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Okay, so we're continuing our series on the whole armour of God, and I'll just read, you can keep your finger there in Proverbs, we'll come back to Proverbs, but I'll just read to you from Ephesians chapter 6 and verse number 14, which says, Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth. So we cover that on Sunday afternoon, being girt about with the truth of God's word, and having on the breastplate of righteousness. So we're talking about an armour, we're talking about having armour on the breast, a breastplate that'll protect your organs, you know, if you go to war, you put on that piece of armour to protect your organs, to protect your heart, to protect you from broken bones, you know, to keep you functioning, and hey, we also need to make sure that the breastplate of righteousness is applied spiritually in our Christian lives. Now when it talks about the breastplate of righteousness, okay, there's always two elements when it comes to righteousness, okay, are you righteous because of your own merits? Can you possibly be righteous to God's standard because of your good works? And of course we know we cannot be, right? We cannot be, and so we need the righteousness of God, in order for us to be saved, in order for us to have the righteousness, the breastplate of righteousness, we must have the righteousness of God, and as I quoted to you last week, well actually no, I think two sermons ago, when I talked about the whole armour of God, I had mentioned to you that this armour is an armour that God puts on, it's an armour that God wears, when he goes to war, when he defended Old Testament Israel, he put on the whole armour of God, and the Bible tells us in Isaiah 59 verse 17, for he put on righteousness as a breastplate. So the Lord puts on righteousness as a breastplate, hey, and you are to put on the breastplate of righteousness. So if God is putting on his breastplate of righteousness, and it's the same armour that we need to put on, are we putting on our own righteousness, or are we putting on the righteousness of God, okay, if God is putting on the breastplate of righteousness, of course that would be 100% righteous, that would be 100% pure, it would not be corrupt, it would not be damaged, it would not be sinful. God wants us to wear that same piece of armoury, and of course, you know this passage, because we go door to door so many, don't we, in Romans chapter 3 in verse number 10, it says as it is written, there is none righteous, no not one, there is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. So the Bible tells us there is none righteous, no not one. And so we need to say to God, well God I'm not righteous, I can't be right with you, I need your righteousness, I need that breastplate of righteousness. And so when it comes to this topic, can you guys hear me okay, alright, I'll just shout it until I lose my voice, when it comes to this topic of righteousness, the first thing we need to have is the righteousness of God, we need the righteousness of God imputed upon us, and if you want, please go to Romans chapter 4, Romans chapter 4, we will come back to Proverbs, so I would suggest just keep your finger on Proverbs, a lot of our texts will come from the book of Proverbs, but go to Romans chapter 4 and verse number 3, Romans chapter 4 and verse number 3, we need the imputed righteousness of God, brethren, okay, we need the righteousness that comes from Jesus Christ, because this is an important part of our armoury, we can't have a breastplate that is cracked, we can't have a breastplate that is not good for battle, we need a perfect, righteous breastplate, no cracks in the armour, and so in Romans chapter 4 verse 3 it says, for what saith the scripture, Abraham believed God and it was counted unto him for righteousness, how did Abraham get righteous with God? He believed God, alright, and if you are saved, it means you've believed God, you've believed the gospel, you've believed on Jesus Christ, you've believed on his death, bearing resurrection, plus nothing, minus nothing, for you to be saved, and that's how you receive the imputed righteousness of God, look at verse number 4, now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt, so if God wanted us to work for our righteousness, we would be in his debt, he would have to pay us, he would have to pay us, you know, to get us saved, and that's a lot of false religions, they think if I work righteousness, if I have the good works, then God owes it to me, he owes it to me for me to go to heaven, but the Bible has already told us that there is none righteous, no not one, verse number 5 says, but to him that worketh not, salvation is, stop working, stop thinking it's your righteousness, worketh not, it's not worketh a little, worketh not, stop working, you want to get saved, if someone is here, and you don't know if you're saved, and you want to be sure that you're saved, or you're listening on YouTube, and you don't know, guess what you have to do, you've got to stop working, you've got to stop trusting your good works, your righteousness, to go to heaven, it says, but to him that worketh not, but believeth on him, that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness, so once again what is that we need to do, we need to believe on him, that justifieth the ungodly, and of course that is the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, what he has done for us, he justifies us, we were ungodly, we're trying to put on our own righteousness, it's ungodliness, we need to have the perfect righteousness of Christ, verse number 6, even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputed for righteousness, without works, you want to be righteous with God, without works, stop working, stop thinking that you are good enough for heaven, stop thinking that you'll be accepted by God because you're not as bad as your neighbour, you're not as bad as a murderer, you're not as bad as a rapist or some drunkard, you say well I'm a pretty good person, no, the Bible's very clear that works will never save you, do not trust your works, and listen, if you're saved, and you start measuring your salvation by how good you are, you are going to live a Christian life full of doubts, because your works will fail you, you're going to commit sin, you're going to, you're not going to work righteously all the time, and if you're judging your salvation by how good I'm doing, then you'll always walk in doubt, you'll always be unsure am I saved God, listen if you just realise salvation is not by righteousness, my righteousness, I know I have to stop working, it's working not, it's just faith on Jesus, Jesus has done it all, then you can be sure, you can have the confidence that you know you're saved, because the work is finished, the work was done on the cross, no further work needs to be done in order for you to be saved, verse number seven it says, saying blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered, blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin, so when we talk about this topic of righteousness, there are two parts, number one, the imputed righteousness of Jesus Christ, salvation by grace through faith and not of works, without works, without the deeds of the law, that's how we're saved, okay, and that is an important aspect of this armour, but when it comes to the topic of righteousness, there's