The Believer's Armor, Part 6: The Helmet of Salvation, Part 2

The helmet of salvation is not something dealing with the past. It's not something even dealing with the present in a sense. It is something dealing with the future.

And this is what he is saying. You can be sure of your salvation in the future, and that becomes a protection against the broad sword that Satan wields. Your car moves you more powerfully than you can move yourself, yet it won't take you anywhere if you don't turn the key and hit the accelerator. You know, that same principle applies to your growth as a Christian. If you know Christ, you have an amazing source of power – power to understand and obey God's word, power to say no to sin, and power to face hardship with joy. That includes even the fiercest trials caused by your supreme enemy, Satan himself.

So the question is, how do you tap into that power source? What does it take to live a victorious Christian life? Find out today on Grace to You as John MacArthur continues his look at Ephesians chapter 6 and the believer's armor.

We're looking at Ephesians 6 verses 13 through 17, and we're examining the warfare of the believer and the resources that he has for victory. We have been discussing quite at length the subject of commitment. We've been discussing the dedication, the commitment, the sort of selling out of ourselves to obedience to fulfill God's will in our lives. We've talked about the matter of disciplining ourselves, controlling our desires, and coming into conformity and in line with the standards of Christ.

We've talked about really being a soldier, a warrior, and giving our best effort for his sake. Now this immediately introduces to us another perspective that is often held regarding this area of Christian living. There are some people who believe that all of this exercise and all of this discipline and all of this struggle and all of this effort is really not what God is after at all. There's a statement in the Old Testament made in reference to King Jehoshaphat that says the battle is not yours, it is the Lord's.

Now that statement has become a byword for a group of people who have been called quietists. It is the movement that basically says the way to live the Christian life is not through self-discipline and through effort and through commitment, but rather through surrender. And you may have been exposed in your youth or in some other time or through reading or whatever to this concept of let go and let God.

There is a song called Let Go and Let God Have His Wonderful Way. We hear a lot about the subject of yielding, of resting, of abiding in Christ, of handing it all over to the Lord. And you hear people say stop struggling and stop striving and yield and surrender, totally surrender, completely surrender.

And I remember as a young person hearing this quite a lot. I remember going to camps and conferences and in the particular college I attended there were constant calls to come to the altar and students were like yo-yos going up and down, up and down, trying to get surrendered. In fact we found that there were a lot of us who were willing to be willing to be willing to surrender.

We just weren't sure how. And it would seem like you'd just get to the point where the tears would begin to flow, you'd hit your knees at the altar and you'd surrender. Three days later you'd sin and then you'd say well I surrendered Lord, whose fault is this?

And so it became very difficult. There are people who take John 15, the concept of abiding in Christ, not to refer to that act of being saved but the idea of surrendering, the idea of yielding. Now maybe you're like some people that I know who went up and down aisles all their childhood years and in their youth trying to get surrendered.

Now that's not uncommon, not uncommon at all. In fact there used to be an old hymn that went something like this, holiness by faith in Jesus not by effort of my own. Let go and let God, means just kind of cool whatever you're doing, sort of flake out, do nothing.

C.H.A. Trumbull who used to defend this system said that when you are fully surrendered, get this, you'll never even experience temptation because it will be defeated by Christ before it has time to draw you into a fight. Now if that's true then how do you ever, when you sin, whose fault is it?

It must be Christ's fault, which is kind of scary to think about because that would not be true. Surrender is perhaps aptly illustrated in a book called The Christian's Secret of a Happy Life written by Hannah Smith. In that book she says this, what can be said about man's part in this great work but that he must continually surrender himself and continually trust? But when we come to God's side of the question, what is there that may not be said as to the manifold and wonderful ways in which he accomplishes the work entrusted to him?

It is here that the growing comes in. In other words, what she's saying is if you want to grow spiritually, do nothing but surrender, let him do it all. She illustrates it, the lump of clay could never grow to a beautiful vessel if it stayed in the clay pit for thousands of years. But when it's put into the hands of a skillful potter, it grows rapidly under his fashioning into the vessel he intends it to be. And in the same way, the soul abandoned to the working of the heavenly potter is made into a vessel under honor, sanctified in meat for the master's use. Now it all sounds good, but if you're nothing but a piece of clay in a potter's hand and he's making you into what he wants you to be, how in the world do you get out of there to sin? Does the clay all of a sudden say, look, I'm finished with this deal, hop out of the potter's hand, form itself into what it wants to be and do its own thing?

