The Armor of God: The Breastplate of Righteousness

The Armor of God: The Breastplate of Righteousness
January 19, 2025
Speaker:
Passage: Ephesians 6:14b
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We are continuing our series on the armor of God, but if you miss any, I would encourage you to go find the recordings of the ones that you miss. We started by considering the context in which we find the Christian graces. Paul is trying to develop the faith of the Ephesians Christians, and he's closing out his letter with this illustration of the armor of God.

And so last week, we were able to look at the Introduction to the Armor of God. Then we were able to look at the loins girt about with truth, Ephesians 6:14 and we're still going to be in the same verse, as we're going to talk about the breastplate of righteousness.

The quickest way to get through an enemy is to deliver a blow to a vital organ, causing them to want to stop doing whatever they were doing. Now if they're attacking you, then you want them to stop whatever it was that they were doing, because you don't want that behavior to continue anymore. But if you're a soldier of God, you do not want, as Paul would say later on in just a few verses, the fiery darts of the wicked one, to prevent or stop you in your service to God.

How has God given us the ability to protect ourselves, protect our vital organs, from this incapacitating blow? He's given us a piece of armor that completely enwraps that vital area. Our heart is protected by armor, in a spiritual sense.

How do we define this particular idea of the breastplate of righteousness?

"Righteousness: Equity (of character or act) specifically justification." — Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible

As you're speaking concerning Christianity, or in spiritual matter,s soon makes sense when you go to the book of Romans, over and over again. The word righteousness is used for justification. And so we can see, there's some interchangeability of words there.

In a broad sense: state of him who is as he ought to be, righteousness, the condition acceptable to God…, in a narrow sense, it's justice or the virtue which gives each his due.”-Thayer's Greek and English Lexicon of the New Testament

We're going to notice that here in just a moment as well because the judgment that is going to come upon us one day is also going to be in consideration of our future.

Our Display of Righteousness is an Essential Element of our Judgment

We're going to be judged when we stand before God.

  • 2 Corinthians 5:10

There's a time when we are going to stand before God in judgment and the things that we do, our righteousness are going to be a topic of discussion between us and God. Now, how righteous we've been to the commands of God may determine whether or not that's a one-way discussion. Or, if Jesus is going to be saying, hold on now. If Jesus is going to come to our aid because we have been faithful to the Father in our life here.

We are able to be called righteous through the actions that we perform and we will allude to this idea throughout the lesson but it's a point that we have to really make sure we keep at the forefront of our minds when we're talking about — how do we maintain that right relationship with God?

It's by continuing to do the things that God has for us to do. And if we continue to do the things that God has for us to do, then we will continue to be called righteous in the sight of God, and thereby we're going to be able to protect our vital organs from being damaged, if you will, by the devil.

Righteousness Affects Judgment

Let's notice a few verses as we, as we move forward. Righteousness affects our judgment.

  • Proverbs 21:21
  • Psalm 7:8

Our ability to stand up for what God wants us to stand up for. You remember going all the way back Ephesians 6:13, where Paul says that we need to put on the armor of God so that we may be able to withstand the evil day. And having done all, where are we? we stand.

It's also possible, as we brought out from, that introduction, that it's also possible for us to fall on the field of battle and no longer be standing. But that's not what we should want. That's not where we should want to be.

  • Psalm 1:5

There is a condition that we can be in that will not allow us to stand, remain standing, stand firm for God. And, if we are ungodly, we will not be able to stand in His presence.

Self-Righteousness is Not Acceptable to God

Self-righteousness, however, has never been acceptable to God. Self-righteousness has never been an acceptable trait before God.

  • Deuteronomy 9:4-13

The warning is given by Moses, you could argue by God, given to Moses, to give to the people. Don't say when you come into this land and you've been able to drive the people out that God allowed you to take the land because you're such a good people in and of yourselves. No, it's because the wickedness of this land was greater than you are. It's because the wickedness of the land had come up before God and it was to the point where God had said, I have enough and was going to drive that person out and he used the Hebrews to do it. But He said, it's not, I believe it was at least three times in those three verses, He says it is not because of your self-righteousness that you get the land. It's because of their wickedness.

We need to remember that throughout all Scripture, both Old and New Testament, self-righteousness is never acceptable to God.

  • Romans 10:3

What was the problem with these that the apostle was writing to? He says, they denied the righteousness of God and they sought to establish their own righteousness, that's self-righteousness, which God said is not acceptable.

  • Judges 17:6
  • Judges 21:25

Every time that particular phrase is used in reference to the actions of God's people, that they did what was right in their own eyes, every single time, without question, they're not right with God.

