with Ephesians 6. Ephesians chapter
6. Let's continue this study here on the armor of God. We'll look
at this second piece of armor Paul gives
us, the Holy Spirit gives us to wear. It's beginning in verse 10 again.
Ephesians 6 verse 10. Finally, my brethren, be strong
in the Lord and in the power of his might. Put on the whole
armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles
of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh
and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers
of the darkness of this world. against spiritual wickedness
in high heavenly places. Wherefore, take unto you the
whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the
evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having
your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate
of righteousness, a breastplate of righteousness. I hope the Lord makes this real
and alive to you. Otherwise, you might grow weary in hearing
this, but I hope he makes it live. But there's only one message
that will do the heart and the mind of a worried sinner any
good. I say a worried sinner because
your sins worry you. Not only do they bother you and
worry you, but sometimes they worry you to the point where
you think, I'm not saved. Right? A worried sinner. There's only one message. that
will really do the heart and mind of a worried sinner any
good. And that's the message of Christ's
imputed righteousness. It's the very heart and soul
of the gospel. You're so blessed here to hear
this. I would venture to say that there's
some so-called churches who've never heard the word mentioned. It's recorded, I think it is,
eleven times in Romans 4. Quite a few, anyway. And I think
that some people probably never heard the Word and don't even
know what it means. But I'm telling you, it's the
best news a sinner's ever heard. And this is not bed-dry doctrine.
I pray to that end all the time. And I've made the statement myself. I said, this is not dead, dry
doctrine. You know, the mention of Christ's
imputed righteousness should never be thought of as dead,
dry doctrine. You know, it'll be thought of
as precious ointment. Precious ointment for a wounded
conscience. Scott said there's nothing, nothing
that will save a wounded conscience, a guilty conscience, than a perfect
sacrifice. This ought to be the balm of
Gilead to a broken-hearted sinner. It ought to be the oil of the
Spirit that he pours in these wounded, broken hearts of ours
because of sin. It ought to be—it ought to never
be dead, dry, and dark. And I should never call it that.
The day we're dead and dry, we're the dead and dry ones. It's not—the
fault doesn't lie in the doctrine. It lies in the fellow trying
to preach it and the people trying to hear it. It's not in the doctrine. It's never dead and dry. Imputed—the
very thought ought to cause our heart to leap. Imputed righteousness. A perfect standing charged to
your account that you didn't have anything to do with. And only a hopeless, helpless
sinner needs this gospel of Christ's imputed righteousness. Talk a
lot about self-righteousness. We did this morning. And that's any righteousness
but imputed righteousness. Right, Rick? Self-righteousness,
no matter how you dress it, is anything other than the imputed
righteousness of Christ. And for you theologians, it can
even be, very subtly, it can be this imparted righteousness
that we speak of. That can subtly be self-righteousness. But only those who cannot do
what they would, like the Apostle Paul said, cannot do what you
would, but you only seem to do what you would not. Those are
the people now that Christ's imputed righteousness is going
to mean something. Only those who feel this warfare
in the flesh Like Paul said, the flesh rests against the Spirit,
and the Spirit against the flesh, but you cannot do the things
that you would. You just can't do the things
that you would. Now that person is going to think
the righteousness of Christ to be very sweet indeed, because
he can do the things that you would and did for you. For you. Oh my. Only a man or a woman like David
who was caught—listen to me—only a man or a woman like David who
was caught red-handed and dirty-minded will say, like you said in Psalm
32, will bless God for imputed righteousness. He was caught
red-handed and black-hearted. And he said, Blessed is the man
whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed
is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity, but righteousness. Imputed righteousness. Dead-dry,
doctor. Full, complete, Righteousness
now, we're talking about full, complete acceptance, approval,
commendation, love, favor, and blessings from a holy God who
couldn't have—couldn't think on you, couldn't even think on you were
it not for Jesus Christ. All of these things, full, complete
acceptance, approval. Yeah, approval. There's a man
approved of God right there. There's a man, there's a woman
approved of a holy God who sees everything about her. How can
that be? Through Jesus Christ. Through
the life of Jesus Christ. that God Almighty looks upon
you, looks upon me with total satisfaction and approval. Can I be that bold? Can I say
that? Is that presumption? No, it's
faith. And you'll have full assurance
if you come to this point. You'll have full assurance. Because
assurance It's not based on you in any degree. It's got to be
based totally on Christ. But you'll have full assurance
if you come to an understanding and a knowledge of this, that
God Almighty looks upon you with total satisfaction and approval
because of what Jesus Christ did for you. The life he lived
for you and cherished it to your account. Dead God doctrine? But you say,
and the flesh argues, and Satan argues, and we all argue, but
I'm a sinner. Yes, and you always will be. While you're in the flesh, you
always will be a sinner. That's why the gospel of Christ-imputed
righteousness is the gospel of your salvation. It's your only
hope. It's your only salvation. that
God does not and will not remember any of your sins. He does not even right now think
of your sins. He said, I'll remember them.
