What to Wear to the Battle: The Breastplate of Righteousness
What to Wear to the Battle • Sermon • Submitted
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· 13 viewsSatan goes after the vital parts of our character—our intellect and our emotions. This is why we need to put on the Breastplate of Righteousness.
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Text: Ephesians 6:10-18
Focal Passage: "Stand firm therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate f righteousness, " (Ephesians 6:14, NASB95)
Date: 08//2020 Sermon Title: Armor 03.wpd Sermon ID: 17
Theme: Satan goes after the vital parts of our character—our intellect and our emotions. This is why we need to put on the Breastplate of Righteousness.
In the Irish monastic tradition, a lorica is a prayer recited for protection. In the prayer the petitioner invokes all the power of God as a safeguard against evil in its many forms. The most well-known lorica coming out of Ireland is entitled St. Patrick’s Breastplate. Supposedly, he was on his way to meet with one of Ireland's feudal chieftons when he received word that he was going to be ambushed. In response, he prayed a prayer of protection. Fifteen-hundred years later, it's still a prayer that stirs hearts. Here is part of it:
Christ shield me today
Against poison, against burning,
Against drowning, against wounding,
So that reward may come to me in abundance.
Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me, Christ in me,
Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ on my right, Christ on my left,
Christ in breadth, Christ in length, Christ in height,
Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of every man who speaks of me,
Christ in every eye that sees me,
Christ in every ear that hears me.
As we walk the Christian walk, we must remember that Satan lays his traps and snares in an attempt to ambush us as Patrick’s enemies sought to ambush him. To be ready, we need to put on the full armor of God. Only when we put on the full armor of God does Christ surround his with his protective presence.
The second piece of the armor is the breastplate of righteousness. I want you to be aware of three things ...
• Our Profession of Christ Makes Us Targets of the Tempter
• Our Position in Christ Makes Us Righteous Before the Father
• Our Power with Christ Enable Us to Live Righteously
I. OUR PROFESSION OF CHRIST MAKES US TARGETS OF THE TEMPTER
I. OUR PROFESSION OF CHRIST MAKES US TARGETS OF THE TEMPTER
1. think back to before you were a Christian
a. Satan did not oppose you ... he didn’t have to
b. you were no threat or danger to his plans
1) the bible teaches us that, spiritually speaking, there are only one of two sides a man can be on
a) he is either on the side of God and His righteousness, or ...
b) he is on the side of the Devil and His unrighteousness
2) to be on the side of God takes a supernatural event called the New Birth
2. when you were born again; when you committed your life to Jesus Christ, you joined the army of the Lord
a. on that day, Satan declared war against you
1) ever since that moment you have been engaged in spiritual warfare with the Devil who uses the world and the flesh as his allies against you
2) according to the Apostle Paul, Satan comes at you with cosmic powers, darkness, and spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places (Ephesians 6:12, ESV)
3) it’s enough to send shivers up our spine and make are legs grow weak
b. this is why the Apostle Paul wrote to a young preacher boy named Timothy:
“Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.” (1 Timothy 6:12, ESV)
c. the spiritual war we are involved in is the good fight of faith
1) it's worth every ounce of energy you can muster
A. THE VITAL AREAS SATAN ATTACKS
A. THE VITAL AREAS SATAN ATTACKS
1. when you committed your life to Christ as Savior, Satan painted a big ‘bulls eye’ on your mind and your emotions
a. how do we know?
1) because the Apostle Paul commands us to put on the breastplate of righteousness
2. the Roman soldier’s breastplate was designed to protect two vital areas—his chest and his abdomen
a. in the chest is one’s heart and in the abdomen are one’s intestines
1) in Jewish culture the heart was actually considered the seat of the individual’s intellect and was represented by the person’s thoughts and actions
2) the intestines were considered the seat of the person’s emotions which are expressed in our outward feelings
b. we must put on the breastplate of righteousness because holy living must be the guardian of our minds and emotions
3. Satan wants to attack the believer in these two primary areas of life—our intellect and our emotions
a. Satan has successfully engineered a sinful environment in the world around us by which he tempts us to think wrong thoughts and to feel wrong emotions
1) he wants to cloud your intellect with false doctrine, false principles, and false information in order to mislead and confuse us
ILLUS. Satan is in the ‘fake news’ business. He seeks to fill our minds with lies and/or half truths. Let me be political for a moment ... if you’re getting most of your understanding of world events, and how you should respond to world events from CNN, FOX, CBS, NBC, MSNBC or the BBC you’re getting a lot of half-truths, and often outright lies. Only the Scriptures will lead you into all truth in understanding of world events, and how you should respond to world events.
