Soldier No.9 The Helmet of Salvation

Now let's go to Ephesians and chapter 6. Ephesians chapter 6 and join me as we read these verses that hardly need looking at because we've almost got them by heart. Verses which speak of the Christian soldier and the defenses which our Lord Jesus has granted to those who are following him as they engage in a holy conflict in a world that is hostile to what he had to establish. Read together from the 13th verse right through to and including verse 18 of Ephesians 6. Therefore put on the full armor of God so that when the day of evil comes you may be able to stand your ground and after you have done everything to stand.

Stand firm then with a belt of truth buckled around your waist with a breastplate of righteousness in place and with your feet fitted with a readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God and pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests.

With this in mind be alert and always keep on praying for all the same. Well then we come to this fifth piece of the Christians armor. The helmet of salvation.

Look at the 17th verse will you. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit. And remember the context is from the 16th verse.

In addition to all this take up, take up the shield of faith. Aye, but in addition to all the other pieces that Paul has made reference to previously take the helmet of salvation. So we continue in our theme.

There's bound to be an element of repetition just for a moment or two. Please forgive me for this but there are always people in our service who are newcomers or just passing through on holiday. We're going through this passage of scripture Sunday morning by Sunday morning verse by verse and sometimes word by word because it is to us so important to realize that as Christian people as we as we follow our Lord Jesus Christ we're up against incredible difficulties.

That's largely because as I indicated a moment or two ago the world in which we live is not in accord with, is opposed to many of the things that our Lord Jesus stands for. The Christian is called to a warfare. But he's not to be alarmed about this.

There are many advantages that he has as a Christian in being able to combat the difficulties that he encounters. And it's that that the Apostle has in mind when he spells out the nature of the Christian armor. And he tells us to take piece by piece and to put it on ourselves.

Now I want you to realize that this isn't something academic. It's not something just for preachers, for pastors, for theologians. This is so desperately needed for every one of us whether you're 70 or 17, whether you're 8 or 80.

You need this. The Apostle said take the helmet of salvation. It can't be done for you by anyone else.

You see let's do an immediate analogy which will help us to get into into focus straightaway the critical nature of what Paul is here speaking of. That piece of equipment that Dennis wasn't able to obtain this morning is what is necessary by law isn't it? If you go on a motorcycle. You hop onto a motorcycle and you go without a head covering you're a fool.

There's no other word to describe you. You're an idiot. Why? Well if the motorcycle crashes, if you lose your balance and fall off then you might damage your head.

That could be quite fatal or it could reduce you to the level of an imbecile. And it has been statistically proven that if you wear a crash helmet at least the chances of a fatal accident are reduced. Not completely eliminated but they become lower.

So in modern transport we could take this word of the Apostle Paul and use it in the 20th century context of a motorcycle. When you get on your bike take your helmet. Why? Because in your head you've got your brain.

You've got your thinking organs. What is vital to the support of life. Now the Apostle of course isn't speaking of a motorcyclist.

He may have a prophetic gift but there must have been limits as to the way that he foresaw the future. But what he has in his cell in Ephesus standing by him on duty, on guard duty, is the Roman soldier. And it's the Roman soldier who has become, you remember, the visual aid.

And so Paul is going through what is in front of him and giving a spiritual analogy for the Christian. For as the Roman soldier is defended by the equipment provided on behalf of the government, so the Christian is defended with the equipment provided by our Lord Jesus Christ. And it's the helmet of salvation to which we specifically make reference and amplify Paul's teaching this morning.

Well then let's go to it. What is this helmet? Let's talk first of all about its style and then what it signifies. Well the Roman helmet actually was not a fixed piece of equipment.

It was more like a cap with leather tongues hanging down. And if it was fixed at all it was only through a buckle but it wasn't akin to that of the dress plate, not akin to that of the belt or of the shoes. It's something that the Roman would put on his head just as the bugle sounded and the regiment was or the battalion was ready to go into a new skirmish, into a new conflict.

And on those leather tongues embellished would be pieces of metal, not just for ornamentation but to strengthen the helmet. And then crowning the top of the helmet there was a plume perhaps in different colors depending on the legion that you were serving under in Caesar's armies around the Roman Empire. Now why did the head have to be so protected? Because as I've mentioned in regard to the crash helmet the vulnerability of the contents of the skull.

In other words the helmet is an indication that the mind is a most important part of the body. And of course that that obtains with a Christian. You see it's not the literal helmet that you have to wear but the covering that the helmet signifies the protection of the mind.

