Thank you all for being here, but yeah, we're in Ephesians 6. I'll start verse 13, get a run into this. Wherefore, take into you the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all to stand. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness, and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace, and above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked, and take the helmet of salvation. That's where we are this morning. Our armor is nearing completion. We've got the belt, belt of truth, the one that girds us, gives us strength, holds us tight together, helps bind other things close to us, the breastplate that is there, the gospel boots, the shield that we learned about last week that is the shield for all of us. And now we have the helmet. Not just any old helmet. This isn't a motorcycle helmet. It's not a football helmet. It's not a hiking helmet. Those look dorky. This is a cool helmet. This is the helmet of salvation. But when you're thinking about it, it seems odd, doesn't it? in God's order that is never out of order, a saying that we put in front of you often here to remember that God is listing something that's in the order of importance. And we're just now getting to salvation? Doesn't that strike you a little weird? That this will be where it is? Better get saved, you know, now you've got those other things on. Is that really what he's saying? No, that's not what he's saying at all. If you're not saved, if you're not born again, if you're not a child of God, if you're not elect, if you're not chosen, you don't have any of this equipment. You don't have the first stitch. So he's not talking about that. You didn't get the belt of truth without salvation. That comes with salvation. You begin to understand that this is true. I am a sinner. I agree with God. I need salvation. We understand the belt of truth. It brings that to us. You don't have a, you're not covered with the breastplate of righteousness because you're still in your sins without salvation. You have to have Christ to have the breastplate of righteousness and to be covered. You're not covered, or you have no firm foundation or the propulsion of the gospel boots, because that is what drives you to share the good news of the gospel, that you have the good news, that you now know it, and you can go and tell on the mountain. You can go share the good news. And so you don't have that if you don't understand the gospel to be saved, let alone to do that. You only have that with salvation. You have no faith to trust in as a shield if you do not have salvation. No, God's wrath is upon you. You cannot shield or wield off anything. You are a victim and accountable and vulnerable to anything, all the attacks. And so salvation is established much earlier. We are now getting the equipment to go out and fight. In chapter two, I'm just gonna go ahead and turn. Ephesians chapter two is where We kind of dealt with all this. It starts out at the beginning that you are dead and you're trespasses and you're sin. Chapter one kind of tells us of all the benefits, a little bit of our origin story, that you were chosen before the foundation of the world. Now that we're reading this, we have it, and so then he goes through and he starts telling us all the power and the access that we have. Resurrection power of God is now available to us. He's transformed you, he's made you this, and then he starts telling you your history. Remember who you were. You were dead and you're trespasses and sin, but you're not anymore. He goes on and says, you were on course with this world. You were doing, marching to the course of this world. You were doing as the world dictated, acting and behaving just like we would expect you to in the world because you were of the world. And then he goes on, he says, you were under the prince and the power of the air. The devil himself was your master. He was your boss. Whether you acknowledged it or not, he said, jump. You said, how high? He said, go. And you said, yes, sir. You did it, you did it. You were children of wrath, it says at the end of verse three. Even as others, we were just like everyone else in the world. We were children of wrath. But then thank the Lord for verse four. This is where he's telling us our story. If you've repented and trusted in Christ. Verse four says, but God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us. Even when we were dead in sins, he quickened us together with Christ. By grace are you saved. and have raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. See, it's already a done deal. Christ has done it, he saved us, and so as long as he saved us, it's as if we were already sitting at the banquet hall in heaven. This is how secure you are in your salvation. Verse seven, that in the ages to come, he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus for by grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves it is the gift of God not of works lest any man shall boast for we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works which God hath before ordained, that we should walk therein. And so we are saved, and it is God who's done this. And this is where salvation has already come, and we've gone through this education of what he expects us to now, how to live. He starts telling us that in chapter three, and chapter four, and chapter five, and then we're at chapter six. We are finally at the graduation ceremony, where they have the table all spread out. We just went through a kindergarten graduation, and they had awards, or they had medals that they won, and they had a nice big trophy. for the Bible Award, and I'll brag on my grandsons, they cleaned house. And so TJ was rattling like the tin man when he left with all of them. Cash had several on him, and TJ had the Bible Award was a big eagerly wanted. He come running back after and he was showing all of us, look, I got the Bible Award. And so this is like that. We have it all stretched out and now he's presenting and they're coming by and they strap on the belt. and they're putting on the breastplate of righteousness, things that we already have, that he's now manifesting in a suit of armor that he's given us, and so it's this graduation ceremony. We've gotten the shield, and now they're placing the helmet of salvation upon our head. We're being issued our gear. Now he is preparing us for battle, and the helmet is like our crown, something that goes on top. It's a shield for your head. We talked about the breastplate being the shield for the vital organs, you know, that we have that on. It's a close fit one. Less anything we get around our outer shield, we have that breastplate. The boots are a shield for your feet. If you've ever tried skipping across a gravel driveway, you know when you have shoes on and when you don't. And so they're a shield for your feet, that firm foundation of footing that holds and protects that they cannot disarm you. Faith, the shield of our shields that we put out in front to take the first blows that can't get to us. And so we have that shield of faith that is out there. So now we have this helmet. It's a shield for our head. It's a shield for the most vital thing that we have, us. It's not just a shield, it's a weapon. If we use it correctly. It's subtle but fierce. Put it on. It's not some Sunday school, this is not my cardboard one. This is the real deal, I'm gonna put it down in front here. Unless they keep putting it back on. It's a weapon of fierceness. It's a weapon of fearlessness. The helmet of salvation. What are we afraid of? We have salvation, right? It's a weapon of confidence. Though you slay me, yet shall I live. This is a confidence weapon. This is a weapon of security. If you know you're safe going into a battle, is it really a battle? I'm safe, I'm secure, I have victory. It's a weapon of hope. Because without hope, the people are lost. We have hope, and it's not a hope like, I hope, it's a hope of exceeding confidence. We'll get into that a little bit more, but it's knowing that. It's a weapon of knowing that we have utter victory. We've read to the end, we know how it ends, we know what the outcome is, the king wins. He's king of kings, he's lord of lords, and we are soldiers of his. This is a weapon of invincibility, no weapon that is formed against us shall prosper, because I am his and he is mine. And we go forth, and that makes you a fierce warrior, if you know all those things. If you have that kind of confidence and that kind of power, it's a helmet of salvation. You can ram and you can jam and you can do whatever else with it because it just bounces off. So because I have salvation, I have a testimony. When I was 13 years old, I've shared it with you. I'll keep sharing it, it's the only one I got. That's what it is there. And I look at my past and I can remember the day when I was saved. I replay it often in my mind. I even kind of recreated some of the video from a video about that time, movie about that time. But it's, I remember walking the aisle. I remember the week before. I remember reading Romans 10, 13, for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord. You know, I'm putting my name in there. I remember crying out for salvation. I remember Jesus Christ granting it to me. I remember the feeling of exaltation that my sins were gone and now I'm saved and secure and it's changed me, it's transformed me. That was called justification. That is my salvation as I look in the past, that God pronounced me as righteous on that day as a 13 years old. Because Jesus Christ saved me, he took away all my sins, he paid for them on the cross, and all my sins were future when Jesus died for me, and now he has now justified me in the eyes of God. God doesn't see Brian in his shorts coming, because that's what he would see, but he sees Christ in my stead, and he justifies me, he brings me up to the line. He says he's good. Not because I'm good, but because Christ is good. I am credited with Christ's righteousness, and so are you if you have salvation. I'm made acceptable to God now, not because who I am or what I've done, because what Christ has done, and I just ask him to save me. And so now I am justified. But now, here in my current state, at 59 and holding for at least another couple months. I am now being sanctified. That's another part of my salvation. He is sanctifying me or sanctification. He's trying to make me more like Him. I make it a hard job on him, but he's trying to make me more like him. He's setting me apart from the world. He's trying to distance me from the old world that I used to march in and do the orders. He's now setting me apart. He's making me different. He's saying, no, see him, he's different. He doesn't behave like you. He doesn't act like you. He doesn't say the things you do. He doesn't respond in the way that you would think he would. He responds in a way like my son Jesus would, or at least I try to. He's trying to make me holy. He's trying to make me more obedient. He's trying to grow me in spiritual maturity because now I was saved, I was justified, and now He's sanctifying me. He is now saving me as I live. And so it's part of salvation, the active part, the here and now part. It's the fruit that we can see or I can see as I look back like, man, I used to do that, now I don't. Now I have a conviction about this where I wouldn't have, and so all those things, it's sanctification. It's an active part where I can look and say that, hey, I was saved in my testimony, I am being saved, I see him working in my life, I'm being justified. I was justified, I'm being sanctified, and one day I will be glorified. That is the third part of salvation. But one day, God will completely remove sin from my life. I will no longer be tempted by sin. I will no longer have a desire to sin. it'll no longer worm its way in and say, oh yes, but can't you? And that little rebel, he can't stir it up anymore, it's been put to death, it is gone, I have been transformed. And that would come at the point of the rapture, as far as when we are changed in the moment, the twinkle of an eye, that 1 Corinthians 15 talks about, where our body is now that superfied body that gets like Christ's body, where he changes us, he transforms us, I'm still 100% me, I'm still gonna be goofy, still gonna be weird, still gonna say those things, but I'm not gonna be sinful. I have a desire to sin. He's transforming. He's not giving me a powerful body where it was a weak body. He goes through all those things. And so it's not happened yet. It is future. So I am saved. I was saved. I am being saved and I will be saved in the future. One day he will finish the work that he has begun in me. I'm being transformed. And then that day I will ultimately be transformed. into a sinless perfection that God has in store for me in the future. And so that's salvation in three parts. I have been saved, I am being saved, and I will be saved. That is part of salvation. If you look at me with 1 Thessalonians chapter five. And so I think we often, we think about salvation just being that first part, the time I got saved. And we forget about the other two parts. But it's important to be able to have the helmet of salvation and understand it as your armor, as more than it's not just a quaint story that you have back in the back. Now we can use that with a breastplate of righteousness, and it is part of our helmet of salvation that we have that testimony. But it's an active part of our weaponry if we use it correctly. And so we need to know and understand it. And so we're gonna look to the Scriptures to help us. And so 1 Thessalonians 5, we'll start with verse one. But of the times and of the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord shall come as a thief in the night. She's talking about when the Lord comes. For when they shall say, peace and safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman and a child, and they shall not escape. But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that the day should overtake you as a thief. He's talking to us now. He's talking to those who have repented of their sins and trusted Christ as their Savior, those who are in the sanctification part. He's going to talk to us about our salvation and how we're using this in the real world. We're not worried about what's coming upon the world. Matter of fact, we look forward to it. As things get worse and worse, I see those signs in the news every day, and yet I look at it and I don't get, oh no, what was me? It's just closer. The Lord's a little bit closer. He's coming for me. It's just like He said. And so it's to help guard me up and to bolden me up to speak about my faith. But verse 4 says, No, we see it. We know what's happening. Verse 5, for ye are children of light, and the children of the day. Ye are not of night, nor of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep as others do, but let us watch and be sober. You know, it makes us more vigilant. It makes us more attentive. For they that sleep, sleep in the night. And they that are drunken, are drunken in the night. But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet, the hope of salvation. For God has not appointed us to wrath, but obtained salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him. Wherefore, comfort yourselves and edify one another, even as ye do. So verse eight tells us that the helmet there is the hope of our salvation. Now hope, and the word hope there is not like a, oh, I hope I win the flowers. It's not that, even if you try to stuff the box. But no, it's a certain expectancy. It's a hope. It's different than how we use it. It's a no-so. It's a certain expectancy. You know it. It's not a wish. Let's just put it that way. It's not a wish. It's what you know. This is what I expect. This is what's guaranteed unto me. Verse nine, it says, For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ. We don't fear wrath. I don't fear hell. I did. I did a lot. And every once in a while, I still try to imagine like, what if Christ hasn't? And that makes me just make sure my salvation's tight and secure because I don't want