Didn't he say that, Terry? Their sins and iniquities, I'll remember. Think of them every now and then?
No. No more. Because Jesus Christ put them
away. Because Jesus Christ was made
sin for you, who knew no sin, that you might be made, can you
finish it? That you might be made the righteousness
of God, as holy as God, in Him, or through Him, or because of
Him, by Him, through Him, or of Him, through Him, to Him,
by Him, for Him, or all the way. Dead, dry doctrine. We're the
dead ones. We're the dry ones. This preacher
is a dry one. I tell you, this is a breastplate
that you can wear over your heart and it'll do you some good. This
is something you can wear over your heart, a breastplate that
will repel any and all charges and accusations that Satan or
anybody else can hurl against you. That's what Paul came to
the conclusion in Romans 8, didn't he? He said, who can lay anything
on my charge? He went all the way through Romans
7, and he said, Oh, he rolled me, rolled me. And he got to
Romans 8, and he said, There's therefore now no condemnation
to them that are in Christ. And he went all the way through
Romans 8, and came down to the last few verses, and said, No
condemnation. Who can condemn me? Christ died.
Who is he? Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? And God's elected them. It's
God that justifies, the judge himself says, What can I say
to that? Who can say anything to that,
huh? On the basis of Christ's righteousness. That's the reason. John, that's
the reason. Not because he saw that you were
going to do him some good someday. You're never going to do him
any good, John. He's going to do you some good. So everything's a condemnment.
Christ's side. Now, God just sent His Son down
here to die. He spared not His own Son. How
shall He not with Him freely give us all things? Huh? Yeah,
and Christ died. No robber is risen again. Didn't
stay dead. Proof that God accepted what
He did. Who is even? It doesn't stop there. Christ died. That's good enough. That ought to be reason enough
to believe. God loves me and wants to save
me? Huh? Well, he's risen again. Who is
even at the right hand of God? Who's right now at the right
hand of God? Yet, wait! Also, there's a man in Goliath
who also makes intercession for us. That's what Isaiah 53 said. He makes intercession for the
transgressors. Father, forgive him. He doesn't
know what he's doing. That's the sin that's in him.
That's no longer John that's doing that, that's the sin that
lies in him. And I paid for that. He's righteous. The devil said, he's a sinner.
