Grapevine Ministries
Messages from the bible to uplift and encourage those that need a word from the Lord, to strengthen their faith. Ps Phillip Barker is an itinerant pastor in Perth, Western Australia.
Grapevine Ministries
Armour of God Part III Breastplate of Righteousness
Embark on an exploration of righteousness through the lives of biblical figures such as Abraham and Lot. Their stories illuminate how righteousness, defined by divine standards rather than human interpretations, requires unwavering faith and obedience, even in a world steeped in lawlessness. We also share the inspiring journey of Pastor John Young, whose acceptance of his imperfections serves as a powerful reminder of the patience needed for spiritual growth. Join us as we affirm the importance of perseverance and maintaining spiritual armor, encouraging us all to stride confidently forward on our path of faith.
Good morning, good afternoon, wherever you are in the world - Welcome to Grapevine Ministries.
Welcome back to part three of the Full Armour of God. So we are now moving on to the Breastplate of Righteousness. Now, the Breastplate of Righteousness is primarily the second element, but because I've done an introduction, you'd think it's the third one, but it's not. It's actually the second one, right? So as we go through this, then we'll do an overview and let you know exactly where you are. It's a good idea to write down all the parts of the armor of God, and once you've got them, then it's easy to relate those to that as well. So we'll go into that in small detail later on. This is a piece of the spiritual armor and we need to know how it works. It's important to understand how each part of it works and how it actually works collectively as a whole, and the reason I say that is because the idea is, as men and women of God, the first thing that we do every morning when we get up is we put on the armour of God. It's basically the same, as you know, basically the same principle of getting dressed. If you know how to get dressed in the morning, okay, then, as you are getting dressed right, you can actually go through the parts of the armor of God, and then you know that physically you're ready for the day and also spiritually you're ready for the day. So let's get on to it Now.
Speaker 1:The Apostle Paul lists several pieces of the armor worn by the Roman soldier of his day, of his day, and this made more like an analogy about how spiritual armour works for Christians in relation to the armour worn by the centurions or the enemy of the day, suppose, because that's the roman soldiers. So if the second piece of armor is the breastplate, it's likened to righteousness. Now ephesians 6 14 says this having put on the breastplate of righteousness. Now we've read through the scripture, we've gone through the whole, so I'm not going to elaborate on that, so let's get right into this Now. The soldiers of that time had another piece of protective armor to ward off enemy blows. They had the shield right, but during the heat of a battle, those blows could come from unexpected directions or there could be too many to wait off just by using your shield. So the breastplate provided additional protection against unexpected and against overwhelming numbers and against overwhelming numbers. Now I'm looking at this from the natural perspective, but as we go through this, I will relate this to the spiritual. So if you're like me, you're a visual person, okay, and sometimes you've got to try and visualize something to get a better understanding of how it really means. So the breastplate was worn by the Roman soldiers and was generally made of iron, though some of the wealthiest soldiers or those in higher ranks would wear a bronze breastplate. Now, it consisted of overlapping pieces of metal with connecting front and back sections. They were rounded pieces protecting the shoulders, and the breastplate usually rested on the shoulder's hips, so the entire weight wasn't carried by the shoulders of the soldier, enabling them to move freely. When in a battle of the soldier enabled them to move freely. When in a battle, the overlapping pieces allowed for more flexibility of movement, this piece of the armour protected the vital organs of the soldier during battle.
Speaker 1:Just going back, so Adam Clarke he was a Methodist theologian. Adam Clark, he was a Methodist theologian. He was born in 1762 and went to be with the Lord on the 26th of August 1832. Now he was a three-time president of the Methodist Church. He made this following statement. He made this following statement as the breastplate defends the heart and lungs and all those vital functionaries, they are contained in what is called the region of the thorax. So the righteous defends everything on which a man's spiritual existence depends. Another way of putting this is your heart is the most important leadership tool you have, as well as being the most vital organ in your body. It is not your experience, knowledge or skill, it is your heart that matters most of all, and King Solomon also said this. Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life, and that's in Proverbs 4verbs 4, 23. So there are two different examples when you're looking at things from the natural. So the importance of the breastplate is to protect those vital organs in your body.
