Well, we are still looking at the Christian soldier, Ephesians chapter 6. And in the last two messages, we looked at the belt of truth. Truth is under attack today more than it has been, I would say, for around 500 years. Our modern nations have become reprobate. They cannot discern between their right hand and their left. They do not know the difference between a man and a woman, literally. And it is unthinkable. For the Christian to stand against the wiles of the devil and to be able to stand in the evil day, he will have to wear this belt of truth. In verse 11, Paul says, put on the whole armor. Then he says again, therefore take up the whole armor of God. We have looked at one piece, the very first piece, and now we have a second piece, and the second piece is the breastplate of righteousness. Where the soldier of worldly kingdoms wore a breastplate, the soldier in the kingdom of God is to wear righteousness. It is God's special revelation to man in the Bible to teach us both how to get saved and how to live in righteousness. And before one can get right with God or live right, one must have the truth as to what is right. So it is truth before righteousness. Picture a soldier in the Roman army. They have come to fight toe to toe. and there is a soldier whose belt has come undone. His tunica is flowing and tangles with his arm, and as he thrusts his sword, the robe wraps around his arm, and this soldier is finished right there. Now picture a Christian who has a flimsy stand on truth. What might Satan do with such a person? He might even let him live and talk him into coming over to his side. Truth is the benchmark of the Christian life. But picture the soldier now with his belt in place, but he has no breastplate. Can you picture that? Take off the breastplate, and you're fighting hand to hand with swords or daggers. What will the enemy do as soon as he sees a soldier without a breastplate? Well, he is defenseless. His eyes will light up, and he will go for some soft area, and the battle will soon be over. By the way, that's the Christian who is not righteous, who does not live in righteousness. Picture now the Christian who is living in sin. What does his breastplate look like? There are holes which, if the enemy sword hits there, it may sink into a vital, and the battle is over. By the way, how many Christians have fallen in the last while? When you look at the church in the seeker-friendly state and then in the emergent state, how many have left? So our first task, then, is to define righteousness. Somebody tell me what righteousness is. To do right. To do right. It's living right. It's living right. See, it has to do with all one does, whether in thought. How hard is that? Word or deed. But there is more to it here. We next ask, which righteousness is spoken of here? There are two main kinds of righteousness for mankind in the Bible. There is imputed righteousness, and there is actual righteousness. Go to Romans chapter 4. This chapter is about justification. To be justified means to be declared righteous. So we go to Romans chapter 4 verse 1. Then shall we say that Abraham our father has found according to the flesh. Fourth, if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the scripture say? Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. Abraham's faith was imputed to him. That is, it was reckoned to him as righteousness. Verse four. Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt. But to him who does not work but believes on him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness. Just as David describes the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness apart from works. Here is a righteousness given to man that he has not actually done himself. It is like someone going to the bank and depositing money into our account. We did nothing for it. It is imputed to us. Verse 7, blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord shall not impute sin. Does this blessedness then come upon the circumcised only or upon the uncircumcised also? For we say that faith was accounted to Abraham for righteousness. How then was it accounted? while he was circumcised or uncircumcised, not while circumcised, but while uncircumcised. And he received the sign of circumcision as seal of the righteousness of faith, which he had while still uncircumcised, that he might be the father of all those who believe, though they are uncircumcised, that righteousness might be imputed to them also. So when anyone repents of their sins and trusts in Christ for salvation, Christ's righteousness is imputed to them. Can you imagine this? His righteousness that he has done is added to our account. It's a huge truth. Christ takes our sins upon himself and gives his righteousness to us. This is imputed righteousness. Now there are teachers that say something like this. Oh, you are having such a battle with sin. This is so often true with people that come for counseling. But you must realize that when God looks at you, he sees you in Christ. He sees Christ's righteousness, and that is what is important. Now there is truth in that. That speaks of our