Breastplate of Righteousness
Ephesians 6:10-14, John 3:16, Isaiah 11:1-5, 59:12-17, 1 Thessalonians 5:8, 2 Corinthians 11-13
March 14, 2004
I. Living in the world that we do we hear a lot about heart disease.
A. There are many organs in the body that medical science has made us able to live without.
B. I have personally given up my Gall Bladder, others live without their Pancreas, and part of their intestines.
C. But the heart isn’t something that we can live without.
D. Heart disease is one of the major causes of death for Americans and there is no doubt that we are a society that struggles with heart disease.
E. Our bodies are hindered or just can’t function correctly with a diseased heart.
F. In the same way the life of a Christian is non-functional if the heart isn’t right.
G. The Hebrew people, way before the advances that we have in medicine saw the heart as vital to life.
H. The word heart at the time the bible was written had a lot of different uses and a lot of that has carried over to today.
I. It’s funny how we think that the things that we hear are new or are only a result of our time or our knowledge when many times they are nothing more than a carry over from a past time.
J. There are a lot of things that we associate with the word heart that came from a long time back. The word heart was used to describe a lot of things about a person.
K. The heart was seen as the core of a person, and it really is. Without the heart the rest of the body can’t be fed and kept alive.
L. But, in the bible the word heart was used to describe a person’s physical being. In other words they saw the heart as the thing that made life possible.
M. But, the heart was also associated with a their personality.
N. How many times have you heard somebody say another person is big hearted, hard hearted, cold hearted or soft hearted.
O. This isn’t anything new to us. People have been saying it for hundreds and thousands of years. Maybe just in different way.
P. The word heart in the bible was many times used to describe someone’s emotions.
Q. Have you ever heard someone say that something tugged at their heart.
R. Or that something tugged at their heart strings.
S. And why do we give heart shaped boxes of candy on Valentines day. Because the heart represents emotions.
II. The Jews also saw the heart as the seat of the intellect that’s a fancy way of saying it is a part of our thinking, effecting how decisions are made.
A. How bout the phrase let your heart be your guide?
B. The heart was seen as a part of a persons will.
C. When I played football my coaches said I had heart.
D. I wouldn’t give up! My heart was in it. I was tenacious. I would never quit. No matter what the score was I wouldn’t stop trying to win until there was no time left on the clock. The heart was associated with the will.
E. Our heart was also used to describe our relationship with God.
F. Today we still say, Jesus has come into our heart.
G. Our heart has a lot to do with who we are.
H. Our hearts are a vital part of what we are! Change slide and leave it up for a while.
III. Why does this armor have a extra thick place right here?
A. Because, a body can’t function without a heart. It’s important and needs to be protected.
B. In the Old Testament there are only a few places that the word heart actually refers to the organ in the body that pumps blood.
C. But, there are 854 places that it means something to do with what the person is!
D. The heart was used to describe the psychological and emotional or physical or spiritual condition of a person many times.
E. In relation to peoples problems what do you hear about more than anything today? You hear about health problems, psychological problems, emotional problems.
F. God made sure in the bible that we know that these things are associated with the condition of our hearts.
G. The condition of our heart plays an important role in coping with life. That is why it has to be protected!
(Eph 6:10-14 NIV) Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place,
H. We have to realize who the enemy is.
1. We have to realize how to stand our ground and how to cope with life.
2. We have to realize as we talked about last week that our personal truthfulness and integrity are the foundation of coping with life and the way we can carry God’s truth to people who need it.
3. And we have to realize that we have to protect our hearts, not just because they are vital to living but because they are vital to having life, and life more abundantly the way God says we should.
I. Breast plates have changed but they still serve the same purpose, they protect the vital organs, and mainly the heart.
IV. But the breast plate of righteousness protects our heart in a different way.
A. The word breast in the Bible was used many times to describe not the whole chest area but specifically the heart.
B. With all the references to the heart and what it meant I believe that what we are talking about in these verses, is more protection of the heart from the affects of sin than anything else.
V. How do we protect our hearts against attacks of satan?
A. We have to protect ourselves against satan’s attacks on our personality, what we are and how we relate to people around us. We’re born with a personality but we have to be careful how we function within that personality.
