The Believer's Armor, Part 2: The Breastplate of Righteousness

Listen, when you were saved, you were given the righteousness of Jesus Christ. That righteousness you were tempted to sin, maybe gossip with a co-worker or get angry with your spouse or your child. Was there something you could have done to keep from sinning?

Is there something you didn't know? The protection provided by the breastplate of righteousness. And with that, here's John MacArthur with the lesson. Now let me just talk about this concept of the breastplate of righteousness for a minute. What is the righteousness of which Paul speaks? What is he really talking about?

There are only three possible things to consider. One would be self-righteousness, two would be imputed righteousness, and three would be practical righteousness. Either he's talking about our own self-righteousness, he's talking about the righteousness of Christ given to us, or he's talking about living out the righteousness of Christ given to us. Self-righteousness is not the breastplate of righteousness. You will be a victim of the forces of hell for sure if you're trying to cover yourself in your own righteousness.

I think maybe the best illustration of this is to have you turn to Philippians chapter 3, verse 4, and I want you to see how Paul deals with this. Paul starts out looking at the view of self-righteousness, and he says in verse 4, though I might also have confidence in the flesh. Now in other words, if self-righteousness were possible, if I could get into God's kingdom by being good enough, if I could do it, then I of all people would have a right to give it a good shot. I could have confidence in the flesh. I could say, I've been a pretty good guy. If any other man, he says, thinks he has reason for which he might trust in the flesh, I have more. In other words, if you're going to look at it in terms of human righteousness, I can probably outstrip most other people. I'm probably better than the good ones.

Why? Verse 5, I was circumcised the eighth day of the stock of Israel. In other words, I was a real Israelite, and boy, even from circumcision on, everything happened right starting with it on the right day, the eighth day. I am of the tribe of Benjamin, and by the way, there was no more Jewish tribe than the tribe of Benjamin. You study Benjamin in the Old Testament, you will see how they figure all through the plan of God in dealing with that nation as a very special tribe. Benjamin, for example, according to Genesis 35, was not only a son of Israel, but the son of Israel's most beloved wife, Rachel. Of the two favored sons, Benjamin and Joseph, it was Benjamin alone who with Judah formed the reconstituted Israel in 1 Kings chapter 12. It was Benjamin who restored Israel after captivity, Ezra 4.1.

It was Benjamin that was God's chief agent in the deliverance of Israel in the time of Esther from the wickedness of Haman. Now Benjamin is a very special tribe, very special tribe. So he said, I have a real pedigree. I am a Hebrew of the Hebrews. If you've ever seen a Jew, I'm one.

I'm one. He says this, as touching the law, I'm a Pharisee. Not only am I a Hebrew and a real Hebrew and one out of the tribe of Benjamin, but I belong to the strictest, most religious, legalistic sect in the whole system. I'm a Pharisee concerning zeal.

You never met a more zealous Jew. I persecuted the church. Touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.

That is amazing. He says, if you're going to count on self-righteousness, look at the guy who's got more going for him than anybody else. If self-righteousness was the way in, I would really lay claim to it. Verse 7 begins with a key word. Philippians 3, 7.

What is it? But...but. What things were gained to me humanly on my own? I counted loss for Christ, yea, doubtless, and I count all things loss.

All of that stuff means nothing. It's useless in the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and do count them but manure that I may win Christ. Now here's the key in verse 9, and be found in Him not having mine own righteousness which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith. In other words, Paul says, my own righteousness is useless. I must have the righteousness of God which is by faith in Christ. And when you become a believer, when you become a Christian, you reach out your hand of faith, take hold of the hand of God through Jesus Christ. At that moment the righteousness of Christ is imputed to you. God clothes you in the righteousness of Christ. God puts over you, as it were, a canopy of the absolute holiness of Jesus Christ. And from that moment to the eons of eternity when God looks at you, He sees the righteousness of Jesus Christ. He who knew no sin became sin for us that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. God puts a veil over you and every time He sees you, He sees you as righteous in Christ. That's imputed righteousness, the theologians called it.