the other element of righteousness, and that is now that we are saved, now that we are sure that we're on our way to heaven, we're a child of God, God has big expectations on you, God wants to use you for his service, God wants you to live now righteously, God wants you to live in accordance to the commands, the laws that is laid out for us in the Bible, by the leading of the Holy Ghost, he wants us to walk righteously, and so our position, our position before God is perfect, perfectly righteous, when God the Father looks at you, he sees you through the lens of Jesus Christ and the righteousness of Christ, and you are perfectly righteous, but then we have our walk, we have our fellowship, we have our Christian living, and guess what, it's not always righteous, sometimes it is, sometimes it's not, many times, I mean, that is life, that is the Christian life, okay, and so our desire to please God, what God wants from us is to live a righteous life, okay, now if I don't live a righteous life, am I still saved? Of course, if you place your faith on Jesus Christ, okay, once again your position is saved, your position is based not on your righteousness, your position is based on the righteousness of Christ, but your walk with God, your fellowship with God is based on your righteousness, okay, if you work the works of sin, if you work iniquity in your lives, you're going to be in darkness and God will not be able to walk with you, okay, so we need to have, you know, strive for righteous living, you guys, I hope I kept a finger there in Proverbs chapter 6, sorry, Proverbs chapter 2, Proverbs chapter 2 and verse number 6, Proverbs chapter 2 and verse number 6, how is it that, you know, what's the first step, what do we need to do, we want to live righteous lives, what do we have to do, verse number 6, it says, for the Lord giveth wisdom, that's number 1, if you want to walk a righteous life, you need to understand that wisdom comes from God, wisdom comes from His word, wisdom comes from hearing good preaching, okay, wisdom comes with the work of the Holy Ghost in your life, but it comes from God and then it says this, out of His mouth cometh knowledge and understanding, okay, these are two important elements, right, understanding, you can believe something but you may not fully understand, you know, why you believe that until you understand that, you know, when we lead someone to the Lord, we want to make sure that they understand what they've heard and if they get stuck on something, we want to make sure it's clear that they know salvation is not out of works, it's just faith on Jesus Christ, we want to make sure they understand and when they understand, then they can place their faith, right, once they understand, they can take that next step and receive the imputed righteousness of Christ, well it's not all that different as a saved person, in order for you to live a righteous life, you must get the wisdom that comes from God, you must understand what God wants from you, you must understand what you're reading in God's word, you know, and look, even as a pastor, I've been pastoring this church for almost, what is it, over two and a half years now, right, I've been preaching pretty much every week, you know, there are still passages in the Bible that I don't fully understand, there are passages in the Bible that I still struggle with and I still chew and I still meditate on and I haven't fully grasped, okay, but am I much more knowledgeable today than I was two and a half years ago, two and a half years ago, was I much more knowledgeable then than I was five years before that and ten years before that, yes, because, you know, the goal of the Christian life is to gain understanding, to gain more knowledge, to gain the wisdom that comes from God, why is this so important, because look at verse number seven, it says, he layeth up sound wisdom for the righteous, he is a buckler to them that walk uprightly, okay, now notice those two elements are there, you know, righteousness as a position and righteousness as your walk, right, he layeth up sound wisdom for the righteous, say that's for you, you are saved, you have the righteousness of Christ, well he's laying up sound wisdom, he wants to give you knowledge for the righteous, but for what reason, it says he is a buckler or a shield, a defense to them that walk uprightly, so he doesn't just want us to be righteous in Christ, you know, righteous before him, but he wants us to walk uprightly, he wants us to walk righteously, look at verse number eight, he keepeth the paths of judgment and preserveth the way of his saints, then shall thou understand righteousness and judgments and equity, yea, every good path, you see in order for you to walk righteously, you must know the word of God, you must attain wisdom, you know, we talk about not just being a hearer of the word, but a doer, okay, so the first thing before you can be a doer of the word, before you can do righteous works, you must first hear, you must first learn, you must first gain understanding, the wisdom of God, and it's great when you learn new things, it's exciting, wow, I didn't know that, wow, I learnt that, wow, it all makes sense, that's good, but then you gotta work it, you gotta put it into practice, you gotta walk uprightly, okay, there's no point of knowing what God says about being a faithful husband or a godly wife if you don't practice it, what's the point, what's the point of having the understanding if you don't say well now I'm gonna apply what I've learnt, that would be righteous, that would be righteous, alright, just having the understanding, just having knowledge is not righteous in of itself, but once you apply it, once you play it out, once you put into practice what you've heard, the wisdom that you've learnt, now you can walk uprightly, okay, and this is an important part of our armour, we're in a spiritual battle, okay, when we're not walking uprightly, the devil's gonna mess around with you, you're gonna be at a weak state, he can hurt you, he can destroy you, he can cause you to have a bad testimony, you know, walking righteously is an important part of this armour that will protect us, okay, protect us, and it, you know, sorry, every good part, and notice in verse number 9 it says, and then thou shalt understand righteousness and judgment and equity, and so once you receive the righteousness of God, once we understand his righteousness, guess what the next thing we can do now, is pass judgment, we can judge what is right and what is wrong, we can make judgment, this is the right decision, this is the wrong decision, you know, this is holy, this is unholy, this is clean, this is unclean, it's gonna help us make solid decisions in our life when we can look at a situation and pass judgment, and this leads us to our next point, please go to Exodus 28, Exodus 28, and I want to show you the correlation of righteousness and judgment, okay, cause again, we're trying to walk righteously, in order to walk righteously, we need to know how to walk righteously, we need to pass judgment, right, and in Exodus 28, verse number 15, it describes for us how, you know, the attire of the priests, and remember how one of the things, I'm not sure if you're aware of this, but the priests were put on a breastplate, now not a breastplate like going to war breastplates, but on their breastplates, they had these 12 stones, okay, I don't