THE ARMOR OF GOD: BREASTPLATE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS - EPHESIANS 6:10-20

I was I was glad when they said unto me, let us go into the house of the Lord I want to remind you

Saints that that this is this is kind of your embassy here This is when we say think of the imagery of the fact that we are sojourners

That we have been set apart, right? We're not citizens of this land We're citizens of the kingdom and God has left us here in a foreign land

And and when we get to come together each one of us that's in Christ has the indwelling

Holy Spirit All together as one and in the unity. There's nothing special about this place.

It's an old restaurant, right? This is not a there's not holy ground here the presence of the

Lord is with his people and when we come it's as if we are together in our embassy and we get to celebrate we get to be encouraged refreshed and Challenged so that we may go back out into that foreign land and Share the good news of the kingdom of Christ.

Amen Amen. Well, I'm so glad you're here If you're a guest with us

We've got some connect cards over at that table or somebody can get you one or may have gotten one in your in the bag

That they handed you outside If you could fill that out There's a little section on the bottom of that that that has a prayer request.

Everybody needs prayer, right? I need prayer. We all need prayer And so there is a group of of saints here at the church that meet we set around that area right over there every

Tuesday Morning from 7 to 8 and everything on those cards if you want prayer for that We we go and we intercede for you so if you if you want to if you have need please fill one of those out and put it in the offering plate when

Here in just a few moments and and that goes for you to Saints if you need prayer just turn to your brother or sister and say

I need prayer and tell Lay it out for us because we are we are seeking to lift each other up as we as we walk through this land together

We have an exciting day today. We have an exciting day every Sunday. Don't we I say that every week don't

I exciting day? It's always an exciting day, but it's funny the last four weeks in a row

We have brought before you a new member recognition and we're not gonna break the streak today

So we are presenting a new family for membership this morning We pull it up on the screen here for new member recognition, right

Bobby and Heather Clark Could y 'all come up here with the kids? We got Hannah Samuel Amos and Shiloh All right.

Come on. Y 'all might want to come up over here on this side. Well, come on. We'll make it work And how are you it's good to see y 'all

I Got to go have dinner over at their house the other day and me and my family we had a great time they the hospitality and the love and we got to chat about what it means to be a part of a community and and their love for this church and the people here and They've gone through the new member

Classes all four of them, but they've done interviews As a matter of fact y 'all didn't just do one interview y 'all y 'all interviewed every one of the elders

They did an interview they were like actually we'd like to interview you That was perfect That's exactly it because I think what what we're seeing is is that meant like many of you the the

Clark family sees the the great value of covenant body of commitment of encouragement of Being accountable to one another

They're not just coming saying we're accountable to you. They're coming where they're saying we're accountable to you. You're accountable to us

We're accountable together as a whole and as a body and we are so excited to present them

We the elders have met and we say hey We believe this family needs to be a part of us And so we want to present them to you as the church family

So members of 12 five church if you affirm the Clark family to become the next covenant members of this body, please stand in affirmation

Well Bobby and Heather we you know, y 'all seen the process before like I said, we've done it y 'all can be seated

Y 'all seen the process before this is not a gift. This is an ESV study Bible This is the same one that we we give to every new member every new family.

We've signed your names in here We've dated it for today so that you can always look back and go That's the day that we officially became family with 12 five church

Even though we were positionally family with all those Christians We are coveting with them in mission and in this life.

And so we we give this out as a commission, right? This is what we're about like everything in the new member class everything on Sundays everything on Wednesdays Everything that we do is saying this is giving us everything we need for life and godliness

And and it is the words of King Jesus and he is the one that that makes the rules and sets the pace

And this is what we're looking to so I want to give this to you guys as a commission I'm so excited to see how

God uses y 'all in this church. Can I pray for y 'all? All right church pray pray with me, please.

Oh dear Heavenly Father Lord. I thank you for the Clark family Lord, I thank you for your grace and mercy and your kindness and and your provision and your timing

Lord I thank you for their children. I thank you for their love for you I thank you that that that you are bringing their gifts to this body

Lord I pray that that they would be used mightily for encouragement challenge and edification

Lord I pray for for the children that they could grow in this community also Lord I pray that you would mold their hearts through all of this

Lord help us as a people to be diligent to walk with them as we covenant with them together in Christ's name

Amen. Amen. We're excited. All right Okay guys well

We the last couple weeks. I don't think we've prayed for a local church, but we typically do every week We like to do that because we like to remind ourselves, right?

We're not alone There are other local churches all over the place of Saints brothers and sisters who they have covenanted together

And they are meeting to worship the triune God today And and so this morning we we actually have we kind of we kind of threw the schedule off We were praying for one church and this morning.

We're gonna pray for another Mount Vernon Baptist Church. I believe out in Where's it at?