standing with the Lord. But what this teaching can easily degenerate into is that one can be comforted into thinking that sin is not such a big thing. It is Christ's righteousness imputed to me that is all important. One can comfort sinners in their sin with this teaching. Jesus did not primarily die for us to give us a right standing. He died primarily that we would come into a right state with him. By that, I mean that if I have trouble with a particular sin, He wants to deliver me from that sin so that I overcome that sin and live right. So there is a second kind of righteousness, and this is actual righteousness. It is when we overcome any sin and learn to live right. This is actual righteousness, not imputed righteousness. So our question is, this righteousness that is a breastplate to us, is it imputed Righteousness or is it actual righteousness? And I am firmly convinced that which protects us speaks of personal actual righteousness. You cannot live in sin and expect to be covered. There may be a sense in which imputed righteousness protects the believer, but that which is in view here, I believe, is actual righteousness. It is living right. Jesus Christ came to save us from our sins, not in them. He wants us to gain the victory over sin and live actually righteous. In imputed righteousness, we are not saved from our sinfulness. Imputed righteousness happens at justification. Actual righteousness happens in life and sanctification. And that is what is in view in our passage. Now, I want to read some verses on righteousness. By the way, we could spend a long time here. We're going to read the verses on righteousness in the New Testament. But before I do that, let me clarify one matter with regard to righteousness. We do not live right or do righteousness in order to be saved. One cannot do any righteousness to be saved. Salvation is a gift that comes by grace or freely, and it comes by faith. Righteousness, by the way, we're not able to do anything righteous that accounts as far as salvation is concerned. Righteousness does not bring about salvation, but salvation must bring about righteousness. I have often given you Ephesians 2, 8 through 10 to show this. It says, for by grace you have been saved through faith and that not of yourselves. That is the gift of God, not of works lest anyone should boast. Anybody know verse 10? You know, many, many people memorize verses eight and nine, but listen to verse 10. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. When we are in Christ, that is, we are saved. We are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works. God always planned that the Christian should live right. He does not live right to get saved, but because he is saved. By the way, listen, for those who are living in sin, you have to question where you are with the Lord. Let me read a few verses on righteousness in the New Testament. Jesus said this in the Sermon of the Mount, and if you had noted before, you would have noted the word righteousness several times. But in verse five it says, or verse six, blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. Could I ask you a question? this morning, do you hunger and thirst for righteousness? Do you see your own shortcomings in your hunger and desire righteousness? Then it says, for they shall be filled. And you know, when you hunger and thirst for righteousness, and you actually live righteousness, it wants to come to verse 10, blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Righteousness wants to attract trouble. And that is because we live in a sinful world. Then there is that great verse we all know. I wonder if anyone knows Matthew 6.33. I'm not great in memory work, are we here? Matthew 6.33. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Now doing right is righteousness, but that is not the only righteousness there is. It is also righteous when we don't do that which we should not do. It is a failure to do right in this very case that brought mankind into sin. Listen to Genesis 2, verses 16 and 17. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, of every tree of the garden you may freely eat, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it, you shall surely die. Adam and Eve were not to eat of one tree, Of all the others, they were free to eat. Every day they bypassed that one tree, they were doing right. It was righteousness. Not eating of it was doing right. Now I want you to notice what the breastplate of the warrior pictures. It pictures righteousness. When you look at this, The breastplate pictures the believer who lives right. When the believer lives right, it is as important as the breastplate was for the warrior. Picture now one warrior standing toe-to-toe with a warrior who does not have a breastplate. What will the opponent immediately seek to do? I don't even have to ask, do I? What conclusion can we draw from that? The moment we do that which is wrong, some demon will seek to put his sword right there. No doubt, many a Christian loses the battle right here. But picture now a Christian who has a hole in his armor because of sin. He has failed in