Jesus Is Your Sponsor: Wearing the Armour of Righteousness

Sermon outline

Righteousness is God's nature given to you as a free gift, and when you put it on by confessing it, it becomes armour that the devil's accusations and other people's opinions cannot pierce.

1. Don't receive the grace of God in vain

   Every believer receives grace, perhaps in different measures, but it is possible to receive it and never know how to work it. Do something with it: stay focused on the word, plot your course for the year, and you cannot be robbed. The righteous are as bold as a lion, so make no apology for who you are.

   “When you receive the grace of God, do something with it.”

   • 2 Corinthians 6:1
   • Proverbs 28:1

2. In the day of salvation I have helped you

   The Greek word for salvation means preservation, wholeness, soundness, health and prosperity, so God helps you to prosper, be healed and be preserved. As the salt of the earth you cannot spoil: the older you get, the fresher and more anointed you become. Learn from mistakes instead of condemning yourself, because God does not write people off; He loved and used Paul, who had persecuted the church. Whatever mess or valley you are in, God is helping you, and people's estimate of you does not decide your destiny.

   Illustration: Food that is not preserved spoils, but a believer, being preserved, cannot.

   “The older you get, the fresher you get.”

   • 2 Corinthians 6:2
   • Matthew 5:13-14
   • Hebrews 13:5
   • Matthew 28:20
   • Romans 4:17

3. In much patience: trials are your preparation

   Don't open your mouth prematurely and complain when things go wrong; it is your training phase. Keep praising when the fire burns red hot and white hot, and everyone will see the fourth man in the fire. He reminds them that the pit stands for 'profit and training': God releases you once you are trained, tough and strong enough to smile and bless your enemies.

   Illustration: A Texan farmer overheard preachers discussing how to grow their churches and told them that at farmers' conventions they never discuss how to bring the cows to the trough, only the feed. So the church concentrates on feeding people the living word.

   “When you start to complain before your time, how are you going to see the fourth man in the fire?”

   • 2 Corinthians 6:3-4
   • Daniel 3:25

4. By the armour of righteousness on the right hand and on the left

   Among all Paul lists, he includes the armour of righteousness, which shows that righteousness is armour for the Christian. Righteousness is the ability to stand in the Father's presence without inferiority, fear or sin-consciousness, so you come boldly to the throne. Armour is steel plating that protects against missiles, and the devil and people he influences hurl them at you: 'you can't make it', 'remember what you did'.

   “Every time God looks at you, he looks at you as a bundle of success.”

   • 2 Corinthians 6:6-7
   • Hebrews 4:16
   • Hebrews 12:1

5. Righteousness is a nature, not a course you pass

   You cannot make a baby any more a baby, because it has a baby's nature; in the same way you cannot make yourself more righteous by going to church more or giving more. Righteousness is God's nature imparted to your spirit once and for all as a free gift when you were born again. There is no 'righteousness 101, 201, 301'; you cannot grow in righteousness, but you can grow in the knowledge of it, and that knowledge keeps you from condemnation.

   Illustration: Even if you hid a baby in a bag, it would whimper and someone would know it was there, because it has the nature of a baby.

   “Righteousness is not something that you put on and put off. Righteousness is a nature imparted by God into your spirit.”

6. Become a practitioner of righteousness

   Dwell on righteousness long enough and the inferiority complex fades; you stop trying to be what you already are. When people walk away, it is their loss. Learn to celebrate other people's promotions instead of resenting them, as God promoted Joseph, Daniel and Paul. Like a medical practitioner, practise righteousness: answer every belittling thought aloud with 'devil, I'm the righteousness of God', and carry yourself, dress and speak as a success. In Christ every believer is a new creation and a son of God, not defined by the community they came from.

   Illustration: He acts out a conversation with the devil, refusing to 'remember' what the devil keeps bringing up.

   “I'm not trying to be a preacher, I am a preacher.”

   • 2 Corinthians 5:17
   • Genesis 1:26

7. Put on the whole armour of God by confession

   A great part of the armour in Ephesians 6 is the breastplate of righteousness, held together with the shield of faith that quenches the fiery darts of the wicked one. You put righteousness on by confessing God's word, often as you pray in tongues in the morning. Confessing it daily helps you forget what parents, teachers, employers and even abusers said about you, and stops you running to people for affirmation, because God has already affirmed you.

   “You put on righteousness by confession of His Word.”

   • Ephesians 6:10-18
   • Romans 8:1
   • Hebrews 4:12
   • 1 John 4:4

8. The crown of righteousness and reigning in life

   Paul looked forward to the crown of righteousness, which is for all who love the Lord's appearing and walk with this confession in their mouths, even when they don't feel like it, because the tongue steers your life like a rudder. Everyone who practises righteousness is born of Him and purifies himself; we are clean through the word. Through the gift of righteousness believers reign in life as kings, because the Creator Himself has made them righteous.

   “The creator of the universe himself has made you righteous.”

   • 2 Timothy 4:6-8
   • James 3:4
   • 1 John 2:28-3:3
   • John 15:3
   • Romans 5:17-18
   • Romans 3:26

9. Jesus Christ is your sponsor

   To emigrate, a family member can sponsor you, undertaking that you will never become a burden to that government. Jesus is your sponsor before the throne and before the devil, promising to take care of you, so you cannot fail or lack. That frees you to keep loving people even after being hurt, and not to boss anyone around, because God put a desire for dominion in every person made in His image.

   Illustration: Immigration rules that let a family member sponsor you, and a three-year-old who says 'I will' when told he cannot have something: not naughtiness but the dominion God placed inside him.

   “Jesus Christ is your sponsor.”

   • Genesis 1:26-28

10. The righteous shall shine forth as the sun

    Jesus said the righteous will shine forth as the sun in their Father's kingdom. He refuses the idea that progress must be slow, since Joseph, David and Elisha were promoted fast, and says you can be successful at 16, 26 or in your thirties. He is not a candidate for depression or oppression but for success, and so are they.

    “I'm not a candidate for depression neither am I candidate for oppression I'm a candidate for success.”

    • Matthew 13:43