Ephesians 6:17: “And take the helmet of salvation.”
Listen Link: www.lcepc.org then look for “sermons” tab
We all know helmets are a good idea, and these days there are many forms of helmets for various purposes. I found a picture of a helmet after a crash. It’s rubbed flat in one spot from a long drag down the road. I also found a video demonstration about the value of a good helmet. That’s pretty dramatic! Stories about people whose lives were saved by their helmets make the news!
The helmet of salvation is just as important in your spiritual armor. The Roman helmet was a heavy bronze or iron thing. They could be pretty fancy for a Roman Centurion. Or pretty plain, purely functional. The Roman helmet was usually lined with felt, or even sponge, to bear the weight. Nothing short of an axe or hammer could get through that. Decorations were often included for identification purposes. Showing your true color.
Similar to the breastplate of righteousness, your helmet protects an extremely vital organ, your brain, your mind! Since, as we have already noted, the devil is the father of lies, his main assault is to “mess with your head” as the saying goes. In the metaphor of armor, the helmet secures coverage for the most critical part of your anatomy: your mind. This is where spiritual battles are either won or lost. As you struggle with the world, the flesh, and the devil on a daily basis, stand firm knowing that your salvation does not come and go with your success or failure in spiritual battle; your salvation is your eternal possession. You are a child of God, and nothing can separate you from the love of Christ (Romans 8:35).
That’s important because people experiencing spiritual conflict tend to question their salvation or doubt their identity in Christ. Satan may disrupt your daily victory, but he can do nothing to disrupt your position in Christ. However, if he can get you to believe that you are not in Christ, you will live as though you are not in Christ, even though you are, in reality, secure in Him. And in that you’ll become an ineffective Christian servant.
In addition, satan works hard to make you think you’re not at war at all! If he can get you to believe you’re not in a spiritual battle, he can prevent you from taking the most effective course of action. The world explains everything from a materialistic viewpoint. If you’re depressed there’s drugs for that, not prayers. However, the Christian worldview perceives life through the grid of Scripture, not through culture or experience. The best course of action might be prayer for depression. And Scripture clearly teaches that supernatural, spiritual forces are at work in the natural world. For example, approximately one-fourth of all the healings recorded in the Gospel of Mark were actually deliverances from demon activity. The woman whom Jesus healed in Luke 13:11, 12, had been the victim of a "sickness caused by a spirit" that kept her bent over for 18 years.
Today too, there are Christian counselors who meet with people who come with physical problems which disappear shortly after a demonic influence is dealt with. The most common symptoms seen are headaches, dizziness, allergies, nausea and general pain throughout the body. Even the most conservative medical doctors estimate that 50 percent of their patients are suffering psychosomatic illnesses. That means that 50 percent of the time, it’s all in your head. Biblically, it is reasonable to expect that if a person's personal and spiritual problems are resolved, the physical body will be benefited. Medically, it is acknowledged that mental stress is a leading cause of heart disease and cancer. The peace of God alone will cure many diseases. Wear the helmet of salvation.
Of course, I'm not saying that everyone who is ill or in pain is being terrorized by a demon. But you may as well make sure they’re not as part of the process of diagnosis. I am convinced that many Christians battle physical symptoms unsuccessfully through natural means when the essence of the problem and the solution is spiritual. "He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who indwells you" (Romans 8:11).
The fact that Jesus left us here, "in the world" (John 17:11) to wrestle against "spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places" (Ephesians 6:12) is a present-day reality. Supernatural forces are at work on planet Earth. We live in the natural world, but we are involved in a spiritual war.
Let’s remember that these instructions about the full armor of God were given near the end of Paul’s letter to the Ephesians. This came right after he gave many practical instructions about how Christians ought to live out their Christians lives together with employers and employees, as well as families and marriages and all kinds of human relationships. This is how you’re supposed to get along. By talking about spiritual armor after those practical instructions, he gives us another theological reminder about the most important thing to remember in this life we are living for Jesus. It is a spiritual battle and we are engaged in spiritual warfare. That is, demonic forces actively work against the Christian community’s efforts to live by the virtues of love outlined in the Bible. The devil tries to make it hard for us.