Speaker 1:But how does the breastplate of righteousness protect us? Well, according to the Apostle Paul, he makes this comparison between the Christian life and the warfare in 2 Corinthians 10, 3-5. And it says this 3 to 5, and it says this For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war accordingly to the flesh, for the weapons of our welfare are not carnal but mighty in God, for the pulling down of strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ. And that is 2 Corinthians 10, 3 to 5. So you see here.
Speaker 1:The enemies of the Christians described in these verses are numerous and could come at unexpectedly any time. Paul lists arguments, every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God and the need for bringing every thought into captivity. These are things we can encounter in everyday life. Guard our heart, both spiritually and physically, and make sure that it isn't hardened. We need to ensure that we remain vigilant. The breastplate of righteousness is one of our primary defense against these unexpected and dangerous intrusions.
Speaker 1:So here you can see the importance of the breastplate of righteousness and the fact that attacks can come from many directions. Now I could expand on that by basically saying that, okay, from a spiritual perspective, your health can be attacked, or your family can be attacked, or you can be attacked through colleagues at work, by the things that people say. There is a numerous number of things that need for you to be able to guard your heart right. God promises great rewards to those who follow the path of righteousness. Now Proverbs 11, 4-6 sums it up like this Riches do not profit in the day of wrath, but righteousness delivers from death. The righteousness of the blameless will direct his way aright, but the wicked will fall by his See. You can see clearly the need to protect your righteousness, as stated here in Proverbs 11, 4 through to 6.
Speaker 1:So what is the true definition of righteousness? Well, if God tells us to put on the breastplate of righteousness as an important part of our armor, how are we supposed to do it, and what does it really mean to be righteous? As with everything else, we need to go to the Bible's definition of righteousness in terms of God's commandments. It says this in Psalm 119, 172. 179, 172. My tongue shall speak of your word, for all your commandments are righteous. See, one of the ways that the Bible defines righteousness is in terms of God's commandment. Once again, let me say this because you need to get this right, because your heart is a very, very important, fundamental part of your being, your existence, and God wants your heart to be protected. But he also wants you to have a softened heart, because in your other scriptures it talks about the hardened heart, but we'll go on into that another time.
Speaker 1:Okay, so let me go through this again Now. You can read through this whole section Now. I always say, when you read a scripture, you should do a couple of verses above and a couple of verses below so you get a greater understanding of what the Word of God is trying to tell you Now. Just note this down Psalm 119, 172. My tongue shall speak of your word. That's the Lord's word, for all your commandments are righteousness.
Speaker 1:Even though we strive to be perfect, we don't have to be perfect in righteousness, because Romans 3 27 tells us that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. That's a fairly important thing to be mindful of. It tells us that we will still need to put on righteousness even though we are not yet perfect. If complete perfection was a requirement, we'd all fall short of that standard and we'd fail miserably and we'd be back under the law again. See Romans 4, 20-21.
Speaker 1:Talks about the promise of God for Abraham. He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God and being fully convinced that what he had promised he was also able to perform and therefore it was accounted to him for righteousness. Once again, that's Romans 4, 20-22. So even here, see Abraham. It was all accounted to him for his righteousness. Abraham began with an unwavering belief, that's his faith that God would do what he said he would do. But he didn't stop at simply belief. Abraham based his actions on his life on the faith in God.
Speaker 1:Now let's look at some other scriptures here so you can get the full ramification of this Hebrews 11, 8 through to 9. This gives us a further account of the relationship between Abraham's faith and his actions. It says this by faith, abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would afterwards receive as an inheritance, and he went out not knowing where he was going. But by faith, he dwelt in the land of promise as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise. You see, god commands a righteousness. Abraham backed up his faith with obedience to the commands he would receive from God, and if we do the same, it will be accounted for righteousness to us, just as it was to Abraham. So now you're asking that question. Okay, pastor Phil. So how can an imperfect people be righteous? It isn't surprising that Abraham was listed in the Bible as an example of righteousness. His faith and his willingness to obey God in whatever he was commanded to do. They're very well documented. But let's look at another man who was called righteous in the Bible and whose righteousness isn't obvious at first glance. So let's consider Abraham's nephew, lot, who is listed as another righteous man.
