will walk straight paths.

And if anyone sins, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous. So what did Jesus do? He died to fulfill righteousness. When he came to John the Baptist and asked to be baptized, John said, no, no, no, no, no, no. It's actually the reverse.

You need to be doing this to me, Son of God. He's like, no, but to fulfill all righteousness, you need to permit this. So, you know, you may look through the Bible and say, well, where were the apostles baptized? I actually was talking to a friend this week about that, and we both kind of settled on that passage where it said, I'm sorry I cheated, because I'd already been studying this. We've got Jesus baptism on record, and he did that baptism before he started his earthly ministry.

So if you're sitting here today and you're afraid of this water, my question is, why? Why? I know some folks that they'll go and cheerlead on the sideline at a football game, but they're petrified of getting in this baptistry. I'm not gonna stand before a football team stands. When I die, I'm gonna stand before a holy God and have to account for my life.

And this Baptistry doesn't have anything mystical or magical, but it does declare who my king is. And he died to fulfill righteousness. But number six, we were made righteous only by faith in Christ. Only by faith, but by doing his will. Paul wrote, you are in Christ and become to us the wisdom of God and righteousness and sanctification and redemption.

Just as it is written, let him who boasts boast in the Lord. So don't boast on your own righteousness because it's filthy rags boast in his number seven. We are called to practice righteousness. Therefore, if it's a part of who I am now he's given me his righteousness. The Holy Spirit lives inside of my life, then it should start living out in my members.

Write this passage down. Romans 6, 12, 13. After Paul explains baptism, he says this. Therefore, do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts. And do not go on presenting your members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness.

But present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. How can I do that? Because now righteousness lives in me. And if I don't let that righteousness live out in me, I'm quenching the Holy Spirit, and I ought to be miserable if I'm not living according to my identity. The last one says, this God is our righteousness.

When I accept Jesus now Jesus is mine and I'm His. And if he's mine, then I need to live that out. I think the greatest commitment we could make in knowing this today about the righteousness of God is blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be. Anybody know that word? Filled.

Filled. Not wanting, not partially, but will be filled. We have hope today because God gives us his. His righteousness. So I want you to think about this.

There's a story of a young man who's invited to a king's feast. And he shows up at the door. And as he's seeing all the people go in, he looks down at himself and he realizes how dirty he is, how worn out his garments are, and how his robe looks tattered. He's like, I can't go in looking like this. There's no way the king would accept me.

I understand that I am not properly dressed. But at that time, the son of the king comes up. You know what you call the son of a king? What are they called? They're called princes.

Right? The prince comes up and sees him standing there holding back and goes, what's the problem? And he goes, well, look, I can't go in looking like this. And he said, well, I got you covered. And the son takes his robe off and he puts it on the man.

He said, now go in. And when my dad sees you, he'll see me. That was good, guys. And he goes into the feast, and the king treats him like his own son and says, come sit at my table. I think some of us today, whether you believe or you don't believe, it's time to lay down that raggedy old robe you've been wearing way too long.

You need to repent of your life here in this earth and give your life fully to Jesus Christ. If you don't know Jesus Christ as your Lord and savior today, please come down and talk to one of us during this time of decision. In a moment. Maybe some of you are here today and you're just like, you know what? I claim to know Jesus, but I have not been walking in righteousness.

Well, he can't be our righteousness. He can't be your righteousness until you own it. It's for yours, for the taking. So I want to ask you to stand as I pray for you. I don't know what your need is today.

And sometimes you preach a message and you go, like, all right, I can give you some things to do. Maybe you need to recommit to knowing and learning truth. Maybe you need to address some of the influences in your life. Maybe some of you need to delete those little Instagram TikTok buttons off your phone because they're filling your mind full of garbage. Maybe you need to apply truth differently.

Maybe you need some people around you. If you don't group with other believers you will walk away from the faith. You need a group. You need a group but maybe you just need to trust Christ today. If the Lord is our righteousness then today he's calling us to lay down that filthy rag.

Stop walking around in that stinky old garment and come and let him clothe you with a new robe and give you a new name and us declare back to him he is our righteousness. Father as we go into this time of decision would you speak to us? Would you open our heart to hear, our eyes to see and God that we may live life that's pleasing to you. In Jesus name amen.