1. How we treat other people.
2. How we consider other peoples feelings.
3. We can’t afford to let satan use us to hurt the hearts of other people.
4. Our hearts, our desires, our goals, our wants, can’t be used by satan to tear other people down.
B. Our hearts are attached to our emotions, and we can’t let satan use our emotions against us or to hurt others.
C. Our own fears, hurts, and anger, our feelings can’t be blamed on others or taken out on others. Because, if our focus is on where we are with God, above all else, we will be led by God in our actions, and our actions will reflect Godliness.
D. Guys we have a thing called a mid life crisis that satan will use to tear our lives apart.
E. When we begin to realize that the things that we want from life haven’t been accomplished, we can become so obsessed with our desire to have all that we’ve wanted out of life that we ignore the feelings of others.
F. Satan will try to convinces us that there are things that we have missed in life, and that we need to cheat on our wives or find some other things that we think we can find happiness in and in the process loose what is really important.
G. And ladies you are not immune to these types of things either.
H. Our hearts effect our thoughts and decisions, and if our hearts are not protected, we can make decisions that go against what we know is right and best.
I. If our hearts are not protected, our will can be attacked, we can be convinced to give up on life. Depression is an affective tool of satan.
J. If we’re not careful, we can loose the desire to live, or the desire to do what is right.
K. Our to will to succeed can be lost, or even our will to keep on at all. A lot of you know I like Louis Lamour, and he has a phrase the he uses in a lot of his books he says "you can’t stop a man that knows he right and just keeps putting one foot in front of the other."
L. But, if our hearts are not protected our wills can be damaged, BUT THE MOST IMPORTANT THING IS OUR WILLS HAVE TO BE ALIGNED WITH GOD’S WILL. IF SATAN CAN GET AT OUR HEARTS THEN OUR WILLS CAN BECOME MORE IMPORTANT TO US THAN GOD’S WILL, AND OUR WHOLE LIFE CAN GET OUT OF LINE.
M. One of satan’s favorite schemes is to convince us that our will is more important than God’s will.
N. The condition of our hearts and the protection of our hearts, also has a direct effect on our relationship to God.
O. If we leave our hearts unprotected our whole lives are in danger!
VI. The protection for our hearts that Paul is talking about is the breast plate of righteousness.
A. The righteousness that this is talking about is not the righteousness of God that comes from salvation, but the desire for what is right, that drives the actions of the person.
B. Our personal rightness or righteousness is reflected by what comes out of our heart, that’s why our heart has to be protected by our desire for righteousness.
C. I could go into a long discussion about what righteousness is, and as much as I know you are all dying to hear it, I’ll spare you that, because there is a simple way to describe it and to gauge it.
D. How do you react to other people? Are you actions toward others out of love?
1. Do you put the feelings of others above your own desires and goals.
E. Love is a thing of the heart, and we really dare to love because we know that God loves us. If we can do what we do out of love, and our make our desires be for what is right and unselfish then our heart will be protected from attack by satan.
F. Satan hates love, first because he can’t understand it! He can’t understand it because all he can see is his own selfishness. And, when our selfishness controls our actions its not hard to figure who’s controlling our actions.
G. Satan’s exsistance is based on hate, he hates God because God has what he can never have. And he hates you because God loves you.
H. If he can keep you from loving, he can destroy you and you use you to hurt others and he can hurt God, and that is his reason for existing.
I. The second reason that he hates love is there is nothing he can do to fight it.
J. There are some things that he can do to prevent it, but when it’s there, He has no weapon to fight it. Because pure love is self sacrificing, and satan doesn’t understand that, and he doesn’t know how to deal with it.
K. The bible says that God is love, not that he loves, but he is love.
L. Satan can’t defeat God, and if God is love satan can’t defeat love.
VII. Satan lives to take as many people to hell with him as he can. His only desire is to drag down those that Jesus has died for and hurt God by hurting them.
