Helmet of Salvation

We are back. How many of you are enjoying being back to school?

How many of you enjoyed our back to school party?

We loved watching you all just hangout and have a good time. We prayed that it would be a fruitful night, that you would all get to talk with one another, hangout, and grow closer together through the jousting and the dunking each other in the dunk tank and through all the things that we did.

But tonight we are stepping back into our ‘Front Lines’ series where we are talking about the war, the spiritual war, that we all are in and the victory we already have in the battle through Christ and that we don’t have to worry or wonder about how the battle will end because the victory is already won. We don’t have to fight for the victory, we don’t have to stress or be anxious about the outcome because the war was won on the cross at Calvary.

BUT

It is up to us to endure and persevere as a ‘Soldier of Christ Jesus’ by remaining faithful to him because like we talked about two weeks ago, there is an enemy in this war that we’re in. While that is true, that we do have an enemy, I want us to focus not on that but instead on what Jesus says in John 10:10.

John 10:10 ESV

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.

From the mouth of Jesus, He says that He has come so we MAY have life. Not so we will have life but that we MAY have life. We are going to talk about that life tonight as we begin looking not just at the war that we are in but looking at the armor that Paul tells us to fit ourselves with in this war.

Ephesians 6:10–13 ESV

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm.

When going to war we know that it is not just important to go in with the mindset of taking out the enemy or coming out the other side victorious but there is something engrained into us that we want to protect ourselves because we know we are going into crossfire.

How many of you have played paintball?

When I was growing up I got to hangout with the youth group at my church all the time. From the time I was born until I was able to be apart myself I was an honorary member of the youth group because my dad was a youth pastor at the church. For a long time I had to sit back and watch as the big kids got to do their big kid things but one day, when I was old enough I got to join in on the tradition of paintball. The youth group would come together all the time and play these games of paintball and I was never allowed to join because I was just too young. I wasn’t ready or prepared for the fast paced projectiles that would cross my path or come directly at me and I wasn’t ready for the impact they would have when they came into contact with me.

But eventually the day came.

My dad was getting ready to load the youth group on the bus and take them to the nearest town that had a paintball course. As the day came closer I begged, BEGGED my dad to finally let me come and play with them. Finally he let me come. HERE IT WAS. The day had come, I got to play with the big kids! Out of excitement and fear I put on my thickest pair of jeans, the only plastic “chest plate” that was at the bottom of the bucket of paintball gear and topped it with my thickest hoodie and hopped on the bus.

I was ready. TERRIFIED. But ready.

We get to the park and I was ready to go. I had my gun filled and my mask on and I sat waiting nervously as everyone else leisurely got their stuff together. Finally I go out and huddle up with my team as we come up with a strategy to take the other teams flag and return it to our base and as I was sitting there trying to pay attention I kept getting distracted by the fear of getting hit with a ball of paint being fueled by a can of compressed air coming at me. Next thing I know the buzzer goes off.

I knew that meant GAME ON.

I leave our base, shaking, I find trees for cover as I make my way to the other side until I get to this clearing. I look out as the dumb and frightened 10 year old boy that I was and thought to myself “Nows the time”. So I go for it, As fast I can with purpose and everything to lose I begin running to the other teams flag before I knew it I realize that I AM EXPOSED. None of my team is with me, there’s no more cover, and as soon as that thought hits me, so does something else.

A PAINTBALL hitting my face at the speed of light nearly knocks me off my feet. I can’t see, I don’t know what’s going on, but what I did know is that all that worrying I did was for nothing. I still remember feeling the relief that there was something between me and the ball of paint that had exploded all over my mask. The mask I was wearing protected me from the thing trying to take me out. I felt protected and more than that I felt ready to keep going.

The fear that I had, the thoughts that I let consume me before I even got on the bus that day, all of the things that I let affect me and how I made my choices were all gone because I realized that what I was equipped with was there to protect me from something I couldn’t protect myself from. It gave me assurance that I was okay.

That’s what the armor of God does. It equips you and protects you in battle in a way that you couldn’t on your own. That’s the importance of the first piece of the armor of God that we will be talking about tonight. The piece found in the beginning of verse 17 in Ephesians 6.

THE HELMET OF SALVATION.

Now before we talk about the helmet of salvation and its purposes we have to first understand what salvation is.

Salvation is not just something that you put on for a moment. Salvation is not a one time transaction, but what salvation is is an invitation into a relationship with Jesus Christ. It is the response of living your life for Him because He gave up His life so you didn’t have to.

What it Means to Respond to Jesus

Salvation means being saved from danger or from harm. The very idea and concept of needing saving means that there is something that we need to be saved from. So what is it that we need to be saved from?

