The Helmet of Salvation

Amen, I'm always blessed and encouraged by your singing and really appreciated

Brother Charles' scripture reading this morning and Brother Steve, the confession and catechism,

Gunnar leading us, Alex, the piano. It's good to be in the house of the

Lord. You may not know this by looking at me, but I wasn't really a great football player in high school.

I know I look like a athletic specimen, but the start of my senior year,

I think I weighed just under 200 pounds. I was playing on the offensive line and I remember one game and Stephanie every now and then when she thinks her husband needs humility, she reminds me of this, but there was this one game that I was playing and I don't remember.

I got mad about something that happened. We were a 500 team, so there was a lot of stuff, you know, that I got mad about, but I come over on the sideline and I was so mad.

I just took my helmet off and I slammed it on the ground and the ear pieces, the ear pads popped out of it, but this is what

Stephanie likes to remind me of. I slammed it on the ground. I was mad. I went to stop off and I put my foot right in the helmet and tripped.

Needless to say, that was a misuse of that helmet.

I want you to turn in your Bibles this morning to Ephesians chapter 6. I'm going to talk about another helmet this morning and I'm imploring the church to not misuse this great helmet.

It's referred to in the Bible as the helmet of salvation.

We have been walking through the armor of God and we have come now on this fifth piece of armor, the helmet of salvation, and I'm going to read to you from Ephesians 6 beginning in verse 10 and then

I will just end in verse 17. That's our text today, part of verse 17.

So let's stand as we honor the reading of God's Word and we have for our task before us this morning the helmet of salvation.

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

Therefore take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done all to stand firm.

Stand therefore having fastened on the belt of truth and having put on the breastplate of righteousness and as shoes for your feet having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace.

In all circumstances take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one and take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the

Spirit which is the Word of God. Let's pray. Father, as we come upon yet another piece in the armory of the blessed and glorious and wonderful armor that you've provided for your church, let us pause now and consider not only your wonder and grace in providing this armor but our necessity of taking it up and putting it on.

Protect us from the evil one. Oh, how often we forget of his activity in our world today.

We pray that we would be well defended against him. We know ultimately Christ is our salvation.

Protect our minds and our thoughts. Hold them captive to the Word of God. We pray this morning that you would edify the people, your saints, and we pray that those who are unbelievers even this morning would see the great foolishness and wickedness of neglecting so great a salvation.

We pray that Christ would be honored. Holy Spirit, we pray you'd be in our midst. Use your own word here to sanctify, to quicken, to bring glory to Jesus.

Help us to have a healthy church. We pray it in Jesus' name. Amen. You may be seated. I know that euphemistically

I could say we've moved rather meticulously through the letter of Ephesians and particularly we have moved slowly as we've considered the armor of God.

We actually began verse 10 in this segment back in August and so this is really our 20th sermon on God's armor.

I could say two things to that. One, I really hope that it's reminded you of the daily battle for every

Christian. There is no such thing as peacetime Christianity.

There's a daily battle, a daily struggle. Please don't look at any of your pastors or any of your fellow church members and think that person, they've got it all together.

They never have to deal with the struggles that I deal with. Well, all of our struggles may be different, sure, but we're all in a battle.

If we weren't in a battle, why would the Apostle Paul tell us to put on the armor, right? This isn't just for various seasons of life.

This is life. Put on the armor. We battle against the world and the flesh and the devil and it's every day and I hope that you've been edified as we've walked through these pieces of armor.

Secondly, I want to say that though I've been slow, I haven't been as slow as William Grinnell, the

Puritan. He wrote an entire section on the word and in our text, verse 17, and, right?

What would you be like if we preached a sermon on the word and? I'm not going to do that, but I want to make a few comments based on Grinnell's observations.

The helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, we're getting to those. That's the fifth and sixth piece of armor in the

Christian's armor. The word and in verse 17, it reminds us here of the necessity of each piece of armor, okay?

So it's like these are links in a chain and this isn't like a buffet. The armor of God is, it's not like a buffet line, right?

Like I want the sushi, but I don't want General Sal's chicken or whatever. Like it's all, we need it all.