When you remember that this letter is addressed to women and children and slaves as well as to the men of the congregation, these words about a suit of armor may seem out of place. When you add in that our modern culture is a peace-loving society that would rather avoid war and war like imagery. A lot of people don’t like this passage in the Bible. They don’t even want to sing “Onward Christian Soldiers” anymore. It’s too militant. So, this text about spiritual warfare may seem hard to appreciate.
But there it is. Put on the full armor of God. Everybody put on the full armor of God. Paul is reminding us that there is a spiritual battle being waged between the forces of evil and the children of light. Is the Christian Church under attack today? The Bible says it is. “Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes.”
We can also look at the daily news to see that the Christian Church in America is under attack from social forces, with spiritual forces behind them, that are trying to keep us quiet. First it was prayer taken out of schools, and things are unraveling faster and faster as our culture swiftly changes into a people who place such a high value on individual rights that we tolerate abortion, gay marriage and other social evils. The church lives now as Lot did in Sodom and Gomorrah. We still have a moral voice, but fewer and fewer people care what we have to say.
And, more and more of the people even who call themselves Christians are being drawn away into the ways of the world. If the Christian Church in America losing the battle, if we are now failing to take every thought captive to Christ, it would be because we forgot our helmets. That’s the great danger. This is why the Scripture tells us in Romans 12: 2, “Be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” So many people are moved by a form of compassion and love that allows them to fudge or even deny the clear moral teaching of Scripture in order or be non-judgmental.
A few common modern examples of fudging on biblical truth are, “Don’t judge people. Their life is their business.” “Hell can’t be a real place of eternal damnation for the unsaved. That’s out of character for a loving God.” “Compassion for the LGBTQ community requires us to accept them as they are and not insist that marriage must exclusively be between one man and one woman just because that’s what the Bible says. That’s just not fair to people who were born that way.”
Now I am not going to refute all those points in this message. I just wanted to highlight that they’re out there. These untruths that directly compete with the real Truth. I have good biblical answers to them. I only listed them to show the kinds of things that people say when they are not wearing the helmet of salvation that keeps them in the Truth, highly honoring God’s Word as the only objective source of absolute truth. A lot of people who think they are Christians or identify as evangelicals don’t even believe in absolute Truth anymore! That would be because if they do believe in absolute Truth the Bible would be the only place where we can reliably find it. But since they don’t agree with everything in there, especially not all of the moral principles that ought to guide our lives, they must deny that it is absolutely true, or else they are compelled to agree with it.
Just this week I read two posts about prominent Christian leaders who are giving up on the Christian faith, but still want all their followers to keep following them and believe they are sincerely searching for the real truth, whatever that could possibly be apart from the Bible! They are influencers, outspoken leaders who believe themselves to have a handle on important issues. But they disagree with Scripture now. So how can they possibly know they are right? It all becomes way too subjective. They’re riding fast, down a dangerous road, without a helmet!
The word says, “be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” The helmet of Salvation will protect your head from wrong thinking. I admit I need that kind of protection. Too often, when I forget to put it on my mind wanders in directions it shouldn’t. I think things about things that are not honoring to Christ. I get discouraged and defensive. I get hurt because I forget to put my helmet of salvation on as my protection. Peter advises me, however, to “Be self-controlled and alert. (1 Peter 5:8) This is an effort of my mind and thoughts. “Because my enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.” I’d probably be much less appealing to him if I would remember to keep a tough helmet of salvation on my head. Let’s see him chew through that!
The Christian warrior wears the helmet of salvation in the sense that he is the receiver and possessor of deliverance, clothed and armed in the victory of the Head of the Church, Jesus Christ. Satan may be the ruler of this world for now, and the whole world is in his power, for now (John 12:31; 1 John 5:19). Therefore, we are still in his territory as long as we are present in our physical bodies. But since we are joined to the Lord Jesus Christ, the devil has no legitimate claim on us, for Christ has "delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son" (Colossians 1:13). The helmet of our position in Christ assures us of ultimate victory over Satan.