We all know the answer, the answer is we need to be saved from our sin. Well what is sin? What does it do?

Sin isn’t just an action. Sin isn’t just breaking the rules. It’s not just about not doing what you’re supposed to do. SIN means you have missed the mark. It not only means that you have just not hit the right target but that when you have missed the right target that you have instead hit the wrong one. It is sin that leads you away from God and it is sin that becomes a barrier in the relationship between you and God.

Isaiah 59:2 NLT

It’s your sins that have cut you off from God. Because of your sins, he has turned away and will not listen anymore.

Your sin separates you from God. The creator. The one who created you, IN HIS IMAGE. And this is not just some of you this is all of us, starting with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. They walked in the garden with God until they disobeyed Him and they were kicked out of the garden and separated from that relationship with Him. And if it wasn’t them it would’ve been you because we are all sinners, we are all guilty of missing the mark.

Romans 3:23 NLT

For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.

We have all missed the mark in our life, and because we all have missed the mark our sin now demands punishment.

Romans 6:23 NLT

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.

That one word that brings those two things together is where our hope lies.

Yes we have missed the mark. Yes we have sinned and yes that makes us sinners. BUT. despite that God has offered us a gift. A FREE GIFT. Paid for and bought by Jesus Christ on the cross. He paid the price for our sin. The price that we were supposed to pay but in His grace and IN his mercy He paid it for us.

2 Corinthians 5:21 ESV

For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

So that IN Him we may become the righteousness of God. IN Him. That means when we respond to Him, come to know Him, He does something to us. He makes us new. He transforms us and delivers us, and gives us a new identity.

You have a new identity in Christ. You have been made new. John 3 says that you have been born again, not by flesh but by the Spirit of God. When we respond to Jesus and His invitation and we take on this new identity and become a new creation we are filled with His Holy Spirit, and His spirit lives in us and changes us.

It’s not about becoming better than everyone else.

It’s not about being an improved you.

It’s not about getting a new label.

It is about receiving new life from God. It’s about having new identity in Christ. It’s about no longer being defined as…

not good enough

weird

broken

damaged

lonely

depressed

anxious

worthless

That’s not your identity anymore. You’re none of those things. You can be made new in Christ. What Jesus did was not about who you were or who you are it is about who you can be now. That you can be…

saved

renewed

redeemed

That you have value and purpose, and that you belong.

You can now belong to Christ. You no longer have to be someone trying to find their place and find where you belong because you can belong to Christ. Those behaviors that you used to think define you is not what defines you. Rather what you choose to let define you will affect your behavior. A new identity does not mean no more screw ups it only means that those things are not what defines you. It means that your sin no longer gets to define who you are. A Christian will still struggle with temptation, anger, insecurity, doubt, pride, But those struggles aren't your identity.

Your identity is is found in Jesus and He say’s you have purpose and value.

So if you have this new identity, if you have this transformation in your life what will that look like?

1 John 1:6–7 NLT

So we are lying if we say we have fellowship with God but go on living in spiritual darkness; we are not practicing the truth. But if we are living in the light, as God is in the light, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from all sin.

If we claim to have relationship with God but we continue in the sin, continue in the darkness of how we once lived then our confession does not line up with our lives. Those who belong to Christ walk in the light.

2 Corinthians 5:17 ESV

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

Here's the thing about a new identity: a new identity should produce a new life. If salvation has genuinely changed who you are, then eventually it's going to change how you live. I don't walk differently so that God will save me. I walk differently because God has saved me. That's what John is getting at. If I say I belong to Jesus, but my life has no evidence of Jesus, there's a disconnect. Salvation changes the direction of our lives. It changes how we walk with God, and it changes how we treat the people around us. So salvation isn't just something that happened to us one day. It's something that continues to reshape us every single day.

If Jesus has changed who you are, He should eventually change how you live.

But how are we supposed to actually live this new life?

The same God who gives us new life also gives us His Spirit to empower that new life.

Romans 8:11 NLT

The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you.

2 Timothy 1:7 NLT

For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline.

The God who saved you is the God who lives in you. That's why salvation isn't just protection from the consequences of sin. It brings you into a new relationship with God through His Spirit. And when we're talking about spiritual battle, that's huge. Because Satan wants you to believe that sin still owns you, that temptation still defines you, that fear gets to control you, and that your old identity is still who you are. But the gospel says something completely different. You belong to Christ. His Spirit lives in you. You are no longer a slave to your old identity. And the enemy does not have ultimate authority over someone who belongs to Jesus.

Salvation breaks sin's dominion and gives us the Spirit's power to stand against the enemy.

It’s important to understand and know where your salvation lies because the battleground for the spiritual war starts and ends in your mind. This is why you NEED the helmet of salvation.