[0:00] Well, you usually put that quote up on the screen. Trust you've had time to read that as you've come in. I'll read it just in case you didn't.
[0:12] According to the Bible, this is by Ian Duguid from his book, The Whole Armor of God. According to the Bible, the Christian life is not a picnic but a battle.
[0:23] It's an armed struggle against a powerful adversary. To engage in that battle properly, we need a spiritual makeover in which our flimsy, inadequate, natural attire, the spiritual equivalent of a t-shirt and flip-flops, is replaced by suitable armor and weaponry.
[0:45] Without that armor and weaponry, we will be unprepared for what faces us. Well, along with that quote that was on the screen that I just read, I want to read another one by David Paulus.
[0:58] And he also has written a book, Safe and Sound, Standing Firm in Spiritual Battles, more of a book introducing the teaching of spiritual warfare and conflict and a bit of a description on each piece of armor, but then how to use that and how we encourage others to pick up that armor and use that.
[1:21] And so he drew from his book this quote, Scripture treats spiritual warfare as a normal, everyday part of the Christian life.
[1:33] And so we should as well. It's not about spooky, special effects. It's about how we think, feel, live, desire, and act in the presence of our enemies.
[1:46] So to most of us here this morning, those quotes make perfect sense. We would agree with what those writers have written. But really, to a growing number of people in our country, the quotes would seem very strange for us to read them and speak of them.
[2:06] Pew Research studies indicate that approximately 30% of the United States population would not even believe in the spiritual forces of evil.
[2:22] They would consider themselves nuns, not N-U-N-S, but N-O-N-E-S. In that category of the population, of that 30%, 17% would consider themselves atheists, 20% agnostics, and then 63% would consider or describe themselves as nothing in particular.
[2:48] So a growing number of people to believe in, and then even to speak of spiritual forces and spiritual conflict, is really not an accurate representation of what is real.
[3:02] Another quote by another writer, Paul Taggs, says, The shallowness of spiritual conflict in the West owes something nowadays to raw secularism and a pervasive worldview that thinks of all reality on a naturalistic plane.
[3:23] The naturalist does not believe in the unseen spiritual world. Only natural as opposed to spiritual laws and forces operate within our world.
[3:37] Everything can be explained through scientific research and experimentation. Therefore, any evil, if they would even use that term, they would use it but not have a place of origin for which they could say evil comes.
[3:55] But anyway, the naturalists are, they would say, only natural as opposed to spiritual laws and forces operate within the world.
[4:06] Again, everything can be explained through scientific research and experimentation. Therefore, the trouble that they see in the world and in society is attributed to sociological, psychological, economical, educational deficiencies or imbalances that exist within society.
[4:31] Therefore, on the whole, in the United States, you don't hear talk of God or Satan in various spheres of daily life. Think of the last time you were just having an informal conversation with somebody.
[4:45] The weeks go by and in your workplace, how many times does God or the spiritual forces of wickedness come up?
[4:56] You just don't hear that in daily life, informal conversations, and education, business, societal troubles, when they're discussing how to solve some of these problems.
[5:10] To most people, any belief or talk of God and spiritual forces that oppose Him simply are irrelevant to a proper understanding of really what's taking place in the world.
[5:21] It's unrelated to daily life. Even people that say they might believe in some supernatural forces really don't function much on a daily basis with any real belief that such things exist.
[5:38] So that's the world in which we live. Thankfully, God has broken through this darkened, humanistic, one-dimensional way of thinking and reasoning with an enlightening revelation from Himself that's revealed in the Scriptures, in the Bible.
[6:00] He did this to reveal truth about Himself and His great plan of salvation, His great plan to rescue out of all of humanity a people of His own that He will love and that they will love Him and choose to live for His glory.
[6:19] And as it relates to the topic that we started a couple weeks ago, He also revealed truth about the unseen spiritual forces that do exist in our world today.
[6:31] forces that oppose Him, His purposes, and the people who've chosen to follow Him and to walk in His ways and live for His glory and wait for His return.
[6:44] And for that truth, we turn to the book of Ephesians. If you want to turn to Ephesians chapter 6, we draw our understanding of the spiritual conflict that's going on in our world and our lives today from God and His Word.
[7:05] He provided that truth for us that we desperately need to hear today. He provided this, that we're studying this passage through the Apostle Paul, who also wrote to Christians, certainly living in a different time and a different place, but they also needed an accurate understanding of the spiritual warfare that they were facing.
