Ephesians 6 (Part 2)

Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry coming to you from Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston. No Compromise Radio is a program dedicated to the ongoing proclamation of Jesus Christ, based on the theme in Galatians 2, verse 5, where the Apostle Paul said, �But we did not yield in subjection to them for even an hour, so that the truth of the gospel would remain with you.

In short, if you like smooth, watered-down words to make you simply feel good, this show isn�t for you. By purpose, we are first biblical, but we can also be controversial. Stay tuned for the next 25 minutes as we�re called by the divine trumpet to summon the troops for the honor and glory of her King.

Here�s our host, Pastor Mike Abendroth. I�d like to start off with a quote today from a theologian. I�d like you to ask yourself the question, �When was this written �The world is passing through troubled times.

The young people of today think of nothing but themselves. They have no reverence for parents or old age. They are impatient of all restraint. They talk as if they know everything, and what passes for wisdom with us is foolishness with them.

As for the girls, they are forward, immodest, unladylike in speech, behavior, and dress. Who wrote that? When was it written? Ann Landers? Did she write that? Dear Abby? James Dobson? Moral Majority?

Jerry Falwell? Actually, that�s an extract from a sermon preached by Peter the Hermit in 1274 A .D. �There is nothing new under the sun. Paul said, �Realize this, in the last days difficult times will come.

For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips without self-control, brutal haters of good.

And Paul has been talking to the church about family life, wives, husbands, children, workers, and then all of a sudden out of nowhere, he says, �You�re in a war. Turn to Ephesians chapter 6, and I want you to see that with your own eyes.

This gospel of grace permeates parents and children, the way you work, slaves and free, masters and bondservants, and then out of nowhere, with military-like abruptness, Paul says, �You�re in a war. Spiritual pacifists may not apply.

Instead of walking in chapter 5, you�re walking the Christian life, now it�s, �You�re in a war. And Paul wants everyone to know, at Ephesus, and even here now, 2 ,000 years later, that we need the proper assessment of the enemy, and we need proper armor.

As you know, Ephesians chapter 6, verses 10 and following, is the armor of God passage. How many people have read the armor of God before? Of course we know the armor. And it�s important for us to see, as we�ve been working through the book of Ephesians, chapter by chapter, two sermons a chapter, by the way, I hate to say goodbye to an old friend today.

Right, the last sermon on Hebrews, I mean on Ephesians for a while. I think I counted, we went through Hebrews in 103 sermons, and so Ephesians has just been six, speeding it up a little bit. Why would Paul end with the armor?

Is the armor important? Is it something that we do? Is it provided for us? There have been a lot of commentators writing on the armor of God, and one man named William Gurnell wrote a book, a book that contained 261 chapters, 1 ,400 pages on these 11 verses.

And so I thought, well, I only have two hours for the sermon today, so I think I can get it done. He said, here�s my book title for Ephesians 6, The Christian in Complete Armor. Good, but you know how Puritans love to have subtitles for their books?

Here�s the subtitle of the book. The Saints War Against the Devil, wherein a discovery is made of that grand enemy of God and his people, in his policies, power, seat of his empire, wickedness, and chief design that he hath against the saints, a magazine opened, from whence the Christian is furnished with spiritual arms for the battle, helped on with his armor, and taught the use of his weapon, together with the happy issue of the whole war.

Paul has been working through Ephesians, and you know, big picture, it would be something like this. Here�s who you are in Christ, chapters 1, 2, and 3. This is what God the triune God has done. He�s blessed you with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.

He�s predestined you, his son has redeemed you, the spirit has sealed you. Jesus has made peace, not between just you and God, but if you are at peace with God, and other Jews and Gentiles are at peace with God, you�re at peace with one another.

It talks about this great mystery of the gospel, where God knew all along what the gospel was, but we didn�t know until he told us, because we�re finite, we�re sinful, and we can�t think the mind of God until he reveals himself.

