The Believer's Armor, Part 6:
The Helmet of Salvation, Part 2
Ephesians 6:17
This morning again we have the privilege of coming to the 6th chapter of Ephesians, Ephesians chapter 6 and we're continuing to study the armor of the Christian. I'm sure you're aware by nowthat we haven't hurried a lot through this, and the reason is because it's so packed with great and wonderful truth for us and we count it a tremendous privilege given us by the Lord to have the opportunity to share it with you, since it may be a long time until we'll get back to Ephesians 6 again if ever in the Lord's timing we wanted to do it as thoroughly as possible.
We're looking at Ephesians 6 verses 13 through 17 and as we wrap up the Book of Ephesians we're examining the warfare of the believer and the resources that he has for victory. By way of introduction this morning I want to respond to a question that arises always when you get into discussion like we've been in the last few weeks. We have been discussing quite at length the subject of commitment, we've been discussing the dedication, the commitment, the sort of selling out of ourselves to obedience to fulfill God's will in our lives, we've talked about the matter of disciplining ourselves, controlling our desires, coming into conformity and in line with the standards of Christ. We've talked about really being a soldier, a warrior and giving our best effort for His sake.
Now this immediately introduces to us another perspective that is often held regarding this area of Christian living. There are some people who believe that all of this exercise and all of this discipline and all of this struggle and all of this effort is really not what God is after at all. And since that question is posed I felt like for a moment or two this morning I ought to answer it. There's a statement in the Old Testament made in reference to King Jehoshaphat that says, "The battle is not yours, it is the Lord's."
Now that statement has become a by-word for a group of people who have been called Quietists. It is the movement that basically says the way to live the Christian life is not through self-discipline and through effort and through commitment but rather through surrender. And you may have been exposed in your youth or in some other time or through reading or whatever to this concept of let go and let God.
There is currently a television program on a Christian station called, Let Go And Let God, there is a song called, Let Go And Let God Have His Wonderful Way. Ah, we hear a lot about the subject of yielding of resting of abiding in Christ, of handing it all over to the Lord. I know there's a contemporary song that says, Turn It All Over To Jesus. And you hear people say, stop struggling and stop striving and yield and surrender, totally surrender, completely surrender. And I remember as a young person hearing this quite a lot I remember going to camps and conferences and in the particular college I attended there were constant calls to come to the altar and, and students were like yo-yos, going up and down, up and down ah, trying to get surrendered. In fact we found that there were a lot of us who were willing to be willing to be willing to surrender, we just weren't sure how. And it would seem like you'd just get to the point where the tears would begin to flow, you'd hit your knees at the altar and you'd surrender, three days later you'd sin and then you'd say, well I surrendered Lord, whose fault is this? And so it became very difficult.
Ah, the people who have advocated this viewpoint, use an illustration, they say there's a dark room it's...there's no light in the room, it's pitch black and there's a person in there fumbling around, kicking the chairs and tripping over the lamps and, and all of this kind of thing trying to, trying to do what he's doing and the reason it's dark in there is because it has those blinds that completely darken the room and they're pulled down and outside is complete sunlight and the sun is shining brightly but the guy is stumbling all over the place in a dark room, when all he needs to do is lift the blinds and the sunlight automatically floods the room and he can see where he's going and they say this is how it is in living the Christian life, the Lord doesn't want you stumbling and fumbling and bumbling all over the place in the dark, just pull the shade, sit down and rest and everything will be made clear. There are people who take John 15, the concept of abiding in Christ, not to refer to that act of being saved but the idea of surrendering, the idea of yielding. You perhaps when you were a kid went to a camp service and you heard somebody speak, maybe they exhorted people to surrender to Jesus and give their all to the Lord, full surrender, and you sang songs about it and they got emotional and they went on verse after verse.