Black Rock, I believe Black Rock, Arkansas And the reason we're praying for them this morning prayed for him before Trent Kirksey is the pastor there

He reached out to Pastor Jeremiah this past week said hey, I'm not gonna be able to preach I don't have anybody to fill in Pastor Jeremiah said

I'm there so Pastor Jeremiah is there this morning That's why we're missing him today. He is there filling in the pulpit

So we want to pray for them specifically pray for for Trent pray for that church And and also pray for Pastor Jeremiah as he proclaims the

Word of God to them this morning So please bow with me dear Heavenly Father. We come to you once again, and we thank you for your provision

We thank you for your grace and mercy and kindness We thank you for bringing your children together

You've not left us to ourselves You have brought us into community and you've designed community for us to grow in you

Lord, I pray for Mount Vernon, I pray for the people there. I pray that you would give them grace

Lord I pray that you would work in their hearts God I pray that you would raise up leaders that you would raise up deacons that you would raise up godly men and women and young people that care for kingdom purpose and and Set aside the things of this world and want to live for you together as a church

That they could be a healthy congregation Because King Jesus you are worthy of a healthy church and and we pray for for Pastor Trent Lord we pray that you would give him wisdom and discernment

Lord. I know how how Unbearable the weight of being a single pastor in a church is and I know that you've not does you've not designed it that way you've you've specifically called for plurality multiple pastors in each church because one man cannot carry the load of being the under shepherd of a congregation and Trent is diligently seeking to to to be obedient to you while Hoping that and praying that you would raise up other other men other pastors

So we ask that for him give him grace or we pray for Pastor Jeremiah We love him him and Ali and and JJ Lord.

What a blessing he is to this congregation Overwhelming blessing to me nor we pray for him this morning as he proclaims your word once again to another

Congregation that that you would bless the word That it would go forth and that it would change hearts that it would challenge that it would encourage and Lord I pray that that church would would be stronger in Sanctification when

Pastor Jeremiah leaves and when he found it, well, we thank you for them bless them in Christ's name.

Amen. Amen guys How about it? Y 'all want to start service? Already started.

I am ready to start. I've been excited about worship. I've been wanting to work together with you guys all week long I'm thrilled about this encourages my soul stand.

Come on guys call to worship is Isaiah 61 It is just two verses in Isaiah 61 for a call to worship

Let's look to the Lord the source as we prepare to worship He says I will greatly rejoice in the

Lord For he has clothed me with the garments of salvation

As a bridegroom decks himself like a priest with a beautiful headdress For as the earth brings forth its sprouts

So the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise Righteousness and praise to sprout up before all the nations

From every nation tribe tongue from every people group. He has an elect He is a people and I was thinking about this the other day.

I was talking to my one of my daughters We were driving and one of the songs we're gonna be singing this morning Psalm 150 we're gonna be singing and in a part of that song talked about and the nation's bringing bringing their honors

Before the king and I was overwhelmed with this idea that that that that we forget

King Jesus is returning We forget that King Jesus is returning and when he returns

Even the most pagan nation and peoples will have no choice but to plow their face into the ground before him

He Is king and he will come and he will parade his victory parade through this earth with us right alongside with him his children in his righteousness and He one he will bring vengeance and justice in an unjust and and broken sinful world

Let's pray a prayer of adoration to that great God. Oh You are good you are gracious you are merciful you are kind you are long -suffering you are

You are righteous and holy and altogether separate from us and who we are

Lord as a people. We are sinful people this flesh wars against us

Oh, but the righteousness of Christ is given to us in faith and Covers us and makes us righteous in your perfect righteousness

Lord what a good and gracious God to do such a thing There's nothing

I bring there's nothing that we have brought to Bring any kind of glory to your name this morning before because all glory already belongs to you

May we just acknowledge it see it and it's and it's magnificence

That we as your people would be overwhelmed that we may see your glory that we may see you for who you are today

Help us to grow in our fear and knowledge of you great and mighty God We thank you in Christ's name.

Amen We worship the

God who was. We worship the God who is. We worship the

God who evermore will be. He opened the prison doors.

He parted the raging sea. My God he holds the victory.

There's joy in the house of the Lord. There's joy in the house of the Lord today.

We won't be quiet. We shout out your praise. There's joy in the house of the

Lord. Our God is surely in this place. We won't be quiet.

We shout out your praise. We sing to the

God who heals. We sing to the God who saves. We sing to the

God who always makes a way. For he hung up on that cross.

Then he rose up from that grave. My God still rolling strong is your way.

There's joy in the house of the Lord. There's joy in the house of the Lord today.

We won't be quiet. We shout out your praise. There's joy in the house of the

Lord. Our God is surely in this place. We won't be quiet.

We shout out your praise. We shout out your praise.

We were the beggars. Now we're royalty.

We were the prisoners. Now we're running free. We are forgiven, accepted, redeemed by his grace.

Let the house of the Lord sing. We were the beggars.

Now we're royalty. We were the prisoners. Now we're running free.

We are forgiven, accepted, redeemed by his grace.

Let the house of the Lord sing praise. There's joy in the house of the

Lord. There's joy in the house of the Lord today. We won't be quiet.

We shout out your praise. There's joy in the house of the Lord. Our God is surely in this place.

We won't be quiet. We shout out your praise. There's joy in the house of the

Lord. There's joy in the house of the Lord today. We won't be quiet.

We shout out your praise. There's joy in the house of the Lord. Our God is surely in this place.

We won't be quiet. We shout out your praise.

We shout out your praise. Sing this with us.

By the enemy, but you broke them in victory.

Now I'm free. I am free. You're my joy and you are my hope.

I am saved by your grace alone. I will sing of your love for me.

Now I'm free. I am free. You, my

God, have saved my soul. I am yours forevermore.

I won't be moved of this, I'm sure. You, my God, have saved my soul.

Now I stand here before you. I stand with the

King of kings. He has paid for my every sin.

