The Breastplate

The Breastplate: Guard Your Heart

Ephesians 6:13–18 ESV

Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints,

Ephesians 6:13-20

We are dealing with spiritual warfare – the lifelong battle we are in with the enemy of our souls – the Devil, whose goal is to dishonor God, rob Him of His glory, by destroying the joy and effectiveness of His people.

Last week marked the 75th Anniversary of D-Day, when the Allied Forces of W.W. 2 stormed the beaches of Normandy France - what a vivid reminder of the horrors of war and the bravery of those who fight against an enemy that may seem too much for you.

We are dealing with spiritual warfare – the lifelong battle we are in with the enemy of our souls – the Devil, whose goal is to dishonor God, rob Him of His glory … and to do that BY destroying the joy and effectiveness of His people.

Thankfully, God doesn’t send us into the battle unarmed. He has given you armor, friend – to protect you against the Devil’s attacks. And this armour comes from the All-Knowing, All-Seeing, All-Wise, All-Powerful God of heaven, who is working out all of history according to His Sovereign plan .... to the most minute detail. So what does that tell you about the equipment He gives us?

.... It’s GOOD Armour.

Last week, we looked at the very first item in the list of armour - v. 14, “The Belt of Truth”. We also reflected on the fact that, when you think about it - God doesn’t do things half thought through. He doesn’t waste words or do things randomly. The belt of truth comes first - there’s a purpose for it. We saw that the belt of truth is: The message of Jesus Christ - the Good news that there is a Saviour - the truth of the, as given to us in this book – God’s Word.

Putting on the ‘belt of truth’ - means that, no matter what situation you are in - you are faced with the temptation to see things a certain way - - - you put on the belt of truth and you look at your situation through the lens of the Gospel. What does it mean to me … right here .... that Jesus Christ has saved me and I am a child of the God of Heaven?!

Being convinced of and living by the truth guards us from the misery of error – of building your life on a lie. But there is more. Saves you from putting the weight of all of your desires - leaning your hopes and dreams, on a foundation that just can’t stand under the weight

We are dealing with spiritual warfare – the lifelong battle we are in with the enemy of our souls – the Devil, whose goal is to dishonor God, rob Him of His glory … and to do that BY destroying the joy and effectiveness of His people.

Today we look at the second piece in the armor of God: the second half of verse 14: “Stand, therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness.” The breastplate of righteousness.

Last week marked the 75th Anniversary of D-Day, when the Allied Forces of W.W. 2 stormed the beaches of Normandy France - what a vivid reminder of the terrors of war and the bravery of those who fight against an enemy that may seem too much to take on – but they take on the enemy anyway.

Now, of course this is imagery from a long time ago, but you don’t have to be an ancient military expert to understand how important it is to have something to protect your chest. – especially for a Roman soldier, whose battles would involve a lot of hand-to-hand combat. Paul is writing these words from prison, and it is possible that, even as he writes these words, he is chained between two such soldiers, looking directly at what they are wearing as they sit beside him. This breastplate is the most visible piece of a soldier’s gear – it covers the whole trunk of the body, from the base of the neck, covering the whole chest and abdomen, down to the upper part of the thigh.

So this is the piece of armor that protects your vital organs – lungs, kidneys, liver and most important of all, it protects your heart. If you are a soldier, and you go into battle without your breastplate on, in the days of the Roman Empire - you don’t have a chance. You are like an NHL goalie standing between the pipes, without a chest protector - - you don’t have a chance!

Thankfully, God doesn’t send us into the battle unarmed. He has given you armor, friend – to protect you against the Devil’s attacks. And this armour comes from the All-Knowing, All-Seeing, All-Wise, All-Powerful God of heaven, who is working out all of history according to His Sovereign plan .... to the most minute detail. So what does that tell you about the equipment He gives us?

.... It’s GOOD Armour.

Now you know that we’re describing spiritual realities here – pointed to BY these pieces of physical equipment. So what are these spiritual realities? To understand, you need to understand some figures of speech of Biblical culture. In Bible days, the organs of your trunk had great symbolic significance – sort of the way they do today, actually.

