Welcome to Reign of Grace. This
program is brought to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries,
an outreach ministry of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany,
Georgia. It is our pleasure and privilege
to present to you the gospel message of the sovereign grace
and glory of God in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. We pray that today's program
will be a blessing to you. Thank you for listening and now
for today's program. Welcome to our program today.
I'm glad you could join us. If you'd like to follow along
in your Bibles, I'm continuing a message that I began last week
entitled, The Armor of God. And I'm preaching from Ephesians
chapter 6, if you'd like to follow along in your Bibles. concerning
the whole armor of God and Christian warfare, what we've been talking
about. And this is part two, this'll be the final part. So,
the whole armor of God. If you didn't hear last week's,
be sure to get that message, listen to it on our website or
order it, or watch it on... When it comes on, this program
and that program go together. That's what I'm trying to say.
But look at Ephesians chapter six and verse 13. Now, just to
give you a short recap of what I dealt with yesterday. It started
in Ephesians 6.10, and he said, finally, my brethren, be strong
in the Lord and in the power of his mind. We're talking about
the Christian warfare, the spiritual battle, against the world, the
flesh, and the devil. And we fight, we who are saved,
sinners saved by grace, who have faith in Christ, looking unto
him as the author and finisher of our faith, pleading his blood
and righteousness, having our hope and assurance, not in ourselves,
but in Christ. who lived and died, was buried
and arose again the third day, and who is now seated at the
right hand of the Father, ever living to make intercession for
us, that we fight this battle not in our own power, not in
our own mind, but in the power and might of the Lord through
Christ. And how do we do that? By looking
unto Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith. We rely
upon him, we plead his merits, not our own. It's not I go to
battle because I'm such a great guy or a good person or what,
it's because my Savior is great. My Lord is great. He is the victor. And so he says in verse 11, put
on the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand
the wiles of the devil. So the armor of God is those
graces and gifts of the Spirit through which he imprints upon
our hearts our minds, affections, and our wills to go through this
life, fighting this battle every day, and it's a spiritual battle.
It's not a physical battle. So let's look at each piece of
this armor. He says in verse 13, look at this, Ephesians 6.
Wherefore, or for this reason, take unto you the whole armor
of God. This is the armor that God gives
to his people. None of these things are in us
or with us naturally. This is the product of the grace
of God in Christ, given us by the Spirit, that you may be able
to withstand in the evil day, any day that evil comes, that's
every day of our lives, actually. And he says, and having done
all to stand. And verse 14, this is when he
begins to talk about each piece of the armor of God. And look
at verse 14, stand therefore, having your loins girt about
with truth. Now, it's kind of like Paul is
comparing this to the Roman soldier. And as you know, back then, it
was common for them to wear robes or togas and things like that. And when the Roman soldier would
go to battle, he would gird up his loins. He would take those
robes, if he had robes on, or whatever, and he would tie them
up around his legs and around his hips and around his waist.
And that would enable him to go places without hindrance of
being tripped over his robes or anything like that. In other
words, he could move freely in battle. He could move forward,
backward, sideways, whatever he needed to do, he could move. And that's what he's saying.
That, the girdle of the spiritual battle, having our loins girdled
about with what? Truth. That's what it's all about. Christ told his disciples, the
truth shall set you free. Christ said to his disciples,
I am the way, I am the truth, I am the life. No man cometh
unto the Father but by me. Where do we find truth? You know,
there are people today that don't really believe that there's any
absolute truth. They believe that what may be
true for you may not be true for me. And they apply that to
their religion. They apply that to their salvation.
Often people go to a church where they sit and they might read
a scripture and they'll look at each other or maybe around
a discussion and they'll say, now what does that mean to you?
