sword thrusts, for conflict in those days was largely a hand-to-hand struggle at close qu a rte rs. The breastplate of the Christian consists of righteousness which has been pro vided in Christ. Paul is not referring to the righteousness of God, which is an absolute attribute of His na ture, nor is he referring to the right eousness of the individual contained in true sanctification, but to the righteousness of Christ in which the believer ever stands. Paul declared that for this righteousness he was willing to count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus his Lord; that he was willing to count them as dung that he could be found in Him, “not having mine own righ teou sn ess which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith.” The perfect obedience of the Lord Jesus Christ during His earthly life, His suffering on the Cross, yielding a perfect satisfaction for justice, is the breastplate of right eousness given by Christ to the Christian, and is his defense from condemnation. There is no condemna tion to him who is in Christ Jesus. Let the arrows of doubt, denial, temptation, and accu sa tion come against your soul. They will all be turned away by the strength of that breastplate. Were it your own right eousness which you were trusting, conscience would soon remove any protection it might provide, for there are too many failures in the life of every believer. But the righteousness of Christ is perfect and that right eousness is imputed to us. The third element in the armor consists of the gospel of peace, com pared by St. Paul to shoes. In the army it is absolutely indispensable that men have good shoes, for with out them they would be unable to endure long marches and protracted fighting. They would never be ready for battle. Recently I learned from 31
himself or to the truth of the ob jective work. Only a knowledge of the truth will enable one to meet error, temptation, suffering, and at tacks from the evil one. The second element of the armor THE LORD'S VISIT A knock at the door! I went to see If it was the Man of Galilee: I'd heard He'd promised to visit our town When He from His heavenly Home came down: I vowed I'd gladly welcome Him In, Give Him a place In this world of sin. There at the door stood a little child, She'd a dirty look, her hair blown wild: Would I come and see her mother? she said, She was very ill and confined to bed! "Child, don't you know I'm engaged today? I'm waiting for Christ to come this way." I turned her away and shut the door To wait for the knock of Christ once more. The day dragged on, and the weary night Came without a visit from Christ the Light: Displeased and sad I retired to rest— Christ's visit had been a cruel jest! But no, as I dreamt I saw the Lord, And I heard His speak these scathing words— " I called today, but you knew Me not, The words of the past you had forgot: 'Inasmuch as ye did it unto one Of the least of these, to Me it was done'; I came unto you in lowly guise, But you couldn't see Me with selfish eyes!" I learned a lesson that tragic day— That Christ is always passing my way! of God is righteousness, which Paul compares to a breastplate. A breast plate covered the front and the back of the body from the neck to the thigh. Without it the soldier would be exposed to arrows, darts, and
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