And in Christ you are able to fight the spiritual battle of the mind and win. But it is a struggle. The satan is never going to stop trying to get you to compromise on the Truth. If we want to escape that struggle all we have to do is back down and believe the currently accepted low-keyed Christian life as the normal one. Just be a nice person. That is all Satan wants. That will ground our power, stunt our growth and render us harmless to the kingdom of darkness. Compromise will take the pressure off. Satan will not bother a person who has quit fighting. But the cost of quitting will be a life of peaceful stagnation.
The whole Bible and all past history unite to teach that battles are always won before the armies take the field. The critical moment for any army is not the day it engages the foe in actual combat; it is the day before, or the month before, or the year before...Preparation is vital. The rule is, prepare or fail. Polish your helmet!
Put your helmet on and be bold in the Lord! Should your shield of faith be a little too small and your daily victory elusive, be confident that the helmet of salvation guarantees your eternal victory.
Let’s end with a positive confession. It’s like, Oh, man we’re in this battle and it’s all bad and the world’s a dark place so how’re we going to live and it’s a struggle. So, let me do this. I want to end with a positive confession of our faith in what God would like to see in us. Let’s pray for these things to be real in our lives. Thank you, Heavenly Father, for raising up Lake City EPC to be a strategic mission outpost where people can encounter you; be forgiven, filled with the Spirit and set free! Our pursuit is intimacy with Jesus, evident in lavish worship.
This is a house of prayer; full of mountain-moving faith in calling heaven manifest on earth. That’s what thy Kingdom come on earth as it is in Heaven means. This is a loving community, adopting family, existing for those who are not yet part of us. Each person in our midst is indispensable for our assignment in you. We are blessed, grounded in the Word and available to be used in greater ways of service and sacrifice. We’re so grateful that you opened up the food pantry ministry. That’s a greater way of service and sacrifice that we’re pursuing for your sake.
We long to see children and youth among us, growing strong in the Lord and spiritual power is our priority. This is an apostolic church - sent reach to the region and world, establishing Kingdom of God with urgency and authority. This day we declare breakthrough -- more of your Glory, more miracles, enlarged borders of influence and overflowing resources to step into our calling to be a blessing in hard times. Because, Lord we are dressed in the full armor of God, bold and confident in your strength, not our own, to do what you have called us to do because it cannot fail if it is your will. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Listen Link: www.lcepc.org then look for “sermons” tab
We all know helmets are a good idea, and these days there are many forms of helmets for various purposes. I found a picture of a helmet after a crash. It’s rubbed flat in one spot from a long drag down the road. I also found a video demonstration about the value of a good helmet. That’s pretty dramatic! Stories about people whose lives were saved by their helmets make the news!
The helmet of salvation is just as important in your spiritual armor. The Roman helmet was a heavy bronze or iron thing. They could be pretty fancy for a Roman Centurion. Or pretty plain, purely functional. The Roman helmet was usually lined with felt, or even sponge, to bear the weight. Nothing short of an axe or hammer could get through that. Decorations were often included for identification purposes. Showing your true color.
Similar to the breastplate of righteousness, your helmet protects an extremely vital organ, your brain, your mind! Since, as we have already noted, the devil is the father of lies, his main assault is to “mess with your head” as the saying goes. In the metaphor of armor, the helmet secures coverage for the most critical part of your anatomy: your mind. This is where spiritual battles are either won or lost. As you struggle with the world, the flesh, and the devil on a daily basis, stand firm knowing that your salvation does not come and go with your success or failure in spiritual battle; your salvation is your eternal possession. You are a child of God, and nothing can separate you from the love of Christ (Romans 8:35).
That’s important because people experiencing spiritual conflict tend to question their salvation or doubt their identity in Christ. Satan may disrupt your daily victory, but he can do nothing to disrupt your position in Christ. However, if he can get you to believe that you are not in Christ, you will live as though you are not in Christ, even though you are, in reality, secure in Him. And in that you’ll become an ineffective Christian servant.
In addition, satan works hard to make you think you’re not at war at all! If he can get you to believe you’re not in a spiritual battle, he can prevent you from taking the most effective course of action. The world explains everything from a materialistic viewpoint. If you’re depressed there’s drugs for that, not prayers. However, the Christian worldview perceives life through the grid of Scripture, not through culture or experience. The best course of action might be prayer for depression. And Scripture clearly teaches that supernatural, spiritual forces are at work in the natural world. For example, approximately one-fourth of all the healings recorded in the Gospel of Mark were actually deliverances from demon activity. The woman whom Jesus healed in Luke 13:11, 12, had been the victim of a "sickness caused by a spirit" that kept her bent over for 18 years.