Speaker 1:Lot's story is recorded in Genesis 19. He lived with his family in a city named Sodom. This is one of the cities later destroyed by God for the great wickedness that took place there. God for the great wickedness that took place there. In the first part of the chapter you read that two angels appeared in the form of man, came to visit Lot. He fed them and gave them a night's lodgings in his house. You can read about this in Genesis 19, 1-3. When men of the city came to the house and demanded that he send his visitors out to them to be sexually abused, lot actually offered to send his daughters out instead. From first glance you'd be thinking that's not really a nice dad, but you've got to read the full passage to really understand the concept of this. The angels struck the men of the city blind to protect Lot and told him he needed to take his family and flee the city immediately. Told him he needed to take his family and flee the city immediately. Lot initially lingered, but when the angels took him by the hand and told him to flee without looking back, he did so. That's in Genesis 19, 4-16.
Speaker 1:How is it that Lot came to be called a righteous man? How is it that Lot came to be called a righteous man? Now, once again, unless you read passages of the Bible, you're not really going to get the concept of some of the scriptures I focus on, because you need to understand the full story and we can go through this at many times. Look, there are opportunities throughout my sermons for people to actually comment on my sermon and you can ask questions and I can do a Q&A. At some time I'll get Pastor Gary down here and we can do these things together Gary down here and we can do these things together. So I don't want to get bogged down in that area trying to understand this, but what I'm doing here is I'm letting you know how, irrespective of your circumstances and irrespective of where you are at in your life, righteousness does abide in us, even though we are not necessarily sinners, but we are living in a sinful world.
Speaker 1:Now, getting back to the story here, notice what 2 Peter 2, 6-7 says, and I'll read this. And it says and turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ash, condemned them to destruction, making them an example to those who afterwards would live ungodly and delivered righteous Lot, who was oppressed with the filthy conduct of the wicked See so very clearly here. The author of 2 Peter is clearly stating that, even though the circumstances around Lot and what actually happened and him escaping the city but he was delivered righteous All right. Though Lot had his shortcomings and human failings, as we all do, god considered him to be a righteous man. Verse 8 sheds a little more light onto why he was righteous, for that righteous man dwelling among them tormented his righteous soul from day to day by seeing and hearing their lawless deeds. Rather than adopting the sinful ways of those around him, lot continued to obey God and was deeply disturbed by the lawlessness and the sin going on around him. So it is a bit like all of us today. We live in an ungodly world, we're surrounded by ungodly things, and this is why it is important to guard our heart and to put on the breastplate, because we are constantly spiritually attacked from all sides. So when God commanded him to flee the city, leaving behind his life as he knew it, lot did so without looking back. His obedience to God's commands and his desire to follow God's way of life made Lot a righteous man, and that the breastplate of righteousness saved Lot, a righteous man, and that the breastplate of righteousness saved Lot from destruction. And we know it didn't save his wife because she looked back and was turned into a pillar of salt. So the righteousness of God versus the righteousness of man. What we as humans might consider to be righteousness and pleasing to God doesn't always line up with what God calls righteous.
Speaker 1:Before he wrote about the armour of God, before he became a follower of Jesus Christ, paul was a Pharisee. Pharisees were Jews who were placed a heavy emphasis on obeying more than just God's commandments. They obeyed extra set of man-made commandments on top of God's commandments. They believed their obedience to these extra commandments would keep them far from sin and therefore make them righteous. And that's man's idea of doing things, which we know is wrong. See, years after his conversion, paul wrote that his goal was to gain Christ and to be found in him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that from which is thought, faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God, the righteousness which is from God by faith. And he spoke about this in Philippians 3, 8 and 9. See, paul had got that revelation, knowledge that the righteousness that he thought he had achieved through works under the law was not actually there. So what he wanted, he wanted it to be righteous.
Speaker 1:Okay, through his faith in Jesus Christ, paul was referring to God's law, not man-made pharisaical law. And though God's law defines the conduct that it was righteous, even if we could keep those laws perfect and we know no one can we still need the cleansing of our past sins. That only comes through faith in Christ's redeeming death. You see how we can try and do things in the natural, but if it doesn't line up with the word of god, we are either fooling ourselves or we're just leading a misleading life. And so, therefore, it just goes to show that, um, just because we're a Christian and we walk the walk and not talk the talk, we are not in that right place that we need to be.
