We turn to God's Word in the
Epistle of Paul to the Ephesians chapter 6 and reading verse 14. Ephesians chapter 6 reading verse
14. Stand therefore having your loins
girt about with truth and having on the breastplate of righteousness. We were considering last Lord's
Day evening what is spoken of here at the beginning of the
verse as that girdle of truth having your loins girt about
with truth and I said then that we're not to think of the truth
here in objective terms we're not to think in terms of the
truth that is set before us in Holy Scripture that is spoken
of later as part of the armour in verse 17 we read of the sword
of the Spirit which is the words of God and remember the words
of the Lord Jesus in John chapter 17 in his high priestly prayer
he says thy word is truth So the truth that is spoken of
here is not to be confused with that objective truth which is
the Word of God which is spoken of in the 17th verse. What then
did we say was to be understood by the girdle of truth? And I said we're to think of
truth in an inward sense that truth which is subjective that
truth which girds up the loins of the mind. Remember the words
of Peter in 1 Peter 1 and verse 13 where he speaks of the necessity
of the believer girding up the loins of his mind. And so this truth is that that
we see evident in the believer in the sense of his his sincerity
in the things of God, his whole heartedness in the things of
God. Paul exhorts to the Hebrews in
chapter 10, let us draw near, with a true heart. It's that true heart, that sincerity
of spirit. God says through Jeremiah, you
shall seek me and find me when you shall search after me with
all your heart ought to have a true heart, a whole heart. Again we have the exhortation
of Joshua there in chapter 24 and verse 14. Now therefore fear
the Lord and serve him, he says, in sincerity and truth. That truth that goes hand in
hand with sincerity. That singleness of mind. That godly simplicity. Think
again of the words of the Lord Jesus in the course of his preaching,
if therefore thine eye be single, says Christ, thy whole body shall
be full of light. This then is something of how
we are to understand the girdle of truth. It is that that marks
the true Israel of God, the words of Christ speaking of Nathanael
at the end of John chapter one, where he directs the attention
of others to this man as one who is an Israelite indeed, in
whom there is no guile, or to be guileless, to be those who
are only governed by the truth, those who are sincere and have
that singleness of mind. And how there is strength associated
with this girdle we said last time, The girdle lends strength
to the midriff, to the stomach. We have that word in Job. In Job chapter 12 and verse 21,
Job says, God weakeneth the strength of the mighty. How is it that
God weakens the strength of the mighty while the margin there,
in Job 12, tells us that the Hebrew literally reads that God
looseth the girdle of the strong. That girdle that increases their
strength. Again, the Psalmist can say,
Thou hast girded me with strength unto the battle, having on. the girdle of truth, how God
makes his people to be those who have that godly simplicity,
that singleness of mind, that true sincerity, that are godless,
that are wholehearted. in their seeking after Him and
seeking to serve Him. Well, these are some of the things
that we were saying last Lord's Day evening, and now I want us
to turn to the second part of this 14th verse, where Paul goes
on to speak of the breastplates, the breastplates of righteousness,
and having on the breastplates of righteousness. First of all
then, the righteousness. What exactly are we to understand
by this reference to righteousness? Of course, throughout these verses,
Paul is simply using the figure of the warrior, the soldier,
and his armor in order to teach something concerning the child
of God and his spiritual warfare. that conflict that the believer
is ever involved in. What he refers to when writing
to Timothy as the good fight of faith. We're to understand
then these various parts in that figurative sense. What are we
to understand by the righteousness that is associated here with
the breastplate? Again, we do well when we take
account of what is written in other parts of God's Word and
seek to allow the Scripture to interpret itself. What the old
writers would refer to as that analogy of faith, where there's
no contradiction, of course, in God's Word, where one part
helps us to understand another part. In Isaiah 45 and verse
24 we read, Surely shall one say, In the Lord have I righteousness
and strength. What is this righteousness then?
