Pastor, author, and Bible teacher, Alan Wright. And the good news of the Gospel is that the great, the perfect, the righteous branch of David, the better David, has come in a baby who was born in Bethlehem in the city of David. Unto you this day is born in the city of David a Savior is Christ the Lord. That's Pastor Alan Wright. Welcome to another message of good news that will help you see your life in a whole new light. Merry Christmas.
I'm Daniel Britt. Excited for you to hear the teaching today in the series, He Alone is Worthy as presented at Rinaldo Church in North Carolina. If you're not able to stay with us throughout the entire program, I want to make sure you know how to get our special resource right now. It can be yours for your donation this month to Alan Wright Ministries.
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877-544-4860. More on this later in today's program. But now let's get started with the teaching for today. Here is Alan Wright. That was one of Josiah's sons, Shalom. And then if you were to look at verse 21 of Jeremiah 22, another son of Josiah, Jehoiakim, says, I spoke to you in your prosperity, Jehoiakim, but you said, I will not listen.
This has been your way from your youth. You've not obeyed my voice. Another attribute of a wicked king. They run after idols. They don't listen to God. They don't want righteousness. And then to the son of Jehoiakim in Jeremiah 22, 30.
This is to Kaniyia. Thus says the Lord, write this man down as childless, a man who shall not succeed in his days, for none of his offspring shall succeed in sitting on the throne of David and ruling again in Judah. This is what God says ultimately about wicked kings. They're not going to forever have the throne because God has promised to do something better, a better David. There's one king that's not mentioned in Jeremiah 22 by name, but he's there.
He's there because all of this talk about righteousness. And this is the king who is the last king of the southern kingdom of the people of God, Judah, before 586 when Babylon sacks Jerusalem, deports all the people for 11 years. It was the rulership of Zedekiah. And the reason that's important, we'll come back to in a moment, but it's because Zedekiah's name contains the word righteousness in it.
And yet he was an idolater. All of this, these bad kings in Jeremiah 22, it all stands in contrast to the promise of the king who would be righteous, like David but better. Again, Jeremiah 23, 5, behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I'll raise up for David a righteous branch. Isaiah 11, 1, there shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit. The whole hope of Israel is that God would fulfill his promise that he made to David in 2 Samuel 7 and said, I'll never remove my steadfast love from you and someone from your lineage will forever be on the throne. And that's what they were looking for. Someone who liked David would expand their borders again, establish peace, bring prosperity, and just be righteous. I mean, David has terrible sin with Bathsheba, but his heart was a worshiper of God and one who was attentive to his people. They just want something like that. They're looking for the righteous branch.
The one who's of David's family and is so righteous. We need that king. That's why by the time Jesus was born, they had grown a huge anticipation that the new king would be coming soon. That's what the Magi had heard, traveled all that distance. So this righteous branch shoots up from a stump, like a tree that's fallen over.
And then there's this big stump that still has a little life in it and a green shoot comes up from it that could become an even better, more glorious tree. The righteous branch, the new good shepherd who will not scatter but will gather the sheep so they won't be lost and they won't be afraid. They will be saved and secure.
That was the prophecy. Can you see Jesus in this? So here's what's beautiful.
I want you to see this. A little bit of Hebrew here because it's really beautiful and powerful what's happening. That the new king would be called the Lord is our righteousness because it stands in contrast to the last king God's people ever knew, Zedekiah. So whenever you hear Yah, it's short for Yahweh and Yahweh shows up in your Bible in capital letters, the Lord.
Because when Moses said, who shall I tell him sent me? He said, tell them Yahweh, which is rendered or translated, I am who I am or I will be who I will be. Yahweh considered by the Hebrew people too holy to even utter out loud. Yahweh, Yah for short when you see it in words.
So where do we say it all the time? Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Praise Yahweh, the Lord. So Zedekiah comes from Zedek, righteousness and Yah. And the name Zedekiah means the Lord is righteous.
But Zedekiah was not. Unrighteous king, all the people suffer. Righteous king, all the people are blessed.
May not seem fair, but it is what it is, is it not? It's why we do care about our leadership, right? It's why bad king after bad king after bad king, wicked idolatry, selfish, fleshly, wicked king after wicked king in Israel. And finally it rains down suffering on all the people and Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon invaded, sacked Jerusalem and took their people away because their kings were so bad.
Right? So we're all praying about the Hamas Israeli war. Things get complicated, but this much wasn't complicated. Terrorists came over a border and on purpose killed innocent people and delighted in slaughtering the innocents just to terrify because their mission is to wipe them out. And in our understanding of just war and the history of the world and today that justifies war against that people.
And that's what's had to happen. Now we've got like, gosh, we care so much about people that didn't sign up for this war. I got an email this week from a friend who has a Christian Palestinian pastor in Gaza. Please pray for him. Got no house, got nowhere to live. Everybody's now had to flee down south in Gaza. Got Lebanese pastor friend who's saying, pray for us. We don't want the war coming for us. And everybody's having to get displaced from the lower regions of Lebanon to get up closer to Beirut where they're safer away from the skirmishes. The thing's awful. It's a mess.
