Oct. 31, 2021 - The Armor of God (The Breastplate of Righteousness)
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· Last week we began looking at the Armor of God – and the first piece of this armor Paul highlights is – The Belt of Truth
· We closed last week by just looking at the RESUME of God’s Truth…
· And it was divinely impressive…
· We saw that God’s Truth:
o Anchors Our Souls in the Promises of God (emboldening us to live for Christ)
o Reveals the Worth of Christ Over Creation (fixing our eyes on our King)
o Elevates Joy in Jesus Over Joy in the World
o Preserves the Eternal Glory of God
· When we look at this list – we see that –
o IN GOD…
…Anchoring our souls in His promises – AND
…Fixing our eyes on the Worth of Christ over Creation – AND
…Elevating our Joy in Christ over joy in the world…
We see that IN God DOING all of these things - HIS GLORY is preserved for all eternity!
AND – we’re able to LIVE OUT v13 of our text…
13 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.
· Therefore, take up the TRUTH of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm!
We can see how God’s TRUTH can help us – STAND FIRM – WHEN?
· During the battle!!
· We get the JOY – and He gets the glory!
And all of it – on the FOUNDATION of His truth!
· TODAY – we’ll see the next piece of the Armor that Paul highlights…
13 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.
14 Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness,
· Here we see the call – for US to put on – the breastplate of Righteousness…
I think a good – FIRST question is – What is righteousness?
Righteousness:
The quality of being morally right or justifiable.
· A question that Righteousness answers would be – How good are you?
· What’s your QUALITY of goodness?
· And so – when we think about the Righteousness of God…
o We think about – The QUALITY of His goodness.
So let’s dive into what the Bible has to say about God’s Righteousness…
SLIDE: The Righteousness of God: Secures Our Justification
The Righteousness of God
The Righteousness of God
· The question we’re asking as we walk through this is this:
o HOW does the righteousness of GOD - secure OUR justification?
· When we hear the word justification – we can and should think about salvation.
· We are SAVED – BECAUSE justification occurs
· Being JUSTIFIED before God – is to be declared RIGHTEOUS before God.
· Forgiveness is one thing – but Justification is another thing
We have to remember – What the requirement is – for ENTRANCE into Heaven…
· The requirement is – PERFECTION
· What shattered God’s perfect creation?
SIN
· Therefore – God’s STANDARD – is perfection
· AND SIN – TAINTED what was perfect!
NOW – why is that a problem for US?
12 Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned—
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
THIS is why SIN is a problem for US...
· SO – HOW do we get BACK to the GLORY of God…
· SIN – has made us FALL SHORT of God’s glory….HOW do we get back to God’s GLORY?
MOST of the world would say – We need to be GOOD ENOUGH to get back to God’s glory.
· That we need to PERFORM Good WORKS to earn a place with God…
· TO get BACK to God’s glory!
Well – what does the Bible say about that?
20 For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.
· The Bible says – trying to earn a place with God BY doing GOOD deeds – is futile…
· This says – NO HUMAN BEING will get to God this way…
Which means – the righteousness of MAN (OUR GOODNESS) is NOT capable of SECURING our justification!
· It simply CANNOT get us to God…
· And if we TRY to get to God by OUR OWN righteousness – we won’t make it…
1 Brothers, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved.
2 For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge.
3 For, being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness.
· Which is why we need – God’s RIGHTEOUSNESS…
And Paul understood this…
8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake 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, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith—
· So – we need a RIGHTEOUSNESS outside of ourselves!
· We need God’s righteousness…
· But HOW do we get it…?
· Verse 9 here tells us!
· “The righteousness of God that depends on – FAITH”
· NOW – how does God’s righteousness tie in with OUR Faith??
16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”
· V17 – in [IT] – the gospel – the RIGHTEOUSNESS of God is revealed…
o FROM FAITH – FOR FAITH
NOW - commentators have tried figuring out what this phrase - - FROM FAITH FOR FAITH - means...
I take it as meaning:
The righteousness of God is revealed IN THE GOSPEL - from faith - for faith...
v17 - In [IT] - the gospel - the righteousness of God is revealed...
NOW - what’s the gospel?
1 Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand,
2 and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.
3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures,
4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures,
The Gospel - the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ...
NOW - His death - IMPLIES that He lived -
His life lived - FREE from SIN
NOW - How is Jesus described in the Bible in relation to RIGHTEOUSNESS?
4 For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.
What does this mean?
Jesus fulfilled the RIGHTEOUS requirement of the LAW...
And so -
IN Christ’s LIVING - His dying - His being Buried - and His resurrection..
The Righteousness of God was REVEALED… (that’s Romans 1:16-17)
It was REVEALED - From Faith - FOR Faith...
NOW I think - this refers to - FROM the faith OF Jesus - FOR OUR faith...