A. So, how did God deal with the problem of sin destroying His children?
B. The answer is in a verse that you all know. (John 3:16 NIV) "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
C. In Isaiah 11 there is a description of Jesus. Jesus was God in the flesh, God that came down from heaven to conquer satan with what he is, love.
Isaiah 11:1-5 (NIV) A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit. The Spirit of the LORD will rest on him-- the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of power, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD-- and he will delight in the fear of the LORD. He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes, or decide by what he hears with his ears; but with righteousness he will judge the needy, with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth. He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth; with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked. Righteousness will be his belt and faithfulness the sash around his waist.
Isaiah 59:12-17 (NIV) For our offenses are many in your sight, and our sins testify against us. Our offenses are ever with us, and we acknowledge our iniquities: rebellion and treachery against the LORD, turning our backs on our God, fomenting oppression and revolt, uttering lies our hearts have conceived. So justice is driven back, and righteousness love stands at a distance; truth has stumbled in the streets, honesty cannot enter. Truth is nowhere to be found, and whoever shuns evil becomes a prey. The LORD looked and was displeased that there was no justice. He saw that there was no one, he was appalled that there was no one to intervene; so his own arm worked salvation for him, and his own righteousness sustained him. He put on righteousness as his breastplate, and the helmet of salvation on his head; he put on the garments of vengeance and wrapped himself in zeal as in a cloak.
D. God’s own arm worked salvation, he put on the breastplate of righteousness, he put on his rightness and love to protect his heart, and he became a man, and that love took him to a cross, and that love defeated satan and made it possible for us to put on the breast plate of righteousness and protect our hearts against satan’s schemes.
E. Satan thought he was winning at the Cross, when really he losing, because he doesn’t know how to deal with a pure and unselfish love.
F. But if we don’t put on the breast plate of righteousness satan can still win.
G. People want to believe in God, but do you know what keeps a lot people away from God and away from church as much or more than anything else?
H. Christian’s that don’t have on the breastplate of righteousness.
1 Thessalonians 5:8 (NIV) But since we belong to the day, let us be self-controlled, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet.
I. There was a time when my heart wasn’t protected and over and over again people kept disappointing me. Every time I started to get close to someone and trust them they burned me.
J. With no protection from God (becasue I was not a Christian then), my heart started to get calloused.
K. I started to get hard hearted. Satan’s schemes were working, the walls went up I decided that I would never feel for anyone again, I decided that no one would ever get close enough to hurt me again.
L. Because of the things that had happened to me in the past I made a decision not to feel anymore.
M. The walls went up and did my best close the whole world out and care for nobody, and I was doing a pretty good job of it.
N. There was no protection for my heart, there was no love, no righteousness, and it only got worse. I tried to live as something other than I was. My personality changed, I had learned not to care much.
O. There were even times that I thought about killing myself. Living just didn’t seem like it was worth it, and at the ripe old age of sixteen I had been on my own for about six years and life didn’t seem like it was worth living.
P. My heart was diseased there was no protection I had made up my mind not to love, and it just got worse.
Q. I was wild and reckless and to some extent I think I just didn’t care.
R. Then I realized that I needed God. I guess I had tried everything else to find some peace and finally realized where it could be found.
S. I would love to tell you that everything that had been there, all the disease and hurt, and callousnessed left that very instant, but it didn’t.
T. It wasn’t long after that, that I started to fall in love with Donna, and it made me mad! I told her it did too.
U. I was still little afraid to love, but you know what I couldn’t help myself anymore.
V. When I realized that God loved me and there were some things that he wanted me to do and one was to care about other people, that righteousness and love, that breastplate of righteousness, that protection for my heart from satan’s schemes began to heal my heart and let me love people again.
W. It would have never happen if I had never learned to love by letting God’s love become a part of me.
2 Corinthians 6:11-13 (NIV) We have spoken freely to you, Corinthians, and opened wide our hearts to you. We are not withholding our affection from you, but you are withholding yours from us. {As a fair exchange--I speak as to my children--open wide your hearts also.
1. I want to ask you to do the same thing, open your heart.
2. Open your heart to God, and put on the breastplate of righteousness and protect your heart.
3. Without it you have no protection for your heart and you can’t cope with life..