[7:29] They were facing all kinds of opposing forces that they were having to deal with in their culture, but they had to see beyond those with their physical eyes to the physical people that they were seeing and understand this, the reality of the spiritual warfare in which they were involved, just as we are involved in it today as well.
[7:52] So let me just read Ephesians 6, 10 through 14, and I'm reading from the ESV, and don't have it on the screen. But Paul writes, Finally, be strong in the Lord and the strength of His might.
[8:05] Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.
[8:26] 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 firm.
[8:36] Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth and having put on the breastplate of righteousness. And we'll stop there this morning. So our spiritual warfare is not ultimately against flesh and blood.
[8:52] It's not ultimately a struggle between people. Even though evil will be manifested through other people, those that the Scriptures call sons of disobedience who follow the prince of the power of the air, being Satan.
[9:10] And we may at times be recipients of those expressions of evil from those individuals. But again, we need to be reminded that ultimately our battle is against Satan and his forces.
[9:26] The world, the sinful flesh, the inclinations of the sinful flesh that still exist within us that act in opposition to, again, God, his purposes, and to us as his people.
[9:41] But the encouragement that God provides us is that we don't fight this warfare in our own strength or with weapons of our own making, looking for solutions that might come from our own reasonings, our minds, our thinkings, maybe that we've devised out of our own imaginations and, again, reasonings.
[10:02] No, we can stand strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. It is the Almighty God who brought us out of Satan's domain, that domain of darkness, and brought us into the kingdom of the Son He loves.
[10:18] It's on that basis that we trust in Him. We rely on Him. His power is still working in us. Our part is to trust in Him and that power that's inherent within Him, to rely upon Him, to depend upon Him, even to call upon Him in our times of struggle and in the times of temptation to help us live in accordance with that power that is at work in us.
[10:51] And so we can give thanks that God is providing that power that we need in this spiritual conflict. But it's also through that power that we have from Him that we put on the whole armor of God so that we can stand firm against the schemes of the devil.
[11:10] We are more than conquerors in Christ Jesus. Last week we learned to stand there for having fastened on the belt of truth. So we take up the whole objective truth of God, all of which is embodied in the person of Jesus Christ, in His teachings, as He was in the world, in His words and in His deeds, and in the same, we clothe ourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ.
[11:38] We take up the whole of God's revealed truth and it finds expression through us as we sincerely act in accordance with that truth.
[11:48] And we're committed in very practical ways in living those lives of integrity in the midst of the spiritual conflict. Thus we stand firm in the time of struggle against our enemy.
[12:05] This week we stand firm having put on the breastplate of righteousness. I don't need to spend a whole lot of time speaking about a breastplate already, just saying the word things come to your mind of what that breastplate is like.
[12:21] But Paul was writing from prison. He was in contact with the Roman soldiers on a regular basis and thus was familiar with the armor that they wore. So choosing from these daily life experiences what he's seeing to try and communicate to the people he's writing to and eventually us as well.
[12:40] something of the importance of wearing the armor of God when we're in a time of battle. And the breastplate really was an essential part of armor for the soldier.
[12:53] It covered the vital organs of the soldier's body. They still wear, they don't call them a breastplate today, but body armor that the soldiers wear covering that main section of their body.
[13:06] And those important organs such as the heart and the other parts in the scriptures that were referred to as the bowels, the heart in the heart, the scriptures in the scriptures, the heart is associated with our thoughts, desires, emotions, purposes, motivations.
[13:27] Just look up the word heart sometimes and follow that through the scriptures and see what it's associated with. The bowels are mostly associated with emotional responses.
[13:39] Something happens and you have a feeling in your gut about the situation. We all know what that's like. We've experienced it. And out of that, we respond certain ways in those situations, hopefully, as they're evaluated by the scriptures and those feelings aren't what really direct us.
[14:03] We might be motivated them, but motivated more by the Spirit of God who leads us in paths of righteousness in those situations. So we're not just responding out of our feelings, we're responding, we're acting out of the feelings we're experiencing, but acting in righteousness as we're going to learn today, having put on the breastplate of righteousness.
[14:27] So this area of the body is pretty much seen as really the control center of the person. So it's not surprising that Satan and his forces of evil would scheme and oppose the Christian in these various areas that these parts of the body represent and as they're presented in the scriptures.
[14:45] And to stand firm against Satan's onslaughts in these areas, we're told to put on the breastplate of righteousness. So let's jump into this whole matter of what is the breastplate of righteousness.