Your own is useless. Paul says, I count it all but manure. Augustus' top lady wrote, a debtor to mercy alone, of covenant mercy I sing, nor fear with thy righteousness on my person and offering to bring. The terrors of law and of God with me can have nothing to do, my Savior's obedience and blood hide all my transgressions from view. God doesn't see them as we stand clothed in the righteousness of Christ. But there's even another step. You know something? You can't be covered and protected by the righteousness of your own life. And you want to hear this? Even the righteousness of God granted to you in salvation is only the basis of your breastplate.

You must take it a step further. We're in Philippians 3, look at verse 10. Paul recognizes that he has imputed righteousness, that the righteousness of God in Christ is His, but it doesn't end there.

He then says, that I may know Him. It's a purpose clause. In order that I may know Him, the power of His resurrection, the fellowship of His sufferings being made conformable unto His death. Verse 12, not as though I already attained, neither were already perfect, I follow after. Verse 13, I count not myself to have apprehended, I press...verse 14...toward the mark.

And what I'm saying in summary is this. He says, I have the imputed righteousness of Christ, but I still press. I still learn. I still move ahead.

I still hunger after something. And what he is really saying is this, imputed righteousness is only that which makes practical righteousness possible, not necessarily a reality. Now we're getting to it, folks.

I hope you're hanging in there. Listen. When you were saved, you were given the righteousness of Jesus Christ. That righteousness will cover you for all eternity. But in order for you to live the kind of life that wins the battle over Satan, you must apply righteous principles available to you in His righteousness to the matter of your daily living. Now there are Christians, you know, who think that because they have the imputed righteousness of Christ, doesn't matter what they do. I'll never forget hearing my father tell a story about a man who was in the ministry and he was with him one time and he swore a string of curse words. And he said to him in shock, well, whatever possessed you to say that? He said, oh, it doesn't matter. I'm covered by the righteousness of Christ. That's just my old nature. What are you going to do with the old nature anyway?

On another occasion, a man said that he decided he'd like to visit a nude bar to which someone in his company replied, what do you mean you want to do that? Well, he said, it doesn't really matter. You see, I'm covered by the righteousness of Christ. That's just my old nature. You can't dichotomize that. You can't separate that out. Because we are covered in the righteousness of Jesus Christ, it doesn't guarantee that we live every moment as we ought to. It only guarantees that we can, right?

That we can. It's the difference between position and practice. Your position is secure forever, but your practice doesn't always match up.

That's the real issue. And so Paul says, sure, I've been given the righteousness of God, but that doesn't mean I've attained. That doesn't mean I've apprehended.

That doesn't mean I've arrived. I now must, as he says in chapter 2, work out that salvation so that I can accomplish what God wills to do in my life. Now, folks, that's when you get the breastplate. The breastplate is on when we are living a righteous and holy life. Sure, the foundation is from Christ.

Absolutely. Count Zinzendorf wrote that great hymn translated by John Wesley. I love to sing it, and you've sung it too. And it goes like this, Jesus, Thy blood and righteousness, my beauty are my glorious dress. Amidst flaming worlds in these arrayed with joy shall I lift up my head. Bold shall I stand in that great day, for who ought to my charge shall lay, fully through thee absolved I am from sin and fear, from guilt and shame. Oh, let the dead now hear Thy voice, now bid Thy banished ones rejoice. Their beauty this, their glorious dress, Jesus, Thy blood and righteousness.

He's right. The standard is His righteousness. That which covers us is His righteousness. The righteousness of Christ is imputed to us. Romans 3 goes on about none righteous, none righteous, none righteous, and in verse 22 it says, but the righteousness of Christ is given to us. The perfection of Christ becomes ours and our standing before God is perfect. We can never attain God's standard of righteousness on our own, and so it comes as a gift from Jesus Christ. Oh, what a fantastic thought it is. But it's not imputed righteousness that Paul is majoring on here.

That's not the major thought here. It's what the old Puritans used to call imparted righteousness. You've got to put it to use. You can live a righteous life.

It's a matter of daily, moment by moment choices. Practical righteousness puts the armor on. Paul is saying, oh, how much I want that in Philippians 3 10.