Today what does the heart stand for? is a symbol of your affections. How many love songs refer to your heart – they are not talking about the blood-pumping organ. They are talking about emotions. Well, in the Bible, the heart symbolizes, not affections – but the mind. : “As a man thinks in his . . . what? In his heart, so is he. In the Bible, the heart is the seat of your intellect - of your thinking. The heart is the organ of thinking.

Last week, we looked at the very first item in the list of armour - v. 14, “The Belt of Truth”. We also reflected on the fact that, when you think about it - God doesn’t do things half thought through. He doesn’t waste words or do things randomly. The belt of truth comes first - there’s a purpose for that. We saw that the belt of truth is: The message of Jesus Christ - the Good news that there is a Saviour - the truth of the Gospel, as given to us in this book – God’s Word.

Putting on the ‘belt of truth’ - means that, no matter what situation you are in - you are faced with the temptation to see things a certain way - - - you put on the belt of truth and you look at your situation through the lens of the Gospel. What does it mean to me … right here .... that Jesus Christ has saved me and I am a child of the God of Heaven?!

The affections and emotions – well they are symbolized in the Bible by the “bowels” or ‘stomach’ or ‘kidneys’. That made for some pretty bizarre love songs on Jerusalem radio back then - - “I left my kidney in San Francisco’, doesn’t create a very attractive picture for us today, but meant something in Paul’s day. So you protect your stomach, your bowels and your kidney.

Actually, in a sense, we do talk the same way today. When something goes terribly wrong, when you are horrified or deeply discouraged about some circumstance, you say, “I feel like I’ve been kicked in the stomach” or something along those lines. We hear people talk about someone ‘venting his spleen’. You get the idea. It’s all about emotions.

Being convinced of and living by the truth will guard you from the misery of error – of building your life on a lie. But there is more. Saves you from putting the weight of all of your desires - leaning your hopes and dreams, on a foundation that just can’t stand under the weight of your expectations.

Today we look at the second piece in the armor of God: the second half of verse 14: “Stand, therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness.” The breastplate of righteousness.

There are TWO MAIN AREAS in which Satan wants to attack a believer on the battlefield that is this life: Two main areas of attack are coming at you, Christian:

Now, of course this is imagery from a long time ago, but you don’t have to be an ancient military expert to understand how important it is to have something to protect your chest. – especially for a Roman soldier, whose battles would involve lots of hand-to-hand combat. Paul is writing these words from prison, and it is possible that, even as he writes these words, he is chained between two such soldiers, looking directly at what they are wearing as they sit beside him. This breastplate is the most visible piece of a soldier’s gear – it covers the whole trunk of the body, from the base of the neck, covering the whole chest and abdomen, down to the upper part of the thigh.

First, in your thinking, and Second, in your kidneys, your stomach - which, in the Biblical days, meant your emotions. One in the way he thinks and feels - - - another in the way he responds emotionally. And the believer must be protected, because this is where Satan makes his attack, he feeds your thinking processes with false information, he feeds your emotions with false information, he wants to cloud your mind with false doctrine, lies, religious untruth, anything he can - if he can do that - and make you live your life, based on lies - he will steal your joy , he will SAP your delight, because you will find yourself tossed around by all kinds of false teaching .... Here’s the thing about false teaching - when life is good - or when you’re not thinking deeply - - false teaching can .....

AND, second - he will attack your stomach - your emotions - because if he can get you to give yourself to illicit pleasures and false passions … if he can get you to give yourself to things that God says, “Hey - DON’T DO THAT! Stay away from that - It’s deadly” …

then he will succeeded in leading you to into a life of devastation and despair. He wants to twist and pervert your affections.

So this is the piece of armor that protects your vital organs – lungs, kidneys, liver and most important of all, it protects your heart. If you are a soldier, and you go into battle without your breastplate on, in the days of the Roman Empire - you don’t have a chance. You are like an NHL goalie standing between the pipes, without a chest protector - - you won’t survive!

And so this is where the breastplate of righteousness comes in :

Now you know that we’re describing spiritual realities here – pointed to BY these pieces of physical equipment. So what are these spiritual realities? To understand, you need to understand some figures of speech of Biblical culture. In Bible days, the organs of your trunk had great symbolic significance – sort of the way they do today, actually.

The breastplate of righteousness is this: It is the righteousness of Christ, which is IMPUTED to us, IMPARTED to us and is to be consciously pursued so that it becomes an impenetrable barrier to protect our mind and our affections; to preserve our thoughts and joy.