I remember being in a convention with two thousand people where they sang at least 25 verses of a hymn talking about people getting surrendered. Now you've had that experience, I've hadit. I've gone to a camp and ah, I saw a kid who was so frustrated by the end of the week we heard so many messages on surrender and this poor guy was so totally frustrated trying to figure out how to surrender he decided that the best way was to surrender his time to the Lord, and so he ... they used to throw astick in the fire the, the emblem of a surrendered life, and he got up there and he said, I want to give the Lord my time and he took his watch off and threw it in the fire, and you could just see the frustration, you know that isn't ... that's not smart that's bad stewardship to throw your watch in the fire, that isn't what you do to surrender. But he was at the point where he was frustrated, he'd heard about dedication, rededication, consecration, reconsecration and he was working awful hard at it. It's amazing how much; misunderstanding there is about those terms, I remember when we were over in the family center and...before we had this auditorium, the choir was singing and I had stepped to the back because somebody wanted me to listen to a new microphone system or something and I was standing by the back door and just during the choir's song ah, a lady came in the door with a dog on a leash, which doesn't happen too often we don't really have a rule about that because it's rather uncommon. But the usher just stood there and I saw this happening and the dog I admit was properly dressed, had a sweater and a rhinestone collar on, but ... and a, and a little fancy leash and came in the door, and I just thought I'd stand there and watch and see how the usher handled the situation.
Well it was obvious from the beginning that the, that the woman didn't you know have everything going for her, you know there were a few things missing that were rather vital, but anyway she came in the dog on the leash and the usher just did a double take, you know, and looked at her and, and finally walked over and said, ah, you can't come ... you can't bring your dog in, lady. To which she very gingerly replied, it's all right sir, it's perfectly all right we're going to the prayer room because he's just rededicated his life. And of course my smile turned to a gasp, and of course as a, as a former Baptist, you know I was raised in a Baptist Church, my first reaction was how do you know the dog was ever saved to begin with, you know? But anyway... right, anywaythe point is ... I mean the lady obviously, you know, didn't have everything going for her but the point is, here's a word, rededicate that has no more meaning to that woman than something you do with your dog. Taking your dog to the prayer room, I don't know how she got that in your ... in her mind but, but that's a rather bizarre illustration of the misconception of a term. Now maybe you're like some people that I know who went up and down aisles all their childhood years and in their youth trying to get surrendered.
Now that's not uncommon, not uncommon at all. In fact ah, there used to be an old hymn that went something like this, Holiness by faith in Jesus not by effort of my own. Let go and let God means just kind of cool whatever you're doing, sort of flake out, do nothing. C.H.A. Trumbull who used to defend this system said, that when you are fully surrendered, get this, you'll never even experience temptation because it will be defeated by Christ before it has time to draw you into a fight.
Now if that's true then how do you ever ... when you sin whose fault is it, it must be Christ's fault, which is kind of scary to think about, because that would not be true. Surrender is perhaps aptly illustrated in a book called, The Christian's Secret Of A Happy Life written by Hannah Smith. In that book she says this, "What can be said about man's part in this great work but that he must continually surrender himself and continually trust. But when we come to God's side of the question what is there that may not be said as to the manifold and wonderful ways in which He accomplishes the work entrusted to Him? It is here that the growing comes in." In other words what she's saying is if you want to grow spiritually, do nothing, but surrender and let Him do it all. She illustrates it, "The lump of clay could never grow to a beautiful vessel if it stayed in the clay pit for thousands of years, but when it's put into the hands of a skillful potter it grows rapidly under his fashioning into the vessel he intends it to be. And in the same way the soul abandoned to the working of the heavenly Potter is made into a vessel unto honorsanctified and meat for the Masters use."
Now it all sounds good but if you're nothing but a piece of clay in a potter's hand and he's making you into what he wants you to be, how in the world do you get out of there to sin? Does the clay all of a sudden say, look I'm finished with this deal, hop out of the potter's hand, form itself into what it - it wants to be and, and do its own thing? It's a little hard on the illustration frankly. One moment Hannah Smith has the Christian a piece of soft clay and the next moment the clay has jumped out of the potter's hand and is doing whatever it wants, some clay. But the point is this; there must be more to the Christian life than just a do nothing approach. The Bible never teaches this approach, the Bible doesn't simply teach that all you have to do at some point in your life is surrender; the Bible doesn't teach that at all. There are many, many Christians who have tried and tried and tried and tried ... I'll never forget the illustration of a guy who said to me, he was in a church where they were calling for people to do this and do this and do this, and he came forward down the aisle and he knelt at the front of the aisle and he started to pray and pray for surrender and pray for surrender and pray for surrender, and the pastor watched him going through all this gyrations and finally said to him, pray it through brother, pray it through, pray it through. And everyone in the audience, folks, let's uphold him so he can pray it through. And finally the fella stood up and turned around and said out loud, hell, I can't get through, and walked right out the back door.