[15:01] And as I did in my previous lesson, sometimes we can understand what it is by understanding what it isn't. And so we're going to remember that the breastplate of righteousness, all of these pieces, are the armor of God that we put on.
[15:18] So this righteousness represented by this breastplate of righteousness is not a righteousness of our own making. One of Satan's deceptions is to get people to think that they don't need a righteousness from God.
[15:33] They establish a personal standard about themselves that they're content with. They can live with that. It's that which will guide them through their day and make them feel good about themselves.
[15:46] You might hear them say, hey, I'm not perfect, but I'm not as bad as whoever. Others might make it their goal to live a moral life thinking that they can end at the end of their lives.
[16:00] The good deeds that they've done will qualify them for whatever comes next. The afterlife, if they might believe in that. In Romans 10.3, Paul expressed his desire to see his kinsmen repent and follow Jesus and be saved.
[16:18] But they were deceived in their thinking. Thinking that they could establish a righteousness of their own that would make them acceptable to God.
[16:31] See this, what Paul wrote about this in Romans 10. He says, Brothers, my heart's desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved. For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge.
[16:45] for being ignorant of the righteousness of God and seeking to establish their own. See, that's what, they were doing it then, they still do that today. What God offers, no, they push that away in their unrighteousness.
[17:00] And so, it's not like they can't have anything. They still have to have a standard to live by. That's how man has been created and designed. So, they establish a righteousness of their own.
[17:11] They did not submit to God's righteousness for Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. So, that's what his desire for his kinsmen was.
[17:24] They would come to the knowledge of the truth, of true righteousness and cast off this righteousness that they had established on their own. Or consider the rich young man spoken of in Mark 10.
[17:38] You're familiar with that story. He thought he had achieved a level of righteousness that was sufficient for him to obtain eternal life. But again, he was deceived. The great deceiver is at work in the lives of people.
[17:52] They didn't see him working. They were thinking they were just moving through life on their own. That was not the case. He ignored the matter. He thought, again, he had a righteousness that was sufficient for eternal life.
[18:09] but his righteousness was just a matter of outward conformity to God's law. He was familiar with the law of God and thought just conforming to that outer law was sufficient.
[18:22] He ignored the matter of his own inner heart and the need for cleansing of his sinful, inordinate love in his heart for his many possessions that he had, the great wealth that he had.
[18:36] that's what his heart really was wrapped around and not the true God and knowing God and truth when Jesus confronted him about that fact, about his own heart's condition by telling him, well, go and sell everything that you have and then come and follow me.
[18:59] But the young man did not want to hear that and live by that standard. He turned away from the righteousness from God that could have been his through repentance and faith in Jesus Christ and gave up the privilege of knowing God and walking in true righteousness.
[19:18] Well, what he was depending on in Isaiah 64, 6, God's assessment of any self-made, man-made standard of righteousness, it's as filthy rags.
[19:31] And Paul pretty much says the same thing in Romans 3, 10. None is righteous. Not, no, not even one. We're learning of the condition of the heart of man.
[19:43] Verse 23 of Romans 3, he says, For all live sin and fall short of the glory of God. So Satan has deceived people into thinking that they are okay, they are okay, and they can establish a righteousness of their own.
[19:58] But according to 2 Corinthians 4, 4, the God of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ who is the image of God.
[20:12] The unbeliever doesn't even see that reality about themselves. How come you don't come to Christ and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ? Well, it's just not time. I've got this to do and that thing. You never have heard someone say, well, Satan has blinded my eyes to the reality of that, and therefore I don't come.
[20:30] They just don't see it just as we all didn't see it at some time in our lives as well. So it's not a man-made standard for positional righteousness, but it's also not a self-made moral standard of acting, really, that suits the lifestyle that an individual wants to live.
[20:52] A self-made standard of morality is not sufficient for a life of true holiness. A self-made standard flows from a heart, mind, and desires that have been corrupted by sin and under it, again, the influence of Satan.
[21:12] And that self-made standard for life will manifest itself in actions that are contrary to God's standard of righteousness. But it's a standard, again, that they've established in their mind and now they live that standard out.
[21:26] And so we shouldn't be surprised that we see that being manifested, babies being killed in the womb, couples having sex before marriage, men and women participating in homosexual relationships, married partners committing adultery, children with a disregard for the authority of their parents, people justify stealing from stores and from porches and on and on I could go.
[21:51] It's just an outworking of the standard that they've established for themselves. A standard not characteristic of certainly the righteousness of God.
