Armor of God - Righteousness

Previously in this sermon series, we've had a sermon stand against the lion, and then last time talking about the necessity to have God's belt of truth around our waist. Let's look at Ephesians 6. We'll take a look at verse 10 and see what this armor of God is all about. Be refreshed. Ephesians 6 and 10. It encourages you and me to look outside ourselves beyond our human abilities to a power, a source of power and strength that's available to us to defeat an unseen enemy.

Ephesians 6 and 10. It says, Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord. Sometimes you and I might think, I'm strong. But wait a minute. We need to be strong in the Lord and the power of His might. We are His creation. We are part of His family. We are called in a divine calling and made holy through His choice of predestination, through His choice of giving us His Holy Spirit in the process of conversion. So as His holy temple, elements of His holy temple, we are to be strong in Him. He is the source of everything.

And then it goes on in verse 11 to put on the whole armor of God. Don't just know it's around, but put it on. That you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we don't wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.

Therefore, because of that, take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done all to stand. So we're not supposed to hope the devil doesn't show up. No, we're to confront him every day. The devil is here. He's always here. The devil is always trying to get at God's people, always down through time. Right after Adam and Eve were created, he was right there.

And all the way through up until the very end, Satan the devil is working against those who keep the commandments of God. So here we have necessary tools. These aren't optional. They are necessary. Something that we need to become skilled with. Last time we looked at truth. We looked at something that really is of God, not of ourselves.

We had to recognize the fact that there is the truth. Not just my version of the truth, or what I think might be truth, or I, I, Mimi. But God, God is truth. Jesus Christ said that he is truth. When we accept that as truth, it's still another thing to replace my view of truth, my convoluted excuses for feeling and doing what I do, with faithfully living God's truth. To actually do and perform his truth. So today let's consider the next tool in God's armor. That is called righteousness. What is righteousness?

It sounds very religious, doesn't it? Righteousness essentially means right. But in whose eyes? We can be right in our own eyes. We can be right in other people's eyes. But righteous means doing what God says is right in his eyes. If I am right in my own eyes, it makes me vulnerable to Satan the devil. He can get me to think. He can get us to think various ways and come up with our own version of right and feel very confident that I am right, I'm doing right, I'm believing right.

That's a very risky place to be because right in my eyes makes me vulnerable while right in God's eyes makes me insulated from Satan the devil. It's a layer of huge defense. Pursuing right and doing exactly what God says is a massive defense that defeats the wiles of the devil. It just stops them cold. So let's take a look today about being right in God's eyes and having total protection from the deceiver. The title of the sermon is Armor of God, Righteousness.

We'll begin by dropping down to verse 13. Therefore, take up the whole armor of God. Just want to reinforce that it's not on. Notice that? It's not on. It's available. It's there. Every morning when you and I wake up, it's available to beseech that God, connect with that God, align with that God, and decide to be of truth today and to do what is right. But we have to decide.

We have to put that on. We have to be godly as we go into our day. So it says in verse 14, stand therefore. Before it said, doing all to stand. Okay, so let's stand therefore. Having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness. Again, it's something you have to put on.

We put on the truth today, every day. Now we're going to put on the breastplate of righteousness. You look at Roman soldiers' uniform. It wasn't some big old steel jacketed thing where you couldn't hardly move. Roman soldiers had to go about their daily business. They weren't always fighting. They weren't always warring. But they were always ready. And so there's a protection here of the lungs, the hearts, and also around the backside. The back, various of the other elements. Now with protection in all the essential organs, this individual was ready.

So having put on the breastplate of righteousness is a very important, core part of God's armor. He's not going to be susceptible. God is not. Too wrong, is he? Too sin. God cannot sin. Why? We'll see in one of these messages why God cannot sin. And that reason is because God has, symbolically, a breastplate of righteousness that he wears. Yes. Remember, this is God's armor we're to put on. Not our own. It's not something we come up with. We actually are putting on God here. What does God's armor do for you and me?

Well, God wants you to succeed. It is not His will that any should perish, says in 2 Peter 3 and verse 9, but that all should come to repentance. His will is for you and I to repent or to convert into godly, right beings in His eyes. It's the kingdom of righteousness. The righteous will inherit the kingdom of God. Those are people who do right, according to God.

