INTRO:Remember when little boy playing football & hear comes the little running back & I was going to hammer him so I stuck my head down & bang! Before I knew it I was on my back, little kid running over top of me. I felt such pain & saw stars everything goes black) see He was able to run over me because I didn’t have the proper helmet (3 sizes too big). Pain caused me not to react properly (blacking out). Same Spiritual we get whip when we don’t have the proper headware.
-Continuing series "How to Dress for Success", today "The Proper Headware"
TITLE: "Helmet of Salvation”
TEXT: Ephesians 6:10, 17
I. Helmet of Salvation - protect our head from a crushing blow by our enemy
Head - contains about 3 lbs of gray matter called the brain, mind. Our personal computer we carry around with us. Our mind is our command & control center. It controls our actions & feelings.
-Proverbs says as a man thinks, so is he!
Enemy attacks the mind - he know he can control us by controlling our mind, That’s why God gives us the Helmet of Salvation to counter the enemy,
Roman Day - sword 3 or 4 ft. long, weighing a ton (both hands lift above head to smash down, crushing the head, what enemy is trying to do).
God counters giving us the Helmet of Salvation (Assurance that we are saved, born again)
I John 5:13 "I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life,"
Assurance that will bring peace and comfort, because what does Bible say about double minded man, unstable in all his Nays (not sure of your salvation, you’re wobbling in your Christian walk, just what enemy wants).
II.3 Parts Salvation (Past, Present, Future)
A.Past of salvation
1. Penalty of sin - when we accepted Christ as our Savior we were saved from the penalty of sin (death & hell)
Justified - forgiven, being right, breastplate of righteousness (this is our position in Christ)
Why we can come faultless before the throne because of who we are in Christ.
B.Present of Salvation - happening now
1.Saved from power of sin - sanctification were becoming righteous.
When we accepted, we were declared righteous but we still live in this body & have sin in our lives.
Christian life is a struggle between the old nature and the new nature called sanctification.
C.Future of salvation
1.Saved from the presence of sin - Bible describes those outside of Christ as being dominated by sin, it’s like a king who sits on the throne of their lives (good things done by them are only done to earn favors, manipulation, just earn points with people),
When except Christ - Christ dethrones sin but sin’s presence is in our life. In Christ we have the power to say NO to sin.
2.Glorification - one day we will be with Jesus either He will come to us or we will go to Him, when we see Him we will be like Him (no more sinning).
D.Review
1.Justification - past tense (past salvation)
2.Sanctification - present tense (present salvation) Glorification - future tense (future salvation)
3.Another way to say this:
a.We have been saved - Justification
b.We are being saved - Sanctification
c.We shall be saved - Glorification
All 3 tense are picked up in Philippians 1:6 "Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you (Justification) will carry it on to completion (Sanctification) until the day of Christ Jesus (Glorification),"
4. Justification is our position in Christ
Sanctification is our experience in Christ.
Glorification is when both these come together (position & experience are one, we are complete in Christ)
-Devil tries & destroys our experience (Sanctification, because he can’t destroy our position in Christ, Justification),
E. 2 Basic views on the security of salvation
1.You can not lose your salvation
2.You can lose your salvation - Don’t want to go into detail but those are the 2 choices,
Say this if you can lose your salvation, it’s extremely hard & #2 - you can not get back (my opinion).
III. How can I be sure JC is in my life (Christian?)
Certain vital signs that tell us we have life also there are spiritual vital signs that tell us we have life,II Cor. 13:5 "Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you - unless of course you fail the test!"
A. Apostle John lets us know about eternal life and knowing we have eternal life.
- Gospel of John talks about truths of eternal life
- Gospel of John talks about being born again
- Epistle of John talks about test of eternal life
- Epistle of John talks about signs of someone born again 27 times "know" is I John (GK know means to be sure, assurance or test, proof you belong to Him)
- Talk about a 4 question exam you can take to give you assurance that you are born again.
1. Commandment test - I John 2:3-4 (read)
1st test of being a genuine Christian is if you obey His commands,
a. Word "obey" - sailor’s term, navigators of seas, keep their eyes on the stars to navigate their ships,
- Doesn’t mean they would fall asleep or get off course, they sometimes did.
1.We sometimes fail to obey God. This doesn’t mean that we don’t have Jesus in our hearts,
I John 1:0 "If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves & the truth is not in us"
2.Other hand - If we say we want to obey Him & don’t or we have not really grown closer to the Lord over the years you might discuss your standing with the King.
3.Definite change - My change (night, day) Bible boring, God speaks to me (His love letter)
ex.., Librarian reading book, nothing. Meet author, best book ever read, autograph,
- Same with us - meet the author of life, Bible becomes alive. Christians love to obey the King.
2.Companion test - I John 3:14 (read)
- Love our brothers & sisters in the Lord
a.Love not based on:
1.Common beliefs - where you’ll have 2 Christians, you’ll have 3 opinions, we don’t agree on everything,
2.Philosophy ministry - bring our preferences, cultural. We bring these in and make them a doctrine or spiritualize something & it causes problems (my preference is right - yours is wrong)
-Christianity today - Survey taken from Pastors, asked "What were the most divisive issues in your church?" 2 top were building programs & music programs = doctrine, Bible issues.
3, Personalities - sometimes it’s hard to like some Christians because they rub you the right way,
b.We allow these differences to wipe us out, fellow Christians not coming because they don’t like this one or that one.3 sides to every story (my side, their side, the truth)
c. Love comes from our common heritage - kinship in Christ - blood thicker than water, Christ’s blood binds us together.
3.Confession test - I John 4:15 (read)
a. Acknowledge - GK means to confess, KJV to testify
- born again will have a desire to share this
ex...Engaged or getting married usually let everyone know - nobody needs to tell you to share this, you have the desire to.
1.Water baptism - public acknowledge of you following after the Lord in death, burial, resurrection.
2.Join with a church - identify same faith, go to work in Lord’s House, Spiritual gifts, tithes, commitment,
3.Lifestyle evangelism - telling others about Jesus through your words & actions.
4.Commitment test - I John 5:10-11 (read)
a.Word believe - give one’s self to rely on, trust NT talks of total commitment What is testimony is he talking about.
1.Hungering after righteousness, thirst for His word
2.Love for God’s people
3.Desire to share the Good News
-Emphasis is on the present, not the past
b.Past
-anyone who obeyed the Lord’s commands
-Anyone who has loved their brother
-Anyone who has confessed JC
-Anyone who has believed
c. Should be in the present
-Anyone who obeys His commands
-Anyone who loves the brethren
-Anyone who confesses JC
-Anyone who believes
CONCLUSION - Importance of the Helmet of Salvation
I, 3 parts salvation
A. Past salvation, called Justification, deals penalty of sin
B. Present salvation, called Sanctification, deals power of sin
C. Future salvation, called Glorification, deals with presence of sin
II.Test how we know we are born again - 4 question exam
A, Commandment test - obey His word
D. Companion test - Love our fellow believers
C. Confession test - Sharing Jesus with others
D. Commitment test – Are we committed to His work?
ex. dad Koren story (bullet off helmet)
We don’t have helmet, won’t last long when battle comes, Salvation comes through the helmet God gives us.
PRAY AND CLOSE