righteousness. Right there, the devil will seek to put that believer down. Picture now a soldier with all the armament except the breastplate. What chance does that soldier have? You can well imagine the first thing the devil would do, in this case, would make a short work of this battle. This is the picture of a believer living in sin. So we ask now, what areas of the body does the soldier's breastplate cover? What areas? Can you tell me any vitals? Heart, lungs? Kidneys? Well, the vital organs, there are a few more. It covered the front of the body from the neck to the abdomen. Anything above the belt was covered. So that covers the lungs, the heart, the liver, the spleen, the bowels, and the kidneys. How easily could the sword not puncture any one of these vitals if there was nothing to protect it? That gives us now also the reason why Paul uses righteousness as a breastplate. It covers so many vitals. We shall see just how important this piece of armor is. In a study of the makeup of the soul, we find that various parts of our physical body are used to describe the makeup of the soul, which is invisible. We can't see it. So the physical parts of the body are used to illustrate what happens in the soul. We begin with the heart. You will remember that the heart in the Bible is used in this sense to speak of what part of man in the soul? The mind. The mind. I was amazed when I came to this study that, with all the study I've done on the heart in the Bible, that I never asked this question. Why does the Bible speak of the heart when it speaks of the mind? Why does it not speak of the brain? Has anyone here ever read of the brain reading the Bible? I never thought of this before. Why does it not even mention the brain? Well, we'll look at that in another message. We note here that the breastplate covered the area of the heart and the heart pictures the mind. How vital is the mind to the Christian? Absolutely vital. Both God and the devil go for the heart first. When it says, whosoever believeth, that's the heart. That is why God requires repentance and faith to be saved. Both occur in the mind. The heart pictures the place where we think and ponder and store information. Here we do all our thinking. So the Bible says, as a man thinks in his heart, so is he. Now, we will not take time for much of this, as it would require another message, and I've told you much of this already in other messages, but when you destroy a person in his thinking, as is being done in our schools, colleges, and universities today, you destroy everything about him. You destroy a nation. The destruction of healthy thinking, by the way, in this COVID thing, it's hard to think objectively, is it? The destruction of healthy thinking has always been a threat to the church and is there in a very big way today. So the heart is a vital that must be protected at all cost. And what protects our mind? What protects our mind? Living right, righteousness. Matthew 22, 37 says, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. The word translated mind here is not the word mind, but a word meaning something like all our thinking through, everything we think through, everything in life is centered around how we think things through. In this verse, we see how important the process of thoughts are. Now I ask you, how many of Satan's darts strike a Christian in the mind? The more we live right, the less chance he has of striking us in our thinking. Then there are the emotions pictured by what in the Bible? The bowels, yes. The bowels. By the way, you can study this using the literal translations of the scriptures. How many a dart from Satan punctures our emotions? How many times do our emotions want to mislead us? When we live righteously, even this area will become protected. Sometime ago, I gave you seven evidences of the crucified life. Listen to the first two. When you are forgotten, or neglected, or purposely said it not, and you don't sting and hurt with the insult or the oversight, but your heart is content and restful in Christ, that is an evidence of the crucified life. When your good is evil spoken of, when your wishes are crossed, your advice disregarded, your opinions ridiculed, and you refuse to let anger rise in your heart or even defend yourself, but take it all in patient, loving silence, that is an evidence of the crucified life. Oh, it is easy to get hurt feelings. Have you ever pondered this? I've tried to define these. If you find a good definition, I'd like it. When we get hurt feelings, our thoughts can run wild. When we live righteously, it will help us overcome so many of these kinds of things. Our feelings and emotions can take off like a runaway train. Closely related to the heart are the kidneys. By the way, the Bible talks about these two. If you read the old King James Version, it talks about the reins. If you read the newer versions, you won't get anything that speaks of the kidneys because they fail to translate literally. The kidneys are protected by the breastplate as well. The kidneys have to do with the blood in the body. They are closely related to the liver. There