Well, if you have your Bibles, go ahead and open them up. If you have them digitally, you can pull up your phone. I'm going to also have it here on the screen, although some translations may be different from what you brought, but that's OK. We're going to dive into Ephesians 6, Ephesians chapter 6, last chapter in Ephesians, verse 10 through 17.
I'm going to go ahead and get started here. It says, finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes for our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of the stark world, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore, put on the full armor of God so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground.
And after you have done everything to stand, stand firm then with a belt of truth buckled around your waist, with a breastplate of righteousness in place, with your feet fitted with a readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God, and pray in the spirit on all occasions, with all kinds of prayers and requests, with this in mind, be alert, and always keep on praying for all the Lord's people, amen? So today in part three, as we unpack and dive into the word of God, we'll be learning about the breastplate of righteousness today.
And I pray the last two Sundays have been a blessing for you and fruitful for your life, because it's been a pleasure to meet new faces like John and his family at Easter Service who have told me, hey, I'm committed for the next eight series here to see what's going on around here. Welcome. For those who are members of grace, keep digging and digging into the truth so that it's securely fashioned around your waist and remember, as Ryan told us last week, to stand, but not to stand, stand firm, immovable. Let me tell you a story, last week, leaving the church, I'm getting in my truck, and three of my five kids were with me.
It was Amelia, Sala, and Pax. And we were driving away, and I asked the kids, I said, what were your takeaways? What were the highlights? And without hesitation, Amelia said, some days, you just need to stand, Dad.
Amen. Such a strong takeaway as she grows into the daughter, into the bride, into the warrior for Christ that God created her to be. And so God impressed upon me Psalm 4610 as she shared that. And this is where the Lord's speaking to David.
He says, be still and know. Recognize and understand that I am God. And some days are not about progressing and striving and gaining physical ground. You see, running the race could be standing your ground and being still in his presence.
Waiting on the Lord, sitting at the Lord's feet as King David repeatedly shares in Psalms. And one of my favorite moments that the youth this past Wednesday helped me recall is Moses in the book of Exodus 3315, where Moses is talking to the Lord. He says, if your presence does not go with us, do not bring us up from here. In other words, all that God has provided all of us to oversee our family, our marriages, our leadership roles at work, just declare that I will not move forward apart from you, Lord.
Will not happen. Amen. Well, as we read earlier in Ephesians 6, our struggle is not against flesh and blood because make no mistake, we are at war. It's not a metaphor.
It's an actual literal spiritual warfare. My role is to help you to prepare for this, but more importantly, look past the battle, as Miles and Ryan have stated, so that you walk in victory because our Father is victorious. And his fool and battle-tested armor is undefeated. Think about what we sang earlier.
It wasn't if it was, when all I see is the battle, Lord, you see my victory. And there's a song that says, see a victory, that says, I'm gonna see a victory. Oh, I'm gonna see a victory because the battle belongs to you, Lord. You see, the series is not called Dress for Survival.
It's called Dress for Success. Why? Because Jesus tells us in John 1633, I have told you these things so that in me, you may have peace. And we learned what peace was last week.
In this world, you will have trouble. But take heart, I have overcome the world. So whether you've never stepped foot in church before or you've been in church longer than you can remember, a key takeaway is the armor we need for success is not the kind we forge with our own hands. You can't manufacture the breastplate.
We're gonna talk about this. This teaching is about knowing who you are in Christ. So let me start with the question. Do you wanna be righteous?
Almost every Christian would answer with a resounding yes, but wanting to be righteous and walking and righteousness of God are two very different things. And the gap between them is exactly where the enemy sets his trap. And this is where we're gonna spend the majority of our time today. You see, this message could also be called Basic Christianity 102.
And before we get to 102, you gotta go through what? You gotta go through 101. So we're gonna do a quick review on 101. Basic Christianity 101 is salvation.
It's the moment we realize we are in desperate need of a savior. And can I be real? We shouldn't let that moment of realization ever leave us until we're home. And in BC 101, the teacher starts the class with a declaration, you are not who you think you are.
Because the human tendency is to think we are better than we actually are. We naturally think of ourselves as the one lamb Jesus came for, not a member of the 99 he left behind. And we assume he came because we were the spotless one. And I'm just gonna pick up myself for a second.
I grew up building this backdrop of what I built. And if we look at the image of a lamb or the image of my fleece, it didn't stand out as much because I compared my moral goodness against my college roommate. Or my extended family, that crazy uncle we all have. And now I'm the crazy uncle.
