Sermon Central
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Put On The Breastplate Of Righteousness Series
Contributed by Paul Clemente on Feb 22, 2010 (message contributor)
Summary: Put on the full armor of God starting with the Belt of Truth, who is Jesus Christ, then put on the Breastplate of Righteousness, which is a clean heart provided by Christ’s sacrifice.
We read in Ephesians 3:10, Christ intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms! Through the church, the wisdom of God is being known to angels! There is a spiritual world and we are part of it. Angels are with us right now!
There is a God and He gave us Jesus Christ to redeem us back to Him. There is a devil who does not want any part of God. The devil is one of the most powerful angels God created but he became so prideful that he went against God. And since Christians are children of God, the devil will attack us. The spiritual world is real and we are a part of it! God is for us Christians but the devil is against us! And so we read in Ephesians 6:13 for Christians, 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.
Are we experiencing days of evil these days?
How are we doing in standing up against the devil?
If we do not put on the full armor of God, we will be weak and we will fail against the devil. As we discussed last week, the first thing we must put on is the Belt of Truth, which is Jesus Christ Himself. I was challenged by this over and over the week on a daily basis. How about you?
On a daily basis, put on the Belt of Truth, who is Jesus Christ, and allow Him to hold everything in your life!
As powerful as the Belt of Truth is, God gives us other pieces of an armor to be fully protected from the evil one. Let us learn more about the next piece of the armor.
Open your Bibles to Ephesians 6.
Before reading our passage, let us pray our commitment to God’s Word……..
“Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes!” Again, in the original Greek Grammar, the intent of the phrase “put on” is that Christians are personally responsible for putting on the full armor of God. No one else is going to put on the armor for you! You and I can help and encourage one another but each one of us is called to personal responsibility in putting on the armor of God! God is available to each one of us and God is always the first one we are to depend on!
If we Christians are not wearing the full armor of God, the devil will hurt us.
What is this full armor of God and how do we wear it?
Let us get to know more of this full armor of God.
There are seven pieces to the full armor of God!
Again, let me suggest remembering these letters:
B B S S S H F! or B-bissshf!
We talked about the first B last week, the Belt of Truth, which is Jesus Christ! The second B is for the Breastplate of Righteousness! The first S is for Shoes of the Gospel! The second S is for Shield of Faith! The third S is for Sword of the Spirit. And the H is for the Helmet of Salvation. And F is for Forcefield through Prayer!
This morning we will focus on the Breastplate of Righteousness.
We will learn more about the other pieces in future weeks. What does a Breastplate do??
A breastplate protects the vital organs of the upper body. And what is the most important organ in the torso??
A breastplate mainly protects the heart! If the heart is injured, every other part of the body will suffer. The physical heart is crucial to the rest of the physical body.
But here’s what we read from God in Proverbs 4:23, Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life. The heart is the wellspring of life! In other words, the heart
is the center of all the operations of human life, including spirituality. God says guard your heart! Christians are to always have in place a breastplate, the Breastplate of Righteousness!
Now, the opposite of righteousness is unrighteousness or being defiled and unclean. The Breastplate of Righteousness protects the heart from being unclean!
Why is it so important to put on the breastplate of righteousness? Here’s what our Lord Jesus said in Matthew 15:19-20, For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. These are what make a man ’unclean’. If we don’t put on this breastplate of righteousness, our hearts will be attacked with all sorts of evil and our hearts will be defiled and unclean. Therefore, we must know how to have a righteous heart. Please turn to Romans 3:21-24……….
