"The Helmet of Salvation"

Pennsylvania motorcyclists and government officials have wrestled back and forth with the question, "Should the law require helmets for those riding motorcycles?"  I don't know all the ins and outs of this debate, but I usually wear a helmet even when riding a bicycle! I knew of a fine Christian man who fell from his bike, sustained a debilitating head injury and eventually passed away. At that point, I decided to protect my head (hard as it is) when bike riding. Our military, along with many workplaces and contact sports, require protective headgear to be worn in certain situations.

Our Biblical piece of armor for this week is the helmet of salvation. We need that spiritual protection for two reasons...1) a head wound can be fatal, and 2) a head wound can injure the brain, impairing our mental processes. While our eternal position as a believer is secure in Christ and because of Christ, we do not want to become "lifeless" spiritually. Furthermore we do not want the devil to affect our thinking through cynicism, discouragement or ignorance. The Apostle Paul describes the helmet as the "hope of salvation" in 1 Thessalonians 5:8. We don't wear the helmet to hopefully be saved, but to preserve our hope in the wonderful and eternal salvation of God when disheartening attacks come against God's people. We are prone to assume that because we are God's people, everything in our lives and in the church should go "right"! The Bible never teaches that but repeatedly warns us that in this world we will have trouble - John 16:33. When these trials and troubles come the helmet of salvation is there to remind us that our new life is secure in Christ, to protect us from unbiblical thinking and to challenge us that it will be WORTH IT ALL when we see JESUS!
 

Commentator D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones noted the example of our Lord Jesus as though He was wearing the hope of salvation as a helmet. Dr. Jones quoted from Hebrews 12. Note verses 2,3 "Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider Him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart".

Finally, what a contrast this is between ultimate defeat and ultimate victory in the spiritual war. Lucifer has no hope of redemption, but we have the hope of salvation by the kind grace of God and the precious sacrifice of our Saviour - Hallelujah!

 

See you Sunday.

 

1.      Who first wore the helmet of salvation? Isaiah 59:16,17

2.      How important is biblical hope? 1 Corinthians 13:13; Titus 2:13; 1 Peter 1:3,13; 1John 3:2,3

3.      Notice the hopelessness of 1 Thessalonians 4:13.

4.      A helmet protects the brain or right thinking. Do a short Bible study of the importance the Apostle Peter puts on knowledge! 2 Peter 1:2,3,5,8 and 3:18.

5.      In the spiritual warfare prophesied in Genesis 3:15 between the seed of the serpent and the seed of the woman - who gets the head wound (or ultimate death blow)?

6.      Define the term "Salvation".

7.      D. Martyn Lloyd Jones shares that there are 'tenses of salvation' such as past, present and future. The Godhead determined our salvation before creation - 2 Timothy 1:9; Jesus provided our salvation through His death and resurrection - 1 Corinthians 15: 1-3; we (who believe) have been saved from the penalty of sin - Romans 10:9,10; 1 Thessalonians 1:10; we are being saved from the power of sin - Philippians 2 :12,13; and we will be saved from the presence of sin - Revelation 21:27!!!!