I need every piece of this armor. Remember verse 11, put on the whole armor of God.

So don't neglect any of it. The panoply of God's armor reminds us here of several things.

Briefly, I'll mention four. One is the kindness of God. God knows our battles.

God knows our weaknesses and he is good and he is compassionate and he hasn't left us defenseless.

It also reminds us of the wisdom of God. The armor that God has provided for the church is exactly the armor that we need.

It reminds us of the sovereignty of God. That is, the battle belongs to the

Lord and the armor that he provides is going to see his people through to the end.

The church is going to win. And then it reminds us, of course, of the gospel of God.

And that is, haven't you noticed that like each piece of armor in some way, directly, indirectly, mostly more directly, points us to Christ, points us to his work?

We'll see that again today. We get all of this just by pausing and thinking about that little word in our text, verse 17, and I encourage you to remember that the

Word of God is powerful, it's helpful, and we too often neglect or too rushed, we neglect its wonderful riches.

Now, what we're going to do today is we're going to give one sermon here on this fifth piece of the

Christian armor, the helmet of salvation. That's a little bit different. We've usually broke it down to two or three sermons, but we certainly could do more.

But you'll see today there's some overlap with some of these other pieces. And it's certainly not my desire to go slow just to be slow.

So we're going to break this down into two simple points this morning. The helmet of salvation. So first we're going to ask, what is salvation?

And then secondly, what is this helmet? So first, what is salvation?

So Paul says that we are to take the helmet of salvation.

The first thing I want to remind you is our salvation is wrapped up in Christ.

Christ is our salvation. Christ is Yahweh in the flesh.

In Luke chapter 1 verse 69, Zechariah, John the Baptist's dad, if you remember, he said that Jesus is the horn of salvation.

In one sense, we really could simply say that Christ is salvation.

And then we need to remember, it's been a few weeks since we looked at this, Isaiah 59. We looked at it with the, so turn there, we looked at it in the breastplate of righteousness.

But just be reminded of something. So please turn in your Bibles to Isaiah 59. And notice here that this armor is not only talked about, but someone else has already used it.

Isaiah chapter 59, beginning in verse 16. He saw that there was no man and wondered that there was no one to intercede.

Then his own arm brought him salvation and his righteousness upheld him.

He put on righteousness as a breastplate and a helmet of salvation on his head.

He put on garments of vengeance for clothing and wrapped himself in zeal as a cloak.

Friends, who does this talking about? It is talking about Christ. It is talking about our Messiah.

Here we have God foreshadowing, taking the salvation of his people into his own hands.

And he himself is a warrior. Christ is the warrior king. He puts on the breastplate of his own righteousness and he puts on the helmet of salvation.

And I'm going to tell you something this morning, church. This reminds us that our culture is often giving us a weak and pathetic picture of Christ.

I'm just going to tell you this morning, really unapologetically, but I would love to talk to you more about it if you find this controversial.

Please give me the opportunity to speak more. But let me just make this statement from the pulpit. The Jesus of he gets us and the

Jesus of the chosen or the Jesus of displayed in many modern worship songs is not the

Jesus of this book. The Jesus of this book is king, sovereign.

Yes, absolutely. Is he compassionate towards sinners? You wouldn't be here if he wasn't.

He's merciful. He's kind. He's forgiving to all who trust his work, but please don't let this make you believe that he's soft on sin.

He is the God of vengeance. He will have his day. He will vanquish every foe, which doesn't just include the spiritual realm of demons, but even every sinner who refuses to repent.

But what I'm saying here is the great and mighty warrior Christ has done battle for us and he has secured salvation for his bride, for all who will call upon his name in faith, for all who will turn from their sins in repentance.

And now in one sense, this is the beauty of it. This is why you want to know Isaiah 59, because there's a very real sense in the very helmet that he has worn himself and defeated death, hell and the grave himself.

He now takes off his own head. And gives to the church, and it is called.

The helmet of salvation in the text. So that we could be securely defended from the evil one.

Now, salvation, the helmet of salvation. In the scriptures, salvation is spoken of in three tenses.