It's a little hard on the illustration, frankly. One moment Hannah Smith has the Christian a piece of soft clay, and the next moment the clay has jumped out of the potter's hand and is doing whatever it wants, some clay. But the point is this, there must be more to the Christian life than just a do-nothing approach. The Bible never teaches this approach. The Bible doesn't simply teach that all you have to do at some point in your life is surrender. The Bible doesn't teach that at all. Now I agree that we must depend upon the resource of God. I agree that we must depend upon God's energy and God's power and God's strength. But it is unbiblical to think that all we do is just sit there. And so some people maybe have had a problem with the emphasis I've been making on commitment, on self-discipline in the Christian life, on subjecting your flesh to the strength of God. But you shouldn't because that's what the Bible teaches.

You're in a battle with the enemy. The Christian life is a war. And if you were to go to Hebrews chapter 12, you'd find the Christian life is a race. And if you were to go to 1 Corinthians 9, you'd find that the Christian life is a fight. We must be, says Titus 3, 8, careful to apply ourselves to good deeds. James 4 and 1 Peter 5, we must resist the devil. 1 Corinthians chapter 9, we must beat our body to bring it into subjection. Ephesians chapter 5, we must look carefully how we walk. Philippians chapter 3, we must press on to the mark of the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. 2 Corinthians 7, 1, we must cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh, perfecting holiness and the fear of God. Now listen, it is way too simplistic to say that all that is needed in the Christian life is some kind of belly flop.

To just kind of fall over in a dead feign and say, all right, God, you do it. That is way too simplistic. On the one hand, that's what the quietists were saying.

They were countered by a group called the Pietists, who were the legalists saying you've got to do it all in the flesh. And the balance is in the middle. Yes, we depend on the strength of God. Yes, we rest in His power. Yes, we abide in the vine. Yes, we count on a divine resource.

Yes, it is not I, but Christ. But on the other hand, there must be brought to bear in the Christian life a tremendous level of commitment, a tremendous level of self-control and self-discipline. There must be in the Christian life a dedication of our lives on a day-to-day basis to fight Satan with all the energy we have.

It's way too simple to just say surrender and that's it. Let me show you the balance by having you look with me at 2 Peter chapter 1. In 2 Peter chapter 1 and verse 3, we read this, According as His divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who hath called us to glory and virtue. Now listen, God has called us to glory and virtue. And in order to equip us for that, His divine power has given us all things pertaining to life and godliness. Listen, as a Christian, you do not lack any needed resource. You have all things that pertain to life and godliness.

Where did you get it? Through the knowledge of Him. When you came to know Him in salvation, God gave you everything you need. So divine resource is there. He calls it divine power in verse 3. We have divine power.

We have that available. Now through that divine power, verse 4 says, We are given exceedingly great and precious promises. Tremendous promises.

Tremendous power. And then we become partakers. We have power, promise, and a partaking of the very divine nature itself. Now this is God's part. God says, here's my power, here's my promises, partake of my very nature.

Tremendous, magnanimous resource for living the Christian life. Do we just say, oh, amen, and now I'm just going to surrender to that. I'm going to let go and let God. Turn it all over to Jesus.

Do nothing. No, because you come to verse 5 immediately. And verse 5 says, And beside this, beside this, you give all diligence. Get at it, man.

Get with it. Be diligent, be disciplined to add to your God-given faith virtue and to virtue knowledge and to knowledge self-control and to self-control patience and to patience godliness and to godliness brotherly kindness and to brotherly kindness love. In other words, you get on the job. And beloved, it is not as simple as walking an aisle and making an act of surrender. That is part of it in your life. There must be a commitment to the lordship of Christ. There must be an acknowledging of His power and resource in your life.

But it doesn't end there, it begins there. In Romans 6, there is a yielding of yourselves. Yes, there is a yielding of yourselves in Romans 6. But there is also a mortifying or a killing of the deeds of the flesh. So it isn't all as simple as that and that's why we make no hesitation for proclaiming the truths of Ephesians 6. There's balance. Go back, if you will, for a moment to Philippians chapter 2.

And you'll see the balance again. In Philippians chapter 2, verse 12. Wherefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. And the word obey is the key word in the verse. You work out your salvation in a life of obedience. For, verse 13 says, it is God who works in you to will and to do of His good pleasure. You have God working in you His will and you work it out in your obedience.

