Stand: The Helmet of Salvation
Ephesians 6:10-17
Pastor Jefferson M. Williams
5-19-2024
Let’s start with a quiz. I’m going to show you a picture and you will tell me who wears it:
Football helmet
Motorcycle helmet. Dog helmet.
Bike helmet
Safety helmet
Space helmet
I have a friend who skateboards. One day he decided to try to jump an entire flight of stairs. As you can guess, he didn’t make it. Wisely, he was wearing a helmet. He loved showing that helmet, that had been nearly split in two instead of his brain.
Review
We are learning that we are all in a spiritual battle that we cannot see. The Christian life is not a playground but a battlefield.
Paul is finishing his letter to the Ephesian church and wants to warn them to be armed and ready for attacks of the evil one.
He was probably chained to a Roman guard and started staring at his armor and thought, “That would make a perfect word picture for what I’m trying to communicate!”
“Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” (Eph 6:14-17)
We’ve studied the belt of truth and learned that truth is the foundation of our Christian journey.
We’ve studied the breastplate of righteousness and learned that God calls us to live our faith with a hunger for holiness shining the light of Jesus into a dark and dying world.
We’ve studied the shoes of peace and learned we can have peace with God, the peace of God, peace with others, and that we can share that peace with others.
I love this lyric from Rich Mullins’ song, “Let Mercy Lead.”
“Let mercy lead / and in every footstep that you leave / there’ll be a drop of grace.”
Last week we studied the shield of faith and learned that we can trust God who is faithful to keep His promises to lead and protect us from the flaming arrows of satan.
If you weren’t here last week, you can always listen to or watch the sermon on our YouTube page, website, or FaceBook.
Turn to Ephesians 6.
Prayer
The Helmet
A Roman soldier’s helmet was made of iron or bronze. It would be lined with felt or spongy material. It had check flaps that could open or close to protect the face and ears. The helmets of leaders had a crest of feathers to show the soldier's rank.
This helmet protected a soldier's head, neck, and shoulders in battle.
It was so strong that it could take a blow from a broad sword or battle axe.
[Show video]
Isaiah 59
As usual, Paul is using Old Testament imagery. Isaiah says that God Himself fights for us:
“He put on righteousness as his breastplate, and the helmet of salvation on his head; he put on the garments of vengeance and wrapped himself in zeal as in a cloak.” (Isaiah 59:17)
What do Isaiah and Paul mean by salvation?
Saved from What?
Peter, an uneducated fisherman, stood fearlessly in front of the most important religious leaders of his day and said that salvation is the greatest need of their soul.
It’s no different today. Our greatest need is not more self-esteem or more money or more popularity. Our greatest need is salvation.
Most people think that you get to heaven by being good. But how good is good enough?
Because of our sins, we were separated from God and were hopeless and helpless to save ourselves. No amount of good works could repair the breach in our relationship with God.
God is holy and just and cannot tolerate sin. Because of our sin, we were objects of His wrath.
R.C. Sproul wrote a little book with a question that most people have never asked, “Saved from what?”
We needed to be saved from the impending wrath of God.
We see this plan of action visible back in Genesis.
After Adam and Eve had eaten the fruit and had been cursed,
God makes a very interesting prophecy when cursing the snake:
“And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.” (Genesis 3:15)
Theologically, this is the first mention of the Gospel in the Bible. The word “offspring” (or seed) in some of your Bibles is singular. It is one offspring whose heel will be bitten by the serpent but will crush the snake’s head.
God gave the Israelites the sacrificial system to remind them of this promise. When they sin, an animal would die in their place.
The only problem was that it was temporary.
Over and over, animals would be killed and their blood shed as a substitute for their sin. Soon, there was some grumbling - it never ends, we always need more sheep.
Prophets like Isaiah started declaring that one day there would come a Messiah, a deliverer, a rescuer that would take the sins away from the people in a once-and-for-all all sacrifice.
Then a young Galilean rabbi named Jesus burst on the scene and John the Baptist heralded the coming of the Messiah by
announcing:
“Look, the lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world.” (John 1:29)
God knew that only He could save us from God! So the second person of the Trinity took on human flesh. Jesus was God in a bod.
The debt was so great that only God could pay it. So Jesus satisfied the wrath of God by dying on the cross.
“Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! Not only is this so, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.” (Romans 5:9-11)
As we have heard and will sing later:
“Then, on the cross, where Jesus died, the wrath of God was satisfied.”