Or the guy at the street corner holding a sign that I pass every morning heading into work. You see my self-forged breastplate? Oh, it feels strong, it feels righteous. It's shiny.
But then BC 101 starts to teach me through John 3 16 that the creator of the universe sent his one and only son for me. And that Jesus was a servant leader in a life that he lived was all to serve us, and to serve God, and to honor God, and to pray to God. And then you learn about the cross and the resurrection. And all of a sudden, my self-righteous backdrop that I created starts to change to this blanket of fresh white pure snow.
And if any of you have seen a big blanket of sheet of snow, it's so bright, you have to put on sunglasses. I mean, it's bright. And so now I can see all my flaws on my fleece. And everyone I was comparing myself to, I'm just like them.
So then I look at my breastplate versus the breastplate Jesus wore, and it's not only inferior, but I realize although it's shiny, it's plastic, it's synthetic, it has holes in it, it's worthless. It has no value because it's self-forged and created by my hands. So towards the end of the course in BC 101, we start to say and believe and live, I am not who I thought I was. Thank you, Jesus.
I was blind, but now I see amazing grace. And then we start to say words that are true about us. I am fearfully and wonderfully made. I am God's masterpiece.
I'm a child of God. I'm a royal priesthood. I'm an heir of God and a co-heirs with Christ. I am beloved.
I am the light of the world. I am chosen. I am redeemed and I'm forgiven. You need to say that over yourself because that's true if you believe in Jesus Christ.
And that is BC 101. His word illuminates how much we need to save here. We come to the cross and Jesus cleanses us and purifies us. Thank you, Lord.
So then we graduate. We receive the certificate of completion. We're finished BC 101. We move to BC 102.
It's the first day of school. We walk into the classroom. And the teacher says, welcome to basic Christianity 102. I'm going to start off with something for all of you to hear.
You are not who you think you are. And you're sitting there thinking, in mind the right class. This sounds awfully familiar. See, check your syllabus.
You look at the door and oh, I'm in 102. And then the teacher follows up with deeper truths towards your daily journey of spiritual growth that we fancily call sanctification. And it says, because of the blood of Jesus, you have been made righteous. And the teacher goes on to share second Corinthians 521.
God made him who had no sin to be sinned for us. So that in him, we might become the righteousness of God. And all of a sudden, the good news of basic Christianity 101 is poured over our ears, our heart, our soul all over again. Because he doesn't just call you to pursue righteousness.
He declares that you are righteous in him. Don't miss this church. Not only did Jesus die for your sin, he also lived in your place. He faced the same attacks, the same persecution.
He was tempted the same. He was betrayed. He endured physical pain that I've prayed. None of us ever faced.
And he would mourn over the death of friends and families, just like we mourn over our friends and families. And he produced the perfect righteousness because he was and is the spotless lamb. And when you believe in Jesus, you become the righteousness of God. The Apostle Paul explains this in Romans 1 16 through 17.
He starts with, I am not ashamed of the gospel. For it is the power of God for salvation, from his wrath and punishment to everyone who believes in Christ as Savior. To the Jew first and also the Greek, for in the gospel, the righteousness of God is revealed, both springing from faith, leading to faith, and disclosing a way that awakens more faith. That is is written and forever remains written that just and upright shall live by faith.
Notice the order. The righteous shall live by faith, not the other way around. You don't become righteous by living right. You live right because Christ, how has already declared you righteous.
Let me repeat that. You live right because Christ has already declared you and you and you and all of you righteous. Let me say it another way. I don't chase after Jesus because he makes my life better.
I chase after Jesus because he is better than life. Martin Luther's tower experience at Wittenberg, Luther tried to earn righteousness. And he studied Romans 1 17 and discovered that the righteousness of God is not a standard demanded of us, but a gift given to us. He wrote that he himself felt born again and that the gates of paradise that swung open for his life.
If you're ever wondering, what is this church all about? That's what we're about. We're about transforming your life for Christ. So that you have this moment where you feel born again and that you feel the gates of paradise swinging open for you.
Church, listen to this. There is no power in thinking that righteousness is up to your performance. There is no power in thinking that righteousness is up to your performance. If you believe that right activity earns you right standing, you will end up in one of two places, arrogance, because you think you're better than everyone else, or exhaustion, because you can't pull it off.
And neither one of them is the gospel. And neither one of them is what Jesus died and rose for. So we go back into the breastplate that we hammered ourselves. And I want to say, and I'm speaking for myself and maybe you, but we walk around with this self-forged, hammered breastplate that I just spoke about with holes in it.