Thayer's Greek lexicon explains what the word righteous means. It comes from the Greek word dikaios. Dikaios means performing divine laws. Think about that a minute. There's your definition for us of righteousness. Is that all holy and who? Righteous. Wait, it just means performing divine laws. It's the principle meaning, doing what God says. Obeying God is another way. Being right in God's eyes.

So we have a very clear direction here as to what you and I are to do. We are to perform divine laws. Scripture tells us it's not in man to direct his own steps. Of course, we want to, don't we? But it's really not going to get us anywhere. We need to be doing right in the way that God says. Who is righteous? Well, who is the source of right? It's interesting that in John 17, which we read every year in the Passover service, Jesus Christ is praying to his Father. And he acknowledges him this way, addresses him this way. O righteous Father. Does that mean God the Father is being told by his Son that he is righteous? That means God the Father is doing right according to the God family, the kingdom of God, the laws of God, the mind of God, the spirit of God. He is totally right. He is the source of right. When we call God our Father, do you know what we're saying? We're saying God our Greek word, pater. God our author. God the originator. God the beginner, the Father. He is the source of right. He is the source of love. He is the source of truth. He is the author of all these things. We're delinking with our old pater, the Father, the Devil, who was the Father of what? Lies, murder, the opposite of right, the Father or the pater of wrong, the author, the one who created wrong, the one who created sin. That's why God is our Father. He is our new Father, our Father in heaven, not here on earth. Our Father in heaven that we're to pray to. We look to Him as the originator, then, of right, of truth, and of all the other good things.

It says that He is another term used for God. He is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. He is the one who started us in this faith and He will finish us in this faith.

These, then, are things that He is giving us to be successful. He wants us to be successful in this quest, to not fail, but to be part of His kingdom forever. In Daniel 9 and 7, we find that the source of right, again, is right on the throne in heaven. We might say the sources of right because the one who became Jesus Christ is also God from ever and ever. Daniel 9 and 7 says, So, when the Godhead right goes there, God cannot sin, God never does anything wrong, righteousness then belongs to Him. When we are going to do righteous acts, who is really going to do those righteous acts? Well, in a sense, you are. God is not going to do them for you. You can't just say, I'm going to let Christ live. I'm not going to do anything. I'll just sort of let Him live His life in me. I'll do what I want to do, and hopefully He'll do what He wants to do, and I'll get blessed for it. No, that's not what that means. Jesus said, I won't leave you orphans. I will come to you through the Holy Spirit. God the Father and Jesus Christ will come and give us these tools. We've got to use them. So, righteousness belongs to you, O Lord. Verse 10, However, we have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God to walk in His laws, which He set before us by His servants, the prophets. Now, that's where you and I fall. And that's why we pray daily, God forgive us as we forgive those who sin against us. That's why at baptism we went through repentance before and were baptized to begin the forgiveness process in our life. That's why at Passover each year we celebrate Jesus Christ's great sacrifice and the love that He had for us, which encourages us to keep growing, keep overcoming, trying to put on that right, put on that breastplate of righteousness. Because righteousness belongs to God, but we don't tend to do that by nature. Now, you and I might see ourselves through a pretty nice lens, like, I think I'm pretty good. But we had a brother named Paul, didn't we? He used to be Saul. And Paul wrote more of the Bible than anybody else. And Paul says, which I want to do. Not always doing that.

But I'm trying. And I'm striving. And in Philippians 3, he says, you know, I'm not perfect. I have not made it. But I am pressing forward for that which God has laid hold of me, and I'm moving forward. So that's the direction we should be going. It sets the stage for our necessary walk with God, to be godly, to be of God, to be righteous. And with this tool, we can stand. It really is a powerful tool. It is the defense. It's like one of these, what would you call it, software companies that develop the insulation of the company's precious data from any outside infiltration. And they come up with various names. I won't use them here because I don't want to advertise any. But they're usually animal names, and they're very defensive, and they'll keep this away. But when you're doing right, and you're about right, and you decide, today, God, help me to do right in everything, there's not much wrong that's going to get through. Because you're going to see it, and you're going to say, that's not of me. That's not of God. That's not of this temple. That is not for me today. And thus, I'm not going to take the bait. I'm just simply not going to go there. You'll be like Jesus Christ as he was tempted by Satan the devil, and he says, nope, nope, nope, no.