It is that righteousness which is in the Lord. It is the Lord's
righteousness that is to serve as that breastplate. Isn't that
one of the names that is given to the Lord Himself? In Isaiah
23 and verse 6, this is His name, whereby He shall be called the
Lord, our righteousness. It is Christ who has come and
Christ who has accomplished righteousness and salvation. And it is that
that Christ Himself obtained that is to be employed as the
breastplate in the conflict that the believer is constantly involved
in. All Christ has accomplished it. And we see that, do we not, in
that chapter that we were reading back in the 59th of Isaiah, the
awful state of affairs spoken of in
the former part of that chapter the wickedness that abounded
on every hand and then we read those words at verse 16 concerning
the Lord God he saw that there was no man and wondered that
there was no intercessor therefore his arm brought salvation onto
him and his righteousness it sustained him For he put on righteousness
as a breastplate, and an helmet of salvation upon his head, and
he put on the garments of vengeance for clothing, and was clad with
zeal as a cloak. He has put on righteousness as
a breastplate. And the reference is clearly
there to the Lord God Himself. And we are to think, are we not,
in terms of what Christ has done. As He came into this world, when
the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth His Son,
made of a woman, made under the law. Oh, He was under the law
of God, and He was ever aware of that. Here He is, God incarnate. Now as God, of course, He was
the one who had spoken the law there at Mount Sinai. God spoke all those words. And
when we see Him in that state of humiliation as a man upon
the earth, made of a woman, He is subject to His own law. And
what does He say? Preaching in the Sermon on the
Mount, think not that I am come to destroy the law or the prophets,
I am not come to destroy but to fulfill." This is the righteousness
that God looks for, this is the righteousness that God desires
of His people. At the end of Deuteronomy chapter
6, it shall be our righteousness if we observe to do all the commandments
before the Lord our God which He has commanded us says Moses
who is associated of course with that Lord who is the mediator
of the Lord of God it shall be our righteousness if we observe
to do all those commandments have to be observed they all
have to be done and no one no man has done that, but why? That is the man Christ Jesus.
The Lord is well pleased for His righteousness sake. He will
magnify the law and make it honourable. Oh, what is this righteousness
then that is being spoken of by the Apostle as a breastplate? It is the righteousness, I say,
that was accomplished by the Lord Jesus Christ. when he was
subject to that law of God. And now he is honoured and magnified
by a life of obedience to every commandment of God. A life of
perfect obedience. Obedience in deeds, in words, in thoughts, The perfect life of righteous
obedience to every commandment of the Lord is what Christ rendered
to God. And how does this righteousness
become a breastplate to the believer? Well, there is the imputation
of that righteousness, of course, in the great doctrine of justification. What Christ did is imputed. It's reckoned to the accounts
of his children. There is the exchange in a sense. All their sins are reckoned to
his account. All their sins are imputed to
him, and as their substitute there upon the cross, he bears
the punishment takes upon himself that penalty that was there just
deserved. And so, he reconciles the sinner
to God by his death. But also, all that righteousness
of the Lord Jesus Christ that was accomplished by his life
of obedience is reckoned to the account of his people. Now Paul,
of course, has much to say concerning these things, as you're aware.
In Romans he says much with regards to the doctrine of justification. There in Romans chapter 4 we
find the Apostle referring to the Old Testament, to that psalm
that we sang just now in the metrical version. Psalm 32 is referred to by Paul
as he speaks of righteousness. Romans chapter 4 and verse 6,
he says, Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man unto
whom God imputeth righteousness without works. The righteousness
of Christ, you see, is that that is imputed to a man, reckoned
to a man's account. Without that man, doing righteousness
himself. The man is a sinner, not a fulfiller,
but a transgressor of God's holy law. But here is the blessed
man spoken of in Psalm 32, the man unto whom God imputeth righteousness
without work, saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are
forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord will not impute Sin. Instead of sin being reckoned
to this man's account, he is a sinner. But instead of being
accounted a sinner, he's accounted a righteous man. Why? Because
of that exchange. Christ has taken his sins to
himself. They've been imputed to Christ.
