Have you thought about wearing your spiritual body armor this week?
If you forgot to protect yourself … I know that Satan didn’t forget about
attacking you! God’s armor is better than any made … anywhere! As I said
last week, we are front line troops and in the thick of the battle and
we must have our body armor and our weapon if we are to survive!
Ephesians 6
10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His
might.
11 Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against
the wiles of the devil.
12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities,
against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against
spiritual hosts of wickedness 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.
14 Stand therefore,
having girded your waist with truth,
having put on the breastplate of righteousness …
The first part of your body armor which needs to be in place is your
belt of Truth! Jesus said that He is Truth and the Word of God is Truth.
That is where you find Truth, in Him and in the Word! Then Jesus said
that the Holy Spirit would lead us INTO the Truth! The Holy Spirit is
our Teacher. Then the outcome of being led into the Truth is that “the
Truth will set you free.” Do you want to be free? We don’t want to be
bound … we want to be set free with the Truth! The Truth holds your life
together.
The second part of your body armor is the breastplate of righteousness.
The breastplate protects our vital organs … particularly the heart! The
Bible warns us to guard our heart!
Mark 7:21
Out of the heart of men proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications,
murders, 22 thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, an
evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness. 23 All these evil things come
from within and defile a man.
Guard your heart! Jesus said, The pure in heart shall see God! Those who belong
to Christ have a desire to see God, to hear His voice, to walk with Him and
talk with Him! When we see God we walk in wisdom … we walk in peace! When Satan
attacks the heart … his reason is disturb or break the intimate relationship
we have with God!
We need to fill our heart with righteousness … not impurity!
Matt 5:6
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall
be filled.
Guarding your heart, hungering and thirsting for righteousness, brings
us into a place of being filled with the presence of God! It’s a good
place filled with love, joy, and peace!
There are two distinct aspects of righteousness and our spiritual body
armor is not intact unless we know the use of both of them. The first
one is called “imputed” righteousness. The imputed righteousness of Jesus
Christ the most powerful part of our breastplate of righteousness … but
not the only part! A good description is found in …
2 Cor 5:21
21 For God the Father made Jesus who knew no sin to be sin for us,
that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
When Christ came into the world, He was filled with righteousness,
peace, and joy! He was sinless and pure before He came to earth and as
He walked upon the face of the earth He maintained that same sinless
purity. There was not a blemish of sin of any kind within Him.
On the other hand, we have to agree with King David in Psalm 51 when
he declared that he was born in sin. The rebellion of Adam has been passed
down to us all from generation to generation. We have no righteousness
of our own. When we came to Christ we were filled with sin. For some
of us … our cup was running over!
But when we come to Christ and place our faith in Him there is a divine
exchange! Jesus takes all of our sin … and gives us all of His righteousness!
He imputes to our account the righteousness that we have never obtained
on our own! Paul quotes the Old Testament prophet, Habakkuk and says
…
Rom 1:17
The righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, "The
just shall live by faith."
Imputed righteous becomes ours when we place our faith in the competed
work of Christ on the cross. Just as an accountant would add a deposit
in the proper column in order to balance the books, Jesus adds righteousness
to our depleted accounts. In Galatians we read …
Gal 3:6
Abraham "believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness
In comparison to God’s holiness our best life, our best works, our
best obedience is like filthy rags. We can never become good enough to
be acceptable to God … but we can believe on Christ! We can accept His
righteousness in place of our sin! This imputed righteousness is the
material which makes up the core of the Breastplate of Righteousness.
But in addition to imputed righteousness, there are acts of righteousness.
Please do be deceived that God’s grace allows you to receive imputed
righteousness so you can then live a sinful life without and concern
for God’s judgment. Paul admonished the Church in Corinth …
1 Cor 15
33 Do not be deceived: "Evil company corrupts good habits."
34 Awake to righteousness, and do not sin; for some do not have the knowledge
of God.
Living a life of righteousness is living an examined life. The Lord
wants us to examine our life in order to remove sin from our daily routine!
Paul’s words turn us to look at the people and things who we allow into
the core of our lives. We need to examine the place that our friends
have in our lives, as well as examining the place that video and audio
has in our hearts. Do we entertain evil company or good?
Paul reaches out to us, shakes us on the shoulder, and cries, “Wake
up!” Be awake to righteousness! Hunger for it, thirst for it, seek for
it, and you will be filled with God and you shall see God! Isn’t that
awesome?
The result of righteousness is that God adds blessings to our lives!
2 Cor 9:10
Now may He who supplies seed to the sower, and bread for food, supply
and multiply the seed you have sown and increase the fruits of your
righteousness.
Whether is giving money, giving time, witnessing to others, teaching,
or providing labor to help someone … our acts of righteousness is noticed
by God! He promises He will increase the fruits of our righteousness.
We will have added blessings!
Have you ever noticed that it is the one who gives that God blesses
with the ability to give? Those who study to teach have a deep understanding
of the Word of God? Those who pray and intercede have great faith and
a calm assurance of answered prayer? The more we give, the more we study
and teach, the more we pray; the more God blesses us with what we have
need of in life!
A life of righteousness produces peace!
James 3:18
18 Now the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make
peace.
It is the righteous ones who live in peace …and they are peace makers.
The philosophy of this world may give you the mechanism with which you
can cope with your difficulties. But righteousness gives you peace, and
the wisdom to impart to others to bring them to a place of peace as well.
The breastplate of righteousness guards your heart and gives you peace!
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