know if you all know that, and each of those stones represented one of the tribes of Israel, alright, now look at Exodus 28, verse 15, and yes, this is not a soldier, I understand that, but remember, we're in a spiritual world, okay, so we take the application of what we see here, the breastplate for the priests, and once again, you guys in the New Testament have made kings and priests of the Lord, so we can take the application here and apply it, Exodus 28, verse 15, it says, and thou shall make the breastplate of judgment, you know that's what God calls that, the breastplate of judgment, with cunning work, after the work of the ephod, they shall make it, of gold, of blue, and of purple, and of scarlet, and of fine twined linen, thou shall make it, okay, so that breastplate is called the breastplate of judgment, drop down to verse number 30, same chapter, verse number 30, and thou shall put in the breastplate of judgment, okay, the Urim and the Thurman, and they shall be upon Aaron's heart, look at this, and when he goeth in before the Lord, and Aaron shall bear the judgment of the children of Israel upon his heart, before the Lord continually, okay, so what did that breastplate once again represent, remember, it was the 12 tribes, it's called the breastplate of judgment, and it says, and Aaron shall bear the judgment of the children of Israel upon his heart, you see Aaron was responsible for passing judgments, just as much, he was a leader, he was a preacher, you know, people turn to him for guidance, for help, and he as a spiritual leader had to pass judgment in the nation of Israel, and this judgment is represented by that breastplate, the fact that all those 12 tribes are represented there, he's saying look, the Lord is going to use me as his high priest to pass judgment to the nation of Israel, okay, so what's the application, well, the breastplate of righteousness is there for us today in the armor, so we can pass judgment, so we can know what is right and wrong, okay, so we can, when someone tempts you to maybe do wickedness, to commit some sin, you can have the righteousness of God, you can have the wisdom of God, you can pass judgment and say no, I'm not going to partake in that, okay, or if something has been, if something is good, and you can help it, you can be a supporter, you pass judgment, say yes, I'm going to support that project, I'm going to support that work, I'm going to support that church, whatever it is, you're passing judgment, this is an illustration of the breastplate, okay, now please go to John chapter 7, go to John chapter 7, John chapter 7, because we're going to of course a story of Jesus Christ, and we saw once again the religious leaders are there to pass judgment, okay, and now in the days of Jesus, are the religious leaders passing good judgment, now they're horrible, okay, why, because they don't have the righteousness, they don't have first of all the imputed righteousness that comes from God, secondly they're not walking up in righteousness anyway, so they're passing bad judgments, and we pick up the story here in, John chapter 7 is basically the reaction to John chapter 5 when Christ heals on the Sabbath day, okay, and you guys, I mean this happens, you know, where you read in the Bible, and you see how, you know, the Pharisees are constantly trying to trip up Christ, and they would always watch, is he going to heal on the Sabbath day, is he going to do some work, and Jesus is like, yep, I'm going to heal him, okay, so actually Jesus breaks the Sabbath, okay, and we'll cover that soon, but look at John chapter 7 and verse number 19, Jesus says, did not Moses give you the law, and yet none of you keepeth the law, why go ye about to kill me, okay, so they want to kill Jesus, but Jesus, look, you're not even keeping the law, they're not walking righteously, they're not walking uprightly, the people answered and said, thou hast the devil, who goeth about to kill thee, Jesus answered and said unto them, I have done one work, and ye will marvel, what was that work he healed on the Sabbath day, okay, did Jesus work on the Sabbath day, yes, now listen, this is why we need to be careful when we're passing judgment, because it's easy to say, well hold on, we know we shouldn't work on the Sabbath, then Jesus comes along and does some work, we need to pass judgment now, right, hold on, is he disobeying God, he did some work, now we see what these guys were doing, they were passing bad judgment, they wanted to kill Jesus, for doing what, something wicked, for doing something sinful, for blasphemy, no, they want to kill him for healing somebody, for doing good, for doing the works of God, for helping somebody on the Sabbath day, they want to kill him, that's bad judgment, that's horrible judgment, alright, look at verse number 22, Moses therefore gave unto you circumcision, not because it is of Moses but of the fathers, and ye on the Sabbath day circumcised a man, so they had no problems circumcising on the Sabbath, they had to circumcise on the 8th day, so if the 8th day, you can't time when a baby is born, so on the 8th day if it falls on the Sabbath, they would have circumcised, they would have to do some work, but was that sinful, was that wrong to do, were they committing sin, no, at least in that example, they know this is the right thing to do, even if it fell on the Sabbath, they would do it, so they were passing right judgment there, but they weren't then taken or affording Jesus Christ the same judgment, verse number 23, if a man on the Sabbath day receives circumcision, that the law of Moses should not be broken, are ye angry at me, because I have made a man every whit whole on the Sabbath day, judge not according to the appearance, but judge, look at this, righteous judgment, so we're always passing judgment, everybody in this world is constantly passing judgment, I read somewhere that we might make like 3000 decisions a day in our lives, as soon as you wake up, do I get out of bed, that's decision number 1, what do I do when I get up, what do I have for breakfast, what do I put on, once you accumulate all the decisions, whether they're conscious decisions or subconscious decisions, you make like 3000, I might be wrong, it could be like 30,000, I don't know, but it's some crazy number, decisions that you make a day, and that means you're constantly passing judgment, you're constantly deciding what am I going to do, what is right, what is wrong, you're constantly doing that, but here's the thing, we need to judge righteously, righteously, and so if Jesus comes along, and we say Jesus you know we shouldn't work, the bible says that, but hey there's a sick man over there and Jesus heals that person, he helps that person, he makes that person now able to work, able to provide, I can't remember exactly what it was that he was suffering with, but he's made him whole, he's done good, this man is going to be happy, his relatives are going to be happy, he's no longer going to be on some type of welfare, hey that's a good thing, we should be labelling and look at that and say wow, that was righteous, that was good, that was godly, now look, an example of this might be, I don't know, I'm just thinking of something right, we know we got church on Sunday right, and we got you know 9 o'clock service is coming around right, and let's say brother so and so is driving to church, and like we don't know, he doesn't turn