Dr. Bradford Reaves
Crossway Christian Fellowship
Hagerstown, MD
www.mycrossway.org
Watch this sermon at: https://mycrossway.churchcenter.com/episodes/152406
10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. 11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. 12 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. 13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. 14 Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 15 and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. 16 In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; 17 and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, 18 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, (Ephesians 6:10–18)
In our continued study of our position in spiritual warfare, we covered the first part of the believer’s armor. The Belt of Truth. It is more than a decorative accessory to our outfit. This foundational piece of armor binds everything else we wear together. Likewise, walking constantly in the light of God’s truth is foundational to our standing against the attacks of the enemy. Without the absolute truth of our Lord Jesus Christ, everything else in our lives and our society will fall apart. Our goal is to satisfy the hunger and longing of those who are seeking the truth.
Now we move into our next piece of armor - The Breastplate of Righteousness. Righteousness is imperative to spiritual warfare, just as the breastplate was the soldier’s primary form of protection against his vital organs. If there are holes in your armor, you are vulnerable to the attacks of the enemy and one of his arrows piercing through.
When I was a police officer, I wore a piece of body armor every day. They were heavy, bulky, and hot, but they provided protection and assurance that a bullet would not hit a vital organ. I was in K9 and my dog and I were often tasked with tracking high-risk and heavily armed fugitives. When that was the case, I donned an extra piece of body armor that would provide even greater protection against higher caliber bullets. The point being: I NEVER went to work without wearing body armor - period.
We live in a day when righteousness is mocked - even condemned in cultural contempt. Which really speaks volumes to the condition of our world. If Satan can strip the believer of his righteousness, then he can wound his heart and conscious. When God’s people turn from His righteousness, the effects are far-reaching. That’s why 2 Chronicles 7:14 “if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”
?Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people. (Proverbs 14:34)
Unless I understand the Cross, I cannot understand why my commitment to what is right must be precedence over what I prefer you cannot discuss human rights, when we are denying the God-given right to live.
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But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. (Matthew 6:33)
Theologically speaking, righteousness comes to the believer in 2 classifications:
1. Imputed Righteousness - The righteousness of Christ given to the believer’s account that enables him to stand before God
In the third chapter of Zechariah, there is a scene in which Joshua the high priest is standing before the angel of the Lord in the temple, and Satan is also standing there to accuse him. Since we are told that Joshua is dressed in filthy clothes, representing his and the people’s sins, Satan must have been pointing to these and declaring forcefully that Joshua was not fit to stand before the Lord in this office. It is a clear case of spiritual warfare. But the angel of God intervenes.
“Take off his filthy clothes,” says the angel. Then, in place of the filthy clothes he had been wearing, the angel gives him new rich garments and a clean turban for his head. Clearly, this symbolizes the righteousness of Christ imputed to him—the clothes were not something Joshua acquired for himself but rather were something given to him—and it is in this righteousness alone that he is enabled to resist Satan’s vile accusations.
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)
And he believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness. (Genesis 15:6)
2. Imparted Righteousness - this is the righteous works of Christ in and through the believer as a result of God’s imputed righteousness. In other words, as a result of God’s righteousness received through faith in Jesus Christ, we are able to now live righteously. That is what is meant in Revelation 19:8 “8 it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure”— for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.”
?For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead. (James 2:26)
Notice that righteousness is given to us by God in faith and that becomes our righteous fruit (works). It’s not the other way around. Redemption is always prior to righteousness. You cannot be righteous until you are first redeemed. We do not receive God’s righteousness as a result of our good works.
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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)
Self-righteousness is not the Breastplate of Righteousness. It is believing the lie that our own good works are enough to justify ourselves against God’s holiness. Romans 3:10 says, however, “as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one;”
The Breastplate was imperative because it covers the most vulnerable parts of the body. Many times the Roman armor was made of thick linen, chain mail, animal horns, or even metal. It was cumbersome and could slow the soldier down, but it was also absolutely necessary. It was fitted with loops or buckles that attached it to the belt. If that belt was loosened, the breastplate would slip off.
?Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling,
Romans 10:3 “For, being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness.” This is the folly of every person who tries to justify themselves through their own good works. What happens is we open out entire lives to being vulnerable to Satan’s lies and deceptions. His attacks eventually overtake us because we’re relying on our own protections and not God.
If there are unconfessed sins in your life, you are vulnerable. If you’re courting sin in your life or you’re doing the bare minimum in your life to be spiritually healthy, you are vulnerable. When Satan sees sin, he moves into that crack. He will do anything he can to convince you not to come to worship, to hold onto sinful habits, to keep God’s armor off, and trust in your own ways.
No matter how adept your theology, how solid your ability, how skilled your comprehension, and how much you know Scripture, you are still vulnerable in this war that is being waged and fought on a day-to-day basis.