Right? And so lots of people in Gaza that are suffering so much and they didn't want the Christian pastor and Palestinian in Gaza, he didn't want to invade Israel. He didn't want to go kill the Jews. He didn't want to do that. But his wicked, stupid leaders, terrorists who were at the helm did and everybody's suffering.
And that's sad. I'm just saying unrighteous leadership and lots of things don't go right for people under that. Righteous King and all kinds of things go right. And you got to always remember when you think it's not fair, God didn't design things to flow according to the power of curse. He designed it to flow according to the power of blessing. That's why parents have authority in their children's lives so they can bless them, so they can fill them with love, so they can set the course of their life, so they can have generational blessing that goes on to a thousand generations.
That's the design of God. Sin came in and broke this. I lead up therefore to what the best news ever is in this text, is that the prophecy about the coming King, the righteous branch of David, shall be called, Yahweh is our Zedek. Zedekiah means the Lord is righteous, but the new King will be called, the Lord is our righteousness. And this is what is so sweet about the Christian gospel. If you are new to the Christian gospel or just seeking to understand more, it is twofold good news. It is an invitation to allow a sinless savior, Jesus, who is God in the flesh, to take your place on the cross. And the Bible says it's like paying a debt. Sin in our lives, and every single one of us has sinned, has caused there to be an enormous debt that we in our unrighteousness, because we're all sinners, could never pay. And Jesus came to do that so that your sin, when you say yes to Jesus' saving power, your sin is forgiven and your debt's gone. But the second part of this double good news is that though your sin is gone, which would be wonderful in itself, but would leave you morally neutral, it wouldn't mean you merit heaven. So what God also does is what theologians call imputes the righteousness of the savior to you.
You get to participate in the most stunning and imaginably powerful gift ever given. You get the righteousness of Jesus himself. Paul said in Philippians 3 and I, to be found in him, Jesus, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith. So Adam's sin was imputed to all of us because we were born in Adam, but when you're born again in Jesus Christ, his righteousness is imputed to you.
It's summed up in 2 Corinthians 5 21, for our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. The Lord is our righteousness. That's Alan Wright, and we'll have more teaching in a moment from today's important series. In a world that often feels overwhelming, we all seek moments of encouragement and hope as a heartfelt thank you for your partnership with Alan Wright Ministries. When you give today, we're excited to send you our blessing box featuring 24 beautifully crafted cards filled with encouraging blessings from Pastor Alan. Each card offers daily inspiration and scripture on themes such as hope, strength, your identity in Christ, Thanksgiving, and much more. This unique resource can be yours. Make your gift to the ministry today and get your blessing box.
These blessings are designed to uplift your spirit, providing encouragement whenever you need a boost. We are happy to send this to you as our thanks from Alan Wright Ministries. This broadcast is only possible because of listener financial support. When you give today, we will send you today's special offer. The gospel is shared when you give to Alan Wright Ministries. Call us at 877-544-4860. That's 877-544-4860, or come to our website, PastorAlan.org.
Today's teaching now continues. Here once again is Alan Wright. Yahweh himself in the flesh in Jesus Christ became our righteousness so that at judgment day you stand before the throne and in God's eyes he has reckoned as if you lived the sinless meritorious life of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. That's your king. If you get the right king over your life, everything gets better in your life. We got a lot of things in this world that we can't choose. You can vote in the election, but you don't get to determine its outcome. That'll be a bigger deal than just your one vote.
You can't even figure out necessarily why your car's not running. I can make a floor show up by my willpower, but beloved, there's one choice you can make every single day, and that is who's going to be your king. If your king is your own flesh's appetites, then you'll reap from that. If your king is your own selfish priorities, you can reap from that. If your king is your popularity or prestige, you can reap from that. If it is at the idol of money, you could reap whatever that can give you, but all the wicked kings lined up one after the other, I promise you if unrighteousness is over your life, it will breed everything in your life towards that which is not right. But you and I, praise His holy name, get to choose every morning, Jesus Christ, He's my king.
He's everything. And to worship is to submit yourself with joy and delight to the one perfect righteous ruler, Jesus. Jesus, you're in a spiritual battle. Paul said we don't wrestle against flesh and blood but against rulers. He's talking about spiritual demonic forces against authorities, against cosmic powers of this present darkness. The devil's not just dubbed the ruler of this present darkness, but Paul called Satan the prince of the power of the air. Jesus called him the ruler of this world, not because he is in any way co-equal with God. Satan's a creature and God's God. But it is to say that there is a competition, that this is what Satan wanted from the beginning was he wanted to be king.
And so people are worshiping someone and following someone. And the good news of the gospel is that the great, the perfect, the righteous branch of David, the better David has come in a baby who was born in Bethlehem in the city of David. Unto you this day is born in the city of David, a savior is Christ the Lord. Yahweh is our righteousness. Pastor S. M. Lockridge, if you've never looked this up, you ought to go home because nobody could do it justice, but it's still worth reading something that he preached about the kingship of Jesus and the way the words come together.