Jesus was the sacrifice that paid for our sins.
“This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.” (I John 4:9-10)
Jesus was our substitute on the cross, dying in our place, for our sins.
We needed a mediator - someone to step in between us and God:
“For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all people.” (1 Timothy 2:5-6)
Did you hear that? There is only one mediator. Mary is not a mediator. The saints are not mediators.
Salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone.
?By His death on the cross, He reconciled us to God completely.
Our sins, past, present, and future were paid for.
By His perfect life, keeping the Law perfectly, His righteousness was given to us.
“God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Corinthians 5:21)
Salvation included our past, present, and future.
Past - you have been saved. This is called justification.
Present - you are being saved. This is called sanctification.
Future - you will be saved. This is called glorification.
Paul calls this the “hope of salvation.”
“But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet.” (I Thes 5:8)
Hope in this context is not wishful thinking but a sure confidence in God’s faithfulness.
Assurance of Salvation
My friend Brian Bill writes:
There are four possibilities when it comes to salvation.
To be lost and know that you’re lost. That’s tragic.
To be lost and think you are saved. That’s dangerous.
To be saved and not know it for sure. That’s unsettling.
To be saved and know that you’re secure. That’s comforting.
I’ve asked several people lately if they were prepared to stand before God and they responded, “I hope so.”
Why would someone answer this way?
It could be that they are not Christians in the first place.
Remember that Jesus said that not everyone who calls me “Lord Lord” will enter the kingdom of heaven. (See Matthew 7:21-23)
Satan has substituted religious rituals to deceive people into thinking that they are saved when they are not.
Walking an aisle, saying someone else’s prayer, or getting baptized doesn’t mean you’re a Christian. Just because your parents were Christians or you are an American doesn’t mean you are a Christian.
Becoming a Christian isn’t like joining a club. It is more like a caterpillar becoming a butterfly.
“If anyone is in Christ, they are a new creation. The old is gone, the new has come.” (2 Cor 5:17)
Are you born again? Is there a “before Jesus” / “after Jesus” story to tell? Have you surrendered your life to Jesus to be the leader and lover of your soul?
It could be that they don’t know their Bible well enough to understand that we can have assurance of our salvation.
If you ask a Muslim if he is going to heaven, he’ll say, “I don’t know. I hope so.” If you ask a Jehovah’s Witness if she is going to heaven, she’ll say, “I don’t know. I hope so.”
Not so with Christians!
Listen, you can be certain:
“And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.” (I John 5:11-12)
Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him. (John 3:36)
“Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.” (John 5:24)
“Because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved." (Rom 10:9)
John ended his gospel with these words of assurance:
“Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.” (John 20:30-31)
When satan tries to hit you over the head with the lie that you can’t know if you are going to heaven, hit him over the head with these verses!
Eternal Security
Not only can you be sure that you are heaven-bound, but you can be confident that you cannot lose that salvation.
Can you lose your salvation? It depends on who saved you.
R.C. Sproul once wrote: “If I could lose my salvation, I would. But I’m not holding on to Him. He’s holding on to me.”
A friend attended a church that believed that a born-again believer could lose their salvation. He was engaged and was really looking forward to the wedding night.
He would entertain thoughts about that night and then would believe he had lost his salvation.
He would fast and pray, cry and beg, God to give his salvation back.
Then the cycle would start all over again. He was having panic attacks and even contemplated suicide.
Then a friend shared with them the Biblical doctrine of eternal security. And he found freedom from the lies that satan had used to keep him tied in knots for years.
Pastor Ray Pritchard points out that there is great danger in believing that you can lose your salvation because it:
Leads to excessive introspection, frustration, fear and guilt.
Strips you of any certainty that your sins are forgiven.
Leads to fear at the moment of death.
Tends to produce legalistic faith.
Takes the focus off of Christ and places it on your performance.
May lead to despair and abandoning the faith altogether.
Could make you hypercritical of others whose faith you doubt.
Keeps you from growing because you think you need to get saved over and over again.
Makes the Christian life an unstable roller coaster of up and down experiences.
Takes the “Good News” out of the gospel because you can’t be sure about anything.
This is from our statement of faith on our website:
“We believe that all the redeemed, once saved, are kept by God's power and are thus secure in Christ forever. We believe that it is the privilege of believers to rejoice in the assurance of their salvation through the testimony of God's Word, which, however, clearly forbids the use of Christian liberty as an occasion to sin.”