up to church at 9 o'clock, and we could be oh brother so and so, he's late again, why isn't he here, why didn't come to tell you he's forsaken the assembly and isn't he, but you don't know, he might have stopped on the side of the road to help somebody in need, there could have been someone that was unwell that needed help, that brother so and so stepped in and helped him, hey and he missed church, well now when we pass judgement, we need to make sure that we don't judge incorrectly, that we don't judge wrongly, that we, you know if that person was doing something good on a day where they could have been doing something else like going to church or observing the Sabbath, that we pass righteous judgement, okay this is the lesson, there are some things that are more important than the Sabbath, hey look there are some things that are more important than church attendance, if something is of great need, someone needs great help, you be there and help them, you be there and help them, and those brothers and sisters of the Lord should be able to look at that situation and say no, that man did righteously, that man was a help in that situation, okay righteous judgement, okay righteous judgement, and of course that wisdom comes from God, because if we just use the wisdom of man, if we just use the wisdom of the Pharisees who were unsaved, just wisdom of man, say no Jesus you did wrong, you worked on the Sabbath, you broke the Sabbath, okay so we don't want to be like these Jews, we don't want to be like these unbelievers, we don't want to be like these Pharisees, we want to be wise, like Jesus Christ, okay, where he knew that even by doing this, yeah I'm going to look bad in the eyes of others, but I'm doing what is right, I'm doing what is right, and here once again we're talking about the breastplate of righteousness, now I'll get you to go to Proverbs once again if you've turned away, but I'm going to read another passage to you, it's in Deuteronomy chapter 1 verse 15, Deuteronomy chapter 1 verse 15, and the passage I'm going to read to you is one where Moses was overworked, right, he had a lot, I mean you know he was leading the entire nation out of Egypt, and a lot of people were coming to him with problems and situations, and look Moses was the pastor yes, but he was also the law, okay, so any kind of, you know they didn't have a police force, they didn't have you know a courthouse to take matters of civil issues, they would go straight to Moses, so Moses was dealing with issues across the board, right, with the entire nation, and then it says in Deuteronomy chapter 1 verse 15, it says, so I took the chief of your tribes, wise men, and known, so Moses says look I need other people to help me, I need other people to pass judgment, and he says I took the chief, I took wise men, wise men right, that's important, and known, and made them heads over you, captains over thousands, and captains over hundreds, and captains over fifties, and captains over tens, and officers among your tribes, and I charged your judges at this time saying, here are the causes between your brethren, and judge righteously, judge righteously between every man and his brother, and the stranger that is with him, ye shall not respect persons in judgment, but ye shall hear the small as well as the great, ye shall not be afraid of the face of man, for the judgment is God's, and the cause that is too hard for you, bring it unto me, and I will hear it. Look, you know what he's saying, he says look, when you pass judgment, make it God's judgment, know what God wants, know what the law says, it's not your own personal judgment, you go to God, say God what do I do in this situation, have you written about this in your word, and with your help, with your word, I'm going to be able to pass judgment, God's judgment, we are to judge righteously, the only way we can judge righteously is by having the wisdom that comes from God, which is why Moses needed wise men in this situation. And notice what else did he say, he said ye shall not respect persons in judgment, but ye shall hear the small as well as the great, ye shall not be afraid of the face of man. And listen, you've got to be careful when there is conflict, when there are arguments, that you don't just automatically side with the people that you like, that you don't automatically side with your buddies, hey these are my friends, and my friends, I've always got their backs because they're my friends, well what if your friends are doing wrong, what if your friends are doing wickedly, are you ready to turn around and say hey, you're doing wrong, are you ready to pass righteous judgment, or do you have a fear of man, do you have a fear of what your friends may say about you, you know, and you know children, thank God you're homeschooled, I can't really use the example, but there's been plenty of times, right, I remember when I was in school, where I'm being pressured to do wickedly, right, to smoke marijuana, to drink alcohol, to look at bad pictures, right, and then you've got that pressure, and you've got to pass judgments, you say well if I do what's right, if I please God, I might just lose my friends, and you know what, that's what God wants, God wants you to do righteously, he wants you to not be a respecter of persons, don't be afraid of upsetting somebody if you're doing righteously, the armour of God, you know if we don't judge righteously, we're not wearing the armour, that's such an important piece to our defence in this spiritual warfare, now go to Proverbs, go to Proverbs 10 and verse 24, Proverbs 10 verse 24, you might say well what do I get out of walking righteously, it seems a little bit harder, it'd be a lot easier if I can just walk in wickedness and just be like the world, much easier right, what's the point of walking in righteousness, well it actually has an effect on your prayer life, it has an effect on God answering your prayers, if you say to me, Pastor Kevin, it feels like God never answers my prayers, I don't think he's even hearing me, I'd say to you, you're probably not walking righteously, you're probably just living like the rest of the world, and you're not doing anything to please the Lord, because righteous living is going to please the Lord, and listen, if a child of mine pleases me, is well behaved, is obedient, don't you think as a parent I'm going to want to reward them, I'm going to want to give them what they need, but if I have a child that is disobedient, that doesn't care for the family, just wants to do his own thing, I'm unlikely to reward that person, and I still want the best for them, but I'm not going to reward them for the disobedience, I would rather reward one for their obedience, just as a parent, just talking on a carnal level here, so what do you think with God, do you think if you're walking unrighteously, you're walking in wickedness that God's going to just want to answer all your prayers, there's a direct correlation between answered prayers and you walking righteously, Proverbs 10 verse 24, Proverbs chapter 10 and verse 24 says the fear of the wicked shall come upon him, but the desire of the righteous shall be granted, you want your desires granted, you want your prayers answered, well you've got to be righteous, you've got to walk righteously, and you say man I can think back to a time where God answered this prayer, you know why he answered it? Yes because he's a loving