Now that's a lot of frustration. I don't know what they were trying to get him through. But that's the kind of a frustration that comes when you try to surrender and you don't understand there's some other things involved. Now I agree that we must depend upon the resource of God, I agree that we must depend upon God's energy and God's power and God's strength. But it is unbiblical to think that all we do is just sit there. And so some people maybehave had a problem with the emphasis I've been making on commitment, on self-discipline in the Christian life, on subjecting your flesh to the strength of God. But you shouldn't because that's what the Bible teaches.
For example verse 10, let's go back to our text, see if you find the word surrender here. You're in a battle with the enemy, "Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against wicked spirits in high places. Wherefore, take unto you the whole armor of God, they ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand, therefore, having your loins girded about with truthfulness, having on the breastplate of righteousness, And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; Above all, taking the shield of faith, with which ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God."
Now you don't read anything in there about surrender, what you read about there is discipline, what you read about there is commitment. That's the idea. The Christian life is a war. And if you were to go to Hebrews chapter 12 you'd find the Christian life is a race, and if you were to go to First Corinthians 9 you'd find that the Christian life is a fight. "We must be" says Titus 3:8 "careful to apply ourselves to good deeds." James 4 and First Peter 5, "We must resist the devil." First Corinthians chapter 9, "We must beat our body to bring it into subjection. Ephesians chapter 5, "We must look carefully how we walk." Philippians chapter 3, "We must press on to the mark of the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus." Second Corinthians 7:1, "We must cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh, perfecting holiness in the fear of God."
Now listen, it is way too simplistic to say that all that is needed in the Christian life is some kind of, of belly flop, to just kind of fall over in a dead faint and say, all right God, You do it. That is way too simplistic. On the one hand that's what the Quietists we e saying. They were countered by a group called the Pioutists who were the legalists saying you've got to do it all in the flesh. And the balance is in the middle, yes we depend on the strength of God, yes we rest in His power, yes we, yes we abide in the vine, yes we count on the divine resource, yes "it is not I but Christ." But on the other hand there must be brought to bear in the Christian life a tremendous level of commitment, a tremendous level of self-control, and self-discipline, there must be in the Christian life a dedication of our lives on a day to day basis to fight Satan with all the energy we have. It's way too simple to just say surrender and that's it.
Let me show you the balance by having you look with me at Second Peter chapter 1, in Second Peter chapter 1 and verse 3 we read this, "According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who hathcalled us to glory and virtue." Now listen, God has called us to glory and virtue. And in order to equip us for that His divine power has given us all things pertaining to life and godliness. Listen, as a Christian you do not lack any needed resource, you have all things that pertain to life and godliness. Where did you get it? Through the knowledge of Him, when you came to know Him in salvation God gave you everything you need. So divine resource is there, He calls it divine power in verse 3, we have divine power, we have that available.
Now through that divine power verse 4 says, "We are given exceedingly great and precious promises." Tremendous promises, tremendous power, and then we become partakers; we have power, promise and a partaking of the very divine nature itself. Now this is God's part, God says, here's My power, here's My promises, partake of My very nature. Tremendous, magnanimous resource for living the Christian life. Do we just say, oh amen, and now I'm just going to surrender to that? I'm going to let go and let God, turn it all over to Jesus, do nothing? No, because you come to verse 5 immediately, and verse 5 says, "And beside this," beside this, "you give all diligence," get at it man, get with it, be diligent, be disciplined, "to add to your God given faith virtue; and to virtue, knowledge; And to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, patience; and to patience, godliness; And to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love."