____________________________________________________________1. Righteousness Imputed

1. Righteousness Imputed

Today what does the heart stand for? is a symbol of your affections. How many love songs refer to your heart – they are not talking about the blood-pumping organ. They are talking about emotions. Well, in the Bible, the heart symbolizes, not affections – but the mind.

: “As a man thinks in his . . . what? In his heart, so is he. In the Bible, the heart is the seat of your intellect - of your thinking. The heart is the organ of thinking.

First - the breastplate of righteousness is an IMPUTED righteousness. But before we go any further, let’s stop, step back and recognize that this BREASTPLATE makes absolutely no sense to you, until you think honestly of your own situation. We’re not talking theory here - this is no dry doctrine that we are discussing. This is real life, friends.

One of the great tools the devil has in his arsenal – we’ve talked about it before – it’s the weapon of accusation. You know that weapon, because it’s been used against you, often. It was used against you before you became a Christian. There was that point in your life, where you couldn’t escape reality any more. You couldn’t hide from the realization that you were not the random product of molecules accidentally bumping together and then sticking together - - your dreams and hopes and deepest loves - are not simply the result of the chemical compounds and processes in your brain. No, you are a being created in the image of an all-powerful God - - and that must mean that you will, one day, stand before God and you will give account for your life - - - and you realize,

“If I have to stand before God, the way that I am, deep inside … and as God is, in His holiness ...” - - - Then I am in big, big trouble.

The world comes along, with its talk of ‘RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE’ - along comes Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, ME-ism (the self-created religion that is increasingly popular in our society) and every other ‘ISM’ … and says,

“Don’t worry - just follow these simple rules and all will be fine.”

You’ve tried that - but you see that no matter how much you ‘do’ - nothing changes WHO you are - at the core. You knew you had no hope.

That’s where Paul found himself. That’s where Paul was - in terms of ‘religion’ - his record was spotless - even poured himself into trying to stomp out Christianity because he thought it was fake.

He tells about his transformation though, in , There is one and only one thing that can protect your peace - - a righteousness that comes from outside. Paul talk about it in :

The affections and emotions – well they are symbolized in the Bible by the “bowels” or ‘stomach’ or ‘kidneys’. That made for some pretty bizarre love songs on Jerusalem radio back then - - “I left my kidney in San Francisco’, doesn’t create a very attractive picture for us today, but meant something in Paul’s day. So you protect your stomach, your bowels and your kidney.

There is one and only one thing that can protect your peace - - a righteousness that comes from outside. Paul talk about it in :

Actually, in a sense, we do talk the same way today. When something goes terribly wrong, when you are deeply discouraged about some circumstance, you say, “I feel like I’ve been kicked in the stomach” or something along those lines. We hear people talk about someone ‘venting his spleen’. You get the idea. It’s all about emotions.

I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law (from what I do), but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith—

“I needed another righteousness - far greater than I could manufacture in myself.”

Brings us to the doctrine of “Imputed Righteousness” of Christ. “Impu . . . WHAT?!” Why would I care about a word I can hardly pronounce and certainly don’t understand. Well, for a couple of reasons. First of all, you probably do have some idea of what imputation means. You know what someone means when they say, “Don’t impute those bad motives to me”. You know the person is saying - “Don’t take something that is NOT mine (those bad motives) .... and attribute them to me! Don’t say that they are mine!” That’s what imputation means.

There are TWO MAIN AREAS in which Satan wants to attack a believer on the battlefield that is this life: Two main areas of attack are coming at you, Christian:

And it is important - - O, how important it is. For hundreds of years, from the great Reformers to the faithful Puritans . . . through the centuries COUNTLESS CHRISTIANS have found courage in the doctrine of the IMPUTATION OF THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF CHRIST ....

You know what someone means when they say, “Don’t impute those bad motives to me.” You know the person is saying – “don’t take something that is NOT mine . . . and attribute it to me – don’t say that it’s mine.”

And it is important - - O, how important it is. For hundreds of years, from the great Reformers to the faithful Puritans . . . through the centuries they have found courage in the doctrine of the IMPUTATION OF THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF CHRIST> Just because we happen to live in a Christian culture that could care less about doctrine, and is tossed around on the stormy-hurricane swept sea of “relevance”, why should you miss out on this source of great strength and protection.

