Ephesians 6:17 - The Hope of Our Salvation

Ephesians 6:17“And take the helmet ofsalvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” Todaywe are continuing in Ephesians 6:17. We are talking about the whole armor weare supposed to put on to stand against the wiles of the devil. Yesterday westarted talking about a very important piece of that armor—the helmet of oursalvation in verse 17. What is this helmet? Yesterday we mentioned it is notgetting saved again. We do not need to get saved again every day. We arealready saved. The helmet of our salvation is our assurance and our hope.It is the confidence that we belong to Jesus Christ. Rememberyesterday we said Satan shoots two darts at our heads that are very powerful:the dart of discouragement and the dart of doubt. This is so true because Satanoften whispers in our ears to our minds.  (That is his dart—he throws his thoughts intoour minds.) The helmet is the armor that protects our mind against the lies ofthe devil. He loves to whisper, “God is tired of you. You have failed too manytimes. If you were really saved, you would not struggle like this. God cannotuse you anymore.  Icannot tell you how many times one of the greatest servants of God I have everknown, would get discouraged after a great ministry of service overseas, andwould come home saying, “God is through with me. God does not want to use meanymore.” That is a devil’s lie. The devil says you will never change. You willnever finish well. God has abandoned you. Please do not let the devil’s liescome into your mind. Whenyou are discouraged and doubt settles in, those things do not just affect youremotions. They affect your obedience. They affect your worship. They affectyour ability to serve. Before long, a Christian who should be standing is onewho is retreating. That is why the helmet of salvation is tied to hope. In 1Thessalonians 5:8 Paul calls it “the hope of salvation”. In other words,our helmet of salvation is the settled confidence that God has saved us, issaving us, and will finish what He started. Mylife’s verse has always been Philippians 1:6, from the first few months after Igot saved: “Being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a goodwork in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.” That is thehelmet of our salvation. We are confident that He who began that work willcomplete it until the day of Jesus Christ. Peter knew about discouragement. Heknew about failure. He knew about Satan lying to him. On one occasion Jesuseven told him, “Get behind Me, Satan,” because Satan was trying to use thoughtsin Peter’s mind to keep Jesus from going to the cross (Matthew 16:23). SoPeter writes in 1 Peter 1:3-9, “Blessed be the God and Father of our LordJesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to aliving hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to aninheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reservedin heaven for you.” Then verse 5: “who are kept by the power of Godthrough faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.”  Petergoes on to write about in verses 6-7, that even when you are getting knockeddown, being tried, and going through fire, he encourages us in verses 8-9 andsays, “Whom having not seen you love, though now you do not see Him, yetbelieving, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, receiving theend of your faith—the salvation of your souls.” You are saved. You haveconfidence in that salvation.  Itis the hope of your salvation is the helmet that you need to put ondaily to keep your protection strong against the attacks of the evil one, whothrows lies into your mind to discourage you and cause you to doubt thegoodness, love, grace, and mercy of God.  Godbless you, and may you have a wonderful, wonderful day.