And we do it because of our good deeds. We do it based off our moral scorecard that we create and our religious performance. And God had already told us what exactly this armor is worth. And Isaiah 64, he says, all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment, filthy rags.
That's not a polite translation for the Swedish. It's the kind of cloth no one would touch. That's the best we can offer on our own. George Whitefield on Isaiah 64, 6 says, our best performances are so stained by sin that they need to be washed in the blood of the land before they can be presented to God.
Think about it. Think about what happened right after Adam and Eve sin. Instead of running to God and saying, we're sorry. We did the opposite of what you said.
We listened to this thing. Well, you forgive us. They didn't do that. They ran and hid.
And in their hiding, the Bible says they so thick leaves for themselves. And like that, the first religion was born with their own hands. With their own mind, they said, we don't need the Creator. He didn't just make me out of dust.
He didn't just make me out of his rib. I'll cover my own sin and shame. I'll do it myself. Church, the difference between conviction and condemnation is conviction of the Holy Spirit says, yeah, you sinned.
You should feel that. But now run to the Father, confess, repent, because He has already paid for that mistake by His blood. Condemnation says from the enemy, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. You've got this.
You'll figure it out. You're clever. You've got this. So let me give you some examples of what fig leaves we create today.
We try to cover ourselves with success, the success of our kids, our online profile, our reputation, our attendance record, how many times we've been to Keras and checking all the boxes. Like we start believing the right activity leads to right standing before God. And every single one of us will cover ourselves in something, either the breastplate of Christ's righteousness or fig leaves that will never be enough. A.W.
Tozier in the pursuit of God on the veil of self-sets, self-righteousness, self-pity, self-confidence, self-sufficiency, self-admiration, self-love. This veil cannot be washed. It must be torn. Paul says this in 1 Corinthians 8, 1.
Knowledge alone makes us, people, self-righteously arrogant. But love. Jesus is love. But love unselfishly seeks the best for others and builds us up and encourages others to grow.
And so all these things that grace and the network develops for you and me are not to puff up your BC 102 skills. It's not to make you and know it all or show off. But it's to lower yourself even more so that you can lift up and encourage others struggling or that are unaware of BC 101 or BC 102. That's why they exist and they work.
This is about his kingdom advancing in the lives of this community and across the state, not around him. In Romans 3, 21 through 22, don't miss this. But now the righteousness of God has been clearly revealed independently and completely apart from the law. Though it is actually confirmed by the law and the words and writings of the prophets, the righteousness of God comes through faith in Jesus Christ for some who believe.
Oh, every time you see all the Bible, you should get fired up, John, because that means you. Oh, even that guy at work, that guy at work. That person in the news, that person in the news. Oh, let me tell you a story about the arguably, I'd love the debate after, but to me, the best self-righteous man who ever lived.
His name was Saul, but we know him as the Apostle Paul. He attributed to 13 letters of the 27 books in the New Testament. The Apostle Paul explains all of this in Philippians 3. I encourage you to go back and read the entire book.
What's remarkable about Paul himself is he was simultaneously better than you and me and worse than you and me. And it's both of these things together is what makes his testimony so powerful. You see, Paul opens up Philippians 3 and he says, finally, brothers, rejoice in the Lord. Notice he puts his joy in Jesus, not his circumstances.
Because he's writing from where? From prison. And this isn't a happy prison. We've got libraries and it's all clean and he's writing freely.
He's shackled. He's saying, rejoice in the Lord. You see, joy is based on trusting Jesus, even even when our circumstances look impossible. And then he drops a warning, look out for the dogs, look out for the evil doers, look out for those who mutilate the flesh.
Because in the first century, religious Jews called dirty Gentiles dogs because they consider them unclean, it was a race war. And Paul flips this phrase completely. And now he's pointing at religious people whose self-forged breastplates they feel are shiny, who are self-righteous, who said, Jesus plus circumcision. Jesus plus your good works.
Jesus plus the law. Jesus plus Jesus plus. And Paul says, no, it's just Jesus. If we could just get that, if we could just get Jesus, the rest of those pluses happen as a result.
Because the fruit of the Spirit, the Holy Spirit, will prompt you to do exactly what he wants you to do. It's not the other way around. The only thing you and I bring to the equation of your salvation is the sin that required Jesus to go to the cross. So then Paul goes on and lists his religious resume.
He said, OK, if right activity earns right standing with God, Paul says, my resume is better than you. And then he outlines it. He proves it by listing seven things. Four is about his pedigree, his roots, his background, and three are about his personal achievements.