is a saying that goes something like this. Let me ask, has anybody ever heard this? So-and-so is liverish today. Has anybody ever heard this? I think it's not spoken of much anymore. The liver affects the moods, so they tell me. One's moods can become a danger to one. I went online to read this in a site called The Liver Doctor. I wanted to know what about the liver. This doctor said, if your liver is sluggish, you are not only more likely to struggle with your weight, you are more likely to be moody and out of balance with life in general. This is a difficulty for people who suffer with this. This is because the liver will be unable to break down toxins and hormones efficiently, which can cause a leaky gut and a leaky liver sieve. And this can lead to brain inflammation. Suffering from this makes you irritable, foggy, tired, and just plain out of sorts. Remember the saying, he or she is liverish today, so stay away. The relationship between the liver and the moods is an interesting one. I'm still quoting. Metaphysically, the liver is known as the seat of anger, and the Chinese say that too much fire in the liver makes you feel aggressive and too reactive. The relationship between the liver and the hormones is an interesting one as well. The liver does not make many hormones itself, as these are mainly made in many different glands in the body. However, the liver plays a significant role in hormonal imbalances because the liver breaks down or metabolizes the hormones once they have done their work in the body." Since the breastplate covers this area as well, we can overcome great struggles related to moods if we live righteously. Living right covers so much of life. Living right, I'm going to do what is right. There's another saying that goes like this. So-and-so was venting his spleen. So I didn't know these things, but that's what they tell me. It means to be angry, and one gives vent to that anger. Anybody have spleen trouble? No. Didn't know it was anyway. How many sins take place here? How does one overcome this? How does one overcome anger? Repentance. I have concluded that's the way over so many sins. Let me mention something I have mentioned in other places. The most powerful way to overcome such areas is by full repentance. Let's say I vent my anger and I have sinned doing so. How do I overcome that? Repent. If it is apparent to a child, oh, that's a bad illustration, right? Parents don't get angry with children. Let me find another one. Well, let's just say it does happen. What is the best cure? Repentance. What if a child sins against a parent, gets angry with a parent? What is the best cure for that child? Repentance. I know of no better cure. You could put away a lot of psychology if there was good teaching on repentance. Well, talking about venting the spleen, what do we use to do that? Well, we use our lungs. We vent our anger through our lungs by words. You cannot speak without breath. Have you ever noticed how Satan can throw a dart and it gets through in this area of anger, or in the area of the emotions, or in the area of our thinking? Our question was, what area does the breastplate cover? Well, here are some of the main things it covers. How important is righteousness in the life of the believer, then, if it can protect us from those things? So we ask, what is the purpose of the breastplate for the warrior? It is to protect the vitals. The word breastplate occurs only twice in the New Testament. Both times it speaks of it as the Roman soldier's breastplate. So we ask, just what does righteousness protect the believer from? Does righteousness protect one from physical trials? Does it protect one from sickness? Does it protect one from death? No. Righteousness can bring about big trials. It can bring about death. When you do right, regardless of the circumstances, it may be the cause of death. It does not protect from death either. Does it save us from the devil? No, it does not save us from the devil either. The devil will attack the believer, and so will demons, and sometimes even bring death to them. Now let me qualify some of those. One may be spared certain physical trials because one lives right. This happens. Let us say you do not drink and smoke. You go to the doctor, the first thing he asks you, do you drink or smoke? So you may be saved from a lot of things because you don't do those. It can save us from sickness and death. It can save you from many trials as well. It can also keep the devil at bay in many things. There are some things the devil cannot do to someone who lives righteously. He cannot tempt a believer with many things because the believer may not even be in a place of temptation. But this kind of protection is not what is in view here. So we ask again, what does righteousness save one from? This is what I see. It protects us from going down in the battle because we have been hit in a vital. The devil cannot take this area. If we live righteously, the devil will never take us down in sin, never. Never. We may die because of righteousness. We may endure much opposition because of righteousness. We may come under huge