Helmet of Salvation

Ephesians 6:17a

You are what you eat, physically.  You are what you think, spiritually.  The battle with temptation and sin begins in the mind.  Thought leads to action leads to habit leads to destruction.

No one can keep themselves from having a bad thought.  But if you linger there and entertain that thought, it is sin.  And it will lead to action.  And it gets easier to do each time you do it.  It is enslaving.  Thought leads to action leads to habit leads to destruction.

You can't prevent a bird from landing in your hair, but you can keep them from building a nest.

What do you call a stray cat if you put out some milk?  “Pet.”  “Yours!”

Stray dogs will inevitably come into your yard, but you don't have to pet them, and don't feed them or they will cease to be stray!

We can't choose what random thoughts come to our mind, but we certainly do choose what we dwell on!

Our problem:  we justify sin in our minds.  If only we saw our sin the way God does...our sin is what nailed Jesus to the cross.  It’s what prevents one from entering heaven.  It’s what condemns one to hell!

We take sin so lightly

We call it an affair [so sophisticated], but God calls it an abomination.

[blunder or blindness / by chance or by choice / fascination or fatality / infirmity or iniquity / weakness or wickedness / sickness or sin]

Remember, this is armor, because this is a war...and in war, the head is a primary target area.  Body armor is good, but put a bullet in someone's head and they go down. 

The Roman soldier's helmet was made of bronze.  It was very beautifully ornate and noticeable.  It had a leather strap that kept it on his head or affixed to his side...he was never without it, and would never fight without it on his head. 

And Paul calls it the helmet of salvation, which tells me that our salvation should be the most beautiful, most noticeable part of our lives, and we should wear it, carry it, and not leave home without it!

People should notice a difference once we are saved.  The Bible calls us strangers and pilgrims in a foreign land / Ambassadors for another country.  It is not wrong to believe that Christians should be different!  It’s not “works salvation” false doctrine to expect that if you are truly saved it will have a noticeable, outward result.  Now, don't try to fake it / just put on the mask, but allow the true inner difference to surface!

Salvation itself involves the mind.  Belief may be a matter of the heart, but repentance is a change of mind that leads to a change of action.  “God, help me hate my sin the way YOU do!”

Repentance is much more than just regretting that we sinned, or that we got caught.  It is much more than self-pity.  It is when we change our mind about our sin and desire a change of life.

Changing our mind helps us grow:

2 Peter 3:18
But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

Romans 12:2
And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

Philippians 2:5
Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:

A lot of churches today emphasize the heart and emotions alone, to the exclusion of the mind.  They equate spirituality with feeling.  But how about Bible facts?  I love the facts, and they often get me in the feels [make me emotional!]

The Word of God feeds our minds, and as a byproduct enriches our souls.

Some people choose a church based on how emotionally charged they feel there, regardless of what is being taught there.  “Who cares about doctrine as long as we feel good?”

Well, to truly live as a Christian you need to think like a Christian.  You are what you think.  Put on the helmet of salvation.

It will protect us from:

1.     A divided mind.

James 1:8
A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.

It means looking in two directions at the same time.  We need singular focus...that stonefaced quality of Jesus, like a laser, beaming His attention intently on the main thing / what’s truly important!

Divided loyalties, split allegiances, multiple goals, multitudinous desires.

        We wind up being half hearted when we go 'all in' for every opportunity.  Which is better:  To do one thing well or to do many things poorly?

        We live in a multitasking society, and we are capable of doing more than one thing, but are the multiple plans we make really compatible with one another?  Or are we trying to have a dose of Jesus and a dose of the world, like that would make us well rounded or something?

Amos 3:3

Can two walk together, except they be agreed?

ill.--Civil War soldier couldn't decide which side to be loyal to, so he put on a pair of gray pants and blue jacket.  They found him shot in the chest and shot in the backside.  “Choose you this day whom ye will serve!”  “Who is on the Lord's side?”

