The Helmet of Salvation

Well, good morning, Greenwood Christian. It is so good to be home again.

Thank you. I've missed being with you all over the last few weeks. I've had some great vacation, had a couple of weeks of great study time. But it is always good to be back here with you, so I'm grateful to have that opportunity. A couple of weeks ago, Allison and I spent some time near Hocking Hills State park in Ohio.

You can see my. My little bitty wife right down here. How many of you have been to Hocking Hills? Yeah, it's not far, so it's. It's an easy place to get to.

But we hike these canyons and caves all week long that have been carved by wind and water out of sedimentary sandstone. It's amazing how time and how weather can take things like sand and minerals and water and form rock and then over more time, sculpt that into some really beautiful things. And it's occurred to me during the time that I've spent away over the last few weeks that sedimentation isn't just a geological thing, and it doesn't just happen in nature. Sedimentation happens in our inboxes. You ever had that happen to you?

You lose track of emails because they get buried under so many additional layers of new messages. I read recently that the world record in this department belongs to a guy named Joey MANANSALA, with nearly 4.3 billion unread emails. That stresses me out just to think about. Sedimentation tends to happen to just any flat surface. Maybe you've noticed that if you keep setting junk mail, shopping bags and empty soda cans on your desk for weeks or for months, you can eventually make your entire work surface unusable.

Or maybe you have a spot in your house. Maybe it's a small table or it's a section of kitchen counter that's now buried under tons of ads and magazines and receipts and other clutter. You do that long enough, you might get to star in an episode of Hoarders, right? Anybody else experience a spike in blood pressure when you see a picture like that? That is also me.

But spiritual sedimentation is also a thing. And this is one of the things that the last few weeks have really driven home to me. Our world lays down vast amounts of mental and emotional sediment. So it is dangerously easy for our focus on Jesus to get buried under busyness and diluted by distractions and gradually forgotten about. If you've been with us the last few weeks, you know that this is week six in a series called against the Darkness.

The overall premise of this series is that a day is coming when Jesus will return and destroy Satan once and for all. But between now and then, until that moment, our enemy actively opposes the transforming work that God wants to do in our lives. You and I are engaged in a spiritual war, so God equips us for battle. Now, the armor of God is a metaphor used by the apostle Paul in his letter to the Church in Ephesus. Paul wrote the letter that we call Ephesians while he was under house arrest in Rome, where he had been taken under armed guard by Roman soldiers.

So Paul had had quite a bit of opportunity to study Roman armor up close each week. We've just been trying to build on where we left off the week before, but we want to review this entire text, so let me just share this with you. Ephesians, chapter 6. Starting in verse 10, Paul writes, Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes.

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world, and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore, put on the full armor of God so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground. And after you have done everything to stand, stand firm. Then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.

You've heard some great preaching the past few weeks. You know, Jeff Fall reminded us that God's belt of truth is what defines reality, and Jesus is that truth. Craig stressed that you and I find a right relationship with God by trusting in Jesus as a breastplate that covers our sin and declares us righteous. The following week, Craig reminded us to put on the shoes of the gospel that gives us peace with God through Jesus. And last Sunday, Cody reminded us that only the shield of faith in Jesus can save us from Satan's attacks.

Now, all of these elements of armor we've talked about are about Jesus, and they're all interdependent. Have you thought about that? I mean, the belt secured a soldier's tunic, but a belt alone isn't much protection. Even with a strong breastplate, a soldier could still suffer a massive head wound. Sturdy shoes provide traction, but shoes alone are not going to keep a soldier alive.

A shield could take hits that otherwise would have wounded the soldier carrying it. You know, enemies often fired flaming arrows. Paul captures this imagery. Flaming arrows had a way of creating chaos and confusion. So Roman soldiers would often wrap their metal shields in leather, which they would soak in water to help put.

Put out those flames. Paul said, our faith in God is the shield that extinguishes Satan's arrows. But shields alone don't win battles. To survive in combat, a soldier needed the protection provided by all of his armor. Warfare isn't just physical, it's also mental.

It requires focus. It requires a clear head. If you're marching into battle with flaming arrows raining down all around you, I probably don't need to tell you that that wouldn't be a very difficult moment in which to focus. And that's why we still have more spiritual armor to add. Remember, Paul said, put on the full armor of God.