Oh, I want to see that. I want to reach the prize, and the prize is Christ's likeness. I want my, watch this one, practical righteousness to match my positional righteousness. Holy living is the breastplate, beloved.

You know what I believe? I believe that somewhere along the line, this is a forgotten commodity in the church. You know, this is the bottom line problem. If you don't live a holy life, you lose. You say, well, what do you lose? Number one, you're going to lose your joy.

I'll promise you that. If you do not live a righteous life, God withholds from you His blessing. First John says, these things are written that your joy may be full. But the idea is they're written so that in obeying them your joy will be full.

No obedience, no joy. I'll tell you, the reason Christians are sad so often and the reason they have sorrow in their lives is not because they need psychological counseling because they've got some kind of a relational problem. It's just a lack of personal holiness.

I really think this is the bottom line. And the church today has pretty well ignored this, and we've substituted programs, seminars, counseling. Listen, if you've got problems in your life, the first place to look is at your own holiness.

If you've got problems in your marriage, that's the first place to look. And I'll guarantee you right now, if you're not living a holy life, you'll have problems because God withholds His blessing. David knew it when David was in sin and he said to the Lord, restore unto me the joy of Thy salvation. I've got my salvation. I just lost the joy.

I just lost the joy. And it is a matter of righteous life. As I see it in Christianity, we're running around tying on paper armor. You know when you go to the restaurant and you've got your little kids and they come and they put that thing around their neck? I see that as the typical modern Christian breastplate. Absolutely useless.

It's made up of a system or a method or a program. Oh, you know, my life is having problems. Our family is having problems. Well, what you need are about 10 or 12 sessions with a counselor.

And so they put on the paper breastplate. That's not what you need. What you need is about 10 or 12 hours in the presence of God until you sort out the unholy characteristics in your life and get right with Him. That's what you need. Listen, people, we don't need any more programs. We don't need any more methods. What we do need is holiness in our lives.

That's the bottom line. And we are a society drowning in a sea of immorality, materialism and humanism that is engulfing us to the point where we are so much victimized by it that we easily bypass the area of personal holiness. And even in the name of Jesus Christ and under the banner of ministries, we substitute paper armor, programs, techniques, methods.

I call it Christian stuff, just stuff that has no ultimate effect on the real issue. Look at your own life. You got problems in your family? Check your own holiness. Are you faithful in reading the Word of God? Is your prayer life what it ought to be? Are you loving your family the way you should? Are you speaking for Jesus Christ unashamed in your society, in your culture, wherever you are? Are you giving to the Lord what you ought to give sacrificially and taking care of the stewardship of all the rest of it that you keep? Are you living a righteous life in categories of your life as you've outlined them and as God has in His Word?

Because if you're not, why would you expect your life to go well? If it did, then God would defeat His own purposes, right? That's where we need to go. But, you know, people want to find an answer at the extreme.

They'd rather wear a paper breastplate than deal with the real issues. If there's disobedience in your life, if there's sin in your life and it's unconfessed and unrepentant of and you just keep doing it, if you have wrong attitudes, you harbor resentments and there are problems and you never get them straightened out, if you have wrong thoughts that you cultivate, if what you say isn't what it ought to be, if your deeds aren't what they ought to be and you just keep living like this, I promise you, gilded edge guaranteed, you're going to have trouble. You're going to lose your joy. Another thing that's going to happen is you're going to lose your fruitfulness. You are going to become non-productive. You're going to shrivel, as it were, as a branch on the vine.

And I'll give you a third thing. You're going to lose your reward, too. John says, look to yourselves that you lose not the things that you've wrought but that you receive a full reward. Some of you are going to diminish the capacity for service to God throughout eternity in heaven.

And I'll add one other thing. You'll bring reproach on God's glory. Why would you want to live like that? Are you so ungrateful to God that you would, number one, live a sinful life, an unrighteous life and forfeit the joy that He wants to give? Would you say no to His gifts? Are you so ungrateful to God's potential in you that you would live an unrighteous life and say no to the thing He wants to produce through your life? Would you say no to God in terms of what He wants for you to enjoy throughout all eternity in His heavenly kingdom by restricting yourself? Would you say no to God who seeks glory in the midst of men by living an unrighteous life that brings down His name?