2) he wants to confuse your emotions and thereby pervert your affections, morals, loyalties, goals, and commitments
ILLUS. Satan is also in the ‘fake feelings’ business. Remember the song, How Can it Be So Wrong When it Feels So Right? That’s were so many Americans are in their decision-making process. I think Satan has won his greatest victory in American culture in this area. In our culture today, it’s all about “How do I feel”? or “How does this decision make me feel”? So many of our decisions about “virtue-signaling” which almost always means signaling your agreement with leftist-progressive—and usually immoral—virtues. We certainly should not discount our feelings in making decisions, but neither should we totally depend on them.
b. Satan desires to snatch the Word of God from your minds and replace it with his own perverse ideas
c. he seeks to undermine Christlike living and replace it with immorality, greed, envy, hate, and every other vice
1) he wants us to laugh at sin rather than mourn over it, and to rationalize it rather than confess it and bring it to the Lord for forgiveness
d. he seeks to seduce us into becoming so accustomed with sin in us and around us that it no longer shocks our conscience
ILLUS. This is part of the problem in America ... nothing shocks our conscience any longer. What once was immoral has become to widely accepted in the culture, that virtually nothing surprises us any more. Thirty-five years ago, Madonna dressed like a street walker and sang her hit song “Like a Virgin.” Even the secular press—believe it or not—criticized the video for its overt sexuality and eroticism. Almost four decades later we pretty much yawn when Miley Cyrus’s ‘twerks” her way across a stage or Britney Spears and Lady GaGa appear half-naked at a music-awards show. The result is an ever-increasing moral ambivalence in our society.
4. this is why we need to put on the breastplate of righteousness—to protect our intellect and our emotions
II. OUR POSITION IN CHRIST MAKES US RIGHTEOUS BEFORE THE FATHER
II. OUR POSITION IN CHRIST MAKES US RIGHTEOUS BEFORE THE FATHER
Romans 5:1 “Therefore being justified by faith, . . . “ KJV
1. Paul affirms that the believer is in right standing before a holy God
a. in Christ, our Heavenly Father sees us as righteous as He sees His own Son
“For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.”” (Romans 4:3, ESV)
2. the Bible calls this imputed righteousness
a. the word imputed—often translated as credited or reckoned in most modern Bible translations means to credit to a person’s account
b. in Christ, God has credited to the believer’s spiritual account, grace that justifies
ILLUS. How would you like it, if every time you got your bank statement, you saw that someone had credited a significant amount of money to your account. Week-in-and-week-out there is always enough money deposited to cover all your debts and debits. Every time you ask the bank manager where the money comes from, he just smiles and says, “You have a loving benefactor!”
c. by His love, God has deposited all the grace we’ll ever need into our spiritual account
1) Christ’s death on the cross was totally sufficient to cover all your sin
2) no matter how great our debts, this grace never runs out
4. at the cross, a great transaction took place
a. the result is that your sin and my sin were reckoned to Christ’s account in order that Christ’s righteousness might be credited to our account
b. the theological term for it is double imputation or the great exchange
“For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Corinthians 5:21, ESV)
5. imputed righteousness IS NOT the righteousness Paul is referring to in Ephesians 6:14, but we need imputed righteousness before we can experience imparted righteousness WHICH IS the kind of righteousness Paul is referring to
A. OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS IN CHRIST PROVIDES PRACTICAL RIGHTEOUSNESS BY WHICH WE DEFEAT THE WORKS OF THE DEVIL
A. OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS IN CHRIST PROVIDES PRACTICAL RIGHTEOUSNESS BY WHICH WE DEFEAT THE WORKS OF THE DEVIL
1. when you responded to God’s overture of grace, and exorcized the Spirit’s gift of faith in the risen Son, the righteousness of Christ was imputed to you at that moment
a. God the Father clothed you in the righteousness of God the Son
b. from that moment and throughout eternity, whenever God looks at you, He sees the righteousness of Jesus Christ
“just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works: 7 “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; 8 blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin.”” (Romans 4:6–8, ESV)
“For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Corinthians 5:21, ESV)
2. because we’ve been made righteous before God we dress ourselves in the holiness of God by putting on righteousness
“The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light.” (Romans 13:12, ESV)
III. OUR POWER WITH CHRIST ENABLE US TO LIVE RIGHTEOUSLY
III. OUR POWER WITH CHRIST ENABLE US TO LIVE RIGHTEOUSLY
1. when you were saved, you were given the righteousness of Jesus Christ
a. it’s a done deal—that righteousness will cover all of your sin for all eternity
2. but for you to live the kind of life that wins the battle over the World, the Flesh and the Devil, you must apply to your life the righteous principles that are available to you through Christ
a. this is why the Apostle Paul writes that believers must put on the whole armor of God
1) the second of those pieces is the breastplate of righteousness
3. this is what the Bible calls imparted righteousness
a. imputed righteousness comes by faith
b. imparted righteousness comes by obedience
4. practical righteousness is imparted by the Holy Spirit when we
a. First: Renew our Minds
b. Second: Guard our Hearts
5. I told you at the beginning of this message, that Satan wants to attack the believer in two primary areas of life—your intellect and your emotions
a. Satan has successfully engineered a sinful environment in the world around us by which he tempts us to think wrong thoughts and to feel wrong emotions
b. but the breastplate of righteousness is designed to protect these two areas
A. WE PUT ON THE BREASTPLATE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS BY RENEWING OUR MIND
A. WE PUT ON THE BREASTPLATE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS BY RENEWING OUR MIND
“I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” (Romans 12:1–2, ESV)
1. how do you renew your mind?