From now through eternity, I am free. I am free.

You, my God, have saved my soul. I am yours forevermore.

I won't be moved of this, I'm sure. You, my

God, have saved my soul. What once was dead is now alive.

You gave to me the breath of life. You brought me up out from the grave.

I'm bursting out with songs of praise. What once was dead is now alive.

You gave to me the breath of life. You brought me up out from the grave.

I'm bursting out with songs of praise. I'm bursting out with songs of praise.

You, my God, have saved my soul. I am yours forevermore.

I won't be moved of this, I'm sure. You, my God, have saved my soul.

1 Thessalonians chapter 5, verses 5 through 11 where he says, For you are all children of light, children of the day.

We are not of the night or of the darkness. So then let us not sleep as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober.

For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk are drunk at night. But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation.

That He saved our soul, right? For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our

Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep, we might live with Him.

Saint, therefore, encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.

What a great blessed hope. You know, I read passages like this,

I think, okay, God has saved our soul, like He's not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation in Christ Jesus alone.

And we will one day be glorified and given glorified bodies with Him, like His.

And that is a great hope, but during the time that we're in this world, as we talked about earlier, that we're sojourners, right?

We feel the pull of the flesh, right? We're reminded of a future, we're reminded of a position, but we get pulled away by our flesh, as Paul says, this wretched flesh, it will deliver me.

And so we sin. We don't walk in righteousness at times, we walk in unrighteousness at times.

And we feel that time and time again, as we are on this race, we falter and we fail.

But that is the very thing that we need to look and hope to Him in texts like this and a promise.

And so as we often do every week, we are going to go to Him in a prayer of confession. Not just confession.

We, as His children, go in confession, acknowledging our sin, both individually and corporately, but also we come to Him with boldness and with assurance that it is

His righteousness that we stand in, not our own, and that we are positionally perfect.

So bow with me, let's pray. Oh dear Heavenly Father, we come before you once again and we humble ourselves.

For we know that we are prone.

We are prone to wonder, as the hymn says, prone to leave the

God we love. We sometimes walk in the midst of the darkness and our flesh desires to fall prey to it, run to it, wallow in it.

But we sin against you. We forget.

We forget about our position in you and Christ Jesus. We forget about the fact that we are made a new creation.

That we were created for righteousness and goodness. And we want to follow our own way.

We create idols. We can oftentimes be lazy and indifferent.

Oh but Father, we are coming before you in boldness right now because it is not my works, it is not our works that allow us into your throne room.

To come before you to hear our pleading, it is the very perfect righteousness of Christ that is imparted and imputed upon us, your children.

That we get to come before you and stand in total assurance for you are good and gracious and kind to us, even in our frailty and in our failings.

Oh Lord, we thank you. We pray that we would be reminded of the cross today.

We would be reminded of the covenant of redemption and the covenant of grace that the triune

God set out to accomplish, did accomplish for us and for your glory above all things.

Be honored in our worship today, in Christ's name. Praise the

Lord. Praise the Lord.

Sing His greatness, our creation.

Praise the Lord. Praise your voice, your heights and all your depths.

From the furthest east to west, let everything that has breath praise the

Lord. Listen to the dust of your spirit breathe.

You formed us in your very eyes.

To know your wondrous works, to turn your mighty deeds, to join the everlasting chorus.

Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Sing His greatness, our creation.

Praise the Lord. Praise your voice, your heights and all your depths.

From the furthest east to west, let everything that has breath praise the

Lord. The symphonies resound, the drums of choirs ring out, while heaven hears the sounds of worship.

Let every nation bring their songs to the

King, a roar of harmonies eternal.

Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Sing His greatness, our creation.

Praise the Lord. Praise your voice, your heights and all your depths.

From the furthest east to west, you distant burning stars.

All creatures near and far, from sky to sea to shore, sing out forevermore, let everything that has breath praise the

Lord. Praise the

Lord. Praise the Lord. His mercy is more.

Stronger than darkness, new every morn.

Our sins they are many, His mercy is more.

When earth could remember the wrongs we have done, on this

His all -knowing, He can't snub the sun. Thrown into the sea, without a bottom or shore, our sins they are many, but His mercy is more.

Praise the Lord. Praise the

Lord. His mercy is more. Stronger than darkness, new every morn.

Our sins they are many, but His mercy is more.

Patience will wait as we constantly run, but the

Father so tender is calling us home. He welcomes our weakness,

He fires the horn. Praise the

Lord. Praise the Lord. His mercy is more.

Stronger than darkness, new every morn.

Our sins they are many, but His mercy is more. Our sins they are many, but His mercy is more.

The riches of kindness, He lavished on us.

His blood was the payment, His life was the cost.

We stood near the debt we could never afford.

Our sins they are many, but His mercy is more.

Praise the Lord. Praise the

Lord. His mercy is more. Stronger than darkness, new every morn.

Our sins they are many, but His mercy is more.

Father, Lord, we praise You this morning, Jesus. Our sins are so many, but Your mercy is so much more.

Lord, I praise You for saving me, the weakest, the vilest, so undeserving.

But Your mercy is so much more and so great that You saved me. Lord, I'm so grateful for that.

Lord, I pray this morning, Jesus, Lord, if You would just continue to bless this worship,

Lord. Father, Lord, if there's someone here this morning, Lord, that's lost, Lord, we don't know every heart in this room, but You do.