See how foolish it is? And it's all an affront to Him. God, as it were, stands on the end of heaven, the edge of heaven. His hands are filled with blessing. Those blessings include joy, fruitfulness, ultimate rewards and glory for Himself.

And would you turn your back and chase your own sinfulness? If you've got problems, they are problems directly related to that area of your life. I'll tell you, if things are right in your life and you're righteous before God, you probably won't even have too many trials because there's not a whole lot to refine. And so God has laid out for us simplicity in His Word.

It's amazing to me how Christians always want to ignore the bottom line simplicity and substitute a superficial answer for what is a very clear biblical solution. Well, what I'm trying to say is get your armor on, folks. This is war. And I'll never be contented. I'll go down and breathe in my last breath saying, Lord, I want to win this last battle. I believe that God wants us to accomplish all we can with the potential He's given us. And I think that involves every one of us making this commitment. Listen, I want to just have you think with me for another minute or two. In 1 Peter chapter 2, verse 11, Peter says this, Dearly beloved, I beseech you, now he's on his knees begging them, as sojourners and pilgrims abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul.

Now Peter is saying this is war. And unless you get yourself committed to righteousness and by that I don't mean you never sin, I mean there is a decreasing frequency of it and when you do, you confess it, you repent of it and you turn from it, you deal with it before God, you are honest enough to evaluate your life. He is saying, I beseech you, abstain from fleshly lusts for they are warring against your soul. When you fall to them, you lose and there goes joy and there goes fruitfulness and there goes reward and there goes ultimately God's honor in the face of the world.

That's the negative. Abstain from fleshly lust, the positive is in verse 12. Have your behavior honest among the Gentiles. Be committed. Live a righteous life.

Live a life above reproach. Listen in Hebrews 11, 13, it says they confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. Hey, we are. We're strangers and pilgrims on the earth and we don't understand that enough. You know, we have got ourselves so rocked into this earth, we are locked in concrete here. We get into the whims of the earth and the world's things and we get all involved in loving the world and the things of the world, as John said.

Instead, the people in the book of Hebrews, it says that they looked for a city whose builder and maker was God. That Paul says to the Philippians that our citizenship is in heaven. Jesus says the world isn't where we belong. The world hates us. We're not of the world. We have no part in the world and yet we get entrenched and we lose our perspective. We don't see ourselves living in the heavenlies, fighting a spiritual warfare, pursuing a righteous life with all of our energy dependent upon his resources. Listen, absolute end of stupidity for a Christian is to become engulfed in the world system. In 2 Timothy 2 and verse 3, Paul says, as a good soldier, endure hardness.

Take it when it's tough. Verse 4 then says, listen to this, no man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life. What he's saying is this, you can't be in the army and be a civilian.

You can't be both. And if you've come to fight for the commander and to serve the Lord, then get out of the system. So we should present our bodies as living sacrifices, holy and acceptable unto God. Holy. We should, as Paul says in Colossians 3, set our affections on things above and not on things on the earth.

We've got to have the breastplate on, people. We've got to do what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15, 34. He says, awake to righteousness and stop sinning. Awake to righteousness and stop sinning. And you know, just the littlest thing can do it.

You know, when a commander starts to fight a battle with another army, the first thing he does is send out an advanced group and they establish a beachhead and then from that beachhead the infiltration takes place. What Satan wants to find in your life is just a little crack in the dam. That's all he needs to burst the whole dam.

It's the little foxes that spoil the vines. Be aware. And remember this, too, that in the end you're going to win.

In the end you're going to be victorious. No sense in forfeiting all of the great things that God has for you now. Oh, I pray that you would be full of joy. I pray this church would be filled with joy. I pray that this church would be filled with fruitfulness. I pray that this church would be filled with productive ministry and rewarded in glory. I pray that God would be lifted up and I know it will all happen when we're committed to real righteousness because the resource is there in the righteousness of Jesus Christ.

