Let's pray. Our Father in heaven, we have sung some amazing songs that have pointed our hearts towards Christ and His atoning sacrifice, Lord, that satisfies all of your demands. Father, I pray that we would revel in what Christ has done for us as sinners, and we would rejoice. Father, I pray that we would never just go through the motions of those songs, how much glorious theology is in them. Lord, that we can approach your throne, that you, the thrice holy God of heaven, would let us into your presence because of Christ. Lord, I pray that that would not be lost on us and that would not just be words that fall off our lips. Lord, I pray that you would protect us from the evil one even this morning. A Lord who will want us to focus on anything and everything but Christ and the righteousness he provides for his people. Father, would you help us, would you help me to preach the unsearchable riches of Christ this morning? I pray, Lord, even, that you would open up ears afresh and eyes anew, that you would grant life into hearts of stone, that you would replace them with hearts of flesh, that they might be able to respond to the proclaimed message of Christ and Him crucified. Father, we pray that this would redound to your glory as we sang, that this would be to the praise of your glorious grace, that at the end of this service, Lord, that we would not be thinking about ourselves, but we would be resting in Christ. Father, I know that many of us come, even as Christians, Lord, with burdens. Remind us, Lord, of the Gentle Saviour's voice who reminds us afresh, Lord, that we are to come to Him, to cast our burdens upon Him. Lord Jesus, would you reveal Yourself this morning by the Spirit as such a gentle and glorious shepherd. Father, we pray, bless the preaching of the Gospel this morning, bless the preaching of Your Word, we pray in Jesus' name, Father. Amen. Please open your Bibles to Ephesians 6. As we continue through the catalog of the armor of God, living for Christ is not as easy as we would think. Even though we are filled with Spirit, we must be reminded often that we are engaged in a battle against the heavenly powers, these cosmic powers in the heavenly places, and that we have a foe. And as we've seen the last two weeks, he is formidable, and he is crafty, and he is deceitful, and he wants to destroy us. And I was thinking this week that if Satan can't keep us from knowing Christ savingly, he will keep Christians from knowing Him experientially. He tries to keep unbelievers from knowing Christ. But then if He cannot keep us from knowing Christ, then He will make it His darndest to keep us from knowing Christ in the Gospel as believers. He will always be turning our gaze away from Christ, whether an unbeliever or believer. Satan loves for us to focus on ourselves. He loves for us to focus on how we've been doing. He loves for us to focus on what we've not been doing. He loves for us to focus on ourselves and not on Christ. I'm going to begin this morning's sermon by asking you a question. Listener, if I were to ask you this morning how you felt about how God felt about you right now, what would your answer be? Right now. Okay, you don't have to answer that vocally, but just think, how does God feel about me right now? What would your answer be? And then I would pose a second question, which is equally or more important. Why does He feel this way about you? I think it would be a shame considering the songs we just sang, but I also know the propensity of our hearts to be so overly self-introspective that we can forget the gospel preached five minutes ago and we immediately revert back into what Luther called self-righteousness or works righteousness. How does God feel about you right now? And why does he feel this way about you? Though there might be much divergence with regards to the first question, I have a sneaking suspicion there is likely more agreement with the answer to the second question. So some of you might say, God is well pleased with me this morning. Or God is angry with me this morning. God has forsaken me this morning. God has forgotten me this morning. You might have those various answers. And then if I were to ask you why he is either pleased with you or displeased with you, there's a good chance that you might answer incorrectly. He is happy with me because of what I have done. Or correspondingly, He is angry with me and rejected me because of what I have done. When push comes to shove, we always revert back to a works performance that somehow is going to make God happy with us or angry with us. Luther. The Great Lightning Rod of the Reformation famously said this, that our hearts are hardwired for works righteousness. Calvin said that our hearts are idle factories. But his predecessor, Luther, I think was on to something. Not only from scripture, but also from looking at himself and looking at humanity as a whole. In Adam, And even after we've been redeemed as Christians from Adam, our hearts still have this proclivity and this tendency to always look inward, to always base our acceptance with God or our rejection from God based on what we have done. And so this morning, when Paul tells us that we need to stand having put on the breastplate of righteousness, I think it's a very important reminder to us of why Paul would list this. If we are going to stand against the schemes of Satan, if we are going to be able to oppose the one who is called the accuser of the brethren in Revelation 12.10, that we are not able to stand or withstand in the evil day. We are not able to, having done all, stand firm. Unless we understand this idea of what the breastplate of righteousness is. That we're hardwired towards righteousness basically means that what we do determines how God feels about us. Some of you this morning might feel that God has left you because you were late for church, you didn't make prayer meeting, you didn't tithe this morning. Ad nauseum. That leads to self despair. You're looking within. God is angry with you because you have not met what He requires of you. So you look to yourself, and it leads to self-despair. That's one ditch. Or some of you, perhaps, struggle with the opposite pole, that God is happy with you because you did go to prayer meeting, because you were at Sunday school, because you did make it to church, and because you put a whopping offering in the plate. That leads to self-righteousness. And both of them are equally dangerous, and both of them Satan loves to present to dangle. And from the Christian knowing that we have this propensity to look inward. I'm thinking of a Lloyd-Jones sermon I read. He said, Satan loves to get us with pride. And we have an easy time seeing that there's pride in self-righteousness. But we have a hard time realizing that there's much pride also in self-pity, in self-despair. Because you know what the essence of pride is? Me. Not so much how good I am or how bad I am, but rather, me. And Satan loves us to focus on ourselves, whether how good we're doing, which results in self-righteousness, or how poorly we're doing, which leads to self-despair. And if you recall, two weeks ago, Satan loves to trip up the church because it's through the church that God is revealing His plan of salvation in Christ to the nations. And so, how well is a Christian going to be received if he's living arrogantly in self-righteousness? Or, How well is he going to be received if he's living in self-pity and self-despair and he's helpless and paralyzed? And there's always that balance we need. And so I'm going to say it, as I've said it a million times, for every look at self, McShane said, take ten looks to Christ. There's nothing wrong with doing a self-introspection now and then. It's not unbiblical. However, we have a tendency to be morbid about it and to become consumed with looking at ourselves and constantly grading ourselves and constantly focusing on ourselves. Self, self, self, self. And so, Paul is admonishing the believers engulfed and consumed in spiritual warfare, to stand having put on the breastplate of righteousness. Beloved, you understand this, that Satan, our archenemy, loves to push us to evaluate ourselves according to how well we've done. or how far we've missed God's standard. Do you know the most dangerous and the most effective tactic Satan uses against many Christians is to divert their gaze from Christ to self. To move their gaze from Christ's righteousness to their lack or abundance of righteousness. Gets me all the time. One day I'm in the dumps, Monday's often, The next day, you know, if I hit a home run sermon, alright, he's got me both ways and I need to keep looking to Christ. And so our text this morning reminds us that it is impossible to stand against Satan without first putting on the breastplate of righteousness. Lest, if we do not, or we put on the wrong breastplate of the wrong righteousness, We would say with David in Psalm 7, our pursuer tears me apart like a lion, rending me in pieces with none to deliver. If you're focusing on yourself this morning, you are just as prone as David in Psalm 2 is. Your pursuer tears your soul apart like a lion, rending it in pieces with none to deliver. You cannot deliver yourself. And that's the funny thing, is Christians know that when they tell unbelievers that. They say, don't look to yourself, don't look to your works, look to Christ. And in the very next breath, the believer is doing the very thing they were telling the unbeliever not to do. You have to fight to look to Christ. Often when we think of spiritual warfare, we think of the strange paranormal stuff. We think of rebuking, or casting out Satan, or weird things happening. I don't think that's what Paul is reminding us of this morning. He's saying that Satan loves to deceive. He loves to mix truth with error. He loves to sort of change things, and he loves to change this idea of righteousness. Satan's main attack, I think, focuses on the believer's identity in Christ. I really believe that. At least here, and at least in reform circles. He's going to attack you. He's going to say that you're not worthy. of God's favor. And if you don't have the breastplate of Christ's righteousness on, you will believe it. And you will be fruitless. And you will live a life that is fruitless, as it were. And I want to encourage you, as we work through all these texts, to pray, God give me grace to put on Christ's righteousness. Not just to know about His righteousness, but to put it on. I was thinking about this. I think too much, perhaps. And you agree, because the sermons usually go longer. But in Romans 13, 14, me and Christina were watching a Ligonier series on church history by Dr. Robert Godfrey. We went through Augustine, or Augustine for you nerds. And the text that was used instrumentally in his conversion was Romans 13, 13 and 14. And in the 14th verse it says, But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provisions for the flesh, And I was thinking how often I think, well, the provisions for the flesh, yes, in context, are the sexual licentiousness, and the coveting heart, and all those things that we would say, yes, those are works of the flesh. But I was thinking, put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh, things like looking to self, and pride, and self-pity, and self-despair. Those are works of the flesh just as much. And so, the same way that you conquer lust, The same way you conquer greed and bitterness with the righteousness of Christ being put on, is the same way you conquer self-righteousness and self-despair. Put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provisions for the flesh, whether self-righteousness or self-despondency. Paul says, put it on. Having fastened on the belt of truth and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, stand. In Paul's day, the soldier would wear a breastplate, usually of metal. Some people think it was leather. Whatever it's made of, I really don't care about, but it's meant to protect your vital organs. It covered the soldier from his neck to his navel, front and back, and provided crucial protection from mortal wounds. It covered the kidneys, but more importantly it covered the heart. Again, I don't want to make too much about this, but I do think with many preachers that it's significant that the breastplate of righteousness covers our heart, which is so easily uprooted, so easily blown and tossed about, so fickle. Our heart is so easily moved and changed and based upon the shifting sand of our emotions and circumstances. And we need to, as it were, ground our hearts in the rock of Christ's righteousness. Chiefly, it was a defensive piece of armor for the soldier because it protected their most vital organs. It serves the same function for us spiritually. It protects our heart. And there's a verse that you should memorize. It's in Proverbs 4.23. It says, above all guarding, literally in the Hebrew, guard your hearts. Or as in the ESV, keep your heart with all vigilance. Why? For out of it flow the wellsprings of life. In other words, the heart is the source and it functions sort of as the central system that as the heart goes, so go you. And so if your heart is overwhelmed with self despair, There you go. Your life will be overfilled and overrun with self-despair. So we need to put this breastplate of righteousness on to guard our hearts. Above guarding everything else, Solomon says, you have to guard your hearts. And you guard your hearts with the breastplate of righteousness. As inconceivable as it was in Paul's time for a soldier to go into hand-to-hand combat without his breastplate on, It's just or even more inconceivable that a Christian would ever seek to stand in this fallen evil age without the breastplate of righteousness on. It's moving from an argument from the lesser to the greater. If that guy needed his breastplate in a physical battle, how much more do we need the breastplate of righteousness for a spiritual battle? Remember verse 12? Who do we battle against? Not blood and flesh. but against the rulers and the authorities and the cosmic powers over this present darkness and the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Thus, if we leave our hearts exposed to the enemy's attacks, we can be seriously, even fatally wounded in spiritual battle. Perhaps some of you still have arrows in your heart this morning. I'm not sure where you're at. But I'm hoping by the grace of God as we look to Christ and what He has done for us as sinners, that we'll be able to deflect and be able to block all of those arrows He's shooting at us, which we're going to look at next week perhaps. Remember from last week that the first thing you put on is the belt of truth. And I said that the belt was sort of like the anchor. It's sort of what kept everything else in place. And so I want to just do a quick review of that. Before you put on the breastplate of righteousness, I think Paul is saying you need to put on the belt of truth. And as I said last week, it's the truth that defines all the other armaments. Because you know what? People are putting on breastplates of righteousness this morning. Roman Catholics, Jews, Muslims, good moral people, unregenerate people who call themselves Christians, they're putting on a breastplate of righteousness. But it's not the breastplate of righteousness that is in accordance with the truth of the Word of God. That's the dangerous thing. That's why I said you have to put the belt of truth on, because the truth is what defines all the other pieces of armor. It's the truthful righteousness. There's a lot of people who have the helmet of salvation on, but their helmet of salvation is not Christ. They have a shield of faith, but it's faith in good works. They have a breastplate of righteousness, but it's a righteousness of their own doing. So before you put on the breastplate of righteousness, put on the truth. And as you dig into the truth, study out what does the Bible say about righteousness. What does it say about my righteousness? What does it say about my need of righteousness? And what does it say about Christ's righteousness? Because if you're wearing your own breastplate of righteousness this morning, that's nothing. That's like my girls, sometimes they think paper is everything. And they put like a piece of paper on and they'll think that's a shield. Like I think Susanna was over yesterday and Abby cut out a piece of paper and those are like cat whiskers. So if you're wearing your own righteous breastplate, it's just like wearing a piece of paper on. And it's really nothing. Check it out. Look like Iron Man. No, you look like a fool. Satan's going to destroy you. You need to put on righteousness, but not your own. Put on the Lord Jesus Christ. Because you know what Isaiah 64 verse 6 says? It says that all of our righteousness, all our inherent good works on our best day are like what? Filthy rags. Just imagine that. All these soldiers running the battle and you're late. You know, and they're all wearing their metal armaments and breastplates on. You run and you got filthy, tattered rags on. Who's seeing an attack first? I know who I would. I'd attack the guy who's wearing filthy rags who thinks he's wearing a real breastplate of righteousness. Okay, so we define all the armor in light of the truth. And I likened the belt of truth to the sun. The sun is in the center of everything, and it keeps all the planets sort of in place. But if you screw with the sun, or if you move it, everything else is in disarray. So it is. If you don't have the belt of truth on, if you're going to any other book or any other source than this, than the Word of God to define righteousness, you're putting on a false righteousness. Satan's not going to tell you that. So make sure that the righteousness you're putting on is defined according to this book. That it is the righteousness that Paul is thinking of, and not what you were hoping it is. The righteousness that Paul is talking about ultimately is Christ's righteousness. Turn to Isaiah 59. Most scholars agree that even more than a Roman picture of a soldier, Paul is referring to the righteousness or this armor of God in light of Yahweh's armor. So Paul is thinking of a Roman soldier, but first and foremost he's thinking of God. Every commentator I read, and I have a ton of them, It's in Isaiah 59 verse 17. Okay, so let me read the previous context, so we can sort of unpack what's going on here. Truth is lacking, verse 15, and he who departs from evil makes himself a prey. The Lord saw it and it displeased him. So he's looking at his disheveled, conquered, defeated people. Just living in sin, they just can't get out of it. All the laws in the world have not delivered Israel. The Lord saw it and it displeased Him. That there was no justice. He saw that there was no man and wondered that there was no one to intercede. Here it is. Then His own arm brought Him salvation. And His righteousness upheld Him. These people have no righteousness. They can't save or deliver themselves. They're hopeless. Apart from an act of grace intervening, they're done. Yeah, they're talking maybe about Babylon, but ultimately this is a spiritual defeat. So God is going to take it into His own hands. So like when you see your kids trying to do something, and you're like, okay, enough's enough. I'm going to finally step in and do it right. Because obviously, if you keep doing this, it's not going to work. So God says, you can't do it. You can't live justly. You can't be the society I called you to be. You have no righteousness of your own and you can't deliver yourself from yourself. So I'm going to intervene. My own arm is going to bring me salvation. Just like He did in Egypt when He delivered the people out of slavery. They couldn't. So God intervened. He put on the armor. He came as divine warrior. He delivers His people. His righteousness upholds Him in delivering His people. He put on righteousness as a what? as a breastplate and a helmet of salvation on his head, that kind of reigns of Ephesians 6, if you ask me. He put on garments of vengeance for clothing and wrapped himself in zeal as a cloak. We'll stop there. What is Paul saying here by, I think, quoting Isaiah 59? That the righteousness, the inherent righteousness of the people is inadequate to deliver them from their enemies. Does it have relevance to what Paul is saying for us in spiritual warfare? Our inherent righteousness is not sufficient. Let me say it this way. Your inherent righteousness, even on your best days, is not