And well, I'm just going to read it to you and let it fill your heart this Advent week. The Bible says, my King is the King of the Jews. He is a King of Israel. He is the King of righteousness. He's the King of the ages. He's the King of heaven. He's the King of glory. He's the King of Kings and he's the Lord of Lords. That's my King. I wonder, do you know him?
My King is a sovereign King. No means of measure can define his limitless love. He's enduringly strong.
He's entirely sincere. He's internally steadfast. He's immortally graceful. He's imperially powerful. He's impartially merciful.
Oh, do you know him? He's the greatest phenomenon that has ever crossed the horizon of this world. He is God's son.
He's a sinner's savior. He's the centerpiece of civilization. He's unparalleled.
He's unprecedented. He's the loftiest idea in literature. He's the highest personality in philosophy. He's the fundamental doctrine of true theology. He's the only one qualified to be an all-sufficient savior. I wonder if you know him. He supplies strength for the weak.
He's available for the tempted and tried. He sympathizes and he saves. He strengthens and sustains.
He guards and guides. He heals the sick. He cleans the lepers. He forgives sinners.
He discharges debtors. He delivers the captives. He delivers and defends the feeble. He blesses the young. He serves the unfortunate.
He regards the aged. He rewards the diligent and beautifies the meek. I wonder if you know him. He is the key to knowledge. He's the wellspring of wisdom. He's the way of deliverance. He's the pathway of peace. He's the roadway of righteousness. He's the highway of holiness. He's the gateway of glory.
Do you know him? Well, his life is matchless. His goodness is limitless. His mercy is everlasting.
His love never changes. His word is enough. His grace is sufficient.
His reign is righteous and his yoke is easy and his burden is light. I wish I could describe him to you. Yes, he's indescribable.
He's incomprehensible. He's invincible. He's irresistible. You can't get him out of your mind. You can't get him off your hand. You can't outlive him and you can't live without him. Well, the Pharisees couldn't stand him, but they found out they couldn't stop him.
Pilate couldn't find any fault in him. Herod couldn't kill him. Death couldn't handle him.
And the grave couldn't hold him. Yes, that's my king. That's my king. He is the king of kings.
He is the perfect king. He is the righteous branch of David. And when you're in him, you are in his righteousness. And that's the gospel. Alan Wright. Today's teaching, Worthy is the Righteous Branch of David.
From the series, He Alone is Worthy. Merry Christmas to you. I encourage you to stay with us. Pastor Alan is back here in the studio sharing his parting good news thought for us all in just a moment. In a world that often feels overwhelming, we all seek moments of encouragement and hope. As a heartfelt thank you for your partnership with Alan Wright Ministries. When you give today, we're excited to send you our blessing box featuring twenty four beautifully crafted cards filled with encouraging blessings from Pastor Alan. Each card offers daily inspiration and scripture on themes such as hope, strength, your identity in Christ, Thanksgiving and much more. This unique resource can be yours. Make your gift to the ministry today and give your blessing box.
These blessings are designed to uplift your spirit, providing encouragement whenever you need a boost. We are happy to send this to you as our thanks from Alan Wright Ministries. This broadcast is only possible because of listener financial support.
When you give today, we will send you today special offer. The gospel is shared when you give to Alan Wright Ministries. Call us at 877-544-4860.
That's 877-544-4860. Or come to our website, Pastor Alan dot org. Back here in the studio to share Pastor Alan's parting good news thought Christmas up here for the day as we've come to the conclusion of this particular teaching, which is worthy is the righteous branch of David. There's no greater joy, no greater truth, no greater power than as a Christian being able to say, Jesus is my King. Yeah, he is the righteous King.
And we aren't saved by any of our own righteousness, none of our own works. But our King, the righteous branch of David, he's done for us what we couldn't do for ourselves. So anybody who follows him is had experienced a transfer of citizenry, you've moved from kingdom allegiance of the world to the kingdom of God, a new domain, a kingdom, a king's domain, a new realm. So you're in Christ.
And that means everything in your life is being shaped by his rulership. And I just want to bless that in you for every one of our listeners, that you would be able to revel in the royalty of Christ. As we're looking towards the end of the year, just a gentle reminder here before life gets too incredibly busy with holidays, as a listener funded organization, Alan Wright Ministries exists to proclaim the good news of the gospel, and we could not do it without your help into the year giving is very important.
Yeah, Daniel, especially those that if you've thought about maybe helping us that this would be an excellent time to do that is that we could start coming to the end of the year. We know that there are many wonderful ministries and charitable opportunities that compete for our attention. If you've been blessed, you want to see the gospel of radical grace announced to others, your year end giving is vital for us to be able to continue the ministry.
And we want to not only continue being on the radio stations where we currently serve, but we have dreams of continually expanding. Really, Daniel, almost every dollar that's given, we can say is going to enable us to announce this message of grace in a very powerful way to thousands and thousands of people. Your contribution helps sustain the broadcast of Alan Wright Ministries in your city. When you give a single gift, a gift of any amount, special year end gift, or come on board with a recurring monthly gift, thanks for supporting Alan Wright Ministries. When you call 877-LITE-60 or visit pastor alan.org. Again, that's 877-LITE-60 or pastor alan.org. Today's good news message is a listener supported production of Alan Wright Ministries.