Past, present, future. What I want to do now is I want to just turn to First Corinthians, another

Pauline epistle, and I want to look at First Corinthians chapter 1. That'll help us, I think, to digest a little bit this word salvation.

So First Corinthians chapter 1, beginning in verse 28.

Now, we'll really just focus on verse 30, but let me set a little context. Well, how about let's start verse 27.

But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise. God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong.

God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.

And because of him, you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption.

So let me use this verse 30 to illustrate the three tenses of Christ's salvation for his people.

Number one, we have the past. We have there at the end of verse 30, the word righteousness.

The past tense of salvation is this. If you are in Christ, there is a very real sense in which you have been saved.

This is the way we normally talk about salvation, right? We say, are you saved? Have you been saved?

Past tense. Well, that's what we're talking about. The past tense of salvation. So here we have the word righteousness, and the text says that Christ is our righteousness.

So listen to me, church. There is, if you're in Christ, now, if you're not in Christ, you really need to be listening. If you're in Christ, there was a moment in your past, whether it was yesterday or 10 years ago, whereby you were an unchanging declaration.

Legally, you will never be more righteous because upon your account is the full righteousness of Christ.

Not by works, but by grace. You have been saved. Secondly, the present.

Again, verse 30 says that Christ became to us righteousness, and then secondly, sanctification.

So here's the, now these next two, we're not as used to talking about, but we should. We should.

So just as much as you ask someone, have you been saved? It's biblically accurate to say, are you being saved?

Right? Because not only is Jesus our righteousness, in the past tense, we have been saved.

He is also our sanctification, meaning presently, the Christian, not only have we been saved, but we are being saved.

He is our sanctification, that is our holiness, our growth in God. Friends, this is happening right now.

Right now, at this very moment, if you're a Christian, you are being saved. This is a present reality.

You are growing more free from sin, and more and more in bondage to Christ. And this present reality for the

Christian, it never stops in this life. Now, there are times we stumble, and we fall, and we take a step back, or maybe we step in a helmet, right?

Or we take 15 steps back. But over the course of our lives, we grow in Christ.

We are being saved. This salvation of Christ, friends, is real, and true, and it's actual, and it's powerful.

Listen, who you are is no longer who you were.

The gospel of Christ saves all sinners who embrace it, but it leaves no sinner where they were.

And you hear things like this today, well, I just have to be this way, because I'm just lazy.

I just, this is just how I talk to people, because I'm arrogant. I'm, I'm just immoral. I'm just prideful.

I just have a temper, or how about this one? It's just the way that I was made. But listen to me,

Christian, that's who you were. It's not now who you are.

You have been saved, and you are being saved.

Walk in light. Walk in Christ. Take up the helmet of salvation.

And when we take up the helmet of salvation, we have assurance of salvation. We are living in Christ now, today, for his glory.

We follow him today. We love his church today. This is the present tense of salvation.

We have assurance. Okay, so that's the past. You have been saved. You are being saved.

It doesn't take a biblical scholar to see where we're going here. What is the future of salvation?

You will be saved. Verse 30, Christ has become for us righteousness and sanctification and redemption.

Now, it is true, certainly, that in one sense, redemption can also refer to the past.

We have been redeemed from sins and transgressions by the blood of Christ. But there's also a future sense of redemption, the future tense of salvation for the

Christian here. You will be saved. So, for example, in Romans 8, Paul talks about how we groan with creation for full and final, what?

The word he uses there in Romans 8? Redemption. So, creation suffers under the curse.

Your body and your mind and your heart still suffer under the curse.

We fight sin daily. We fight the effects of sin daily. We fight Satan in the world daily.

And this will never stop until our future redemption. Another word that we use sometimes talking about this is glorification.

So, at the resurrection of the dead, our bodies will come up out of the grave and we will have glorified bodies.

And for all eternity, we will be free from all sin, from Satan, from all ungodliness.

So, this is salvation. It has a past, a present and a future tense.

And Paul tells us here in verse 17 of Ephesians 6 to take the helmet of salvation.

It is secured. It has been secured by the mighty arm of God himself in Christ, Christ Jesus, who is eternal

God conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, Christ, who is perfectly righteous in every way.