sufficient to deliver you from the clutches of your foe, from your enemy. And so what you need is a divine righteousness. A breastplate of righteousness that belongs to God. And what Paul is saying is the breastplate of righteousness that God puts on Himself in Isaiah 59, is what He puts on His people in Christ. Isn't that amazing? That's your salvation! That's what delivers you! And keeps delivering you! And will deliver you! Three-tenths of salvation. Romans 5, read this morning, was not an accident as our call to worship. You're justified. You have peace with God. His righteousness is upon you. But yes, you will continue to be delivered by that righteousness. And at the very end, you will be delivered when you stand before God on that day by the righteousness of Christ. From start to end, it's all of Christ's righteousness. So put it on afresh. Put on, not your righteousness, put on God's righteousness. Did you hear that? The breastplate of righteousness that we arm ourselves with is not our righteousness, but God's own righteousness in Christ. Which is why you need to read Ephesians 1-3. Romans 10. Paul says that by nature we are seeking the righteousness. We read it this morning in Sunday school, but I don't mind repeating it again. Paul's yearning over these Israelites, who like him in Romans 7, just couldn't do enough to be made right with God. Oh, wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of flesh that is so susceptible to Satan's workings and wilings. I can't! I keep all the laws in the world, I'm the best Pharisee around, and yet... I can't defend myself against lust. I can't defend myself against Satan. And so Paul in Romans 10 is sort of saying, this is what happened to me. He says in verse 1 and 2 about the people of Israel, I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God but not according to knowledge. Verse 3, for being ignorant of the righteousness of God and seeking to establish their own that did not submit to God's righteousness, for Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. So you're pursuing a breastplate of righteousness this morning, but my question is, are you with the legalistic Jews trying to put on your own righteousness? Read Romans 7, see where it got Paul. Or are you putting on God's righteousness in Christ by faith? It makes all the difference in the world. Because if you're putting on your own righteousness, you cannot say... We'll go to Romans 7, since you're almost there. Okay, look at it in verse 24. O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Now look two verses later. There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ. That makes all the difference in the world. Those songs that we just sang make a ton of sense. This is what theologians call imputed righteousness. Okay, it's a fancy word, but basically this is the gist of it. That of ourselves, we have no righteousness that meets the qualifications before God. We have all sinned and fallen short of God's glorious standard. If you look at the very end of Matthew 5, when Jesus is teaching the Sermon on the Mount, He says that you must be perfect, as my Father in Heaven is perfect. Okay? Unless you're a liar, you're not perfect. You can't do that on your own. And so you need a righteousness not your own. You need a perfect righteousness, but you don't have it in yourself. So what you need is someone to credit their righteousness to your account. That's imputed righteousness. I can't. I can't pay the sin penalty. And not only that, I can't do enough righteousness because all the righteousness I do is tainted. So I need to have my sin imputed to someone, and I need to have someone else's perfect righteousness imputed to me. Did you know that's what the gospel is? That's the good news. Some of you are still toiling and striving and trying to work out everything so God will accept you. When the Bible says that God so loved the world, He sent Christ, the Son of God, into the world to live a perfect life. The law He perfectly obeyed the hymns says, and the scriptures, He kept the law perfectly. He obeyed perfectly. He made it His meat and His drink to do every jot and tittle that the Father had for Him. Perfectly! He lived a perfect life and was not acceptable before the Father. But the Bible also says that He died in the place of sinners. And this is the great mystery of the Gospel. That the Bible says that if you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, His perfect righteousness is imputed or reckoned to your account. You can stand before the Father. And your sins that you committed treasonously against God are imputed to Christ on the cross. So you need a righteousness. You need a perfect righteousness. Does anybody know 2 Corinthians 5.21? And can you quote it for me nice and loud so it picks up on the microphone? Do you guys hear that? For God made Him. Who's the Him? Christ. Who knew no sin. Who practiced no sin. He made Christ, the sinless one, to become sin in our behalf. You could translate that. In our place, Christ becomes sin. But He never did sin. How does the sinless one become sin? by my sin being transferred to Him, just like in the Old Testament, you know, they weren't petting the, you know, oh pretty goat, they're calming him down, slit. No, when they're putting the hand on the goat, it signified a transfer, an imputation of their sin upon the innocent, blameless and blemished one, or unblemished one. They're putting the hand on, so basically what he's saying is, when we trust in Christ, we're putting our hand, my hand would lay, my faith would lay its dear hand on thine head, the hymn says. And our sins are imputed to Christ. But the verse doesn't end there. For God made Christ, who knew no sin, to become sin in our place, so that we might become the what? The righteousness of God in Him. That's the gospel. That's putting on the breastplate. So, appropriating that verse, by faith in Christ, I am righteous before God's sight. You need to remind yourself of that every day. If you're just thinking, I'm so bad, but Christ died for my badness, and He gave me all of His righteousness, I can come before God with confidence. You know what you've just done? You've put on the breastplate of righteousness. And so when Satan tempts you to despair, and tells you of all the guilt within, upward you look and see Christ there who made an end to all of your sin. I hope when you sing those songs that they truly challenge you and say, yes, He made an end to all of my sin, including barking at my kids this morning, getting mad at them for being later. Whatever the sin was you committed that makes you feel unworthy to come in to worship Christ this morning, remember He died for that sin. This is the glorious doctrine of double imputation. If you do not have God's own righteousness, nothing can save you. But if you have God's righteousness