Grace Bible Church
Pastor-Teacher
Robert R. McLaughlin
Sunday, September 22, 2013
EPH 6:14 Therefore, hold your ground “AFTER” you have buckled on your combat gear around your waist with truth, and [AFTER] having put on the breastplate of righteousness.
“Breastplate of Righteousness” – has to do with the believer’s integrity in the midst of the angelic conflict and spiritual warfare.
The true biblical principle is that the “integrity of God” begins with your relationship with God and without a relationship with God there is really no true integrity.
The first concept has to do with the first item of equipment called the girdle or really the belt or harness of the Roman soldier.
Whenever a Roman soldier moved out of his tent or his barracks and moved to the rack where the equipment was stacked, the first thing that he put on was the belt.
Aor-act-imp – histemi – stete which we’ve now had in verses 11, 13 and 14 – to stand against, to oppose, to hold your ground, to stand fast.
The superior creature being Satan and all the fallen angels. Angelic creatures are infinitely stronger and greater and smarter than we are.
The aorist tense is a constantive aorist, it views defensive action against Satan and demons in it’s entirety.
The constantive aorist tense views the believer as reaching a point where he is spiritually strong enough to hold his ground against spiritual warfare.
It has taken the believer a lengthy time of dedication and devotion as a student of the word of God to reach the point where he is able to put on the harness, or the belt of truth.
You have to have truth, and the more truth that you learn, the more truth you will understand.
Then, the more truth that you understand, the more truth you will think.
And, the more truth that you think, the more chance for integrity you will possess.
The active voice, the Church-age believer produces the action of the verb under the military metaphor of defensive action.
The imperative mood is the imperative of command in which God makes a direct positive demand on the volition of every church age believer.
A. The royal family honor code is a system of spiritual integrity mandated by God and revealed in the mystery doctrine of the Church Age.
B. The royal family honor code relates to personal integrity on the part of believers in relationship with other persons.
The honor code includes: the filling of Spirit; doctrinal orientation; grace orientation; and a personal sense of destiny.
The royal family honor code centers around two words: TRUTH AND INTEGRITY.
Integrity is defined as adherence to spiritual, moral, and ethical principles related to truth and honesty.
Hence, the royal family honor code relates to both the predesigned plan of God, as well as every function in relationship to people, which even means the laws of divine establishment.
TIT 3:2 speak evil of no man, do not be argumentative, gentle, showing every consideration for all men.
As a part of the royal family honor code, the believer needs to understand that he is born again into a status quo of aristocracy.
The Church Age is the dispensation of the royal family of God. Therefore we must have royal function.
Jesus Christ himself is the basis for the fact we have an honor code and He is the prototype of putting on the breastplate of righteousness.
Aristocracy has standards, and these standards are called the honor code or putting on the breastplate of righteousness.
It is an honor and integrity produced by perception, metabolization, and application of Bible doctrine.
Absolute truth will tolerate nothing less than the honor, integrity, and virtue that comes from the filling of the Spirit, the perception and inculcation of doctrine, and the resultant spiritual growth.
Point 2, the Application of Bible Doctrine and the Royal Family Honor Code Begins at Spiritual Self Esteem.
A. Spiritual self-esteem is the basis for concluding everything related to integrity.
B. Spiritual self-esteem is also the basis of operations for our relationship with other people.
A. The attainment and function of spiritual self-esteem.
The royal family honor code functions best where spiritual self-esteem exists.
Spiritual self-esteem is the basis for resolving otherwise unsolvable problems.
Spiritual self-esteem becomes the base of operations for the effective application of Bible doctrine to experience.
With the attainment of spiritual self-esteem, the believer has learned enough Bible doctrine to make application to every experience of life.
(A) Learning, the perception and metabolization of Bible doctrine.
(B) Thinking, the application of metabolized doctrine to experience.
C) solving, understanding and using the problem-solving devices.
First, the attainment and function of spiritual self-esteem. B. Secondly, the function of the royal family honor code.
Lack of human self-esteem can only be resolved by the attainment of spiritual self-esteem.
With no self-esteem, whether human or spiritual, you are disoriented to life.
Without self-esteem you cannot entertain yourself or handle simple problems like loneliness and such problems related to social life.
Spiritual self-esteem is far greater than human self-esteem.
Human self-esteem can sometimes be frustrating, but spiritual self-esteem is never frustrating.
SSE is that virtue and integrity developed from living in the PPOG whereby the believer’s confidence is based on Bible doctrine which he has learned through perception, metabolization and application.
Spiritual self-esteem is never a system of self-improvement based on advice, counseling, or dependence on others.
Under spiritual self-esteem, you are free from legalistic bullying, people dependence distractions, flattery, counseling, and dependence
Spiritual self-esteem solves the problems of inadequacy, peer pressure, role model arrogance, all the subtleties of arrogance, and fear.
Spiritual self-esteem is the foundation for stability in the Christian way of life.
Spiritual self-esteem avoids withdrawal and stuffing your problems and failures into your subconscious.
Spiritual self-esteem is the status of solving the unsolvable problems and pressures of this life.
POINT 3, VIOLATIONS OF THE ROYAL FAMILY HONOR CODE OR PUTTING ON THE BREASTPLATE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS.
In Roman society, as a part of the breastplate of righteousness, no one had the right to judged or punished the servant of another Roman, unless you had the right to judge another believer who is the servant of God.