The Breastplate Of Righteousness Series

June 06, 2020

Last week we came face to face with the reality that we are engaged in spiritual warfare:

• Our foe is powerful and all of the forces of evil are arrayed against us in a single-focused effort to destroy us. Maybe part of the Christian problem is that we think we should be fighting against causes we disagree with or people whose lifestyle or choices go against our deeply held beliefs – when in fact we should be spending a whole lot more time fighting against the power that seeks OUR personal destruction.

• We cannot stand toe to toe with him – he will eat us for lunch.

HOWEVER, heaven has not left us unequipped for battle – we have been provided with powerful spiritual resources - The Armor of God – which we MUST to put on

Our first piece of combat gear is – The Belt of Truth – which holds the rest of our Spiritual Armor in place and makes it secure.

With the Belt of Truth around our waist, let’s move on to the 2nd piece of combat gear - The Breastplate of Righteousness.

Righteousness is found in the position of the “Breastplate”. Why?

Roman soldiers wore a Breastplate – made of bronze and leather – because it provided protection to the vital organs, especially the heart, from sword thrusts, arrows, spears and javelins.

Now Paul takes this essential piece of protective gear and attaches it to Righteousness {to be morally up-right, faultless and just} – But whose Righteousness?

God is Righteous – it is an attribute of His character. His Righteous Acts are the things He does as a result of who He is – He will ALWAYS do the right thing and He will ALWAYS judge on the side of right. That’s Good News, friends!!!

• Psalm 36:6 - Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains, your justice like the great deep. O LORD, you preserve both man and beast.

• Psalm 50:6 - And the heavens proclaim his righteousness, for God himself is judge. Selah

• Psalm 89:14 - Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne; love and faithfulness go before you.

• Psalm 97:1-2 - The LORD reigns, let the earth be glad; let the distant shores rejoice. 2 Clouds and thick darkness surround him; righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne.

• Isaiah 5:16 - But the LORD Almighty will be exalted by his justice, and the holy God will show himself holy by his righteousness.

Our righteousness:

• Isaiah 64:6 - All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away.

• Romans 3:10-12 - As it is written: "There is no one righteous, not even one; 11 there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. 12 All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one."

Christians are called to be righteous and in Scripture that happens in 2 phases through Imputed Righteousness and Imparted Righteousness.

Imputed Righteousness {Justification} – In the legal sense, “Imputed” is used to describe a fact or quality that is credited to one person based upon the actions of another person. It’s to be declared not guilty – as though we had never sinned – based solely on Christ’s actions - both His life of obedience and His sacrificial death.

We can never make ourselves right before the God of the Universe – in fact left to ourselves, we don’t even care to try. So, knowing that we wouldn’t come to Him, He came to us:

• Genesis 3:8-9 - Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the LORD God called to the man, "Where are you?"

• Romans 5:8-10 - But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him! 10 For if, when we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!

When we come into a saving relationship with Jesus and are baptized, we are wrapped in the robe of HIS righteousness. When God views us, He does not see our record of disobedience and sin - He sees Christ’s perfect record of obedience and righteousness. It cannot be purchased – is freely given – we receive it by faith: