Enduring Hope: The Helmet of Salvation

Now those who meet here regularly will know that we are engaged at the moment in studying the description which the Apostle gives us in this section at the end of this great Epistle of what he calls the great armor, the whole armor of God. He's writing a final to these people and he reminds them that though they are Christians and indeed in a sense because they are Christians they will find themselves engaged in a mighty battle in a mighty Warfare. [00:36:39]

The helmet as worn by the Roman soldier was a kind of cap which was made of leather, but this leather had been strengthened and ornamented also as a matter of fact with certain plates of metal or bosses of metal in order of course to make it stronger and to give it protection. So you had your fundamental piece of leather fitted to fit the shape of the head and then on this leather you put these pieces of metal, metal plates or bosses as it were, and this served the dual function of ornamentation and also of protection. [00:05:44]

It's obvious isn't it that he is here drawing attention to the head, to the mind, the brain, the understanding, the thinking of the Christian. We've already dealt with the feelings and the sensibilities, the emotions, the desires and so on and how the enemy tends to attack us at that point and at those various points. But now we've got to direct our attention to this particular aspect where we are engaged with a consideration of the mind and the understanding. [00:06:48]

The enemy times deals with us at this level and tries as it were to defeat Us in the whole matter of the entire battle, the whole strategy of the entire campaign. How does he do this? Well, this is the matter which is dealt with so often in the scriptures and as we've already seen in our hymns this morning in our hymns it's this whole problem of weariness or of tiredness, the kind of condition into which the Christian gets at times that he feels like giving up the whole thing. [00:09:48]

The condition in which a man begins to feel that the fight is in vain, the struggle not availeth, the labor and the wounds are vain. He has a poor fellow saying I've been in this campaign now a long time, I've been wounded, I'm striving and struggling but what's the point of it all? The enemy faints not nor fail. I'm the one who's tending to faint and as things have been they remain. Have I gained an inch of ground? [00:11:20]

The Hebrew Christians had become utterly discouraged indeed we are told that they'd become discouraged to this point that some of them were beginning to look back to their old religion. They were wondering whether they hadn't been a little bit precipitate in leaving it so quickly and taking up this new belief. That's the whole problem, that's the background to the epistle to the Hebrews. Discouraged Christians, people are beginning to think and to wonder whether they are engaged in the right thing after all. [00:16:40]

The Apostle says there's only one thing to do: take hold of that helmet of salvation and put it on your head. But what does it mean? What does salvation mean in this connection? And here I think it's very important that we should have the right interpretation. Salvation here means our awareness of the fact that we are saved, that we are Christians. He says it means the present enjoyment of our Salvation. [00:23:20]

The hope of salvation. So that I would interpret this as meaning not so much the realization of our Salvation at the present time, but the hope of Salvation. Now what does that mean? Well, it means I think again and you see the way to interpret scripture is to look at scripture. Scripture interprets scripture. The same thing is taught everywhere. [00:24:44]

The Christian is a man who has been saved, that's justification by faith. He is no longer under the law. We saw that under the breastplate of righteousness. The Christian is already saved in the sense that he'll never come to condemnation. He's delivered from the law, he's delivered from the Dominion of Satan, he's already free in that sense he has been saved. But then the Christian is a man who is being saved. [00:39:55]

There is a day coming when the Christian shall be absolutely perfect. Now then you bear that in mind you see the meaning of this word salvation obviously in this connection it means the hope of salvation. So you can put the tenses like this: the past is justification, the present is sanctification, the future is glorification, redemption, glorification, the ultimate, the final, the absolute. [00:44:54]

The ultimate that's what he means by salvation. We are going to be like that, we are going to be absolutely perfect, free from sin, free from all vestiges of evil without spot or wrinkle or any such thing. We shall be glorified, we shall be like Christ, we shall see him as he is and be like him. Our bodies shall be changed, we'll be completely glorified, saved entirely Body Soul and Spirit with nothing lacking. [00:47:31]

The certain hope in other words you see it all comes to this doesn't it? Look at our blessed Lord himself, Son of God here incarnate in this sinful evil world with a devil attacking and all the powers of hell that loose against him. He went through with it, he knew what it would mean, he knew the cross and the separation from the father but he went on. What enabled him to do it? Here's the answer given in Hebrews 12:2. [00:49:33]