[22:02] So that's what it is not. So what is it? This righteousness that we're talking about that we put on as a breastplate of righteousness, I present two aspects of that.
[22:16] It's a righteousness from God imputed to those who come to Christ in true repentance and faith before anyone can practice new habits of righteousness from God and holiness and in order to stand firm against the schemes of the devil, that individual needs to have a righteousness from God.
[22:40] That's the only foundation and the only source out of which can come acts of true righteousness and holiness that glorify God and please Him.
[22:50] Paul realized that his man-made righteousness was insufficient and he needed a righteousness from God and we can read about this in Philippians chapter 3.
[23:04] He warned the people that he was writing to to watch out for those who had come in among them and said that righteousness comes from doing good works.
[23:15] Christ might be okay to a certain level but you need more than that. You have to add to that. He used to believe that and live the same way. In fact, if living that way is really what counted, he could have been a person with great confidence when it comes to having a righteousness that would have been pleasing to God.
[23:39] And this is what he writes, if anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more. Circumcised the eighth day of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews, as to the law of Pharisee, as to zeal, a persecutor of the church, as to righteousness, here we go, under the law, I was blameless.
[24:00] But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.
[24:12] For his sake, I have suffered the loss of all things and count them now as rubbish in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, here he goes, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, keeping of the law, but that which comes, where does it come from?
[24:31] Through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith. Martin Lloyd-Jones writes, because we can never attain to God's standard of righteousness, God sent his only son into this world in order that he might be able to give us his righteousness.
[24:52] He came, the spotless, sinless son of God, and he rendered a perfect obedience to God's law, something that we could never do. Obeyed him in every jot and tittle of the law.
[25:06] He lived a perfectly righteous life. But more than that, he made himself responsible for our sins. He bore them in his own body and was crucified for them.
[25:18] And at the cross, God smote his dear son as our sin bearer. And in raising Christ again on the resurrection day, God has proclaimed to us that Christ's death was more than sufficient to satisfy his righteous demand.
[25:35] You see, the gracious work of God through his son, Jesus Christ, in bringing about and working and making possible for our possession that which we could never acquire on our own.
[25:47] He did through his son, Jesus Christ. In fact, Paul wrote about that in another verse we're familiar with in 2 Corinthians 5.21. For our sake, he made him to be sin who knew no sin so that in him we might become what?
[26:05] The righteousness of God. So that which we were lacking, God provided through Jesus Christ and his great work of righteous life and sacrifice on the cross.
[26:17] The only way that we could obtain the righteousness of God. So God took our sins, imputed them to his son.
[26:28] He put them on Jesus' account and then he, Jesus, bore the wrath of God on the behalf of us sinners. And as sinners, hear this good news and repent by faith, believe this good news of Jesus Christ and confess him as Lord.
[26:46] God now imputes the righteousness of Jesus to our account. What a trade, right? A great exchange that was made and makes possible for us to have this righteousness of Jesus Christ.
[27:02] His righteousness imputed to us and to our account and now we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Well, so the foundation of righteousness that we need for the breastplate of righteousness comes through repentance and faith in Jesus Christ.
[27:26] But there's more to this breastplate of righteousness. It is righteousness from God applied and put into practice. righteousness.
[27:37] This is God working the righteousness of Christ in my life, expressing it in my daily life.
[27:48] Jesus' God was united with God the Father and the Holy Spirit and as such lived a perfectly righteous life when he was in the world. Now by faith in Jesus Christ, the repentant sinner has been spiritually reborn.
[28:03] He's been actually born of God spiritually. He becomes a new creature in Christ and is united to Jesus Christ.
[28:18] Becomes a member of the body of Christ as is described in the scriptures. The life of God has inhabited this new creature in Christ.
[28:30] Even to the point of His Holy Spirit dwelling within us. and God begins His work of transforming His new child into the likeness of His Son, Jesus Christ.
[28:43] That's what God is doing in our lives through His power on a daily basis. This transformation of life is God working out the righteous life of Christ into and through and through the life of a Christian.
[29:00] This is what is supposed to be happening in our lives on a daily basis. God is working the righteousness of Christ that is now ours by faith, repentance, and faith in Jesus Christ working it out, expressing that in our daily lives.
[29:19] The Holy Spirit is leading us in those paths of righteousness for God's name's sake. This is what's happening. We can rejoice in that and be glad in that. On the part of the Christian in keeping with these new God-implanted righteous desires, some of you have expressed that, probably could express that in your testimony.