in Christ, you are safe from eternity. I don't know if I'll quote Romans 8, but you can write it down just in case I don't. Read Romans 8, 28 to the end of the chapter. God, in all of His electing love, has brought you to Christ. What can separate you from Christ? He who spared not His own Son, holy not also with Him, graciously give you all things. You think He's going to forgive you at the beginning, but not forgive you to the end? He will complete what He began. Why? Because Christ's righteousness covers you, not yours. This is the good news. Tell this to the Mormons. Tell this to your religious friends. Tell this to your pagan neighbors. They can be made right before God. They can wear God's righteousness in Christ. Oh, how Christians need to hear this more often. Oh, how often I need to wear this. Remember, he says, be strengthened by putting on present tense. Keep strengthening yourself. Keep being made strong. How are you made strong? By reminding yourself of the truth of the belt of righteousness, which is in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Let me give you some examples, some biblical examples that came to mind, and I'm going to ask you to turn there. Go to Zechariah chapter three. It's a beautiful picture. of what we are in Christ. It's the second last book of the Old Testament, right before Malachi. And I'm going to read the first five verses. So just go to Matthew, go back a couple of books, and you found Zechariah, third chapter. Because so often we feel like Joshua. We feel dirty and soiled, and that God will not let us stand before Him. Why would God ever hear my prayer? Why? I missed the last two prayer meetings. Surely he won't hear me this Sunday, or he won't hear me this Wednesday. Surely he won't hear my praise to him. Satanic. Then he, this is an angel, who is showing of the prophet Zechariah a whole bunch of crazy visions, but he showed me Joshua the high priest. Now stop there for a second. The high priest is probably one of the most holy people in all of Israel. That was sweet, whoever said that. Did you hear that? Mom, I love you. Something bad was just committed, I'm certain. Then he showed me Joshua the high priest. This guy's all decked out, you know, if you want to read in Leviticus, he's all holy to the Lord, he's got all the stones going on, the hat, the tunic, everything. If there's somebody you can think of who is not as bad a sinner as the rest of us, let's say, he would be the one. But Zechariah the prophet is showing a vision here. Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord and Satan. Now in Hebrew, Satan, the verb means to accuse. So the accuser you could say. So Satan is fine, but the accuser standing at his right hand to accuse him. The accuser accusing the high priest. And the Lord said to Satan, This is very good. You can even dog-ear your Bible. That's not a sin. You can dog-ear Zechariah 3. If you're struggling, if you feel dirty and defiled this morning, but you've trusted in Christ, the Lord is saying to Satan, as He accuses you this morning, the Lord rebuke you, O accuser. The Lord rebuke you, O Satan. The Lord who has chosen Jerusalem, rebuke you. Is this not a brand plucked from the fire? In other words, has God not plucked Joshua the high priest out of the fire? Has He not elected him out of this world? Has He not drawn him to Himself? This burning stick that deserves destruction, has not God Himself plucked it out? If you're a Christian, that's you, by the way. Now Joshua was standing before the angel, clothed with what? Filthy garments. And the angel said to those who were standing before him, Kick him out of God's presence. This is the amazing thing of the gospel. That some of you may think, oh, if you only knew my past. If you only knew how much adultery I committed, how many drugs I snorted, how many people I've ripped off. If you only knew how dirty and how gross my garments were. Take them to Zechariah 3. Or maybe if that's you, turn yourself to Zechariah 3. No, the angel says something astonishing. The angel said to those who were standing before him, remove the filthy garments from him. And he said to him, behold, I have taken away your iniquity from you, and I will clothe you with the pure vestments. Okay, maybe I'm reading too much into it, but that's a beautiful picture of what God does for us in Christ, when He takes away our sin and He gives us Christ's righteousness. And I said, let them put a clean turban on his head. Oh, you're thinking of Luke 15, maybe the prodigal son? So they put a clean turban on his head and clothed him with garments and the angel of the Lord was standing by. That's a nice Old Testament picture of what it means to have your filthy righteousness removed and Christ's beautiful righteousness put on. Put on a turban on his head. Joshua, now go serve. He doesn't say, Joshua, sit around and do nothing. Joshua, you've been cleansed, now live cleanly. You've been made righteous, now live righteously. You've been declared fit for service, now go serve fitly. A lot of people think that focusing on grace and on the imputation of Christ will lead to antinomianism, or we'll just start to live lazy lives. I confess that nothing further could be the truth. When you focus on Christ, all of a sudden you're caught up, and as you gaze on Him, you're changed from one degree of glory to another by the Spirit. And all of a sudden you actually want to serve. And self-righteousness is gone. You just want to live righteously because you're righteous in Christ now. You put on the new man because the new man has been put on, Ephesians 4.24 language. Let's look at Paul in Philippians 3. I have no problem doing this. If some of you are tired, I won't be too offended if you have a nap. But for those who are able to bear with it, let's look at Paul. So here's a man who had quite the credentials. We can look in verse 3, and I'm just going to read a little bit, so just bear with me. For we, he's talking about believers in Christ, we are the circumcision who worship by the Spirit of God in glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh. So you could say here, put no confidence in self-righteousness. Though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh. Now this is going to start to play a little bit of a comparison game. If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more. So here's Paul's Isaiah 64, 6 robe of righteousness. This is his catalogue here. I was circumcised on the 8th day. It was of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews. As to the law of Pharisee, as to zeal of persecutor of the church, as to righteousness under Christ. This is the righteousness of Romans 9.33 and of Romans 10.3 and 4. As to righteousness under the law, blameless. So he did have his righteousness on. But it wasn't the right righteousness. See, a lot of you, I'm