Or what does that mean to me? And it may mean something very
different. And that's a wrong, subjective way of looking at
the scripture. What I wanna know is this, what
does the Bible say, what does it mean there? Not what I think
it means or what it means to me, but what does it mean? You say, well, you've got to
apply it to your life. I'm afraid God's a little ahead
of you on that. He'll apply it to the life of
his people, but it doesn't matter what it means to me or what it
means. What matters is what does it mean? And there are rules
of interpretation of the scripture from Genesis to Revelation. I
believe this book is the inspired, revealed, inerrant word of God. Now, I didn't always believe
that. Before I was converted, before
I was brought to be a Christian, before I came to know Jesus Christ
and Him crucified and risen from the dead, I thought this book
was full of contradictions and errors. But then the Lord brought
me to a saving knowledge of Christ through the preaching of this
book, and he brought me to have a respect for this book, and
I've been studying it ever since, maybe around 40 years, and I
have been daily amazed at the truth, the consistency of this
book when it's revealed to you by God and when it's looked at
through a gospel light. I have a book that I've written
called Rules of Interpretation. The title of the book has to
do with rules that we should use to look at and view the scripture. There are rules. It's not just
private interpretation like I go to it and just see what it does
for me. But if you'd like to order this book, we give it free
of charge, and we're not asking for any money on it, just order
it and look at it. Rightly dividing the word is
what it's called. That's where he talks about study
to show yourself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not
to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of God. And so, Look
at the Bible speaks of in Hebrews 5 about becoming skillful in
the word of righteousness. That's what this is. And the
first rule of interpretation is what I call the rule of Jesus
Christ crucified and risen from the dead. Because this book,
from Genesis to Revelation, every book of the Bible, is ultimately
concerning the glorious person and the finished work of Jesus
Christ, and his righteousness, the merit of his obedience unto
death, which God has imputed, charged, accounted to his people,
so that he might be a just God and a Savior. And that's the
ultimate truth of the Bible. It's the ultimate truth of who
God is. in every attribute of his character.
If you want to know what God's like, what God is like, if you
want to know the truth about God, go to the scriptures. Don't
look to yourself. That's deadly. God said, Isaiah
the prophet told them, God said through to Israel, through Isaiah
the prophet, you thought I was such in one as yourself. But
you're wrong. God is so high above us. He's
a sovereign God. He's the God of election. He
elected his people. He chose them before the foundation
of the world and gave them to Christ. Marked them out for salvation. He didn't choose everybody. You
say, I don't like that. Well, that's what he's like.
Read it. Look to passages like Romans 9. They are just as truthful.
People get hung. You say, well, I believe John
3 16. I do too. But I also believe Romans 9.
And they're not contradictory. The truth finds its completion
in the glorious person and the finished work of Christ. The
gospel, the true gospel, is the revelation of Christ as the very
righteousness of God. I have another book. It's called
What is the Righteousness of God? Order it. Look at our website. And you can have these books
free of charge. They're not to replace the Bible. The Bible's the only book that's
perfect. but it's to guide you through
the scriptures. It's to be a guide. That's what I'm doing now, I'm
preaching. But the truth of salvation, the truth of who God is in his
holiness, his justice, the truth of who we are in our sinfulness,
our spiritual deadness and depravity, the truth of who Christ is in
the glory of his person and the power of his finished work. And
he says, having your loins stand therefore, having your loins
girt about with truth. You see, truth is our weapon.
Truth is our stability. Truth enables us to move every
direction, not with firmness, with dogmatism. And then look
back at verse 14 now, Ephesians six. Here's the next piece of
armor. He says, and having on the breastplate
of righteousness. Now you know what the breastplate
was on the Roman soldier. He had a breastplate that covered
his vital organs. These are the vital organs from
the neck down to the waist up. You've got the heart, the lungs,
the kidneys, the liver, the spleen, all of these vital organs. And
most of those organs, if it's really a vital organ, I think
you can live without a spleen. I'm not sure, I'm not a doctor.
But I know this, you can't live without a heart, can't live without
lungs, and without a liver, and without kidneys. And that breastplate
covered it, so when they thrust a sword, or a spear, or an arrow,
it would stop it. Well, what is the covering? that
protects the vital organs, spiritual organs, of a true believer's
life. It's the breastplate of righteousness. And I'm telling you now, listen
to me, this issue of righteousness is one of the most important
issues that you can get into the Bible, see the truth of it,
and understand it. What is righteousness? Now most
people think of righteousness basically as human morality done
in sincerity. A person who is moral, kind,
generous, charitable, in other words. That's a righteous person,
especially those who go to church and who are serious about it.