That's what the Apostle has in front of him as he's dashing off these pieces of advice to the Christians in Ephesus. In addition to all this, these three other pieces, I and in addition to the shield that I've spoken about, take also the helmet of salvation. You see if I dare to suggest that I've got some insight after all these years of studying Paul, some insight into his thinking, I would risk a paraphrase at this point.

And I would be bold enough to say that this is what the Apostle was stressing. Take care about the way you think, about your attitude, about your, about your mental health. I think I've got reason to make that paraphrase on behalf of Paul for two reasons.

One is psychological and the other is biblical. Let's take the psychological one first. What is it that loses wars? You say lack of equipment, not necessarily.

In warfare, in medieval times, in Roman times, sometimes with the most miserly equipment, great battles have been won. What causes a skirmish and those who engage in it to be victorious is basically the attitude of the mind. Does the soldier believe that he can win? Does he feel that somehow or other he represents an invulnerable cause? Does he feel that his leader is a man of such integrity that he can risk his life in the battle if necessary? When you've got that sort of commitment and it's multiplied by a hundred, a group of centurions.

When it's multiplied by a thousand when you've got allegiance. You have got cracked troops who are able to cope even with the greatest of difficulty. Perhaps they've gone without food for a while, perhaps they've gone without water.

Maybe they've lost some of the equipment but if they've got spirit then they're okay. It's amazing what people can do with the great disadvantages of not being well furnished with equipment. Provided they've got the right mental outlook.

Take the example of William the Conqueror. Now you all know of William the Conqueror don't you? Well never mind. William the Conqueror on one occasion was thought by his men to be dead and a tremendous spirit of despondency fell over his troops.

William realized what had happened. This rumor was invalid but if the men thought that then their mental outlook could get very, very depressed indeed. And so he just literally launched his body on his horse and he charged in amongst his men and he cried, I'm alive, I'm alive.

And it put new heart into his men. You see it's your mental outlook which is vital if you're going to be a good soldier at the literal level and also at the spiritual level. Psychologically then I say, I have justification for so paraphrasing Paul.

Take the helmet of salvation, look at your mental outlook. What is your health like in that respect? But biblically of course, and that's the most important piece of evidence, let's go to 1 Thessalonians and chapter 5 because there tucked away in the eighth verse reference is made further to the helmet. I'll read the whole verse as you're finding it.

1 Thessalonians 5, 8. But since we belong to the day let us be self-control, putting on faith and love as a breastplate and the hope of salvation as a helmet. You see the point? The hope of salvation. What is this particular virtue that the helmet is standing for? It is a characteristic of hope.

It's the outlook, the optimism that the Christian is always to have as he makes his way through life. God in the Old Testament is referred to a God, as a God of hope. Jeremiah 14, 8. 1 Timothy 1, 1 says of the Lord Jesus Christ, Christ Jesus our hope.

One of the reasons I argue why the, why the epistle to the Hebrews was written was simply because Christian people who were being addressed in that letter were folk, Jewish though they be, who were in danger of losing their hope. They'd got the wrong attitude. They'd committed their lives to the Lord Jesus and many difficult things had happened.

And it looked as though they were not going to cope with the pressures that were coming in upon them. So the anonymous writer of the Hebrew epistle speaks to them about regaining their hope and speaks of the Lord Jesus Christ as someone in whom they can get an anchorage, as someone on whom they can build their lives. So that's what the helmet is.

It's style and what it signifies. But perhaps even more importantly for our purposes today, I want to speak about what it does. If that's what it is, what does it do? Wearing this helmet, having this right mental attitude to your Christian life, what benefit will it be for you? Well let me say this, first of all that it will identify you as a Christian.

It will identify you as a Christian. You see it's only the Christian who can really go through the world with a holy optimism. There is nothing more tragic, says the Apostle Paul, than the person who has got no faith in the Living God.

Why not? Well look at Ephesians chapter 2 and verse 12. How does he describe the unbeliever? He does so by reminding the Ephesians of the time when they were not Christians. Remember he says, that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel, and foreigners to the covenant of the promise, without hope and without God in the world.

You see the man who is not a Christian has got really very little to hold on to. Great difficulties come into his life and on his deathbed particularly he's, he has problems that are so enormous he can't cope with them. He'll clutch on to the last straw.

He knows full well as the analogy obviously reveals the, reveals the point that a straw will not hold up a man who is drowning, but he'll hang on to anything. But he doesn't have a hope. Not a hope like you have, not a hope like I have.