And Paul ends this book with a very important topic, and that is, there is an invisible battle going on, and we need to recognize that, and have the right armor, so we can combat the real and true arch enemy of the Christian church, and that is Satan.

Confidence in the Lord, Not in Ourselves

Let me give you some introductory notes from chapter 6, 10 and following, and then we�re going to get right into the section. Introductory note number one, doesn�t this strike you oddly, where we end with this section of parents, and wives, and bondservants, and workers, and masters, and then he says, it�s startling, finally, this is an abrupt transition, I mean, we�re going from peaceful homes and serenity at work, to, oh, you�re in a war.

One writer said, it is marriage, parent-child relations, and in the daily working world, that we need to recognize, that we are not dealing merely with flesh and blood, but with rulers, authorities, cosmic forces, spiritual forces of evil.

If, in fact, the church, if, in fact, the family, is a trophy of God�s grace, is a showcase of God�s grace, don�t you think Satan hates the church? Don�t you think he hates the family? The answer is yes, and he will do everything he can to cause problems, and Paul doesn�t want that, and so he says, I want you to be strong in the Lord and the strength of his might.

If you�re looking for an outline, let me just give you some confidence-building strategies, so that you can not have to worry about Satan. I think we�ve got two problems when it comes to Satan. There�s people on this side of the camp, where everything�s satanic.

If you overeat, it�s satanic. There�s temptations, there�s trials, Satan�s involved in politics, Satan�s involved in my daily living, Satan�s involved everywhere, I rebuke him, I cast him out, I send him to Fitchburg, I do all these things.

That�s an inside joke, by the way. How many people here live in Fitchburg? And then we tend to be here at this church, where we could minimize Satan. Satan, he�s real, he�s the father of all lies, he�s powerful, he�s anti-Christ, he�s anti-church, and while we might laugh about an excess in this area, I think Paul�s discussion in Ephesians 6 is a good remedy for us to think, well, you know what, we can�t see Satan and his hordes, therefore, what�s the big deal?

Now Paul�s whole theme in this book is to exalt the triune God and to give you encouragement. Chapter 6, verse 22, he wants to encourage you, so we don�t have to come to this passage and be all afraid, and what if Satan can oppress me and possess me and make me lose my salvation, and I�m just left on my own, God saved me, God justified me, God redeemed me, and now I�m on my own by myself as a sentinel out in the middle of nowhere, and I�m going to be vanquished by this strong enemy.

No, he wants you to have confidence. Let me give you some confidence-building strategies from Paul in light of who you are in Christ so that you can properly navigate this situation. Number one, confidence-building strategy, you never were meant to stand on your own.

You don�t have to rely on yourself, in other words, you can be confident, and look at verse 10, �Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Well, what if Satan�s too strong, what if the enemy�s too powerful, what if I can�t resist, I�ve not been able to resist much temptation in my life, and I know I can�t trust myself, I can�t live a victorious Christian life on my own, am I going to have the ability?

Well, in ourselves, we should have no confidence in our own ability, but with the Lord�s power, with the Lord�s strength, and he uses all kinds of words for strength and might and power, we should have confidence.

I don�t have to be afraid, I don�t go to sleep at night thinking, �What if Satan�s going to get me I think Satan is out there, but I know who the Lord is, and he says, �Be strong in the Lord. I like the way he summarizes it, you know, he uses a word that means nothing to a preacher,.

�Finally in closing, in summary, but for Paul, he says that there�s a few things that remain, this is what remains, and I want to tell you about spiritual warfare, the church at Ephesus and Bethlehem Bible Church.

Let me tell you, finally, in light of what God has done for you freely, full of sovereign grace, even though you were sinful and an enemy of God, we even heard of the testimonies of the baptism, that you�re adopted, you�re a child of God.

And by the way, has not God given you every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places? And if he has given you that, Ephesians 1, 3, won�t he give you ways to try to combat Satan and the enemies and the hordes against your soul?

Of course, if he didn�t spare his son, won�t he give you everything else? If he gives the biggest gift, won�t he give you the smallest gift? And here�s this battle, �Be strong. By the way, this is not a word that means, �I personally have to be strong.