[29:43] Prior to your salvation, you couldn't imagine living like a Christian. even desiring or wanting to live like a Christian. But when that true transformation takes place, the Spirit of God dwelling within you, now you're amazed.
[30:00] Things you did not want to do in the past, now you want to do. Things that seem strange to you in the past, living, speaking, in righteousness, you would never imagine that would be part of your daily life.
[30:13] God is working the righteous life of Jesus Christ into your life, seeking to express that in the world that He would be glorified on a daily basis. That's what's happening.
[30:27] And with these new desires, that individual wants to put that in practice, and what he's doing is putting on the breastplate of righteousness.
[30:38] We see this united to Christ transformational life process in Philippians 2 verses 12 and 13. He says, Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence, but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.
[31:01] For it is God who works in you both to will and to work of His good pleasure. So now we have these brand new desires, this new will to do of God's good pleasure and to work that out.
[31:12] And that is what God is doing by His power, the power of the Holy Spirit who dwells within us. And now we're encouraged, we're challenged, we're commanded to work this salvation out.
[31:22] You become a participant with God in this whole matter of putting on the breastplate of righteousness, living out this new righteous life of Christ in your daily life.
[31:35] So what does this actually look like as we use the breastplate of righteousness? Let me give you some thoughts on that. First, it involves a trust in His imputed righteousness that it is truly sufficient for your justification, your right standing before God.
[31:59] At times, Satan, opposition to God and His people will come in the form of attacking Christ and His righteousness as truly sufficient for eternal life and peace with God.
[32:11] And this is what happened when Paul had to write to the churches in Galatia. He reminded them of the purpose of the law and the commandments and that justification is not by the works of the law but totally by faith in Jesus Christ.
[32:25] And then in chapter 5, he writes this, For freedom, Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.
[32:36] That's what these people or these false teachers were actually trying to accomplish when they were brought, bringing in this extra that these Christians needed in order to really stand firm before God and have a proper righteousness.
[32:51] Paul says, Don't go back to that. Stand firm in what you heard taught in the past that righteousness comes through faith in Jesus Christ totally. When their confidence in Christ and the sufficiency of his righteous life and sacrifice was called into question, ultimately, the spiritual forces of evil by them, they needed to go back to the truth, the gospel, and submit their minds and attention on the truth.
[33:21] Wouldn't be dependent on their feelings. Wouldn't be dependent upon even what some other people were saying. That seems quite contrary. Feel it in your gut. You feel it in your mind.
[33:32] You sense it in your thinking. And you realize, no, that's not truth. I need to submit my mind, my focus, and my attention on the truth. And so for us today, there's all kinds of messages out there in the world trivializing the message of the gospel and of Christ.
[33:50] All kinds of religions in the world that look to other saviors, their emphasis on the requirement for good deeds, for eternal life in heaven or paradise, whatever they believe comes after.
[34:01] in order to not be shaken in our faith and love and commitment and following Jesus Christ, we need to put on the breastplate of the sufficient, imputed righteousness of Jesus Christ so that we can stand firm against the schemes of the devil that are manifested through these other religions or voices in the world that we hear that say, Christ is insufficient.
[34:25] What are you thinking? You're being quite intolerant of other people's beliefs that you would actually think that your way is the only way. Don't fall to that.
[34:36] Stand firm. Don't, again, submit yourselves to a yoke of slavery. Well, as we take up the breastplate of the imputed righteousness of Jesus Christ, we also find assurance of our salvation in Christ.
[34:52] Some Christians become troubled in times of trial or having a day of feeling despondent or aren't having high positive life experiences that others might seem to have or are experiencing true guilt after sinning.
[35:11] And they begin to doubt their salvation. They begin to doubt God's acceptance of them. Begin to consider ways, well, how can I, once again, regain the favor of God that I've lost?
[35:24] They think that they now need to perform some acts of penance or good deeds to once again be accepted by Him. And it's at those times the Christian needs to take up the breastplate of the imputed righteousness of Jesus Christ and find reassurance that His soul's salvation and God's acceptance of him or her is found in His union with Jesus Christ by being justified by faith alone.
[35:56] Romans 5.1 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. You bring that Scripture to bear on your mind and how you're feeling at that time and find the reassurance of your soul's salvation and acceptance based upon God alone and faith in Jesus Christ that's sufficient for your eternal salvation.
