What Is The Breatplate of Righteousness

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:12

Hello, my name is Paul, and I am the voiceover for a ministry provided to you by Jim Pugh at God is Government called Your Daily Bread, taken from Christ's teaching of the Lord's Prayer in Matthew 6, verse 11. This is a daily devotion ministry focused not only on uplifting Scripture, but scripture that will grow your spiritual connection with Christ. We hope that you receive these devotions to uplift you, encourage you, but most importantly, advance your knowledge base of the Holy Scriptures. Today's focused discussion will be what is the breastplate of righteousness, and what is the breastplate, righteousness? That's what protects us from the arrows and the spears and the swords and the crushing blows of the hammers that were wielded in battle. We're protected by righteousness in our vital areas. What are we talking about here? What kind of righteousness are we talking about? Or what kind of righteousness is there? There's only one kind of righteousness, because righteousness is righteousness, and the only righteousness that will protect us is true righteousness, and the only true righteousness belongs to Christ. So are we talking then about imputed righteousness? Are we talking about that righteousness which is imputed to us by faith in Christ that Paul talks about, for example, in Philippians 3, when he says he found a righteousness, not his own, but that righteousness of God which is given to him through faith in Christ? Are we talking about that forensic righteousness statement by God that declares us just and righteous before God? Is that what we're talking about? Are we talking about, again, imputed righteousness that covers all our righteousness, which is filthy rags, Isaiah 64, 6? I don't think so. I don't think so. Otherwise, we wouldn't have to put it on, right? Because we'd already have it on. We have imputed righteousness already. We have a righteousness granted us by God that makes us blameless beyond condemnation. That righteousness is Christ's. It becomes ours by faith and grace. It is a gift from God. I love that Count Zinzendorf, the Moravian hymn, translated by Wesley, by the way, Jesus, thy blood and righteousness, my beauty are, my glorious dress, midst flaming worlds in these arrayed with joy, shall I lift up my head. And then he wrote, Bold shall I stand in thy great day, for who aught to my charge shall lay. Fully through thee absolved I am from sin and fear, from guilt and shame. O let the dead now hear thy voice, now bid thy vanished ones rejoice. Their beauty this, their glorious dress, Jesus, thy blood and righteousness. Yes, we have that. We have that imputed righteousness credited to our account. That's not what he's talking about. You don't put that on, God put that on you when you were saved. But theologians used to talk about imputed righteousness and imparted righteousness, imputed righteousness and imparted righteousness. Yes, we are covered by declaration of God with a righteousness that is not our own but belongs to Christ. But we also are commanded to demonstrate righteous behavior. Philippians two verse twelve. So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence. Work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. So now God has given you an imparted righteousness, and with that imparted righteousness at salvation, he has also given you the Spirit of God. He has given you new life in regeneration, and now you are both capable and responsible to work out the righteousness that has been given to you. Regeneration, new birth, salvation, conversion, makes possible, makes real, the impartation of a practical righteousness in the matter of day-to-day living. That's what he's talking about. But don't go there unless you are living in obedience to God. That's the bottom line. Holy living is the breastplate of righteousness. If there's a weakness in your armor, used to talk about a chink in your armor, sins, acts of disobedience, wrong attitudes. If there are sins, unconfessed, unrepented, you're vulnerable. If you're courting sins in your life and you get aggressive and you go into the spiritual fray, and you go on the offense to rescue souls from the kingdom of darkness, and you've got some issues in your life that are undealt with, believe me, you are going without a breastplate of righteousness. You can say, I want to go into the ministry, but if you want to invade the kingdom of darkness and get aggressive, you'd better make sure you are protected, or you are really vulnerable. It's not sufficient just to be aggressive, it's not sufficient just to be committed, you need to make sure that you are following this very clear and simple instruction. It is not hard to miss what Paul means in 2 Corinthians chapter 7. Listen to his words. Verse 1. Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. It's important for us, in the prior passage, by the way, he talked about not having unholy alliances, not being unequally yoked. When Satan sees sin, he moves into that crack. You become vulnerable as the world system appeals to that crack in your armor, and the smallest crack can be exploited in a very fatal way. Put on the armor, it starts with commitment, and it demands righteousness. I want to close by reading you Romans 13.11, because here is another way to say what I just said. Romans 13.11. And this do knowing the time, that it is already the hour for you to awaken from sleep, for now salvation is nearer to us than when we believed. He's saying, Look, we're closer to the end than we've ever been. They were and we are. It's time to wake up, it's time to put your belt on and go to battle. The night is almost gone, the day is at hand. Let us therefore lay aside the deeds of darkness. Put on the armor of light. The armor of light, putting aside the deeds of darkness, is another way to describe the breastplate of righteousness. What does it mean? Behave properly as in the day, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual promiscuity and sensuality, not in strife and jealousy. And when I say put on the armor of light, or when I say put on the breastplate of righteousness, what I mean is, verse 14, put on whom? The Lord Jesus Christ. Make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts. You may have the commitment, you may have the eagerness, you may even say, I want to go to seminary, I want to train, I want to serve the Lord, but the breastplate has to be on. And it's amazing how hard it is to keep it hooked. It falls off so easily. We go through life picking up the breastplate and trying to get it on before the next attack. Put it on, put it on. It is the armor of light against the darkness. Essentially, what it means is put on the Lord Jesus Christ in that He is the example of perfect righteousness. Thank you for joining us in this exploration of what is the breastplate of righteousness. Until next time, remember to keep the faith, stay strong, and continue to shine your light in the world. To hear these daily devotions of your daily bread, please log on to goddessgovernment.com. Goodbye, and may your faith always lead the way.