Those were some pretty tempting temptations when you were in Jesus Christ's shoes in those days, and what he knew he was going to have to go through could have been avoided if he was tempted by Satan to go a different route. But that was not right in God's eyes, and it never entered his mind to accept any of those temptations. He just boom, boom, boom, said no, no, no. And that's what his armor did for him against Satan the devil, and he's offering it to you and me. Webster's Dictionary, in our English language, shows righteousness to be a noun, and its definition is, Conformity of heart and life to the divine law. There it is, right there in the English dictionary. Conformity of the heart and life to the divine law. That's what we need to do. We need to do what's right, as God tells us. The second definition is the perfection of God's nature in Webster's Dictionary. The perfection of God's nature. It's the key to your success in mind, or a lack of it is the cause of our failure, because God's way works always has, always will, in every situation. There's never a time when we say, oh, I can't do God's right now, or his righteousness in this situation. I need to lie just a little bit, I'll just slip around this thing, and then I'll be back doing right. I need to protect myself, or my family, or my, my, my. So I will make a detour and exception for right. See, that is where Satan can get at us. If we don't knuckle down and say, no, right is right in every situation. And that's how Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego stood up against the lion. That's how Daniel stood up against the lion. That's how person after person throughout Scripture stood there and did what was right, including those in Hebrews 11 that got killed for it. And those in the end, in Revelation, who will be killed by the beast and false prophet for doing right.

But that's only a short-term situation. If you and I do right in every situation, then we will succeed. If we don't believe God, if we don't trust God, if we don't obey God, then simply we will fail. And when we say fail, that's a big word. God doesn't want anyone to fail. It's very clear. It's not His will that anyone should fail. Let's turn to 1 Corinthians 6, verse 9. 1 Corinthians 6, verse 9. Just to be clear, just because we're in the church, just because we're called, just because whatever makes you and I feel special, doesn't mean that God is going to count us right in His eyes. 1 Corinthians 6, verse 9. Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. That's what Paul is telling the church of Corinth. So let's not be deceived, that somehow we can go live our life the way we want and then show up and knock on the door, and Jesus is going to say, Oh, come on in. You don't live like we said. You don't think like we think. You don't act like we in the family of God do, but you just come right on anyway. Well, that would be polluting the kingdom, wouldn't it? That would be bringing in a wrong, false mindset. And so he says, do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? That's a set rule. In Proverbs 21 and 2, our human mind is cautioned about something. Proverbs 21 and 2, Every way of a man is right in his own eyes. So we can justify what we do. Every way of a man is right in his own eyes. You know, it says in another place, the heart is deceitful and desperately wicked. Oh, but wait a minute. Here, if every man thinks he's right in his own eyes and his heart is deceitful and desperately wicked, then there's a problem, isn't there? There's a problem. We can't just go on how we feel or what we might justify, but notice, the Lord weighs the hearts. God weighs that. God is judging us, in other words. Verse 3, To do righteousness and justice is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice. In other words, to do right builds character. To sacrifice means you did wrong and now you're coming to apologize. If we did right, we wouldn't have to sacrifice. That's what God wants. He wants us to do right. Righteousness is the difference between right and wrong, good and evil, light and dark, life and death. Let's look in Romans 8. We as the firstfruits have a tough assignment, and that is to live right, righteously, in Satan's evil age. Perhaps we don't stop to look at Bible prophecy through this lens, but we are the only ones that ever have to fight Satan. As we celebrate the Holy Days, Satan is put away before the fall Holy Days, the autumn Holy Days. Before the millennium, before the second resurrection, he's done away with.

