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Today, on this the
fifth Sunday of Lent, we continue our series on the spiritual armor God has
given us to wage successful battle against our supernatural enemy. And so, we
turn once again to the sixth chapter of St. Paul’s letter to the Christians at
Ephesus:
Therefore,
take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil
day, and having done everything, to stand firm. Stand firm therefore, having
girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of
righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of
the gospel of peace; in addition to all, taking up the shield of
faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows
of the evil one. And take the helmet of salvation, and
the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. (Eph
6:13-17)
We’ve looked these past several weeks at various
pieces of the supernatural armor. Today we turn our attention to the soldier’s helmet and his
sword.
The Roman soldiers’ helmets were made of metal,
though poorer soldiers may have had leather helmets fortified with pieces of
metal. The most obvious value of the helmet was to protect against blows to the
head.
No soldier would willingly go into battle without a helmet. If his head was
badly injured, the rest of the armor would be of little use. Likewise, it
ought to be equally unthinkable for the Christian to engage in this spiritual
warfare without our helmet of salvation. Our supernatural helmet protects our mind
against any demonic-driven lies that would disorient, discourage, or deceive
the Christian.
That’s why Paul wrote to the church at Rome: “And do not be conformed to this world, but
be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will
of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.” (Romans 12:2)
As we let Scripture interpret Scripture, notice
Paul’s use of the term, ‘helmet’ in 1 Thessalonians 5:8-9: “But let us who
are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a
helmet the hope of salvation. For God did not appoint us to wrath, but
to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
In this Thessalonian text, Paul refers to the
helmet as “the hope of salvation.” Let me again remind you, the Greek word, elpis
(el-peace) is not defined as a ‘maybe’ hope – like saying, “I hope it won't rain
next Saturday,” or, “I hope I get that promotion.”
The
way Paul and other New Testament writers use the word is to speak of something much
more definite than a wishful hope. One of the more common NT uses of the Greek
word means a ‘joyful and confident expectation’ that something either WILL
occur – because God promised it would happen.
And so, the word ‘hope’ as used here
in 1 Thessalonians conveys a certainty, an unquenchable confidence in God’s promise of
salvation to all who believe and obey Jesus.
The New Living Translation
recognizes the nuance of elpis when it translates 1 Thessalonians 5:8: “But
let us who live in the light be clearheaded, protected by the armor of faith
and love, and wearing as our helmet the confidence of our salvation.”
Did you catch that? “The confidence
of our salvation” is our helmet, a head covering stronger than the steel ones
worn by soldiers on the battlefield. Our supernatural helmet Paul speaks of in
Ephesians is our protection against all the flaming arrows of the evil one. It
shields us from his seductive lies that whisper, “You never can know of your
salvation until you die.”
By the way, do you notice how the
helmet of the confident expectation of our salvation is similar to the shield
of faith we talked about a week or so ago, how it ALSO wards off the blows of
the enemy?
The sandals for our feet which bring
good news to the John Lennons of the world, combined with the helmet and the
shield, because we
cannot share the hope of salvation with others if we ourselves do not have
that confident expectation that God will do for us as He promised.
I
do not understand the Christian who is unsure of his or her salvation. I know
of many Christians who say we can’t know we are saved until we die and stand
before the Lord. And we certainly can't be sure of the salvation of anyone else
until we see them in heaven (if we ourselves get there).
I
can’t imagine living my life with Christ without trusting God’s word that
assures me of my salvation as I follow Him in obedient faith. If I can't trust
THAT promise, then what else in Scripture can I not trust?
Christian! Put on that helmet of the
expectant hope of heaven. Here are only a few Biblical promises in which
every follower of Christ can place utter confidence.
By the way, before we go on, let me
draw your attention to the operative word in my last statement – every ‘follower
of Christ’ can place utter confidence in God’s promises. A follower of Christ is one who seeks every
day, and in every situation, to obey God’s word regarding faith and morals. If
God’s word says something is sin, then it is sinful, regardless of how WE feel
about it, or what Ph.Ds and Th.Ds, and the rest of the cultural says about it.
So, follower of Christ, here are
only a handful of God’s sacred promises to you concerning your salvation. And
as you listen, pay close attention to the verb tenses in these following texts.
1
John 5:13 “These things I have written to you who believe
in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have
eternal life. (present tense)
John 5:24 (Jesus is speaking) “Amen,
amen, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes in the one who sent me has
eternal life and will not come to condemnation but has
passed from death to life.” (present tense)
John 20:30-31 “Therefore many other signs Jesus also performed
in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but
these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the
Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name.” (present
tense)
Colossians 2:8 See to it that no one
takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the
tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather
than according to Christ. (In other words, believe the Scriptures and not people) . .