It's not enough to wear just some of the armor. And Paul teed up the next piece of spiritual armor when he wrote in verse 17, take the helmet of salvation. The. The helmet is crucial armor, would you agree?

Because a soldier without a head can't fight very well. And Paul's connection of the helmet to salvation, I think, prompts us to consider a few really important questions together. The first of which is this. What is salvation? What is salvation anyway?

So let's unpack that for just a moment.

Salvation is a word that we hear often in church. It's a word we hear often in scripture. It's a word that we often hear in worship songs. But do we know what it means? I want to share some words with you.

Written by the apostle Peter, Just one of many places in Scripture that talk about salvation. But Peter writes, praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. In his great mercy, he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil, or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. In all this, you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.

These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith, of greater worth than gold which perishes, even though refined by fire, may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Though you have not seen him, you love him. And even though you do not see him. Now you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy. For you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

Now the Bible has a lot more than just that to say about salvation. But from just this one text there are a bunch of insights that we can gather, starting with this one. Salvation is, is a gift of God's mercy. It is not something we earn or deserve. A good gift that we don't deserve is called grace.

We see in this text that salvation is a rebirth for people who are dead in sin. Our sin, your sin, my sin, cuts us off from God's holy life giving presence. But Jesus died to rescue us and to restore us to life. We find in that text that salvation is available to us because Jesus rose from the dead. We can experience life after death only because Jesus died for our sins and then came back from the grave.

We find here that salvation is an eternal reward from God. Nothing can damage it or contaminate it or destroy this inheritance that that God has in store for us. We read that salvation is a sure thing that we won't fully experience until we're in heaven with Jesus. Now for believers, eternal life begins right now. But much of what we trust God for in salvation is still to come.

This text makes clear that salvation is not a pass on pain and difficulty in this life because we live in a broken world. And that means that saved people are going to suffer sometimes too. Salvation is the joyful assurance that God will keep all of his promises to us. What Peter is saying is that you and I can live joyful lives not just because of what is right now, but because of what will be now. If we take all of those ideas, we compress them into a single sentence, it might go something like this.

Salvation is deliverance from eternal punishment for sin that is granted by the grace of God through our faith in the death and resurrection of Jesus. That's a mouthful. So let me say that again. Salvation is deliverance from eternal punishment for sin that is granted by the grace of God through our faith in the death and resurrection of Jesus. That's what salvation is.

But there's another question, and that is, where does salvation come from? Well, in the book of Revelation, the apostle John describes this vision of heaven's throne room. John writes, there before me was a great multitude that no one could count from every nation, tribe, people and language standing before the throne and before the lamb. That's a reference to Jesus. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands.

And they cried out in a loud voice, salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb. Salvation is from God through Jesus, the Lamb, who gave himself for our sins as a sacrifice at the cross. Salvation is not the result of anything that you or I do. Bible reading is a good thing. Being here this morning is a good thing.

Prayer is a good thing. But even our very best, even our most spiritual behavior still falls short of God's holiness. The apostle Peter underscored that in Acts chapter four, Peter had just met a man, a man who was unable to walk. He was begging outside the temple. And Peter restored his ability to stand and walk.

And then he had to explain to the Jewish leaders how this healing miracle was possible. And this is what Peter said. It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed. And then Peter went on to say this salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved. Only Jesus can save us.

Only Jesus has the ability to rescue us from sin and from death and from hell. Later in the Book of Acts, the Apostle Paul told a crowd of Jews who had gathered in a synagogue in the city of Antioch. Paul said, my friends, I want you to know that through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. Through him, everyone who believes is set free from every sin. A justification you were not able to obtain under the law of Moses.

The Old Testament law, which would have been actively studied in this or any other synagogue, revealed God's holiness. But the Old Testament law could never free people from sin, because only Jesus can do that. The Book of Hebrews later in the New Testament says this, that Christ has appeared once for all at the culmination of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself. Just as people are destined to die once and after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many, and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him. The price of our salvation was paid in full once and for all by Jesus, the only one who could offer a perfect, sinless life as a sacrifice to pay the debt of our sin.

And all of those voices took their cues from Jesus himself, who said this, I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. On anybody else's lips, the one those words would sound Hopelessly arrogant. But when you're God in flesh with power over death, you are entitled to say some bold, audacious things that nobody else can get away with. Only Jesus can offer us salvation.