that. I don't wanna be separated from Him. I don't wanna be plunged. I don't wanna be paying for my sins in my flesh because of my guilt against the Holy God. I don't want that. I'll take the salvation that Jesus Christ has purchased where He said, He goes, I suffered that for you. Yes, sign me up. I'll take that. And so I don't have to worry about wrath. God's wrath does not abide upon me. It's not coming to me. I am safe and secure. The worst is what man can do to me. They can't do nothing. Or do I fear the one who can destroy the body? Fear the one who can destroy the soul in hell, that's what it is, that's the proper fear. I fear the Lord, and I got right with Him, I reconciled with Him, I'm justified together with Him, and so I have salvation. I don't fear wrath. This is a helmet, see, it's a security, it's protecting me. Verse 11 says, wherefore, comfort yourselves together and edify one another, even as you also do. This is comfort. It's a shield for my head. I don't care what they charge they label at me. I don't care what they do with me. I have salvation. That's why Paul could go and they're like, Paul, you're gonna meet bonds. They're gonna try to kill you. Your ship's gonna wreck. Yeah, okay. You know, it's like he knew that whatever, you're gonna send me home to Christ sooner? Joke's on you, I win, I win. And so they take him outside to execute him. I'm sure, Paul's smiling. I'm sure he was not downtrodden. I'm sure he was still preaching the gospel up to the last minute. We don't have those words recorded, but I guarantee his character, that's how it was. Our mind can rest. I know where I'll live forever. That's why the greatest joy was when my children professed faith. Because since they were born, what's my wife and my family all doing? We're praying, Lord, let them come to know you at an early age. What am I doing for my grandkids? Lord, let them come to know you at a young age. More because I want my family with me. I can't take junk with me. I can't take stuff. I can take people I love. And so we denied ourselves to make sure we put the emphasis on salvation and church and the priority of who Christ was so it'd be a priority for them so that they would see and know and understand to make sure that they were raised in that fear and admonition of the Lord where they'd come to know Him so I could have comfort in this salvation. Praise God, all three of my children. Praise God, one of my grandchildren made a profession of faith at six years old. And so yeah, we're excited for it. And to hear them sing gospel songs at that younger age. And so it's a comfort. It's a shield for my head. You can't separate me from my family. You can't separate me from my church. We'll gather together again one day. We'll be there. And so it's a shield for our head. My mind can rest. I know where I will be forever. I know where my family will be forever. When I lost my dad, I didn't lose him. He's just I know where he is. I know where I'll go and see him again one day And so it is a comfort and so I don't fear the night I don't fear judgments because I am a child of light And I understand and I can see clearly because I see God in control and moving and working in these things And so we watch we wait we're sober. We're alert and Verse eight again says, but let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith, that shield, and love, and for a helmet, the hope of salvation. So we are suited up. We are a prepared people for a prepared place. We are guarded and we are secure. What are we afraid of? Turn with me to Jude 24. Jude verse 24, only one chapter. We're nearing the end. It's a pretty cool book. This was written by Jesus' half-brother. He is the child of Joseph and Mary. In verse 24, he's bringing his conclusion. He says, now unto him that is able to keep you from falling and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy. This is his send off, this is his closing statement here. He says that he's praying to the people who read this And he's praying the promise of God. He's praying the shield of faith about it. He's praying this helmet of salvation that we have. He's saying here that he can keep you from falling to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy. To see God save me. I didn't save me. It's not what I did that saved me. There's nothing about that at all. I can't save me. I couldn't keep my salvation if I did. I'd worry about losing it if it was up to me. Because I'm a yo-yo, I do dumb things, I'm up, I'm down, I'm all around, I do all the, no. Christ saved me. And so what, you know who keeps me? Christ keeps me, God keeps me. They keep, they're saved me, they do the keeping. As I did nothing to earn my salvation, I can do nothing to lose my salvation. And matter of fact, it says here, I'm even presented as faultless. Joke's on them, I'm not. But God has made me that way. God sees me that way because he knows that he will finish the work in me and one day I will be glorified and be faultless as I stand before his throne. I'm not yet. And so I'm full of faults. But I praise God for salvation that removed that fault and that guilt that was upon me. It's a great miracle of God. It's a helmet of protection that I have. It's a helmet that I wear that gives me confidence to go forth in the world knowing that to live is Christ, to die is gain. So no, I don't have to worry about that. I can't remove