In other words you get on the job. And beloved it is not as simple as walking an aisle and making an act of surrender, that is part of it in your life, there must be a, a commitment to the Lordship of Christ, there must be an acknowledging of His power and resource in your life, but it doesn't end there it begins there. In Romans 6 there is a yielding of yourselves, yes, there is a yielding of yourselves in Romans 6. But there is also a mortifying or a killing of the deeds of the flesh, So it isn't all as simple as that and that's why we make no hesitation for proclaiming the truths of Ephesians 6. There's a balance. Go back if you will for a moment to Philippians chapter 2 and you'll see the balance again.
In Philippians chapter 2 verse 12, "Wherefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling." And the word obey is the key word in the verse, you work out your salvation in a life of obedience. For verse 13 say, "It is God who works in you to will and to do of his good pleasure." You have God working in you His will and you work it out in your obedience. That's the idea. God works in you with His will, you work it out by obedience, there's the balance. God is at work and you're at work.
Look at Colossians chapter 1 verse 29, maybe the most definitive verse of all, Colossians 1:29 beautifully shows this perfect balance, "For this I also labor," Paul says, I work hard, "striving according to his working, which works in me mightily." Do you see? I work and God works. That's why I say it's far too simplistic to just be banging the drum for the concept of surrender, there mustbe a commitment in my life to self-discipline, diligent obedience. In fact you see if you take the view that it's all just let go and let God, what are you going to do with all of the New Testament exhortations, what do they mean then? If it's all the Lord then they should have been directed at Him not me. No, no. There is a balance between a yieldedness to the Lordship of Christ and a, a total discipline and commitment in my own life to follow through in obedience.
Now in Second Corinthians just one other word to show you, chapter 6 verse 4, "But in all things commending ourselves as the ministers of God," we all ... all we want to do is to commend ourselves or demonstrate that we are God's ministers, we want the world to know, "in much patience, in affliction, necessities, distresses, imprisonments, stripes, tumults, labors, watchings, fastings; By pureness, by knowledge, by long-suffering, by kindness, by the Holy Spirit, by love unfeigned, By the word of truth, by the power of God, by the armor of righteousness on the right hand and on the left."
Now do you notice something wonderful about this? There's a phenomenal blending of things, patience, that's personal attitude, affliction, necessity, distress, stripes, imprisonments, tumults, labor, hard work, watching, fasting, pureness, knowledge, long-suffering, kindness. Those are all the things that I must produce in my life, I must see those things. And what's the source? "By the Holy Spirit, by divine love unfeigned, By the word of the truth," which is the Bible, and "by the power of God, and by the armor of righteousness." Those are all the things God gives us, a perfect blending of the two. And so we depend on God and give our all, that's the idea.
Now let's come back to Ephesians 6, with that in mind. What I'm trying to say beloved is that Ephesians 6 doesn't contradict the Bible anywhere else. And the people who have perhaps taught you in your background that all you needed to do is surrender missed the point, there's far more to this Christian life than that. You know they used to actually say that the only way to grow in your Christian life is through this total surrender where you just flop back and do nothing, where the Bible says that you grow by acting in an obedient fashion, in a self-disciplined commitment to Jesus Christ that is a matter of everyday effort. You don't grow by no effort you grow by maximum effort.
Now let's look at the armor again, and so we're not hesitant now to put it on, I hope that's clarified that issue. We are in a battle, and the battle to be won demands our greatest output and our greatest effort and so we must first have the belt of truthfulness and then the breastplate of righteousness and then the shoes of the gospel of peace and then the shield of faith, and then in verse 17 we must "take the helmet of salvation." And that's where we stopped last time.