Christ said, no, he's righteous. You ever look at him? Christ
says, no, God looks at me. Can you get a hold of that? Huh? We're the one, we look inside,
don't we? And have all kind of trouble. Look, you're a sinner,
I know, look at me. Don't look at you. Look unto
me, and be ye saved." I'm God. Sadly, there's none else. So
when Satan hurls these fiery accusing darts, this is what
he said there in our text, isn't it? That's what he said. You may be able to stand against
the wiles of the devil and repel these fiery darts,
The fiery darts of the wicked, when he throws those fiery, accusing
darts at you, the wicked want, when he throws those at you,
your only protection from heart failure, your only protection
from heart failure is this blessed plate of Christ-imputed righteousness. Jeanette, that's it now. That you've got a name. The scripture
says, I'll call them by my name. Didn't he say that? They shall
all be called by my name. What's that? Jehovah Sidkenna,
the Lord, our righteousness. Just what he said in the last
verse of Isaiah 45. Surely, somebody's going to say,
in the Lord have I righteousness. I tell you who say that, saved
man say that. Now, I would quit now, and I've
said enough. I've preached the gospel. Maybe
I ought to. Maybe I ought to. Maybe not. Well, someone may
ask this now. Here's a good question. Someone
may ask this. How can imputed righteousness,
how can Christ's imputed righteousness Ward off temptations to sin. How can that do that? How can
the imputed righteousness of Christ, Christ's imputed righteousness,
I should refer to it as, how can that ward off temptations
to sin that Satan throws at me and which rise up out of my own
heart? How can Christ's imputed righteousness keep me from falling
into these sins and so forth? A good question? You interested? All right. And the answer's right
there. Now, I do believe and maintain,
listen to me, I do believe and I preach that the believer not
only has Christ's righteousness imputed to him, but the righteousness
of Christ is also imparted to him. I believe that's what the
Scriptures teach us when it says, If any man be in Christ, he is
a new creature. I believe that's what John is
talking about in 1 John when he said, His seed remaineth in
him. There's a new creature created
in the image of Christ, a new man. There's a new man in you,
Barbara. If it's not there, you're not
one of his. There is. Formed in you. Christ in you. Formed in you. maturing and growing and so forth.
But remember, you're still in a body of flesh, aren't you? You're still a creature of flesh,
but you have this new spiritual man within you. And the old nature—Paul
says the old nature—in Romans 7 he calls it a law or a principle—wars
against the new one, makes battle. against the new one. Well, how
to recite against sin and fleshly tendencies? How? One old writer, and I called
his name last week, and I shouldn't have. I hope you forgot it, because
I think a lot of him—but he missed it on this. He missed it. He
devoted many, many pages of small, fine print to talking about this
imparted righteousness, and he said that this, this imparted
righteousness, this character of a believer, is your protection. This is what he said in his very
words. Listen. He said, we must endeavor to
maintain the power of holiness and righteousness in our life
and our conversation. This is to have the breastplate
of righteousness on. That's not right. What he's saying, in so many
words, is if we endeavor to live right, that's our protection.
You know what he said, Barbara? Is that what you took that to
mean? And I read him and read him and read him, and I don't
care how eloquent or elephant he waxed. That's what he was
saying in so many words. So many words. If you endeavor
to live right, that's your protection. That's the essence of reform
doctrine, legalism, and self-righteousness. Paul relayed that to us when
he said to the Galatians, he said, Are you so foolish that
you began in the spirit And you're going to end this
thing up in the flesh? You're going to be made perfect by the
flesh? Your own strivings and doings, huh? You're going to
begin in the power of His Spirit? Not by might, not by power, Christ
said, but by my Spirit. You're going to begin that way,
trusting first in Him alone to save you? Then is He going to
leave you alone to finish it up, perfect yourself? That's
a lie. And nothing will cause you more
consternation or grief or trouble or heartache than that right
there, that legal spirit. That legal spirit. Now you've
enlisted in the—God has enlisted you in the family of God, in
the army of God. And Paul said, no man goes to war
of his own charge. No man. Does Christ say this? Does Christ say to His people,
He says, Now I'll fight the battles for you. And Christ, the Scripture
says, goes on before us to fight the battles for you. And then
all of a sudden He stops and turns around and says, Now, you're
doing pretty good. Why, look at you. Why, you've
got a good little breastplate on there. Get up here and try
it out. Go out to the forefront of the
battle. Be strong now. You're somebody. You're a little Jesus. Be strong
now. You can do it. Go on. Go on.
