Grosey's Messages

EPHESIANS 6:14  THE BREASTPLATE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS

How To Guard Your Heart

14 Stand therefore,… having put on the breastplate of righteousness,

Imputed righteousness produces imparted righteousness.

A Roman breastplate was usually made of bronze, or, if you were a more affluent soldier, chain mail. It covered the midsection, from just below the neck to the thighs. And they called it a heart protector—for obvious reasons. It guarded the vital organ that keeps us alive.

This 'breastplate' generally extended from the base of the neck to the upper part of the thighs, so it covered what we would now call the thorax and abdomen. That is actually the term that is used here in the Greek θώρακα —the 'thorax'. But it also covered the abdomen. So here Paul is talking about the portion of the armour that is to be put over the front part of us, the trunk.

Put on the breastplate of righteousness because this conflict, this wrestling that we are engaged in with the world, and the flesh, and the devil, there should be no part we should be more careful to protect than that where the feelings and the affections and the desires and the will, the control panel, of your life.

Psalm 37:4  Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.

Jer 17:9  The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?

Yep don't follow your heart. It only reflects your inner desires. And those desires may not be good.   Trust your heart? No way!

We have been given a new heart!

Ezeliel 36:25 I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you.26 And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.27 And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.

In 1 Corinthians 15 there is a recognition of the difference between the soul and the spirit, as there is in 1 Thess 5:23 Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.24 He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.

The heart corresponds to the soul.  Born again and not born again in this case have a heart. We as believers have a new heart, guided by the Spirit of God. But our heart is still related to the soulish part of us, that which is was unregenerate, and therefore is always the place that Satan attacks first.

In Bunyan's Holy War, he talks of the various factors that influence the town of Mansoul.

The city named as Mansoul has been regarded as perfect under the rule of Shaddai for a long time. One day, three esteemed men, Lord Willbewill, Understanding, and Conscience, welcome Diabolus into the city. Diabolus with his charisma, eventually convinces Mansoul's citizens to overthrow Shaddai and name him as the ruler of Mansoul. While Understanding and Conscience regretting their actions, Lord Willbewill shifts his allegiance to Diabolus instead. Having concerns over his former citizens, Shaddai sends his son, Emmanuel, to Mansoul as an attempt to reclaim his rule over Mansoul.

Main Characters:[4]

Carnal-Security: An entrapping Diabolian, who convinces Mansoul to break their fellowship with Emmanuel after He saved the city

Conscience: The Recorder of Mansoul, who forgets Shaddai's law due to sin, at times, and other times laments the sin of the city

Forget-Good: The recorder who works for Diabolus and despises the laws of Shaddai

Ill-Pause: A servant of Diabolus who slays Lord Innocency with foulness

Incredulity: Friend of Diabolus and one of the two mayors during his rule. Incredulity escapes execution after the recapture of Mansoul and leads the army of Doubters against it.

Lord Wilbewill: Servant of Shaddai at first but shifts allegiances to Diabolus when the city is captured

Lusting: A Diabolian Mayor during the rule of Diabolus

The Secretary: A Mansoul resident after Emmanuel's conquest

Understanding: Mayor of Mansoul who is unable to see the light because of treachery to Shaddai

The devil "Diabolous" creates 'inordinate desires', he inflames the desires. Through these desires the will is affected. Thus it is of high importance for us to see that that part of our life, that part of our personality where these vital forces and factors are centred, should be adequately protected.

So how do we protect our hearts? How do we put on the breastplate of righteousness in order to protect our heart? How can we Guard Our Hearts?

1.        Guard Your Heart With the Gospel of Grace

Because we can never attain to God's standard of righteousness, God sent His only Son into this world, in order that He might be able to give us His righteousness. He came, the spotless, sinless Son of God, and He rendered a perfect obedience to God's law, obeyed Him in every jot and title of the law. He lived a perfectly righteous life. But more than that; He made Himself responsible for our sins, He bore them in His own body and was crucified for them. 'God laid on him the iniquity of us all.' And at the Cross God smote His dear Son as our sinbearer. And in raising Christ again on the resurrection day God has proclaimed to us that Christ's death was more than sufficient to satisfy His righteous demands.

Guard Your Heart With The Imputed Righteousness of Christ

Imputed righteousness is defined in 2 Corinthians 5:21: For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

NASB He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

God took our sins and 'imputed' them to His Son, put them on Him, put them to His account. That is the meaning of 'imputation'—that you take something that belongs to one person and you put it to the account of another. A man owes a debt; someone else pays it. You have 'imputed' the debt to another. That is what God has done with our sins. He has imputed our sins to His Son, and He has punished them in Him.

