Equipped To Stand - Session 5 - Tyler Lynde

Many spiritual battles don't begin with the circumstances around us. They begin with what is happening within us. In this session, we study Ephesians 6:10–18 and take a closer look at one of the central pieces of the Armor of God: the breastplate of righteousness. Just as a soldier's breastplate protected the heart and lungs from life-threatening attacks, we explore what God's righteousness protects within the believer and what it truly means to "put on" the breastplate when shame, guilt, condemnation, and accusation begin to speak the loudest.

Together, we trace the story of righteousness from the Garden of Eden and humanity's fall into sin, through God's promise of redemption, and ultimately to the finished work of Jesus Christ. Along the way, we discover that righteousness is not a spiritual achievement earned through effort or good behavior. It is a restored relationship and right standing with God that is freely received through grace by faith in Christ alone. This foundational truth changes not only how we understand salvation but also how we approach every spiritual battle we face.

The session examines why legalism, rule-keeping, and self-effort can never produce the peace that comes from genuine righteousness. We look closely at 2 Corinthians 5:21 and its powerful declaration that Christ took our sin so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. We also explore Ephesians 2:8–10, seeing how Paul beautifully holds together salvation by grace and the call to good works without allowing Christianity to become a religion of performance. Good works are not the means of earning God's acceptance but the natural fruit of a life transformed by His grace.

We also spend time discussing an important practice that many believers overlook: confession and repentance are not reserved only for the moment of salvation. They remain essential parts of the ongoing process of sanctification, helping us maintain close fellowship with God, guard our hearts from the enemy's accusations, and respond quickly whenever the Holy Spirit brings conviction. Rather than living under condemnation, we learn to walk in the freedom and confidence that come from continually receiving God's grace.

The session concludes with a memorable picture of our new identity in Christ. Like a young child joyfully dressing up in a father's oversized clothes and confidently declaring, "You can call me Pops," believers have been welcomed into the family of God. We don't wear Christ's righteousness because we've earned it; we wear it because we've been adopted, and His righteousness has become our own.

Whether you've struggled with shame, wrestled with guilt, questioned your standing before God, or simply want a stronger biblical understanding of spiritual warfare, this session offers both theological depth and practical encouragement. Come discover how the breastplate of righteousness guards the heart, strengthens your confidence in Christ, and equips you to stand firm in the victory that Jesus has already won.

We are Trinity Community Church in Knoxville, Tennessee.
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Transcript

Scripture Reading And Prayer

Tyler Lynde 0:05

Ephesians 6. Verse 7 passage, Ephesians 6, verses 10 through 18. And this is the word of God. It says, Finally be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all to stand, stand, uh having done all to stand, stand firm, stand, therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, highlight that, the breastplate of righteousness, and as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. In all circumstances, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one, and take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication to that end. Keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints. Let's pray together. Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you, Lord, that the entrance of your word brings life and light. And Father, we ask that you would shine your light and life into our hearts, that you would change us, that you would transform us, that you would help us to understand more fully the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus and how to apply it to our lives. And Father, we just ask that the end result of that would be that we would show others who you are, just as we've been talking about here tonight. We thank you for it in Jesus' name. Amen. So we're in

Why Strength Comes From The Lord

Tyler Lynde 2:00

the middle of this Bible study called On the Armor of God, called Equipped to Stand, right? And over the last several weeks, we've discussed the fact that the strength that we need comes from who? Yeah. I'm not going to give you, if I give you a trick question, I'll let you know it's a trick question. Okay. So the strength that we need comes from the Lord. It comes from God. What does Philippians 4.13 say?

unknown 2:24

I can do all things through Christ through strength.

Tyler Lynde 2:26

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me, right? And then we've been instructed, out of that strength, we've been instructed to put on the whole armor of God in order to stand against the real enemy, which is not people, it's not nations. The real enemy that we face is Satan and evil spiritual forces, right? And when Paul compares the armor of God with military gear, which is what he's doing here in Ephesians 6, each piece represents a part of God's strength that can be applied or extended to us when we become his children. So each piece of the armor is an extension of verse 10, which is finally be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might, right? So you talked about, I think last week was the first uh piece of the armament that you talked about, which was, do you remember? Those who were here, the belt of truth, right? And so how does the belt of truth represent the strength of God in our lives? What are some ways that it can do that? What is the opposition to truth? Counterfeit, lies, deception, distraction, all of those things, right? So how does the strength of God work through truth?