it. Can't take it off. He keeps me. Turn with me to John chapter 10. The gospel of John. Chapter 10, verse 28. Jesus in the upper room before He goes to be crucified, and He's giving them words of encouragement. John 10, verse 28, here He's praying this high priestly prayer, kind of, and He says, kind of it is. Verse 28, He goes, and I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of My hand. My Father which gave them me is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand. I and my Father are one. I am held by God. I am held by God the Father, and I am held by God the Son. That's who saved me. He says Brian is mine. He asked for salvation, I give it to him. And then Jesus holds me, and then God holds me over the top of Jesus. He says who's gonna pluck that out? Who's gonna come get him? It's rhetorical. Nobody can. I'm not holding. God's holding me. That's the confidence, it's not up to me. So I'm not out doing all these penitent things, or I'm not out doing all these Hail Marys, and doing all these stations, or whatever else, trying to make sure my salvation's safe and secure. I am saved, I am secure, I am held. I am kept by God himself. So if Satan starts to bring doubts against me, saying that, oh, you're not saved, you must have lost it, and he brings the blow, he hits my helmet, and I'm like, I didn't save me. I'm not holding me. God holds me. The shield or the sword bounces off my helmet, does no harm. Might make a ringing in my ears for a minute, but that's about it. Or if he says, oh, you don't really have salvation. You really blew it now. Bang, it bounces off again. I go over and I rehearse it. It is a helmet that helps me in warfare, knowing that my vital is protected in this way. Look at 2 Corinthians chapter 13. 2 Corinthians. Chapter 13, it's the last chapter. Verse five, 2 Corinthians 13, five. Examine yourselves, whether you be in the faith. Prove your own selves. Know you not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except you be reprobates? Go over your testimony. If he says, oh, you lost your salvation, or boy, you sure sinned over there, you can't be saved, and he starts attacking you, use the helmet of salvation to be like, well, here's what I know. When I was 13, I cried out for whosoever shall call upon the Lord, and the Lord shall be saved. Is that true? Yes, that's true. So I examine myself. What am I trusting in? Am I trusting in the Dalai Lama? I don't think so. Am I trusting in whatever else? No, I'm not doing either. I'm trusting in Jesus Christ and Christ alone. So I go over. This is what I believe. This is what I know. This is where doctrine is vital. This is increasing your shield of faith. We use all these instruments together. I use all these things. I trust him. The Bible is true, the belt is on. It's His righteousness that covers me. I have the helmet of salvation. He's given it to me. I have the shield of faith. I believe this. I know that every word in the Bible is absolutely true. I have all these things and you are working it. Examine yourselves daily. I'm prepared for battle. I have it as a helmet. I have it as a shield. I have it as a protection. And so we go over these things. And if you're saying, but I'm always going over it. So what? Paul says do it. Examine yourselves daily. Make sure you are. And the more you do it, the faster you can go over it. Here's the things I know. Here's the points I have. Here's what salvation is. You go through it, and if you're like, I don't know, and you have some answer other than Jesus, then you need to go back and do some serious looking. Maybe it wasn't attacked from devil, maybe it was attacked from God saying, I don't know, you put your faith and trust in something that's not right. So maybe that. We're supposed to be soldiers, we're supposed to know. So we go over this. Look at 1 John. This is the little book of John. 1 John chapter five. John. John who endures longer than the others. John who becomes this patriarch of the church. So they kind of wheeled him out in a wheelbarrow when he got so old and put him underneath a tree at Ephesus. And so this is probably one of the things that he would teach. And so he was going over. He saw all the end times vision. He saw all the book of Revelation. He saw all that. He dies of old age. And so he is telling us the things that we should know. In 1 John 5, verse 13, in his conclusion to this little letter, in verse 13 he says, these things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God. How many are here that believe on the name of the Son of God? This is written unto you that you may know that you have eternal life and that you may believe on the name of the Son of God. These things aren't written that you might wish or that you might have some kind of life. If I dared, just take a gamble. Now these things are written that you may know that you have ever realized, that you are saved by the Son of God. And so these are not something that we're supposed to be worrying about. This is something that you're to know as a helmet. It's a solid helmet that can take a blow. I have my salvation. That is the core of who you are as a Christian. Do you know it? Make sure you know it. Practice it upon yourself. No doubts. Be convinced. If you have doubts, go over. Philippians 2.12 says, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. Fix it. Fix it. If you have a