demonic attack. But if we keep our breastplate in place, the devil will not take us down by striking our vitals. It cannot happen. But as soon as we sin, as soon as we fail in some area, our breastplate may have a hole and we are in danger of having a sword pierce our heart or some other area. The devil may hit us in some area through some person, even a friend. And we are hurt or we become angry. And then if we let things go, we can become bitter. And in the end, we can go down to defeat. I observed this this past summer. I went to see where my mom, dad are buried, and my brother as well. And then I drove through the country. And I've told you about this place where I grew up. And I met a man there. whom I had known from a boy. And when we talked, when I talked to him about the Lord, he got quite irritated. And we began to talk about COVID and he ran down our town because he thought we were a bunch of ignorant imbeciles here. And the real reason he was talking all this was, and I sense that he's running down Christianity at this point. And he said something so terribly nasty to me. And I take no credit for it whatsoever. It just did not bother me at all. It was a satanic dart from an unbeliever. And if I had gotten angry, I would have lost the battle there. Behind him, I have absolutely no doubt, standing in the shadows, is the dark one. You see? The breastplate protects a very vital area from satanic darts. The dart glanced off and never even left a mark. Thanks be to the Lord. But to live in righteousness is so very key. Consider this righteousness. You see, righteousness takes place in thought, word, or in deed. It is no little feat to learn to think right. Am I right? It's no little feat to learn to think right. For me, very little time is lost even when I can't sleep at night. But I have to watch what I think of. I have to watch what I think of. Right now, very often, I go over these verses. This summer, we were visiting with friends, and they said they were memorizing this passage, and I thought, oh yeah, I've talked about that. I've memorized it before. So about now, at night, I can go over these verses, and I think about them. Then at night, many times, I pick some topic, some topic in my mind, and then I think that through until I fall asleep again. Very often of late, I have thought of what does it mean that God is love? Well, it's a huge subject. But as soon as we sin, as soon as we fail in some area, our breastplate may have a hole and we are in danger of having a sword pierce our heart. The mind of man is the most vital part of the soul. The devil may hit us in some area through some person or friend and so on. Then there is righteousness in words. How do I talk? How do I talk? What things do I say in talking to others or about others? Do I keep my words pure? It is very easy to fall into useless thinking or useless words. Greater yet is the danger of using bad words. When you watch things you shouldn't or hear things you shouldn't or listen to things you shouldn't, they want to creep in when they shouldn't. Then there are deeds. One should do right. How much of life is taken up doing things, deeds? And how easy is it to slip into deeds that should not take place? By the way, I don't think we ever escaped this here in life. You see, when we think what we should not and speak what we should not and do what we should not, we are missing the mark of God's perfect will and character, and that is called sin. And then we fail of righteousness, and then we are in danger from the opponent. There are sins of commission and sins of omission. When I do what I am forbidden to do, that is unrighteousness. But when I don't do that which I should do, that is unrighteousness as well. The Lord may call us to do something, and if we disobey that, and don't do anything that is sin, it is unrighteousness. Listen to Ezekiel 3, 18 through 20. When I say to the wicked, you shall surely die, and you give him no warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life, that same wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand. Yet if you warn the wicked, and he does not turn from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity, but you have delivered your soul. Again, when a righteous man turns from his righteousness and commits iniquity, and I lay a stumbling block before him, he shall die because you did not give him warning. He shall die in his sin and his righteousness, which he has done shall not be remembered, but his blood I will require at your hand. Nevertheless, if you warn the righteous man that the righteous should not sin and he does not sin, he shall surely live because he took warning. Also, you will have delivered your soul." These are sobering verses. Then there are very difficult things required of the believer insofar as righteousness is concerned. And sometimes because very few obey some of those, we feel justified in not obeying them either. For example, such matters as brought up in 1 Corinthians 5. You know the story. There was a man in the Corinthian church who committed a grievous sin. And the church was proud of its liberties