We have a perfect example of this particular thing. Those who claim that there is no God, those who claim that they sre atheists who don't believe in God, they're guilty of self-righteousness. Self-righteousness has never been condoned by God, it's never been allowed by God, it's never been authorized by God, and it's not going to be accepted by God on our behalf when this life is over.

Self-righteousness is not going to help us get to Heaven.

God Has Always Required Righteousness

Righteousness that obviously does not come from within us. So it has to come from some other source. It's going to come from God, we're going to notice. But having righteousness in our lives today is not a New Testament concept if you will. I think we can, we can recognize that. But we're going to, uh, support that with just a few verses here.

  • Deuteronomy 6:25

How do we get the observation of God that we are righteous before Him? Moses says if we continue to do the things that He says that we're supposed to do then God will look down on us and He will say, that's a righteous person. Not because we're righteous in and of ourselves.

  • Psalm 11:7
  • Psalm 35:5

Truly the only way that we can stand before God as we've mentioned already and when this life is over in judgment is to be righteous before Him while on this earth.

God Brings Blessings on the Righteous!

Blessings are also present for those who are righteous.

  • Matthew 5:6,10

If we suffer because we are Christians, we should not believe that we're suffering unduly. Jesus said we're going to suffer. Before He left His apostles, He said, "Don't think it's some great thing that they're going to persecute you. The servant is not greater than the master. If they persecuted me, they're going to persecute you also." [1 Peter 4:12].

And if we suffer because we're doing right, Peter says, Paul has said, Jesus now says, happy are you if you're suffering for my sake, for the sake of righteousness, the kingdom of heaven is going to be your reward. You can endure those things and you will be rewarded for them.

  • Psalm 106:3

There's not a time in our lives when we're given permission by God to take a season off from being right in His presence. We need to decide, and the earlier we decide the better, that we're going to stand before God righteous, we're going to stand before God exalted because of His favor, and we're going to live that way for the rest of our lives, not as sinners.

In Felix, we have the example, in Acts chapter 24 where he looked for a more convenient time to be obedient to God. Not like Agrippa, in Acts chapter 26 where he says, "Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian."

The idea in the original language there with Agrippa is. he was this close. Paul had him, and Paul knew that he had him. But Agrippa wouldn't make that final commitment. Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian.

Which is why we sing, almost persuaded, almost, but lost. If you don't commit to righteousness then it's not going to be something that you will be able to maintain throughout your life, even as a child of God.

Righteousness Reflects Christianity!

Righteousness reflects Christianity. We talk about, as a disciple of God, we're a disciple of Jesus in particular. That means we need to be a follower of His. We need to follow the example that Jesus set.

Well, let me introduce you to a prophecy of how Jesus was going to behave Himself when He was here on this earth.

  • Isaiah 59:17

He was speaking concerning who Jesus was going to be while on this earth.

And it's Jesus himself who tells us:

"I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life." — John 8:12

If we simply do the things that Jesus did, if we have the same mindset, the same heart that Jesus had while He was on this earth to do the will of the Father, then we're going to make sure that when we put on that breastplate of righteousness, as we talked about with our loins girt about with truth, we never take it off.

We, as New Testament Christians, do not have the authorization from God at any point to remove the armor that protects us. Once it's on, we keep it on. If at some point in our lives we decide that, that we've had enough or, it's not working out maybe the way that we thought it was going to work so we start taking our pieces of armor off then what we've told God is I'm not on your side anymore.

I'm not going to keep fighting for you Lord, though you've done everything for me.

How Do We Demonstrate Righteousness?

How important is this breastplate of righteousness? We can prove how we demonstrate it. We're going to be able to do that in two different ways. We first of all demonstrate it by the works that we perform.

  • Genesis 6:22
  • Hebrews 11:7

He first heard a commandment from God. Decided, he believed it, he was going to obey it, and then he did it. And because he did those things in that order, he's in Faith's Hall of Fame.

  • Genesis 12:1-4

He didn't argue with God. He didn't set up a date months in the future when he was going to get around to leaving. He went. And he went immediately because he was willing to do that.

  • Galatians 3:6
  • Hebrews 11:8-10

Notice this word, obeyed. He obeyed and he went out not knowing whither he went. It didn't matter to Abraham where he was going. God told him to go and Abraham trusted that God was going to get him wherever he wanted him to be. But Abraham had already decided that he was going to be believing in God, obeying the things that God was going to have him do. And by the way, we're commanded to walk in the faith of Abraham.

  • Romans 4:12

Don't walk in all the steps of Abraham, because Abraham did some things that he should not have done. Paul was very specific. He said, walk in the steps of the faith of Abraham.

