Hope and Victory: 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." [00:00:36]

"Well now, we are engaged, I say, in examining the various parts and portions of this whole armor of God and we've seen that the Apostle divides it up into two main groups. There are certain parts that are fixed to the body. There is a girdle about the lines and that's truth. There's a breastplate of righteousness. Our feet have got to be shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace." [00:02:02]

"Now, the helmet was 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." [00:05:03]

"Well now, what's the spiritual application of this? What in particular is the Apostle putting before us by this picture of the helmet? Well, 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." [00:06:33]

"Well, now we've spent a great deal of our time in looking at the tactics, but this morning we are engaged in looking at the whole element of the strategy. We're looking at the whole campaign and the particular matter that the Apostle therefore is suggesting is this: that the enemy sometimes 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." [00:09:48]

"Now, you see the difference between that and what I've called the tactics. Christian people are sometimes in difficulties in and in trouble about particular doctrines, particular aspects of the faith. There's no question of going out of the whole of Christianity, but they're just in trouble on these local matters and they we are told how they're put right. But here is something bigger and in a sense even more serious." [00:10:38]

"Now, what was the matter with those people? Well, you see, their trouble was this: here they were, they'd been brought up in the Jews' religion and they had heard the Christian faith and they believed it and they'd become members of the Christian church. Now, for a while everything seemed to be all right and they were quite happy in their new Faith, but the years were passing and they found that they were persecuted." [00:15:16]

"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. What does he mean then by putting on the helmet of salvation?" [00:39:00]

"Now, then, how is this to be dealt with? Well, 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. And I'm particularly sorry at this point that I have to disagree with the great Charles." [00:23:02]

"Well, now, there it is in our Lord's own teaching, but let me show it you in the teaching of the Apostle Paul in his writing, for instance, to the Corinthians in the first epistle. But of him, he says, are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. That's it, redemption. That's the meaning of salvation here, you see." [00:28:02]

"Now, then, this is obviously a very important matter. Let me convey it to you like this: it's the kind of problem that is dealt with in that well-known poem of Arthur Hugh Clough. You remember it: say not the struggle not availeth, the labor, the wounds are vain, the enemy faints not nor fainteth, and as things have been, they remain. Now, the whole point of that poem is to deal with that condition." [00:11:10]

"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. What does he mean then by putting on the helmet of salvation?" [00:39:00]