Well, my sins are taken away; but that is not enough. Before I can stand in the presence of God I must be positively holy, I must be positively righteous. God is righteous, and just and holy. 'God is light, and in him is no darkness at all'. To stand in His presences I need to be positively righteous. As I believe on God's Son and His work for me, He 'imputes' His righteousness, His perfect observance of the law, to me. I have not kept the law; Christ has kept it perfectly and He is righteous before the law. God puts to my account, imputes to me, the righteousness of His own Son. He clothes me with it. So, as I stand in the presence of God, God does not see me, He sees the righteousness of His Son covering me, clothing me completely. That is what I now rejoice in.

"But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ.8 Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ9 and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith" (Philippians 3:7,8, 9).

Salvation by 'imputed righteousness', means that Christ's perfect righteousness is put to my account, imputed to me, put upon me by God. And, clothed in the righteousness of Christ, God pronounces me to be a just man, a righteous man; and the law cannot touch me. 'There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus' (Romans 8:1). The law has nothing to say against me because I am covered by this perfect, spotless righteousness of the Son of God Himself, and have on 'the breastplate of righteousness'.

Now Satan is called the accuser of the brethren.  (Rev. 12:10). When we fall into sin, the Holy Spirit will convict us and draw us through repentance and forgiveness back into fellowship with the Father. But Satan will counterfeit the conviction with accusations. The whisperer who laughs, "You call yourself a Christian?" is not the voice of the Holy Spirit. That's demonic, and it is designed to drive you into false comforts to ease your guilt. Rather than flee to Christ for our righteousness, imputed righteousness, we flee to religious works to make us feel better about ourselves.   There are so many religious people who base their salvation on what they do for "the church."  Their position in the church in their minds, is tied to their salvation!  No wonder they fight like anything to retain their seat at a table!  And it is the devil that gets to their hearts so that they accept a false comfort based on their works, instead of the perfect righteousness of Christ.

Satan is the accuser.  Satan accuses us by encouraging us to accuse ourselves. Some Christians have a problem with perpetual introspection. This constant self-examination is dangerous because it often leads to self-accusation. The Devil knows that if he can get you to accuse yourself—to dwell on the memories of past sins — then he has won the battle.

Remember:  "Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, "Now salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down.11 And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death." (Revelation 12:11).

Now that is Satan's first attack for which we need the breastplate of the Imputed Righteousness of Christ.

2.        Guard Your Heart With Godliness of Lifestyle

We call this the Imparted Righteousness of Christ.

Guard Your Heart with the Imparted righteousness of Christ.

There is also what the Puritans called 'imparted' righteousness. We need to lay hold on this too!

God does not stop at only imputing to me the righteousness of Christ, He now works within me to make me more righteous. He now begins to work in me the righteousness of His own Son. He 'imparts' it to me, He makes it a part of me, He puts it into me. This is what happens at the rebirth, regeneration, the new life. The new heart!

Imputed righteousness is justification—that which God gives us by faith.

Imparted righteousness is sanctification—that which we live out in our daily lives.

Phil 2:12,13  Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling;13 for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.

We need to work down into us what God has worked in us, the principle of grace. God's gracious work in us is like His gracious work for us. His gracious work for us is to account us as righteous because of the Lord Jesus Christ.  His gracious work in us is to make us righteous, changing our hearts from within. God's gracious principle at work in us  is to impart to us righteousness, making us become what we has already accounted us as being.

The word righteousness in Ephesians 6:14 also means "uprightness, right living, integrity in one's lifestyle and character." It is a matter of conforming our will to God's will.

How are you to guard your heart by becoming conformed to the image of the Lord Jesus Christ?

Romans 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.29 For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.(NKJV)

(ESV) For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.

The Lord's Goal for you is to be righteous, righteous just like His Son!

Ephesians 5: 3 But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints. 4 Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving. 5 For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous ( that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. 6 Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. 7 Therefore do not become partners with them; 8 for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light 9 (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), 10 and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. 11 Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. 12 For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret. 13 But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible, 14 for anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says,

"Awake, O sleeper,

and arise from the dead,

and Christ will shine on you."

 15 Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, 16 making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. 17 Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.

How are you going to do this?

Guard Your Heart With the Governance of God's Word

Prov 4: 4 he taught me and said to me, "Let your heart hold fast my words; keep my commandments, and live.

Prov 4: 20 My son, be attentive to my words; incline your ear to my sayings.

21 Let them not escape from your sight; keep them within your heart.

22 For they are life to those who find them, and healing to all their flesh.

23 Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life. (NASB Watch over NET Guard)

Your Words  Prov 4:24 Put away from you crooked speech, and put devious talk far from you.

Your Watchings  25  Let your eyes look directly forward, and your gaze be straight before you.

Your Ways 26 Ponder the path of your feet; then all your ways will be sure.

Your Walk  27 Do not swerve to the right or to the left; turn your foot away from evil