Breastplate of Righteousness
Prepare for the Fight • Sermon • Submitted
0 ratings
· 10 viewsNotes
Transcript
Handout
The book “Antidotes of Napoleon Bonaparte
and his times,”
shares the following story:
Just before Napoleon set out for Belgium,
he sent for the cleverest artist of his class in Paris,
and demanded of him
whether he would engage
to make a coat of mail,
to be worn under the ordinary dress,
which would be absolutely bullet-proof;
and that, if so,
he might name his own price
for such a work.
The man engaged
to make the desired object,
if allowed proper time,
and he named
eighteen thousand francs
as the price of it.
The bargain was concluded,
and in due time
the work was produced,
and its maker
honored with a second audience
of the emperor.
‘Now,’ said his imperial majesty,
‘put it on.’
The man did so.
‘As I am to stake my life
on its efficacy,
you will, I suppose,
have no objection to do the same.’
And he took a brace of pistols
and prepared to discharge
one at the breast
of the astonished artists.”
There was no retreating, however,
and half dead with fear,
the artist stood his ground
as Napoleon took aim and fired.
Shaken,
the man knew his work
had stopped the bullet.
However,
he had only enough time
to look up in relief
to see his emperor
fire a second pistol,
then a third.
The armor withstood the test.
‘Well,’ said the emperor,
‘you have produced a capital work.’
Then he paid the man
double of the agreed upon price.
Thankfully,
we can have complete confidence
in the Spiritual armor
that God has made for us.
Over the past few weeks
we have been studying about
spiritual warfare.
We learned
that we face a deadly foe,
the enemy of our soul,
that is intent
on wreaking havoc on our lives.
As we have learned,
he wants to tell us what to think,
what to say,
he wants to light our fuse with anger,
and he wants to freak us out.
He wants to deceive us,
to attack our hearts and minds,
to steal our peace
and ruin our relationships.
So what can we do?
How do we prepare for this spiritual fight?
The apostle Paul tells us how in his letter to the Ephesians in chapter 6 starting with verse 10 (NIV),
Ephesians 6:10-17 “Finally, be strong in the Lord
Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God,
so that you can take your stand
against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against
flesh and blood, but against the rulers,
against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world
and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.
Therefore, put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground,
and after you have done everything, to stand.
Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist,
with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet
fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.
In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish
all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit,
which is the word of God.”
This is the Word of the Lord
We have learned over the past several weeks that we fight in God’s strength and not our own,
that we must take up our shield of faith to resist Satan’s continued attacks that are designed to cause us to doubt God’s word and His intentions for us.
Last week we learned that we must put on and keep on the belt of truth.
That is, we are to surround ourselves with God’s truth-
God’s perspective.
So that we are able
to identify the enemy’s lies.
This morning we turn our attention
to the next piece of armor-
the breastplate of righteousness.
The breastplate
was a solid piece of metal.
It covered from their collar bone
to the torso.
It had two pieces.
One strapped to the front of the soldier
and the other strapped to his back.
Like Napoleon’s bullet proof coat,
the breastplate was designed
to protect the soldier’s vital organs-
especially his heart.
Through Paul’s description,
God is giving us a powerful analogy.
Just as the breastplate
protects the soldier’s heart
so must we protect our heart-
our soul-
our inner most being
with righteousness.
To fully grasp what God is saying here
we must first riddle out
the meaning of righteousness.
The Greek term for “righteous” is dikaios.
The verb form of this word means "to do justice," "to be just," "to vindicate," or "to justify".
The noun form, dikaiosynēs, is used in Ephesians 6:14.
It means “that which is deemed right by the Lord or that which is approved in His eyes.
To accurately understand
righteousness then,
one must first accept
that God has a moral standard.
God’s moral standard
is kind of like a mathematical equation.
There is both
a: negative (-), put off, or take away aspect
and a positive (+), add to,
or put on aspect to that standard.
Point number one this morning
1. The negative aspect to God’s moral standard is that the righteous person must put off all aspects of sin sinfulness- or sinful behavior.
Theologian J.C. Ryle explains,
“I say, furthermore, that 'a sin', to speak more particularly, consists in doing, saying, thinking or imagining anything that is not in perfect conformity with the mind and law of God.
'Sin', in short as the Scripture says, is 'the transgression of the law' (1 John 3:4).
The slightest outward or inward departure from absolute mathematical parallelism with God's revealed will and character constitutes a sin, and at once makes us guilty in God's sight…
Sin, in short, is that vast moral disease which affects the whole human race, of every rank and class and name and nation
and people and tongue…”
End Quote
As Ephesians 2:1-3 explains,
As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath.
“As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins,
in which you used to live
when you followed the ways of this world
and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air,
the spirit who is now at work
in those who are disobedient.