Listen to Dr. Marrett who used to be the head of an Oxford College, a great rationalist and towards the end of his life he tragically writes in his biography, to me the war brought to a sudden end the long summer of my life. Henceforth I have nothing to look forward to but chill autumn and still chillier winter and yet I must somehow try not to lose heart. Not tragic? I must try not to lose heart.

No hope. Without Christ you're hopeless. Without God then it follows you are without hope in the world.

So the corollary of that if you put it round the other way, how do you identify the Christian? Well he's a hopeful person. The Christian is essentially an optimist. Look at the Apostle Paul as he's writing to the Romans.

Let's go to Romans chapter 4 shall we? Because there he has some marvelous language to use when he's, he's telling us about, about hope. He outlines Abraham. Abraham has a problem, he's an old man, he's not going to father a child, not at his age and Sarah is equally elderly.

But God has spoken that they shall have a son. So what does Abraham do? Verse 18 Romans 4 tells you against all hope Abraham in hope believed. He believed against what seems to be evidence to the contrary.

He has a full hope that carries him through into believing that God is able to perform in the future what seems impossible in the present. Do you? Do you go through life as a hopeful person? I trust you do. I hope there's something written on your very countenance that indicates your hope, identifies the Christian.

Hope, what else does it do? Well it penetrates the future. Look at Acts or rather Romans chapter 8 and verse 24. Here is the Apostle distinguishing between faith and hope.

And he says in verse 24, for in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what is already, what he already has.

What does he mean by that? Well if you can see something, like I've got a hymn book in front of me or a chorus book. I don't really need to hope that I have this book, it's here. But let's say that I don't have it.

And I mentioned to Ian Lamb that I want it. So he orders it. And I hope one day I will get it.

I now have it here. Because the illustrations just fallen apart. But if I had not got that chorus book and I ordered it, then I would live in hope.

You see faith deals with the present. Faith tells you what Christ is going to do for you now. That's marvelous.

Hope tells you what Christ is going to do for you in the future. Both faith and hope that they're drawn from the same tap. They come from the same source.

But hope it penetrates the future. And this is what the Apostle is saying about the Christian. Have the helmet of hope.

And when you look into the future believe that God is able to do more than you could ever imagine. And because of that it produces stamina. What is stamina? Well stamina is strength under difficulty isn't it? Do you ever feel a little bit depressed? You don't? You're lucky.

Many many spiritual people have known what it is to be depressed. Well what do you do when you're depressed? You start to talk to yourself. Because that's the essence of wisdom.

Here is the psalmist for instance Psalm 42. And he's really in great difficulty. Many problems have broken out in his in his career.

And he's just about ready to throw in the towel. And so he takes himself to task. And what does he say? Well verse 5 of Psalm 42 will tell you.

Why are you cast down oh my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God. Hope still in God I think the authorized version puts it. For I will yet praise him my Savior and my God.

You'll get exactly the same comment in verse 11. Why are you down oh my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God. You see if you're wearing the helmet.

Because this is what the psalmist is now putting on. Then he's able to move into the future. Believing that God will somehow or other adjust his circumstances to make them palatable.

Let's go to Corinthians, 2nd Corinthians shall we in chapter 2. Because or chapter 4. Because here the Apostle Paul lists a catalog of difficulties through which he's going. Paul has great problems in his life. You can't be an apostle and not know in the Roman world.

Hardships that are intolerable. He tells of them in the 8th verse. We're hard pressed on every side but not crushed.

We're persecuted but not in despair. Persecuted but not abandoned. Struck down but not destroyed.

We always carry about in our body the death of Jesus. Now that's an amazing statement. Paul's difficulties are such that he can illustrate them by crucifixion.

Now don't you think that that would make you feel pretty miserable? So what do you do in that sort of circumstance? Well you must put on the helmet of hope. Verse 16, therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away.

Why? Because inwardly we're being renewed day by day. You see he's reasoning it through. It's exactly the same situation as the psalm that I've just made reference to.

And now when he starts to think about what's in the future then the present becomes acceptable for our light and momentary troubles. He's just been talking about troubles that are so bad that crucifixion is used to illustrate them. But now when he's thinking about what's around the corner these are so diminished he calls them our light and momentary affliction.

It causes for us an eternal glory that outweights them all. So we fix our eyes not on the things that are seen but on the things that are unseen. Here is a man basking in hope.

He's gone to Christ and he's found his precious promises and the things of the present are made palatable by what he believes is in store in the future. This is what hope does, the helmet of hope. It produces stamina.

