Helmet of Salvation
We have slowly been working our way through the Armor of God, in fact there are only two physical aspects of the armor left. As we have seen, each aspect of the armor all ties together. Without one, you cannot have any of the others. However, the piece of armor that we are discussing today is one that I feel is probably the most important because without it, the rest of the armor cannot be worn. Today we will be discussing the first half of Ephesians 6:17, “17 And take the helmet of salvation,”
Even without a mental image of what a Roman soldier’s helmet looked like, we know that a helmet is designed to protect the head, nose, eyes, and neck. The Helmet of Salvation offers the wearer protection from a mental attack from the enemy because the helmet allows us to protect our thoughts and gives us an assurance of who we belong to. Just like the rest of the Armor of God, the Helmet of Salvation is not based on our salvation but on God’s actions to save us. We have not earned our salvation and we cannot work towards it. It is much like the Shield of Faith; we have to rely on God. As we saw last week, God has a desire to save everyone, but not everyone will accept Him. This means that there will be many who believe that they are good enough and will get to Heaven based on their own merit, but since Christ did not know them as one of His own they will be told to depart from Him. Jesus actually describes this principle in Matthew 7:21-23, “21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. 22 Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.’”
Here we see that there are many who believed themselves to be “righteous” and did many things in the name of the Lord, things that to everyone else appear to be good but they never knew the free gift of salvation that Jesus Christ offers. In a certain sense, they are whitewashed tombs. They look good on the outside for everyone to see but on the inside, they are dead and rotting. Jesus Christ Himself says of these people that because they never knew Him, never accepted His salvation, they were practicing lawlessness.
Jesus then states that for those who have accepted His salvation based on His actions on the cross, and not the individual’s actions which can never measure up to being enough, they will be protected from death. “24 Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.” John 5:24. As we have stated many times already, it does not matter how good of a person you are, unless you have accepted Jesus’s salvation you will be eternally separated from God. “36 Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them.” John 3:36.
We do not want to cause anyone to be one of those found in Matthew 7:21-23, who did all these things in the name of Jesus Christ but were told to depart because they never knew Him. So if the idea that even if you are the best example of what a good person is and you are still not good enough for God offends you, then I ask you to do a self-evaluation and see if there was ever a moment in time where you asked God into your life and made a 180 degree turn from who you were before. We do not wish any of our readers to go down the way of eternal death, and so we will not tickle your ears like so many out there who say that there are multiple ways to heaven. The Bible is clear, there is only one way to heaven, “6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.” John 14:6 and the path to eternal death is large, “13 “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. 14 But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.” Matthew 7:13-14. God is not an unfair God, He wishes for everyone to be saved, 1 Timothy 2:3-4 “3 This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, 4 who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.”. But you must make that decision to accept that you are a sinner, accept that Jesus died for your sins, rose again, and is currently alive and sitting at the right hand of God. Only once you do this can you wear His salvation and with it, the rest of the Armor of God.
For those who have already accepted Jesus as Lord and Savior, the Helmet of Salvation comes with a benefit. The Helmet of Salvation offers up an assurance of our salvation. “9 If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.” Romans 10:9-10. Once we put on the Helmet of Salvation by believing in our hearts that Jesus died for us and rose again, as well as confess it with your mouth you are saved. As we have seen with the Shield of Faith, we know that God is faithful, and we can hold Him to His promises. “25 This is the promise which He Himself made to us: eternal life.” 1 John 2:25-26.
I want to make it clear, just because we are called to put on the Armor of God daily, does not mean that we can lose our salvation. Since the imagery of putting on a helmet also implies that we can take the helmet off it is tempting to believe that we can lose our salvation. In no way is this true! Once we have accepted the free gift of salvation from Jesus Christ, through His death on the cross and His resurrection, nothing can remove us from Him. Jesus even states this fact in John 10:28, “28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.” No one can even mean our own foolish decisions!
