The Helmet of Salvation
Ephesians • Sermon • Submitted
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Introduction
Introduction
[ILLUS] The director of a medical clinic once told of a terminally ill young man who came in for his treatment. One of the doctors at the clinic seemed insensitive when he said to the young man, “You know you won’t live out the year, right?”
On the way out, the young man spoke to the director in tears, saying, “That man took away my hope.”
The director replied, “Maybe it’s time to find a new one.”
One writer asked, “Is there a hope when hope is taken away? Is there hope when the situation is hopeless?”
That question leads us to Christian hope, or as Paul calls it here in Ephesians 6:17, the helmet of salvation.
[READING - Eph 6:14-17]
14 Stand firm therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 15 and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; 16 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. 17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
[PRAYER]
[CONTEXT] Paul, the Apostle of Christ Jesus who planted and pastored the church in Ephesus, wrote to the Christians there rejoicing in the Gospel of Jesus Christ and calling them to walk in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The grace of God in Jesus that had saved them was to show up in how they treated one another, how they managed their time, what songs they sang, how they treated their spouses and children, and even their slaves and their masters.
But living in a worthy manner would not be easy because the devil and his wicked minions continually schemed up ways to trip them up.
They would have to be ever vigilant, always on the alert, “for (their) struggle (was) not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places,” (Eph. 6:12). “Therefore, (they would had to) take up the full armor of God, so that (they would) be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, (they would be able) to stand firm,” (Eph. 6:13).
But these words that the Holy Spirit breathed-out for the Ephesians are the words that He breathed-out for us to.
WE must “put on the full armor of God, so that (we) will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil,” (Eph. 6:11).
So far in our study of the armor of God, we examined…
…truth, which is right and wrong as determined by God.
…righteousness, which is the practice of holiness, obeying God in all things.
…peace, which only comes to us in the Gospel and only flows through us to others as we share the Gospel.
…faith, which is believing that God is good and that what He commands is for my good.
…and today we come to hope or the helmet of salvation in Ephesians 6:17.
Now, hopefully some of you are wondering, “How is Rocky getting hope out of v. 17?”
Well, I’m not. I’m getting hope out of 1 Thessalonians 5:8. There Paul writes to the Christians in the city of Thessalonica using some of the same armor of God language that he used in his letter to the Ephesians. First Thessalonians 5:8…
8 But since we are of the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet, the hope of salvation.
[CIT] The helmet of salvation is the hope of salvation. It’s the helmet that the Ephesian believers were called to receive.
[PROP] Hope is the helmet we must receive as we stand firm against the schemes of the devil.
[TS] This morning we want to think about why this hope must be received, why this hope is called a helmet, and why this hope is called the helmet of salvation.
Major Ideas
Major Ideas
#1: This hope must be received so that we persevere.
#1: This hope must be received so that we persevere.
17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
[EXP] That word ‘take’ in Ephesians 6:17 is different from ‘take up’ in Ephesians 6:13. The word in v. 13 refers to taking hold of something while the word in v. 17 may more closely refer to receiving something. So one translation puts v. 17 like this, “and receive the helmet of salvation,” (LEB).
The hope in the helmet of salvation is what we receive when we take up the other graces in the armor of God.
As we put on God’s truth our hope increases.
As we practice God’s holiness our hope increases.
As we prepare to share God’s peace our hope increases.
As we trust in God’s goodness our hope increases.
As we take up God’s word our hope increases.
As we kneel before God in prayer our hope increases.
William Gurnall said all the graces described in the armor of God are born together in the birth of the new man or new woman in Christ Jesus.
This means that all of these graces grow together. I think this is especially true with hope.
In other words, as we grow in truth, we grow in hope. As we grow in faith, we grow in hope. And so on.
But this also means that all of these graces decay together as well. And this too is especially true with hope.
In other words, as truth decays, hope decays. As faith decays, hope decays. And so on.
