The Breastplate Of Righteousness Series

Pastor Allan Kircher

Shell Point Baptist Church

Ephesians 6:13-18

May 11, 2014

The Breastplate of Righteousness

Intro:

• Studying pieces “the whole armor of God.”

• “armor or God” necessary tool/our fight against the devil

• W/o every piece/armor/place, we/easy prey /enemy.

• pieces/armor/missing, Satan/little trouble defeating us’

• little trouble damaging our testimonies

• infiltrating/devastating our churches

• When the armor is missing, we are easily defeated.

Yet/when/saint/God dressed “the whole armor of God,” enemy has a hard time dealing with them

• When/armor is in place, he cannot penetrate their defenses

• He must watch helplessly/they “stand” for God’s glory

• As they stand victoriously and powerful.

I want that to be my testimony, how about you?

====================================

Let’s continue examine/pieces “the whole armor of God.”

Knowing what they are/how to use them will help us to “stand” for the Lord in victory

• First pieces of armor/14a/“belt of truth.”

• Refers/life of total commitment/Lord

• Life/built upon faithfulness/Word of God

• Speaks/truth in testimony and truth in living

• “belt of truth” will provide/Christian soldier stability

W/o the “belt of truth” the soldier/God will find the other pieces of the armor useless.

======================================

II. V. 14b THE BREASTPLATE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS

“Breastplate” sleeveless piece/armor covered/full torso/soldier.

No Roman soldier would dare go/battle w/o “breastplate” in place

• Several ways to make “breastplates” in that day.

1. Some/heavy pieces of leather---shaped to fit/upper body.

“breastplate” then covered/overlapping slices of animal hooves, horns, or pieces of metal.

2. Some/made/very think pieces of linen cloth

kind “breastplate” also covered/strips of hooves, horns, or metal.

3. third kind/I would/preferred since I am allergic to pain

Made/large pieces/metal were hammered to fit the body.

====================================

Regardless/kind of “breastplate” the soldier wore, intent/same

• “breastplate”/designed/protect/ vital organs/housed/torso

• “breastplate” protected/heart/lungs/liver/stomach

• age before antibiotics/advanced surgery techniques

• wound/part/body would not only be very painful

• it would have likely been fatal too

• Soldier depended “breastplate” protect him/injury/death.

=====================================

Spiritual significance/piece of armor becomes clear when you stop to remember/ancient world believed

• “heart” represented “the will and the mind” of a person

• also believed “bowels,” we call “internal organs,” the “guts”,

• Represented “the seat of emotion or feelings.”

• Several verses in the New Testament bear this out.

Phil. 1:8, “For God is my record, how greatly I long after you all in the bowels of Jesus Christ.”

Col. 3:12, “Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering.”

Also, Philemon 1:7,For we have great joy and consolation in thy love, because the bowels of the saints are refreshed by thee, brother

====================================

We still use the same terminology regarding the “heart.”

• We say “I love you with all my heart.” “I feel it in my heart.”

• What we mean is we “have a feeling about something.”

• So, we understand the terminology.

Reason I mention all this is

• Just as “breastplate” ancient Roman soldier would protect his “heart” and “bowels”

• “Breastplate” Paul mentions here is designed to do the very same thing for the child of God.

=====================================

Two areas life/Satan most frequently attacks people of God are in the “mind and emotions.”

Satan

• fill our mind false doctrines/false emotions

• Use wicked world around us to tempt us to think wrong thoughts ………..follow wrong emotions.

• Use confusion/warp our thinking/feelings/love/wrong things

• follow the wrong priorities

• have the wrong goals in life

• dedicate ourselves to the wrong loyalties

• Commit ourselves to the wrong things.

======================================

Satan

• wants/strip/truth/our minds while filling it/with his own perverted ideas

• wants to stop us from living holy, pure lives

• Will lure us toward envy, hatred, greed, jealousy, immorality, and every other human vice.

• Wants us to make light of our sins

• doesn’t want us to confess it and deal with it God’s way

• Wants us to get desensitized to it, so we come to look at wickedness as a way of life for us.

• Wants us/rationalize our sin/not seek/Lord for forgiveness

====================================

To accomplish these and other goals

• Satan attacks us in the way we think and the way we feel

If he can cause us to think about things the wrong way

• follow feelings not pleasing to the Lord

• He can defeat us and drag us away from the Lord.

• He can get us out/fight, all by changing how we think/feel

“Breastplate of righteousness” offers protection against these attacks/devil.

• When this piece of armor is in place

• Satan will be unable to attack us in those realms.

• “Breastplate” sounds very important to me.

• So, let’s find out what it is.

• But, before I tell you what it is, let me tell you what it isn’t.