Lord, I pray that You would save them now. Lord, I pray that You would bless this offering this morning.

Lord, I pray that You would bless Pastor Nathan as he comes and stands before us this morning, Lord, and proclaims

Your Word, boldly preaches Your Word, so that we may hear. Lord, I pray that You would just open every heart, open every ear,

Lord, just, Lord, clear out any distractions that Satan may try to throw at us.

Lord, we love You. We praise You. We ask all these things in Your mighty name. In the mighty name of Jesus, I pray.

A preacher and apologist,

John Blanchard, once wrote that we, as Christians, are opposed by a living, intelligent, resourceful, and cunning enemy who can outlive the oldest

Christian, outwork the busiest, outfight the strongest, and outwit the wittiest.

And as I continually grow in the Christian faith and in sanctification,

I have seen this to be true in very practical and very tangible ways.

And I have come to the realization that the enemy is far more cunning than I had ever imagined or anticipated.

We have experienced that in our own body over the past few months, and we see the attacks that come towards the

Christians, the church, the people of God. We prepare our defenses over here, and before we know it, he is sowing division and discord over there.

We mortify sin over there, and all the while he tempts us over here.

You feel it in your own life, don't you? The constant battle. Many Christians today either blame everything on Him, including their own sin and blatant rebellion against God.

Well, the devil made me do it. No, that was just your laziness or your indifference or your unrighteousness.

Your own flesh is strong enough to pull you away. But there's others that would just completely underestimate and downplay his influence.

Because he is playing on our flesh, is what he's doing. That is, already wanting to pull away.

And Scripture gives us the reality of just how involved the enemy is in the attack and the spiritual war that we've been discussing over the past three weeks.

So go ahead and open your copy of God's Word to Ephesians chapter 6. We are going to read the whole of verse 10 through 20 in Ephesians 6 as we have been the last three weeks as we go into this third week of our study on the armor of God.

And looking at how we can defend ourselves from the onslaught of the schemes of the evil one.

Ephesians chapter 6, starting in verse 10, Paul says, Finally, be strong in the

Lord and the strength of His might. Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand or stand against the schemes of the devil.

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness.

Against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. 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. 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. And also for me. That words may be given to me.

And opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel. For which I am an ambassador in chains.

That I may declare it boldly as I ought to speak. Paul here gives us this spiritual armor.

And he uses the imagery of physical armor. As our brother Chris has shown up and given all of us the imagery today.

Thank you for that. He was so excited to show me that armor out in his car the other day. He goes, I think I might return it. But no,

I think I'm going to wear it. I was like, do it. And so we get the visual of what the apostle

Paul was actually looking at. As he's writing these words. And he gets the inspiration for the imagery in this.

So thank you for that. Let's pray before we dive in any more. That God would illuminate our hearts and minds to this truth.

Lord we bow before you once again. And we thank you for your word. Lord help us to see it clearly.

Lord help us to understand it. We pray Holy Spirit that you would illuminate our hearts and minds to this truth.

We ask that for those of us that are in Christ. And have you indwelling us.

We pray that you would sanctify us. And work through us and in us.

And seeing it. We pray for those who do not know Christ this morning. We pray that you would awaken them to this truth through your word.

Give me boldness and clarity. In Christ's name. Amen. Two weeks ago we covered verses 10 -12 of what we just read.

Where Paul, what does he do? He tells the saints, be strong in the Lord. And in the strength, in his strength.

And in his might. And to do that we put on, as he says, the whole armor of God.

And why is that? Why did he call us to put on this armor? He tells us that we may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.

That's the purpose of the armor, right? And we will stand. The evil one who is seeking someone to devour, as Peter said.

He hates you. You realize that, right? He hates you. And it's because he hates the one who took you from his control.

He hates you. He hates Christ. He hates God. So he is evaluating.

He is scheming. He is planning. And he is attacking us at every turn. And these attacks are not coming at us in an open field and in plain view.

This is not a revolutionary war type of war where everybody stands in a line in front of each other and takes turns firing.

This is a different type of war. It's a type of battle. Because this attack, this war, is not of, as Paul says, flesh and blood, right?

It's happening in a spiritual realm. One that we ourselves are not privy to at the moment as far as being able to see.

We can only see the effects of it. And then last week,

Pastor Jeremiah covered verses 13 and the first part of 14 here. Where we saw we are to prepare for this spiritual war that we ourselves can't see.

And we do so by putting on this armor. And the first piece of that armor that he talked about was the belt of truth.

This belt of truth that is grounded in him. And is believed and lived out by us.

As Pastor Jeremiah pointed out, it is his truth. It's not our interpretation of truth.

It's not our vague truth. It's not some truth that I come up with. My truth and your truth are not both truth.

Only his truth. And we believe and we live it out. We are made ready by his truth.

And so today we are going to look at the second part of this armor that Paul gives us imagery of.

And this is the breastplate of righteousness. And in order to help us understand what

Paul is talking about here, I want us to see four things that the breastplate of righteousness symbolizes.

Four things we are going to look at today. And if you know me, getting through four might be kind of hard.

But we are going to make it happen. The last two are short. We will make it happen. The first thing

I want us to see is the breastplate of righteousness symbolizes, first and foremost, the righteousness of Christ.