God, yes because of our Heavenly Father, but because he saw you walking righteously, that's why, you know he rewarded you for your righteousness, God chapter 15 now, Proverbs chapter 15, Proverbs chapter 15 verse 29, Proverbs chapter 15 and verse 29, the Bible says the Lord is far from the wicked, but he heareth the prayer of the righteous, God seems so far, why isn't God answering my prayers, the Lord is far from the wicked, you want to walk wickedly, you want to disobey God, well God's going to seem very far to you, you start walking righteously, guess what, your prayers are going to be heard, your prayers are going to be answered, what an advantage, don't you want your prayers answered? I do, why else would I pray for things if I don't want them answered, right, I want them because usually the prayer is something that I can't achieve on my own and I need the supernatural power of God to be able to step in and change the course of events to answer that, right, we need the Lord, and if you want your prayers answered, you want your desires given to you by God, well let me just encourage you, start walking righteously, put on that breastplate of righteousness. You guys can stay in Proverbs, I'll just read another passage to you, 1 Peter 3 verse 8 says, Finally be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of another, love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous, by the way these are all righteous acts, not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing, but contrariwise blessing, knowing that ye are therefore there unto God that ye should inherit a blessing, say wow, God's going to bless me if I walk righteously, if I do what's right, yeah, okay, verse number 10, For he that will love life and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips that they speak no guile, let him eschew evil, let's get rid of evil and do good, let him seek peace and ensue it, and then it says this in verse number 12, For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers, but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil, okay, so if you're saved or unsaved, no, we just read a whole passage there, to the Christian, do what's right, don't do what's evil, why, because God will hear your prayers, God will answer your prayers, right, and if you are not walking in righteousness, you're not doing what's right, it says, or the face of the Lord is against them that do evil, not only will God not answer your prayers, not only will God seem so far away, but his face will be against you, he will allow you to go through some difficulties that he would otherwise not allow you to go through if you were just walking righteously, okay, the Lord will prevent you from being productive, say well that's a weak, that's a, you know, God that's a bit slack, well he does it so you can get weak, so you can get humbled, so you can say well I'm wrong with the Lord, Lord where are you, please forgive me, help me, that's why God allows us many times to go through some struggles, because we can be far from him, not walking righteously, so Brethren, you know, I want you to be righteous, I want us to be righteous, I want to be righteous, I want you to be righteous, I want to have this breastplate, because it's a spiritual war, and boy, you know, if I get pierced in my chest in a normal warfare, you're pretty much dead, I mean they get your lungs, you lose your lungs, you lose your heart, you're pretty much finished, you need this breastplate, you need to be walking righteously in your Christian life for you to be an effective soldier, for you to have some victory in this spiritual battle, now you're in Proverbs, now what we're going to be doing over the next little while is we're just going to do a study in the book of Proverbs, because when you want to look at the topic of righteousness, boy, the book of Proverbs is full of righteous, it's full of how to be righteous, full of the consequences of being righteous, the benefits of being righteous, and so we know what righteousness is, right, this is not a complicated topic, we want to do what's right, we don't want to sin, we want to be in obedience, this is a simple topic, but what's not easy sometimes is to measure ourselves with the Bible, and say, well, you know, I'm pretty confident, Pastor Kevin, I'm walking righteously, I'm pretty confident, I think I'm doing pretty good as a Christian, you know, I'm definitely not sinning as much as I used to, or I hope that's what you can say, right, but let's measure ourselves, right, with the word of God, let's see how righteous you really are in your spiritual walk, so we're going to be doing a study in the book of Proverbs, please go to Proverbs chapter 10, and verse number 28, Proverbs chapter 10 verse 28, so listen, you're not going to score, how many, let me see, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, I've got 20 points, okay, but we'll get through them quickly, you're not going to score 20 out of 20, okay, so don't panic, okay, let's say you score 10 out of 20, you know, I mean, you're doing pretty good, is what I'm saying, right, but you still have things to work on, right, you are going to do well in some of these things, and on some of these other things, you're not going to be doing that well, but that doesn't mean that you're all this hopeless Christian, okay, it just means these are areas you need to work in, these are areas of righteousness that you need to put into your life to make sure that that armour you've got on in your walk is without cracks, that it's strong, alright, so let's look at this, Proverbs chapter 10 and verse number 28, the Bible says, the hope of the righteous shall be gladness, so just look at that bit, the hope of the righteous shall be gladness, listen, are you a glad person, that's easy, number 1, are you a happy person, do you enjoy life, or are you depressing, you know, when people talk to you, do you cheer them up, or do you kind of bring them down, you know, are you enjoying life, are you happy with your life, say well I'm not that happy, well it's because you're not righteous, you know, it says very clearly here, alright, the hope of the righteous shall be gladness, so if you haven't got the gladness, there's an area of your life that you need to fix up, ok, so we're going to go through all 20 things, ok, so I'm not, you don't need to tell me where you're at, just, you're on, measurement with the word of God, go to chapter 11 now, Proverbs chapter 11 verse number 10, Proverbs chapter 11 and verse number 10, the Bible reads, when it goeth well with the righteous, hey, when things go well with you, it says the city rejoiceth, and when the wicked perish, there is a shouting, verse number 11, by the blessing of the upright, that's another way of saying righteous, by the blessing of the upright, the city is exalted, but it is overthrown by the mouth of the wicked, ok, so what is this saying, it says look, if you're righteous, the city rejoiceth, what it means is basically, are you blessing other people, do you influence people in the right way, you know, that you're righteous and people around you enjoy your company, they feel elevated, they feel exalted, they're happy, they spend time with you, is that the case, or do you bring them down, do you bring them low, do people try to avoid you, cause you know, brother so and so, just really, he's always depressed, he's always negative, he's always