Our text for this morning's message is Ephesians chapter six. Ephesians chapter six, verse 17, particularly the helmet of salvation. Well, what is this? We've seen all the other pieces of the armor thus far have their own part and their own function to play as we are called to stand before our true enemy, the devil and his tricky strategies. But what about this piece of armor called the Helmet of Salvation? Why a helmet? And why a Helmet of Salvation? Well, quite particularly because this piece of armor was first worn by our Lord Jesus. We see this in Isaiah chapter 59. We've noted this about the pieces of the armor generally and the specific examples mentioned in Isaiah 59 that our Lord Jesus himself adored to go and fight and bring salvation. It says in verse 17 of Isaiah 59, for he put on righteousness as a breastplate and an helmet of salvation upon his head. And he put on the garments of vengeance for clothing and was clad with zeal as a cloak. All this was done. He came and He twipped himself for this work because verse 16 says, And he saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor. Therefore his arm brought salvation unto him, and his righteousness it sustained him. There was no mediator between God and man. The justice of God had to be served. The promises of God in the Old Testament had to be kept. so he would come and do it. And not only does he bring judgment to the nations, it says, but in verse 20 of Isaiah 59, and the Redeemer shall come to Zion and unto them that turn from the transgression in Jacob saith the Lord. So boys and girls, what is this helmet of salvation? We see in its origin, it comes from Jesus. And as we'll consider further, why a helmet and why salvation? The first thing we need to note is because it's used by Jesus first. And if we're gonna understand how we are to use it, we first have to understand how Jesus has already used it. Well, what is the Lord Jesus doing here in Isaiah 59? He is putting on His armor to keep the promises of God to deliver His people. And when he puts on this helmet of salvation, he puts on this helmet like he put on the breastplate of righteousness. He put on this helmet to go accomplish salvation, to complete salvation, to take every promise God gave in the Old Testament from the first promise given to Adam and Eve all the way through to the last preachings of the prophets and proclamations and announcements of John the Baptist, Jesus puts on that helmet to go fight for his people and the glory of his father. What we need to see about that particularly is salvation's already done. The battle is already won. We saw that several times as we considered what the armor was for. Boys and girls, do you remember what the armor is for? What's the purpose of the armor? The purpose of the armor is to stand. Put on the whole armor of God, it says in Ephesians chapter six, verse 11. Put on the whole armor of God that for this purpose ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. Then verse 13. Wherefore, take unto you the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. And then verse 14, stand therefore. It says it several times. We are not to run into the fight and gain the victory. Jesus already did it. He already did it. It's our job to stand and hold the line. And isn't it beautiful? What does our Lord Jesus do? Just like we saw with the breastplate of righteousness, not a righteousness of our own, but the righteousness he has and he has accomplished for his people, so the helmet of salvation takes the helmet and hands it to us and says, put this on. Put this on. Not so we would be equipped to go and win the fight. He already did that. We're simply called to stand. He gives us the helmet of salvation. The salvation he accomplished and says, here, this is for you. And he gives it to us. We'll see a bit more. Why a helmet? And why salvation? But we have to know where it comes from first. That it's used by Christ. and it's given to us. How valuable is something? How valuable is something? If somebody knows you need something and they've done a lot of hard work and they're gonna give it to you so you can do what you're called to do, how valuable is that? What if one soldier who already did his tour gave to another soldier and said, you know what? I've been on the battlefield. I know what this enemy is like. I know what you're going to need. You're gonna need this kind of knife. You're gonna need this kind of armor. You're gonna need this kind of rifle. Here, take mine. I hope they would value that a lot. But if someone gives you wisdom and counsel about marriage, about family, about business, about raising your children. And you know they've had a blessed marriage. You've seen the blessing of their raising their children. You've seen their success in business. And they come to you and say, hey, I'd like to share these things with you. God has taught me, God has blessed me, please let me bless you. How valuable would those things be to you? Or would that soldier look at the other one and say, nah, I know better than you. You don't know what you're talking about. Or if somebody came to you and they were to offer you godly advice that you knew you needed and you decided, no, no thanks. I don't need to listen to you. And let's be clear. You could tell that soldier or tell that friend, oh, thank you very much, I appreciate it. You could say that with your lips. But in your mind and your heart, you can do this. And just refuse to listen at all. As we'll see, when the Lord comes and takes the helmet of salvation and says, here, you will need this as part of your armor to do what I'm calling you to do. You must take it. You must value it. Part