The Lord Jesus was that promised prophet, Whose words were the very Gospel Words of God for sinful men.
But His were not merely words. His preaching went further than just talk, but to direct acts of deliverance and salvation.
This is foretold by the Psalmist who, speaking as Christ, recites His faithfulness to proclaim God's Righteousness, Faithfulness, Lovingkindness, and Salvation to the people.
Taken by themselves, we might think Christ was speaking of His preaching of the law, but therein was no hope at all for salvation, for He said that our righteousness must exceed the very best righteousness of the legalists.
But Jesus also proclaimed Righteousness for sinners, God's Righteousness accounted to those who cry out for mercy. It was God's Righteousness that is our salvation, and not our own.
Realizing the true nature of Christ's preaching God's Righteousness, the context of Psalm 40 becomes clear: Christ was obedient to offer Himself as the sacrifice for sinners! He took upon Himself our guiltiness, and was treated as if He had sinned in our place, as the judgment we should have received was redirected against Him at the Cross!
Christ's preaching was no mere words, but rather actions calculated to give life to His Gospel promises.
Nowhere more clearly did Christ proclaim God's Righteousness for poor sinners than when He hung in agony and shame at Calvary. Paul wrote that Jesus' death for us declares the Righteousness of God for sinners received by faith.
Christ hanging upon the Cross preaches to us: Righteousness! Righteousness! Righteousness!
His crucifixion for sinners is, indeed, His masterpiece sermon, proclaiming God's Righteousness!
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John Pittman Hey was born in 1961 in Jackson, Mississippi, to Godly parents who from the beginning raised him in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. With child-like faith he came to Christ on his fourth birthday at his mother's knee. He received his education at church...