And in his earthly life, he was righteous, he was obedient, he knew no sin, he was perfectly righteous to the law of God.

And then he steps in our place. He is the substitute. Listen, children, you know this because I know this.

I loved it when I was in school and the day we were going to have a substitute teacher. Yes, that's great.

What does it mean to have a substitute teacher? It means you have one teacher in place of another teacher and we liked those days.

But in the gospel, it is much better because we have one person in the place of another.

That is, Jesus was in our place righteous and then Jesus was in our place on the cross bearing

God's wrath and judgment that we deserve. Jesus stepped in and he took it for us. We all made

F's on God's test, right? You want to stay the school analogy. We all made F's on God's test.

We we felt it in every way. Jesus made an A and by faith, his

A is ours and our failure is his. This is substitution.

And then he he rose again from the grave in triumph and victory. This is the salvation that Christ secured for us.

So before moving on, let me mention a couple of things. First, remember that this text is for the church.

Take the helmet of salvation. He's telling that to the church, but it's befitting here, is it not?

To our Bible belt where we're so confused about what is a Christian and what is salvation and what is the gospel.

It's befitting here to just pause for a second and ask yourself this question. Have I taken up this helmet of salvation?

Have I taken up the salvation that Christ has secured, that the mighty arm of God has shown forth and won?

Have you by faith put your trust in the atoning, substitutionary sacrifice of Jesus?

Have you turned from your sins and believed the gospel? Now listen, church. Paul commands to the church.

Peter commands to the church. Things like this, 2 Corinthians 13 5. Paul says, examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith.

Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves that Jesus Christ is in you? Unless indeed you fail to meet the test.

Or in 2 Peter 1 10. Peter says, and this is for a member of our church.

I like the King James here. Brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure.

So Paul says, examine yourselves. Peter says, give diligence.

Friends, are you in Christ? I don't want to ever create a culture where we're always like, am

I in? Am I out? Am I in? Am I out? But we really need to consider in the culture that we live in, am

I a true Christian? And not just one that just like say, oh yeah, I believe in Jesus.

No, no. Am I one who has put my faith in the finished work of Christ and my heart has been changed and now

I want to live for Jesus and I love this church and I love the seeing of Christ and I want more gospel and I want to share

Christ and I want to study the Bible with others and I want to walk faithfully with other families who love this

Jesus because He's worthy. Is this you, friend? Because if it's not, then

Christ is not your righteousness. He is not your sanctification. He is not your redemption and you will perish.

But God in His mercy, think about this, He has brought you to this very sermon.

I have no idea why you woke up this morning and you made it here to hear this specific sermon today.

I have no idea why that is the case, but I trust in the wonderful providence of God and here you are this morning, you could be anywhere else and you are here hearing this gospel and I say to you this moment, you're hearing

His hearkening voice, you're hearing His mercy and compassion and I say to you, sir or ma 'am or little boy or young lady, repent and believe the gospel.

Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your heart. Call upon Him while He is near and I have on good authority the

Word of God that He is near because when His gospel is proclaimed, Christ is near.

Believe on Christ. Oh, preacher, Jesus could never forgive me. I've been lying.

People in my family, they don't even know. You don't even know. I've been a hypocrite.

You don't know the immoral acts that I've committed. You don't know the things that I've wrestled with and given in to.

You don't understand the way I've treated people or the dark things that no one else knows about.

Jesus could never understand and forgive me of those things. And I say to you, you're believing a lie.

He can and He will forgive you full atonement if you'll trust

His work. Call upon the name of the Lord, the Bible says, and be saved.

And those who do, receive the full armor of God, including this helmet of salvation.

Now that leads us to the second point. So church, hear me, what is this helmet? So that is salvation.

Now what is this helmet? If you don't want to be like me and looking like a fool on the football field and stepping in this helmet, then we want to use it properly.

So what is it? So let's think through that. Take the helmet of salvation.

It is natural for us to consider that we need this helmet because we understand Satan often attacks where?

Our very thoughts, our minds, our thinking. It's not just that we feel our feelings are under attack, but even our reasoning at times.

