In the past few weeks, we’ve examined several
elements of the supernatural, spiritual armor God has provided us in our
ongoing, never ending spiritual battle against our unseen but extraordinarily seductive
and destructive enemy. We’ve looked at bracing ourselves with God's unchanging truth.
We’ve talked about the breastplate of the righteousness which God imputes to us
as a result of our faith in Christ. We examined what it means to put on shoes
prepared to bring to gospel of peace to the John Lennons of the world. Last
week, we looked at the shield of faith.
Today
we turn attention to the helmet of salvation. In Paul’s letter to the
Christians at Thessalonica, Paul calls the helmet, ‘the hope of salvation.”
We’ll
compare both descriptions in a few minutes. So, please follow along with me as I read
again from our text in Ephesians chapter six:
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)
The
most obvious value of a helmet during a battle is to protect against blows to
the head. If the soldier’s head was badly injured, the rest of the armor would
be of little use. And in the same vein, it ought to be equally unthinkable
for the Christian to engage in this spiritual warfare without his or her helmet
of salvation. God designed our supernatural helmet to protect us from spiritual
injury and deadly poison that is embedded in the ideas and philosophies of any
pagan culture – including America’s pagan culture.
That
is likely one of the reasons St Paul wrote to the Christians living in pagan
Rome – and by extension, the Christians living in pagan America:
“And
do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your
mind, so that you may [discern] what the will of God is, that which is good and
acceptable and perfect.” (Romans 12:2)
To
make this point about protection from the weapons Satan uses to indoctrinate
humanity to behave and think as he wants us to behave and think, I turn our
attention to the example of the four Jewish men among the thousands exiled to
Babylon in the 6th century B.C. Their story is told in the Old
Testament book of Daniel.
When
Nebuchadnezzar’s army ravaged its way through Jerusalem, Daniel and his three
companions, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah were bound with chains and brought to
Babylon. In short order they found themselves in a strange land, surrounded by
a people of a strange language, and now living in a culture – a Pagan culture –
totally foreign to the one in which they were raised, educated, and worshipped.
After
they arrived at the king’s palace, Nebuchadnezzar placed them in his indoctrination
program into Babylonian culture. You’ll find that text in the first chapter of
Daniel. For the sake of time, I won’t read it to you, but I urge you to do so
later today. It’s only 20 or so verses.
Part
of the king’s strategy was to make Daniel and his friends think and
behave like Babylonians. To that end, he had them immersed in their literature,
laws, ideas, and religion of Babylonian culture and society - just as Satan
wants us immersed in our culture so that we also will behave and think
like the ungodly among us.
Christian,
let me say that again for emphasis: Satan wants us immersed in our
culture so that we also will behave and think like the ungodly among us.
What
Daniel and his three fellow Jews experienced in their captivity exquisitely
illustrates the danger we all face in our 21st century culture and society.
And unless we recognize the spiritual battles spread across the landscapes of
media, academia, literature, entertainment, and so forth – and unless we
intentionally dress ourselves in the entirety of God's spiritual armor,
including the helmet of salvation, we ARE at grave risk of leaving our first
love and slowly being indoctrinated to think and behave like the world around
us. This point cannot be overstated.
Let
me remind us again of the Lord’s Jesus’ ominous warning to the Christians at
Ephesus. This warning occurred AFTER Paul wrote the letter we’ve been talking
about over the last several weeks. Here is Revelation chapter two, the Lord
Jesus is speaking: “I know your deeds and your toil and perseverance, and
that you cannot tolerate evil men, and you put to the test those who call
themselves apostles, and they are not, and you found them to
be false; and you have perseverance and
have endured for My name’s sake, and have not grown weary. But
I have this against you, that you have left your first love. Therefore
remember from where you have fallen, and repent and do the deeds
you did at first; or else I am coming to you and will remove
your lampstand out of its place—unless you repent.”
Did
the Christians in Ephesus no longer take seriously Paul’s infallible warning
about spiritual warfare and spiritual armor? Christian! And I address myself
now as well—stay alert. Stand firm against the schemes of the devil. Put on the
full armor of God – and that includes the helmet of salvation – the full armor
by which and through which we are conformed to the holy lifestyles God commands
of us.
What
Daniel and his three companions experienced during their exile is a sober
illustration of the danger every Christian in our own culture faces – whether
or not we recognize the danger. Satan’s strategy to indoctrinate all of
humanity – that includes you, me, and our families – his strategy is to inculcate
into our minds godless and even anti-God philosophies, ideas, and attitudes, any
of which and all of which will ultimately bring us with him to the eternal Lake
of Fire.
Christian,
do not neglect that helmet of salvation. Do not let the culture conform you
into its own mold. Listen to the Holy Spirit command us in Colossians 2:8 (LEB
version), “Beware lest anyone take you captive through philosophy
and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental
spirits of the world and not according to Christ.”
Surely,
by this time in our lives we have heard and read some of these anti-God
philosophies and ideas in film, magazines, books, the workplace – and even in
some churches. For
example:
1.
The Bible is a compilation of moral stories, but certainly it is not the
inerrant and infallible word of the Almighty and Holy God.
2.
Because the stories were copied time after time through the centuries,
significant errors are sure to have occurred over the millennia.
3.
There is no absolute truth. Everything is relative. As long as no one gets hurt
– so goes the babbling – then it’s okay to do.
4.
The Bible addresses the problems facing today’s people with archaic and
uselessly outdated rules. That means, for example, what was considered sin in
Bible days was rooted in the ignorance of an agrarian and intolerant people.
Twenty-first century humanity is far more sophisticated about human nature and
therefore more tolerant about things such as human sexuality.
Christian!
Do not be ignorant of the devil’s strategies! Don’t fall for his deceptions.
I
mentioned earlier Paul’s other reference to the Christian’s helmet. That one is
in his letter to the Christians at Thessalonica. And so, 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.”
The
way Paul and other New Testament writers use the word is to speak of something
much more definite than wishful hope. It carried the idea of a ‘joyful and confident
expectation that something WILL occur – because God promised it
would occur.
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 Kevlar ones worn by
soldiers on today’s battlefield. The supernatural helmet Paul speaks of in both
Ephesians and 1 Thessalonians is our protection against Satan’s seductive and
blasphemous lies – one of which whispers, “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 last week, 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,
combines 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 how Biblically literate and faithfully obedient Christians can
be unsure of their salvation. But I know many 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.
Before
we go on, let me draw your attention to the operative words in my last
statement – every ‘follower of Christ.’ Such a person seeks every day,
and in every situation, to obey God’s word regarding faith and morals. If the
Bible says something is sin, then it’s sin, 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.
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.”
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)
Ephesians
2:8 “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not
your own doing; it is the gift of God.”
Romans
1:16 “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for
salvation to everyone who believes.”
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. 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 AND the
forgiveness of our sins made possible by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ – those
promises never fade away. Those promises represent stability in an
unstable world. It gives hope in the worst of circumstances, enabling us
to fight against despair and discouragement!
His
assurance to us of salvation is our mighty fortress against anything the enemy
throws at us. If you believe the good news 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 (of the same essence) as the Father,
then your name IS WRITTEN right now in the Book of Life.
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,
with our helmet securely fastened, and wearing the belt of truth, the
breastplate of righteousness, and our feet adorned with the gospel of peace – next
week we will pick up the next pieces of our armor which is the sword of the
Spirit and prayer.
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