Christians in Spiritual Warfare
Course: The Armour of God
Lesson 6
Lesson Title: The Breastplate of righteousness
Text: Ephesians 6:14
Theme: Trusting in
the righteousness of Christ alone.
Details concerning
the Breastplate:
The cuirass of the Roman soldier was made of
overlapping bands of metal which are fastened down the front. There are shoulder pieces of similar
construction and straps are brought over from the back to hold the armour in
place. Underneath is a belt of leather
or metal-plated strips.’ British Museum
Guide (‘The Whole Armour of God’ by P N Corry, 1931)
A Coat of Mail – (Gr. Thorax) meaning a cuirass or
corselet comprising both breastplate and back pieces fastened together.
Consisted of two parts, protecting the body on both
sides from the neck to the middle.
Leather coat with iron plates sewn on with wire
Comfortable to wear
Two sides of the breastplate, '…the armour of righteousness on the
right hand and on the left' 2
Corinthians 6:7.
The two kinds of righteousness: imputed
righteousness (Justification); and imparted righteousness
(Sanctification).
Imputed righteousness
is the righteousness of Christ that is credited to us by faith in His death and
resurrection on our behalf.
Imparted righteousness is the righteousness of Christ working in us on a day by day basis.
The Breastplate of
righteousness covers the heart and bodily organs.
It reminds us that righteousness is not just 'what
we do' but it is ‘who we are’.
Righteousness deals with the heart. In the Old Testament the Lord cried for His
people ‘O that there were such an heart in them, that they
would fear me, and keep all my commandments always, that it might be well with
them, and with their children for ever!’ (Deuteronomy 5:29).
The Lord knew that the law couldn’t bring
righteousness because a set of rules can’t change the heart.
The good news of the Gospel is that Jesus came so that we can have a ‘new
heart’ upon which the Lord has written His law. Hebrews
10:16 ‘This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith
the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write
them’.
Biblical
Psychology - our affections must be ‘set on things above’.
‘If you
then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sits
on the right hand of God. Set your
affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For you are dead, and your life is hid with
Christ in God. When Christ, who is our
life, shall appear, then shall you also appear with him in glory.’ Colossians 3:1-4.
It is not
trying… It is being a new creation.
Because we are
risen with Christ – a new creation
Set the thoughts and desires on God’s kingdom (righteousness; peace and joy in the Holy Spirit).
Introductory Story: Testimony of Martin Luther
concerning 'the righteousness of God'.
Luther’s
discovery of salvation came through understanding the meaning of the
‘righteousness of God’.
Initially
Luther associated this phrase with the wrath of God towards sin and the sinner,
but through his studies of the scriptures he came to see that the righteousness
of God was imputed to the sinner through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ
alone.
Luther's Own Account of his Monastic Life
I was indeed a good monk and kept the rules of my order so strictly that
I can say: if ever a monk got to heaven through monasticism, I should have been
that man. All my brothers in the monastery who know me will testify to this. I
would have become a martyr through fasting, prayer, reading and other good
works had I remained a monk very much longer.
Luther's 'Breakthrough' from the 'Autobiographical Fragment', March I545
I began to understand that the righteousness of God is the righteousness
in which a just man lives by the gift of God, in other words by faith, and that
what Paul means is this: the
righteousness of God, revealed in the Gospel, is passive, in other words that
by which the merciful God justifies us through faith, as it is written, 'The
righteous shall live by faith.'
At this I felt myself straightway born afresh and to have entered through
the open gates into paradise itself. There and then the whole face of scripture
was changed; I ran through the scriptures as memory served, and collected the
same analogy in other words, for example opus
Dei, that which God works in us; virtus
Dei, that by which God makes us strong; sapientia
Dei, that by which He makes us wise.
And now, in the same degree as I had formerly hated the word
'righteousness of God', even so did I begin to love and extol it as the
sweetest word of all; thus was this place in St. Paul to me the very gate of
paradise…. In the strengthened armour of
such thoughts I began my second interpretation of the Psalms....
Main Points:
1. Righteousness outside of Christ is valueless. Titus 3:5, `Not by works of righteousness
which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of
regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;´
Clothed in our
righteousness is to be clothed in filthy rags
Good deeds are highly
praised by the world.
Why does God
consider them filthy rags?
Self is enthroned
on good works
Motives –
gratifying selfish desires
Our own
righteousness will not stand, Isaiah
64:6; Jeremiah 23:6.
Our own
goodness or righteousness will not withstand the attacks of the enemy. Isaiah 64:6 ‘all our
righteousnesses are as filthy rags’.
Paul considered
the righteousness of the law as rubbish
Paul held his
righteousness to be of no value, Philippians 3:6-9.
Philippians 3:6-7 ‘Concerning zeal, persecuting the church;
touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless. But what things were gain to me, those I
counted loss for Christ.’
Paul had
previously associated his righteousness with the Pharisaic standard of keeping
the law.
When he had
assessed righteousness by how well he kept the Jewish religion he thought he
was blameless.
This righteousness
is highly valued by religion.
But it is
worthless.
Because the law
condemns the thoughts as well as the outward actions.
Jesus revealed the
hypocrisy of the Pharisees in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7).
Jesus revealed the sinful nature of ‘adultery in the heart’.
The breastplate of righteousness is the righteousness
of Christ.
It has nothing to do with self righteousness.