problem, come to me. We'll go over it again and again and again. And I'll tell you this, first and foremost, trust God. Do you not trust God? If you've asked for Him to save you, do you think He's gonna tell you no? If a man, you have a kid, if you ask him for a fish, you don't give him a serpent. He goes, now I am better than any man. If you ask for salvation, would I not give it to you? That's why I sent my son. Do you not trust God? Trust God. Do we not believe that every word in the Bible is absolutely true? Trust him, know that it's true. Have that helmet on and be secure in it. Work out your own salvation with fear and tremor. That's Philippians 2.12 if you need to look it up. Be saved, be sure, trust God. His word is true, all of them. God does not lie. Maybe that's something you need to write on the inside of your shield that you're looking at. God does not lie. And he has told me I am his. I have a few more of those sheets that I passed out last week. They went pretty quick. They kind of go through and just kind of tell us some of the things that you are that you need to have to build and strengthen your shield of faith. He did not lie to you. God does not lie. If he said he saved you, he saved you. If he says he's keeping you, he's keeping you. If he says he's not lost any of you, he will not lose any of you. He'll deliver you. What do you trust in for salvation, then, if you're having concern? If it's not in the Son, if that's not the first answer in the death and burial resurrection of Jesus Christ, you do have some issues, and we need to work on that. You're just like, well, it's my church membership, it was my family, I was born to a Christian. No, it's Jesus Christ, his death, burial, and resurrection, and that alone that saved you. It's not your catechism, it's not anything, it's that. And we can build upon that, that is for sure, but go through and make sure you know. Let's go to Ephesians 4, back to our book. An earlier lesson, Ephesians 4. Maybe now as we get this equipment, they hit home a little better. Ephesians 4 verse 30. Ephesians 4 verse 30, and grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby you are sealed into the day of redemption. He has given you the Holy Spirit. Do you feel his prompting? Do you feel his urging? Does he give you confidence? If you do, he says he has sealed you. You are sealed, you are secure, you stay fresh, you're preserved, you're like a jar on grandma's shelf in the basement. You're preserved, you're not, nothing coming, no rot, nothing gonna get in and deter you or corrupt you. You are sealed, you're preserved until the day. And it'll come on that day, he will glorify you and fulfill everything that you are. And so you were saved, you are being saved, you will be saved, you are sealed. Do you see growth? Do you see signs of sanctification where God is moving and working in your life? Do you see the desire to be in his word, desire to be around his people, desire to be in his house? Do you see those things? These things, then you know, If you have those things, that you were saved, if you see God working in your life in sanctification, then you can trust that you will be saved because you are sealed unto that day. If God has begun a work in you, he is faithful just to finish the work that he's begun in you. You are sealed, so trust God. Let's go back to kindergarten. Go back to John 3. I'm just trying to build your helmet up. John 3. John 3, we're on a rooftop with Nicodemus. John 3, verse 15. Jesus' word, right? The word's in red. That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Do you believe on him? Ask yourself that, do you believe that? Whosoever, that's you, that's a blank line, put your name in there, I'll put mine for Brian, believes in him, I should not perish, but I'll have everlasting life. At 13, I believed in him. I believed in the finished work of Jesus Christ. Do I understand it like I did now? No, I didn't. I understood enough that I was a sinner and that he was a savior. I understood that he was offering me the greatest opportunity of my life, I better take it, that he could forgive me of my sins, that he could make me justified before his eyes, that I could live in heaven together with him forever. With my family? Yes, I'll take that. So do you believe in him? And he says, you have everlasting life. Verse 16, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever, there it is, believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. It is something you have, everlasting. It began at salvation, it's everlasting. It's not like you get eternal life when we get to heaven. We have eternal life here and now, and so it is true. Trust it. Obey it. Put your faith and trust in Christ and trust it. Trust him and we obey him. How many Christians spend their whole life unsure? Filled with fears and doubts and worries. At some point you gotta let go and trust God. You have to put your faith in him. You have to take that blind step. You have to jump off the edge and say, it's you Lord. And give it to him. Now live a life of obedience. Take and grab these promises and apply them to your life and say, these are mine now. That makes your shield of faith. Know and believe what you believe. That's why we gather together. That's why we talk about the Bible. That's why we go through it a book at a time, a verse at a time. Don't believe in a ritual. or