Christ has been punished. as his substitute, and in exchange
for those sins the righteousness of Christ has been reckoned to
that man's account. He is a justified man. And so
there at the end of that great chapter, Romans 4, we also read
of Abraham. We read of Abraham there in verse
20, he staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief, but
was strong in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully persuaded
that what he had promised, what God had promised, he was able
also to perform. Therefore, it was imputed to
him for righteousness." What was it that was imputed to him
for righteousness? It was the promise. God's promise,
that is the promise of Christ. as the Lord Jesus himself says
in John chapter 8, your father Abraham rejoiced to see my God
and he saw it and was glad. All the promise of Christ as
the Lord our righteousness. That is what was imputed to Abraham
who is the father of all them that believe. This is the breastplate
of righteousness. Christ's righteousness imputed
to the sinner. Now, imputation, we might say,
is the method whereby Christ's righteousness is reckoned to
the sinner's accounts. But the means, the means whereby
the sinner experiences that imputation, is faith. It's faith. And so, interestingly,
in 1 Thessalonians 5 and verse 8, Paul speaks of putting on
the breastplate of faith, the breastplate of righteousness.
Here in Ephesians 6, here in 1 Thessalonians 5, the breastplate
is said to be the breastplate of faith. Here is the means. whereby that imputation of Christ's
righteousness becomes a reality in the soul, in the experience
of the sinner. It is by faith. Romans 3 and
verse 22, even the righteousness which is righteousness of God
which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that
believe. the righteousness which is in
the Lord Jesus Christ is unto all and upon all them that believe. And now this was the great message
of course of the Apostles and we see them proclaiming this
great doctrine in the course of their preaching in the Acts
of the Apostles Paul there at Antioch Antioch in Pisidia in
Acts chapter 13, he says of Christ by him, all that believe are
justified from all things that they could not be justified from
by the deeds of the law. They could never be righteous
by their own deeds, by their own efforts, because the law
requires a full and a perfect obedience And if the sinner,
says James, obeys in every part, but offends in one point, he
is guilty. And only the Lord Jesus Christ
has wrought that complete obedience to God's holy and righteous law. And this is what they preach,
you see. Christ's righteousness in justification,
Christ's righteousness being imputed to sinners. and how that
it is by faith that the poor sinner comes to realize this.
By him all that believe are justified. Why Christ is the end of the
law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. And this was
Paul's great desire, was it not? as he says to the Philippians,
to be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which
is of the law, but that which is through the face of Christ,
the righteousness which is of God by faith. It is his name. His name is righteousness. We referred just now to those
words in Jeremiah 23 and verse 6. This is his name. whereby he shall be called the
Lord our righteousness. And then we just go on some 10
chapters in Jeremiah 33 and verse 16 and what do we read? This
is the name wherewith she shall be called. That is the church,
that is the people of God. This is the name wherewith she
shall be called the Lord our righteousness. His righteousness. is that that is imputed to the
believer. But besides the doctrine of justification
and the imputation of the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ, there
is also the impartation the impartation of that righteousness. And we
have to mark carefully the distinction between righteousness as it is
imputed and righteousness as it is imparted. When we think of the imputation,
as I've said in times past, with regards to the doctrine of justification,
we're thinking, of course, very much in forensic terms, in legal
terms. We're thinking of a court of
law and the judge And now that the accused is acquitted, why? Because he's not accounted to
be guilty and worthy of condemnation, but he is accounted righteous
and free from condemnation. And that because the righteousness
of another has been imputed to him. But the impartation, and
we have it, do we not, in that verse that we were looking at
some weeks ago, in chapter 4 and verse 24 spent a little while
considering the restoration of man in Colossians chapter 3 and
verse 10 but also here in Ephesians 4 verse 24 that he put on the
new man which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. That's the impartation, you see.
This is the new creature. This is that sinner who has been
born again, born from above, born by the Spirit of God, and
he is new created. If any man be in Christ, he is
a new creature, a new creation. And He is created, it says, in
righteousness and true holiness. This is that new nature that
is imparted. It's imparted to the sinner. It's the divine nature. Doesn't
Peter say that? The believer is a partaker of
the divine nature. It's the restoration of God's
image in man. God created man in his image
after his likeness but that was destroyed in the fall of Adam
and Eve. But here you see in chapter 4
and verse 24 we have the restoration of the divine image in the new
creation, the sinner born again by the Spirit of God. And that
new nature created in righteousness and true holiness, that new nature
can never sin. Whosoever is born of God doth
not sin, because his seed remaineth in him, and he cannot sin, says
John, because he is born of God. Now you say, how can that be?