Only the
righteousness of Christ is sufficient. Philippians 3:8-9 ‘Yea doubtless, and I count all things but
loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I
have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may
win Christ, And be found in him, not
having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through
the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith’.
2. The righteousness
of Christ our justification, Romans 3:28, ‘Therefore we
conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.’
Righteousness for
justification is through imputed righteousness.
Justification
(Greek: dikaioo) means ‘to pronounce to be just’
Justification is a legal declaration
God declares us to be righteous through faith in Christ alone.
We stand firm in Christ’s
imputed righteousness.
The righteousness of Christ is credited to our
account and has nothing to do with our own works.
Romans 4:3 ‘Abraham believed God, and it was counted
unto him for righteousness.’
Ephesians 2:8-9.
Illustration: The Court
The picture is of a courtroom where the prisoner is on trial.
The evidence shows that the person is guilty.
The defence counsel
agrees.
The sentence is death.
The defence counsel says the death sentence has been carried out already.
The condemned person has been executed. The accused
was crucified with Christ.
The person who now
stands before the court is not the same person.
He or she is a new
creation raised in newness of life. 2
Corinthians 5:17
The person is justified in Christ. Romans 5:1
Church History: John Wesley’s conversion (trusting Christ
alone)
John Wesley Journal
May 24, 1738.
'I think it was about five this morning that I opened my Testament
on the
words : "There are given unto us exceeding great and precious
promises, even that you should be partakers of the Divine nature. ..
." Just as I went out, I opened it
again on these words : " You are
not far from the
‘In the evening I went very unwillingly to a society in
Story: What does justification mean?
A prisoner who has
served his sentence still has a record.
The sentence
cannot make a guilty man innocent.
The person will
always be guilty.
A person justified
is a person found innocent.
No matter how long a person pays for doing wrong it cannot change the fact he or she did it.
A Christian is a person who has trusted in the death and resurrection of Christ.
I am no longer
condemned because I have been crucified with Christ through faith and raised a
new creation.
Justification can
only happen by becoming a new creation in Christ.
3. The righteousness of Christ our sanctification, Ephesians 4:24 ‘And that ye put on the new man, which after
God is created in righteousness and true holiness.’
The imparted righteousness of Christ.
Sanctification is
the process of being changed into the likeness of Jesus on a day by day basis, 2 Corinthians 3:18.
Growing as a
Christian means to become like Jesus.
The fruit of the
Spirit should be seen more and more in our lives.
It is becoming
like Christ by walking in the Spirit, Galatians 5:25. Colossians 3:10 ‘And have put on the new man, which is
renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him.'
Sanctification is the life of Christ working in the
believer.
We are to walk in newness of life by putting on the
new man.
This means putting on the resurrected life of
Christ.
It is the same message in John 15 in which
describes Himself as a vine and his disciple the branches.
We are righteous because Christ is our life,
Colossians 3:4.
New Life
The picture is new life
The life of Christ
in the believer.
Process –
producing the fruit of righteousness.
John 15:1 'I am the vine
You are the branches'
The fruit of
righteousness is produced by cultivating the life of Christ in the
believer.
The life of Christ
in us should produce the fruit of holiness, prayer and a desire to know the
scriptures. A close relationship with
Jesus will produce a life where His love is able to reach out through us.
4. The righteousness of Christ is our hope of glory. ‘...Christ in you, the hope of glory:’ (Colossians 1:27)
Glorified (Greek: doxazo)
Glorified means to made glorious.
We are justified through the imputed righteousness of Christ.
We are sanctified by the imparted righteousness of Christ.
We shall be made glorious.
Glorification is the completed work when true
believers will be changed into His likeness.
Romans 8:29-30 ‘For whom he did foreknow, he also
did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the
firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also
called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them
he also glorified.’
We will be changed
into the likeness of Jesus, 1 John 3:1-3.
Colossians 3:4, ‘When Christ who is our
life shall appear, then shall we also appear with Him in glory’.
Romans 8:11, ‘If the same Spirit that
raised Christ from the dead dwells in us then He will also change this mortal
body into a glorious body made in His likeness,’
The righteous will
be seen to be the Lord’s, Malachi 3:16-18.
The day of the Lord’s coming will be a wonderful
day for those who are walking in ‘newness of life’ when He comes.
Matthew
25:1-13 ‘The parable of the ten virgins’.
Only half had oil in their lamps.
The people need to be ready for His coming.
Jesus is coming
soon.
‘Lift up
your heads, your redemption draws nigh’, Luke 21:28.
The world
is filled with problems – economic, terrorists, disasters, and many sorrows but
the Christian can rejoice because the Lord is coming soon.
Stand firm and always ready knowing that our
redemption will be complete when Jesus comes again.
We shall be like Him.
Summary:
We must put on the
righteousness of Christ as a breastplate
1. Our own
righteousness has no value. It is His
righteousness alone.
2. God
declares a sinner righteous as the imputed righteousness of Christ justifies
the unrighteous. The condemned sinner is
justified by faith - crucified with Christ and raised in newness of life.
3. The
imparted righteousness of Christ is the life of Christ in the believer. The healthy Christian is being changed into
the likeness of Jesus on a day by day basis.
The righteousness of Christ our sanctification.
4. The
righteousness of Christ our hope of glory. When Jesus comes we shall be made
glorious; changed into His likeness.