Fence-riding Christians:  Get on or get off, get in or get out, get up or get down, get hot or get cold, get with it or get without it, but don't ride the fence or you will eventually fall!

        Either be on fire for God or go all the way stone cold in the darkness.  Because a mix of both sides results in a lukewarm Christian that makes God sick. [Rev. 3:15-16]

ill.--Pope Alexander VII asked a Greek man, "Why don't you become a priest?"  "Because I might want to get married."  "Why don't you get married?"  "Because I might want to become a priest!"

        This is a picture of many Christians with divided minds.  "Why don't you sell out for God?"  "Because I might not be entirely done having my fun."  "Why don't you just decide to serve the devil?"  "Because I might need something from God!"

The divided mind comes from wrong thinking...not wearing the helmet of salvation and having our mind protected from the enemy and in tune with God.

        Jesus gave everything for me, and He deserves my best!  Lukewarm living is not good enough [giving/attendance/serving]  He deserves better than me living my life on the fence with one foot in and one out, which is miserable anyway, because you have just enough Jesus that you can't enjoy the world, and still enough world in you that you can't enjoy Jesus!

ill.--Richard Wurmbrand was a dedicated Christian imprisoned in communist Russia.  He was tortured constantly.  He said, "I learned to give my all to God...from the brutal guards who tortured me.  When I saw that they allowed no place in their hearts for Jesus Christ, I decided that I would not leave the smallest place for Satan in mine."

        [If they can live 100% for the devil, I can live 100% for Jesus!]

ill.--Who owns the largest printing press in religion, putting out 500 pieces of literature per second?  The Jehovah's Witnesses, who, although totally deceived and deluded, are totally sold out to their cause.

Who knocks doors up and down streets for an estimated 500 hours before they see a single convert, and yet are starting a new church per day around the world?  The Mormons!  Because even though they are totally wrong, they are totally sold out to their cause.

Put on the helmet of salvation, because right thinking says, Jesus deserves my all.  I wouldn't be here without Him.  I don't need to live my life focused on myself and worrying about things under His control.  I need to free myself up to serve the One who has it all in the palm of His hand!

The devil wants to divide our mind, so as we look this way and that instead of keeping our eyes on the prize, he can then trip us up.

Colossians 3:1
... seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.

Matthew 6:33
But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

a divided mind...

2.     A deceived mind.

2 Corinthians 11:3
But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled [deceived] Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.

How does Satan deceive our minds?

Genesis 3:1
Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?

He didn't deny God's word...he just cast doubt on it.

Genesis 3:4
And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:  [Now it’s open denial.] 

Genesis 3:5
For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.

Now he substitutes an outright lie in place of God's word.

ill.--the slippery slope begins very gradually before you hit the big drop off...the point of no return.

Divided, deceived…

3.     A discouraged mind.

1 Thessalonians 5:8 [parallel passage]
But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation.

Hope in the Bible is a noun, not a verb.  It’s a real thing, not a thought [I hope so], it isn't wishful thinking, it's an unwavering confidence in God...it's hope that you have already found / received.

When a soldier loses hope he has lost the battle.  When you give up, you lose, and might as well throw in the towel and surrender, because victory isn't something that comes from without, it comes from within!

ill.--A General and his men were completely surrounded in battle.  He said to his soldiers: "Men, they are on all sides of us...don't let even one of them get away!"

        That's the attitude the Christian soldier should have, with his mind guarded by the helmet of salvation.

When you see a believer give up, you can know that decision was preceded by wrong thinking:  "Ain't no use prayin', it don't do no good anyway." [going to church / giving / inviting people] They gave up hope!

Lift up your head and put on the helmet of salvation!  One day in heaven we will trade the helmet of salvation for the crown of righteousness.  Will it go on our head?  If so, it won’t be for long, before we lay it at the feet of Jesus, the worthy One who guided our paths on earth by changing our mind / protecting us on our journey with the helmet of our salvation!