Go on. Go on. You can do it. You have a little
righteousness to protect you. Go on out there. Huh? Why do you think I keep reading
verse 10 over and over every time we Start out. I say, finally,
Bradford. Paul says, let's wrap this thing
up. Be strong in the Lord and the power of His mind. The power
of His mind. Christ. Now listen. Christ in
you is your hope of glory. That also means for you. Christ
in you. Listen to this. Listen. Listen
to this. Have you ever thought about this? This hit me like
a ton of bricks. You've heard that scripture,
Christ in you, the hope of glory. Well, Christ said this, he said,
I'll never leave you nor forsake you. We kind of get this picture
that Christ is, you know, he's out there and here we are. And he's out there, you know,
and we're kind of in his hands and but every now and then he
leaves us alone a little bit and he steps off. Son, I said,
Christ in you. Now we said, Nancy, that He comes
and He says, I'll make my abode in you. This new creature in
Christ, created in Christ, Christ in you, His Spirit in you. If
any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he's none of His. Christ
in you. Christ said, I'll never leave
you nor persecute you. Why? How can that be? He's in you. Because He dwells in us, by faith. So how do we resist? Get back
to that question. How do we resist? By calling
up Christ. Calling on Him, huh? Pleading
the Lord your righteousness. Pleading your captain. Captain,
my captain, help me. What I'm trying to say is that
little tin star of righteousness that you have, little tin star
of righteousness, you've seen those old westerns, haven't you?
You could take the smallest fella in town, you know, and he'd wear
that little tin star. Boy, he was big, wasn't he? He
was tough. Tough guy. Till somebody much
tougher than him mows him down. Well, that little tin star of
righteousness that men like to call their own, it won't, it
will not stop the cannon blasts of Satan. Who are you? Remember that? We know the Lord
Jesus and Paul the Apostle. Who do you think you are? I can
sift you like wheat. Your breastplate, I'm telling
you now, your breastplate better be stronger than any righteousness
that you have drummed up. It better be Christ's righteousness
and His alone. Listen to this. I told one of
our brethren, I said, if I just read William Romaine to you—he's
not the one, by the way. He's not the one that I took
issue with. This man, I don't know of that
book I gave you. I don't think there's been a
better book written by a human being, ever, ever, than what
this William Romaine wrote. I've been reading in it recently
and it's just shouting ground. You can sit six inches off your
seat. reading the things he says about Christ. Listen to that.
And I'm just going to read, and if I'd have just read this from
the outset, you'd have been blessed. Christ is our object of faith.
God and man united in one Christ. Consider that. What the Scripture
says of His wonderful person. Let your faith be established
in Him. God who spake, and all things were made, who commanded,
and they stood fast. To this very hour he was made
flesh. He came to be a surety for his
people, to obey and suffer in their stead. Now, what could
not his almighty power do? Anything too hard for the Lord?
What obedience could the Lord demand that he could not take?
What sufferings could he not satisfy for God's justice? He has everything that you need. On His truth, on this truth,
you must rest. Isn't this your foundation? Huh? How firm a foundation. In the
certainty of this, you must seek to be more grounded every day. Because as you grow in the knowledge
of His person, you will become more satisfied of His infinite
sufficiency to save you. In so many words, he said, if
you realize that Christ is Christ, you're safe. You've got nothing
to worry about. The more you grow in the knowledge
of his divine person, the more satisfied you'll be of his sufficiency
to say, and fully convinced of this, you'll be enabled from
the scriptures to answer and silence even your own unbelieving
thoughts, and reject the blasphemous suggestions
of Satan. Remember, he's God. He's God. He is Jehovah. Read and meditate
what the scripture says about him. Pray that you may be taught
of that, of who he is. And no man can say that he's
Lord but by the Holy Ghost. It's the office of the Holy Spirit
to enable you to believe he's Lord and God and to call him
your Lord and your God and to prove he's so by a humble dependence
upon him. Over in 2 Peter 1.1, it says
this, it says, Peter said, I thank God for you people who have been
in aid. Let me read it real quickly for
you. He said this, he said, to them that have obtained precious
faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Savior Jesus Christ. Listen to what he says about
that verse. This faith and the righteousness of Christ the righteousness
of God our Savior, of Jesus Christ. It's the Holy Spirit's office
to convince you of this truth. No teaching but His can do it.