convinced, are wearing a breastplate of righteousness this morning. I'm just concerned as whose righteousness are you wearing? But whatever gain I had, this is Paul looking back in retrospect, I count it as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord, for His sake. I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as dung, as rubbish. In order that I may gain Christ, here it is, and be found in Him, comma, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, But rather, that righteousness which comes through faith in Christ. The righteousness of God that depends on faith. So, Paul had his own righteousness on, but the moment he was converted, his filthy garment of self-righteousness, marred by sin in the flesh, removed. He puts his faith in Christ that moment, Christ is put on him. Christ's righteousness now characterizes him. I've given you an Old Testament example and a New Testament example. Let me give you the example of John Bunyan. I remember reading this book when I was dating Christina eons ago at the camp. I don't know why a young 24-year-old would be reading Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners, which was Bunyan's biography. I have no idea to this day why I bought it. I was just coming out of fundamentalist baptism. I wasn't even reformed yet. And I was reading it. This is a tough read. But basically, Bynum, who wrote the Pilgrim's Progress, the Holy War, etc., he really struggled as a Christian. He thought he'd committed the unforgivable sin by taking the Lord's name in vain. He thought he was Esau in Hebrews chapter, I think, 12. And so he was just languishing, and he was just always crawling around, and his lip was always droopy. He had no confidence, no assurance. He was hoping, he hoped in Christ, But he just didn't get it, he was trying so hard. And even as I read like Edwards, and Whitefield, and Andrew Fuller, and all these glorious reformed guys, they tried so hard, and it wasn't until the light dawned on them, that their righteousness wasn't sufficient. So let me read you from Bunyan's own words. Ok, they're a little old school, he did write 500 years ago. He said, one day, remember, he's passing through the field, he's writing about, just despondent. Just utterly feels rejected by God. And he was focusing on himself. One day, as I was passing in the field, and that too was some dashes of my conscience. In other words, he's feeling very convicted. Fearing, lest yet all was not right, suddenly this sentence fell upon my soul. Listen. Thy righteousness is in heaven. Made all the difference. He thought his righteousness was on earth, but he said, all of a sudden it dawned on him. Thy righteousness is in heaven. And methought with all, I saw with the eyes of my soul Jesus Christ at God's right hand. There, I say, was my righteousness. You should be saying Amen if you're a Christian. So that wherever I was, or whatever I was a doing, God could not say of me, He wants my righteousness, for that was just before Him. Right? So God is up there in heaven. He demands righteousness from us. And Brian is saying, your righteousness is at your right hand in heaven with you. It's not with me. I also saw, moreover, that it was not my good frame of heart that made my righteousness better, nor yet my bad frame that made my righteousness worse. For my righteousness was Jesus Christ Himself, the same yesterday, today, and forever. Now did the chains fall off my legs. Indeed, I was loosened from my afflictions and irons. Now went I also home rejoicing for the grace and love of God. Isn't that fantastic? Satan was just having his way with Bunyan. And all of a sudden, my righteousness is at heaven and what God demands of me is already there at his right hand. Isn't that amazing? It's so freeing, it's so liberating. A lot of you know people who go to church, who are in the bondage, they're like the Galatians. Having begun in the spirit, they're trying to perfect themselves in the flesh. Oh foolish Galatians! Remember the gospel. Remember the gospel. This is the good news of the gospel. What God demands, God supplies. Right? Some of you are always thinking of supply and demand. Some of you businessmen. That's the gospel. What God demands of you, He supplies for you in Christ. Are you in Christ? I said it a hundred times, quoting Calvin. To know all that Christ has for you means nothing if you're not in Him. It's cold outside. And you know it's warm inside. That means nothing until you come inside the building. Knowing that Christ could be your righteousness means nothing unless you are in Christ your righteousness. That's the good news. What God demands, He supplies. Matthew 11, 28. Come to me, Jesus says. He's speaking to all you who are laboring. Those are present tenses. You're laboring. And then you labor some more because you thought maybe your labors were inadequate or insufficient. And then you labor a little more, and then a little more laboring, and it's endless. You who are laboring, and who are heavy laden, you have this huge weight, whether it's sin, or religion, or dirtiness, but Jesus says, cast it off. Come to me, and I will give you rest. He will give you righteousness with which you can rest in. Jesus bids us to make an exchange. Some of you might not be believers this morning. Jesus bids you come. Get rid of the filthy works of your hands. Quit trying to climb the ladder to heaven. He says, I will take your filthy garments and I will give you my robe of righteousness. But it must be received by faith. Jesus bids us exchange, not only as unbelievers, But in sanctification as believers, some of you as believers, you've trusted in Christ. And you come with all kinds of heavy burdens this morning. And you're carrying them. And God says, humble yourself. Humble yourself and let go of those burdens. Let go of those sins. Give them to Jesus. Exchange the guilt. and receive His righteousness afresh. Exchange your filthy, fig leaf garments of self-righteousness. That's what Adam and Eve did. They clothed themselves in self-righteousness, trying to make themselves presentable before God, but all they could do was hide in the blazing glory of His holiness. You cannot stand before God in your own righteousness. It's flaming worlds inviscerate! What is the hymn writer talking about? Christ's robe of righteousness. Midslamic world inviscerate. With joy shall I lift up my head. Not with your fig leaves of self-righteousness. Rather, with the garment of Christ's righteousness. With the breastplate of His righteousness. Would you exchange that afresh, either for the first time, or for you, Christian, who are laboring hard and have forgotten the gospel, would you put off that and put on the Lord Jesus Christ afresh? Let me give you a quote by a man named Thomas Brooks. He wrote Precious Remedies Against Satan's Devices. Very good book. I