What does it mean, what is the helmet of salvation? We told you last time it doesn't mean getting saved, listen you wouldn't have the, the ah, belt of truth and you wouldn't have the breastplate of righteousness and you wouldn't have the shoes of the gospel of peace and you wouldn't have the shield of faith if you weren't saved. I heard a guy speaking on this on television this week and he said the helmet of salvation means getting saved. It does not mean getting saved. You don't get saved fifth, you get saved first. And as I said last week we were saved in chapter 2, this is chapter 6. We've been saved for four chapters. The helmet of salvation is something other than just the simple act of saving grace. We're already in the army that assumes that we'resaved. What is it? I told you that salvation has three dimensions past, present, future; now listen to me, that is the only definition of salvation that the Bible understands. There is no other kind of salvation than a three dimensional salvation, past, present, future. The Bible knows nothing of a salvation only valid in the past, the Bible knows nothing of a salvation only valid in the present, the Bible knows nothing of a salvation for which you have to wait to find out if you get it in the future. The Bible only knows a three dimensional salvation, past, present, future. We have been saved, are being saved and will be saved. The past, justification which results in sanctification and promises glorification. Salvation is only seen Biblically in those three terms, all gathered into one. The past, we're saved from the penalty of sin, the present we're saved from the power of sin, in the future we will be saved from the presence of sin. And so you must see salvation in those three dimensions.
Now the dimension of it to which Paul specifically alludes here is the future. The helmet of salvation is not something dealing with the past, it's not something even dealing with the present in a sense, it is something dealing with the future. And this is what he is saying, you can be sure of your salvation in the future and that becomes a protection against the broad sword that Satan wields.
Now I told you last time that he has a big broad sword, a rhomphaia, the Greek word, and it has two edges, one edge is discouragement and the - other edge is doubt. And Satan wants to clobber you with discouragement and doubt and the protection you have is the helmet of salvation. When you get discouraged remember there's coming a great glorious day, when you get discouraged remember there's coming a victory celebration, when you get discouraged and you want to be weary in well doing remember you reap if you faint not, remember that someday there's going to be a reward, someday there's going to be a crowning day, someday Jesus is going to face you and say, "Well done good and faithful servant," remember that day is coming and when Satan wants to belt you with discouragement because the battle gets wearying, because you get tired, because the struggle is endless, remember there's coming a victory day. There is a finish line, there is a final gun, the clock will run out and we'll stand face to face with Jesus Christ in that glorious moment.
And so it is then that the helmet of salvation, confidence in the future, as Paul calls it in First Thessalonians 5, "The helmet of the hope of salvation." But the helmet in the future gives us strength to go on in the present, it gives us strength to go on in the present even when things get tough. There is a finish line, there is a glorious reward, there is an end in view, there is coming a coronation day, there is going to be that time when we leave this veil of tears and enter into the presence of Jesus Christ, and our flesh falls aside and no more sin and no more struggle and no more warfare and no more battle and we'll live in a glorious new universe, it's coming! And it's going to be fully enjoyed on the basis of the fullness of commitment now. So he is saying, when Satan wants to hit you with discouragement in the battle realize there's coming a victory day and don't bail out. "Having done all, stand."
And I tried to share with you last week that if there was no future element to salvation the other two parts would be meaningless. If I was saved and am being saved but there's no future, why should I keep doing this, why should I fight so hard if there's no future, if there's no hope of a fullness and a final element of salvation, why all this effort?
Let me illustrate that to you in First Corinthians 15:32 andthis is veryapt from the experience of Paul, and Paul says in this verse First Corinthians 15:32, "If, after the manner of men," or in a strictly human way, "I have fought with beasts at Ephesus, what does it profit me, if the dead rise not? Let us eat and drink; for tomorrow we die."
Listen folks, if there's no future in this forget it, if I have to go into Ephesus and it gets so bad there and the persecution is so severe that I have to fight with wild beasts, what is it going to profit me if there's no resurrection? What kind of a salvation is it that goes no where? Do you think I'm going to lay my life on the line for a bunch of wild animals, do you think I'm going to confront a bunch of hostile pagans with Christ's Gospel if there's no resurrection, if there's no future element of salvation? I would give up right now, throw in the towel, throw down the gauntlet walk away and say it's over. That's the idea. He is saying what kind of a salvation would there be that didn't have a future, it would have absolutely no power to cause me to fight the battle today. Look at Second Corinthians chapter 4, Second Corinthians chapter 4 verse 6, "God commanded the light to shine out of darkness, has shone in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ."