[ILLUS] Let’s say you go to doctor, and the doctor says, “Your blood pressure is too low. I’m going to put you on this medication to get your blood pressure to where it needs to be.”
Now, if you take your medicine, you’re blood pressure will be fine.
But if you don’t take your medicine, then you won’t be fine.
[APP] In the same way, when you take up these other graces your hope will be where it needs to be.
But if you don’t take up these other graces, then your hope will be too low.
And if your hope is too low, you won’t persevere; you won’t endure to the end; you won’t stand firm against the schemes of the devil; you won’t be able to resist in the evil day.
This hope is the life-blood of our perseverance.
And if we do not persevere to the end, we will not be saved.
[TS] …
#2: This hope is called a helmet because it provides protection.
#2: This hope is called a helmet because it provides protection.
17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
[EXP] The Roman soldier’s helmet was basically a padded metal bowl with some cheek guards down the side to protect the face.
No solider would have gone into battle with his helmet because it protected the principal part of the soldier’s body—his head.
As the helmet protected the principal part of the soldier’s body, so hope protects the principal part of our spiritual life—the soul.
Hope protects the soul from despair.
Despair is the opposite of hope. It is the complete loss or absence of hope.
Despair doesn’t see a way forward.
It doesn’t see a reason to go on.
Despair is utter darkness.
It may come at us at any time.
We expect it to come on us during time of grief and loss, but it came upon Elijah after a great victory against the prophets of Baal on Mt. Carmel.
Despair may come our way due to trials.
Our constant trials may lead us to think that our trials will always be constant.
The constant trials of others—others that we love—may lead us to conclude that their trials will always be constant.
Despair may come our way due to temptations.
We are barraged by temptations and despair would have us believe that we will always be barraged by temptations.
Sometimes we give in to temptation, and despair whispers to us, “You will always give in.”
Despair may come our way due to terror, to persecution.
[ILLUS] Yesterday I was reading about Christians in Pakistan in a recent issue of The Voice of the Martyrs magazine.
It said, “Roughly four million Christians live in Pakistan, but they compose less than 2% of the country’s population. Pakistani Christians face daily oppression, discrimination, and persecution from radical Muslims.”
It said, “Christians in Pakistan live under continual pressure, enduring frequent threats and the ever-present possibility of attack.”
The issue cited examples like that of a Christian man who was born into indentured servitude, forced to pay off the debts of his parents in a brick kiln. After he took a coworker to church, the owner of the brick kiln started to beat him. That treatment continued even after he was sold to another brick kiln owner.
Or take the example of two Christian young women in Pakistan who were asked by a coworker about Jesus. They told her about Jesus but then were accused of breaking Pakistan’s blasphemy laws. They were beaten for refusing to renounce their faith in Christ, and only after overpowering a guard where they able to escape to safety.
A few months ago, a church leader was murdered when ambushed after leaving a worship service.
In 2013, suicide bombers denoted their explosive devices in a church service murdering 120 people and injuring 250 others.
It’d be easy to despair living under that sort of terror—that sort of persecution—but often these brothers and sisters are full of hope because their souls are protected by the helmet of salvation.
[APP] Romans 8:24-25 says…
24 For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for who hopes for what he already sees? 25 But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it.
That’s what persecution Christians in Pakistan are doing, waiting eagerly for what they do not see with perseverance.
And they only way they can do that is because of hope.
They wait with hope depending on the Spirit’s help.
26 In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words;
They wait with hope trusting in the Father’s goodness.
28 And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.
The wait with hope because of the Son’s sacrifice.
29 For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; 30 and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified.
Tempted to despair, this is how hope protects our souls.
It trusts in the Spirit to help.
It trusts in the Father’s goodness.
It trusts in the Son’s sacrifice.
This is true for our brothers and sisters in Pakistan.
It’s true for us here too.
And it leads to unconquerable hope.