And this righteousness of Christ is so high and so heavenly in
nature, wrought out by somebody, yea, a wonderful person, and
is bestowed as a free gift upon the chief of sinners. whereby
they obtain remission of their sins and are made partakers of
the kingdom of heaven, and they receive it by faith only without
works. A legal spirit always wants to
mix something with it, and nobody can believe it, just happen to
believe it, unless it be given them from above. And that's what gives us trouble
all the time. Gives us trouble. Well, I'm a
sinner. Well, you got to do something about it. No, Christ already
did something about it. You're going to be a sinner as long
as you live. You're going to be a sinner as long as you live. Are you saying we just can go
ahead and live the sin that grace may abound? I didn't say that.
All I'm saying is Christ forgives you your sins. And God doesn't remember them.
Why? You're righteous in the eyes of God. Is that antinomianism? No, it's just gossip. It's just
good news. Listen. Listen. Haven't you found
that this legal spirit is an enemy to your peace and your
joy? It always inclines you to some kind of self-righteousness
through ignorance of the law. You can't keep it. You can't
keep the law. I don't care how hard you try.
You can't do nothing. That's what I've been saying
from the very outset in this series of messages. I've been
repeating that over and over again. What Christ said, without
me you can do nothing. Nothing. That which is flesh
is what, Terry? Flesh! You're a man of flesh,
aren't you? Strive as you may. That's all
you're going to be, buddy, until He delivers you from this body
of flesh. And He redeems your body, and
the Scripture says, a whole creation has grown us together, waiting
for the redemption of the Son, the bodies even, that our bodies
might be made like unto His glorious body, without sin. But until
then, you're going to have it in you to contend with. You going to ever defeat it?
Never. What's your hope of glory then,
Terry? Christ. that He worked out for you a
perfect righteousness. A perfect righteousness. Knowing
then that nothing can subdue your flesh, but bringing into
your conscience a better hope from a better righteousness than
anything you can do. You get that? Now there's some
people that are not going to catch a word I'm saying here.
Now you listen to me. If there's one person in here
that catches it, you're going to whoop! Nothing can subdue
your problems and this self-righteousness and all of this. Nothing can
subdue it but the bringing into your conscience of a better hope,
of a better righteousness than that of the law. And when you're
enabled to plead it against all the charges of sin and Satan,
then you're going to stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ
has made you free. Ah, he said, this is a better
righteousness. Can I read a few more in? This is a better righteousness,
infinitely perfect and everlasting, the righteousness of God. And
by faith in this righteousness, you'll be saved from the law.
The law that condemns you on every point, thought, word, and
deed, condemn. Condemned to die. Right now,
as you sit and listen to the gospel, the law says, you're
a hypocrite, John Cheesley. Christ said, no, he's not, he's
righteous. Why, John? Because you're doing
the best you can to listen? No, because Christ made you righteous. Because God's not looking at
you, he's looking at Christ. Christ in you, the new man. as a dear child, makes all things
work together for your good, keeps you by His mighty power
through faith unto salvation. So that in and on account of
Christ's righteousness, you shall be saved from all the evils of
sin and receive all spiritual blessings in earth and heaven.
And this you shall have freely without any merit or work of
the law, because righteousness comes wholly by grace, and it's
for you, a sinner such as you are, justifies you from condemnation
of the law. turns curses into blessing and
threatenings into happiness. And it can do it for you perfectly
and everlastingly. So you are found in this righteousness
and grace has promised it to you. It's yours. The Lord God
promised it to you. And it doesn't have any exceptions
or limitations. No matter how big a sinner or
ungodly you are, though you're the virus and the basis, yet
this Word comes to you. This Word of salvation is set
to you accepted in the beloved. Dead-dry doctrine. And it's yours in the comfortable
enjoyment of it, just through believing. And even if you don't
believe, it's yours. You know what he told Timothy?