You have such irrational thoughts sometimes as a believer. I do too, right?

I'm going to tell you sometimes, there are times when it comes, and I've seen this in my own life and I've seen it with others, there are times it can be like a little bitty thing in the church.

Like one little bitty thing someone can say or do. And all of a sudden, your mind runs down a rabbit trail.

And before you know it, you believe that person's really out to murder you in your sleep or something, right?

Like, there's like one little thing, and then your mind runs off in an irrational direction.

So I'm telling us, we need to guard our thoughts. Satan attacks the church with distraction.

Focusing on this or that thing that distracts from our mission. It could be right now you're thinking about next year's football team, or maybe you're thinking about good things, but it's distracting from Christ.

Or Satan will attack us with dismissal of truth. Maybe emphasizing, you see this today, love over holiness.

He gets us, or whatever. De -emphasizing holiness, or minimizing theology, or like I said, divisive thoughts, disunity, or sometimes discouragement.

Discouragement sometimes as a church, it can immobilize us. And the same is true of doubts.

But this is why Paul says in the text, take up this helmet of salvation. Our king and our captain, he's standing himself in the very armory of God, handing out to us this helmet, freely by his grace, saying, take it up.

Put it on. Stop going into battle without your head protected.

You don't have to succumb to these attacks, because a sufficient armor has been given.

Okay, so what does it look like to take up this helmet of salvation and to place it on our heads?

I'm going to give you five things. There's probably more things that we could think through. But here's five things, and the overarching point is this.

To put on this helmet of salvation is to live experientially as a Christian. Listen, it's not to just know about Christ.

It is to actually go out and live for Christ. It's not to just merely know about sound doctrine.

It's to press sound doctrine deep and to live this out before a dying world.

It is assurance. It's grasping these truths and understanding them and applying them and saying, not only

I know about Christianity, but I know that I am a Christian. So here are five thoughts, and I hope that you find this practical and helpful.

So the first is, having the helmet of salvation on is possessing the mind of Christ.

So we're going to look at different scriptures for these. It's a little bit different than what we normally do, but look at Philippians chapter 2.

So just flip over. For me, I literally had to flip over one page from Ephesians to Philippians. But Philippians chapter 2.

Philippians chapter 2, beginning in verse 1. So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the

Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind.

Having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humiliation count others more significant than yourselves.

Let each one of you look not only to his own interest, but also to the interest of others. Have this mind, so there it is again, for the third time.

Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus.

And then he's going to go through the gospel there, and how Christ, equal with God, came. Man, he was obedient, he died, he resurrected.

But the point here is, that to take up the helmet of salvation for the church is for us to put on the mind of Christ.

And you see here in this context, don't miss the context, to have this mind of Christ is to have a mind for the church.

It is to have a mind, to have the mind of Christ as a Christian is to have a mind that seeks to serve the church.

This is some of the craziest language, honestly, in all of the New Testament. Most of us actually don't listen to these verses very well and apply them to our life.

Think about this. Do nothing, verse 3, from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.

Can you believe that? Can you believe that's actually in the Bible? That's not talking about this liberal idea of being out there in the world.

He's talking about in the church. When it comes to church, hey, I got something that may be a news flash too, but do you know sometimes in the church there are differing opinions?

Did you know that there are some people who think the chairs need to be this color and others who think it needs to be that color?

And some people think we need to handle things this way and others that way. These aren't doctrinal issues, they're just issues of preference that come up sometimes in the church.

And here's what Paul is saying. You know how you deal with preferential issues in the church?

You collect people together and you push your way through in a business meeting, right?

No. He says, defer. You know what, brother? I like the idea of doing it this way, but instead

I'm going to count you as more significant than me. This is amazing.

I could spend a long time, a whole sermon. The point there is we have the mind of Christ when we put on the helmet of salvation and we seek and we're focused on the people of God in the local church.

Secondly, I could just spend forever there, but you need to consider if that's true of you.

Secondly, when we put on the helmet of salvation, we possess the hope of Christ. Not just the mind of Christ, but the hope of Christ.

I'll just read this one to you. 1 Thessalonians 5 .8 says this, But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet, the hope of salvation.