First, in your thinking, and Second, in your kidneys, your stomach - which, in the Biblical days, meant your emotions. One in the way he thinks and feels - - - another in the way he responds emotionally. And every Christian needs protection, because this is where Satan makes his attack, he feeds your thinking processes with false information, he feeds your emotions with false information, he wants to cloud your mind with false doctrine, lies, religious untruth, anything he can - if he can do that - and make you live your life, based on lies - he will steal your joy , he will SAP your delight, because you will find yourself tossed around by all kinds of false teaching .... Here’s the thing about false teaching - when life is good - or when you’re not thinking deeply - - false teaching can .....

Just because we happen to live in a cultural Christianity that could care less about doctrine, where so many even INSIDE the church are tossed around on the stormy, hurricane-swept sea of ‘relevance’ - - why should YOU miss out on this source of great strength and protection?!

“IMPUTATION” is when you take something that belongs to somebody, and you put it to the account of somebody else.

AND, second - he will attack your stomach - your emotions - because if he can get you to give yourself to illicit pleasures and false passions … if he can get you to give yourself to things that God says, “Hey - DON’T DO THAT! Stay away from that - It’s deadly” …

then he will succeeded in leading you to into a life of devastation and despair. He wants to twist and pervert your affections.

EXAMPLE - -

That’s what God does in

That’s what God does in Jesus Christ in sending him into the world. He sends His eternal, HOLY Son -

And so this is where the breastplate of righteousness comes in :

Paul describes it in more detail in :

The breastplate of righteousness is this: It is the righteousness of Christ, which is IMPUTED to us, IMPARTED to us and is to be consciously pursued so that it becomes an impenetrable barrier to protect our mind and our affections; to preserve our thoughts and joy.

1. RIGHTEOUSNESS IMPUTED

"For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." (, ESV)

Don’t lose the wonder of the magnificent glory of the cross for you: It is the IMPUTATION of the RIGHTEOUSNESS OF CHRIST FOR YOU - - - Jesus climbs the cross, makes himself responsible for all of the sins – every last one of them, of all of His people, who will ever come to faith in Him … He opens His arms for the nails and says to the Father, “HERE I AM - - PUNISH ME FOR THEIR SINS” .... the Father says, “I WILL DO SO” .... and He pours out all of His just wrath for the sins of those who will belong to Him … until there is NONE LEFT for you and I, who are in Jesus Christ.

First - the breastplate of righteousness is an IMPUTED righteousness. But before we go any further, let’s stop, step back and recognize that this BREASTPLATE makes absolutely no sense to you, until you think honestly of your own situation. We’re not talking theory here - this is no dry doctrine that we are discussing. This is real life, friends.

and put their trust in him for forgiveness of them. God says - - “I accept your offer.”

He puts our sins on the shoulders of His infinitely pure Son. He IMPUTES our sins to Jesus - - - Punishes them all in him, until there is not one gram of wrath left for them. So there is none left for you and I, who are IN Jesus Christ.

One of the great weapons the devil has in his arsenal – we’ve talked about it before – it’s the weapon of accusation. You know this weapon, because it’s been used against you, often. It was used against you before you became a Christian. There was that point in your life, where you couldn’t escape reality any more. You couldn’t hide from the realization that you were not the random product of molecules accidentally bumping together and then sticking together - - your dreams and hopes and deepest loves - are not simply the result of the chemical compounds and processes in your brain. No, you are a being created in the image of an all-powerful God - - and that must mean that you will, one day, stand before God and you will give account for your life - - - and you realize,

Some of you in youth group have gone through an exercise where you take a piece of paper and write down, on the paper, all of your sins - - every last wicked or wrong thing you have done in your life - as much as you can remember - -

… so you take out your pen and you write down everything you can remember (keep looking over your shoulder, make sure nobody else is watching - because you don’t want anyone else to see the stuff that’s written down there), then the leader says, “Fold up the paper” .... You’re only too happy to do that - you fold it up, as tightly as you can, then roll it between your fingers until it becomes a little paper ball - - - sure that nobody else can see it.

Then, ‘Okay, take it over to the fire. Throw it in the campfire’.