hardly recommend it. It's Puritan and it's fantastic. But he's talking about Satan's vices and how he often attacks believers and he loves to bombard us, right? Like the song was saying, when Satan tempts us to despair and tells us of the guilt within. He says this. In law, remember this is right in the Puritan days, it's not law for us, but in law in those times, we know that all the debts of the wife are charged upon the husband. Some of you wives are thinking we need to re-institute that law. But often that's what happens, right? When you get married, pretend there was a wife who had a whole bunch of debt, and the husband, the surety we'll call him, has a whole bunch of abundance. But when they're united, there's the transfer. So back then, women didn't work. And so they needed, as it were, to be in their husband. So he says, we know that all the debts of the wife are charged upon the husband. Saith the wife to one and to another, if I owe anything, go to my husband. Right? So the wife needs something, or they're charging her, go to my husband. He says this, so may a believer say to the law, and to the justice of God, if I owe anything, go to my Christ, who hath undertaken for me. Would not it argue much weakness, nay madness, for a debtor to sit down discouraged upon his looking over these debts that his surely hath readily, freely, and fully satisfied? That's why we sometimes get into the slew of despondent despair. Surely he's paid the debt, we're saying it, he's paid the dreadful debt. He says this, Well, I don't know if he says this or I say this. Someone says this. Believers in justification, it's probably me because it doesn't sound Puritan or good. God has once for all clothed us with the righteousness of Jesus Christ. In sanctification, Christian, listen. God has already put on that Isaiah 59 armor on you. He's put it on once for all in your justification. But sanctification is this. It's your duty to put on a fresh, daily, hourly, minutely, The breastplate of righteousness. How? By reminding yourselves of the glorious truths of the gospel of God's free grace in Christ to sinners who need it and receive it by faith. The righteous live by faith. You have to appropriate it. You got to keep putting it on because you're going to always want to take it off. When we wear this breastplate, God gives the Christian a sense of confidence and reassurance. Bold shall I stand in that great day. That's another hymn. For who to my charge shall lay, fully absolved from these I am, from guilt and sin, from fear and death. That's not arrogance, that's confidence in Christ. That's from Count von Zinzendorf, by the way. Jesus, thy blood and righteousness, great hymn to memorize and sing to yourself. Let me give you one more, Thomas Brooks, before I close with a couple of hymns. Yeah, I'm old school and crotchy, so I'm starting to quote hymns as my close. That's what they used to do 50 years ago. They would preach and then they would close with a with hymns and then seminarians said, don't do that, it's way too dated. You know, maybe they want me to play a guitar solo or do a backflip or talk like a fool. But I'm actually going to quote some hymns because I find myself, the older I get, running to scripture but also running to these hymns that are so laden with scripture. About five came to my mind. But let me give you one more Thomas Brooks quote. Because I think some of us who are reformed We have maybe a little bit of baggage from the old days of hyper-Calvinism and legalism. Sometimes we need to be reminded of these. Let me warn you. I have a pagan background and I find myself now running to legalism. Don't think it's just legalism. It's just for those who grew up in legalism. Luther's right. We all have this bent towards self-righteousness. So I was a pagan. I was the least religious person you could think of. Or the most, yeah, least. All of a sudden as a Christian now I find myself having to fight the temptation to look to my own righteousness. Thomas Brooks says this, ah you lamenting souls that spend your days in sighing and groaning under the sense and burden of your sins, why do you deal so unkindly with God? and so injuriously with your own souls as not to cast an eye upon those precious promises of the remission of sin, which may bear you up and refresh your spirits in the darkest night and under the heaviest burden of sin. Look upon all your sins as charged upon the account of Christ, as debts which the Lord Jesus hath fully satisfied. Indeed, were there but one farthing penny, of our debt unpaid, that Christ was engaged to satisfy, it would not have stood with the unspotted justice of God to have Him come into heaven and sit down at His right hand. I'll paraphrase that. If Christ didn't fully pay all that God required of you, He would not be sitting at the right hand of God right now. But He is sitting at the right hand of God, and so He has paid all that God demands of you. He has fully and finally, once for all, died for the sins of His elect, and He's also given them His righteousness when they put their trust in Him. He says, if Christ didn't fully pay, He would not be sitting at the right hand. But He is sitting at the right hand, which means He has fully paid to the uttermost farthing, which is a small measurement of money. But all our debts, He says, all our debts, by His death, being discharged, we are freed. Listen to Him. All our debts were cast on Me. Now she must and shall be free. Beautiful words. He says, but all our debts by His death, being discharged, we are freed. And He is exalted to sit down at the right hand of His Father, which is the top of His glory and the greatest pledge of our felicity. It's a word they love to use, our happiness, our joy. What I want you to do, I'm not getting all wishy-washy on you, I want you to close your eyes as I read to you One stands up from one of my favorite hymns. We don't sing it here, but it's still one of my favorite hymns. And then I'm actually going to quote to you one of the songs we sang this morning. So just close your eyes. And if you're in Christ, I want you to listen to these words. In thee, speaking of Christ, in thee we have a righteousness by God himself approved. Our rock, our sure foundation, this which never can be moved. Our ransom by thy death was paid for all thy people given. The law thou perfectly obeyed that we might enter heaven. It's by a man named Augustus Toplady. Let me give you one that's a little more recent, and perhaps my favorite hymn ever. Before the throne of God above, I have a strong, a perfect plea. A great high priest whose name is love, whoever lives and pleads for me. My name is graven on his hands. I see a language. My name is written on his heart. I know that while in heaven he stands, no tongue, Satan's included, can bid me thence depart. When Satan tempts me to despair