and did not mourn about this. And Paul said they were to hand this man over to the devil. But it goes further than that and it instructs individual believers. Here's what it says, let me read verses 9 and on. I wrote to you in an epistle not to keep company with fornicators yet not altogether with the fornicators of this world or with the covetous or extortioners or with idolaters for then you must needs go out of the world. But now I have written to you not to keep company of any man that is called a brother, be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or drunkard, or an extortioner, with such a one know not to eat." Now there's probably a hardly a more disobeyed command in the New Testament than this one. But to exercise this command is highly costly. Those who obey this will come under fire by other professing believers. Many are not even aware of what this means. Many are not even aware that this passage exists in the Bible. Those who obey this will come under fire by others. And I think if Christians would read 2 Thessalonians 2 that tells the Christian to separate themselves from people who are even lazy, we would be shocked that this exists in the word of God. Yet the Bible asks us to obey these. Turn to Isaiah 59. We had this passage in our last message. I want to read some of it again as it relates to our present subject. Isaiah 59. And we'll begin in verse 1. Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened. By the way, Isaiah's day was a very difficult day, like ours is. Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, nor his ear heavy, that it cannot hear. But your iniquities have separated you from your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear. For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity. Your lips have spoken lies, your tongue has muttered perversity. No one calls for justice, nor does any plead for truth. They trust in empty words and speak lies. They conceive evil and bring forth iniquity. They hatch viper's eggs and weave the spider's web. He who eats of their eggs dies, and from that which is crushed, a viper breaks out. Their webs will not become garments, nor will they cover themselves with their works. Their works are works of iniquity, and the act of violence is in their hands. Their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed innocent blood. Their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity. Wasting and destruction are in their paths. The way of peace they have not known, and there is no justice in their ways. They have made themselves crooked paths, Whoever takes that way shall not know peace. Therefore, justice is far from us, nor does righteousness overtake us. We look for light, but there is darkness. We look for brightness, but we walk in blackness. We grope for the wall like the blind, and we grope as if we had no eyes. We stumble at noonday as at twilight. We are as dead men in desolate places. We all growl like bears and moan sadly like doves. We look for justice, but there is none. For salvation, but it is far from us. For our transgressions are multiplied before you, and our sins testify against us. For our transgressions are with us, and as for our iniquities, we know them. In transgressing and lying against the Lord and departing from our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood. Justice is turned back, and righteousness stands afar off, for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter. So truth fails, and he who departs from evil makes himself a prey. Then the Lord saw it, and it displeased him that there was no justice. Now that's as far as we read last time. Truth fails. But look now at the next verses when it talks about He, by the way, in these verses, it is the Lord that is referred to. Verse 16. He saw that there was no man and wondered that there was no intercessor. Therefore His own arm brought salvation for Him and His own righteousness, it sustained Him. I see this verse as prophetic. Verse 15 gives us the time of the close of the 400 silent years as I see it. God has let man go for a long time. Man has failed to bring about salvation. Man has failed God. And I have spoken on why it took 4,000 years for the Messiah to come. And I said he had to come when the time was right. You know, Lloyd-Jones says that God had given man time to find if man could find a way of salvation. And in the Greek thinkers, the epitome, the top of man's thinking came in the Greek thinkers, and they had no idea. about salvation, and that when man was completely undone, God sent the Savior. So at the end of 400,000 years, God wondered that there was no intercessor. There was nobody to stand in the gap. God saw that there was no one to stem the tide of evil. Man was an utter failure. So verse 16 says, therefore, his own arm brought salvation for him, and his own righteousness, it sustained him. Verse 17, talking now about the Lord. According to their deeds, accordingly he will repay fury to his adversaries, recompense to his enemies, the coastlands he will fully repay. So shall they fear the name of the Lord from the west and his glory