He says, circumcise on the eighth day. Ritually, I'm better than you. Of the people of Israel, racially, he was born into God's chosen people. Of the tribe of Benjamin, one of the most respected and wealthiest of the tribes.
He was a Hebrew of Hebrews. He was raised studying scripture in the original language. What has that got over there? King James Oletskyu.
As to the law, a Pharisee. And Pharisees get a bad rap, but they're legit. They were PhDs in the Bible. They memorized every verse from Genesis to Malachi.
This, they had it memorized. And added extra laws just to make sure they never crossed the line. As to zeal, a persecutor of the church, more radical than everyone. He was building teams, life groups.
He was building communities to keep Judaism pure. As to righteousness under the law, blameless. When he broke one of the 613 laws, he knew exactly the sacrifice required and performed it on the right day. He had it all.
Status, money, power, political pool. As a part of the Sanhedrin social standing. As a Roman citizen, religious, cloud, as a Pharisee. Financial resources, education from Tarsus under Gamali.
That's like saying Yale, Stanford, and Harvard all in one. Family honored from the tribe of Benjamin. He was on top of the world. And then in Acts 9 on the road to Damascus, he met.
No, no, no. He countered Jesus. And this is what he says in Philippians 3, 7 through 8. But whatever we're gains to me, I now consider loss for the sake of Christ.
What is more is I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Jesus Christ, my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things and consider them garbage that I may gain Christ. Paul calls his entire religious resume garbage. Some translations say rubbish. And that's a polite translation, biblical translation.
Paul actually uses the Greek of a word called scooby-lon. Scooby-lon is animal-dumb. All of his impressive religious credentials are worth compared to knowing Jesus. All his impressive religious credentials are nothing compared to knowing Jesus.
And this is what we, Church, should say, when our impressive credentials, when our boxes, religious, moral scorecards, boxes checked, are spoken above and over what Jesus has done for your life. Just share your testimony. Just share your testimony. If you're going to learn how to dress for success, then you must strip all your self-forged resume and accept the invitation with just a mustard seed of faith.
With gratitude that all his clothing, his armor, including the breastplate of righteousness, is from God, in God alone. I kind of had this in my notes. I really don't, but I feel prompted to say it. If there are people listening to this message or here right now who think Jesus is unreachable, unreachable.
And you're saying, you don't know what I've done. I do not, but Jesus knows. And he knew before he decided to make that choice. And that's why he went to the cross.
And I would say, lovingly, who in the world do you think you are? Because the grace poured out at the cross is infinitely greater than whatever sin you bring to the equation. Remember, Saul, known as Paul, was simultaneously better and worse than you. Saul was a religious terrace.
He was a bad dude. All those names that pop up when you hear terrace, that was him. He was not killing one Christian at a time. He was systematically trying to wipe out all of Christianity.
And God decided to put his love on Saul, and change his name and save him forever. Jesus was saying, Saul, you are not who you think you are. You are a child of God. I died for you.
Church, if Saul can be saved, none of us are too far gone. Not one. John Newton, a former slave captain, author of Amazing Grace. He said, late in life, my memory is nearly gone, but I remember two things.
That I am a great sinner and that Christ is a greater savior. Because there is more grace in Jesus than there is sin in you. You are a child of the king. Live like it.
Amen. That's the righteousness part. As I end here, as I get to the end, it's just now I'm going to talk about the breastplate itself. The Greek is vodex.
It basically means from neck to waist. It clipped on to the belt of truth. It covered all the vital organs. What's the most important vital organ class?
Your heart. It covers your heart. And in Proverbs 4, 23, you should have this memorized by now. Above all else, guard your heart.
For everything you do flows from it. Another translation said, it determines the course of your life. It doesn't matter how smart you are, how strong you are, how fast you are. If you get stabbed in the heart, it is over.
And the enemy knows this. He doesn't really care about your finances or your marriage or your friendships or your family. As ends in themselves, he's trying to destroy those things so that he can put a dagger in your heart. When you put on the gospel, when you put on the breastplate of righteousness, those daggers cannot pierce your heart because it's Christ's undefeated armor that covers your heart.
So every morning you are putting on a breastplate. Are you choosing his or are you choosing yours? Because you're going to get attacked. But when you have undefeated armor, you live in victory.
And you dress for success. Here's an image worth sitting with. Imagine a soldier putting on a magnificent breastplate. Perfect, leaning strong.
When you look at him, you see the breastplate. You do not see whatever is happening underneath. Listen, please. When God, the Father, looks at you, clothes in his righteousness.