All of us also lived among them at one time,
gratifying the cravings of our flesh
and following its desires and thoughts.
Like the rest,
we were by nature deserving of wrath.”
Friends,
only a person completely free from sin
is truly righteous.
Since all of humanity
is infected with “that vast moral disease”
it is safe to say
that no human being is righteous
except Jesus
who being fully God and man
lived a sinless life.
The rest of us
are as Ephesians 2:3 states,
“deserving of wrath.”
Take a look at Isaiah 59:14-16 (NIV),
So justice is driven back,
and righteousness stands at a distance;
truth has stumbled in the streets,
honesty cannot enter.
Truth is nowhere to be found,
and whoever shuns evil becomes a prey.
The Lord looked and was displeased
that there was no justice.
He saw that there was no one,
he was appalled that there was no one to intervene;
so his own arm achieved salvation for him,
and his own righteousness sustained him.
“So justice is driven back,
and righteousness stands at a distance;
truth has stumbled in the streets,
honesty cannot enter.
Truth is nowhere to be found,
and whoever shuns evil becomes a prey.
The Lord looked and was displeased
that there was no justice.
He saw that there was no one,
he was appalled that there was no one
to intervene;
All too often we want to look
only at the benevolent aspect of God.
But God is not only loving
He is also just.
He looks at the evil done in the world
at the tears of the victim
and He declares there will be a day of reckoning.
No sinful act or thought
escapes His notice.
You and I,
all of us upon our death
will stand before the judgement seat of God.
Without a righteousness of our own
we stand condemned.
But Isaiah’s prophecy
gives a drop of hope-
no, a flood of hope.
For it says in Isaiah 59:16-20,
He saw that there was no one,
he was appalled that there was no one to intervene;
so his own arm achieved salvation for him,
and his own righteousness sustained him.
He put on righteousness as his breastplate,
and the helmet of salvation on his head;
he put on the garments of vengeance
and wrapped himself in zeal as in a cloak.
According to what they have done,
so will he repay
wrath to his enemies
and retribution to his foes;
he will repay the islands their due.
From the west, people will fear the name of the Lord,
and from the rising of the sun, they will revere his glory.
For he will come like a pent-up flood
that the breath of the Lord drives along.
“The Redeemer will come to Zion,
to those in Jacob who repent of their sins,”
declares the Lord.
“He saw that there was no one,he was appalled that there was no one to intervene;so his own arm achieved salvation for him, and his own righteousness sustained him.
He put on righteousness as his breastplate, and the helmet of salvation on his head; he put on the garments of vengeance and wrapped himself in zeal as in a cloak.
According to what they have done, so will he repay, wrath to his enemies
and retribution to his foes;
he will repay the islands their due.
From the west,
people will fear the name of the Lord,
and from the rising of the sun,
they will revere his glory.
For he will come like a pent-up flood
that the breath of the Lord drives along.
‘The Redeemer will come to Zion,
o those in Jacob who repent of their sins,’
declares the Lord.
‘As for me,
this is my covenant with them,’
says the Lord.
‘My Spirit, who is on you,
will not depart from you,
and my words that I have put in your mouth
will always be on your lips,
on the lips of your children
and on the lips of their descendants—
from this time on and forever,’
says the Lord.”
Friends,
Jesus is that Redeemer.
No one seeking to be righteous
by the works of the law
can be justified in God's sight,
since everyone is a sinner
and has fallen short
of God's righteous standard
(Rom. 3:9-10, 20, 23; Gal. 2:16).
So many people think
that they can be good,
be righteous,
get right with God,
earn their way into heaven
on their own merit.
They think
that if they do more good than bad
that the moral scales will tip in their favor.
Righteousness is not like that.
Sin is like a deadly disease.
Once you have it-
it kills any chance you have
for righteousness
and it is a death sentence.
Romans 6:23 declares,
“the wages of sin is death.”
Sin brought death into this world-
one day our bodies will die
and because of the disease of sin
we will stand before the judgement seat of God-
unrighteous and deserving of His wrath
He will justly condemn us
to an eternity away from heaven
and apart from His goodness.
But friends,
remember that hope?
Remember the redeemer?
Remember sinless Jesus-
God with us-
who although He did not deserve it-
paid our death debt for us?
He took upon himself
the penalty of your sin and mine
as He suffered and died on the cross.
Then three days later
as He did the impossible,
as He rose from the dead-
He conquered sin
so that He can offer us
the antidote for our disease of sin-
the cure for our unrighteousness.
Point number 2 this morning
2. When we accept Christ as Lord and Savior we become positionally righteous before God.
Read the rest of Ephesians 2:4-10,
But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
“But because of his great love for us,
God, who is rich in mercy,
made us alive with Christ
even when we were dead in transgressions
it is by grace you have been saved.