That's the idea. God works in you with His will, you work it out by obedience. There's the balance. God is at work and you're at work. Look at Colossians chapter 1, verse 29. Maybe the most definitive verse of all.

Colossians 1, 29 beautifully shows this perfect balance. For this I also labor. Paul says, I work hard, striving according to His working which works in me mightily.

Do you see? I work and God works. That's why I say it's far too simplistic to just be banging the drum for the concept of surrender. There must be a commitment in my life to self-discipline, diligent obedience. In fact, you see, if you take the view that it's all just let go and let God, what are you going to do with all of the New Testament exhortations? What do they mean there? If it's all the Lord, then they should have been directed at Him, not me.

No, no. There is a balance between a yieldedness to the lordship of Christ and a total discipline and commitment in my own life to follow through in obedience. Now, in 2 Corinthians, just one other word to show you, chapter 6, verse 4, but in all things commending ourselves as the ministers of God, all we want to do is to commend ourselves or demonstrate that we are God's ministers. We want the world to know in much patience, in affliction, necessities, distresses, imprisonments, stripes, tumults, labors, watchings, fastings, by pureness, by knowledge, by longsuffering, by kindness, by the Holy Spirit, by love unfeigned, by the word of truth, by the power of God, by the armor of righteousness on the right hand and on the left. Now, do you notice something wonderful about this? There's a phenomenal blending of things.

Patience, that's personal attitude. Affliction, necessity, distress, stripes, imprisonments, tumults, labor, hard work, watching, fasting, pureness, knowledge, longsuffering, kindness. Those are all the things that I must produce in my life, but I must see those things.

And what's the source? By the Holy Spirit, by divine love unfeigned, by the word of the truth, which is the Bible, and by the power of God, and by the armor of righteousness. Those are all things God gives us, the perfect blending of the two. And so we depend on God and give our all.

That's the idea. Now let's come back to Ephesians 6 with that in mind. What I'm trying to say, beloved, is that Ephesians 6 doesn't contradict the Bible anywhere else. And the people who have perhaps taught you in your background that all you needed to do is surrender missed the point. There's far more to this Christian life than that. You know, they used to actually say that the only way to grow in your Christian life is through this total surrender where you just flap back and do nothing, where the Bible says that you grow by acting in an obedient fashion, in a self-disciplined commitment to Jesus Christ that is a matter of everyday effort.

You don't grow by no effort, you grow by maximum effort. Now let's look at the armor again. And so we're not hesitant now to put it on.

I hope that's clarified that issue. We are in a battle, and the battle to be won demands our greatest output and our greatest effort. And so we must first have the belt of truthfulness, and then the breastplate of righteousness, and then the shoes of the gospel of peace, and then the shield of faith, and then in verse 17 we must take the helmet of salvation.

And that's where we stopped last time. What does it mean? What is the helmet of salvation? We told you last time it doesn't mean getting saved. Listen, you wouldn't have the belt of truth, and you wouldn't have the breastplate of righteousness, and you wouldn't have the shoes of the gospel of peace, and you wouldn't have the shield of faith if you weren't saved.

What is it? I told you that salvation has three dimensions, past, present, future. Now listen to me. That is the only definition of salvation that the Bible understands. There is no other kind of salvation than a three-dimensional salvation, past, present, future. The Bible knows nothing of a salvation only valid in the past. The Bible knows nothing of a salvation only valid in the present.

The Bible knows nothing of a salvation for which you have to wait to find out if you get it in the future. The Bible only knows a three-dimensional salvation, past, present, future. We have been saved, are being saved, and will be saved. The past, justification, which results in sanctification and promises glorification.

Salvation is only seen biblically in those three terms, all gathered into one. The past, we're saved from the penalty of sin. The present, we're saved from the power of sin. In the future, we will be saved from the presence of sin. And so you must see salvation in those three dimensions. Now the dimension of it to which Paul specifically alludes here is the future. The helmet of salvation is not something dealing with the past. It's not something even dealing with the present, in a sense. It is something dealing with the future. And this is what he is saying. You can be sure of your salvation in the future, and that becomes a protection against the broad sword that Satan wields.

