“14 Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness …” Ephesians 6:14
 
Many Christian denominations today say we cannot be assured we are eternally saved. However, the Apostle Paul has told us to put on the breastplate of righteousness. That breastplate (given to us as God’s righteousness) guarantees those who believe on Jesus Christ that they belong to God. No church, no priest, and no belief system can take away God’s promise or claim you can lose eternal life.
 
Sometimes, Satan will come to you and say, 'You're a failure. God doesn't love you anymore because of sin. You've lost your salvation.' The breastplate of righteousness reminds you, when God puts His righteousness on you, you are His. You cannot lose that. We call it eternal life, eternal security, and once saved always saved. The truth is, once you truly know Jesus Christ as your Savior, once you have had your sins forgiven, you are born again. You have security. You won’t lose it.
 
John 10:28 tells us that Jesus said, "I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand." That's what Jesus said. He did not say “temporary life if you can keep it”!
 
What if the devil torments you and says, “You know those sins you've done? The ones you forgot to confess? God's going to send you to hell for that!” Remember Romans 8:1-2:
 
1 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.
 
Tell the devil you are wearing God’s breastplate of righteousness and that you will not lose your eternal security. It is not prideful to say you belong to God because you are not saved or kept by your own power, but by God’s power!
 
Listen to the entire sermon here! Or click here to get the full sermon, transcript, and hymns of the day!

Also, check out the following wonderful quote from the great Welsh Minister, Martin Lloyd Jones.
 
"The wearing of the breastplate of righteousness is our one security. Keep it on. When the devil comes and says you have no standing, you are condemned, you're finished - you must say no! My position did not depend upon what I was doing or not doing. My position is always dependent upon the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. Turn to the devil and tell him, my relationship in God is not a variable one. The case is not that I'm a child of God one day and not a child of God the next day. Then a child of God, then not a child of God. That is not the basis for my standing. That is not the position. When God had mercy on me, He made me His child and I remain His child. A sinful and unworthy one sometimes perhaps. But still His child. 
 
"When I fall into sin, I've not sinned against the law. I've sinned against love. Like the prodigal, I'll go back to my Father and I'll tell Him, Father, I'm not worthy to be called thy son. But He'll embrace me and He'll say, don't talk nonsense. You are my child. He'll shower his love upon me. That is the meaning of putting on the breastplate of righteousness. Never allow the devil to get you into a state of condemnation. Never allow a particular sin to raise again the whole question of your standing before God."

If we try to be good on our own or even if we try to mix our good works with God’s good works, we’ll never make it to heaven! But, if you're going to heaven, you need to have perfect righteousness. But, this righteousness cannot be your own because there is “none righteous, no not one (Romans 3:10)”.

Your attempts to live a holy life to earn salvation comes from your self effort or from following the law or from being a nice person. Unfortunately, there are so many people in this world who say, "I'm going to heaven because I've lived a good life." They're relying on their own righteousness. In fact, they could follow every one of the ten commandments, and that still wouldn't be good enough!
 
So, how, then, can we get into heaven? We are told in Philippians 3:9 that we're “found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith." So when we have faith in God, when we have faith that brings salvation, then we have righteousness.
 
God's righteousness (a righteousness outside of ourselves) is what we need. When we trust Jesus Christ as our Savior by faith, we can have our sins forgiven, and then we are given the righteousness of Christ which belongs to God! Believe on Jesus Christ and put your trust completely on what He did on the cross (He died, shed His blood, was buried, and rose the third day). When the day of judgement comes, God will not look at our righteousness, but on Christ, His Son, who obeyed the law perfectly.
 
Pray something like this. “Dear Jesus, by faith I believe that only Jesus can save me from my sins because He is perfect and holy. Thank you for dying on the cross for my sins; I repent of my sins and believe completely on Jesus for eternal life. Thank you Lord for giving me a new life in Christ! Amen.”
 
Let us know that you’ve received Christ Jesus as savior today! Email us today at pastor@berkshirehillsbaptist.com.