I went to the gym yesterday, and I did bicep curls and tricep extensions and quads and all that stuff, I�m working myself out. No, no, literally this is, �Be strengthened. Strength comes from another, and it�s given to you.

This isn�t, �You get yourself strong. This is, �God is willing and eager and generous to strengthen you. And he says, �You need to be strong in the might of the Lord. He�s trying to tell you, �You know what?

By myself, I�m strong, and I can withstand temptation. I can withstand discouragement. I can withstand doubt. I am my own person. That�s not what we should do. We are dependent people. We are frail people.

And he highlights it in verse 10, �Be strong in the Lord. Be strengthened by the Lord, not by yourself, not even through primarily other Christians or other means, but it�s in the Lord and in the strength of His might.

We have to realize, when we have this strong enemy, that self-sufficiency is deadly. I have to realize that I�m weak and that you�re weak. By the way, this being strengthened in the Lord, doesn�t that remind you of the Lord Jesus on earth?

Was, in fact, the Lord Jesus, the Eternal Son, who took on flesh, true human nature? Wasn�t He strong in the Lord, His Father? Wasn�t He dependent on God and who He is? In the battle with Jesus and temptations from Satan, it wasn�t Jesus saying, �You know what?

It�s me against Satan. It�s the Father�s good pleasure to send me and the Spirit of God�s good pleasure to help me to be dependent. Jesus was obediently dependent on the Father. Even David, it says of David in 1 Samuel 30, �He strengthened himself in the Lord his God.

True or false? We are more than conquerors. Well, true, but we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us and gave Himself for us. I love the song that goes like this, �High King of Heaven, my victory won.

May I reach Heaven�s joys, O bright Heaven�s sun. Heart of my own heart, whatever befall, still be my vision, O ruler of all. That�s what Paul was after, to be strengthened in the Lord. Not his own strength, but the Lord�s strength.

Therefore, our confidence is not in ourselves. We don�t trust our own resources, our own natural weapons. Did we in our own strength confide? Our striving would be losing. Beuys said, �A Christian is foolish if he thinks Satan can be resisted by human strength alone.

Well, there�s another confidence-building strategy, and that�s found in verses 11 and 12. Well, if we are not supposed to trust ourselves negatively, now let�s make it positively. Christian, be confident in what God supplies.

You can be confident in what God gives you. Of course, His generous, great, gracious God, He will take care of you. The adversaries may be fierce and wicked, but the Lord is adequate. Verse 11, �Put on the full armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.

Put on God�s armor. The language here is pretty staccato. It�s pretty drill instructor, drill sergeant-like. He�s not blending things together. It�s like one, two, three, four, and that�s the language here.

You�re in a war. It�s war language. Put on, just like you put on some clothes. This is used in Luke 15, �Quickly bring out the best robe and put it on him. We need the armor of God. It says in Colossians 3, �We put on the new self, which is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the One who created him.

Why do we need God�s armor? We�re going to see what the armor is in a moment, but why do we need it? Do you see the verse? �That you may be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. Here�s the language.

You put somebody out to guard something, and you tell them what? When the enemy comes, you shirk back. When the enemy comes, you retreat. No, you tell them, most likely, when the enemy comes, you hold your what?

You hold your ground. You stay the course. Maintain your ground. Victory at Calvary�s been won. You stand firm. You say, �Well, how could I against Satan? Did he not sweep away one-third of the angels in heaven with his mighty power?

Is he not a roaring lion seeking people to devour like Noah, like David, like Moses, like Peter? Doesn�t he want to sift me and you like wheat and devour us Yes, but David isn�t addressed here. You�re addressed here, and it says you�ve got to recognize he�s got this organized strategy, and he�s got these wiles.

How many people�s Bible translation says the wiles of the devil? Some say wiles. Yes, schemes. It�s where we get the word �methods. He has methods. With all due respect, he�s the first Methodist. No, just kidding.