complaining, he's always whining, he's always finding some doctrine to argue about, can't we just get along for a bit, right, it says by the blessing of the upright, the city, verse 11, is exalted, do you exalt others, do you help other people, do you exalt them, do you bring them up, ok, and you say well really I don't, well that's an area that you need to work in, in your righteousness right, righteousness, go to chapter 12, Proverbs chapter 12 and verse number 3, Proverbs chapter 12 and verse number 3, the Bible says, a man shall not be established by wickedness, but the roots of the righteous shall not be moved, ok, think about that, stability, stability, drop down to verse number 7, same chapter, it says the wicked are overthrown and are not, but the house of the righteous shall stand, listen, is your life stable or unstable, can you say to me, I, man, I am, my life is full of stability, I've been married for, how long have I been married for, 16 years or 17 years, hey that's pretty good, I don't know exactly what it is, you know, I'm sorry honey if you're listening on Mixler, but I think it's 16 years we're married right, hey that's a pretty stable marriage, and you know what, I've enjoyed all 16 years, it only gets better for me in my life right, pretty stable, hey we've had this church here on the Sunshine Coast right, faithfully serving here, hey we've got stability here don't we, hey things are stable right, I'm not trying to boast on myself, I'm just saying look, is your life stable, you know, are you a church hopper, are you there for 2 months, and it's like oh man they believe in Zionism, so I'm going to go to the next church, and oh man yeah they pre-tribbered, so I'm going to go to the next church, is there stability in your life, actually my life is really unstable, I can never hold down a job, I can never do anything, you know, you're lacking righteousness then, you need to work in this area, stability is the product of righteousness, Proverbs chapter 10, Proverbs chapter 10 verse 16, Proverbs chapter 10 verse 16, this might sound a little Pentecostal-ish, but hey it's the word of God here, so this is true, Proverbs chapter 10 and verse number 16, the labour of the righteous tendeth to life, the fruit of the wicked to sin, so the labour of the righteous, first of all are you labouring, are you working, are you productive, but it tendeth to life, you know what this is saying is that you're productive, the work of your hands, you're able to achieve things, and this goes even, I'm not talking about just working a job, I'm talking about even mothers raising your children, are your children learning, are they growing, are you working on their character, are you being productive in the raising of your children, men are you being productive in the provisions that you need to give to your family, look at chapter 15, Proverbs 15 verse number 6, Proverbs 15 and verse number 6 says, in the house of the righteous is much treasure, but in the revenues of the wicked is trouble, listen do you have much treasure, we're not talking about someone that's filthy rich, but look are you productive, you know if you're righteous, if you're doing what's right, God's going to bless your hands, God's going to bless your productivity, you're going to have more than you need, there's going to be treasure in your house, my wife and I we try to live very simply, we don't try to get too much furniture, we're always throwing out stuff, I'm constantly going to play on the tip, just throwing things out, we're trying to live with as little things as we can, we've got too much is what I'm trying to say, even when we try to get things out of our house we have too much, but if you're righteous God's going to help you be fruitful, produce what you need in your life, please go to Proverbs chapter 8, so we are bouncing around, maybe I should have done it chapter by chapter, anyway Proverbs chapter 8 and verse number 7, Proverbs chapter 8 and verse number 7 says, for my mouth shall speak truth, and wickedness is an abomination to my lips, all the words of my mouth are in righteousness, there is nothing forward or perverse in them, hey how's your mouth, what do you talk about, you talk about wicked things, perverted things, you know, what comes out of your mouth, does cursing come out of your mouth, or do blessings, does truth come out of your mouth, so truth versus wickedness, what is it that you talk about, now I don't know, I trust that when we're in our environments in church, we talk truth, but then when you go home, or you're with your workmates, or you go with your friends, are you still speaking righteous things, are you still speaking true things, or is there perverse things in your mouth, Proverbs chapter 10 and verse number 21, Proverbs chapter 10 and verse number 21 says, the lips of the righteous feed many, but fools die for want of wisdom, okay, so guess what, if you're righteous, you're going to feed many with your lips, you're able to give knowledge, you're able to give wisdom, okay, people will know that you're a source of wisdom, a source of knowledge, and you can be a benefit to other people, but fools die for want of wisdom, okay, are you foolish, or are you righteous, which one are you, do you feed people with wisdom that comes out of your mouth, well if you don't, you need to get righteous, that's an area they need to work in, go to Proverbs chapter 11, verse number 5, Proverbs chapter 11 and verse number 5 reads, the righteousness of the perfect shall direct his way, but the wicked shall fall by his own wickedness, verse number 6, the righteousness of the upright shall deliver them, but transgressors shall be taken in their own naughtiness, so what is this talking about, talking about that if you're righteous, you're going to be delivered from harm, you're not going to be someone that just destroys your life, if you're righteous, now listen, even if you're righteous, you're going to sometimes cause some damage, sometimes you're going to get into some type of accident, you need to learn from your mistakes and all those kinds of things, but the one that is not righteous is just stuck in that way, he's just constantly hurting himself, have you ever had a friend that just seems like bad news all the time, bad luck all the time, you know, he tries to get on his feet, it just doesn't work for him, it gets up, doesn't work for him, you know, he tries, you know, whatever, whatever aspects of his life, you know, he tries, he's trying to do good, but it just doesn't work out, you know why, he's not righteous, if you're righteous, you won't be someone that's just constantly failing, constantly failing at what you're trying to do, you'll be delivered from harm, look at verse number 8, just drop down to verse number 8, it says the righteous is delivered out of trouble, and the wicked cometh in his stead, so listen, even if you're righteous, are you going to face trouble, yeah, but you're going to be delivered out of that trouble, you're not going to stay in that trouble, you're not going to keep doing the same mistakes over and over again in your life, right, the righteous are delivered out of those troubleless times, you're in Proverbs 11, look at verse number 23, you know, would God be happy at your desires and your thoughts, would God be happy about the things you think about, the things you want in your heart, it says here in verse number 23, the