31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? 32 He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things? 33 Who will bring a charge against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies; 34 who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us. 35 Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36 Just as it is written, “For Your sake we are being put to death all day long; We were considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” 37 But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
This is hope.
[TS] …
#3: This hope is called the helmet of salvation because it encompasses all God’s saving promises.
#3: This hope is called the helmet of salvation because it encompasses all God’s saving promises.
17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
[EXP] When we talk about the salvation that God offers to us in Jesus Christ, we are talking about all of the good and glorious promises that God has made to us in Jesus Christ.
God promises us justification through faith in Jesus Christ.
Justification is God making us just (i.e., perfect or right) before Him through the justness (i.e., the perfection or righteousness) of His Son Jesus.
God made us just before Him by Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection.
God sent Jesus to live perfectly as we should have so that His perfection could be credited to us.
God sent Jesus to die sacrificially in our place upon the cross so that His death paid the price of death for our sins.
God raised Jesus from the dead as proof that all who trust in Him will never taste the wrath of God but live forever in the loving presence of God.
That’s justification.
But God also promises us sanctification through faith in Jesus Christ.
Sanctification is God making us more and more like Jesus. It’s God growing us in holiness just as Jesus is holy.
This sanctification is in process now as the Holy Spirit produces spiritual fruit in us—love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, self-control, etc.
But this process of sanctification will one day be made complete.
6 For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.
2 Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is. 3 And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.
That’s sanctification.
But God also promises us glorification through faith in Jesus Christ.
Glorification is the promise of salvation completely fulfilled, completely realized in Heaven with Jesus.
This full, final, and eternal glorification is absolutely certain because “those whom God predestined, He also called; and those whom He called, He also justified; and those whom He justified, He also glorified,” (Rom. 8:30).
This is what Jesus told us was a certainty according to the will of God. In John 6:39-40, Jesus said…
39 “This is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given Me I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day. 40 “For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day.”
Jesus reiterated this certainty in John 10, saying…
27 “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; 28 and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. 29 “My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.
The Apostle Paul follows His Lord in emphasizing this certainty in 1 Thessalonians 5:8-10…
8 But since we are of the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet, the hope of salvation. 9 For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, 10 who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep, we will live together with Him.
The Apostle Peter also followed His Lord in emphasizing the certainty of our full and final glorification…
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, 5 who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
And the author of Hebrews says, “It is impossible for God to lie, we who have taken refuge would have strong encouragement to take hold of the hope set before us. This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and steadfast,” (Heb. 6:18-19).
[ILLUS] About a month before he died, the famous atheist playwright Jean-Paul Sartre said that in order to strongly resist feelings of despair, he would say to himself, “I know I shall die in hope.”
Then in profound sadness, he added, “But hope needs a foundation.”
[APP] The unbelief of atheism is no foundation for hope, but neither is wealth.
Nations or armies are no foundation for hope.
Health, education, family—none of those are a good foundation for hope.
They’re all transient, all temporary, all fading away.
But the foundation which will never pass away—and the foundation on which our hope must be built—is the foundation of salvation in Jesus Christ.
This is our hope now!
This is our hope forever!
[TS] …
Conclusion
Conclusion
If you’re already a Christian this morning—meaning you’ve turned from sin and trusted in Jesus’ death and resurrection to save you from God’s just wrath—then this helmet of salvation, this certain hope is fuel for your perseverance but only if you grow in grace.
So, Christian, grow.
Grow in God’s truth.
Grow in God’s holiness.
Grow in God’s peace.
Grow in God’s goodness.
Grow in His word.
Grow in prayer.
As you do, your hope will grow to.
But if you’re not a Christian—meaning you’ve never turned away from your sins and called on Jesus to save you from the wrath of God—well, this is the time to do so; this is the time to find certain hope in Jesus Christ.
He gave His life to bring you salvation.
Will you receive the salvation God offers you in His Son Jesus?
Will you receive hope?
[PRAYER]