1 Peter 1:13 “Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” Another translation is “having your loins girded.” It’s the idea of readiness. In other words, get your minds ready and keep yourself ready to be focused on the things of God. It’s a commitment on a level that demands faithfulness and strength in times of struggle. I believe that there must be a commitment at Crossway that is rarely seen in other churches today. A commitment to the truth, a commitment to the Gospel, a commitment to serving, a commitment to each other, and a commitment to knowing, living, and sharing the gospel of Jesus in season and out of season.
Did you know that human knowledge is doubling every 13 months (compare with every 100 years in 1900) and did you know that 90% of the data came on the internet in the last 2 years? Despite this explosion of growth of knowledge, we are more ignorant now of the things of God than ever before since Christ walked the earth. We are vulnerable to trusting in knowledge over God and that leaves our thinking vulnerable to the attacks of Satan. He wants to snatch you away from the Word of God and confuse you with lies and deceptions. Technology can never replace a relationship with God and His renewing of your mind. So Satan has you using sin and sinful things as a means of entertainment as we watch it on TV, the internet, or Tic-tock while we never think about how it is corrupting our desires or loosening our armor.
Ravi Zacharias put it well when he said, "In an attempt to be reasonable, man has become irrational. In an attempt to deify himself, he has defaced himself. In an attempt to be free, he has made himself a slave. And like Alexander the Great, he has conquered the world around him but has not yet conquered himself." This is what the Apostle Paul meant when he tells every believer that in order to stand against the attacks of the enemy we must be armored with the Breastplate of Righteousness.
In a world where truth has become relative, righteousness has become offensive. This is the believer’s warfare, leaving us vulnerable and defeated.
“Creed” By Steve Turner
We believe in Marx, Freud, and Darwin.
We believe everything is OK as long as you don’t hurt anyone to the best of your definition of hurt, and to the best of your knowledge.
We believe in sex before, during, and after marriage. We believe in the therapy of sin. We believe that adultery is fun. We believe that sodomy’s OK. We believe that taboos are taboo.
We believe that everything’s getting better despite evidence to the contrary. The evidence must be investigated. And you can prove anything with evidence.
We believe there’s something in horoscopes, UFOs. and bent spoons.
Jesus was a good man just like Buddha, Muhammed, and ourselves. He was a good moral teacher though we think His good morals were bad.
We believe that all religions are basically the same at least the one that we read was. They all believe in love and goodness. They only differ on matters of creation, sin, heaven, hell, God, and salvation.
We believe that after death comes Nothing because when you ask the dead what happens they say nothing. If death is not the end, if the dead have lied, then its compulsory heaven for all except perhaps Hitler, Stalin, and Genghis Kahn
We believe in Masters and Johnson.
What’s selected is average. What’s average is normal. What’s normal is good.
We believe in total disarmament. We believe there are direct links between warfare and bloodshed. Americans should beat their guns into tractors. And the Russians would be sure to follow.
We believe that man is essentially good. It’s only his behavior that lets him down. This is the fault of society. Society is the fault of conditions. Conditions are the fault of society.
We believe that each man must find the truth that is right for him. Reality will adapt accordingly. The universe will readjust. History will alter. We believe that there is no absolute truth except the truth that there is no absolute truth.
We believe in the rejection of creeds, And the flowering of individual thought.
If chance be the Father of all flesh, disaster is his rainbow in the sky, and when you hear
State of Emergency! Sniper Kills Ten! Troops on Rampage! Whites go Looting! Bomb Blasts School!
It is but the sound of man worshiping his maker.
My own righteousness is useless against the attacks of the enemy. The only righteousness that will protect us is the righteousness given to us through Christ Jesus our Lord. How then will righteousness manifest itself in the believer’s life? The answer is holiness. Holy living is the expression of being established in Christ’s righteousness. When you were saved through a confession of faith - putting off the old self and putting on the new life in Jesus - you were given the righteousness of Christ. That righteousness will cover you for all of eternity and that righteousness will manifest itself in your life through holy living. You will desire to stop doing the things that displease the Lord and do more of what pleases the Lord. You desire to serve others, go on mission trips, love others, worship on Sundays, study the word, pray without ceasing, and so on. And the more you walk with the Lord, the more you despise the things that are sinful.
?Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. 12 Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation. (1 Peter 2:11–12)
John Newton Wrote the hymn ‘Rejoice Believer in the Lord.’ Listen to the words:
1 Rejoice, believer, in the Lord,
who makes your cause his own;
the hope that's built upon his word
shall ne'er be overthrown.
2 Though many foes beset your road,
and feeble is your arm,
your life is hid with Christ in God
beyond the reach of harm.
3 Weak as you are, you shall not faint
or fainting shall not die!
For Jesus, strength of ev'ry saint,
will aid you from on high.