After the millennium, he's totally done away with. You and I are the ones who, like Jesus Christ, have to go up against this lion. We are given the armor to do it and to do it well. Romans 8.4. God is fully aware of our frame. He's fully aware of the challenges. He's there to help us. He lives inside us. He talks about sin here. Verse 4, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us. Ah, see, we who are to be the firstfruits, the first ones to have His Holy Spirit, have a requirement, a righteous requirement of the law to be fulfilled in us. That's very important. If that is fulfilled in us, then we join Jesus Christ as the firstfruits and as His bride, and we help the rest of the world come to know God and ultimately be in His kingdom. We, goes on, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. The Spirit is the Holy Spirit. That's the mind of God. That is right. So, you and I are encouraged to do right with God's Spirit. We have that requirement to be righteous within God's laws. Drop to verse 9. But you are not in or of the flesh, but of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His. So we do have this power, we do have this Spirit, and it does bring to us the elements of the armor of God, if we want to utilize them. Verse 14, For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. What does the Spirit lead us into? Right and truth. That's what God's Spirit leads us into. Doing right and doing truth, performing the truth. Drop down now to verse 30. Moreover, Whom he predestined, these he also called. God has a specific plan if He has called you at this time. And Whom he called, these he also justified. Now here's where it gets really interesting. It's not right in our eyes that is important. It's not just in our eyes that's important. It's us being right in God's eyes, and us being just in God's eyes. God is a very forgiving individual. God wants to cleanse us every day and clean us up. He wants to consider us His Holy, special people, a royal priesthood. But we have to be on board helping. Those He justified, these He also glorified, or will glorify, in the full, bright glory of the God family. That's God's goal. And God gets His will done. He's going to do that in you if you will allow Him, if you will not forbid Him, if you will join with Him and utilize this armor. It's really good stuff. David loved God's way. He bumped into issues like Paul, like John, like, what's your name? We bump into these things, but over time God is fashioning us in His image. More and more He's bringing us to think like Him as His children. Romans 8, verse 4, just a second.

That the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us. You and I have to fulfill that. We are the ones being called right now. Now, Psalm 34. Notice how David was about fulfilling that in his life. David had a very tough walk. He was probably the only one, other than Samuel the High Priest, that you get a good feeling was led by God's Holy Spirit and was right. David led a very carnal nation that was at civil war, wanted to be at times, and after he died shortly thereafter went back to it. Psalm 34, verse 14.

Psalm 34, begin in verse 14. Depart from evil and do good. That is where we need to go, you see. In doing this right, we have a hymn that we've sung ever since I was a little kid in the church. Depart from evil, do what is good. Seek peace, pursue it earnestly. That is what we need to do. And why? Verse 15, for the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous. In one place we're called the apple of God's eyes. In other words, that's what he's focused on. You and I sometimes get focused on all the depravity that goes on in the world, and we get so concerned where this world is headed. God's focus is on you and me. He knows where the world is headed. He's already told us it's going down. It's going almost all the way down. So don't worry about that. Focus on doing right. God's eyes are on the righteous. His ears are open to their cry.

Verse 17, the righteous cry out and the Lord hears. See, verse 16, he's not listening to the others at this time because that is not going anywhere. He delivers them out of their troubles. Verse 17.

Verse 19, many are the afflictions of the righteous. Why? Why is that? Well, because we live in Satan's evil age. We are in the crosshairs of the lion. Don't try to run away from the lion. Don't put a blanket over your head and hope he doesn't show up. Stand up to him. You've got all the power of God and all the tools. Just put them on. Use them. And don't fear. Yes, many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all. Remember how we read there in Ephesians 6? Put on the armor of God. Take on the strength and the power of God. Take on the might of God. The Lord delivers us out of all these things. It doesn't mean materialistically he's going to deliver you out and put you in a beautiful car and head you down a beautiful road into the sunshine with music playing. No, he's going to deliver you out of all of these situations the devil will put you in that looks like it's a dead end. Like a fire that's so hot it would melt metal and then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego are in there walking around. Lions that would just trash you and David's down there. Hello Nebuchadnezzar. I'm doing fine. Or Darius. Whoever's up there. God delivers us. Just be godly. Don't take matters into your own hands. Don't say, well, in this situation I need to fight back. In this situation I need to defend myself. In this situation I need to go out and get justice. I need to get retribution. Just leave it. Leave it in God's hands. Because when the righteous cry out, God delivers them from their troubles. He knows we have afflictions.

In verse 20, referring to Jesus Christ, he guards all of his bones. Not one of them is broken. In verse 21, evil shall slay the wicked. Don't worry about both. Those who hate the righteous will be condemned. The Lord redeems the life of his servants, and none of those who trust in him shall be condemned. Ultimately, we win. Ultimately, we stand with Christ. No matter what the circumstances are in this life. In chapter 37, verse 39, Psalm 37, verse 39, But the salvation of the righteous is from the Lord.