He�s got plans. See, we live our life just once, and we figure out the hard way what to do. Satan�s been dealing with people for generation after generation, thousands and millions and billions of people.

He knows the right strategy, and you just have to back up to Genesis chapter 3, and what�s his strategy with Eve? God�s not good. God�s not generous. God�s holding out of you. He�s got these plans. He knew what to do at the beginning because he�s so wise, and compoundedly, he makes himself the skies like an angel of big fangs and gross sulfur smells.

No, an angel of light. Paul says, �Church, stand your ground. He�s got wiles. He�s got military ploys. He�s been doing his methods for a long, long time, and while he tempted Eve, hindered God�s servant in Zechariah, snares the wicked, you�re to stand.

This all started the spiritual warfare in Genesis 3, as I said, �And I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your seed and her seed. He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.

Satan loves these methods. I just read some methods and added some of my own. He loves to mix truth with error. He loves to make everybody say, �Truth doesn�t really matter. What matters is ecumenism.

If God really loved you, he wouldn�t let you suffer like this. He loves that method. He loves to take scripture and just quote a little bit of it, or misquote some of it, or quote it out of context.

He loves to persecute. He loves to create doubt. He loves to make you think, �You know what? You can do it on your own. Pride and hypocrisy and worldliness, promoting false doctrines and idolatry. Sin�s not that bad.

God�s not that holy. He has his methods. And Paul writes in verse 12, �Look at your Bibles, for we do not wrestle against flesh and blood. It seems like we do. Politicians and governments, but we don�t wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers.

There�s a ranking here. We don�t know exactly how they�re ranked, but there is a ranking against authorities, against cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

He not only has methods, he has an organization. He�s a good administrator of wickedness and debauchery. And so therefore, I can�t just say, �Well, I�ll just kind of saunter up to Satan and think, �Well, I�m here, and I know what�s in me.

My natural thoughts, my natural disposition is, �I can do it. I can take care of this. I am self-sufficient. Calvin said, �Paul impresses their danger on them by telling them the nature of their enemy.

I mean, it�s one thing if you go into battle and they�ve just got pea shooters, wrist rockets. It�s another thing if they have 50 cows triangulated on you. And Paul says, �We�re struggling. We�re hand-to-hand combat.

We have some wrestlers in the congregation. This is wrestling language. We�re struggling. We�re trying to get the guy�s neck up here and expose his neck. We�re trying to do it in a tricky way, because if you just have the same moves wrestling every single time, your opponent�s going to get it, so you have to trick and deceive and to be cunning when you wrestle.

I read this week that often the wrestler who lost in Greek wrestling contest had his eyes gouged out, so you better win. But it�s not people. The enemy�s not the people. What Paul does is he says, �By the way, Satan�s real.

He�s powerful. He has methods. And then he parades past us all these organized ranks, so we would say, �Yes, this is really true. I don�t know if you�ve been to a parade or not, but you just see people just coming by one after another after another.

I think of the parade I went to in Mondamon, Iowa, once. And they just had a Batmobile go by. They had some corn combines drive by. They had some place that sold fresh water come by. They had a place that sold outhouses went by.

People really clapped for that one. I thought, �I am in Iowa right now. The parade isn�t a parade that you want to go to, but you need to know about rulers and principalities, forces. You say, �Well, based on this kind of enemy, this isn�t going to be one and done.

This is till death do us part. I better not go AWOL. Therefore, verse 13, �Take up the whole armor of God. I just can�t piecemeal it. That�s the point. �So that you may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done all to stand firm.

Enemies are formidable. We need all the armor of God. We need to hold our ground in this evil day. Now we come to the actual armor. Verses 14 through 17 talk about the armor. If you like kind of like the exciting part of the sermon where you think, �Oh, I grasp that better now.

I learned that. I understand it. This is the point. This is the part where I thought, �Okay, I�ve got it. When you�re studying the scripture and you�re going to have to preach, there�s a point in time where you think, �Okay, I see it.