The righteousness of Christ. As we said over the last two weeks, each of these pieces of armor that Paul refers to in these verses, the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, shoes of readiness, shield of faith, helmet of salvation, the sword of the spirit, all belong to and are provided by Christ and Christ alone.

They are all already given to each believer. Okay? Every piece, as a whole, is already given to each believer.

And we see that most clearly in this point, I believe. That righteousness can only come from God.

Right? We've been thinking about that this morning, right? His mercy is more.

He's the one that is giving us righteousness. For none is righteous, no not one, as Paul says, right?

There is none righteous. Our righteousness outside of Christ, the greatest thing that we have to offer,

Paul says, is as filthy rags before God. You have no breastplate of righteousness on your own to put on.

You try to put your righteousness on, and that righteousness is no armor at all.

As a matter of fact, it's a weapon that's being used against you. It's harming you.

This breastplate of righteousness used to not be available to us. We were all once children of wrath, right?

I was. Each one of you were once children of wrath, children of darkness. Our greatest actions, our greatest works were tainted in so much unrighteousness that even one good deed from us was deserving of eternal torment.

You realize that? The greatest thing that an unbeliever does in his life, the most gracious act of kindness that an unbeliever does is tainted in so much unrighteousness that it itself deserves eternal torment.

We don't like to think of sin like that, do we? We don't like to think of the state of humanity like that, but that is precisely the state of humanity that Scripture tells us, and it is the ultimate truth.

You can't base anything off of your own truth. This is what Scripture shows us about man.

Because we ourselves were unrighteous, and no one does good, no not one.

So Scripture says, right? If you are not in Christ today, coming to this church service will not help you.

If you are not in Christ today, taking communion at the end of this service will actually harm you.

You are controlled thoroughly and completely by the evil one.

You may not think so, but Scripture says that he's your father, and that you must do his bidding.

And it's because, believe it or not, you desire to do his bidding.

It's not me speaking.

I'm just basing it off of God's Word. That's the state of humanity. And saints, such were some of us.

But while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. And that is precisely the source of this righteousness.

It's the only source of the righteousness. This righteousness that we speak of, it is alien to you and I.

We didn't provide it. We did not have it in us. We had the opposite.

It was given to us. We do not obtain it. It is given directly to us in what is known as the

Great Exchange. Oh, I love the Great Exchange. Some of you have seen me draw it up on a whiteboard.

I get so excited when I get to do that, because I get to show you the imagery. I love it. This Great Exchange, 2

Corinthians chapter 5, what does Paul say in verse 21? He says, for our sake, for us, those who were enemies against him, those who were in darkness, who were children of wrath, for our sake, he made him, who's the him?

Christ Jesus, to be sin. Who knew no sin.

Christ Jesus had no sin. No sin about him whatsoever like you and I. He was not unrighteous like us.

He was perfectly righteous, for he was the second person of the Godhead in human form. And he knew no sin, and Paul goes on, he says, so that in him, in the righteous

Christ who became sin for us, we might become his righteousness. The very righteousness of God.

That he placed on us. He, the righteous, becomes sin, so that we, the sinner, may become righteous.

What an exchange! We got the veteran to that deal, didn't we?

And how did this take place? At the cross.

Where Christ bore our sin. For the wages of sin are, what?

Death. He took the penalty of that sin, which is death. And this is a once for all action.

Christ has already done the work, saints. Don't forget that. He has done the work.

So, when is that work applied to us? How is that great exchange working out for us?

How is that applied? Well, Paul says in Romans 3, he says, the righteousness of God, that alien righteousness from him to us, through faith in Jesus Christ.

For all who believe. That righteousness, that great exchange is applied at faith.

It is guaranteed at faith. We are made righteous in Christ through belief in him.

Through faith in him. And once we are brought into faith, his righteousness is forever applied to us.

We are irrevocably, positionally righteous. That armor has been placed on you.

And it cannot be removed. So when

God the Father looks at us, he doesn't see the sin that I commit every few minutes or every few seconds.

He sees the perfect righteousness that has been placed upon me.

Of his son. That is imputed to us. Even when we are actively walking in righteousness, or unrighteousness, he still sees us as righteous.

Right? Even when you and I are actively walking in unrighteousness, God the

Father still sees righteousness because he sees his son given to us.

That's because our righteous deeds have absolutely nothing to do with our position of righteousness.

Nothing. They don't add to it.

They bring no value to your position of righteousness. They certainly feed from our position of righteousness, but they are in no way adding to it.

We must remember that, Saint. So this is the first thing that this breastplate of righteousness symbolizes, is that glorious, positional righteousness of Christ that we have already been clothed in.

So, how does that armor apply in a way that I have to actively put it on?

If this is the righteousness of Christ, and it's already been placed on me, then what sense does it make for Paul to tell me to actively put it on?

You wonder that? What's this armor for? It's to protect us, right?

The armor is a protection from the schemes of the evil one, in the context of what

Paul is telling us here. What is one of the schemes that he uses?

Lies. Accusations. Accusations that bring forth doubt in the heart and the mind of the

Christian. Accusations that cause you and I, at times, to give up the fight.

The spiritual war that is taking place. To say, I'm not up to this battle.

This is insurmountable, and I'm too weak. And then we just lay down and die.

We no longer run the race. We no longer fight the battle. No longer being useful for the kingdom and its purposes, even though we are laying on a battlefield with perfectly righteous armor coverings.