SPEAKER_02 3:49

I've always been taught that the heart is actually in the gut because it says out of the belly. Yeah. So that belt protects the heart from receiving water.

Tyler Lynde 4:03

Sure. You realize she doesn't mean physical heart. She's she's aware of the placement of the physical heart, but she's talking about the center core of man, the spirit of man, which the Bible calls heart. Sometimes it even calls it soul spirit. All of that, the center point of who we are. And that's what lives forever, right? That's the part of us that lives forever. So last week, again, you talked about gospel truth, uh, God's truth as a belt of truth, is proverbially fastened around our waist and it holds everything together. I don't know if any of you gentlemen have accidentally um forgotten to wear your belt on an occasion where you were working

Belt Of Truth Recap And Deception

Tyler Lynde 4:40

on something, and all of a sudden you became accused of being a plumber. And uh I won't go into, I won't give the reasons for that, but I think all of us have probably found ourselves there. We need the belt of truth, right? So tonight we're gonna move on to the next element of armament, the next piece of the armor of God that we are encouraged, encouraged to wear, and that is the breastplate of righteousness. The breastplate of righteousness. And what is the main purpose? If you think about a Roman soldier, right, clad in armor, um, uh, whether it's the uh steel, what do you call the stuff that looks like a curtain, but it's made out of steel. Chain whether it's that or whether it's a hard piece of armament like you would see in a in a museum somewhere, right? What's that? That's called something different, though. The hard armament, our armament. What's that called?

SPEAKER_02 5:34

Breastplate?

Tyler Lynde 5:35

No, no, I'm talking about the whole thing, like the whole thing. That's just called armor. Okay. I'm overcomplicating it, aren't I? Let's keep it simple tonight. All right. So, anyway, the main purpose of the breastplate in warfare is to protect the vital organs, right? So, what is protected by the breastplate that is that a soldier wears? Well, first of all, the heart. And what happens with the heart? No heart, no what? No life. And then secondly, what about your lungs? Lungs are important, absolutely, right? We need to be able to breathe in order to live. So heart and lungs, uh, the also the vulnerable digestive system. So that breastplate extends beyond just the top uh and down towards the center portion as well, where the where it connects up with the belt, right? Um, and so all of these things are covered and protected from the fiery darts of the enemy. I'm using a mixed metaphor here. Obviously, the fiery darts of the enemy when it came to it, comes to a Roman, came to a Roman soldier looks different than when it we're talking about it in the spiritual realm. Same concept. But the fiery darts of the enemy, by properly wearing the breastplate, we can keep them at bay, and they cannot do the damage that they were intended to do. So, in a spiritual sense, the breastplate is what? What does it protect? And uh Ms. Pegg mentioned it here, but the breastplate of righteousness protects our heart and our soul from evil and deception. The breastplate of righteousness protects our

What The Breastplate Protects

Tyler Lynde 7:10

heart, spirit, um, inner being. You know, these are interchangeable words that are found throughout scripture. Our soul protects those things from evil and deception. And the Greek word for righteousness here is de kaios une. Anybody have the interpretation for that? Decaus uh de kaios une. Um and it righteousness in its simpler, simplest terms, is right standing with God. So if you had to define righteousness, it is right standing with God. In other words, it describes the state of being in right relationship with God. So let's take it to the the other uh extreme. What does it mean to not be in right relationship with someone? What does that look like?

SPEAKER_02 7:56

Animosity.

Tyler Lynde 7:57

Yeah, maybe animosity. What else? Opposition, right? Anything else? Yeah, not having favor, right?

SPEAKER_02 8:07

Rift.