Am I saying that the sinner attains a state of sinless perfection? He cannot sin? No, I'm talking
about that new nature. That new nature can never sin.
That's the divine nature. and there will be the fruits,
the fruits of that new nature. We have it here in chapter 5 and verse 9, the fruit of the
Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth. And
of course when Paul writes to the Galatians in chapter 5 he
speaks more fully of that fruit of the Spirit, love, joy, peace,
longsuffering and so forth. There is that new nature that
cannot see, that is fruitful in all that is good and right
and proper and acceptable to God, but there is also the old
nature. And this is the sad conflict
that the believer finds himself in. He delights in the fruit
of righteousness in the new nature, but how he hates the sin that
is yet cleaving to the old nature. And how Paul speaks of it and
speaks of it so fully in Romans 7. Often times we refer to that
remarkable chapter and what Paul says at the end there, O wretched
man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
This old nature I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then,
with the mind, I myself serve the Lord of God." Oh, there's
a real mercy, the I myself, delighting in all that is right and good,
created in righteousness and true holiness. So then, with
the mind, I myself serve the Lord of God, but with the flesh,
the law of sin, the conflict that the apostle feel so much. There is then that impartation
of righteousness in the new nature, in the new creature, created
in righteousness and in true holiness. And that's important
that we recognize that. The believer is one who has a
delight in the law of God, and fills the conflict with his own
nature. But here, with regards to the breastplate
of righteousness, we are to think most particularly in terms of
that righteousness of Christ which is imputed. We're going to sing presently
that hymn of Joseph Hartz, 270, righteousness within thee rooted,
may appear to take thy part, but let righteousness imputed
be the breastplate of thy heart." We don't look in any sense to
ourselves, not even to our new nature. We have to look outside
of ourselves. That righteousness that is imputed,
that righteousness of Christ, That is the righteousness, I
say, that is associated here with the breastplate. Well, having
said something with regards to seeking to identify the righteousness,
having on the breastplate of righteousness, let us just turn
for a while in the second place to the breastplate itself. We
said, what is the righteousness? And sought to answer that question,
what is this righteousness? But now we come to the breastplates.
What is the purpose of it? What does it do? Well, with the soldier, of course,
it would afford protection. He'd have it, as it says, on
his breast, the top part of his torso. And there it would afford
very good protection to the vital organs of the body, to the heart,
to the lungs. and so forth well when we think
of the figure that's being used here we have to recognize that
the believer the child of God also needs some spiritual protection
that new nature that we spoke of that new man of grace that
new heart at times is not that heart fearful the believer you
see is in a fallen world the world lies in wickedness lies
in the wicked one all that is in the world the lust of the
flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life it's not
of the father but of the world on every hand evil is about and
the child of God is aware of these things there's a world
and it's attractive to his own nature How the old nature is
drawn after these things. Wants to be satisfied with the
things of the flesh. And how Satan is able to come
so often and take advantage. How he is such a subtle foe. So wily, so cunning, so crafty. He has his various devices. and
how the believer you see is often times under assault the world
and the devil taking advantage of him and he feels he still
got that old nature within him and he has to say with Paul the
good that I would I do not and the evil that I would not that
I do he feels it and that new heart I say at times becomes
very fearful now I remarked before that the great work, the great
Puritan work, of course, on this portion of Scripture is that
by William Gurnall, The Christian Incomplete Armour. And it is
quite a typical Puritan tome, quite a sizable book. And he
makes this observation here, he says, A naked breast exposes
the unarmed soldier to a trembling heart. The naked breast exposes
the unarmed soldier to a trembling heart. How we need to have on
then a breastplate. And what is that breastplate?