But some people will still ask, well, what difference does salvation make anyway? Why does it matter? Well, there are lots of ways we can answer that question. But let me, let me quickly highlight five answers to that question that I think are extra important. Number one.

Salvation gives us deliverance from death and hell. Paul wrote in the Book of Romans that the wages, that's the paycheck, the result, the consequences of sin is death. But the gracious, the undeserved, the unearnable gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Our sin and rebellion cut us off from the life that God offers. And beyond this world, beyond this life, that separation is called hell.

But through his amazing love for us, Jesus rescues us from that. Number two, salvation gives us confidence about where we stand with God. Paul wrote still in the Book of Romans, since we have been justified, that means since we have been declared righteous by God through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Our sin, our disobedience, our stubbornness and selfishness clashes with God's holiness and it makes us his enemies. But at the cross, Jesus resolved that conflict for all of us who trust Him.

And as a result, Paul went on to write a little bit later in Romans that there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. When you and I trust Jesus as Savior, when you and I lean into Jesus for salvation, he doesn't just reduce our guilt, he removes it. And salvation gives us motivation to live godly lives. Craig alluded to this text a couple of weeks ago. But in light of all that God has done to restore our relationship with Him, Paul wrote to his friend Titus, I love this text.

Paul said, the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches us to say no to ungodliness and worldly passions and to live self controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age while we wait for the blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who, who gave Himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for Himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good. While we await Jesus return, God's grace, his undeserved kindness, the source of our salvation, reminds us day after day after day what's right and what's wrong and what matters is and what doesn't, and what lasts and what cannot. And that grace that salvation teaches us how to live. Scripture says that salvation gives us assurance that there's much more to come.

Paul wrote to the Ephesians that you were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation, when you believed you were marked in him with a seal. The promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession. To the praise of his glory, Jesus gives his Holy Spirit to everyone who trusts him as Lord and Savior. Now, the Holy Spirit does a number of different things in us. The Holy Spirit teaches us, he convicts us of sin.

He grows the character of Jesus within us. And Paul says the Spirit's presence in our lives is like a down payment. It's like earnest money. It guarantees that every promise that salvation holds in store is one that we can count on. And then lastly, here, salvation gives us hope in life and death.

Ephesians isn't the only place where Paul talked about spiritual armor. Paul wrote in First Thessalonians, chapter 5, Let us be sober, putting on faith and love as a breastplate and the hope of salvation as a helmet. For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath, but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. He died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep, meaning whether we're alive or dead, we may live together with Him. That's a beautiful thing to think about.

Whether I am walking around breathing, heart beating, lungs breathing in this body, I'm with Jesus, or whether all of those bodily functions quit and this body dies, I am still living with Jesus. Salvation reminds us that Jesus is always with us and that hope protects us like a helmet. Salvation through Jesus is something that God offers to every person. The challenge of Scripture is that we have to choose to receive that. Imagine with me for a moment that salvation is a chair.

I mean, you can look at the chair and you can believe the chair is real. You can do in depth research into the history of chairs. You can study the chair, you can pick it up and you can look at how it's constructed, how much it weighs, what it's made out of. You can learn how to say the word chair in Hebrew and in Greek. You can watch what other people do with the chair.

I mean, that guy looks quite a bit heavier than I am. It seems to be holding him up okay. But until you sit in the chair, you're still standing on your own. And many of us do the same thing with Jesus. I mean, we believe he exists.

We listen to preachers talk about him. We know facts about his life. We're familiar with some of his teachings. We know other people who follow him. But we don't sit in the chair ourselves.

Now, do you remember what I said earlier about how Jesus can get buried under layer, under after layer of mental and emotional sediment? I just think that happens to us in so many different ways. I mean, maybe you don't sit in the chair because you are just bound and determined that you're going to be 100% self reliant. You want to do something right, you got to do it yourself and that includes your salvation. Or maybe you've just jammed your schedule so full that you feel way too busy to take time to sit in the chair.

Maybe all the screen time, all the doom scrolling, keeps you so distracted that you rarely even think about the chair. Or maybe your parents sat in the chair so you're not sitting in the chair just to spite them. Maybe you're on a mission to try every other available chair in the world first. Or maybe you assume that other people need the chair way more than you do. Maybe you've decided that there might be some things about sitting in that chair that would be uncomfortable.