some deed that you did, or something that you earned, or whatever, that you might try to do to make you feel more secure. Now, if you're gonna do something, there are acts that come with salvation. You wanna be faithful, you wanna be a representative of Christ, you wanna be His hands and feet, and that does cause us to go out and to do things for Him, but not to earn our salvation. It's because of our salvation to show that we are saved in the sense that I want others to be saved, and so I wanna try to reach the homeless. I wanna try to reach those in another country. I wanna try to reach those in my community And so we do good things, but not to be saved, but because we are saved, because we are now crafted in the image of Christ and he did good things. So we do that, and so then be prepared. Be ready for battle. Are we ready? Are you fully prepared now to see how we can trust this helmet? Turn to Romans 8. This should be the chapter that we all have marked Any Christian soldier that we should have, we should know it. Romans 8. And we're gonna read it now with most of our armor. We've got everything but the last two pieces, and you're gonna say, no, the last piece, last two pieces, trust me. We're gonna start at verse 28, Romans 8, 28. Read this with a warrior mindset. And we know that all things work together for good. to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose. Do you know God? Do you trust God? Are you with Him? No matter what we are facing in our life, it's going to work together for our good and to God's glory. But you're like, you don't know what I'm going through, it's so horrible. God says he's working it for your good and to his glory. Trust him in that, warrior. Trust him in that. He didn't say he's gonna remove a battle from me, that things aren't gonna be hard. He doesn't say, and now life is a bed of roses. He doesn't promise that at all. Joel Osteen promises that. It's not true, it's not in the Bible. He gives us this. He tells us, no, you're gonna be facing warfare. Trust me in it though, trust me in it, no matter what we are facing. Verse 29, for whom he did foreknow, he did also predestinate to be conformed unto the image of his son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, here comes the chain of grace. Moreover, whom he did predestinate, them he also called. And those whom he called, he also justified. And those he justified, them he also glorified. It's a little simplified, different version I just gave you of how salvation was justification, sanctification, glorification. Here he has predestination, called, justified, glorified. He finishes, it's a chain that's all linked together. It all goes, you start at the beginning, it ends at the end. We have it all, it's all past tense too. He sees it as if it is already done in your life. I've already called you, I predestinated you, I justified you, I glorified you. In God's eyes, in God's viewpoint as he looks at it, we stand in the heavenlies right now with him. It is done, it is finished. He's fought the fight and we are there in his presence. And so we are sealed until that day and God already sees us in the finished state. As if it is already done, we should too. That's the confidence that we should have as Christian. It is done. We stand on that confidence, I stand before him. All these were past tense. Verse 31, what shall we say then to these things? If God be for us, who could be against us? See, it's that warrior mindset. Paul has stirred it up in him. You know, he's there, he's got the helmet on. This is confidence, this is victory. This is security, it's fearlessness, it's hope of a confident expectantly. If God is for us, who can be against us? This is us storming the gates of hell, because it's not gonna prevail, because we know that we win, that we have this victory. Man. You're but I'm a sinner. Well, you didn't save yourself God saved you you go back and you start it again and you examine yourself and you make sure Put on this helmet keep it on quit trying to take it off You can't if he's given it to you. It is yours be saved be secure trust God verse 33 I'm, sorry verse uh, where am I at 32 and he spared not his own son, but he delivered him up for us and for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all thing? Who shall lay these things to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifies us." Who changed us? Wait a minute, who's charging us here? It's Satan, right? He's charging us. Can't charge me. It's been satisfied. Christ has already done it. We are saved. We are justified, sanctified, glorified. We are warriors. And so there's nothing you can bring against us. There's nothing that you can do. God is the one who justified me. I didn't. And so your argument's with him. And so we just defer. The helmet defers it and says, see my boss up here. It's not me. He's done it. And so we're fighting strongly. Verse 33, it is God who justifies us, not ourselves, and so we're trusting in the finished work of God, not ourselves. Verse 34, who is it he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God and who maketh the intercession for us. These blows are bouncing off our helmets right and left. Who condemns us? You can't, Jesus is interceded. I did this, I purchased them, I died for them, I took their sins, I paid the punishment, I died in their place, I suffered all that they should