Righteous by Works!

We're righteous by the things that we do, not by works of merit.

We in the body of Christ are accused oftentimes, of being saved by works. And they misuse that idea of works, meaning that we have somehow earned our way to Heaven by doing something and we're no longer saved by the grace of God. That's absolutely foreign to what the New Testament teaches in every aspect. We're not saved by our own works. That would be self-righteousness. We've already looked at how that's not possible, and it's not possible. It was not possible even for Abraham.

  • Romans 4:1-5

Remember, justification was another word used, in place of righteousness. He's not righteous by himself or because of himself. He cannot stand justified legal terms before God.

Abraham wasn't saved because he figured out all on his own what he could do to put God in his death. Abraham obeyed the commandment of God when he left the Ur of the Chaldees, and later on, in Genesis chapter 15, he was declared righteous. But if God was pleased with him in Genesis chapter 12, what condition is he in? He's in a state of righteousness before God, all the way back in chapter 12.

This will be a great study for us to do later. The three things that Abraham was called to do. He was called to leave Genesis chapter 12, believe in Genesis chapter 15, and cleave Genesis chapter 22. And so are we, all three of those. Why do we think that it says that we are to follow in the steps of the faith of Abraham?

Because if we simply do the things that Abraham did in his response to what God has told him to do, we're going to be in a righteous state before God by doing those very things.

Righteous by Words

But we can also be found righteous by the things that we say.

  • Isaiah 45:19

We don't get to define for ourselves what righteousness is going to be for us. God has already determined what righteousness is going to be.

But we have a responsibility to pass that on.

  • Psalm 40:9
  • Psalm 52:1-3

You see it's possible for us to not speak righteousness as well. We need to demonstrate our righteousness to God by speaking those things that are righteous.

How do we do that? By the things that God would have us to teach out of His Word.

It is Possible to Fall from Righteousness

And finally, this morning, we need to make the statement clear so that we all understand. It is possible for us to fall from righteousness. As it's been said by others, it is possible for us to fall from grace.

There are many who do not believe this to be the case, and unfortunately, I think there's a growing number, even within the church themselves, that they may not say it out loud, but they demonstrate it by the things that they do.mThat it is impossible for someone who claims to be a Christian to ever fall from righteousness. But that's simply just not the case. And we don't really have to look all that far. We don't have to scour the scriptures extensively to find out where this is the case. We'll simply notice one passage for the sake of time.

  • Isaiah 1:21

The people of God had gone in that day from something that was right and just in the eyes of God as He wanted them to be to something that He did not want them to be. Something that was opposed to righteousness, that was opposed to His justness, that was opposed to His truth and honesty that we've talked about are the foundation stones of the armor that we're supposed to put on. If it was possible for Israel back in the day to fall from that particular idea of being righteous now to being called murderers in the sight of God, it is possible for us as New Testament Christians to, as we mentioned earlier, take that armor off, lay it aside, and expose ourselves to the fiery darts of the wicked one.

Are you Wearing Your Breastplate of Righteousness?

So, as we leave here this morning, the question that remains for each of us to consider is, have you put on the righteousness, the breastplate of righteousness? The righteousness of God. Are you protecting yourself right now, as a child of God, with the armor that God has given you? Or, you think maybe this battle is too much. Maybe you think this fight is, well, it's not what I thought it was going to be. Maybe being a child of God is not as glamorous as you'd hoped that it might be. The world wants you back. Satan wants you back in his camp, fighting against God, fighting against his people. The reality of the situation is the battle is already over. The war is going to be won by Jesus.

Are you going to be standing, having done all, when this life is over, to be standing when your life is done? To stand before God in judgment and have that Savior, your Lord, Jesus, who died upon the cross? He's going to stand there and He's going to say, Father, this man was righteous because he did what you said he should do.

Maybe you're one here this morning, not a member of the body of Christ. We can't wear the armor of God until we're in His army. We can't be in the army of God until we're a part of His kingdom. We can't be a part of His kingdom until we've followed His plan on how to be a part of His kingdom. Hearing His word, believing that He is the Son of God, the only one that is able to save us from our sins, Acts chapter 4:12, repenting of our sins, those things that have separated us from God, confessing that He is, in fact, the Savior, our Redeemer, and being baptized to have our sins washed away. It's then we get to put our armor on and test and see if we're going to be the soldiers that God wants us to be for the rest of our lives.

Maybe you've done those things, but you're willing to lay your armor down. And go through this battle be on your own. Self-righteousness is not going to get us to the end. If we can help you in any way, we would encourage you to contact us, we would love to discuss God's Word with you.

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