Now - when I go to the Bible and I say - I’m going to search for ALL the verses that mention the phrase:
Faith OF Jesus...
How many verses do I find? ZERO
Hmmm.....and I think - well CLEARLY Jesus had FAITH!
He had PERFECT FAITH!!
He was OBEDIENT unto DEATH - even death on a cross!
He came to do the Father’s will...
Clearly Jesus had PERFECT faith!!
SO - what’s the deal?
Well - I was only looking in the more modern translations…)
(The ESV, NASB, etc.)
And so I decided - let’s look at a LITERAL translation...
Here’s Romans 3:22 in the ESV...
22 the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction:
Here we see the Righteousness of God - through Faith IN Jesus...
The NASB renders the same translation as the ESV here...
But if we look at - Young’s Literal Translation...
22 and the righteousness of God is through the faith of Jesus Christ to all, and upon all those believing,—for there is no difference,
This is a literal translation...
If you were to look at the Newberry Interlinear Literal Translation of the Greek New Testament, which I have...
You would see this same rendering of the verse...
And so what do we see here?
We see THE PERFECT faith OF Jesus Christ
We see (all those believing) - OUR faith
And I think this points directly back to ROMANS 1:17
17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”
FROM Faith (the PERFECT Faith OF Jesus Christ)
FOR Faith (those who believe)
The Righteousness of God - BEING a GIFT to those WHO believe!
17 For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.
The Righteousness of God - SECURES our Justification - our Salvation!
That by OUR FAITH - we receive the Righteousness of God…and therefore SECURED forever IN HIM!!
Now that would be enough right?
But what else?
SLIDE: The Righteousness of God: Judges the World
The Righteousness of God
The Righteousness of God
• God Himself is Holy and Righteous has all authority to judge.
6 The heavens declare his righteousness, for God himself is judge! Selah
12 There is only one lawgiver and judge, he who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor?
• There are an estimated 15-20,000 judges in the USA...
• ...Many have made just decisions, and many have made horrible decisions.
• YET there has only ever been One judge who is able to save and destroy the soul.
• And here's the thing...God's wrath is NOT partial.
36 Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.
• Every unbelieving soul on this planet, has the weight of God's wrath on them, at this very moment.
• ..."the wrath of God remains on them".
• We start out in this game of life with a big problem...a God-sized problem (God's wrath).
• It's on us (reserved for us) from the very beginning...
5 Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.
• Sin is apart of our nature...it's who we are.
• You've heard it before -
• do we have to teach our kids to lie?
• to be greedy?
• to covet?
• No, it's apart of us...
• ...and all because a decision made in a garden many years ago.
• A decision to disobey God.
• A decision to worship 'self'.
WHERE THERE WAS LIFE, THERE WAS NOW DEATH
And BECAUSE the REMEDY for DEATH (Spiritual Death) is - The Righteousness of God...
THAT MEANS - that the JUDGMENT of GOD - is BASED on the RIGHTEOUSNESS of God!
13 before the Lord, for he comes, for he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness, and the peoples in his faithfulness.
30 The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent,
31 because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.”
And because we RECEIVE God’s Righteousness - as a GIFT - thru our faith...
We make it thru Judgment - At PEACE with God!
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.
As BELIEVERS - IN Christ - WHERE we spend eternity is not at stake...
Our reward is at stake...
And it’s based on the Righteousness of God!
The Righteousness of God:
Secures our Justification
Judges the World
But what else?
SLIDE: The Righteousness of God: Upholds the Trustworthiness of God
The Righteousness of God
The Righteousness of God
In order for us to see this, we’ll need to go to Romans chapter 3...
BUT first…let’s read this verse real quick...
15 He who justifies the wicked and he who condemns the righteous are both alike an abomination to the Lord.
NOW - take the first half of this verse...
He who JUSTIFIES the wicked…is what?
an abomination to the Lord! _ REMEMBER this
OK, now let’s go Romans 4
4 Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due.
5 And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness,
HOW do we go from Proverbs 17 - He who justifies the wicked is an ABOMINATION to the Lord...
TO
Romans 4:5 - to the one who believes in the Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness
Let’s look at the story of David...
David commits adultery with Bathsheba...
gets her pregnant...
David ends up having her husband Uriah killed because of it...
David then marries Bathsheba
Well - God knew all of this happened…and send Nathan the prophet - to David.
Nathan comes to David and tells him a story about a guy with some sheep......
David ends up indicting himself, and Nathan tells him - You’re than man!
Then David confesses: "I have sinned against the Lord"
What's Nathan's response?
13 David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.” And Nathan said to David, “The Lord also has put away your sin; you shall not die.
So God here justifies the ungodly / wicked
**A guy comes walks in this building right now......goes to all the classrooms and kills all our kids, and then leaves.
Police catch him......take him to court, and the judge says -
Hey, you promise not to do it again?...No?......Ok, you're free to go.