of having that right value is remembering you can't accomplish your own salvation. There's nothing you can do to make yourself acceptable with God. There's nothing you can do to live successfully in this life, in anything, without Him. You need Him. And if you know you need Him, you will take that helmet. Its origin is from Christ, given to us for use in his service to stand as we're called and as by the grace of God we would value it, what's the first thing we're told to do with this helmet? The first thing we're told to do with this helmet is to take it, to take it. This parallels what we saw with the shield of faith. Verse 16, above all, taking the shield of faith. The shield of faith has been supplied, but it had to be taken up and used properly like we saw last week. So it says with the helmet of salvation and Though it might not seem very clear in the English, it's implied in the English and the very structure of Greek grammar distributes and take the sword of salvation or the sword of the spirit rather as well. These three things need to be taken. Why? The other things don't need to be taken. We've already seen previously the first three pieces of armor go together, and that the next three pieces of armor go together. Two couplets of three. And we need to make sure we take on all the pieces. Verse 11 said, put on the whole armor of God. Verse 13, wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God. Stand there for having your loins girt about with truth. Do you remember what the belt of truth was, boys and girls, and why it girt your loins? It was a belt, or like an apron, that tied up all the loose clothing so you could move whichever way you needed to as you stand holding the line. and it was a belt. So the King James language is dated but helpful. Your loins girt about with truth. Where are your loins? Your stomach, kidneys around here, this part of your body. That belt not only held everything together for the clothing and the other pieces of armor, but it protects in the Hebrew way of thinking. your emotions, how you feel. The way we use it today in the Western world is we talk about our heart as the seat of our emotions. They didn't think of the heart as the seat of their emotions. They didn't feel things in their heart. They felt them in their loins and their bowels and their stomach. and that truth that protects their feelings, that truth that ties up together all the loose things so all the armor can fit together is truth. And I hope you remember it wasn't objective truth, just the truth of God's word. That's what the sword is for. We'll consider that later. The belt of truth is what you know to be true about God and what you know to be true about his word. So you can have courage, so you can be strengthened, so you can stand against all the wiles of the devil, not having your feelings manipulated because you know what is true, you know what is right, you know who Jesus is and you know what he's done for you. So you're not blown by every wind of doctrine. You're not led astray by the ups and downs of your feelings and the temptations of the devil, but you're kept rock solid and protected in who your savior is and what he's done. And that's the basis for the rest of the armor, the belt of truth. The belt of truth. Having your loins girt about with the belt of truth. and having on the breastplate of righteousness, like we saw from Isaiah 59, a righteousness that comes from Christ, like the helmet. He was the one that was righteous. He was the one that was faithful. And he was the one that brought the deliverance. So he took off his breastplate and said, here, this is for you, my righteousness that I have supplied so God can look at you with the same favor that he looks on me. What we call an imputed righteousness, a given righteousness, even though we're just sinners in ourselves. And like we saw in some of those older examples in different parts of armor, that breastplate fit over, tied into the belt of truth, protected your heart, your lungs, your diaphragm, your vital organs. Your very salvation is in Christ and his righteousness, not your own. And it continued, belt of truth, breastplate of righteousness, and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. and understanding the gospel of Jesus Christ, the love of God the Father for sinners, providing righteousness for them, and the fact that they will be delivered for the sake of Christ, was the best preparation and allowed them to go anywhere they needed to, stand on any condition. Didn't make a difference. The worst, pokiest rocks. And those types of sandals they wore had studs on them for the best grip. So as they would stand, no matter what comes, they had the surest foundation. For those of you who take different kinds of martial arts, you know base is very important. Base is essential. Whether you're doing a standing art, or if you're doing something where you are doing more ground fighting. Base is essential. Same thing, spiritually. The gospel, your foundation. And notice those things fit together in that first couplet of three. And then it says, above all, taking the shield of faith. And we saw how we had to pick up that shield, exercise faith and believe what God has said, and not alone but together. Because the shields interlocked with one another. Some of you may know about Roman military positioning. The soldiers would all stand together and their shields would overlap. So the fiery darts would come and they would be quenched and put out. couldn't come in from this side, couldn't come in from that side, because the whole line of us were ready. In some of those military examples, some even had their shields