It is righteousness, and it's that righteousness of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Again, back in the book of the
prophet, in Isaiah chapter 35, And there at verse 4 we read,
Say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not. Behold, your God will come with
vengeance, even God with a recompense, He will come and save you. Surely, shall one say, In the
Lord's have I righteousness and strength." It's the word of the
same prophet, Isaiah chapter 45 and verse 24. Oh, here is that, you see, that
will protect the breast. Here is that that will protect
that new heart. It's the Lord. Surely, what a
statement is that. There's a definite ring about
it. There's no doubt. There's no
The confusion here, surely shall one say, in the Lord have I righteousness
and strength. But let righteousness imputed
be the breastplate of thy heart. The doctrine, the great doctrine
of justification by faith. Christ's righteousness as it
is imputed, is that that emboldens the believer in his spiritual
warfare. Or how it emboldened Martin Luther,
you see, at the time of the Protestant Reformation. It was that great
doctrine, of course, that was rediscovered by Luther, or rather,
we should say, the Lord was pleased graciously to reveal it to him. when he was a poor benighted
Romish monk in his cell, but pouring over the Word of God,
pouring over Romans, pouring over Galatians. And he sees that
blessed truth, the doctrine of justification by faith. And how was he believed that
truth? He was emboldened to stand against all the might of the
Church of Rome. It is this doctrine, I say, this
great doctrine that is associated so much with Protestantism when
we think of the Reformation and the rediscovery of the doctrine.
It is this that makes the Christian so bold in his warfare, in his
conflict with sin, in his conflict with Satan, in all his warfare
with this wicked world. He is not condemned. and he knows it because he understands
the great doctrine of Christ's righteousness being imputed and
now that the Lord now cannot condemn him because so far as
the Lord is concerned he must be accounted a righteous man
he has on that breastplate of Christ's righteousness John says, if our hearts condemn
us, God is greater than our heart and knoweth all things. Beloved,
if our hearts condemn us not, then have we confidence toward
God. All those, you see, who understand
this doctrine, who are true believers in this great doctrine of justification,
the imputation of the righteousness of Christ, they have confidence. Confidence before God. It's a
great thing, is it not, to come before God with confidence? We're not to be presumptuous
with God, we know that. We have to remember that God
is in heaven, we're upon earth. Our words should be few, we have
nothing to say of ourselves that would in any sense commend us
to Him. No works of righteousness that
we have done. All we feel, what we are, are
sinners before Him, but now Wonderful it is when we're brought to see
that we're accepted, and we're accepted in Him who is the Beloved.
As the Father would speak from heaven on those two occasions,
this is my Beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased both at the
baptism of Christ and then again on the Mount of Transfiguration.
The Father owns and acknowledges Him As that one who is righteous,
and it's in him I say that the believer is bold, and has confidence
even when he comes into the presence of this God who is a holy, righteous,
just God, who cannot wink at sin, who cannot clear the guilt,
whose justice must be satisfied, the soul that sinneth it must
die, Christ is that one, you see, who was dying in the sinner's
room, in the sinner's state. When Paul writes in that chapter
that we read in 2 Corinthians, that sixth chapter, he speaks
of all the conflict that he was involved in as he sought to exercise
that ministry that he'd received from the Lord. And oh, what conflicts that man You know, the words are multiplied
there in that chapter. But what does he say, verse 7,
"...by the armour of righteousness on the right hand and on the
left." Oh, he knew what it was, you see. When he speaks here
of the breastplate of righteousness, he's no theoretician, he's not
just speaking of theory, he's not just speaking of doctrinal
truth in some detached fashion teaching others he knows these
things and he knows them in bitter experience he knows them in all
the good fight of faith in all that conflict that he was constantly
involved in as he sought to execute that God-given ministry by the
armour of righteousness on the right hand and on the left Here
then we see the believer with that provision that God has been
pleased to make for him, with the breastplates, to sheild his
vital organs, to sheild that new heart, that new nature, that divine
nature that is within him. And what is it? It's the breastplates.
of righteousness even the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ and
so the wise man tells us of the believer there in the book of
Proverbs the righteous man the righteous he says are bold as
a lion or that we might know friends that holy boldness as
we're engaged in this bitter conflict and yet this good fight
It's not just a fight of faith. No, says Paul to Timothy, it's
a good fight. It's the good fight of faith
as we're engaged on the side of our great Captain, the Lord
Jesus Christ, who himself put on that breastplate of righteousness
as we saw there in chapter 59 of Isaiah, and were to be those
who would be followers of him. Stand therefore, having your
loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate
of righteousness. May the Lord bless His word to
us. Amen.