Tyler Lynde 8:08

A rift, all of those things, right? And when we think of that, we always think of somebody else that does that, right? Not we ourselves. But sometimes we can get engaged in that too, unfortunately. But it's it's the state righteousness, the state of not being in wrong relationship with God, but being in right relationship with Him. And we have to go back a long ways in order to understand this, I think, uh most fruitfully. So the first thing we need to understand is the in the original creation only understood living in the state of righteousness. When Adam and Eve were created and placed in the Garden of Eden, they only knew righteousness. Can you imagine that? Can you fathom that? What it must have been like to never wonder if you have a right relationship with God. It says that they walked and talked with God in the cool of the day. It says that God gave them authority over the fish of the sea and the fowl of the air. And for any fisherman in here, I try to practice that in today's in today's context, it doesn't always work for me, but for Adam it worked, right? He was uh he worked with God to name all of the animals, to name all of the plant life. We don't know the extent of time that went by when things were right in the garden. I have to believe that it must have been some somewhat of a substantial amount of time, right? There are some people that have estimated or guessed around, but for that time in the beginning, the way that God originally created for things to be, he intended for his creation to be, to live in right relationship with him. That is God's desired and designed order of things. Right? You agree? Okay, good. Just making sure. Father, Son, and Spirit have lived in perfect community for all of eternity. They are our example of what it looks like to walk in right relationship. They are continuously in fellowship with each other. They are continuously in relationship. They are continuously one, right? And again, out of that fellowship, they decided to create the heavens and the earth, and finally to create people in their image and likeness, to place them in the garden. They experienced the joy of knowing God with no fear, with no shame, because they were created righteous. Okay. How we long for a day when we will return to that state. All of creation cries out for a day when we will return to that state. That is the way God intends, and that is the way that eternity will be experienced by those who follow after Jesus Christ. That is the promise and the hope that we hold on to. And for those of us who have lost loved ones that are that were in Christ, they're experiencing that even now. There's no shadow of doubt. In fact, there's not even any darkness in heaven. Like, you know, where shame would hide or where guilt would find itself lurking. There's not even any any shadow of turning. Like when you even move like this, there's there's no darkness that accompanies it. It's completely light, it's completely bright, and everyone is in perfect relationship with their heavenly father and with each other. And that's God's intent. So, what's the problem? There's a three-letter word that we all know about sin. Sin broke the relationship that mankind had with God, right? When Adam and

Righteousness And The Garden Story

Tyler Lynde 11:50

Eve rebelled against God's commandment, they chose to walk away from God and live an unrighteous life. They chose that. The devil made me do it. Remember, they tried that argument against God when they got caught. The devil made me do it. The wife you gave me made me do it, right? The price that they would pay for their for unrighteousness was separation from the God that they had known and loved. What a price to pay. This wouldn't only affect them, but how many of us have been affected by that decision all those years ago? Everyone except for Jesus, we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, and we were born separated from God in our sins and trespasses. Um but that's not the end of the story. Well, first of all, do you remember life when it was like that? When all you knew was shame and guilt and misfortune and condemnation, when you had no hope in this world and in this life? Can we remember back to that point in our lives? I know a lot of us were church church kids and we experienced a lot of, maybe we didn't experience as much externally, but how many of you know the internal struggle of a church kid is no different than it is anybody else that's in the world? Right? Like the thoughts, the perceptions, the attitudes, the motivations, right? So sometimes before we get the heart that God wants us to have of reaching other people with the love of God and with the truth that we talked about earlier, we have to remember where we've come from. Right? So even though we've fallen short of the glory of God, God had a plan, and I know this is going to sound pretty elementary, but it's so true. And if we're not applying it to our lives and if we're not preaching this gospel to ourselves on a daily basis, Satan will accuse us, and suddenly his voice gets much louder in our ears than God's voice does. And we have to guard against that. God had a plan to restore righteousness to his children at the very moment of sin in the Garden of Eden, at the condemnation that would come, the conviction that God brought against humanity and against Satan. How many of you know in Genesis 3:15, God also made a promise? And what was that promise? What was God gonna do? Yep. There was gonna be a seed that would come, and the enemy was going to strike at his heel, but what was the seed going to do? He's gonna crush his head. He's gonna crush his head, right? And obviously, we know that this was speaking about Jesus. You see, Jesus' willing sacrifice made a way for mankind to be made right with God. Jesus made a way for us to live from a positional standpoint, from an identity standpoint, just like Adam and Eve were in the garden before they sinned. That's amazing to me. Uh 2 Corinthians 5, 21. For he, for our sake, he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. This is the type of breastplate that we are called to wear. The breastplate of righteousness. We know that the promise of God was fulfilled in the person of Jesus Christ. He was born of a virgin. He lived the life that we couldn't live. He perfectly obeyed in every way. He represented the Father to us in everything that he said and everything that he did, he represented our Heavenly Father to us. He took upon Himself our sin and our shame and was nailed to the cross. And we know that as he breathed his last breath, he was placed in a tomb. And three days later he rose from the grave, proving that he had defeated Satan and death, hell, and the grave. He was here on this earth and seen by over 500 people over time. And then he ascended into heaven. And when he ascended into heaven, he was seated at the right hand of the Father, and he was given the name above every other name that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. He also sent the Holy Spirit to not only be with us like he was with people, but to dwell in us. And then he also promised that if he went away, that he would one day what? Return again so that we might be with him. This is the price that Jesus paid. This is the victory that Jesus won. This is the hope that we put our trust in. This is the source of righteousness that we are able to access. It's not our own, it's his that we access. So how do we put on the breastplate of righteousness? It says here for us to put it on.