So we have in that text, Paul likening the helmet of salvation to the hope of salvation.

So here, let me just say this. When we put on the helmet of salvation, not only do we have the mind of Christ for the church, but we also have this future hope, the hope of the final victory of the church.

The hope of the return of Christ. The hope of one day, listen to me, every wrong will be righted.

You can look at someone arrogant, smiling, talking smack on the television, and you can know this.

One day, if they don't repent, they won't be talking that way, right? They will bow the knee to Christ because He wins.

In the Shawshank Redemption, there's a line from Red to Andy Dufresne, it says,

Let me tell you something, my friend. Hope is a dangerous thing. Hope can drive a man insane.

Well, that's bad advice. It's not true of the Christian. Hope is not a dangerous thing.

Hope is our solace. Hope is our fuel. Hope for the church is only dangerous to the enemies of Christ and the insolence of the evil one because it drives us forward in the face of persecution, in the face of darkness, in the face of despair.

We have hope, not just like a fading hope, but we have true and sure hope. Jesus has already won and He's coming back.

This is the hope that we have. Listen, I don't care what the odds are.

You know what, preacher? You'll never be able to plant a solid, biblical, faithful church in a little place like Perryville, Arkansas.

You'll never be able to have a church like that. I don't care what the statistics say.

I don't care what the odds are because I already know the outcome. Christ is

King. I don't need people in, let's say, Nashville, Tennessee, in LifeWay, giving me statistics and thoughts and things that I need to switch over so I can reach this generation or that generation.

I have everything I need. I have the gospel. Christ wins. Christ is coming back. And so I'm putting all...

Can I say chips? Can I say chips? I'm putting my chips in. That's gambling. Okay, but you understand?

I'm putting all my chips in. All of them are going in on this present kingdom and advancing of the church.

I got no reserves. It's all going in. What if it fails? It won't.

I'm not saying that all of our things, the way that we think about it, are going to come to fruition, but I am going to say this.

I got nothing set back for a rainy day because all my time and all my energy and all my devotion is going to be geared toward what

Christ is doing in the world today, and He is building His church. And so we will not be ashamed.

We will have no regrets. Why? Because hope does not disappoint. So when we put on the helmet of salvation, like Paul is telling us here, like the

Holy Spirit is telling us here, we have hope. We will one day see all the hard work and all the trials and all the sorrows.

Paul says like this, as light momentary affliction, and then we will reign with Christ forever.

Now this is for believers. Job 8 .13 says this, The hope of the godless shall perish.

In Psalm 1 that we're memorizing, we're on verse 5, Therefore, the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.

The hope, as Job says, of the godless shall perish.

We're doing so great with sports analogies today. So a few years ago, the New England Patriots were losing to the

Atlanta Falcons in the Super Bowl by a score of 28 -3. This was late in the game. And so Falcons fans were already celebrating.

And I'm sorry to bring up this memory if you're a Falcons fan, but they're already celebrating this is over.

What happened? Their hope faded. And the Patriots won. Similarly, listen to me, a silly illustration to illustrate an important truth.

The wicked may think that their hope is secure. They may look at us and say,

You're backwards. You're backwards. You're on the wrong side of history. Everybody's embracing homosexuality today.

Everybody's embracing transgenderism today. You are fools. You will amount to nothing.

But one day their hope will perish. So friends, this demands that we take the gospel today.

We need to take a perishing hope and replace it with a persevering hope. Let us hold fast to our salvation and take up this great helmet that Christ has given us.

Thirdly, when we put on the helmet of salvation, we have the mind of Christ and the hope of Christ.

Thirdly, let's go back to 1 Corinthians 1. I think we can illustrate a couple of more points here. We were there earlier, but 1

Corinthians 1, we have the wisdom of Christ. What we're thinking about here is why does

Paul use a helmet? Well, it affects the mind, our thoughts. In 1

Corinthians 1, verse 30, I skipped over it earlier, but now I'm going to come back to it. In 1

Corinthians 1, verse 30, Paul says, And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God.

If you put on the helmet of salvation, you have the mind of Christ, and you have the hope of Christ, and you have the wisdom of Christ.