a. let me offer three suggestions ...
2. Study the Truth
a. regular Bible study will help you keep truth in the forefront of your mind
b. contrary to popular wisdom, our mind—not our flesh—is the battlefield where most of our spiritual warfare is fought
“For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. 4 For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. 5 We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ,” (2 Corinthians 10:3–5, ESV)
c. a mind that is unrenewed regularly by Scripture is a mind that becomes a stronghold for Satan’s lies
1) the apostle writes that we must take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ
d. there simply is no substitute for Bible study during your quiet time with God
1) it’s essential if you hope to grow closer to God and maintain victory over our old sinful habits
3. Listen to the Spirit of Truth
a. the Bible calls the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth
1) the Spirit of God—who indwells all believers—will remind us of the truth and guide us in truth as we walk with God
b. if you will do your part and get into the Word of God, the Spirit will do His part and remind you of the Word of God when you are engaged in spiritual battle with the world, the flesh, and the devil
4. Pray the Truth
a. ask God to help you recall truth when you face temptations
1) each day, ask God to fill your mind with the truth of His Word
2) each day, ask God to guide your spirit into all truth by His Spirit
3) each day, ask God to enable you to live the truth by emulating the life of His Son
B. WE PUT ON THE BREASTPLATE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS BY GUARDING OUR HEART
B. WE PUT ON THE BREASTPLATE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS BY GUARDING OUR HEART
“Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.” (Proverbs 4:23, NIV)
“But the things that come out of a person’s mouth come from the heart, and these defile them. For out of the heart come evil thoughts—murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander.” (Matthew 15:18–19, NIV)
1. what competes with God for your affections?
a. God created us with hearts that long to worship
b. ever since the fall, Satan has corrupted our passion to worship the Creator and redirected our hearts toward created things
2. the problem, then, is not that our hearts are prone to worship, but that they are prone to wander in their worship
a. when we allow anything apart from God to rule us, compel us, or control us, we have created an idol
ILLUS. Martin Luther pointed out, “Whatever your heart clings to and relies upon, that is your God.” We worship idols when we look to something other than God to fulfill our deepest needs, satisfy our longings, give us hope, or define our identity.
3. how do we guard our heart?
a. let me offer some suggestions ...
4. First, Ruthlessly Unveil the Idols of Your Heart
a. prayerfully consider the following list of questions – they are designed to help you unmask any idols in your heart
1) What preoccupies or rules my heart? Thoughts? Time?
2) What compels me? Controls me? Drives me? Motivates me?
3) To what does my heart cling?
4) What competes for my time with God?
5) What gives me a sense of worth? What defines my identity before others?
6) If everything else were taken away, what is one thing I could not bear to live without?
b. if you discover idols that you’ve set up in your heart – repent of them!
5. Second, Make Worship of God a Priority in Your Life
“Return, O Israel, to the LORD your God, for you have stumbled because of your iniquity.” (Hosea 14:1, ESV)
a. God is jealous for our hearts and devotion
1) just as a husband would grieve if his wife desired another man, so God grieves when we turn to false gods and become enamored with them
“ ... how I have been broken over their whoring heart that has departed from me and over their eyes that go whoring after their idols. ... .” (Ezekiel 6:9, ESV)
b. there simply is no substitute for weekly, spirit-filled worship with fellow Christians
Our profession of faith has made us targets for the tempter. The good news is that, in Christ, we have had righteousness credited to our account. The Father sees His children as righteous as He see His only begotten Son. It is this imputed righteousness that makes practical righteousness possible. That practical righteousness is imparted to us by the Spirit when we regularly renew our minds with the Scriptures and guard our hearts through authentic worship of God in Spirit and in Truth.
We have a great adversary, but we can withstand him in the power of Christ if we’ll keep our armor on. If we let our guard down we’re vulnerable and exposed. Keep your armor on, so that when it’s all over but the shouting, you’ll still be on your feet.