Or maybe you've simply convinced yourself that standing somewhere near the chair, you know, within arm's reach of it is enough. But whatever the reason you're not in the chair, you're not in Jesus. You are leaning on other things that, that cannot save you. And if that's the case, you are not experiencing salvation. You're not wearing that helmet.

Is it possible that your life is so buried in mental and emotional sediment that you are ignoring Jesus, that you have forgotten about him? That you have seen this gift and you've known about this gift, but you have left it sitting on the shelf, untouched, unopened, unclaimed. If that's where you live, I want to encourage you to please focus with me on this, this one final but very important question. How do we receive God's gift of salvation? How do we sit in the chair?

How do we respond to this offer that God gives us? How do we take the helmet of salvation and make sure that we're wearing it? Well, how do we. Scripture says to all of us, for starters, put your faith in Jesus, you know, in this very same armor of God. Letter to the Ephesians.

Paul also wrote, it is by grace, God's undeserved kindness. You have been saved through faith. And this is not from yourselves. It is the gift of God, not by works, not as a result of anything that we have done or earned or achieved so that no one can boast. Salvation is a gift that we receive by trusting that Jesus has fully paid for our sins.

Because there's nothing, I mean nothing that you and I can do to earn it. There is no do it yourself approach to salvation. Scripture tells all of us that if we want to sit in this chair, we have to turn away from our sin. Now the Bible word for this is repent. The apostle Peter preached.

He said, repent and turn to God. That's what repent means, so that your sins may be wiped out. Repentance means to turn away from sin and to turn toward God. And it. It doesn't happen all at once because none of us are fully aware of all of our sin all at once.

But following Jesus means that we commit ourselves. That when I discover disobedience in my life, when I find places where my character and my habits are out of alignment with what Jesus calls me to, my responsibility, when I recognize that is to turn away from that sin so that I can turn back toward him. That's what repentance means. Scripture urges all of us to tell the truth about who Jesus is and why we need him. Now, the Bible word for this is confession.

Paul wrote In Romans, chapter 10, 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. The apostle John wrote, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. Before you and I can be found, before we can be forgiven, we have to own up to how lost and how sinful we are. Scripture would instruct all of us to surrender to Jesus in baptism. You know, in the very first Gospel sermon recorded in the Bible, after Jesus died on the cross for our sins, Peter preached to a huge crowd in Acts chapter two.

Repent. We just talked about that. And be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Baptism is a visible, public declaration of our trust in Jesus to cleanse us of our sins.

It is a public and visible invitation to the Holy Spirit to take a residence in our lives. And Scripture would instruct all of us not to stop there because we have to go on to stay with Jesus. Salvation isn't just a transaction. It isn't something that we feel for a moment. It isn't just a prayer that we offer.

It isn't just a baptism moment. It is an ongoing decision to walk with and live for Jesus. John wrote, continue in him so that when he appears, we may be confident and unashamed before him at its coming. So how do we get from a conceptual understanding of salvation to a complete confidence that we have it? How do we go from this notion, this idea, this concept of salvation, to being confident that we are saved?

Well, by trusting that Jesus is enough and giving everything to him and then doing the same thing again tomorrow and the day after that, and the day after that, I am convinced that God's gift of salvation becomes our helmet of salvation as we continue to trust Him. So the ultimate question for all of us is, have you received that gift?

Are you wearing that helmet? I mean, we exist as a church to help you put on the helmet of salvation and never take it off.

In just a moment, we're going to remember Jesus sacrifice in a way that we do every time we gather. It's a moment that we call communion. At the front and the back of the room are some tables where you'll find trays that are filled with double stacked plastic cups.

The bottom cup contains a small piece of bread. And as we eat that bread, we're going to remember together that Jesus body was nailed to a cross for all of our sins, yours and mine and the world's. And that top cup contains grape juice. And as we drink that grape juice, we're gonna remember together that Jesus bled and he died to take away our sins and offer us salvation. Receiving communion doesn't save us.

It simply reminds us of what Jesus did to save us. And I'm convinced that as we deepen our confidence in his sacrifice, we continue to tighten the strap on our helmet of salvation. In just a moment, I'm going to pray, and then we're going to move together into that time of communion. But first I want to ask you to do something. I want to ask you to close your eyes and I just want you to listen carefully as I read God's word over all of us.

Ephesians chapter 2 says this.

As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins in which you used to live, when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit, who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. But. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions, even.