Once you have been saved, the Holy Spirit invades your life and seals you:
“And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.” (Eph 1:13-14)
Jesus made this crystal clear:
“My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand. I and My Father are one.” (John 10: 27-30)
In Romans, Paul wrote these encouraging words:
"For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Rom 8:38-39)
This doesn’t mean that we can live however we want to because we are saved. Because we are saved, we live our lives to the glory of God!
Satan’s lies
We must protect the heart and the head so Paul charges us to take up the helmet of salvation.
The mind is a battlefield that satan wants to make his playground. This is why we must renew our minds:
“Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. (Rom 12:2)
You’ve messed up too badly. You can’t be saved.
You’re a good person. You don’t need to be saved.
Several years ago, a famous politician made a stunning statement as he reflected on his legacy at age 72.
He spoke about the initiatives he had spearheaded and listed several of his real and self-perceived successes.
The surprising part of his speech was the takeaway, in which he said,
“I’m telling you if there is a God, when I get to heaven I’m not stopping to be interviewed. I’m heading straight in. I’ve earned my place in heaven. It’s not even close.”
He also attacks us with fear.
Fear of the past.
You don’t have to be haunted by your past.
Have you ever done something that you truly regretted? Something that you would do anything to get a “do-over?”
I have a friend who knows that feeling. When he was eighteen years old, he was drinking with some friends and got in a car. He never heard or saw the train. The train struck the back end of the car and the two girls in the back seat were killed instantly.
He lived. He felt guilty that he had lived. He was angry with God for letting it happen. Most of all, he could not see his way out of the depression that gripped his soul.
He tried to cover it with alcohol but that made it worse. He decided he deserved to die and was planning on killing himself when someone shared the forgiveness found in a relationship with Jesus Christ.
His whole life changed. The trajectory of his life changed. Thirty years later, Dale Petre is a Christian counselor and one of the most Godly, grace-filled men I know.
Fear of the present.
Some of us listen to the lies of satan about our present -
“…you will never be good enough. God knows the real you. He knows those thoughts. He knows how many times you mess up. How crazy of you to think that God loves such a loser like you!”
When he hits you over the head with this frying pan accusation, our around a lob a Scripture grenade his way!
“Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death.” (Rom 8:1-2)
Imagine that you find out that you have a long-lost aunt named Bunny who died and left you ten billion dollars. Also, imagine a parking ticket that will cost you $50.
If you understood you would get the 10 billion dollars soon, would the parking ticket bother you as much? No.
That’s why Paul could say
“For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.” (2 Cor 4:17)
Fear of the future.
Many people are afraid of what the future may hold. But as Christians, we believe the the future’s so bright that we gotta wear shades!
“What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived”— the things God has prepared for those who love him.” (I Cor 2:9)
We need to hold on and stand firm.
This section of rope represents our time on Earth. The rest of the rope represents our time in eternity with Jesus.
We too often get bogged down with worrying about the day-to-day details of this life.
But James says that our life is a vapor/mist that appears for a little while. Moses in Psalm 90 tells us to “number our days.”
Life is short. Hell is real. Heaven is more amazing than we can comprehend.
Jesus wears the Helmet
It is not our armor but God’s armor we put on. Ultimately, all of these pieces describe Jesus! He is our armor. He is our victory.
Ray Pritchard writes,
“When a soldier knows that the Captain of his salvation watches over him, he not fear to enter the fiercest battle
Warren Wiersbe writes:
“In one sense the 'whole armor of God' is a picture of Jesus Christ. Christ is the Truth (John 14:6), and He is our righteousness (2 Cor. 5:21) and our peace (Eph. 2:14). His faithfulness makes possible our faith (Gal. 2:20); He is our salvation (Luke 2:30); and He is the Word of God (John 1:1, 14).
Armor of God Prayer
Lord Jesus, I now follow your command to put on the full armor of God because I know that my battle is not against flesh and blood but against rulers, authorities, the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the unseen world.
Thank you that you have made it possible for me to be strong in your mighty power and to stand against all that the evil one would throw against me this day.
I put on the helmet of salvation and pray that you would protect my mind from thoughts that could lead me astray. I choose to take every thought captive to Jesus Christ and to reject any thought that is not from You (2 Corinthians 10:5).
Transform my mind by the power of your Word and grant me a hope-saturated mind so that I may truly overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit (Romans 15:13).
This day, in the name of Jesus, I bind and refuse all depressed, despairing, and defeated thinking.
Ending Songs:
In Christ Alone
Living Hope
