Ephesians: In The Lord's Army (6)
Notes
Transcript
The Helmet of Salvation
The Helmet of Salvation
Helmets, there are all kinds of them. From bicycle to motorcycle.
Sports helmet to firefighter helmet.
What ever kind of helmet it is, it is ment to protect one thing, and that is your head.
Your head is a very important thing to protect, there have been many a people that have had their worlds turned upside down due to head injury’s that could have been avoided if they had just put on a helmet.
This is no different for the Born again Christian, there have been to many that have had there worlds turned upside down because they did not protect their head.
Even after hearing this message this morning, there will be some who will leave out of here and continue walking through this world without a helmet on.
You will continue to ride as fast as they can down the hill of worldly wisdom on the bike of doubt without a helmet on.
You will continue to walk through the temptation work zone without a helmet on
You will continue to allow your minds to be flooded with worldly images and langues.
I ask you, will that be you?
Will you hear this message but reject it?
What Paul is instructing here about taking the helmet of salvation is a piece of armor that I believe to many believers neglect.
The Roman soldier would have been an idiot to go into battle with out it.
The Roman helmet was made of metal and had metal extensions that would come down the sides of the face along the cheek.
These helmets were designed to deflect blows from a horse mounted enemy that would be wielding a large sword or axe.
Just like the Roman soldiers helmet, our spiritual battle helmet is ment to deflect blows from our enemy.
It is ment to protect us from the things of this world that can pollute our minds and keep us from having the mind of Christ.
Not taking and putting on the helmet of salvation, does not damn your soul, but it does keep you from having a saved mind.
Our enemy is relentless in his attacks on the child of God and
He may come for a hand to hand battle and you can stand your ground,
he may even hurl fiery darts at you without prevail,
but one area that most Christians get injured or become a casualty is the mind.
They forget about one of the most important parts of the body.
You can live with out arms or legs, but you cant live without a head.
To many today are falling victim to the enemy’s attack at head level.
Why you ask, because of the carelessness of Christians to ignore, and sometimes even ridicule the need for sound Bible doctrine.
They want experience not doctrine.
They want to have good feelings about something, not careful thinking.
They want their ear tickeld, not there heart and mind changed.
They want to be a Christian in name not in action.
They are not being transformed by the renewing of their minds.
Rather they are conforming to this present evil world. Rom. 12 1-2
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
As a child of God in the Lord’s army, Paul is telling us to put on the helmet of salvation.
What exactly is the helmet of salvation?
The Helmet of Salvation is our Protection from the Enemy
The Helmet of Salvation is our Protection from the Enemy
From the Enemy’s Distortions
From the Enemy’s Distortions
The thing the devil likes to do is distort the truth.
He tells a lie with just enough truth to make you think it is all true.
Satan would like nothing more than to undermine your belief in the Bible as the inspired, inerrant and infallible Word of God.
He wants to distort your doctrine so you base your belief on some erroneous or hermeneutical process.
He wants to distort our belief in the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit
He wants to distort our belief in the blood
He wants to distort our thinking about salvation and our daily holy living.
He would like us to dilute God’s demands that we be like Jesus—that we be holy, loving, joyous, peaceful, patient, kind, and self-controlled.
He would like us to emphasize service at the expense of worship.
He would like us to be occupied with the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches so that we lose sight of the world to come.
He would like us to lower our standards and allow the world to pour us into its mold, or go to the other extreme and mistake isolation for separation.
Satan has ten thousand wiles—all aimed at influencing what we think.2
From the Enemy’s Discouragements
From the Enemy’s Discouragements
He says “ look around, what are you doing? Nothing. what you are doing is all in vain. There is nothing in Christianity; it makes wonderful offers but what does it give you?”
He returns to the attack and says:
That evangelist to whom you listened and who urged you to become a Christian, told you that all your troubles would end, that you would walk down the road with a light step, that you would be in a new world, and that all would go well with you. But has it turned out to be like that? Are you not encompassed by trials and troubles and problems? Are you not finding yourself in a very weary, tiring campaign?
Indeed, do not things seem to be worse even than they were before you became a Christian; is not the fight hotter, and are you not being attacked as you have never been attacked before? So much for this Christianity of yours; it offered you so much, what is it really giving you in practice?”1
This is nothing new, just look at Psa. 73. Here is a godly man full of troubles and trials. Everything seemed to be against him. He looked at others, you know the irreligious and godless, and said, Psa 73:4
For there are no bands in their death: But their strength is firm.
Its as if he is on the verge of saying, “Look at me, here i am trying to live godly in this present evil world and for what? Headaches and heart aches? Nothing goes right for me. Here they are living as they choose, defying God and they are having the time of their lives.”