If I see it, now I can tell the congregation. Most people think this. Paul has been in jail enough. What was Paul�s M .O.? He goes to a town. He wants to know where two places are, the synagogue, because that�s where he�ll preach, and the prison, that�s where he�ll be.

Paul saw a lot of Roman soldiers. He might have been tied and tethered to some. He certainly saw them walking around the street, and he could see their swords. He could see their breastplates. He could see all kinds of things in their feet.

Therefore, Paul says, �See how a Roman soldier looks? I�m going to use this as a description, as a metaphor, as a good way to teach someone what this armor�s like. If the Roman people needed this for being their soldiers, you need this too.

I think that�s partly true, but it�s not mainly true. Do you remember Paul was at Ephesus for how many years teaching them? I mean, he wrote this from prison, but when Paul went to Ephesus, how long was he there?

Three years. What did Paul teach the church at Ephesus for three years? Did he teach them 1 Peter? Did he teach them the book of Revelation? Did he teach them the gospel according to Luke? What did they teach him?

He taught them the Old Testament scriptures. And wouldn�t it surprise you if I told you there is a strong warrior king, Messiah, who has armor in the Old Testament? Would that surprise you? It shouldn�t surprise you, but what we�re going to do before we look at the armor, I�m going to take you to one book in the Old Testament that if you grasp these three passages, you�ll go, �Oh, it�s Jesus�s armor.

What armor am I to take up Let me just throw this out to you right now. The breastplate of righteousness, if you need to have a righteous life in order to withstand Satan, how are you doing? Well, I think you�re probably overconfident, and I probably think that it�s not very perfect.

How many o-rings, defective o-rings, do you need to have a space shuttle blow up? So I got some righteousness, but to stand before God, to stand before Satan even, what are you going to do? You need righteousness.

Whose righteousness is it? And before we look at the passage, I�m here to tell you that this is just like Paul. Everything�s about Christ, in Christ, for Christ, the Father sending the Son, the Son going, the Spirit of God empowering Jesus, applying His benefits to our life.

And what Paul wants to end with is, �The Lord Jesus Christ, He�s your powerful advocate, strong King, and Messiah warrior. Satan and Jesus are not co-equal and have symmetry in their power. If Satan is strong and powerful, yes, that�s true, you need somebody who�s stronger than Satan, right?

You need somebody whose armor is bigger than yours. I can just remember Peter. Here�s Peter�s armor walking up to Satan, essentially, �I�ll never deny you, Jesus. Huh, okay. Good thing Jesus prayed that Peter wouldn�t be sifted.

To understand Ephesians chapter 6 and the armor of God, you need to understand Isaiah 11, 49 and 59. Let�s go there. 11, 49, 59. I�m going to say that about five times, so you walk away and you�re like, �I�m going to go read Isaiah about the servant who comes in the name of the Lord, and he�s a mighty, victorious warrior Messiah.

It�s Isaiah 11, 49 and 59, a passage that talks about Jesus, the warrior King of God. Who is the Messianic King, who�s come to establish his kingdom, and he has power. This passage in Ephesians is the description of the armor of Jesus from the Old Testament.

Therefore, we draw our strength and our power from him and him alone. So Isaiah, what chapter is it again? 11, 49, 59. I wish I could come up with some song. That�d be a good zip code. What zip code do you live in?

11, 49, 59. That kind of sounds good in the year 2525 if man is still alive. I like 11, 49, 59 better. Don�t you? The young people are like, �What is he talking about Think oldie station on Spotify, 60s.

Think that. Of course, Paul is going to say, �Look at the Old Testament and see the warrior King who has the armor. Chapter 11, verse 5, �Speaking of the Messiah, the warrior King, righteousness shall be the belt of his waist, and faithfulness the belt of his loins.

Do you see it? Chapter 49, please, of Isaiah. You want to know about the servant of the Lord Yahweh? You want to know how powerful he is? He uses the language here, of course, of a Roman soldier, but not primarily of a Roman soldier.