So you do it. And oh, the felling that comes over you as you watch that paper burn - that paper, on which was listed every bad thing you can remember ever doing - - and you see that record of YOUR sins .... burned until it’s consumed - - there’s nothing left of it.

That’s a pretty good picture of the imputation of Jesus Christ. You see, what happens, is that God the Father puts on the Son - all of your sins, Christian - they’re all gone.

… reminds Christian of his unfaithfulness - his miserable failures on the journey so far.

“You fainted at the beginning of your journey, when you were almost choked in the ‘Slough of Despond’. You attempted to rid yourself of your burden in the wrong way when you should’ve waited until your Prince had taken it off. You sinfully slept and lost your valuable things. Also, you were almost persuaded to go back at the sight of the lions. And when you talk about your journey and what you’ve heard and seen, you are inwardly boastful in everything you say and do.”

Do you see what the Devil does in his attacks? He is listing off, item by item of Christian’s failures - how many times he has messed up … and not only in the things he’s done and failed to do … even in his very motivations - “Even when you seem to do right - you are driven by inward boastfulness … every good thing you do is disqualified.”

You can’t argue - the Devil is right.

So, what does Christian do? How does he respond?

He says, “All this is true … and MUCH MORE besides, but the Prince whom I serve and honor is merciful and ready to forgive. These infirmities controlled me in your country, for there I sucked them in; and I’ve groaned under them and been sorry for them, but I’ve obtained pardon for them from my Prince.”

That’s beautiful. See what Bunyan is saying here: “When the devil confronts you with your sin - you put on the breastplate of righteousness.”

“You look the evil one, directly in the eye and say .... YOU DON’T EVEN KNOW THE HALF OF IT. I am so much MORE guilty than you know. I’m guilty of everything you say and so much more that you don’t even see ....

And Jesus Christ has died for every single one of my sins - the ones you’ve listed and the ones you don’t even know about. They have all been IMPUTED TO HIM - - and I am clothed in His glorious Righteousness.

That is glorious. OUR SINS - IMPUTED TO CHRIST> But that’s not the end of the story. It’s not enough. I can have all of my sins paid for by Jesus Christ - but that still leaves me naked

“If I have to stand before God, the way that I am, deep inside … and as God is, in His holiness ...” - - - Then I am in big, big trouble.

… as if I’ve been rescued from a fire, pulled out of the flames … my life is saved … but all I’m left with is the burnt, smoke-saturated clothes. I am in no way presentable to God.

One of my regular nightmares … time to preach … can’t find my pants. Variation - I am up here preaching and happen to look down and notice … “I have no pants on.” TERRIFYING.

The world comes along, with its talk of ‘RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE’ - along comes Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, ME-ism (the self-created religion that is increasingly popular in our society) and every other ‘ISM’ … and says,

That is glorious. But that’s not enough. Ever been formal dinner - - BLACK TIE . . .

That is glorious. OUR SINS - IMPUTED TO CHRIST> But that’s not the end of the story. It’s not enough. Ever been formal dinner - - BLACK TIE . . .

You know that awful feeling of showing up at class one morning - you dragged yourself out of bed at the last minute, just to get here in time, thinking that this was just another regular class - you thought you could manage to stay awake for the lecture. But you get here and realize that this is no regular class day - the professor starts handing out exam papers. THIS IS A TEST!

And you’re not prepared. You haven’t had any time to cover up your lack of knowledge of this subject by pulling an all-nighter of study - which, you already know, doesn’t change your understanding or what you really know - but it would be just enough to pour just enough information into one side of your brain, so that you could pass the exam before it all leaked out the other side of your brain. You don’t even have that.

You know what all-nighters do - we used to do them all the time - they made it possible for you to cover your flaws - your lack of knowledge. So you could please your professor, your coach, your parent, your significant other

.... we are all trying to please someone … you are always struggling to live up to somebody’s expectations .... and always feel like you’re falling short because of your flaws. There are a million different eyes you are trying to please and a million different standards you are trying to live up to.

But there is no greater standard to live up to than God’s standard: “BE HOLY, for I am HOLY”, He says. And the more we try, the more painfully aware we become that, “I CAN’T DO THIS - - I CAN’T EVER BE HOLY … ENOUGH”

Ever been formal dinner - - BLACK TIE . . .

“Don’t worry - just follow these simple rules and all will be fine.”