He is their strength in the time of trouble. Remember this goes right back to trust in the Lord and the power of his might. He is their strength in the time of trouble. And the Lord shall help them and deliver them. He shall deliver them from the wicked and save them because they trust in him. Do I trust in God? That's a very good question for each of us to ask.

Every day when we get up, do I trust in God or do I need to work this day out my way? Do I trust in God if I live right that I'll make the sales I need to make, that I'll make the impressions I need to make, that I'll be able to get what I need?

Or do I need to get in and fudge a little bit? Make things go my way with a little bit of lawlessness. Whether it's with the policeman that pulls you over, or with the taxation, or with the words, or with the promises, or with the praise. Are we going to trust Jesus Christ to rise and to pray and to follow him down the trail today? The body of Christ has a head. And if we're in the body of Christ, we need to follow the head.

We need to be led. Those who are led by the Holy Spirit or the sons of God. We might say, well, I know the truth. I'm in the true church. Or I'm in this. I'm, I'm, I'm. Matthew 7, verse 22, cautions us about our view of right, or righteous in our own eyes, right in our own eyes. Matthew 7, verse 22 says, many will say unto me that day, Lord, Lord, or Yahweh, Yahweh, or Yahshua, Yahshua, or whatever, that makes them feel special because they feel special and they'll say, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in your name?

Haven't we, in other words, taught the truth in your name? Have we not prophesied the gospel of the kingdom? Haven't we preached the kingdom, you might say? We not cast out demons in your name and done wonders in your name, and I will declare them, I never knew you, depart from me, you who practice lawlessness. Lawlessness is the opposite of righteousness. It is breaking God's law versus performing God's law.

So we can never justify ourselves taking exceptions to what God says to do in any situation. What's God's definition of righteousness? We find in Deuteronomy 6, right after the Ten Commandments are given, a definition of righteousness. Let's look. Deuteronomy 6, verse 25. Well, in verse 24, we see, the Lord commanded us to observe all these statutes, to fear the Lord our God, for our good always, that he might preserve us a life to this day.

Verse 25, then it will be righteousness for us. What is righteousness for us? If we are careful to observe all these commandments before the Lord our God as he has commanded us. It's very clear what righteousness is. It just says, Beyer's Greek lexicon, just says, Webster's dictionary. Do what God says. And all that he commands, always. We have a great example in this, of what is called the Father of the Faithful. Once again, the Father of the Faithful, the pater, you might say, the author, a human who was an originator of being faithful to God. Abraham, in Genesis 26, verse 5, here's what God said. Genesis 26, verse 5. Because Abraham obeyed my voice, he kept my charge, he kept my commandments, he kept my statutes, he kept my laws.

We want to be like Father Abraham, don't we? We want to be part of that righteous line.

In Psalm 11, verse 7, we see this exemplified Psalm 11, verse 7. I just assume this is David. Yes, it is David speaking this. He says, Psalm 11, verse 7, For the Lord is righteous, He loves righteousness, His countenance beholds the upright.

So, if we get up and put on the breastplate of righteousness each day, in other words, determine to do everything that God says today, the way He says it, how we speak to people, how we deal with those who offend us. All of this is in Scripture. How we love God, we love our spouse, we don't do things that harm others or break the covenantal relationships that we have. We love others as ourselves. We love God with our heart, soul, and mind. And we go about that. Notice, then God loves the righteous. He loves the upright. His focus is on them. Chapter 15, verse 2. Likewise, Psalm 15, Psalm of David, verse 2. He who walks uprightly and works righteousness and speaks the truth in his heart. There's your belt of truth, breastplate of righteousness. He who does these things, this is the individual in verse 1, who will abide in your tabernacle and dwell on your holy hill. Be in the kingdom of God. If we look at 1 John, we find the Apostle John here giving us a synopsis of what righteousness is and encouraging us to perform it. In 1 John, we're going to look at chapter 3, just a few verses here in 1 John 3. He talks about the love of God. But, he says in verse 2, 1 John 3, in verse 2, Beloved, we are children of God. In verse 3, everyone who has this hope in him of being like God purifies himself just as he is pure. That's our responsibility, to purify out the lawlessness and perform the right. In verse 7, little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is right, is righteous. That's the word right in various forms. He who practices right, according to what God tells us, is right in God's eyes, just as God is right. So, we've read today that God is righteous. That's what it says at the end of the verse. Backing up, he considers the individual righteous, who practices righteousness. Are any of us righteous of our own? But God sees us as righteous. When we strive to obey him, strive to live and think and do as he does, he counts that as righteousness.