Jesus Makes Us Right With God

Tyler Lynde 17:10

We put it on by grace through faith. We put it on by grace through faith. Ephesians chapter 2 says, For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing. It is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared before him, that we should walk in them. This is the truth. This is the gospel of Jesus Christ. We cannot earn righteousness. Many of us came out of traditions and even spiritual traditions that told us that if we did this or we did that, then we could somehow earn favor with God or we could earn righteousness with God. How many of you know if one person on the planet could do that except for Jesus, then Jesus didn't need to die? Right? So let's be careful what we hold on to and what we grasp at. We're grasping at straws literally, if we believe that there's something that we can do to somehow earn the righteousness of God, which is a free gift given to us by grace. He made a way where there was no way for us to be made right with God. God gives the grace, and the definition for grace is the empowerment that we need to do what we can't do in our own strength. The grace of God is God's empowerment in me to do what I can't do in my own strength. I cannot make myself righteous, but the grace of God gives me the ability to be righteous. He even, God even not only gave us the grace that we needed, but he also plants the seed of faith that we exercise by doing what? By repenting of our sins, by putting our trust in the finished work of Jesus Christ and by confessing him as our Savior and Lord. Now, I know that it's very easy to say, we already did that. But how many of you know that there is another verse? What does 1 John 1 7 say? You can look it up if you need to. 1 John 1, let's read 7 through 9. This is not in my notes, so we'll have to refer to you to read it for me. Who is that written to? Unbelievers. To believers. So not only do we receive the righteousness of God, which is positional, which isn't going to change, but how many of you know we can stay in right relationship with him as far as the uh the application of that by not only repenting and believing one time, but by confessing our sins to him, by repenting and believing in him every time, over and over and over again, not to uh not to ensure our salvation or to for there to be a need to shore up our salvation, but because God has created this avenue, this pathway for us to keep things clear between us and God. That's amazing. And that's a lot of times what Christians forget. The process of redemption is a process that happens over and over and over again. Not redemption to salvation, but that we might be changed. The process of sanctification is the process of repentance. It's God saying to you, saying to me, Hey, you need to work on that attitude. And means me saying, I can't do that. I've tried. My wife's told me I need to change that. Can uh I need some help here. And then the grace of God, the Holy Spirit, enables us to be able to make a change in that area in our lives, and we put our faith in Jesus in order for that to happen. So think of it, Christian. You have been made right with God. How does that feel?

SPEAKER_01 21:08

Every time, I'm a friend teacher, but every time I took communion, I got to I should say, thank you for the blood that cleanses me from all my sin. I receive your righteousness.

Tyler Lynde 21:22

Yes. That's good.

SPEAKER_01 21:26

Yep.

Tyler Lynde 21:28

That's beautiful.

unknown 21:29

The gift of righteousness. Yeah.