He said, if we believe not, yet he... What? The Bible's faithful. He can't deny... What? Himself. See, even right now is it the
right enough. Abraham lives to make intercession
for you. Huh? Come on, William, keep talking,
buddy. You've got my attention. Listen, listen. Thou art to bring
nothing to recommend thee, just that you're a sinner. And your
right entitled to a finished salvation is from the word of
God's Word when you believe with your heart in the righteousness
of Christ. The divine commands, Believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou might, thou shalt be saved. Not work, believe. Believe. You shall be justified, the scripture
says, from all things whereby you could not be justified by
the works of the law. Why then, he says, do you lean
on or look to works? at all, since salvation is by faith.
You're a believer. Though you're a weak one, listen
to this. Debra, listen to me. If you haven't
listened to me now yet, listen now. You're a believer, aren't
you? And you're a weak one. Yet you have just as good a title
to Christ and his righteousness as the strongest believer in
the world, because that right comes from the full grant of
God's word of grace, by which all things are yours. You're
an heir by faith in Jesus Christ. O thou of little faith, why do
you doubt? Remember, you're dishonoring
the infinite love and free salvation of Jesus Christ. Think upon these
things. Trust Christ. Well, and I'll finish with this.
Perhaps you'll say, well, how shall I live upon Christ with
my weak faith? How can my faith grow stronger? How can my faith grow stronger?
Well, the Scripture points you to Christ. He keeps going back. The Scripture points you to look
at Christ, the God-man, as your surety, who for you wrought out
a finished salvation. And whatever he promised in his
word relating to this salvation, you are to trust him to make
it good. Depend upon his faithfulness
and his power to make it good for you. Whatever, therefore,
he has done and suffered to save you from the curse of the law,
from the spirit of bondage, to make you free with the liberty
of the children of God, you are to live upon him for these blessings,
and by faith always be receiving them from him. Don't look to
yourself for any qualifications. Look unto Jesus, and you may
experience more of that liberty wherewith he made thee free."
and you may no longer be a babe, unskillful in the word of righteousness.
Hear what he says, if the Son shall make you free, you shall
be free indeed, free from the law, free from condemnation at
the bar of God, free from the bondage of corruption. You shall
be brought into the glorious liberty of the children of God,
heirs of God, joint heirs with Christ. And this is the freedom
which God promises you. It is very extensive, has many
noble privileges, vast blessings by faith it's yours. Come, I'll
freely give it to you. You have not received the spirit
of bondage again to fear. You receive the Spirit of adoption
whereby you can cry unto the Holy of Holy, God Almighty, Father. The Spirit itself bears witness
with your spirit, your children of God. Now, if your children
heirs, heirs of God, joint heirs with Christ, well, because of
what Christ did. Doesn't that sum up our message
here in Be Faith? Everything we believe, all of
my salvation, all of my trust. Isn't that what David said there
in Psalm 71, huh? David said it so much better
than William Romaine did, in all those words, didn't he? My
mouth shall speak of thy righteousness and thine own. I'll go in the
strength of them all the day long. Good God, Doctor. Paul said,
stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth.
Truth of what? Who God is, who Christ is, why
he came, what he did. Is that important? Oh, your salvation
depends upon it. Kool-Aid brought that one more
notch. You feel yourself slouching? I believe that. I believe that. Who Christ is, and He'll take
on this breastplate. Yeah, but you're a, you're a
what? Christ died. Huh? You're a sinner. Christ died. You're not righteous. He is my
righteousness. Say that to yourself, say that
to Satan, say that to anybody. That breastplate of righteousness.
I tell you, it's the only thing, the only thing that will keep
you from heart failure. I hope that did you some good.
The breastplate of righteousness. If that didn't, boy, the next
one will. These gospel shoes that you're going to wear. They
fit good. We're going to look at those. I've been wanting to preach on
that for a long time. I've been thinking about that
for a long time. These gospel shoes that we wear,
they fit good. Like an old pair, nothing like
a good old pair of old boots. Right, Rick? They fit good. If
you walk good, protect you, warm you. Put on the He showered with
the preparation of the gospel of peace. Peace. My peace, I
give unto you. All right, let's stand.