up at an angle. So when the volleys rained down, everyone was covered. Your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace, above all taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye may be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked, not just darts, fiery darts, with those special calculated strategies to burn and to destroy. Then, take the helmet of salvation. Take the helmet of salvation. You have to take it. You have to take it. Just like the shield of faith. Jesus says, this is for you, like he provided the shield. And the question is, are you going to take it? Well, maybe you think, well, that's presumptuous. I can't take it. No, what's presumptuous, and it's amazing how true this is in many cultures, is to spurn a gift. Boys and girls, if somebody comes to you with a gift, what is the right thing to do? To take it. They want you to have it. They're giving it to you because they think you're like, because they think you will like it and it will help you. What would it mean? Imagine what your grandma or grandpa would do or what your friend would do. Whether they bought you a nice gift or whether they made you one, drew you a nice picture, made you a nice craft and they give it to you. And instead of saying, thank you very much, I appreciate that, you say, no, I don't want that. I don't need that. No, that would be very rude. For us, it would be entirely foolish if the Lord Jesus says, listen, here is the salvation I have accomplished for you, to help you as I have called you to stand, and you say, no, that's okay, I got it. That would be foolish. not just rude, you are to take it and put it on your head. But how do you take it? You trust the salvation Jesus Christ has accomplished, and you say, I'm not gonna try and be right with God, and I'm not gonna try and think I have value in myself based on my own works. I'm not gonna think I'm gonna be right with God, and I'm not gonna think I'm somehow acceptable even with myself by anything I have done. My value as a person, my hope in this life, and my acceptability with God is entirely with what Jesus has done. And you take that helmet. You take that helmet. You put it on your head, you put it on, you wear it. Now this might sound strange, but please bear with me. When you have something on, you don't have it off, do you? When you have something on, you don't have it off. There's plenty of hats that we put on and then take off. It's amazing. When it starts to get cold, and in the rare times here it snows, maybe you put on your coat, you put on your snow pants, you put on your gloves, and maybe you're gonna get your sled, and you're gonna go outside, and your mom says, you need your hat! And maybe you don't think you need your hat, but you need to listen to your mother, so you put your hat on. Right? And then you go outside, and you play, and you play, and you play, and maybe even after five minutes, you know how you start to feel? Maybe even on a cold day, maybe even the snow. You feel hot because you've been playing so much. So what do you do? You take your hat off. And maybe then you start to cool off, and you get busy playing again. And then what do you do? Oh, I'm cold. So what do you do? Where's my hat? And you have to go digging through the snow to find your hat to put it on again. to get warm again. When it comes to the helmet of salvation, don't ever take it off. None of this stuff is ever meant to be removed. Put it on and keep it on. And that's the beautiful thing about it being for your head. Because when you put on the helmet of salvation, the emphasis is on how you think and what you believe. And this is where 1 Thessalonians is so beautiful because it shows us the connection between the Lord putting on the helmet in Isaiah 59 and his accomplishing salvation and our taking his salvation and putting it on our heads to protect us and govern our thinking. And what is the significance of the helmet of salvation for us? It is hope. And for an helmet, the hope of salvation. Jesus has already accomplished it. He gives it to me and I put it on. And it's not this hope of, well, maybe, could be, I'm kind of got my fingers crossed. No, it's an absolute surety. It's an expectation. I know all things will work together for good. I know Jesus has saved me. I know we will win. That's really important when you're standing on the battle line, isn't it? And it's amazing how this putting on the piece of armor is so fitting. Our Lord Jesus is the perfect equipper. He knows exactly what we need. So he gives us these six pieces of armor. And if any one of them would be missing, something would be missing for us. There's a fullness here. That's why the emphasis was put on the whole armor, so we would stand. And think of the picture thus far. We've got all the pieces on. We're all standing together, holding our shields, the flaming arrows that could destroy us rain down upon us and we stand locked together. And what do we have in our heads? Jesus has saved me. The victory has been won. And we are gonna hold the line together. Nothing can stop us to use the language of Paul from Romans chapter eight. We are more than conquerors. Why? Because he has loved us and accomplished our salvation. That's what it's used for, to give us that sure hope as we stand against the wiles of the devil. put on the victory Jesus has given you so you are conscious of the victory Jesus has given you and you can stand against the devil. Why so often do we fall to the devil? Even if we do have all the other pieces of the armor on, which may not always be true, we may not be taking up the shield of faith as we should, but you can have all the other pieces together