It sanctifies pride. Pride is generally a characteristic that is not applauded in the New Testament. Where is boasting then, says the Apostle, thinking about human achievement? It's excluded.

But there are certain things in which you can boast. Christ in you, he writes to the Colossians, the hope of glory. Now why can you have pride as a Christian? Well you have pride, you have pride in your helmet.

You have pride in what the Lord Jesus has done for you. What is the feature of a hopeless person? Shame. You ever seen someone who's depressed? You watch them walking down Chapel Road.

You'll often see people depressed on Chapel Road. Don't know why but it's true. And they walk with their head down.

You know they'll walk past people that they'll be looking at the flagstones to the pavements and they're not particularly nice to look at. Why is their head down? Well probably for two reasons if you analyze them psychologically. One is shame and the other is fear.

I mean don't you hang your head in shame? That's a almost a figure of speech isn't it? You hang your head in shame because well you feel embarrassed about the things that you have done. That's a hopeless person. And then fear about what's just around the corner.

Shame multiplied by fear equals hopelessness. All right let's let's take that afresh and put it alongside the Christian. Who is the Christian? Well a Christian is someone who's had his sins forgiven.

There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. You used to be a sinner under the guilt of your sin and and afraid of what was just around the corner. But because the Lord Jesus has come into your life he's he's lifted the guilt from you.

So the shame has been eliminated and there's now no shame nor is there fear of man or the devil or a cringing fear of God. We still fear God as Christians but it's a fear of awe and of wonder. It's not the terror that you'd have if you were being encountered by a lion and he was just about to pounce.

You see as a Christian person the two things that make for hopelessness have been eliminated by the gospel. The shame has gone. The fear has been eliminated.

Are you afraid about events in our world today? You shouldn't be. Do you drop your head down as though you're depressed? Well I say you shouldn't. Why not? Well let's take an example from the teaching of our Lord.

A precious example. One of the most wonderful ones in the book. Here is our Savior.

Turn to Luke will you? Verse chapter 21. While you're discovering it I'll paint out the context. Here is our Savior and it's the same sermon that he's preaching from which I ministered last Sunday evening although I gave you the rendering from Mark's gospel.

Now our Lord is speaking to his disciples about various turbulent things that will happen at the fall of Jerusalem and the end of the world. And as he spells out these dreadful things he also begins to anticipate the psychological state of men and women in these days. Look at verse 26 of Luke 21.

Men will faint from terror apprehensiveness of apprehensiveness of what is coming on the world for the heavenly bodies will be shaken. At that time they will see the Son of Man coming in the cloud with power and great glory. Now what are Christians to do at such a point in time as that? Well verse 28.

When these things begin to take place stand up and lift up your head. You've got the helmet on. Lift up your head.

Why? Well your redemption draws nigh. Oh yes you're saved at the moment and you were saved in the past but there's a future consummation of that redemption that is yours. Jesus Christ is coming back again and therefore the Christian when all around are losing their heads can hang on to his and lift it up high.

Why? Well you see he's wearing the helmet of hope and he's proudly following the ranks of his great commander even Jesus Christ. So this is what wearing the helmet does. You see how practical it is.

It identifies who is the Christian. He's a hopeful person. It stimulates the Christian so that when he's depressed he can come to the Word of God and apply the Word of God to his situation.

It sanctifies pride he can boast in the fact that he is a follower of the Lord Jesus. Well then let's close down by putting up one more question. If that's what the helmet is and those are its advantages.

When is it to be worn? When you should wear? When should you wear this helmet? Well I answer twofold. First of all you wear it when the battle is tough. Now I want to remind you that Jesus wore this armor.

You see it's his war that you're engaging in isn't it? I mean the world of flesh and the devil they were they were railed against the Lord Jesus. It's the abuse and the scorn and the rejection that he felt that he prophesied would also be experienced by his disciples. And indeed this whole teaching on the Christian armor indicates that it is nothing less than the Lord's armor.

It's the armor of God that we are to put on. Our Lord Jesus has worn the helmet of salvation. So let's move to Hebrews 12 and what do you discover there in the second verse? References made to the Savior.

Let us, verse 2, a verse which Ron Whalen preached on earlier this morning. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. How was he able to endure the cross? Well because of the hope that was before him.

He was wearing the helmet. They took a lot from Jesus but one thing they could not knock off was the helmet. Here he is at the cross.

The most painful experience that any man can go through. The Romans have robbed him of his garment. The Jews have tried to rob him of his reputation.

They've called him a drunkard. They've called him a blasphemer. Every piece of hostile abuse that they can hurl up they've thrown it at the cross just like someone shying at a coconut.