As we think about the mind, we think about wisdom. The text says that Christ is the wisdom of God to us.

If we think about it, we see the wisdom of God in the gospel. So here's the mystery in the Old Testament.

The mystery in the Old Testament is this, somewhat of a mystery. God says to Moses in Exodus 34,

I will have mercy upon whom I will have mercy, but I will by no means clear the guilty.

Now that's a conundrum. Don't let that pass over you. Think about it for just a moment.

Here's the problem. How is God going to be merciful to sinners and at the same time not clear sinners of their guilt?

What I mean is not look over their guilt, not sweep their guilt under the rug.

How is it that God is going to be simultaneously merciful and just? Answer, Jesus was the perfect one who suffered for our sins and transgressions.

So we see the wisdom of God in the gospel. Christ is the answer. Holy, holy, holy.

And when we take up the helmet of salvation, we take up Christ as our wisdom. So practically, let me say this too, it means that we can live wisely.

We can live being good stewards of our time and our money and the abilities that God has blessed us with.

The helmet of salvation helps defend us because it helps us think wisely about life.

As a general rule, when we apply God's principles to our lives, we are spared many of the heartaches of the wicked.

So let us seek to fill our minds with the wisdom of Christ, with the wisdom of the scriptures and understand all of life, the economy and our political spectrum and all these things.

Let us see them through the wisdom of Christ. This is not worldly wisdom.

The gospel and its implications are foolish to many. Let the world scoff at me giving my time and possessions to eternal matters.

But this is the wisdom of the Lord. Take up the helmet of salvation. The mind of Christ, the hope of Christ, the wisdom of Christ.

Fourthly, let me mention this, the boasting of Christ. So in 1 Corinthians 1 .31, so it's already mentioned in verse 29 so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.

But then in verse 31 it says, so that as it is written, let the one who boasts, boast in the

Lord. So here's the reality about our minds. The carnal mind is full of self -pride.

Boasting in self, boasting in capabilities, boasting in circumstances.

And Satan will use that, right? Satan will use that. When you walk into the door, you barely can fit in the door because your head is so big.

But not everyone else notices how glorious and wonderful you are. And so Satan uses that to attack, right?

He'll say, hey, the preacher didn't tell you how nice you looked this morning. What's the problem with that?

Hey, you went and shared the gospel. And then Connell got to get up and stand up in front of everybody and say, but you didn't get to...

So hey, maybe he thinks less of you. You understand? Satan will turn our pride against us.

Well, I mean, it is against us because it's against God. But the text here says the Christian mind boasts in Christ as it is written.

Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord. The helmet of salvation, if you will, is a humbling helmet.

Take this analogy. It's so heavy that when we put it on, we can't help but bow the knee before our great and holy

God. Because we understand I'm thinking first and foremost about God and His glory.

The only reason I'm here. The only reason I'm a member of a church. The only reason I'm born again.

The only reason I'm not just wicked and depraved and lying in a ditch somewhere.

The only reason that I'm not on the news as some sort of crazy, immoral person.

The only reason of these things is because of God's undeserved grace.

I've got nothing to boast in, in my hands or in my thoughts or in my actions.

I've got nothing to boast in. But I can boast in the Lord. Why? Because He's gracious and He's good and His salvation is amazing.

Because it can save a wretch like me. And like you heard this morning, if I could go knock on a door, anyone can.

Why? Because God is so gracious to us. And we boast in Him. I can let this cause every word

I speak, every action I do, every moment of my life to point to Christ, to boast in the

Lord. Christ is our salvation. And this is not my own doing. It is because of Christ alone.

It is all of sovereign grace. So Paul says, where is boasting then? Is it excluded by what?

Sorry. Where is boasting then? It is excluded by what law? Of works? Nay, but the law of faith.

Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law. That's Romans 3.

So when I take up the helmet of salvation, I have the boasting of Christ. Let our minds be consumed in this place with the glory of God.

And then fifthly, when we take up this helmet of salvation, we have the mind of Christ, the hope of Christ, the wisdom of Christ, the boasting of Christ, and then the resolve of Christ.