Today too, there are Christian counselors who meet with people who come with physical problems which disappear shortly after a demonic influence is dealt with. The most common symptoms seen are headaches, dizziness, allergies, nausea and general pain throughout the body. Even the most conservative medical doctors estimate that 50 percent of their patients are suffering psychosomatic illnesses. That means that 50 percent of the time, it’s all in your head. Biblically, it is reasonable to expect that if a person's personal and spiritual problems are resolved, the physical body will be benefited. Medically, it is acknowledged that mental stress is a leading cause of heart disease and cancer. The peace of God alone will cure many diseases. Wear the helmet of salvation.
Of course, I'm not saying that everyone who is ill or in pain is being terrorized by a demon. But you may as well make sure they’re not as part of the process of diagnosis. I am convinced that many Christians battle physical symptoms unsuccessfully through natural means when the essence of the problem and the solution is spiritual. "He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who indwells you" (Romans 8:11).
The fact that Jesus left us here, "in the world" (John 17:11) to wrestle against "spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places" (Ephesians 6:12) is a present-day reality. Supernatural forces are at work on planet Earth. We live in the natural world, but we are involved in a spiritual war.
Let’s remember that these instructions about the full armor of God were given near the end of Paul’s letter to the Ephesians. This came right after he gave many practical instructions about how Christians ought to live out their Christians lives together with employers and employees, as well as families and marriages and all kinds of human relationships. This is how you’re supposed to get along. By talking about spiritual armor after those practical instructions, he gives us another theological reminder about the most important thing to remember in this life we are living for Jesus. It is a spiritual battle and we are engaged in spiritual warfare. That is, demonic forces actively work against the Christian community’s efforts to live by the virtues of love outlined in the Bible. The devil tries to make it hard for us.
When you remember that this letter is addressed to women and children and slaves as well as to the men of the congregation, these words about a suit of armor may seem out of place. When you add in that our modern culture is a peace-loving society that would rather avoid war and war like imagery. A lot of people don’t like this passage in the Bible. They don’t even want to sing “Onward Christian Soldiers” anymore. It’s too militant. So, this text about spiritual warfare may seem hard to appreciate.
But there it is. Put on the full armor of God. Everybody put on the full armor of God. Paul is reminding us that there is a spiritual battle being waged between the forces of evil and the children of light. Is the Christian Church under attack today? The Bible says it is. “Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes.”
We can also look at the daily news to see that the Christian Church in America is under attack from social forces, with spiritual forces behind them, that are trying to keep us quiet. First it was prayer taken out of schools, and things are unraveling faster and faster as our culture swiftly changes into a people who place such a high value on individual rights that we tolerate abortion, gay marriage and other social evils. The church lives now as Lot did in Sodom and Gomorrah. We still have a moral voice, but fewer and fewer people care what we have to say.
And, more and more of the people even who call themselves Christians are being drawn away into the ways of the world. If the Christian Church in America losing the battle, if we are now failing to take every thought captive to Christ, it would be because we forgot our helmets. That’s the great danger. This is why the Scripture tells us in Romans 12: 2, “Be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” So many people are moved by a form of compassion and love that allows them to fudge or even deny the clear moral teaching of Scripture in order or be non-judgmental.
A few common modern examples of fudging on biblical truth are, “Don’t judge people. Their life is their business.” “Hell can’t be a real place of eternal damnation for the unsaved. That’s out of character for a loving God.” “Compassion for the LGBTQ community requires us to accept them as they are and not insist that marriage must exclusively be between one man and one woman just because that’s what the Bible says. That’s just not fair to people who were born that way.”
Now I am not going to refute all those points in this message. I just wanted to highlight that they’re out there. These untruths that directly compete with the real Truth. I have good biblical answers to them. I only listed them to show the kinds of things that people say when they are not wearing the helmet of salvation that keeps them in the Truth, highly honoring God’s Word as the only objective source of absolute truth. A lot of people who think they are Christians or identify as evangelicals don’t even believe in absolute Truth anymore! That would be because if they do believe in absolute Truth the Bible would be the only place where we can reliably find it. But since they don’t agree with everything in there, especially not all of the moral principles that ought to guide our lives, they must deny that it is absolutely true, or else they are compelled to agree with it.