And they try to knock the hope but they can't do it because he stands there with a helmet of salvation still on him. There he is in the moment of intense agony after the passion has reached its height and at the back of his mind there is that scripture, thou wilt not leave my soul in hell nor wilt thou suffer thy holy one to see corruption. When Peter refers to the death of Jesus in Acts 2 the first sermon that the fishermen preached he talked about the hope that our Lord Jesus had in his dying moments.

When is this helmet to be worn? I say when the battle is tough my friend. Then let your soul rest in hell and possibly possibly for most of us we shall have to wear it all our lives. All our lives.

You see if you've got my psychological condition then first of all I sympathize with you and secondly I hasten to say that the only thing that can help me is wearing that helmet all the time. Those of you who sometimes fly by plane but you can't really fly by anything else can you? Those of you who sometimes go on an airplane you will remember that over the tannoy system comes the voice of the stewardess from time to time after there's been some turbulence and you've had your seatbelt tightened she'll say loosen it if you like but we advise our passengers to keep it locked round them. Loose but comfortable.

Always there. Always available. Why? Well in case of some turbulence that suddenly crops up and the plane starts to judder and there's a little bit of shaking have that have that belt just just just loosely around you.

So I argue my friend this helmet of salvation which speaks of hope it's not something that the majority of us maybe some can but certainly not if you're in my spiritual dimension it's not the sort of thing that you can put down. You'll always need to wear your helmet. The helmet of hope.

Hope in the coming of the Lord Jesus which purifies the soul because it makes you live a life of holiness the like of which otherwise you wouldn't. A hope that frees you from shame as you recognize what Jesus has done and keeps you from wanting to to sin. All your life you need to wear this helmet.

The Apostle Peter says in the authorized version of 1 Peter 1 13 hope to the end that's it. You see you'll never be done with needing to wear the helmet this side of eternity. When do you take it off? Well when you exchange it for a crown in heaven.

You see there's no fighting in heaven you're through. You're not in the territory that's under contest that the devil is warring for. Heaven which you enter on death or when the Lord Jesus comes takes you into a state where there's there's no more hostility there's no more conflict.

That's why we talked about resting in the Lord and the Saints who've died they've gone to their rest. You don't have rest here not really. Now and again physical rest now and again your mind is at peace but but but but but unadulterated pure rest you'll never have my friend this side of heaven.

But when you're there in his presence you can take your breastplate off. You can take your helmet off. You can unbuckle your belt.

You can ease the shoes off your feet. There's no war you see. You're in his presence.

There's fullness of joy. There's life forevermore. It's there.

It's awaiting you. All that Jesus bled and died to achieve. It's just around the corner.

But until you get there the helmet you'll need it. Because it's the helmet of hope. And you need to live in the present with the hope that faith will fetch from the future.

To carry you through until ultimately you're in his presence. Let's pray. My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus blood and righteousness.

On Christ the solid rock I stand. All other ground is sinking sand. We have an anchor that keeps the soul steadfast and sure while the sea billows roll.

We have one who's given us a hope that is steadfast and certain. He's gone through the curtain and it's touching the throne. This is the nature of our hope my friend.

If you're a Christian and if you're not, hope in God now. Turn to him. Say Lord God forgive my sins.

Break into my heart. Give me something worth living for. Something worth dying for.

Cover my head. Garrison my mind. Discipline my wandering thoughts.

Staunch my lusts. Enable me Lord to come under the blessings that only wearing that helmet will bring. Lord God crown me with it now.

Buckle it around my neck. Let it never topple off. Never over balance.

Keep it fixed by your grace until the moment when it can be removed and exchanged for a crown in your presence. Father grant these things and many more in the name of Jesus our Lord. Amen.

Before we sing our last hymn listen to this quote I meant to give it to you. Take from a man's wealth and you hinder him. Take from him his purpose and you slow him down.

But take from man his hope and you stop him. He can go on without wealth and even without purpose for a while. But he cannot go on without hope.

513 spells out for us in majestic terminology the hope that garrisoned and kept the Church of Christ going down the centuries and on into the 1980s. The church's one foundation is Jesus Christ her Lord. 513.

Father God keep every Christian soldier with a helmet of hope fully in place. Bless the persecuted Church and lands to which reference has been made. And bless hard-foot slugging soldiers in the tab for finding it difficult at this moment and grant them a resurgence of hope by the ministry of the word and through the empowering of the Spirit.

For Jesus' sake. Amen.