Because we have fallen prey to the schemes of the devil and his accusation.

What does that look like? I think all of us have experienced different ways.

I think he's very good at his schemes, and he knows your heart, he knows your mind, he knows how you work so well, he's been watching you, that he knows how to attack you and where to attack you.

But sometimes we quit evangelizing. We quit sharing the gospel, maybe because we don't have all the answers and we're afraid.

There's accusations. You don't know your Bible well enough. You don't know theology like Pastor Jeremiah does.

What if they ask a question that I can't answer? Or we feel like a hypocrite.

I'm not living a righteous life. I fall prey to sin all the time. Who am

I to tell this person that they're in sin and that they need to repent? You fall prey to accusation.

We give up on communing with him because we are inconsistent in our

Scripture reading and in our prayer. Because we think, oh well, those accusations, they hit us and we say, well,

I can't really ask God for this. I can't go to him right now because I kind of ignored him for a week.

Everybody's looking at me with that holy look like, Pastor, I don't do that. I do it. I'm confessing it to you right now.

Sometimes I try to put on my own breastplate of righteousness, my own self -righteousness, right? And Satan, his schemes, they'll get to me and I forget my positional righteousness.

I forget the armor and I fall prey to his tricks thinking that I'm exposed when I'm not. That is precisely why we need this breastplate of righteousness.

In that the righteousness of Christ that is clothing us. We must consistently remind ourselves of this positional righteousness that is outside of ourselves.

We have to. It's repetitive here. I know I sound like a broken record. I'm sorry.

But I'm going to keep preaching it to you until I believe it. When he seeks to accuse, it doesn't penetrate the heart.

It doesn't make its way in. That accusation gets deflected off of the shining, glorious armor of Christ's righteousness that is already on you.

Putting on that armor is simply reminding yourself of that position in him.

Okay? That's part of putting on the armor. Reminding yourself. Oh.

It's already on. Good. He's my righteousness.

He's my armor. So you no longer have to fear that accusation penetrating through for it cannot.

You can charge the field boldly with confidence because the king has you perfectly covered.

Think about that for a second. We're in a spiritual war. We can't see anything. Any of you ever seen the spiritual war going on around us?

Like apparently it's happening all around here right now. You can't see it. I can't see it. But apparently it's going on.

But when we come to this realization. When we begin to go, I'm positionally covered.

Like I can't. He can't get rid of this righteousness. He can't dispose of it.

He can't remove it. He can't take me out. Because the king has me covered.

Are y 'all awake? Think about this for a second.

That should give you so much encouragement. You should be like Braveheart charging into the field.

Like, yes! I'm covered. Nothing can hurt me. I can go out there and start swinging this sword.

And it's just going to do what he's doing. This is perfect, right? That's why we must be reminded of this.

It's not in our power. It's not in our ability to be perfect. That's what Paul said in Philippians 3, right? He said that I may be found in him.

Not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law. None of this righteousness of my own.

But that which comes through faith in Christ. The righteousness of God that depends on faith.

My righteousness is fickle. His righteousness is everlasting.

And perfectly secure. But does that mean that we can go on sinning that grace may abound?

Certainly not. After all, it's his righteousness. I'm covered. I'm good.

I can just go out and do whatever I want to. And nothing can penetrate the heart.

I'm good. That armor's on me. I'm covered. Just live however

I want. But I think this question leads us to the second thing that I believe the breastplate of righteousness symbolizes.

And this one may be confusing because it seems paradoxical to the first one. But it is the righteousness of the

Christian. You're like, wait a second. Pastor, you said I didn't have a righteousness.

No, you don't. We won't talk about that. But there is a righteousness of the Christian here.

This is referring to the area of sanctification. Sanctification.

Our positional righteousness that is in Christ that we just talked about is in regards to our justification.

We are made righteous before God. We are positionally good, justified.

But now we deal with the ongoing sanctification. As a matter of fact, turn your

Bibles with me to 1 John 3 .10. I want you to see it. 1

John 3 .10. John gives us the tools to discern between darkness and light.

Scripture tells us to judge those within. We're not to judge those without. They're already judged.

We're to judge those within. To see if those within are truly within. To see if they are truly in the faith.

And what are we looking for? John tells us in his first letter here.

In 1 John 3 .10, John says, By this it is evident who are the children of God.

And who are the children of the devil. Whoever does not practice, and if you write in your

Bible, underline or circle that word, practice righteousness. Is not of God.

Nor is the one who does not love his brother. That seems to contradict what

I just said a moment ago, that we have no righteousness of our own, right? Oh, but it doesn't.

That still applies. We have no righteousness of our own. John is not calling for looking for somebody to have a righteousness of their own.

Something completely different. What does John mean? By practicing righteousness.

He means living out what is pleasing to God. What is righteous.

Living out what is pleasing to God. We had no righteousness to live out before.

Oh, but now. Now in Christ. What are we? We're a new creation, right?

That's what Scripture says. We are now a new creation. And what are we created for?

Good works and righteousness, right? That's what we're called to.

That's what we're created for. And knows he justified. We are sanctified.

That we are set apart. That's really what this word means. And he is molding us through what we would call progressive sanctification.

Sanctification. I think the most concise way of defining sanctification is becoming in practice what you already are in position.