[36:22] Romans 8.38 and 39. I don't have those on the screen, but we're familiar with the reality of nothing in all creation can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
[36:35] Nothing can separate us, that true individual believer in Christ. 1 Peter 1.5 Peter had to write to these saints who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
[36:51] So the breastplate of righteousness, trusting in that imputed righteousness of Jesus Christ that in truth I am justified by faith in Jesus Christ.
[37:03] But it's another aspect of this breastplate of righteousness. John MacArthur writes, While imputed righteousness assures you of ultimate victory over Satan, practical righteousness enables you to win the daily skirmishes.
[37:20] Practical righteousness is the Christian, out of a sincere love for God and his glory, chooses to live righteously in all areas of life and starts making decisions and acting in ways that conform to the person of Jesus Christ and his righteousness.
[37:39] Paul wrote about this in Romans 6.12. He said, Let not sin therefore. He's already laid the foundation of where the righteousness comes from. He says, Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body to make you obey its passions.
[37:54] Do not present your members to sin as instruments of what? Unrighteousness. But present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life and your members to God as instruments of righteousness.
[38:08] Now I'm looking at all the members of my body, even my inner members, my heart, my bowels. Today our thinking in our minds, my hands, my feet, my eyes, my ears, my lips.
[38:24] How can I yield these to God as an instrument of righteousness that's putting on the breastplate of righteousness in very practical ways? Peter wrote about this as well.
[38:36] In 1 Peter 1, 13-16, Therefore, preparing your minds for action and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
[38:49] As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance. That's in the past. But as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct.
[39:06] All your conduct. As we move through our day here today, well, it's easy here. We're among other Christians here. But as you go home in your relationships, as you go to work tomorrow, so on and so forth, that's putting on the breastplate of righteousness.
[39:25] We're pursuing, doing what is right in God's sight, what glorifies Him, and as a result, stand firm against the schemes of the devil.
[39:36] What does that look like? Let me just toss out a few examples. This is where we had open forum here. Okay, give me some examples. Well, I'll prime the pump with some examples and you can carry it on in your own thinking.
[39:50] Examples. When tempted to lie, this comes from the book of Ephesians, chapter 4. We speak the truth. Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor.
[40:04] So, there you go. It's putting on the breastplate of righteousness. When tempted to express sinful anger, we don't sin in our anger. We don't allow anger to fester and to grow and give the devil an opportunity to rule in this situation.
[40:20] We speak words that work toward resolving the problem again, book of Ephesians, chapter 4, 26 and 29. Be angry and do not sin.
[40:32] Do not let the sun go down on your anger and give no opportunity to the devil. Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up as it fits the occasion that it may give grace to those who hear.
[40:49] Another example, when tempted to show favoritism or partiality, is that, do you remember anybody teaching on that recently from the book of James? I hope so. Another example, instead we love as Christ loves.
[41:04] Or another example from the book of Ephesians. Husbands, when we're tempted to love and serve ourselves over our wives, we love our wives as Christ loved the church and willingly gave himself up for her.
[41:18] Ephesians 5, we dwell, from Ephesians 5, then 1 Peter 3, we dwell with our wives according to knowledge, with understanding and consideration. That's the righteous life of Christ who loves us as his bride being expressed in the world today through those who are imputed with the righteousness of Jesus Christ and now desire to live that out on a daily basis.
[41:46] Well, you and I could go on and on with other examples and that would be good. But talk about it over lunch or whatever and be refreshed and reminded that with this truth of God, the work that he's done in our hearts, the indwelling Holy Spirit, this week, this day, this week, the week ahead of us, we can let God work out in our lives the righteous life of Jesus Christ.
[42:14] We can live in cooperation with God and we're put in those situations, we're tempted to do evil, now we're reminded, now this is where I put on the breastplate of righteousness.
[42:28] I keep saying that three times fast. We put that breastplate of righteousness on remembering the righteousness that we have imputed to me and to my account and that now is that opportunity that I live that out to the glory of God and to the defeat of the spiritual forces that are out there.
[42:49] Let's pray. Great God in heaven, what a great work that you've done on our behalf, so helpless and hopeless we were and yet now we can live as more than conquerors in a world that opposes your work, yourself and we can walk in newness of life.
[43:11] We admit we need the help of your Holy Spirit to do that, to lead us in those paths of righteousness and we need you working within us that desire to do what is righteous so help us this day and the days of week that we might really put that into practice and honor you in Jesus' name.
[43:32] Amen. Thank you. Amen.