If we are going to stand before God, we need to have our sins taken away - yes, but if that’s all we have - then we don’t have a hope STILL. We need more than that: we need something positive. We need to be POSITIVELY RIGHTEOUS.

And here is what God does. He takes the crud of my failures and credits it to Jesus - credits it all to His account … and then, He imputes the perfect purity of Jesus’ righteousness to me. You see, Jesus didn’t just come to die for our sins, He came to experience human life in this world, to live a life of perfect obedience … and takes that perfect life and puts it over us like a great glorious suit of clothing ...

It is the GREAT EXCHANGE. Do you see what that means? If you are a Christian, you are clothed with the righteousness of Jesus. When God looks at you – He doesn’t see you without pants … doesn’t see you after a pop quiz - - all of your ignorance hanging out. He sees you as royalty, because you are wearing the perfect royal robes of Jesus, the King of Kings. In God’s eyes, you are HOLY - - He pronounces YOU, Christian – RIGHTEOUS.

You’ve tried that - but you see that no matter how much you ‘do’ - nothing changes WHO you are - at the core. You knew you had no hope.

“There is, therefore, now no condemnation, to those who are in Christ Jesus” (). So there -you have a weapon in your arsenal. You have a piece of armor - -

You go to pray . . . you open up your Bible . . . or, you just head out into the day . . . and you feel ‘empty’ . . . God seems distant . . . there is no joy bubbling up within – only an icy cold concrete.

________________________________________________________

That’s where Paul found himself. That’s where Paul was - in terms of ‘religion’ - his record was spotless - even poured himself into trying to stomp out Christianity because he thought it was fake.

2. Imparted Righteousness

But there’s more – there has to be more than just being declared righteous. And there is.

He tells about his transformation though, in – when he realized he needed a righteousness that comes from outside. Paul talks about it in

God imputes to us righteousness. But, he also, to use a Puritan word - - he IMPARTS the righteousness of Jesus to us.

By the Holy Spirit’s work in you as a believer, He starts the process at the beginning and keeps on working it out until the end of life - - IMPARTING - - making you look more and more like Jesus. “He who began a good work in you, will carry it on to completion.” Sanctifying you.

BLOOD TRANSFUSION - - If you have been saved by Jesus, you have been rescued from death. Then the Holy Spirit begins the process of giving you a blood transfusion - - - slowly, drip by drip, infusing you with the righteous ‘blood’, if you will, of Jesus.

: I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law (from what I do), but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith—

“I needed another righteousness - far greater than I could manufacture in myself.”

But this is where God calls for YOUR Activity. NOT, SO THAT He will do something with you, but because He IS ALREADY at work in you. That’s what Paul is talking about in : “. . . put on the new self, created after the likeness of God, in true righteousness and holiness.”

Brings us to the doctrine of “Imputed Righteousness” of Christ. “Impu . . . WHAT?!” Why would I care about a word I can hardly pronounce and certainly don’t understand. Well, for a couple of reasons. First of all, you probably do have some idea of what imputation means. You know what someone means when they say, “Don’t impute those bad motives to me”. You know the person is saying - “Don’t take something that is NOT mine (those bad motives) .... and attribute them to me! Don’t say that they are mine!” That’s what imputation means.

, “. . .work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.” Don’t miss that - “Work out your salvation with fear and trembling” .... “Does that mean I have to do it all?!”

NO - not at all - the only reason you have a desire to do anything, is because God is in the background, already at work - - - giving you the very desire to honor Him, so you can preserve your joy.”

And it is important - - O, how important it is. For hundreds of years, from the great Reformers to the faithful Puritans . . . through the centuries COUNTLESS CHRISTIANS have found courage in the doctrine of the IMPUTATION OF THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF CHRIST ....

In , The apostle Peter goes so far as to put it this way:

Just because we happen to live in a cultural Christianity that could care less about doctrine, where so many even INSIDE the church are tossed around on the stormy, hurricane-swept sea of ‘relevance’ - - why should YOU miss out on this source of great strength and protection?!

"Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul." (, ESV)

“IMPUTATION” is when you take something that belongs to somebody, and you put it to the account of somebody else.

I URGE you – can see Peter down on his knees, begging in fatherly love - work to avoid self-destructive activities - - because they will destroy you!