. [For]
in Him you have been made complete . . . having
been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised up
with Him . . .[and] When you were dead in your
transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive
together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions. (Present
tense)
I could spend the next hour quoting one promise after
another after another in which God assures everyone who believes and obeys
Jesus Christ that we HAVE eternal life. Heaven is our destiny. So, why do we let anyone or anything cloud
our minds with half-truths and ‘what-ifs’ that rob us of the joy of our
salvation?
That’s what the helmet of salvation (and the shield of
faith) is all about. In a physical world
where nothing is permanent, God’s promise of salvation made possible by the
sacrifice of Jesus Christ never fades away. That promise represents stability
in an unstable world. It gives hope in the worst of circumstances, enabling us
to fight against despair and discouragement!
The
assurance of salvation is our impenetrable defense against anything the enemy
throws at us. If you believe the good news, the gospel message of our Lord
Jesus Christ, if you obey Him who is God from God, Light from light, true God
from true God, begotten – not made – and consubstantial, or
of
the same essence as the Father, then your name IS WRITTEN right now in the Book of Life.
Those are not my words. Not
my opinion. Those are the clear words of the God Himself. But if we do not
believe the Scriptures, then no wonder we will worry about our salvation.
So,
now with our helmet securely fastened, let’s pick up the next piece of our
armor. Here is how Paul writes it: Take the helmet of
salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of
God. (6:17)
Here
is Hebrews 4:12 “For the word of God is living and active
and sharper than any two-edged sword and piercing as far as the division of
soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and
intentions of the heart.”
Each
piece of the Roman soldier’s armor was designed for defense – except for his
sword. The sword was the soldier’s offensive weapon.
Likewise,
each piece of the Christian’s armor is designed for defense – except for the sword
of the spirit, which is the eternal, infallible, unfailing, and transcendent Word
of God – and which is not subject to any cultural or political power. God gives
the sword of the Spirit to the Christian as an offensive weapon to be
used in our supernatural battle against our supernatural enemy.
You
will please remember during the Lord’s 40-day temptation in the wilderness,
Jesus employed the Word of God at each of Satan’s challenges. And so, for you
and me as well, the Scriptures are the bedrock of the truth with which we gird
our loins. They are the strength of our shield with which we stave off the
fiery arrows of the enemy. The Bible is the vitality of our breastplate of
righteousness which God imputes to us by His grace. It is the impenetrable material
that forms our helmet, and it is the energy behind the reason we shod our feet
with the preparation of the gospel of peace we bring to others.
Listen
to these words of God:
“You, however, continue in the things you have learned and become
convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned them, and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are
able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ
Jesus. All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable
for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness;
so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every
good work. (1 Timothy 3:14-17)
Psalm 119:9-12 “How can a young man keep his way pure? By
keeping it according to Your word. With all my heart I have sought You; Do not
let me wander from Your commandments. Your word I have treasured in my heart, that
I may not sin against You. Blessed are You, O Lord; Teach me Your
statutes.”
The
strength and integrity of the Christian's spiritual armor is rooted
uncompromisingly in God's word. That is why in the spiritual battles we
face each day, it is critical to examine every philosophy, every thought, every
idea under the light of Scripture and the historic teaching of the
church dating to the first century. There is too much at stake to be sloppy or
casual about our spiritual armor.
Every
combat soldier knows that before an attack, commanders try to deceive the other
side about his movements and plans. And in this spiritual warfare, Satan is
master at deception. And because Satan knows how critical God's word is for the
Christian, he tries relentlessly to diminish its authority and its influence
in our lives.
One
of his tactics is to introduce droplets of his toxins - not obvious errors, but
pinhead seeds of doubt with which he tries to render the Scripture, by degrees,
impotent in our lives. You may have read some of these subtle lies in magazines
and books, or heard them promulgated in movies, the workplace – and even in
some churches. For example:
-
The Bible is a compilation of moral stories, but certainly it is not the
inerrant and infallible word of God.
-
Because the stories were copied time after time through the centuries,
significant errors are sure to have occurred over the millennia.
-
There are no absolutes upon which we may anchor our actions. Everything is
relative.
-
The Bible addresses the problems facing today’s people with archaic and
uselessly outdated methods.
-
What was considered sin in Bible days was rooted in the ignorance of a nomadic
and intolerant people. Twenty-first century humanity is far more knowledgeable
and tolerant about what should be considered wrong.
Christian!
Do not be ignorant of the devil’s strategies!
So,
this afternoon we looked at two more elements of our spiritual armor – the helmet
and sword. The helmet guards our mind from lies that can steal the joy of our
assurance of salvation, and the sword is our offensive weapon that we must use
to defend our souls and the souls of those God brings across our paths. Next
week we will conclude this series on our spiritual armor with an examination of
prayer.