God in His wisdom knew that there was nothing that we could do that could allow humankind to be found righteous in His eyes. So He placed salvation on through Himself, Isaiah 59:17-19: “He put on righteousness as his breastplate, and the helmet of salvation on his head; he put on the garments of vengeance and wrapped himself in zeal as in a cloak. 18 According to what they have done, so will he repay wrath to his enemies and retribution to his foes; he will repay the islands their due. 19 From the west, people will fear the name of the Lord, and from the rising of the sun, they will revere his glory. For he will come like a pent-up flood that the breath of the Lord drives along.” These verses show that God was displeased that there was no one righteous, no justice, and no one to intervene so he put righteousness and salvation on Himself to save the world. These verses show just how powerful our God is! The helmet is the speaking piece of who we belong to and His power and glory. It is the assurance of Jesus Christ.
No amount of messing up can cause you to lose your salvation if you have truly believed in your heart that Jesus died for the sins of the world. Those who are saved can never be separated from His love, in fact I believe that when we believers come face to face with Jesus we will not be boasting about our own actions that we did in His name, but instead be in awe of the magnitude of what He did and how little we deserve it. “31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? 33 Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? 36 As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.” 37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:31-39.
God is the only one who can provide any justification for sinful man, and once we put our faith in Him no amount of distress, tribulation, danger, or even death can separate us from Him. 2 Timothy 2:11-13 states, 11 Here is a trustworthy saying: If we died with him, we will also live with him; 12 if we endure, we will also reign with him. If we disown him, he will also disown us; 13 if we are faithless, he remains faithful, for he cannot disown himself.” God has stated that if we accept Him, we are saved, and even if we mess up, He remains faithful to that promise because He is incapable of going against Himself. Jesus Christ emphasizes this in John 6:37, “37 All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out.”
Salvation can only come from the Lord, I have said it before, and I will continue to say it. If you are reading this and are among those who have recognized your need for a Savior, He will not abandon you. “For you will not abandon my soul to Hades, or let your Holy One see corruption.” Acts 2:27. The Father did not abandon His Son, His Holy One, to an eternity of being separated from Him and He will not abandon you if you chose to accept Him. This message of needing a Savior does not make sense to everyone, I know it did not for me until I was ready to accept Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. “18 For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” 1 Corinthians 1:18. If you are one of those who have found the narrow gate, you see that Jesus’s death and resurrection shows the power of our God. This security in God holding to His promise to save those who accept Him is our hope and security in Christ.
Now while we cannot lose our salvation, if we are doubting or are discouraged about God, if our shield of faith is weak, then we are not effectively wearing our Helmet of Salvation. Salvation is not removed, but it is almost like you are putting the helmet on back words and are then surprised when you cannot see. The spiritual battlefield begins in the mind, 2 Corinthians 10:5 says “We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.” We need to take every thought captive and see if it is found in God’s truth. How can we be on the offensive for Christ if we are continuedly battling a mental game? As discussed last week, the fiery arrows of the devil can also be thought of as placed thoughts. He cannot poses a Christian for we are already filled with the Holy Spirit, but he can oppress us, which is to keep us so busy and downtrodden with thoughts contradicting the Word of God we become useless. If we are continually worried about if we are saved or not, then we are less likely to share the Gospel with others because we fear that our words will be ineffective. This mental attack makes us a much less effective of a warrior for Christ. It is why Romans 12:1-2 tells us not to conform to the ways of this world, but to renew our mind. When we do this then we can see His good and perfect will. “12 Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. 2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.”
Finally, I want to leave you all with one last verse. “8 But since we are of the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet, the hope of salvation.” 1 Thessalonians 5:8. We are in a day of spiritual warfare, we need to be aware of whose armor we are putting on. Are we wearing the armor of this world, a world that is filled with corruption and ruled by Satan? Or are we wearing the Armor of God that gives us the tools to combat this world?
Seek the Truth and encourage one another,
Alex