He does not see your sin. He does not see your shame. He does not see your regret. He does not see your addiction.
He does not see your condemnation. He sees the blood of his son, Jesus Christ. And he says, behold, that is my son. Behold, that is my daughter.
In whom I am well pleased. That is why it matters to put on the breastplate of righteousness. And so you have it on. What do you do?
The Roman soldiers would polish it. They would polish it. Why? Because they were trained that when the enemy charges them at the right time, it would reflect the son blinding the enemy, causing them to stumble and recoil.
And that is a picture of our righteousness in action every single day, saints. When Satan charges you with accusations like, you're worthless, you're garbage, you're never going to mount anything, you remember what you said, you remember what you did, that is the enemy charging towards you. And what do you do? You blind him with God's breastplate of righteousness, saying something like, I already know who has won the battle.
I am nothing on my own, but with Christ, I am more than a conqueror. I rebuke you, Satan, the name of Jesus flee. And Romans 8, 1, please write Romans 8, 1 down. Put it on your heart, put it wherever you need.
It says, therefore, there is no condemnation, no guilty verdict, no punishment for those who are in Christ Jesus, who believe in him as his personal, Lord, and Savior. You are innocent. Sin does create a relational lift, rift between us and God it does. Not a cutting off, but a self-inflicted break in intimacy.
And if you don't feel the oneness with Jesus that you used to, you need to look back and see where you didn't confess and repent and do it. Repentance means 180 degree turn, not a 360 temporary detour back on the same road. In repentance there is righteousness. And in righteousness there is relationship with Christ.
You see polishing your breastplate now that you have it on is not a once-and-done event. It's a daily practice. It's going back to the spiritual gem that we walk through. It's declaring every morning, Holy Spirit, I need you.
I need you today. For today may be all the Lord provides, and I'm grateful for it. So three quick, practical, daily practices that I encourage you, get into the word of God. Get into God's word, dwell on it, meditate on it, explore it.
It is in and through God's word that you will discover who Jesus made you to be and agree with that word and say it out loud, I am who you say I am, God. Number two is speak truth over yourself. Jesus Christ reinforces the truth of who you are. As I already read, you need to speak truth over yourself that I'm fearfully and wonderfully made, that I'm God's masterpiece, that I am a child of God, heir of God, and just continue to say it over yourself.
And number three is walk in repentance. And in 1 John 1, 9, it says, if we confess our sins, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from some unrighteousness. All. So if he purifies you from all unrighteousness, how much is left, Tom?
None. Then why are you still holding on to it? And it's either because you didn't know this verse existed or you never believed it. You need to trust the word of God.
It will save your life. All unrighteousness. You see how you see yourself changes everything. Do you see yourself as righteous and holy before God?
Or do you see yourself as a dirty object unable to measure up? How you see yourself, dick takes, how you walk, how you talk, how you think, how you interact with everyone around you. And if you are in Christ, second Corinthians 5 17 says, is true about you right now. If anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come, the old has gone, and the new is here.
Not the new will come once you get your act together. It's not what it says. The new has already come. Because his righteousness now covers you completely.
A.W. Tozier in the opening of the knowledge of the holy, he says, what comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us. Because we misjudge God. And if we misjudge God, we will misjudge ourselves.
I pray that you give yourself and others grace, that God gives you each and every day. You have God's own righteousness. You do not deserve it. All you have to do is put it on every single day.
So as I finish here, the only paperwork that matters on the day of judgment is not your resume, but Christ's invitation. Have you said yes to his invitation? Like you're in here, and you haven't believed that Christ is your savior and following after him relentlessly. Lay down every self-righteous effort right now.
Believe that Jesus lived the life you couldn't live, died the death you deserved, and rose so that his perfect record could become yours. All who call on the name of the Lord will be saved. Enlist in his army and stop surviving, stop dressing for survival. Say yes to his invitation and dress for success by putting on the full armor of God.
If you are a believer in here who has grown weary from the treadmill or performance, come home again. If you slip back into measuring your worth by your quiet time streak, your service record, how together you look compared to the person next to you? Repent. Repent.
Take off that rusty self-made breastplate. It's heavy, it's fake, it will fill you on the day of battle. Put on the righteousness of God. Rest in the Father who is for you, not because you earned it, but because Jesus earned it for you.
Would you please stand? Church, you cannot do a single thing. To make things right, Jesus has done everything. All that is left is to take up your breastplate of righteousness and say, God, I am who you say, I am, I am your child, I choose to walk forward in victory.
Let's pray.