Listen to the complete sermon here:

11 For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.
 
     It’s fascinating that the more conveniences that we have in our modern world, the busier we have become. Washing machines, automobiles, and the Internet have not made us less busy … instead, busier! But, the Sabbath Day is a holy day, a consecrated day, and a day for our personal sanctification. Let us take Sunday as a day to remember what God has done for us; don’t worry about tomorrow because tomorrow “shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.” (Matthew 6:34)
     And what did Jesus do? What can we remember on Sunday as we set the day apart for worship? Some call it the Christian Sabbath; some the Lord’s day. It is on the first day of the week that the early followers of Jesus went to the tomb and realized that Jesus had been resurrected from the dead! The payment for our sins had been completed, and He was raised victoriously. Acts 20:7, 1 Corinthians 16:2, and all the gospels attest to how special the ‘1st day of the week’ became for the early churches.
     We encourage you this week and especially this coming Lord’s Day, think of the Sabbath as a day of rest, as a day of God showing how much He loves you and cares for you, and as a time to rest from all the work that the Lord has given you to do with your hands.

If you need a church to visit this Sunday and you find yourself in Western Massachusetts, we invite you to Berkshire Hills Baptist Church in Lee, MA. If you want to hear all of the sermon this blog post has been based on, listen here:

8 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work … Exodus 20:8-9
 
     Today, we have chosen to worship God on Sunday because it is the first day of the week, the same day the Lord Jesus was resurrected. We remember the Lord who has given us all blessings. It’s not only to rest our bodies, but also to help us remember who gave us this body so we can work.
     It’s completely true, the Sabbath rest infers that God wants us to work! Some take this to the extreme (Christians and non-Christians alike) and work 81 hours, 7 days a week, to accumulate as much money as they can in this life. They forgot the Lord’s blessings that have allowed them to be able to work and have the strength to make their money. It is doubtful anyone would ever read on someone’s tombstone “I wish I could work one more day.”
     Still, others swing the pendulum in the opposite direction and work not at all; this is not referring to those who are now retired, but rather those who are simply lazy. We are expected to work; Paul has told us that “if any would not work, neither should he eat” (2 Thessalonians 2:10). Just as God gave Adam and Eve a job to do in the Garden of Eden, so He has given us tasks not for ourselves, but to help others.
     There are legitimately other people who have needs they cannot meet for themselves; we have been called to work six days so we may “give to him that needeth” (Ephesians 4:28). Then, our rest is truly glorious and restorative because we thank Him for the blessing He has made us for other people who need it.
 
If you haven’t had a chance, listen to this week’s sermon on the Sabbath!

8 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Exodus 20:8

     We do not keep the Sabbath in order to go to heaven; we keep the Sabbath day holy because we are citizens of Heaven and we have entered into God’s rest. Be warned, do not rely on worshiping either on the Sabbath Day (Saturday) or on the Lord’s Day (Sunday) to be enough to enter God’s Kingdom. Only faith in Christ and His work on the cross can bring us to glory.
     Yet, we believe in the principle of resting one day in the week as obedience to God’s commands. It is not another check mark on a list of things to do; rather, it is a joy to look forward to gathering once a week with other believers. In fact, it restores our soul.
Psalm 23 reminds us that the Lord restores our soul. Remembering to take one day off in the week to worship God is His way to restore us. The idea of rest (Sabbath) is mentioned 89 times in the Old Testament and 62 times in the New Testament. Even Jesus took time to rest His soul while on the earth. (Mark 4:35-40)
     While there are some jobs that may require people to work seven days a week and even longer, our bodies were not meant to continue working perpetually. If you find yourself skipping this once a day rest, think about praying and asking the Lord to help you take Sunday off to worship Him; you can rest in all the victories and even recover from the defeats of the previous week and look toward the next six days as another adventure from Him.
 
To learn more about the 4th commandment, listen to last Sunday’s message on the Sabbath!