We would all say - NO WAY!!
We just read it, the book of Proverbs calls it an abomination to justify the ungodly...
So do you see the problem that God had...
At THAT point - God looked UNJUST!
Like a TERRIBLE judge!
Like you COULDN’T TRUST HIM!
Would you TRUST a judge who let that guy GO? Who let him walk after shooting up the church?
NO - none of us would...
So God - “had a problem”
But what does Romans 3:25 say?
25 whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins.
He had passed over David's sins...
David's adultery...
David's murder of Uriah...
And so - to solve the problem of compromising...
His justice
His righteousness
His TRUSTWORTHINESS (1000 years earlier)....in forgiving sinners like David, God Killed His own Son.
HE executed HIS OWN SON!
When David tramples God's name in the dirt, with adultery and murder, and God comes along and says - "I forgive you..you may still be King"...
All the universe cries out NO- WAY!!
...until they see 1000 years later God saying......
"This is how seriously I take my forgiveness of David...I slay My Son in his place."
[walk to slide] - AND SO - the RIGHTEOUSNESS of God - on Display at the CROSS… UPHOLDS the trustworthiness of God!!
It VINDICATES the trustworthiness of God...
His Righteousness displayed on the cross!
And so - The Righteousness of God:
Secures our Justification
Judges the World
Upholds the Trustworthiness of God
And lastly...
SLIDE: The Righteousness of God: Preserves the Eternal Glory of God
The Righteousness of God
The Righteousness of God
This point here might sound familiar...
Last week - we saw that - The Truth of God Preserves the Eternal Glory of God...
That His truth CONFIRMED His promises - which in turn - Upholds His eternal glorification...
We see today that the Righteousness of God does the same thing!
9 And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment,
10 so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ,
11 filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.
The GLORY of God - of course not at all dependent on our response to it...
BUT - His righteousness and his truth - Upholding his Glory and our glorification of Him...
When Christ returns in judgment - the GLORY of God will be seen...
18 “For I know their works and their thoughts, and the time is coming to gather all nations and tongues. And they shall come and shall see my glory,
And so EVEN in God executing His righteous judgment - He displays His GLORY!!
The word hallelujah occurs in the New Testament four times, all of them in Revelation 19:1–6.
And what is God being praised for there?
1 After this I heard what seemed to be the loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, crying out, “Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God,
2 for his judgments are true and just; for he has judged the great prostitute who corrupted the earth with her immorality, and has avenged on her the blood of his servants.”
3 Once more they cried out, “Hallelujah! The smoke from her goes up forever and ever.”
The Righteousness of God - Upholds the Eternal Glory of God!
NOW - How do these truths HELP us in the BATTLE we face?
Remember - We are to ADORN ourselves with the Breastplate of God’s Righteousness!
SUMMARY:
The Righteousness of God:
Secures Our Justification
Judges the World
Upholds the Trustworthiness of God
Preserves the Eternal Glory of God
Secures our justification:
This helps us FIGHT the GOOD FIGHT!
To know that my salvation is SECURE - based on the PERFECTION and Righteousness of Christ....
Helps me NOT CRUMBLE under the weight of my own failings!
The bible says:
1 My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.
He is FOR US!
Therefore - yes - MOURN over your sin - BUT THEN - GET UP - let’s GO!
We need to learn to FIGHT - like JUSTIFIED sinners!
Many people FAIL - they FALL - and then they just STAY down!
That’s NOT how we fight the Spiritual forces in this world!
PUT ON the breastplate of Righteousness!
So that when we DO fall - we can get up again…in the power of Christ!
SUMMARY:
The Righteousness of God:
Secures Our Justification
Judges the World
Upholds the Trustworthiness of God
Preserves the Eternal Glory of God
When we understand that the Righteousness of God JUDGES the world...
we can better fight this world because we KNOW that God’s RIGHTEOUSNESS - spoken to the world - IN LOVE…can AWAKEN the world to LIFE!!
We know that God’s JUDGMENT - when embraced - leads to LIFE - not death…and so we take His judgments to the world - with His authority behind us!
When we understand that the Righteousness of God upholds the Trustworthiness of God…and that we now possess His righteousness by FAITH...
…we can TRUST that whatever tomorrow holds - God is - FOR US!!
When we understand that the Righteousness of God that we now possess as believers - PRESERVES the eternal GLORY of God...
We can take comfort in knowing - NO MATTER HOW BAD it gets...
No matter HOW much suffering comes...
No matter HOW MUCH it LOOKS like the enemy of God is winning...
We KNOW - IN THE END - Glory awaits...
No matter what - IN THE END - Glory awaits!!
For His glory - and Our JOY -
Let’s pray...