It is by grace you have been saved.

Heavenly Father, we are so grateful for and so deeply indebted to your grace. Lord, your word says that because of our selfishness, our stubbornness, our rebellion, our refusal to cooperate with your desires for our life. Father, that we are deserving of wrath, that there are consequences to our sin, and if we were to experience those, we would be getting nothing more than what we deserve. And yet, Father, because you are rich in mercy, because you love us, you have put on flesh and you have stepped into our place, and you have suffered and died the death that we deserve at the cross, so that that penalty could be lifted off of us. So that in faith, in surrender, we can come to you to receive salvation as a gift, as a helmet that guides us and gives us hope and confidence through every day of our lives.

Father, we are thankful for the way that you love for us. And we ask you in this moment to remind us again of the depth of your sacrifice and all that we owe to you because of it. Lord, we pray these things in the holy and precious name of Jesus our Savior. Amen.

Sa.

Well, we're going to respond together in worship through singing one last song together. So if you're comfortable, let's stand to our feet as we continue singing together.

Alone in my sorrow and dead in my sin.

Lost without hope and no place to begin.

Your love made a way to let mercy come in.

When death was arrested, my life began.

O ash was redeemed, only beauty remained.

My orphan heart was given a name.

My morning grew quiet, my feet rose to dance.

When death was rested, my life be sit together all your grace. Oh, your grace so free washes over me. You have made me new, now life begins with you.

From my chains, I'm a prisoner no more.

My shame was a ransom faithful.

And he cancelled my dead. He called me his friend. Oh, when death was arrested and my life began.

Oh, your grace. Suffering washes over me. You have made me new, now life begins with you. It's your endless life. It's your endless love pouring out on us.

You have made us new, now life begins with you.

My savior displayed on the criminal's cross.

And darkness rejoiced as though heaven had lost. Come on. But that's not the end of the story. But then Jesus arose without freedom in death.

That's when death was arrested. My life began that's when death was arrested My life begin for your grace so free Come on church.

Love pouring down on us you have made us new now life begins with you oh yeah, we're free Free forever We're free Come join the song of all the redeemed yes, we're free free reparation when death was arrested and my life began yeah, we're free Free forever We're free we conquered the storm Revol yes, we're free Free forever Raven when death was arrested, my life began. That's when death was arrested my life began. That's when death was arrested and my life began.

You know, John chapter three says that God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him. It goes on to say that whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed. In the name of God's one and only Son. Friends, God loves us and he doesn't want any of us to be cut off from him and die in our sin.

So he put on flesh and he came to earth. He died in your place and mine on the cross. And he rose from the dead so that we could be set free from sin and death and hell and eternity. I mean, life or death hinges on the decision that we make about Him. And so we as a church exist to help you know and trust and follow Jesus.

And I want to quickly let you know about three ways that you can reach out to us about taking a next step with Him. For starters, I want to invite our Next Steps team to go ahead and make your way down to the front after every service. Every Sunday there will be several of us down here along the front of the stage who would love to talk with you. We'd love to answer questions. We'd love to help you discern where God is calling you next and how to take that next step.

So we'll be down and available here. We'd love to talk with you if you're in a hurry today. If you don't have time to stick around for a face to face conversation or any of our friends online, just text the word next to 317-707-9997. Let us know what God is stirring within you. We'd love to have a conversation with you.

And then we want you to know that every month there are a series of classes that we call Next Week steps, that they go on during our 11 o' clock service today, we're starting a new month. And so our Next Steps Discover class happens at 11 o', clock, which is about half an hour from now, right out here in rooms 502A and D. We would love for you to be a part of that next Sunday. We'll follow that up with the Next Steps Follow Jesus class, which is all about beginning this relationship with Jesus. So we want you to know about that. We're grateful that you're here and we want to do anything that we can do to help you sit in the chair, to help you put on the helmet, and live your life in the hope and the confidence that only Jesus can offer friends.

If you know that gift, if you have received that gift, you have an opportunity to live every day of your life in hope and confidence that our world needs. And so I want to encourage you to go in that hope. And if you don't know Jesus, if you're not sitting in that chair, if you're not wearing that helmet, please don't let today go by before you reach out and talk to someone about taking that next step. It is so good to be back with you. We have such great things to live for.

Let's go in the hope and the peace and the confidence of Jesus. God bless you all.