Becoming in practice what you already are in position. Paul said again in Philippians, in chapter 3, verse 12, he says,

And not that I have already obtained this, or am already perfect. This is from the Apostle Paul here, right in Scripture, inspired by the

Holy Spirit. He goes, I'm not perfect. I'm not obtained. But I press on to make it my own because Christ Jesus made me his own.

Paul told Timothy to pursue righteousness, Timothy. Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness.

Pursue it with all your might. Chase after it. Back in Ephesians chapter 4, in verse 24, if you remember, what did

Paul say? He says that we are to put on the new self, created in the likeness of God, in true righteousness and holiness.

Well, that's the same language that Paul uses when he's telling us to put on the breastplate of righteousness, right?

If this righteousness is already on you, and here's the thing, Satan can't snatch us from his grasp.

It's impossible. He can't. What more do we need to put on? What is

Paul calling for in putting on the breastplate of righteousness? Well, just like the boldness we obtain for putting on the armor of the righteousness of Christ that is guarding us from accusations, knowing that the fiery darts of the evil one cannot penetrate our heart, we are boldly standing in his righteousness, we must guard from his accusations deflecting off of us and penetrating the hearts of those around us.

What do I mean by that? Satan will use our unrighteous actions to delegitimize what we profess with our mouth.

His schemes will attack all of those around us, and it will even get into our own heart in a way that causes us to further his kingdom and not the kingdom of Christ.

You claim to have the righteousness of Christ. You claim to be fighting a spiritual war, yet your life is riddled with disobedience to him and unrighteousness.

Satan is now using you as a weapon against the kingdom. Paul said in 2

Corinthians 6, he says, by truthful speech and the power of God with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left.

People around you see your righteous life. They will see your righteous speech, your righteous desires, and are confronted with the righteous light of Christ.

That's the spiritual war. Now remember,

Paul said you have no righteousness of your own. And so when you and I come up with our own interpretation of righteousness, we just breed more unrighteousness through our legalism.

We must be careful not to do so. If you recall, Jesus had a little something to say about that in his sermon on the mount when he says,

For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

If anybody had self -righteousness, it was the scribes and the Pharisees. Self -righteousness is no righteousness at all.

That's why it must be grounded in what Pastor Jeremiah pointed to and what Paul referred to before this is the belt of truth.

I think Pastor Jeremiah alluded to the fact that the belt of truth grounds all of the rest of the armor.

His truth is the only truth. It's the only righteousness that there is.

And when we do this, when we walk in his precepts and we live a quiet, peaceful, righteous life, we are actively storming the enemy in the spiritual realm.

Seems counterproductive, doesn't it? A quiet and peaceful, righteous life.

That's how we fight? Thought we were to go and fight a war.

This is how we fight. But when we don't actively put on the breastplate,

Satan's schemes render us unfruitful in that war. So Saint, I want to challenge all of us today, myself included.

Do not put on the breastplate of self -righteousness. Put on the breastplate of righteousness.

That righteousness that is grounded in truth. God has called us to be obedient, to walk in righteousness.

And his righteousness is what now gives you the power to walk in his righteousness.

Before, you were an enemy. Before, you were your father. You served your father, the devil.

You walked in unrighteousness. Everything you did was unrighteous. But now you've been freed to righteousness.

Not a righteousness of your own. I don't have a righteousness to create. I can't just go out and say, well, this deed is righteous, and that deed is righteous, and this intent is righteous, and this purpose is righteous, and how

I'm running my family is righteous. I can't say that. All I can do is go to his truth, be led by the

Spirit, and walk in his precepts, knowing that I'm walking in his righteousness.

That's what I mean when we say the righteousness of the Christian. We have now been made righteous positionally, and we've been given the power to walk in righteousness, in the power of his righteousness.

You see it? We often forget that. We often get that distorted, and we just, we rest, and we say, yes,

I'm in Christ, covered. I don't have to be obedient, but again, that's what

Paul said. Am I to go on sinning that grace may have bound us? Certainly not! No!

We must walk in righteousness, and we have a new heart, and a new desire, and new intentions that want to do that.

The third observation of what this breastplate of righteousness symbolizes is ongoing righteousness.

Ongoing righteousness. Look at the passage there in Ephesians 6. The second part of verse 14 is what we're looking at.

He says, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness.

The language that Paul uses here is one that calls for a consistent, continual, ongoing action.

You know, I don't know about you, but I often fall prey to resting on past victories.

I fall prey to resting on mountaintop experiences. And I had a great week in my prayer and study time and communion with the

Lord three weeks ago. And I put my guard down.

And I quit resting in Christ. I quit looking to His Word consistently.

I quit praying. My prayers become fewer and further apart. Because I'm not ongoing, consistently, walking in His precepts.

Looking to Him. Being reminded of my position in Him. I look back and go, oh, look at what happened then.

As if we can put this armor on once or twice a month and be good. Let's just be honest.

That's what a lot of us do. We try and put this armor on and remind ourselves, hey, here's where we're at.

Man, I had a really good day with the Lord. And then we just kind of relax. And we become neutral.

This is ongoing and continual. It's every moment of every single day.

Because the enemy is waiting for that split second when your guard is down.

He hates you, remember? He's cunning. And he's waiting for that very moment when you are just relaxing.

You may say, Master, this sure seems like your preaching works here.

I'm feeling a heavy weight from what you're putting on us right now.

I would say then, Saint, you're not hearing me right. You're not hearing me.