And God raised us up with Christ
and seated us with him
in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus,
in order that in the coming ages
he might show the incomparable riches
of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us
in Christ Jesus.
For it is by grace you have been saved,
through faith and this is not from yourselves,
it is the gift of God
not by works, so that no one can boast.
For we are God’s handiwork,
created in Christ Jesus to do good works,
which God prepared in advance for us to do.”
Therefore,
the righteousness of God
comes as a gift we do not deserve
(Rom. 3:24; 5:15-17),
a gracious declaration
in which God pronounces righteous
the one who puts his or her faith in Jesus Christ
(Acts 13:39; Rom. 3:22; 5:1, 18).
In this declaration
God forgives their sins-
thus, making them justified
based on Christ's atoning death on the cross.
Years ago,
I fell to my knees before God
and put my faith in Jesus.
I saw what my disease of sin
was doing to me-
was doing to those around me
and I asked God for the cure.
I confessed my sin,
and accepted Jesus’ gift of grace
and forgiveness.
What about you?
Today,
There maybe someone who is listening
who knows
that God is speaking directly to them.
It is time to come before God
to put your faith in Jesus,
to confess your sin,
and accept Jesus’ loving gift of grace.
When you have done that-
you are free
free at last-
free to thank God almighty.
Free from the eternal consequence of your sin.
More than that
you are accepted into God’s family
and when God looks at you
He no longer sees your unrighteousness-
But now sees His Son Jesus instead.
When you stand before
the judgement seat of God
you will not stand alone.
Jesus will stand with you
and when the accuser
tries to lay at your feet
all of your faults and sins,
Jesus will speak up in your defense,
“This one Father- is mine.
I have paid their debt.
My righteousness is theirs.”
My righteousness is theirs.
2 Corinthians 5:21 confirms,
God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
“God made him who had no sin
to be sin for us,
so that in him we might become
the righteousness of God.”
Dr. David Jeremiah explains,
“When we put our trust in Him for eternal life, not only does He forgive our sin but He gives to us His righteousness.
And we become positionally righteous in Jesus Christ.
That is the greatest bargain the world has ever known.
I have never been able to understand why people turn that down.
This is the greatest opportunity anybody has ever had- to get rid of your sin and in its place get the righteousness of Christ.
I mean how could you not want to do that?
It is not uncommon for Jesus’ saving work, to be reduced by well-meaning teachers merely to His death on the cross.
I mean truly, the suffering of Jesus for our sin is the center of the gospel message.
There could have been no salvation for us, unless Jesus had died bearing the penalty due for our transgressions but it is only one half of what is necessary.
It is the negative side of what He did for us.
The positive side is the imputation of righteousness of Christ to us so that we are now able to stand before God- clothed in that righteousness.
In other words, His perfect active obedience was necessary for salvation and so that He could give us His righteousness.”
(End quote)
We are positionally righteous
when we are in Christ.
But being free from sin
is only the first part of what it means
to be righteous.
Remember that I said
there is a negative
and a positive aspect
to God’s moral standard.
The negative aspect
is that one must have
taken away or put off sin.
The next point this morning is
3. The positive aspect to God’s moral standard is that the righteous person must put on all of God’s divine virtues.
God is unfailingly kind,
He gives selflessly
He serves humbly
He is endearingly patient
His faithfulness
is as sure as the dawn
His goodness,
is pure as a mountain stream
And His love,
like the expanse of the universe,
has no end.
On our own, you or I
could not attain these virtues
but when we give our lives to Christ,
He gives us His own Spirit
which empowers us
and produces in us
His virtues.
Galatians 5:22-23 (NIV) explains,
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love,
joy, peace, forbearance,
kindness, goodness,
faithfulness, gentleness
and self-control.”
Brothers and sisters,
it is not enough
to simply put off sinful behavior.
The righteous one
must also have the virtues of God.
Instead of being full of greed
the righteous one gives freely to others.
Instead of violence
the righteous one
seeks peace.
Instead of hate
the righteous one loves.
Therefore, our next point is
4. In Christ we are positionally righteous but we must also put that righteousness into practice in our lives.
Ephesians 4:22-24 (NIV) states,
You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.
“You were taught,
with regard to your former way of life,
to put off your old self,
which is being corrupted
by its deceitful desires;
to be made new
in the attitude of your minds;
and to put on the new self,
created to be like God
in true righteousness and holiness.”
As many of you may know,
I am part Hawaiian from my mother’s side
Within my Hawaiian culture,
there is a practice of adoption
historically called hanai.
When a person becomes
a hanai sibling
he or she
has all the same rights
and privileges
as a blood son or daughter.