Speaker 1:See, after Paul explained how Abraham's face was accounted to him for righteousness, he explained it this way in Romans 4, 23 to 25. Now I'll read the full section of this. It says Now, it was not written for his sake alone that it was imputed to him, but also for us. It shall be imputed to us who believe in him. Okay, let me clarify that a little bit. In other words, our goal is to put on God's righteousness, and that righteousness becomes our own when we commit ourselves to step out in faith and obey God's commandments. Now see so, sometimes when you read a scripture, you think what does it really mean? And you've just got to dig deeper to get a better understanding of it so that, basically, there is a quick, condensed understanding of what Romans 4.23 and 25 are saying. So finally, how do we put on the breastplate of righteousness? God's commandments are righteous, psalm 119 to 172, we've already read that. 119 to 172. We've already read that. And we can put on this breastplate by obeying God in our lives. So how can we begin such a large task.
Speaker 1:There is an ancient proverb that says that the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. In a similar way, the journey to put on the breastplate of righteousness begins with a single choice. Life involves a series of choices and we can work at this one day at a time, choosing with God's help to make our next choice a righteous one. Notice again Paul's wording in 2 Corinthians, 10.5, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ. Every action begins with a thought, and our thoughts need to be brought into line with God's words and commandments. Correct or righteous choices in our life flow from a mind dwelling on God's word. The time to start this process is now. So the next thing to ask is what is going to be your next choice? Ask is what is going to be your next choice.
Speaker 1:See, to encapsulate that journey by putting one foot in front of the other, it's like everything else is as soon as you become born again and I've had this discussion with a lot of people. Right, if you become born again, you can't instantly think that you're perfect. Now you say a prayer of salvation and it says old things have passed away. Behold, everything has become new. And you draw a line in the sand. And everything on the left-hand side of that sand is your sin, your worldly behavior, all the things that you used to do drink, smoke, swear, pornography, carnal knowledge, sex, and the list goes on and on and on. Now, on the right-hand side of that line that you've now drawn in the sand, are you automatically right-standing with God? Are you automatically a perfect Christian? No, you're not, see. I think I've said this once before, but I just want to sort of like reiterate this while we've got a little bit of time left. I just want to sort of like reiterate this while we've got a little bit of time left.
Speaker 1:I remember we had a couple that came new into Victory Life through community services and they were living together. You know, they were de facto relationship. They had five kids and they gave their hearts to the Lord on, say, a Thursday or a Friday. And the following Sunday they rocked up at work I mean, sorry, work, it's my work at the church, and they wanted to have a talk to me. And I'm going okay, no worries. So we sit down no names, no pectoral and they're getting there and say look, we're constantly arguing, the kids are thinking that we're going to get separated, and all of this is going on. And I'm going why, all of a sudden, have things changed? Well, sorry, we wanted to do the right thing as new Christians and we know that we're living in sin. And so what's actually happened is one spouse moved into the spare room and so they were living in separate rooms until they could get married, which they had planned to do in several months' time, and automatically I realised what the problem was. See, they had been living in this de facto relationship for like 15 years, right. And so you know, they had like kids that are like 9, 10 and 11, right. And then, all of a sudden, the whole environment changed, because they wanted to be perfect in christ straight away, because they knew that they were living in sin up until they got born again. They didn't realize that they were living in sin because living a de facto relationship is widely accepted within society. It's not illegal, but it's not God's perfect environment. So you've got to realize that, even as a born-again Christian, your journey starts one step at a time. You can't change what you've been doing for 10 or 15 years overnight. It will be a slow, gradual process, but you are actually stepping out in faith, trying to correct all the things that you were doing from a worldly perspective, and it is a long journey.
Speaker 1:I remember one of the pastors I worked with. I heard him and he'd been a Christian for many, many years I worked with, I heard him and he'd been a Christian for many, many years, and one day he was getting a little upset with some people and he was shouting a few profanities. And you know his answer and I got there and I thought, wow, I didn't expect that coming out of you. I got there and I thought, wow, I didn't expect that coming out of you. And he said look, I've come a long way, but I've still got a long way to go.
Speaker 1:A very, very faithful, strong Christian by the name of Pastor John Young and I highly respected him, everything that he did, but he even himself, after many, many years in ministry, admitted that he was not perfect, and none of us are so please take that on board. Are. So please take that on board If you're new to your faith or you've been doing it and all of a sudden you think, oh, I'm doing things wrong, I need to get my act together. Well, yes, you do, but it takes time, line upon line, precept upon precept. All right, god bless for now, and we'll see you on the other side as we continue our journey on the armor of God. Bye for now.