It's a wonderful thing. God is so positive. He doesn't want to look at our negatives. He wants to forget our sins. As soon as you can, identify, I want to get rid of it. In God's eyes, you're clean and bright.

In verse 10 now, in this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest. Here it is. It comes right down. Right and wrong. Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God. Now, who is John saying this to? To the world? No. He's saying this to God's people. You need to understand. If you don't practice righteousness, you're not of God. Nor is he who does not love his brother.

For this is the message that you heard from the beginning that we should love one another. All the way back to the beginning. Keep the laws of God. It's all about the laws of God.

Let's look in verse 16. By this we know love because he laid down his life for us. And we also ought to lay down our life for the brethren. Now, notice throughout what we've read here, it's really God's attributes that we're putting on, isn't it? It's his truth that we're putting on. It's his right that we're putting on. It's God's faith, and all the other elements that he wants are actually his. We are putting on God. We are putting on Christ. When it says, put on the whole armor of God, we're being told to put on God. In fact, we have God in us through his Holy Spirit. We're told to stir it up and use it. In Philippians 3 and 9, these are all elements of God. Notice Philippians 3 and 9. Paul said he wants to gain Christ. In verse 9, be found in him, not having my own righteousness. You see, this is not my righteousness or your righteousness we're trying to put on.

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.

Through the Holy Spirit. Right from God. All we're doing is doing it. It's not our right. It's not our right. We don't come up with it. We don't come up with the ingenious ways that work so well like humanity is out there trying to do. As it shifts over to a socialist, lawless kind of society, tries to appease carnal human nature and the lust of the flesh. That is, that's human device advocated by the lawless God of this age. No, it's not our right that we are determining. It's God's right. We're just trying to live it.

It's his truth. It's his right. It's his armor. Galatians, go back just a little bit, chapter 3 and verse 27 says this. Galatians 3 and verse 27.

Well, verse 26. For you are all sons of God through faith in Jesus Christ. That's where it comes from. We have this identity because of faith in Christ and the Spirit of God. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. We are putting on godliness, the attributes of God, and they are highly defensive against the wiles of the devil. What does light have to do with darkness? What does lawlessness have to do with law? What does joy have to do with sorrow? Nothing. Nothing. And so we are to stay away from those other things.

If I analyze myself in relationship to God's truth, what is not right?

It's a good question we should all ask ourselves. We can look in the mirror, even physically, and ask, is every part of myself physically and mentally in compliance with God? Say, am I right? Am I doing right? Am I thinking right? Am I acting right? Am I speaking right? If not, then examine yourselves as to whether you are in the body. Get that spirit stirred up and determined to be a person of right. In 2 Corinthians 10, verse 4, we need to bring every thought, every part of our body, every part of our being into alignment with God, with the laws of God. But we can only do that by putting on God, by putting on Christ. In other words, you put off the old man at baptism, right? The old selfish, lawless man, and you put on Christ. In other words, godliness, in God's spirit, in God's way. 2 Corinthians 10, verse 4, For the weapons of our warfare, as we fight this spirit world, as it were, resist it, we don't actually fight it, but we resist it, the weapons of our warfare are not physical, is what the word carnal means. They're not physical. But they are mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments. And every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled. We will then be agents of law and right. And we will help Jesus Christ. He said in Revelation chapter 2 or 3 that we will cole rule with Him and be given a rod of iron with Him.

So we will punish disobedience if we are obedient. But we have to be exemplary individuals of right, of obeying God's law.