Just this week I read two posts about prominent Christian leaders who are giving up on the Christian faith, but still want all their followers to keep following them and believe they are sincerely searching for the real truth, whatever that could possibly be apart from the Bible! They are influencers, outspoken leaders who believe themselves to have a handle on important issues. But they disagree with Scripture now. So how can they possibly know they are right? It all becomes way too subjective. They’re riding fast, down a dangerous road, without a helmet!
The word says, “be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” The helmet of Salvation will protect your head from wrong thinking. I admit I need that kind of protection. Too often, when I forget to put it on my mind wanders in directions it shouldn’t. I think things about things that are not honoring to Christ. I get discouraged and defensive. I get hurt because I forget to put my helmet of salvation on as my protection. Peter advises me, however, to “Be self-controlled and alert. (1 Peter 5:8) This is an effort of my mind and thoughts. “Because my enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.” I’d probably be much less appealing to him if I would remember to keep a tough helmet of salvation on my head. Let’s see him chew through that!
The Christian warrior wears the helmet of salvation in the sense that he is the receiver and possessor of deliverance, clothed and armed in the victory of the Head of the Church, Jesus Christ. Satan may be the ruler of this world for now, and the whole world is in his power, for now (John 12:31; 1 John 5:19). Therefore, we are still in his territory as long as we are present in our physical bodies. But since we are joined to the Lord Jesus Christ, the devil has no legitimate claim on us, for Christ has "delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son" (Colossians 1:13). The helmet of our position in Christ assures us of ultimate victory over Satan.
And in Christ you are able to fight the spiritual battle of the mind and win. But it is a struggle. The satan is never going to stop trying to get you to compromise on the Truth. If we want to escape that struggle all we have to do is back down and believe the currently accepted low-keyed Christian life as the normal one. Just be a nice person. That is all Satan wants. That will ground our power, stunt our growth and render us harmless to the kingdom of darkness. Compromise will take the pressure off. Satan will not bother a person who has quit fighting. But the cost of quitting will be a life of peaceful stagnation.
The whole Bible and all past history unite to teach that battles are always won before the armies take the field. The critical moment for any army is not the day it engages the foe in actual combat; it is the day before, or the month before, or the year before...Preparation is vital. The rule is, prepare or fail. Polish your helmet!
Put your helmet on and be bold in the Lord! Should your shield of faith be a little too small and your daily victory elusive, be confident that the helmet of salvation guarantees your eternal victory.
Let’s end with a positive confession. It’s like, Oh, man we’re in this battle and it’s all bad and the world’s a dark place so how’re we going to live and it’s a struggle. So, let me do this. I want to end with a positive confession of our faith in what God would like to see in us. Let’s pray for these things to be real in our lives. Thank you, Heavenly Father, for raising up Lake City EPC to be a strategic mission outpost where people can encounter you; be forgiven, filled with the Spirit and set free! Our pursuit is intimacy with Jesus, evident in lavish worship.
This is a house of prayer; full of mountain-moving faith in calling heaven manifest on earth. That’s what thy Kingdom come on earth as it is in Heaven means. This is a loving community, adopting family, existing for those who are not yet part of us. Each person in our midst is indispensable for our assignment in you. We are blessed, grounded in the Word and available to be used in greater ways of service and sacrifice. We’re so grateful that you opened up the food pantry ministry. That’s a greater way of service and sacrifice that we’re pursuing for your sake.
We long to see children and youth among us, growing strong in the Lord and spiritual power is our priority. This is an apostolic church - sent reach to the region and world, establishing Kingdom of God with urgency and authority. This day we declare breakthrough -- more of your Glory, more miracles, enlarged borders of influence and overflowing resources to step into our calling to be a blessing in hard times. Because, Lord we are dressed in the full armor of God, bold and confident in your strength, not our own, to do what you have called us to do because it cannot fail if it is your will. In Jesus’ name, amen.
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