Let's pray. Father, we have that ultimate confidence that we will triumph, but we know that even that ultimate confidence cannot protect us now if we're unholy. So we ask that You would gird us, that You would cover us with the breastplate of righteousness that comes from obedient hearts. Oh, God, make us obedient to Your Word to see that we can live holily, justly, blamelessly in the midst of a crooked and perverse world. And we'll thank You for the privilege in Christ's name. Amen. This is Grace to You with John MacArthur.

Thanks for being with us. John is currently taking you through one of his most popular studies. It's titled The Believer's Armor. John, I'm sure this series is clearing up some common misunderstandings about spiritual warfare. Some people think of Satan, you know, as if he's a kind of invincible enemy.

And it's true that he's powerful, but believers don't have to fear Satan. That's what understanding the spiritual armor of the Christian is all about. Yeah, it reminds me of quite a few years ago, there was a large charismatic church in our area and we had a mass influx of people from that church. And I remember meeting with them in a room, I think there were about 30 people that come out of that church. Some of them were the children of leaders in that church.

And I said, what brought you here? And they said, we can no longer live under the sovereignty of Satan. And this was distressing to them. They were taught they had to go into their house and pray out Satan, that they had to go into the bedroom with their children and pray against Satan killing their babies. And they had come to the conclusion that they could not endure life under the sovereignty of Satan. And what triggered all that was I preached a message on the sovereignty of God and how there's full protection in Christ for the people of God.

And this was a massive liberation for them. So you need to understand that you are not under the sovereignty of Satan as a believer. You're under the sovereignty of God who is, of all things, your Savior and your protector. And he's given you the means by which to defeat Satan and his world systems in the armor of the Christian.

And this is what we've been going through in this wonderful series. But I want to mention something to you that is brand new, and that is a new study guide on the Believer's Armor. This is the second study guide that we've launched in the relaunch of the study guides that were very popular and helpful generations ago to Grace To You listeners. And the book on the Believer's Armor looks at the nature of spiritual warfare, the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the shoes of the gospel, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, the sword of the Spirit. And it's ideal for use in your home Bible study, your personal devotions, or in any kind of a class at your church. And a lot of people use them in small groups over the years, and many people use them as sort of the basis for teaching outline and even preaching outlines. Now this particular study guide, the Believer's Armor, is about 200 pages, affordably priced, and you can order as many copies as you would like.

A quick note. In August, we offered a free copy of the study guide to everyone who receives my monthly letter. If you're not on the mailing list, you ought to be, because whenever new books of mine are published, Grace To You offers them by mail free of charge in our monthly letter mailings. You can simply call or send us an email and say you'd like to start receiving my monthly newsletter, or if you order a copy of the Believer's Armor study guide, that will also put you on the mailing list. Either way, get in touch with us today.

Yes, do. And friend, if you are struggling with discouragement, doubt, or any other troubling sin, you'll find encouragement from this new study guide. Discover the amazing protection God gives you to withstand spiritual attack. Pick up the Believer's Armor study guide when you contact us today. Our toll-free number here, 800-55-GRACE, and our website, gty.org. The Believer's Armor study guide costs $11, and shipping is free. Again, to get a copy of the Believer's Armor study guide for yourself or get a few to give away, call 800-55-GRACE or go to gty.org. And to learn even more about spiritual warfare, God's design for the church, or any other biblical topic, let me encourage you to download our app called the Study Bible. It's a free app that gives you the full text of Scripture in the English Standard, King James, or New American Standard versions, along with access to thousands of free online resources. And for a small price, you can add the notes from the MacArthur Study Bible. That's an additional 25,000 notes that will enrich your study of Scripture. The Study Bible app is free to download. Just go to gty.org. Now for John MacArthur, I'm Phil Johnson, reminding you to watch Grace To You television this Sunday, check your local listings, and then join us tomorrow when John looks at four truths you need to understand about spiritual warfare. It's another 30 minutes of unleashing God's truth, one verse at a time, on Grace To You.