Tyler Lynde 21:35

Yes, absolutely. We remind ourselves and and we should uh have extreme gratitude for it and and apply it regularly, right? So those who are blessed to wear the breastplate of righteousness should not it should not only affect their vantage point or the way they view God or the way they view themselves, what else should it do? It should affect the way that we live. If we are wearing the breastplate, remember whose armament is it? It's his armament. So if we're wearing his armor, if we're wearing the breastplate of righteousness, then it should affect the way that we live. Remember that last part of the verse in Ephesians 2, it says, For we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus

Grace Through Faith And Daily Repentance

Tyler Lynde 22:20

for good works. It just told us that we're not saved by works. We're saved by grace through faith, but we are saved unto something. We are saved from something and we're saved to something. And the thing that we're saved to is good works, right? Which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. A lot of times we we think of God placing strengths within us and we should do that. And God giving us certain personality traits and we should do that. But there are also certain missional things that God has ordained for each and every one of us to fulfill that are unique to us. Certain callings, certain ways of doing something from a ministry standpoint that God's placed in us. And as important as all of the other gifts are that He gives us, and we we do, we are so grateful for those things. Let's not forget the main thing, right? The main thing is that we might be made right with God and have a relationship with Him that is real and authentic, and that we also might represent that relationship to other people so that they might desire the same thing. We are not called in this life to simply display the work of another. You know what I'm saying by that? We're not called to just simply display somebody else's handiwork or someone else's artwork. We are in turn to emulate our champion warrior, Jesus Christ, by living righteously toward others. We represent him to others. We have been remade for this very purpose. Right? Good work should be the natural result of being made righteous. It should be absolutely like our um uh what's what's the word like English is our what language, our first language or our primary language, right? This uh good works should be our primary language, it should be something that comes out of us naturally. Like the thing that that um I'm really losing my words today, I'm so sorry. Our sister right over here. I can't even get your name right now. I'm sorry. It's coming through. Gabby. Okay, so our sister Gabby today, she was hit by God with something that was is completely natural for her because she was created for this. She was remade for good works. And so the righteousness that she's received as a gift, she now gets to emulate towards other people. We represent the family of God when we sacrifice like Jesus. We wear the breastplate well when we love like Jesus. We model the new creation best when others see our good works and glorify our Father in heaven. We have a family chat. You guys, some of you that have kids and grandkids, maybe you have a family chat where you send texts and pictures and all of this. And it's kind of funny within our family because we have two sets of kids that have their own kids. And so whenever one posts a picture of one of the grandkids, within 30 seconds or a minute or so, there's I don't know if it's a competition or not, but it feels a little bit like a competition, right? But it was so funny the other day I was at work and uh one of those pictures popped up and I looked at it and I'm like, I don't know, I have to enlarge it, right? I didn't have my glasses on. And when I enlarged it, I saw a picture, I saw something that looked very familiar. I noticed that somebody was in my chair in the living room. So I'm called Pops.

Wearing Righteousness Through Good Works

Tyler Lynde 26:10

Pops has a chair in the living room, right? And usually nobody sits in my chair. It's not that I don't, I wouldn't mind if they sat in my chair that much, but they a little bit maybe. Right, right, yeah. We were out of town. Oh, yeah, we were out of town, which was another why are these why are our kids out of us when we're not anyway? A lot of things happen when we're out of town. This is a little aside. We got home uh Monday, right, from this last trip. And Amy immediately says, It's like Goldilocks and the three bears. She said, Somebody stayed the night here. Not our kids. So she immediately calls our youngest son Benjamin and said, Who stayed the night? And it wasn't that there was a lot of visible whatever of that, and it didn't matter because the person who did stay was fine. Yeah, there was just something she just knew, right? There was just a knowing. But anyway, back to back to the other picture. So I see this picture, I'm I'm looking in on it, and it is my grandson Hudson, who has found his way into my closet and has dressed himself in all of my clothing, including my shoes. And he sits in my chair and pushes the button and reclines it back as far as it'll go. And his parents surround him and stuff, and they look at him and they say, What are you doing, Hudson? He goes, You can call me Pops. I mean, you can't make that up. It was amazing, it was beautiful. But how many of you know in the spiritual world, in the spiritual realm, we should be that eager to represent our Heavenly Father, right? We put on his robe of righteousness. He actually places it on us. And we get to wear it around, and we get to represent the family well. We get to say, hey, I don't know, I don't know if you're going to remember me or not, and that doesn't really matter. But let me represent my father to you. Let me tell you about my dad, right? And that's what we as believers have have the privilege and responsibility of doing. So let's put on the breastplate of righteousness and let's wear it every day. Every day. Amen.