I'm not telling you to continually put on any righteousness of your own. That's not the point.

I'm telling you to look to and to press into his righteousness that he has given you both positionally and experientially.

And to do it in an ongoing, continual pattern within your life.

I don't wake up today, put on the armor and charge the battlefield so that I can relax tomorrow.

Every single waking moment needs the armor because every single waking moment is on the battlefield.

Right? And the fourth and final thing that I believe this breastplate symbolizes is emotional righteousness.

This ties into this example that Paul is using symbolically.

As we said earlier, as I pointed out, the garb, the armor back there, he undoubtedly was inspired by these

Roman guards that are guarding him all day. Remember, Paul is in prison. He's chained to a Roman guard all day, every day, as he writes this letter.

So his inspiration is quite possibly looking at that very uniform, that very armor.

And they wear the breastplate of this armor, they wear this one that covers the front and then one that covers the back.

It's a two -piece. And this covers from the neck to the thighs. What is the breastplate protecting?

It's important stuff. The heart, the organs, the liver, the lungs. All of the, hey, if I get hit there, that's a death blow.

I'm done. It's over. And so as Paul is describing this righteousness as the breastplate, he has this in mind.

And you see, in that day, these major organs, everything you see right in here, the heart, even the intestines, in that day, this symbolized the seat of affection and emotions.

That's how they saw it. It's similar to how we refer to the heart when we think of compassion or love.

My heart was broken. You know, we feel love towards somebody. We symbolize a very similar thing.

And so when Paul uses this imagery specifically, he is expressing a need to protect your affections and your emotions.

You see, many Christians today, especially in theological circles that love doctrine, their affections and their emotions are cold.

You see it in the worship services. You're singing, His mercy is more, and you're not wanting to dance.

What happened to you? Our emotions are dead.

We've killed it. And when that happens, the enemy's already won.

You haven't put on the breastplate of righteousness. Your emotions and affections have been attacked.

Yet there are other Christians whose own sinful, deceitful emotions and affections lead their every move.

They're not led by truth. They haven't put on the belt of truth. They put on their own version of truth.

And they're led by it. Claiming that they are following the Spirit's leading. You ever talk to somebody like that?

I talk to people all the time. They're like, I'm going to go to a different church. I'm going to go to this other church. I really feel like the Spirit's leading.

And then I see the church they go to, and I'm like, I mean, I can understand if you go to a healthy church.

I don't think the Spirit's leading you in a wrong way. But they sure feel like it, don't they? Not grounding their emotions and affections in truth.

I feel the Spirit leading me to go in this direction. Okay, well, what's the Word of God say? What's truth say about that?

Well, I'm just, I don't know, I'm trusting the Spirit's leading. I see the

Scripture tells me to be in a healthy church, but I really like, I really feel like He wants me over there right now.

It's absurd. All the while, the enemy is tossing them to and fro. Because they're not being led by truth.

They're being led by their feelings, their emotions, their affections. But His truth, His objective truth is the only righteousness that there is.

And when you're not putting that on, when you're not walking in that and guarding your affections and emotions, what is the enemy going to do?

He's going to use those affections and emotions against you. And render you unuseful.

But when you put on that breastplate of righteousness, that is an outworking of His truth, only then are you guarding your affections and emotions from the fiery dart of the evil one.

They're important. I pray that we never be a people that are led by our affections and our emotions.

If we are, we have lost our way. The tail is wagging the dog.

Truth is to inform our affections and our emotions. And His truth is righteousness.

It's righteous and good. And we put on that armor and walk in Him, and we guard ourselves from being fruitless as Christians in this battle, in this war that is taking place.

So as we prepare to go to the Lord's table, as we do each week, I ask that you would evaluate your own lives.

Have you put on the belt of truth and the breastplate of righteousness? Has the righteousness of Christ been placed on you?

Are you positionally righteous in Him? And have you been actively walking in His righteousness?

And I don't mean perfection. As we said earlier, as Paul said, not that I've already obtained.

You will never be there in this life. That's glory. However, if you have been walking in open, unconfessed unrighteousness,

I ask that you would confess it now, that you would lay it at the foot of the cross where it was paid for.

Go make it right with your brother or sister before you come to this table.

As I said, for some have come in an unworthy manner, some are sick, and some have even died.

And coming to this table, you are declaring to everyone in this room that you are in Christ and pursuing a life of obedience to Him.

If you are not, you are lying to the congregation, and you are lying to the

Holy Spirit. I ask that you would guard yourself from such.

I will be over here. Pastor Keith will be over here. If you're a guest with us, if you are in Christ this morning and you are in good standing with an evangelical church, you are welcome to this table.

The way it works is you go out around the sides, get the wine and the bread, and go back to your seats through the center.

Today is the first week of the month. This is one of my favorite times because we don't partake separately. We'll partake together, as I read from Luke's gospel account of the

Last Supper. So as you get back to your seat, please wait with the elements, and once everyone is ready, we will partake together.

But let's pray that God would be honored in our time at the table. Lord, we thank you.

We thank you for the perfect righteousness of Christ that is given to those of us who are in you this morning.

And we pray that as we come and we take of these elements, the wine and the bread that symbolizes the blood and body of our great

Savior who has paid for us. Lord, we pray that you, Lord, would be honored in it.

Guard our hearts. Lord, help us to be encouraged and sanctified and challenged as we partake.