and tells me of the guilt within, upward I look and see him there. Are you seeing Him there now, Christian? That's why I ask you to close your eyes. Upward I look and see Him there. Not you, Him. I see Him there. Who made an end to all my sin. Because the sinless Savior died, my sinful soul is counted free. For God the just is satisfied to look on Him and pardon me. Behold Him there. Remember, you're still looking at Him. Like Bunyan. Behold Him there. It's the Father's right hand. Behold Him there. The risen Lamb. My perfect, spotless breastplate of righteousness. The great unchangeable. I am the King of glory and of grace. One with Himself. I cannot die. My soul is purchased by His blood. My life is hid with Christ on high. With Christ my Savior and my God. Isn't that amazing? Get that playing on your iPhone, on your iTunes. Listen to those songs over and over and over again. Listen to Jesus thy blood and righteousness. Just thinking about the last stanza. Praying, O let the dead now hear thy voice. That's for unbelievers. And bid thy banished ones rejoice. That's believers. Why would banished ones need to rejoice? Because these believers feel that somehow they are displeasing in God's eyes. And so the hymns are saying, Oh, let the dead hear thy voice. Oh, save your life. And let thy banished ones rejoice. Maybe you feel banished this morning. May God rejoice your heart with the truth of the gospel. Let the dead now hear thy voice and bid thy banished ones rejoice. Their beauty this, unbeliever this could be yours, believer this is yours, their beauty this, their glorious dress, Jesus thy blood and righteousness. Let me close with a quote from a final Puritan. His name is Samuel Rutherford. I'm getting very Puritan on you this morning. I have a little book of his called The Loveliness of Christ, and I'm such a nerd that even when we watched a movie last night, college and career watched All the Kids of the Church, and so me and Christina had a hot date night, we went to watch a Disney movie. I'm just really lame, so I pull out this little book and I start reading it. Not during the movie, before the movie. He says this, though, and I thought it was interesting. He says, Grace withereth without adversity. The devil is but God's master fencer to teach us to handle our weapons. And I was thinking, why would God in His sovereignty allow Satan to assail us so often with all of these accusations? Why would Satan be allowed to keep saying, Ryan, you're nothing! Ryan, you're a failure! Ryan, you have no right into heaven! Why would God allow that? Because it would drive me from myself to Christ. That God would allow Satan to assail me and attack me. That I might be better able to handle, he says here, the weapons. That I might look away from self to Christ. And so when Satan does attack you, understand that's the grace of God. That grace withereth. It withers without adversity. That God is driving you to die to yourself and to live and to look to Christ. So I'll close with this. When Satan attacks you, beloved, may the Spirit remind you that you cannot stand until you've put on the belt of truth and the breastplate of righteousness. Whose righteousness? Christ's. May you, having done all, be able to stand firm. If you need to talk to me, come talk to me. But I hope this was an encouragement. Whether you're a non-Christian who needs to run and look to Christ and be saved, or whether you're a Christian who afresh needs to look to Christ and be sanctified. This is the good news. I love it. I love sermons like this. to tell of Christ's infinite love. Oh, how marvelous and how wonderful is His love for us. Let's pray. Father, we thank You that in Christ we have a righteousness that You approve. A sure rock, our sure foundation, this which never can be moved. Father, I pray that You would give us a greater appreciation and understanding of Christ's righteousness. Father, I pray that we would constantly be looking away from self and gazing and looking to Christ. Lord, keep us from this bent that we're naturally bent in like Luther said, curved in towards self. Father, I pray that we would look without ourselves to Christ. Help us to see our righteousness is seated at your right hand in the heavens, the one with whom you are well-placed. Father, I know it blows our minds And we're afraid people will think we'll become antinomian if we would say and have the audacity to say that in Christ you are pleased with us. But that's the Gospel truth. That we are accepted, not because of us, but we are accepted in the Beloved. Father, I pray that someone this morning may be freed from the fetters of legalism and self-righteousness. Father, I pray that you would help us as a church to point each other to Christ and what He has accomplished for us. When He said it is finished, that He paid all of our debts, fully paid, paid in full, never to be added to. Remind us of that, Lord. And I pray that we would bask in this righteousness and we would, in light of this righteousness, put on the new man created after the likeness of God. in true righteousness and holiness. Help us to live righteously in light of Christ's righteousness. May His imputed righteousness impart righteousness to us. Father, I pray, as we partake of this table, I pray that we would be reminded, as we eat and drink, really what we're doing is we're putting on, we're putting on the breastplate afresh as we go back into battle. Remind us, Lord, that we don't partake of this table because of how good we are, or how worthy we've made ourselves this morning. We partake of this table because you, in your infinite and sovereign grace, have seen fit to draw us to yourself in Christ with your cords of love. Father, help us not to look to ourselves as we partake of the table. Help us to remind ourselves of Christ. May we commune with Him. May we be reminded that though our sins, once red like scarlet and crimson, have now been made clean and white in the blood of Christ, Father, we thank You for so great a salvation. Forgive us for so quickly straying, so prone to wander. Lord, I feel it. Lord, thank You for drawing us back, turning us back towards Yourself afresh. We praise You for that. Help us now to tell others this Gospel. Help us to be strengthened in the Gospel, as we're going to see next week, to proclaim this Gospel of peace to others. Lord, bless this message insofar that it has exalted Christ and taught the truth. Holy Spirit, seal this indelibly upon our hearts. We pray. Would you be pleased to even save any who sit here? feeling condemned, may they understand that there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ. Father, may they understand that it is by grace alone that they can be saved through faith alone, in Christ alone, to the praise and glory of God alone. Accept our thanks. We ask, Father, in Jesus' name. Amen.