God calls us to act with zeal to pursue holiness - -

That’s what God does in Jesus Christ in sending him into the world. He sends His eternal, HOLY Son -

What if I don’t? you ask.

Well, I can promise you one thing: you will lose your joy. I am convinced that the most miserable person in Abbotsford, this morning, is not someone who has never tasted the joy of being forgiven, of having received the credit for the righteousness of Christ. No, the most miserable person in this city, is someone who has been saved and is choosing to ignore the convicting work of the Holy Spirit, who is pointing you along the pathway of holiness. Is that you?

Well, I can promise you one thing: you will lose your joy. I am convinced that the most miserable person in Abbotsford this morning, is not someone who has never tasted the joy of being forgiven, of having received credit for the righteousness of Christ. No, the most miserable person in this city, is someone who has been saved and is choosing to ignore the convicting work of the Holy Spirit, who is pointing you along the pathway of holiness.

David knew it. When he had run into awful sin and prayed to the Lord, in , “Restore to me the joy of your salvation”. Catch what he is saying: “I have been saved … but the JOY IS GONE!!”

Paul describes it in more detail in

In John’s gospel, Jesus is speaking to His disciples, in chapter 15, and he says, “These things I have spoken to you, so that my joy may be in you, AND THAT YOUR JOY MAY BE FULL.”

Does it seem to you that there are so many Christian people who have SO LITTLE joy?

It’s like an epidemic. People struggling with depression and stress and marriage problems … so many Christians can barely cope. And too often, I see the Church respond by running to try and keep up with the world - so much so that the solution so often offered is, “Well, you need to go for counselling.” “You need a prescription”.

Now, don’t hear me wrong: I am not saying that there is NEVER a place for a Biblical, Christian counselor. I am NOT saying that there is never a place for medical treatment.

What I AM saying, from the Bible and my own personal experience … is that so often the reason Christians feel like they can’t make it, is due to a lack of personal holiness - - and 10 or 12 sessions with a Christian counselor or a new pill is NOT what they need … they need 10 or 12 hours on their faces in the presence of God, until they deal with the hidden, self-excused sins in their lives - - and resolve to put it all down, by the power of the Holy Spirit.

: "For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God."

John MacArthur: “Look at your own life, do you got problems in your family? Check your own holiness. Are you faithful in reading the Word of God, is your prayer life what it ought to be, are you loving your family the way you should, are you speaking for Jesus Christ unashamedly in your society, in your culture wherever you are? Are you giving to the Lord what you ought to give sacrificially and taking care of the stewardship of all the rest of it that you keep, are you living a righteous life in categories of your life as you've outlined them and as God has in His Word? Because if you're not why would you expect your life to go well? If it did then God would defeat His own purposes . . .”

John writes in his gospel, “These things (about Jesus) are written, that your joy may be full.” The joy comes through obedience. I was talking to someone on the phone last week, and he works with a Christian organization, and we were talking about how many CHRISTIAN people seem so JOY-LESS these days. It’s like an epidemic, he sees it, I see it: People struggling with depressions and marriage problems and stress - - So many Christians can barely cope these days. And the Church is so busy running to keep up with the world, that the solution so often offered is, “Well, you need to go for counseling”. Now, hear me clearly. I am not saying that there is NEVER a place for Biblical Christian counselor. But I am saying that so often the reason Christians have sorrow on their lives is due to a lack of personal holiness - - and 10 or 12 sessions with a Christian counselor is NOT what they need - - they need 10 or 12 hours on their faces in the presence of God until they deal with the hidden, self-excused sins in their lives – and determine to put it all down, by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Of course - if you are stubbornly following your own pathway, ignoring God and expect things to go well - if God is a LOVING Father, then why would He allow you to carry on in your misery? He wouldn’t. And if it takes making you miserable to get you to change roads - then so be it.

Don’t lose the wonder of the magnificent glory of the cross for you: It is the IMPUTATION of the RIGHTEOUSNESS OF CHRIST FOR YOU - - - Jesus climbs the cross, makes himself responsible for all of the sins – every last one of them, of all of His people, who will ever come to faith in Him … He opens His arms for the nails and says to the Father, “HERE I AM - - PUNISH ME FOR THEIR SINS” .... the Father says, “I WILL DO SO” .... and He pours out all of His just wrath for the sins of those who will belong to Him … until there is NONE LEFT for you and I, who are in Jesus Christ.