Isaiah 49, verse 1,. �Listen to me, O coastlands, and give attention, you peoples from afar. The Lord called me from the womb, and from the body of my mother he named me. He made my mouth like a sharp sword.

And then the most important passage is Isaiah chapter 59. Isaiah 11 has belt around the waist, which is righteousness and faithfulness. Isaiah 49 has the sharp sword out of the mouth. And Isaiah 59, verse 16, please, 11, 49, 59, verse 16, �He saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no one to intercede.

If you're going to stand before a thrice holy God, you need a mediator, you need a go-between, you need an advocate. �Then his own arm brought him up salvation, or brought him salvation, and his righteousness upheld him.

He put on righteousness as a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation on his head. He put on garments of vengeance for clothing, and wrapped himself in zeal as a cloak. Here we have in Isaiah 59, 49 and 11, the Messiah, the warrior king.

Who do you need in the day of battle? Answer, the Lord Jesus Christ, perfectly found in him, uniquely found in him as the warrior king. So let's go back to Ephesians chapter 6, please. Isaiah 11, 49 and 59 talk about this great Messiah who has the armor.

And he's just got done saying, �Be strong in the Lord, in the strength of his might. While it's true that we want to live a righteous life, we want to live a faithful life, we want to live a life of truth, that's all true.

But that's secondary to the primary focus of the text, and that is, if you're going to have to battle Satan, who do you want at your side? Who do you want to be trusting in? Who do you want to be thanking for?

Who do you want to be confident in? How can you trust in your battle over Satan if it's your righteousness against a Satanic enemy? But if you have a Lord at your side, we're the right man on my side.

He says, �Take up the whole armor of God. And we come to confidence building strategy number three, Christian church, stand confidently in the armor of Jesus Christ. We are not made to do it on our own, number one.

We can be confident that God will take care of us, number two. And now specifically, number three, we can be confident in Jesus Christ and his armor that we saw in 1149 -59 of Isaiah. Verse 14, �Stand therefore.

And now he's going to give six pieces of armor. You're going to want them to be Jesus' armor. And this is a good way to try to get people to think through and go, �Oh, now I see it. I know what Roman soldiers look like, but I also have been taught by Paul what the Messiah King looks like in the Old Testament.

Six pieces of God's armor, six pieces of Jesus the Messiah's armor. One, God's truth, the belt of truth. �Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth. You might think kind of like Scottish kilts, and they're kind of flowing.

Well, back in those days, you'd have a robe, and if you needed to run, you better sash that up. You better gird up your loins. You need something to pull this up, kind of like a girdle fashion, so you could run, so you could be ready to go.

And so they would have a belt, a wide leather belt, and it'd have probably a dagger on it or a knife and other things. And you need not just a real belt. What's the text say? The text says, �The belt of truth.

Charles Hodge says, �Girdles of spiderwebs for the Christian warrior are human reason, human plans, church tradition, dead orthodoxy. You need a different kind of girdle, something that's truthful.

The belt helps the soldier go off to battle, and we need truth. What kind of truth is this? Well, he's been talking about truth in Ephesians. He mentions truth seven times. Ephesians 1 .13, �The message of truth, the gospel of your salvation.

That's what he's talking about. Christianity, when you're fighting Satan, you need to say to yourself, �What does the Bible reveal about Jesus the Son? What does the Bible talk about when it comes to foundational revelation of the Son, the truth of the gospel, the content that is true?

That was, by the way, foundational to Jesus' life, was it not? To the law, to the prophets. How many times did Jesus say, �It is written. That was enough. This is truth of Christianity. You think, �Okay, I'm in a battle, and what do I need to remember?

I need to remember that I can trust the Son, that His promises are true, that Satan is the father of lies, but I can trust what God has said. One writer said, �It may be specific reference to the gospel that is the true message.

By the way, on a side note, doctrine matters. Does it not? Doctrine matters. Even Paul said, �Preach the word in season, out of season. Reprove, rebuke, exhort with great patience and doctrine. This is the truth that Christians believe about the triune God, His salvation, His security, His promises, His hopes, His faithfulness.