at least in your theological understanding. But if you don't have that assurance of faith, if you don't have that sure hope, if you don't understand who Jesus is and what he's done for you, that's gonna make the standing pretty wearisome. When you believe you've won, when you know you can do this, it's amazing how people can keep going. But when you're not sure this is going to work out, when you start to ask the question, is it really worth doing after all? Is this really true? Well, then things start to fall apart. Then you could use the language, the morale falls. And as you are no longer conscious of the salvation Jesus has given you, you lose hope. you drop the shield. The other pieces of the armor, you start to question them. And it's amazing how all of a sudden the wiles of the devil can just sweep on through. We have to be conscious of who Jesus is and what he's done for us. To use the King James language, what He has done for thee, singular, singular, you personally, but together as the body of Christ. That's why we could say what he's done for us. Well, I hope you see this has the greatest benefits possible. It has the greatest benefits possible personally, personally, that morale goes up. You can live walking in faith and hope and victory. You don't live overwhelmed by the devil. You don't live crippled by your own guilt and failure. You don't live by the expectations of others or the expectation of yourself. You live out of who Jesus is and what he's done regardless of what others have done or what you've done or what you haven't done. And nothing, nothing impacts your hope. Because it's all from Him and nowhere else. It's all from Him and nowhere else. It's His helmet of salvation and what He's done for you. There's a lot of liberty there. There's a lot of freedom there. There's a lot of joy there. There is, like Thessalonians chapter five says, hope, hope. And that's just not true personally. For every individual child of God, as they remember the salvation Jesus has accomplished, it affects us corporately. It affects us corporately. We remember we're standing together, taking our shields together, all together, conscious of who Jesus is and what he's done for me and for you and for us. So the church is one body, all different parts, all functioning together, all using their different gifts in service, and we can help one another. In churches where there isn't a lot of clear preaching about who the Lord Jesus is and what he's done, and there isn't an emphasis on the need for being assured of our salvation in him, not in ourselves, It's amazing how weak the church is. But when the preaching of God's word emphasizes the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the sufficiency of what He's done, and the hope for sinners in Him, and the power and equipping of the Spirit, and as God's people take hold of that by faith, wow! They overcome their own sins. They overcome the sins of others. They faithfully stand against the wiles of the devil and bear witness to the truth of Jesus Christ as they await his return. A lot of benefits, personally and corporately. Well, before we apply this further, let's stand to sing Psalter Selection 362. Psalter Selection 362. and let us stand to sing all stanzas. ♪ Sign my award to thee ♪ ♪ O hear my call ♪ ♪ I love thee, Lord ♪ ♪ For thou hast heard my plea ♪ ♪ Forgive me not ♪ ♪ If thou shouldst harm us ♪ ♪ If to them couldst stand ♪ my soul still waits I look for him to drive away my night. Yea, I am watching but for morning light. Oh, in the Lord ye waiting saints and he will well provide. redemption, full and free, with him abide. From sin and ego, mighty though they seem, his armor Well, a few concluding applications. In this case, questions. First question. Are you thinking about what Jesus has done for you? Are you thinking about what Jesus has done for you? Maybe your answer is no. I'm not thinking about what Jesus has done for me. Maybe break that down a couple different ways. Not thinking about Jesus. That's a tremendous problem. But a second and related problem, connected to if you're thinking about Jesus or not is, are you thinking about what Jesus has done for you? Becomes personal. It's not just something else out there. It's something that concerns you. Those two things go together. You need to be thinking about Jesus. Firstly, you need to be thinking about Jesus because He is the Son of God come in the flesh, who has borne the curse of death for the likes of us. And He is worthy of every thought, every feeling, and every desire you have. He's worthy of all your attention, all the time. He's worthy of all your love. He's worthy of all your care. He's worthy of all your adoration. And before you may be tempted to think, well, pastor, that's great, that's fine, but I have things to do. I can't be thinking about Jesus all the time. Well, you're wrong. You're wrong. how you treat your husband and your wife, how you treat your children, how you do your job, how you spend your money is all about Jesus. You don't do any of those things without asking him first. You don't think about how to make those decisions without consulting his word first. It's not an unreasonable request. You just don't understand the depth to which you must acknowledge him. Now everything I just said about Jesus is because he is the one who has come to work salvation. But even aside from that, let's say you're not a Christian and you don't see your sin and you don't see your need for a savior, you're like that person I mentioned in the sermon who rejects the helmet of salvation, you would still owe the Lord Jesus all these things. because he is your creator and you are