Now what that verse means is that God has made us the lights of the world, God has put Christ in our hearts to radiate Him to the world. And therefore verse 7 says, "We have this treasure," What is the treasure? It's the light of God, the light of Christ in our lives, "we have it in these earthen vessels," these bodies, "and the excellency of the power is of God, not us." We have divine power in the indwelling Christ. And what happens? All right we take Christ to the world, we've got the power and the light is there we move out, and what are the results? Verse 8, "We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, not in despair; We are persecuted, but not forsaken; we are cast down, but not destroyed; We are always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus." Look at verse 11, "We who live are always delivered unto death for Jesus' sake."
Now look at that, he says here's how it is to minister for Christ, great career to go into, right? Everywhere we go, distress, persecution, cast down, bearing in our body the dying of the Lord, always on the edge of death, somebody always wanting to take our lives, this is how we live day in day out day in day out confronting a godless hostile world. You might say, well, why do you bother Paul? Why do you bother? Verse 14, tells you why he bothers. "Knowing that he who raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus."
Now listen, the thing that sustained Paul in the level of commitment that he had was that someday he would be raised to glory with Christ, do you see? So that the future dimension of salvation becomes a powerful force in the living of life right now. Hey you know I'm going to stand face to face with Jesus Christ someday, I'm going to stand face to face with the record of what I've done to serve Him, and I love Him enough and I have enough desire to know the fullness of eternal life in all that it can give to want to give everything I can give as long as God gives me breath in this little tiny veil of tears, this little life that only is a vapor that appears for a little time and vanishes away, I want to maximize these few short years so that I can experience the fullness of glorification in eternity with Christ forever. And the reason I don't want to grow weary in well doing is because I know that I'll reap a glorious reward if I faint not here. That's the helmet of salvation.
So when Satan comes against me and wants to discourage me and tells me why don't you quit preaching for awhile and rest, why don't you take some time off, aw, don't give them so much study, you know, just think up a few things, tell a funny story, they'll never know the difference and just have an easy time of it. Then I don't ... I get sometimes distressed with the things that I even work hard at and Satan says, aw, it's very discouraging in the ministry, people don't appreciate you, you know, the church isn't the way you want it to be or it's not doing the things you want it to do aw, you know just give up on it. And you hang in there because you know that coronation day is coming, you know that day of accountability is coming, you know that day when you're going to be like Jesus Christ and you want to maximize all that that can be for all eternity. And that's what moved Paul on, that's what ought to move us. He said, "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith;" Why Paul? Because, "Henceforth is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give to me; and not to me only, but to all them that love his appearing." I do it because I know what's coming. And so when Satan comes with the sword of discouragement and the edge of discouragement against our, our lives we hold fast and we are protected by the confidence that the salvation God promised will come to pass.
There's a second thing, and that is that Satan has another edge on his sword. It isn't discouragement it's doubt. And maybe doubt is the ultimate discouragement. Do you know that Satan wants you to doubt your salvation? Oh he is really good at that. Most people suffer from that at some point in their Christian life, early on.
Now you'll grow in the Lord and get to the place where you perhaps don't, although none of us is totally invulnerable to Satan's temptations along that line. But Satan wants to come just after you've done somethingthat's sinful, and say, you're not, you're not a Christian, you couldn't be a Christian. Why would the Lord ever save you? You'll never make it, you're not good enough, you don't deserve to be saved, how do you know you meant it when you did it? Better try it again, see if it works any better. Satan really comes after people in that area. And there are people you know who go to certain churches that teach you can lose your salvation, they live in constant ...people say, do you believe in eternal security? In a sense that's what the Bible is saying here ah, the one thing I don't believe is eternal insecurity. But there are some people who live in that all the time, they just live in a constant state of insecurity. And some people are told you'll never know whether you've made it until you face the Lord.
Oohw, can you imagine living that way? All your life huu-ooo, see. Am I going to make it? Oh, it's getting close, am I going to make it? What a horrible existence