This is where the enemy wants to get you.
He temps you with renouncing religion
“Just throw in the towel” he says, “just give up, there is no use. Look at how much fun they are having, they are doing nothing for God and he is blessing them. What has he done for you?”
This is the very thing Paul is warning against.
God’s protection for us against all these attacks on the mind is the helmet of salvation.
God’s salvation must encompass what we think.
So the Helmet of Salvation is our protection against the enemy from his attacks of Distortion and Discouragment, but you might be thinking, how?
Well, Paul told us to take the helmet of salvation and that implies putting it on, so when we put on the helmet, two things occur
First,
The Helmet of Salvation is Our Transformation of Mind
The Helmet of Salvation is Our Transformation of Mind
this helmet is not speaking of soul salvation
Paul was talking to saved sinners
the helmet guards my mind so my soul and mind have the same want to
to many today have a saved soul, but their mind is headed to hell
Every saved believer is a partaker of the divine nature,
But according to Rom. 12:2 it is the renewed mind that takes a transformed soul and reminds it of who they are.
And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
the church at Corinth were saved,
But they were not living like Christ.
There souls were saved from hell but they had not put their helmet on and so they could not think right and so as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he
the way you think determines how you live.
You say that’s nice preacher but how do I keep things from getting into my mind?
Im glad you asked.
It starts at the eye level
It starts at the eye level
Mine eye affecteth mine heart because of all the daughters of my city.
Dont think you can watch whatever you want and just becasue you are saved, you are ok.
Your ear effects what you think
Your ear effects what you think
Cease, my son, to hear the instruction That causeth to err from the words of knowledge.
You think that music you listen to is not having an affect on your heart? You are a fool.
The more you hear something, the more you talk like and act like those you listen to.
How about
The influence of others
The influence of others
He that walketh with wise men shall be wise: But a companion of fools shall be destroyed.
I think we have a good account of all three of these in Gen.
The devil knows how to get to us, he got to Eve by three ways,
The lust of the eyes (she liked what she saw)
The lust of the ear (she liked what she heard)
The lust of the flesh (she wanted what she saw)
so she acted on it and gave to her husband and here we are today.
The helmet of salvation is our protection from these and it helps in our minds being renewed.
What are you putting into your mind?
You say that’s nice, but have you seen the world we live in? Its almost impossible to think right in this day and age.
You see that is the great thing about God’s Word.
He has even told us how we can think right.
Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty. Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. Receive us; we have wronged no man, we have corrupted no man, we have defrauded no man.
So that leads us to number two
The Helmet of Salvation is Our Biblical Separation From Sin
The Helmet of Salvation is Our Biblical Separation From Sin
God is serious when it comes to separation and those that are His are called to be Holy as He is Holy.
We were created for fellowship with Him
He wants us to walk with Him just like Adam and Eve did before the fall.
He wants your undivided attention and affection.
Even the smallest sin causes divison between you and God
But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, And your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.
No sin has ever been committed without temptation
Temptation always precedes sin.
Biblical separation protects you from temptations that would lead you to sin.
If it never enters your mind, you will never act on it
Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.
As long as your undivided attention is on God, temptation will have little chance of affecting you.
Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man:
But when you dont have your helmet of salvation on, you can easily be drawn away from Him.
But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.
The Helmet of Salvation is our Protection from the Enemy, our Transformation of Mind and our Separation to God.
When a Firefighter puts on his helmet, just like a soldier in the military, he is ready for battle.
*put on helmet*
This helmet, identifies a firefighter as a firefighter. some are yellow, some black, some blue, red or white. the colors all mean something. Its an identifier.
Our helmet of salvation is in reality an identifier that we are a true born again believer.
You wonder why you struggle so much with living the Christian life?
Maybe you need to stop leaving home without your helmet.
Maybe you have never been born again in the first place and that is why you cant seem to live right because you are still a child of the devil. wont you come today and repent and accept the greastest gift ever given to man kind?
Conclusion
Conclusion
Are you discouraged this morning?
Is your view of the truth distorted? You just dont know what to think?
Maybe you are here this morning and you say preacher, I have not been thinking like a saved man or woman, I have been allowing things into my mind that I shouldnt. Will you pray for me?
If that is you would you raise your hand so I can pray for you.
You say, preacher I have struggled with living a separated life. Pray that I start wearing the helmet of salvation.
1.David Martyn Lloyd-Jones, The Christian Soldier: An Exposition of Ephesians 6:10–20, (Edinburgh; Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth Trust, 1977), 313.
2.John Phillips, Exploring Ephesians & Philippians: An Expository Commentary, The John Phillips Commentary Series, (Kregel Publications; WORDsearch Corp., 2009), Eph 6:17a.