his creature that is entirely dependent upon him. You can't breathe without him, you can't think without him. As a creature, you must acknowledge him. But by the grace of God, as a saved sinner, he's glorious to your eyes. And if you weren't thinking about Jesus, Maybe you've forgotten what you are. Maybe you've forgotten you're his creature. Maybe you forgot you were a sinner. And you forgot all the things you did wrong. Maybe you decided you'd focus on all the things other people do wrong. Just seeing what they do wrong. Maybe you decided you'd focus on all the things people have done wrong to you personally. Maybe you're even tempted to think about all those things, though we wouldn't say it. You're tempted to think all the things God has done wrong to you, instead of focusing on the things you have done wrong against Him. Jesus becomes less and less precious to us, as we need Him less and less. as we don't need salvation, as we don't need faith, as we don't need the gospel, as we don't need righteousness, and as we don't need truth. We think about him less, we depend upon him less. And so we are more and more vulnerable. But it's not just thinking about Jesus. It's what he's done for you. As a creature, as a sinner, and what he actually did. This is why reading the Bible is so important so you understand who Jesus is and what he's done for you. All he went through, all he suffered, all he's provided. As you do that, as you get to know him, and you think about him, and you delight in him, and what he's done for you, your sense of salvation, will grow marvelously. Marvelously. And you can read about Jesus all kinds of ways. One of the best ways, read the book of Hebrews. It's hard to read, but it tells you so much about what he's done. Read the Song of Solomon. Shows you how glorious he is in loving and caring for and delighting in you. Study the Song of Solomon in the right way. Get a copy of James Durham's commentary and read it. It's amazing how when you're in that romantic time of courtship in the first years of your marriage, you delight to be with and think about the person all the time. Recapture those things with the Lord Jesus. That's why in the book of Revelation it says, you have forgotten your first love. Firstly, are you thinking about what Jesus has done for you? Secondly, do you realize how equipped you are? Secondly, do you realize how equipped you are? Do you realize what he's given you? He's given you a piece of equipment that will strengthen you and equip you with hope to stand no matter what. No matter what you do, no matter what someone does to you, no matter what you may fear happens, he says, take who I am, take what I've done, and stand against everything. Unstoppable. The more you understand what Jesus has accomplished for you, the more you'll realize what a blessing it is. Put it to you another way. The more you realize what He has done to save you, the more you will realize how saved you are and how safe you are. The more you understand what He has done to save you and make you safe, the more you will realize how much you are saved and how safe you are. Do you realize how equipped you are? Do you realize what he's done? It's amazing how that comes from thinking about Jesus and knowing yourself, and then by the grace of God making that connection with the significance of it for you. Are you thinking about what Jesus has done for you? And do you realize how equipped you are with this piece of armor? And thirdly, do you have an expectation of salvation? Not only an expectation of going to heaven, but that expectation that everything will work out, that everything is going according to plan, that God is in control. Because he is. He is. You can go back through your life and think about your hurts, your pains, your struggles. You can go look at the news and the headlines and wonder about the wars and the troubles and what's gonna happen. You can watch the stock market go up and down. You can read all the debates about tariffs. But one thing is absolutely sure. Jesus says, all power in heaven and earth is given unto me. God the Father asserts that his will will be done in heaven and earth. And he promises that all things work together for the good of those who love him and those who are the called according to his purpose. To take the liberty of pulling that verse from Romans 8 and restating it in light of Ephesians 6, you'll stand against the wiles of the devil equipped with everything you need if you put on all my armor. including that helmet of salvation. Take it and put it upon your head. Be filled with the thoughts of me and what I've done for you, and you will stand against the wiles of the devil, no matter how great or how powerful. It's true for Job. It's true for all God's people. That's why we stand together. Do you have an expectation of salvation? and expectation things will work out. If you don't, why not? If you're not sure things are gonna work out, why not? Isn't Jesus who he said he would be? Hasn't he done what he said he would do? But maybe you start to think that expectation is, but I'm not who I need to be. Of course you're not. Maybe your expectation is, but those other people don't know what they should be doing. Your expectation is in those other people. They're just as bad as you are. Every expectation, not in ourselves, not in others, but in Christ. And isn't it beautiful? As we wear this armor together, standing shoulder to shoulder, we don't need to have any doubts. We don't need to have any doubts because of He who has equipped us in what He's done. that the salvation is sure, that we have hope because we wear his helmet of salvation. Amen. Let us pray.