desire of the righteous is only good, but the expectation of the wicked is wrath, hey what are your desires, are they good desires, or are they carnal, are they fleshly, are they sensual, are they wicked desires that you have, or are they good desires, look at chapter 12 and verse number 5, the thoughts of the righteous are right, but the counsel of the wicked are deceit, your thought life, you know God cares about what you think, you think that's all for yourself, no, even your thoughts are for the glory of God, okay, you're thinking foolishly, you're thinking wickedly, you need to capture that vain imagination, that stronghold that Satan can have in your life, you need to tear that down for the glory of God, Reverend, okay, God cares not just what we do, but what we think about, the desires that we have in our heart, are your desires, are your thoughts righteous, chapter 13 verse 25, chapter 13 verse 25 says, the righteous eateth to the satisfying of his soul, but the belly of the wicked shall want, so what does the wicked want, they want, they want, they want, they never satisfied the wicked, so what is it saying, that the righteous are content, the righteous are satisfied, are you satisfied with your life, are you satisfied with what God has given you, are you satisfied with your lot in life, or are you wanting more, more, more, you know, if you're righteous you'll be satisfied, you'll be content, you'll be thankful for the things that you have, Proverbs 21 verse 26 says, he covets of greedily all the day long, but the righteous giveth and spareth not, so what's the righteous, what's he known for, for giving and not sparing, he's generous, okay, are you a generous person, are you looking to help those that are in need, Proverbs 29 verse number 7, Proverbs 29 and verse number 7 says, the righteous considerth the cause of the poor, but the wicked regardeth not to know it, so the righteous considerth, considerth the cause of the poor, so the righteous person is looking to be generous, the righteous person is looking to help those that are in need, you know, if there are brethren in this church, you know what, we all have needs, and sometimes there are needs that certain people can't fulfil, but they could be a brother or sister in this church that can help fulfil those needs, are you looking to be that person to be generous, now I'd like to say, you know, there are poor people out there in this world who should help financially, but we live in Australia, no one's poor, okay, but obviously there are other needs and financial things necessarily, you know, we can be, maybe the person just needs a friend, are you willing to be someone's friend that is alone, that feels like nobody cares for them, you know, are you willing to be generous with other things than just financial things, but also just giving of yourself, Proverbs chapter 12 please, Proverbs chapter 12 and verse number 10, Proverbs chapter 12 and verse number 10, and I don't know, I might get in trouble with this one, with some of you new IFB'ers, I don't know, Proverbs chapter 12 and verse number 10 says, a righteous man regardeth the life of his beast, but the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel, listen, do you care for your beasts, do you care for your pets, I mean look, in this context, the beasts are what people, what they needed to be able to be productive, to plough the ground, they would have their oxen and they would have their sheep and they would have all this stuff, right, because, you know, Israel in those days was, you know, you're basically a farmer, you're either planting or harvesting or you're ploughing with animals and, you know, you're farmers of different types, and look, so people that are righteous are going to look after their animals, they're not going to be cruel to their animals, they're not going to make them go into suffering and work a hard day and not actually feed them and take care of them, and if they're sick, you know what, they helped them, they looked after them, and now look, obviously our society is animal crazy, I mean they love and they treat animals not just like men, even more than men, they treat their animals like royalty many times, and of course that is wickedness, okay, we are not servants to animals, they are servants to us, but as our servants, you know, and our pets, you know, even your pets are your servants, they're there to give you joy, they're there to, you know, give you, fill your mind with some type of activity, right, we don't have any pets, but I enjoyed having cats for the kids, because they learnt about the animal kingdom, they would see how that cat would go and hunt that bird, I felt sorry for the bird when it was eaten, but listen, there's education there, right, there's understanding the laws of nature, understanding that we live in a cursed fallen world, because otherwise that cat would not have been aggressive, right, to the birds, so, you know, even our pets can teach us many things, right, and even, you know, just having a pet that dies, it's very sad, but it teaches the kids death, right, it teaches them how to mourn, you know, these kinds of things, so, you know, do we look after our animals, I do believe we should be looking after our pets, making sure that we're not just cruel and trying to hurt them and trying to destroy them, so, anyway, a righteous man regards the life of his beast, are you righteous, you know, look at verse number 26, same chapter, Proverbs 12 and verse number 26, it says the righteous is more excellent than his neighbour, well is that you, but the way of the wicked, sorry, the way of the wicked seduces them, so the righteous is more excellent than his neighbour, listen, are you more righteous than your neighbour, are you righteous in your community, do you stand out, is what I'm trying to say, do you stand out in your community, are you the light of the world, or are you just as dark as everybody else, can people look at you and say there's something different about you, what is it, do you stand out, are you more excellent than your neighbours, if you're not more excellent, you're just like anybody else, well you need to work on your righteousness, look at chapter 15 verse 28, Proverbs 15 verse 28, sorry, no, that's where you, yeah 28, sorry, 28, it says the heart of the righteous studieth to answer, but the mouth of the wicked pour out evil things, listen, when you face a decision, when you've got to respond to an issue, do you just start to win foolish things, stupid things, without first studying, without first gaining the knowledge, right, the righteous is someone that studies to answer, right, do you educate yourself before speaking, do you try to make sure that what you're saying is true and accurate, or do you just, I just want to tell people how prideful I am, I want to show people how smart I am, and you say stupid things without any facts, now we need to be people that educate ourselves before we speak things, okay, Proverbs chapter 18 and verse number 10, Proverbs chapter 18 and verse number 10 says the name of the Lord is a strong tower, the righteous, look at this, the righteous runneth into it and is safe, listen, the righteous goes to the Lord for help, you know when you're in trouble, when you're in turmoil, is the Lord the first one you go to for help, or do you turn to something else, you know when you're sick, do you first go to your doctor or do