I'll just mention a couple of things here. 2 Timothy 1 .7 says,

For God gave us a spirit not of fear, but of power and love and self -control. 1 Corinthians 15 .58

Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast and movable, always abounding in the work of the

Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.

We could give so much more application as we consider the helmet of salvation, but be reminded here in Ephesians 6 .17

that we're commanded to take this up. Don't neglect this important piece of armor from our gracious King.

It is sufficient for the battles of our day. I'm saying then, and Paul's saying, put it on.

And so what I'm talking about here is part of what it looks like to put this helmet on is to have the resolve of Christ.

It is to be steadfast, immovable, self -controlled, knowing, confidence that our labor is not in vain.

Hey, can I say it this way? It's okay if the church is a little bit hard -headed.

Right? That's what a helmet makes you, right? What does a helmet make you? It makes you hard -headed, right?

So, it's okay if the church is... You understand the way I'm saying it. It's okay if the church is a little stubborn.

It's okay. Now, this can be used wrong, right? The Baptist anthem, I shall not be, I shall not be moved, right?

Like, so we have to have potlucks on this time of year, or whatever, you know. We're not talking about that. We're talking about being resolved in doctrine.

I'm marching forward. I'm going forward because Christ is worthy of a healthy church.

And I'm not stopping. Because I have the mind of Christ. I have the helmet of salvation.

Now, listen, let the world convict us a little bit here. Because you see this kind of resolve in so many people.

You see professional athletes in the hours and hours and hours they put into something. Or you see someone trying to get into Harvard in the hours and hours and hours that they put into study.

Or someone wants to be a Navy SEAL or a fireman or whatever the case may be. And there's a lot of, like, it takes a lot of grit and determination and focus.

And I'm not saying those things are wrong. Like, those aren't wrong. Those are worthy goals. But what

I am saying is that in Christ, we have a helmet of salvation that gives us this kind of resolve.

Because Christ, this is from Luke 9, set His face like a flint towards Jerusalem.

That's prophesied in Isaiah. So, He was determined and resolute to carry out

God's will. And so, therefore, as His people and as His followers, we are hard -headed in that sense.

We have set our face like a flint and we're marching towards Zion.

We're going toward the celestial city. If you read Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress, now, there were times that he faltered and we faltered too.

But, like, this overarching thing, the pilgrim, Christian, his overarching thing was like, I've got to keep going that way.

Why? Because that's where the celestial city is. And that's what we're doing. So, let me put it to you this way.

The lazy, shallow, unfocused, tossed -about, woke

Christianity that you see in the world today, I'm telling you, it doesn't have to be you.

Not if we're listening to the text and taking up the helmet of salvation and putting it on and fighting the fight of faith together with the church in this beautiful thing, this little foretaste, if you will, of heaven on earth.

God's putting these people together. Some of you guys I know, when I use sports analogies, you're like, ugh.

You know? And then you come and you talk about computer nerd lingo and I'm like, ugh. I was like, well, guess what?

God's put us together. Why? Because of Christ. And we're together and we don't have to succumb to this foolish sort of mamby -pamby

Christianity. There's something out there much greater than the bill of goods that Satan is selling churches today.

There is Christ. There is true godliness and holiness and joy and delight and fellowship and resolve.

You don't have to live in generational negligence of the things of Christ. There is real and biblical

Christianity. And what I hope is that it's not just out there, but that what we're seeking to do at Providence Baptist Church is say it's right here.

That you're looking at it. Not that we're perfect. We are not. We've got miles to go.

And we'll always be seeking to reform according to the scriptures. Oh, but we're striving for it.

So let us heed the text. Please take the helmet of salvation. To God alone be the glory.

Would you stand? And I'll pray. Father, we thank You for Your Word. Let us be resolved.

Let us take up the helmet. Let us rest in Christ. Pray that Your Spirit would apply

Your Word as only He can. Lord, there are some here who have not thought rightly about their soul and eternal matters.

I pray the Spirit of God would convict them. Point them to Christ. There have been people here, maybe even members, negligent of the things of Christ.

I pray even today they'd repent and rest again in Your grace. And let us go forward.