If we look here at these every high thing that exalts itself and every thought into captivity, what is it about each individual? Don't look at anybody else, but ask yourself head to toe, is this right with God? Examine yourself according to the laws of Bible. What am I doing? What am I doing with my hair? Is that according to the laws of Bible? What am I doing with my mind? Is that according to the laws of the Bible? How about my skin? The eyes? What they see? The ears? What they hear? The mouth? What it eats? The stomach? The food? The drink? The tongue? The speech? There's a lot, isn't there? There really is a lot that we can examine ourselves with the Bible. The torso, the clothing, the heart, the hands, the private parts, the feet, the path. See, there's a lot that we can look at and say, am I right in the eyes of God? Or are there some areas here that I need to change? Maybe part of me is on the narrow, difficult path, but there are parts of me I let go down the broad way, the easy way. The way that the world lives. So it's good for us to examine ourselves daily.

Let's begin to wrap this up. Those who dwell in truth have God's support. Really, truly have God on our side, the support of God. In Psalm 18, verse 6, David didn't just write out a bunch of platitudes. This is where he lived. This was David waging resistance against a force that he found had taken him down at times. It had caused his life to be out of sync with God and godliness. Psalm 18, verse 6, In my distress I called upon God, I called out to God, and he heard my voice from his temple, and my cry came before him, even to his ears. Now we could stop there and say, oh, that's very nice. God hears us. Wait a minute. We don't see the invisible world where God is, and we don't see Satan and the demons, nor the twice as many righteous angels. David gives us a little bit of a glimpse here of when God's on our side. Don't worry. Look at what you've got here. When you're going to rely on the God and the power of his might, notice here. Let's continue on. My cry came before him even to his ears. Verse 7, Then the earth shook and trembled. The foundations of the hills also quaked and were shaken because he was angry. Smoke went up from his nostrils, the devouring fire from his mouth. Coles were kindled by it. He bowed the heavens also and came down with darkness under his feet. He rode upon a carob and flew. He flew upon the wings of the wind.

Wow! Verse 12, From the brightness before him, his thick clouds passed with hailstones and coals of fire. The Lord thundered from heaven. The Most High uttered his voice. Hailstones, coals of fire. He sent out his arrows and scattered the foe. This is God. It's not you and me. It's not by our own power and might. This is the great God that you and I had that says, Put on my armor and let me have my power and my might on your side.

Let's drop down to verse 20. Verse 20, The Lord rewarded me according to my righteousness. It's a key statement right there that David came to learn. That's not going to reward us if we're out of sync with him, if we are lawless. The Lord rewarded me according to my righteousness. Jesus said he is going to return with everyone's reward. Some for eternal life, others to condemnation. The Lord will reward us according to our right, doing right. According to the cleanness of my hands, he has recompense me. For I have kept the ways of the Lord and have not done wickedly departing from my God. For all his judgments were before me and I did not put away his statutes from him. I was also blameless before him and I kept myself from my iniquity. Therefore, the Lord has recompense me according to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands. Notice, in his sight. In his sight, not in my sight, in his sight. And that's what you and I want. Verse 30, Notice the armor. As for God, his way is perfect. The Word of God is proven. He is a shield to all who trust in him. That's the armor we need, isn't it? For who is God except the Lord? And who is the rock except our God? It is God who arms me with strength and makes my way perfect. He makes my feet like the feet of deer. He sets me on my high places. He teaches my hands to make war so that my arms can bend a bow of bronze. You have given me the shield of your salvation. Your right hand has held me up. Verse 36, You enlarge my path under me so that my feet did not slip. That's what we need on this trail. On the difficult path in an age of Satan's evil, you and I need God. And we have him if we're doing right in his eyes, if we're children of righteousness. So, in conclusion, let's look at our options of living this life. We have two options, don't we? Right and wrong. Lawful or lawless. Blessings, joy, happiness, God on your side, all the power and help. Verses, end of all things. If we do it God's way, we get to continue forever with Jesus Christ as his bride, as part of the Godhead. It's hardly a choice to debate over. Yet it is one that requires commitment, a daily commitment that the Apostle Paul said, put on. Take up the armor of God. I'd like to conclude by reading Matthew 13. Some words of Jesus here. Matthew 13 will begin in verse 41. Matthew 13, verse 41. Jesus here says, here's how it's going to work. Understand. The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and those who practice lawlessness. And will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth there. Don't worry about that. Verse 43. Then, the righteous will shine forth as the Son in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.