from the rising of the sun. When the enemy comes in like a flood, the spirit of the Lord will lift up a standard against him. The Redeemer will come to Zion and to those who turn from transgression in Jacob, says the Lord. As for me, says the Lord, this is my covenant with them. My spirit, who is upon you, and my words, which I shall put in your mouth, shall not depart from your mouth, nor from the mouth of your descendants, nor from the mouth of your descendants' descendants, says the Lord, from this time forevermore. Now this is one of those prophecies that may have a dual fulfillment that speaks of his first coming and his second coming. And he put on righteousness as a breastplate when he came the first time. And when you read the first four gospels, you will find that. And the main purpose was to bring salvation. By the way, I'm happy to tell you on the authority of the word of God that Jesus Christ is coming for the church pretty soon. After seven years he will come back down to earth and he will put on the garments of vengeance and his clothes will be splattered with blood. His tunic will be zeal and he will mete out justice to mankind. He will save the righteous and cast the wicked into hell. And if you want to see how he will execute righteousness on the earth, read the book of Revelation. You see, today we see a Jesus who is all love. But turn to Isaiah 63 now for one more passage. For a look at this same Jesus when he returns at the end of the tribulation. Here we see a Jesus with clothes splattered with blood and with anger on his face. And this picture is so foreign to us that those who mentioned these things may well be viewed as false teachers. But look at verses 1 through 4. Who is this who comes from Edom? By the way, this is just after he comes down to earth at the end of the tribulation. Who is this who comes from Edom with dyed garments from Basra? This one who is glorious in his apparel, traveling in the greatness of his strength? I who speak in righteousness, mighty to save. This is the Lord Jesus Christ. So they ask, why is your apparel red and your garments like one who treads in the winepress? Have you ever seen the picture of treading in the winepress? The juice splattering all over, that's the picture here. He says, this is the Lord answering now, I have trodden the winepress alone. Here's the book of Revelation. And from the people's no one was with me, for I have trodden them in my anger and trampled them in my fury. Their blood is sprinkled upon my garments, and I have stained all my robes. For the day of vengeance is in my heart and the year of my redeemed has come. So who is this? This is Jesus Christ. And our passage says that he has put on the breastplate of righteousness. At the end of the tribulation, truth will have fallen farther by far farther than it has fallen today. And the Lord will tread them underfoot in his anger and trample them in his fury. Their blood will be sprinkled on his garments and stain all his robes. So listen again, now just listen to Isaiah 59, 17 and 18. For he put on righteousness as a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation on his head. He put on the garments of vengeance for clothing, and was clad with zeal as a cloak. According to their deeds, accordingly he will repay fury to his enemies, recompense to his enemies, the close lands he will fully repay. How foreign is this Jesus to today's Christian? He is almost unrecognizable, but he is wearing a breastplate of righteousness. The words of scripture so common in the church and even in the world, judge not that you be not judged, must be interpreted in light of the command to judge righteous judgment. John 7, 24. By the way, It is our task to judge righteously. John 7, 24 says so. And so in concluding, let me mention Noah. The New Testament says he was a preacher of what? Righteousness. We can say literally that the whole world was against him. But he preached righteousness. The Christian is to wear the breastplate of righteousness. You know where that counts? At home, on the job, wherever we are. And we ask, what does righteousness protect us from? Does it protect us from the battle? No, it protects us in the battle. Does it protect us from persecution? No, it may well bring about persecution, but it will protect us in persecution. Have you wondered, how do Christians live in Iran, Afghanistan now, Myanmar you mentioned before, China? How do they live? They are not protected from all these things, but they are protected in the battle. You see, righteousness may bring death. So what does it protect us from? It protects us from compromise on truth. It protects us from giving in on things we should not be giving in on. It protects us in the battle. in persecution, and even in death. It protects us from denying our Lord, be it ever in such small ways. It keeps us spiritually safe in our vital areas, the mind, how we think, things like anger, and so on. O that we might truly hunger and thirst for righteousness. O that we might pant after it and live it, no matter what it costs us. In the long run, it will keep us safe in the Lord.