But that is not righteousness. Now, when we talk about believers,
being moral, generous, charitable, sincere, dedicated, consistent. That's godliness, if it's in
the gospel. If it's out of the gospel, it's
nothing but religious exercise. But righteousness is a standard. It's a legal standard, you might
say. Righteousness is not human morality. Righteousness is the legal standard
by which human morality is to be measured. And here's what
we find when we measure our sincere moral efforts against what God
calls righteousness. We find what Romans 3.23 tells
us, for we've all sinned and come short of the glory of God. That's Romans 3.23, we've all
sinned and come short, fell short of the glory of God. Now what
is the glory of God? Well, that's Christ in His righteousness,
in His merits, in His work. You see, we fall short of that,
even in our best times. And that's what righteousness
is. The Bible says in Acts 17 31 that there's coming a day
when the Lord will judge the world in righteousness by that
man whom he hath ordained in that he hath given assurance
unto all men in that he hath raised him from the dead. You
see, Christ is the standard of righteousness. So if I'm going
to call anything I do righteous, it must measure up to him. You
understand that? I can tell you, for example,
that I love the Lord and that I love my brethren, I love my
neighbor. But is that my righteousness
before God? Well, if it is, it's got to equal
Christ's love. Well, I know that that's not
the case with me. I admit to you. I can say I love
the Lord, but I don't love him perfectly. You see, I have rivals
within myself from the flesh that war against me. And therefore, anything I do
does not equal the perfection of righteousness that can only
be found in Christ. So I must say Christ is my righteousness. And this breastplate of righteousness
is His righteousness imputed, charged, accounted to me. And
Satan's arrows The world's arrows, even my own fleshly arrows, cannot
penetrate that breastplate of righteousness. Christ's righteousness
is a perfection that cannot be taken away and cannot be destroyed. It cannot even be contaminated
because it's the merit of His obedience unto death as the surety,
the substitute, the redeemer of His people. And when Paul
wrote in Romans 1, 16, for I'm not ashamed of the gospel of
Christ, it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that
believeth, to the Jew first, the Greek also, verse 17, for
therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to
faith, and as it is written, the justified shall live by faith.
You see, I don't have the righteousness of men because men have no righteousness,
and man's righteousness is flawed, It's not really righteous. I
have the righteousness of God imputed to me. Well, how did
I get the righteousness of God? God charged it to me because
it's Christ. It's his right. He's the God
man. He worked it out by his death on the cross, his obedience
unto death. Paul wrote in Romans four and
verse six, blessed is the man to whom the Lord imputeth righteousness
without works. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord imputeth not iniquity. God does not charge me with my
sin, he charges me with Christ's righteousness. And that's what
this breastplate is. And I'm gonna tell you something,
that's one of the greatest truths that you can ever have your loins
girt about with on that. Well let's go on, look at verse
15. Have your feet shot with the preparation of the gospel
of peace. Now that has to do with evangelism. going to preach the gospel, moving
your feet. How beautiful are the feet of
them, which bring good news, Paul wrote in Romans chapter
10, quoting Isaiah. The gospel. What is the gospel? Now let me tell you something.
There are hundreds of thousands of false gospels. There's only
one true gospel. And the true gospel is the revelation
of the very righteousness of God, the righteousness of Jesus
Christ, the merit of His obedience unto death, imputed, charged,
accounted to His people, and it preaches salvation. Now listen
to me. All false gospels have one thing
in common. They will make salvation at some
point, to some degree, at some stage, conditioned on what you
do for God. You can mark it down. There are
people who believe now that you can be saved and then lost because
you're not doing enough or that you commit some great sin. That's
a false gospel, I'm telling you. The true gospel, the one true
gospel teaches how God put all of the conditions of the salvation
of his people The ones whom He gave to Christ before the foundation
of the world. He put all of their salvation,
every part of it, every blessing of it, every benefit of it, all
those conditions on Christ and Him alone. And that Christ, through
His death on the cross, through His death on the cross, He fulfilled
those conditions. and made salvation secure and
sure for everyone for whom he died. How do you know he raised
him from the dead? Christ fulfilled all righteousness.
Every bit of the righteousness that God requires of me, I don't
have any of it, but I find it in Christ. He said it's finished,
it's complete. Christ is the end of the law,
the fulfilling, the finishing, perfection of the law for salvation,
for righteousness under them which believe. Even the faith
that we believe with is a gift of God that comes forth because
Christ fulfilled those conditions. For by one offering, Hebrews
10, 14, for by one offering, he hath perfected forever them
that are sanctified. Christ said this, he said, all
that the Father giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh
to me I will in no wise cast out. He went on to say, this
is the will of the Father which is sent me, that of all which
he hath given me I should lose nothing, but raise it up again
at the last day. That's what the gospel's all
about. It's not just about exposing our sin and then trying to get
us to do certain works to cleanse ourselves. It's about Christ. So we're to have our feet shod
with the preparation of the gospel of peace. Verse 16, above all,
taking the shield of faith. Now what is faith? Faith is looking
unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. That's our shield.
We hold that shield up. I believe in Christ. I rest in
Christ. I cling to Christ for all salvation. I have no hope in myself. I have
no hope in anything that I've done or tried to do or will do.