have suffered on the cross. I rose again the third day showing the victory. Devil, you have no charge against them. And so the blows fall off our helmet as a helmet protectors. They have salvation as it comes against us. And so bouncing blows. Verse 35. No! These are all bouncing up. They are all crushed by our shield. They are all putting out the fiery dark of the wicked. Nothing lands against us no matter what comes. Tribulation? We know it's working towards our good. God told us this. We are at war. Distress? We know it. A persecution? We expected it. Famine? God's the one who really feeds us. He's the bread of life, the bread of heaven. Is it nakedness or peril? He clothes me. Is it a sword against me? To live in Christ is to die is gain. We answer again, verse 36, as it is written, for thy sake we are all killed all the day long. We are counted as sheep for the slaughter. It's no surprise for us, but we not stop. We are for him. Devil, do your worst. Christ, it's for his glory that we march and we do anything. Verse 37, nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. Not in ourselves. It's through the power of Jesus Christ that we have it. We are unstoppable. The gates of hell will not prevail against us. We are to charge them again and again, because we are saved, we are secure, we are protected. And then Jude talked about snatching them out of the fire, even hating the garment spotted with flesh. You know how we are right there at the edge trying to pull people. It seemed like they're destined for hell. We're right at the edge trying to pull them back. Say, no, God has saved you. Repent and trust in him. Salvation can come unto you. Verse 38, he says, for I am persuaded. In my mind, this is Mel Gibson in Braveheart with a blue face on his horse. He's running down the line, and we're all standing there, and he's giving us this charge. Only thing, this is ramped up, so guys, appreciate it. Thank you, guys. But this is that kind of rally charge, ready for war as the battle comes. He says, for I am persuaded that neither death nor life nor angels fallen angels, no angels, no principalities, those unseen forces, that supernatural realm, nor powers, nor presence, nor things to come. I don't care what comes upon the world. I don't care what the world tries to tell us. I don't care what kind of shenanigans is going on. Jesus Christ is King of kings and Lord of lords and he is our master. We fight for him. nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is Christ Jesus our Lord. That is salvation. He says, you can't take this away from me. That makes us a fearless warrior, diving into the fray of the battle saying, what can you do? Nothing. Christ has done it all. He has fought the battle. This is the invincibility. This is the shield of faith that we have around us. It makes us fearless. It makes us confident. It makes us bold in the Lord. So put on the helmet. Let's quit worrying about stuff. Let's believe and trust. Put on the helmet. We have salvation if you have it, so let's have boldness. Let's have confidence. Let's be fearless. Philippians 121 says, for me to live is Christ and to die is gain. So stand up, warriors. Stand up. No warriors here? Come on, stand up, warriors. This is what he's called us for, to put on the helmet of salvation. I'm gonna pray to God. God, strengthen our faith. Grow us in our security. Grow us in the security of our salvation. May we put more of a faith and trust in Jesus Christ than we ever have in our life before. I pray you give us boldness. I pray you make us fearless. What can man do unto us? Nothing. We have salvation with you. What can they do? Separate us from you? No. Paul just went through, no creature, nothing that we can imagine, nothing that we've ever imagined or could imagine that we, Can't imagine that it has come and can separate us. Lord, you have done it all. Move our hearts to be bold. Move our hearts to trust you. May we have confidence in you. May we give our all for you. You're all for us. And Lord, if there's some here that aren't sure or they're confused, and they're not quite understanding it. They're like thinking, I don't know, I'm not quite there. I pray that they would start with salvation. I pray that they would go back and realize that they are a sinner. They need to repent of that sin and that Jesus Christ will forgive them that sin and that they would then put that helmet on. Lord, the salvation is the foundation that we stand upon and it is purchased by you, Jesus Christ. And now here you've given us this helmet, something that makes us saved and secure, bullheaded, sure. We're gonna march on, that we cannot lose our salvation. We can't be plucked out of anyone's hand because we're in your hands and you're in the Father's hand. And Lord, we are saved, we are secure, we are sealed until the day, and that one day you will finish the work that's began in us. We have been saved, we are being saved, we will be saved, and one day we will be glorified and in your presence. Lord, I pray you move the hearts today. I pray as we pray this song, I've decided, I pray we make decisions. And Lord, I pray again, if there's one here today that doesn't know you, that they would come forth this morning and make sure they know that they are saved and secured. Be with us now as we sing. May we do this as a glory and an honor and as a praise unto you, Lord.