They are given the family name,
share in the family’s provisions,
are loved as part of the family,
and are given
a portion of the family’s inheritance.
Thus,
in the hearts and minds of the family
the hanai sibling
is positionally a part of one’s Ohana.
It is not enough, however,
for the hanai sibling
to be accepted as part of the Ohana.
He or she
must then act
as one of the family.
They must love,
serve,
and sacrifice
for the family
right alongside everyone else.
The hanai sibling puts into practice
what he or she has been given
positionally.
In 2011,
my wife’s lifelong friend Julianne
became my hanai sister.
She is a part of my Ohana
and always will be.
You see,
her husband Jonathan died from cancer
after only a few years of marriage.
In many ways,
she was lost after his death
and she needed Ohana
to help her find her way through the grief.
So, we adopted her into our family
and she came to live with Kristin and me.
Surrounded by love,
acceptance,
and the joy of our then young children,
she knew what it meant
to be Hanai-
a positional member of our family.
We did not know it
when we accepted her into our family,
but in the years since,
Julianne has given back to us
tenfold what we shared with her.
She was present,
loving- supporting-
serving- and sacrificing
as we cared for Kristin’s mom
as she battled leukemia.
She mentored and loved our children
as only an aunt could.
Then,
when my parents came to live with us,
and we learned of my mother’s brain tumor,
she loved-supported- and served again.
Julianne is positionally my sister,
but in so many practical ways
she behaved as one of our blood Ohana.
Julianne,
I know you join us online every Sunday.
Thank you, sister,
for being a part of our Ohana!
Friends,
through Christ
we are adopted sons and daughters of God.
Christ has given us
His righteousness
and when Father God looks at us
He does not see our impurities
or our unrighteousness,
He sees the righteousness
of His son.
We now share in Christ’s blessings
and in His eternal inheritance.
That is the position we hold.
We are a part of God’s Ohana.
Through Christ
we are positionally righteous.
But we must now
put that righteousness into practice.
We must now
act as part of Christ’s Ohana.
We must live out
that righteousness
just as Julianne
lived out being a part of our family.
We do NOT do it
out of a drab sense of obligation
or religious legalism.
Instead,
we seek to bless God.
We do it out of gratitude
for all that Christ has done for us.
We do it out of love.
The process of
putting on the virtues of God
is called the process of sanctification.
Dr. Jeremiah states,
“The best definition I have ever heard for sanctification is this:
“Sanctification is becoming in practice what you already are in position.”
That brings us to our next point this morning.
5. Let the breastplate symbolize consistent righteousness.
Remember
that the wording in Greek
for Ephesians 6:14 is
“having on
the breastplate of righteousness.”
As Dr. Jeremiah explains,
“It means that righteousness is not a onetime thing…
It is not something we do and then it is done.
We must continually put on the breastplate of righteousness.
It is not a one day a week luxury. It is a seven day a week necessity. It is not something
that we piously parade the first day of the week.
It is something we must live every day of the week if it is going to work in warfare.”
End Quote
Lastly,
6. Let the breastplate of righteousness guard your heart.
The heart is a vital organ,
but the human heart
is also used to represent
a person’s emotions,
their internal essence,
their feelings, hopes,
dreams, loves, and desires.
The enemy of your soul
wants to tempt your passions
to twist your desires
but it is the righteousness of Christ
that frees us from the sins we love the most.
Righteousness guards our hearts-
our emotions- our hopes- our dreams.
It protects them
from the enemy’s schemes and lies.
When I first fell in love with my wife,
I found myself enjoying things
that I never thought I would.
For example,
one of her favorite movies
is Anne of Green Gables.
Let me tell you,
I never thought I would enjoy
that series.
But She asked me to watch it with her.
Her enjoyment was contagious
and before I knew it,
I was loving the movie as well.
Over the years,
because of my love her,
I have adopted her hopes,
I want to help her fulfill her dreams.
I came to love the things she loves
and her passion is impossibly infectious.
With Jesus
it is the same- more so.
When we fall deeper in love with Christ-
that relationship comes to dictate our desires,
our hopes, and our dreams.
We start to see as Christ sees.
We start to dream His dreams.
We adopt His passions.
And we start to love what He loves.
That fills our hearts, and that righteousness protects us.
No matter how hard the enemy tries-
he can’t get past that.
He can press- He can prod-
He can tempt-
But He can’t contend
with that kind of devotion-
that kind of commitment-
that kind of love
for the things of God.
Lust has no chance
against Christ’s love
Greed has no chance
against gratitude for what Christ has done
Depression has no chance
against true joy in salvation
Anger has no chance
against Christ’s compassion
Stand firm my brother-
stand firm my sister-
with the righteousness of Christ
guarding your heart!
Let us pray.