John MacArthur: “Look at your own life, do you got problems in your family? Check your own holiness. Are you faithful in reading the Word of God, is your prayer life what it ought to be, are you loving your family the way you should, are you speaking for Jesus Christ unashamed in your society, in your culture wherever you are? Are you giving to the Lord what you ought to give sacrificially and taking care of the stewardship of all the rest of it that you keep, are you living a righteous life in categories of your life as you've outlined them and as God has in His Word? Because if you're not why would you expect your life to go well? If it did then God would defeat His own purposes . . .”

Not only will you lose your joy - if you ignore the call to pursue righteousness, you will lose your fruitfulness, too.

God has given us, in this church, so much potential - - so many people from different ages, backgrounds, cultures ...

different experiences, different kinds of gifts for ministry ....

Listen friends, we have not even begun to see what God could do with THIS church in THIS place, in this country and around the world ...

… you haven’t begun to see what God could do through YOUR life … if we began to really get our lives in harmony with the righteous principles of the Word of God … and I’m talking to me as much as anybody else. Don’t settle for so LITTLE!

D.L. Moody: “The world has yet to see what God will do through a man fully consecrated to Him.”

Don’t be a vampire Christian. Vampire Christians only want a little blood for their sins, but nothing more to do with Jesus until heaven, when they will have to associate with him. There is no joy there.

He puts our sins on the shoulders of His infinitely pure Son. He IMPUTES our sins to Jesus - - - Punishes them all in him, until there is not one gram of wrath left for them. So there is none left for you and I, who are IN Jesus Christ.

Not only will you lose your joy – If you ignore the call to pursue righteousness, you will lose your fruitfulness to. God has given

Listen, friends we have not even begun to see what God could do with this church in this place, in this country and around the world if we began to really get our lives in harmony with the righteous principles of the Word of God, and I'm talking to me as much as anybody else.

Some of you in youth group have gone through an exercise where you take a piece of paper and write down, on the paper, all of your sins - - every last wicked or wrong thing you have done in your life - as much as you can remember

We sing the song – “What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.” So true. But too many are content to say, “I need the blood of Jesus to deal with my sin problem, so I will take a little bit here, and become pure and then I’ll fly away back to the realities of my self-directed life and check in once a week to pay my respects to Jesus, at Church. There is no joy there!

… so you take out your pen and you write down everything you can remember (keep looking over your shoulder, make sure nobody else is watching - because you don’t want anyone else to see the stuff that’s written down there), then the leader says, “Fold up the paper” .... You’re only too happy to do that - you fold it up, as tightly as you can, then roll it between your fingers until it becomes a little paper ball - - - sure that nobody else can see it.

Don’t be a vampire Christian. Vampire Christians only want a little blood for their sins, but nothing more to do with Jesus until heaven, when they will have to associate with him. There is no joy there. We sing the song – “What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.” But too many are content to say, “I need the blood of Jesus to cleanse me of my sin, so I will take a little bit here, and become pure and then I’ll fly away back to the realities of my self-directed life and check in once a week to pay my respects to Jesus, at Church. There is no joy there!

How do you put on this breastplate of righteousness, in the armour that God gives for your joy?

Then, ‘Okay, take it over to the fire. Throw it in the campfire’.

: “I appeal to you, therefore brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God, which is your spiritual worship.”

So you do it. And oh, the felling that comes over you as you watch that paper burn - that paper, on which was listed every bad thing you can remember ever doing - - and you see that record of YOUR sins .... burned until it’s consumed - - there’s nothing left of it.

Satan is the Accuser - - He will accuser (), but the believer who puts on the breastplate of righteousness is the one who is conscious of the Righteousness of Christ, imputed to him, and is pursuing the Righteousness of Christ being imparted to him. If you do that - you will have, covering your chest - your minds and emotions - you will have the breastplate God has give you - and YOU will know the joy and fruitfulness that your Father intends for you. He loves you.

That’s a pretty good picture of the imputation of Jesus Christ. You see, what happens, is that God the Father puts on the Son - all of your sins, Christian - they’re all gone.

Pilgrim’s Progress: Christian is in the Valley of Humiliation, Apollyon - the devil comes to attack -

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