It's all what Christ did and completed and finished on the
cross. And that's what faith does. Faith is looking unto Christ,
resting in Christ, His finished work, His righteousness alone. That's what it is. His righteousness,
which has been imputed, charged to all of His people, and which
they receive by God-given faith. For by grace are you saved. Through
faith, that not of yourselves is the gift of God, not of works,
lest any man should boast. And so that's the shield of faith.
And he says, wherewith you shall be able to quench all the fiery
darts of the wicked. I read last week over in Revelation
chapter 12, how Satan attacks the church. And it says in Revelation
12 in verse 11, here's what happens. Now this is the shield of faith
right here. This is Revelation 12, 11, how
Satan accuses the brethren day and night. And it says in verse
11 of Revelation 12, they overcame him by the blood of the lamb.
What can wash away my sins? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
What can make me whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
Oh, precious is the flow that makes me white as snow. You say,
this is all my hope and peace. This is all my righteousness.
That's how we overcome it. By the blood of the lamb and
by the word of their testimony. The word of the believer's testimony
is the shield of faith. What is the word of our testimony?
We plead the blood of Christ. We plead his righteousness. We
glory in Christ, in the cross. God forbid that I should glory
save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. And they love not
their lives unto death. In other words, they see that
Christ is their only way of life. Now back to Ephesians chapter
six, verse 17. He says, take the helmet of salvation
that protects the head. the mind, the affections, and
the will. How do I know I'm saved? This
is the assurance of salvation. How do I know I'm saved? What
confidence do I, O Simeon, over in the book of Luke chapter two,
there was an old man named Simeon, and he was alive during the time
of Christ's birth and his mother and father bringing him to the
temple to do for him what the law said. And O Simeon, it was
revealed to Simeon that he would see the Christ child before he
died to be with the Lord. And when Joseph and Mary brought
the child Jesus into the temple, They saw Simeon, and Simeon saw
them, and they let him hold the baby. And you know what Simeon
said? He said, Lord, I'm ready to go
now, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation. That's the helmet
of salvation. How can I have assurance of salvation? Listen, I'm a sinner, saved by
grace, but I'm a sinner. I fail a lot. I make a lot of
wrong decisions. I do a lot of things wrong. Sometimes
I have a bad attitude. I have to pray for forgiveness.
How do I know I'm saved? I'll tell you how. My only assurance
is Jesus Christ and him crucified and risen from the dead. I'm
looking to Christ, not to me, not to you, not to the church,
not to my baptism. I'm looking to Christ and his
blood, his righteousness as my whole salvation. And he says
in verse 17, take the sword of the spirit, which is the word
of God. That's the scriptures. Christ himself is the word of
God. He's the Word that created this
world. He said that in John 1. He's
the Word incarnate come to earth. He's the subject of the written
Word and the subject of the preached Word. And this is the Word right
here. And it's our sword. It's our
weapon. When people bring up things that
are not true concerning God, concerning man, concerning God's
way of salvation and justification and a right relationship with
God? Do we argue with them? We shouldn't. Do we debate? We shouldn't. What should we
do? Take them to the scripture. Now,
if you say, well, I don't know the scriptures that well, well,
that's your fault. Study to show thyself approved unto God, a
workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the
word of truth. And that's why I wrote the books
that you'll see on our website, talking about rightly dividing
the word, the rules for scripture interpretation. What is a Christian?
What is salvation? What is the righteousness of
God, the glory of God in the gospel? And we give these free
of charge, you can have them. Study them, study the scripture,
study the word of God. Because that's what we need to
do If I hear a preacher preaching a false gospel, I don't just
argue on my own merit. I look to the word of God. Somebody
says, well, I believe this. And I say, well, the Bible doesn't
say that. Or I don't believe this. A lady
told me one time, a person asked him about election. What do you
think about election? And she didn't know what to say.
And I told her, I'll tell you exactly what I'd say. I'd say, it's in
the Bible. And then he gives us the battlefield
in verse 18, praying always with all prayer and supplication in
the spirit, watching there unto with all perseverance and supplication
for all saints. In the whole armor of God, we
put it on, we enact it, we believe it, and we pray. That's the battlefield,
pray unto the Lord for he's in control, his will be done. Hope
you'll join us next week for another message from God's word. We are glad you could join us
for another edition of Reign of Grace. This program is brought
to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries, an outreach ministry
of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany, Georgia. To receive
a copy of today's program or to learn more about Reign of
Grace Media Ministries or Eager Avenue Grace Church, Write us
at 1-1-0-2 Eager Drive, Albany, Georgia 3-1-7-0-7. Contact us
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today and may the Lord be with you.