you first go to the Lord, where do you go for help, where do you go for safety, you know when you need questions and answers do you go to some psychiatrist, you know, or do you go to the Lord, the righteous will run to the strong tower which is the Lord, okay, Proverbs 29 and verse number 6, Proverbs 29 and verse number 6, in the transgression of an evil man there is a snare, but the righteous doth sing and rejoice, hey do you sing to the Lord, can you rejoice in the songs when we open up this hymn book and we worship God, is your heart rejoicing, no the righteous will rejoice, the righteous will sing, say man I don't sing, start singing, I promise it's going to help you spiritually, I'm going to talk about singing the world's museum, I'm talking about singing praises to the Lord, at least start with this hymn book, you should all probably have one at home, if not, you know, help yourself to some of these, right, but make sure you're somebody that sings praises to the Lord, the righteous will do that, you say you know what, I only sing at church, I don't sing at home, I don't sing from my heart, you know, sometimes I catch my kids singing in the shower, anyway, but if you're not doing any singing, there's a lack of righteousness in your life, Proverbs 16 verse 12, I better hurry up, Proverbs 16 verse 12, this is a really good one, it says here, Proverbs 16 verse 12, it is an abomination to kings to commit wickedness, look at this, but the throne is established by righteousness, a king's throne, his authority is established by righteousness, now you don't need to turn there if you want, it's chapter 25 verse 5, it says take away the wicked from before the king, and his throne shall be established in righteousness, can you say to me that you have been promoted, that you have been elevated in life, you know why, if you've been promoted or elevated in life, I hope it's been done righteously, I hope it's because you've done right, you've done well, people look at you and say wow, this is a righteous person, I'm going to promote them, we're going to establish his throne, we're going to give that person authority, that's a good thing, because this world loves to take authority in wickedness, not by doing things right, self ordained pastors, self ordained pastors that don't do things right, they just want it for themselves, they want their throne, they want their authority, without doing it first righteously, you know if you're a righteous person, you're going to be promoted, you're going to be given opportunities to be put in positions of authority, you know what mums, you've got positions of authority, you've got authority over your children, hey you need to be righteous with the authority that God has given you, Proverbs 29 verse number 2, talking about authority, Proverbs chapter 29 verse number 2 says, when the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice, but when the wicked beareth rule, the people mourn. Now listen, husbands, if there are husbands here we've got one besides me, but if husbands that are listening in right, you've got authority, you've got authority over your family, you may not have authority in the workplace or whatever right, but you definitely have authority in your family, hey do the people rejoice, does your wife rejoice, do your children rejoice, because we've got dad as our dad, mums same, you've got authority over your kids, do your children rejoice because you're their mother, and if they don't, it's probably because you're not walking in righteousness, you're not doing it righteously, okay, when the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice. I hope that as a pastor, I can be doing, you know I hope you guys rejoice by having me as your pastor, you know I hope, not for me, but because I know that if that's happening, then I'm being righteous, that I'm doing what's right, I'm doing what God wants me to do, that's my desire, that this church would rejoice having me as a pastor, you know. Proverbs 23 and verse number 24, Proverbs chapter 23 and verse 24, it says, the father of the righteous shall greatly rejoice, and he that begetteth a wise child shall have joy of him. Another way to check your righteousness, do your parents, are they happy, are your parents happy with your life, with your life choices? You might say to me, well actually pastor Kevin, I'm trying to live for the Lord but my parents hate Christianity and they hate the fact that I'm at New Life Baptist Church and they hate the fact of certain doctrines that I hold to, well that's a bit of an exception, but you know what, if you're doing well in life, if you're doing righteously, most likely your parents are just going to be happy for you, they're going to be happy that you've turned out just fine, you know you're living a good life, you know they can see that you've got a future for yourself, you know the righteous person will make their parents glad, okay. Proverbs 28 and verse number 1, Proverbs chapter 28 and verse number 1 says, the wicked flee when no man pursueth, but the righteous are bold as a lion. The righteous are what? Bold. Do you have boldness? You know, is your life characterised by fear or by boldness? You know, are you constantly afraid, are you afraid of the Bible, are you afraid of what you believe? Or can you say no, I'm bold, I can stand strong on the word of God, I'm not going to back down on what God says, you know I'm going to live my life how God says, I'm going to be bold about that, hey the righteous person is bold, okay. And finally, Proverbs chapter 11 verse number 30, Proverbs chapter 11 and verse number 30, very famous one that we read quite often, the fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and he that win of souls is wise. Are you a soul winner? You can only be a soul winner if you're righteous. The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life. And of course, righteous number 1, the fact that you're saved, you know, only a saved person can get another saved person, get another person saved I should say, okay. But then, the fact of soul winning, the fact of actually loving someone and giving them the gospel is being righteous, is doing what is right. You know what, are you a soul winner? Can you say to me, I've won somebody to the Lord in my life, praise God, that means you had righteousness in that area. If you're saying to me, I've never won anybody to the Lord, you're either a young child and maybe you're not ready for that just yet, right. Or you could be a Christian that's lacking a significant area in their life, which is to see people saved, to win souls, okay. So those are 20 things, I hope I counted right, maybe 20 things, how do I try that, 21, 21 things. Alright. Oh yeah, the father one, okay. So those are a few things, right, those are a few things that you can measure yourself with, alright. And say, boy, you know, there's some of these I can tick, I can definitely say there's righteousness in these areas of my life, but I'm sure, because even I can look at that and go, wow, there's some areas I need to work on. And look, if there's areas that we need to work in, let's get it right. Let's fix up those cracks in our armor. Let's fix up that breastplate of righteousness that we're commanded to walk in. And let's just serve the Lord, let's get the wisdom, let's get the knowledge that God gives us through His word, and let's make sure we live that out, let's pray.