The Helmet of Salvation
Armor of God • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Have you ever accidentally left something behind and realized you needed it you were already gone and you needed it in that moment? One time, a man from my home church picked me up to go to minister in one of the local jails. Well, he gets to the house, picks me up, and we head down the road. Well, we were about fifteen minutes down the road and were running late when he asks me if I brought my wallet since they’d have to ID me to get into the jail. And that’s when it hit me, I left it on the counter at home.
We’ve all done things like that, haven’t we? Maybe you’ve through the rain and hoped in your car and realized that you left the keys inside. Or maybe you’ve gotten to school and realized you left your homework at home. Or maybe you’ve waited at the DMV forever and as soon as you get to the counter, you realize you left something you had to have at home. Regardless of what it might be, we’ve all forgotten stuff that is necessary before.
Well, as we look in Ephesians 6:17, we will read about the helmet of salvation. Ephesians 6:11-17 reads
11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. 13 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. 14 Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 15 and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; 16 above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. 17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God;
Now, why would you need a helmet?....To protect your head of course!
Well, we live in a world that is full of things that can influence us negatively. Whether it’s negative thoughts coming from shows, temptations from websites, or anxiety and doubts in our minds; we all have a battle going on for our minds and if we aren’t armed, our head is open for enemy attacks. So, we have to realized that we desperately need our armor if we’re going to survive life’s battles as a Christian soldier.
But before we get to it’s importance and applications, we need to ask ourselves why Paul chose this piece of equipment to highlight and where he found it in the Bible and that takes us to Isaiah 59:17
17 For He put on righteousness as a breastplate, And a helmet of salvation on His head; He put on the garments of vengeance for clothing, And was clad with zeal as a cloak.
This text may sound familiar and if it does that’s because we looked at it for our lesson on the breastplate of righteousness. And what we talked about in that lesson was how in this passage God is showing Himself to be the One who will be the righteous One where Israel could only sin. He is promising to pick up the armor they can’t and to be their mighty warrior. There is similar promises explained just a few chapters before this in Isaiah 51. Isaiah 51:4-7
4 “Listen to Me, My people; And give ear to Me, O My nation: For law will proceed from Me, And I will make My justice rest As a light of the peoples. 5 My righteousness is near, My salvation has gone forth, And My arms will judge the peoples; The coastlands will wait upon Me, And on My arm they will trust. 6 Lift up your eyes to the heavens, And look on the earth beneath. For the heavens will vanish away like smoke, The earth will grow old like a garment, And those who dwell in it will die in like manner; But My salvation will be forever, And My righteousness will not be abolished. 7 “Listen to Me, you who know righteousness, You people in whose heart is My law: Do not fear the reproach of men, Nor be afraid of their insults.
Now, what we need to realize with these two passages is that Israel is in this midst of darkness. They are facing assaults, bondage, and judgement. But in the middle of this, God is giving them a message of hope, that He is their righteousness and He will be their salvation. Essentially, what I want us to learn here is that God presents His faithfulness to keep His promises as a helmet, or a shield, to protect our minds in the midst of trials and temptations.
8 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.
Did you notice the difference in the wording here? I really want us to pick up on that word “hope” because it will help us understand this subject better. What do you think it means to hope concerning salvation?
If you talk to a lot of people, they often talk about how they really hope they’ll be welcomed into heaven one day. But that’s not what the Bible means when it talks about the hope of salvation. You see, today we hope it won’t rain, we hope our ball teams will win, we hope our parents will let us go on a trip with our buddies. But that’s not what the Bible means, when the Bible speaks of the hope of salvation it is talking about an confident assurance based off of facts and promises. And so, when God gives us promises like we just saw a minute ago, we need to carry those with us to place our hope in.
What do you think would be some situations where we would really need to guard our minds? Maybe you’re going through a trial, what are some troubling thoughts that might come up in your mind?
Well, if we consider the life of Jesus, which was a life of trials and sorrow, we will see the life of someone who perfectly wore the helmet of salvation. Hebrews 5:8 “He learned obedience by the things which He suffered.” and Hebrews 12:2 “for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”
Jesus endured hardships, loses, temptations and even death but never fell because He wore the helmet of the hope of salvation. He knew the plan of the Father, and He rested in it throughout all of life’s troubles. Remember how He prayed in the Garden and said, “Father, if it be possible, take this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will but Your will be done.”
Jesus knows what it is to endure affliction while holding on to the Father’s promises and because He wore the Helmet for us, we can (1) know it’s trustworthy for our daily lives. and (2) know that Heaven awaits us not simply because of something we did, but because Jesus was faithful where we could only fail.
Iain Duguid gives a great illustration for us to consider when we are facing hard times as a believer. “Suppose that tomorrow you received two letters. In one, you received news that your great-aunt Freda in Australia had died and left you ten million dollars. Next, you open the other letter and see you have a fifty dollar parking ticket. Which of the two letters is going to shape your day- the sure and certain hope of ten million dollars or the present depressing reality of the fifty dollar fine?”
You see, we all face fifty dollar fine kind of days, don’t we? Paul calls those “momentary and light afflictions” in 2 Corinthians 4:17, but compared to the reality of how wealthy and how awesome our future looks, we can be like James says in James 1:2-3
2 My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, 3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.
Duguid also says, “Doubt about your eternal salvation naturally leads on a trajectory that ends in despair because if you doubt God’s desire and ability to save you ultimately, why should you believe in His desire and ability to watch over you in the present storms of life?”
But the reality is that in Christ, we are saved. As a matter of fact, in 1 John 5:13, John says
13 These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God.
Basically, what he is saying is that if you have Jesus, you have life. If you believe in Jesus as your Savior, you have forgiveness.
So, that’s the helmet. The helmet is the assurance, or hope, of the salvation that we have in Jesus Christ. In wearing this helmet, we find.
Protection in dark valleys with reminders of God’s power and love for us.
Boldness in following where God leads.
Strength in fighting sin as we keep our eyes on Jesus.
Another aspect of the helmet is that it keeps our passion stirred for Christ, or helps us combat coldness in our hearts. If you feel like you’re growing cold, think about the gifts of our salvation. If you had a letter that said you were going to be a millionaire soon, everytime you had a bad day, you’d just think about that. Well, you have something far better than that and if you spend your time thinking about how one day, you won’t sin anymore. One day, you won’t hurt anymore. One day, you’ll see Jesus and fellowship with Him forever. One day, you’ll rule and reign with Him and you’ll live in the New Heavens and New Earth. That’ll stir your hearts. Because it’s not just a story, it’s reality and it’s yours if you belong to Jesus.