If I'm going to be in a spiritual battle, I know to myself with the belt of truth what's true and what's not. By the way, here's what Paul does not say, �Stand, therefore, having fastened on the belt of my truth.

Oh, I hate it when people say that. �Oh, that's your truth. This is my truth. I'm thinking, �I don't know what planet you live on, but it's not the right planet. But then I have to preach to myself and realize, �You're not my enemy because you're flesh and blood, and I know my enemy is not against flesh and blood.

The truth of God's word and the promises of the gospel, that's what we need. Secondly, we need a breastplate of righteousness. Verse 14, �Put on the breastplate of righteousness. Now if you want to talk theology, what kind of righteousness is he talking about?

Righteousness, root word, right, to do the right thing, to obey the law, to merit righteousness is what Jesus did. If you're going to fight in a battle, what kind of righteousness do you need? Do you need righteousness that is given to your account by Jesus through faith?

We call that, what kind of righteousness? Imputed, or reckoned, or credited. Then there's another kind of righteousness that since we are right with God, we'd like to live a holy life. That's called what kind of righteousness?

Imparted. Who said imparted? Oh, okay, excellent. All right. Well, let's close in prayer. We had baptisms today. Imputed righteousness, imparted righteousness. Righteousness is doing the right thing. Why did Jesus not come down on Friday, die, go up to heaven on Sunday?

Because he needed to live a perfect life and do the right thing before God. And that's imputed righteousness. That's Jesus' righteousness that you, dear Christian, have. When God sees you, he sees Jesus.

Nothing you can do to undo it or to do it, it's done for you. Imparted righteousness is since God has saved me and I'm a new creature, I'd like to live a right life. Is that a good thing to do? Obey, say no to sin.

There's another kind of righteousness that we don't discuss here except as an error. It's called infused righteousness, where I'm in the hospital and they have to infuse me with some extra blood. They're like pouring it into me.

That would be a Roman Catholic doctrine. They talk about infused. So forget that one for a second. What do you need in the battle against Satan? Jesus' perfect righteousness? Our last week's righteousness that you did.

I mean, honestly, how'd your week go? How many people, you don't have to raise your hand, how many people here were satisfied with their holy living last week? Satisfied with your prayer life? Satisfied with preaching the gospel to unbelievers every day?

Satisfied with scripture reading? Satisfied with sacrificially loving your wives? Satisfied with submitting to your husband? Satisfied with honoring your parents? How'd you do? So if you're in a battle, what do you need to look to?

Whom do you need to look to? Of course it's the Lord Jesus. I have a doctrine of truth, yes, and wrapped it around. It gets me ready for the battle because I know the promises of God are yes and amen in Jesus.

And now I have the righteousness of that mighty warrior in chapter 59 of Isaiah. No wonder Paul said in 1 Corinthians 1, by God's doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, that is, righteousness.

The verses that I'd like somebody to preach at my funeral, I'll read them and then you probably remember where they're from. This is what Paul is talking about. My little children, I'm 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 the propitiation for our sins, and not only ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. That's 1 John 2.

If you're going to stand before God, you can't stand before God without a mediator. And you can't even stand before Satan without a mediator. No wonder Proverbs said, the righteous are bold as a what?

When you know you stand in Christ, that He is your captain and your Savior, and He'll never leave you nor forsake you. Then when you're in a battle, you're like, okay, what's the worst thing I can do?

What's the worst thing that can happen to me? I'm dead. Is that so bad? Well, maybe for the moment it would be bad, but ultimately, you know what I'm saying. The breastplate protects the heart. The word breastplate, by the way, a side note, it's the word thorax.

When we get the word thorax, it protects us. Righteousness of Christ. Ian Hamilton said, there's little doubt that Paul is thinking principally about the righteousness of Christ. If this is so important to stand before Satan with righteousness and ultimately stand before God with righteousness, no wonder there's lots of people these days who are trying to jam in our righteousness into Christ's righteousness for judgment day.