And I told you last time that he has a big broadsword, a ramfaya, the Greek one. And it has two edges. One edge is discouragement, and the other edge is doubt. And Satan wants to clobber you with discouragement and doubt.

And the protection you have is the helmet of salvation. When you get discouraged, remember there's coming a great glorious day. When you get discouraged, remember there's coming a victory celebration.

When you get discouraged and you want to be weary and well-doing, remember you reap if you faint not. Remember that someday there's going to be a reward. Someday there's going to be a crowning day. Someday Jesus is going to face you and say, Well done, good and faithful servant. And remember that day is coming. And when Satan wants to belt you with discouragement because the battle gets wearying, because you get tired, because the struggle is endless, remember there's coming a victory day. There is a finish line.

There is a final gun. The clock will run out and we'll stand face to face with Jesus Christ in that glorious moment. And so it is then that the helmet of salvation, confidence in the future, as Paul calls it in 1 Thessalonians 5, the helmet of the hope of salvation. But the helmet in the future gives us strength to go on in the present. It gives us strength to go on in the present even when things get tough. So he is saying when Satan wants to hit you with discouragement in the battle, realize there's coming a victory day and don't bail out.

Having done all, stand. If there was no future element to salvation, the other two parts would be meaningless. If I was saved and being saved but there's no future, why should I keep doing this?

Why should I fight so hard if there's no future? If there's no hope of a fullness and a final element of salvation, why all this effort? Let me illustrate that to you in 1 Corinthians 15, 32. And this is very apt from the experience of Paul. And Paul says in this verse, 1 Corinthians 15, 32, If after the manner of men, or in a strictly human way, I have fought with beasts at Ephesus, what does it profit me if the dead rise not?

Let us eat and drink for tomorrow we die. Listen, folks, if there's no future in this, forget it. If I have to go into Ephesus and it gets so bad there and the persecution is so severe that I have to fight with wild beasts, what is it going to profit me if there's no resurrection? What kind of a salvation is it that goes nowhere? You think I'm going to lay my life on the line for a bunch of wild animals? You think I'm going to confront a bunch of hostile pagans with Christ's gospel if there's no resurrection, if there's no future element of salvation, I would give up right now, throw in the towel, throw down the gauntlet, walk away and say it's over. That's the idea. He is saying what kind of a salvation would there be that didn't have a future?

It would have absolutely no power to cause me to fight the battle today. This is Grace to You with John MacArthur. Thanks for being with us. John is the Bible teacher here on Grace to You. He's also Chancellor of the Master's University and Seminary, and today he continued his study, The Believer's Armor. Now, John, still thinking about how the helmet of salvation defends against doubts and bolsters the assurance of our salvation, we received a question on our Q&A line that relates to this issue of assurance, and so let's hear that question now and then you respond.

Hi, Dr. MacArthur. This is Heather from Atlanta, Georgia, and I'm calling because I had a question about, I guess related to assurance of salvation. I was wondering if you could explain the meaning of Romans 8 16 when it talks about the Spirit testifying with our spirits that we are God's children, and maybe how that relates to assurance of salvation. Is that testifying of the Spirit, is that a feeling, or what exactly does that mean?

Thank you so much. Very good question, Heather, and I would say the answer to that is really not a feeling, but fruit. If you possess the Holy Spirit and you walk in the Spirit, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, self-control. So that's what the Spirit produces in a believer.

You could simply put it this way. Your assurance is predicated on the fact that you love the Lord. You don't love him perfectly, but you love him. That you love his Word, that you love his people, that you love his church, that you love the things that are right and good. Also, the Holy Spirit's presence in your life produces joy, so that there is, even in the times of doubt and where you struggle for assurance, there is a settled joy in your heart because of what the Lord Jesus Christ has done for you. Another thing to think about, too, is there's obedience in your life as an evidence of the fruit of the Spirit. The fruit of the Spirit, which basically are attitudes, produce actions, and the actions they produce are righteous actions. So you look at your life and you say, wow, I love the Lord, and I love those who love him, and I love his Word, and I love righteousness, and I find my joy in him and in honoring him and in obeying him, and my heart desires to obey him. And you could add another element, too, and that is humility. In true salvation, the Spirit produces humility, so that you don't think more highly of yourself than you ought to think. And sometimes that humility may kind of drift off into a lack of assurance or doubt, but when you see the desire in your heart to honor the Lord, that's what kind of humility we're talking about. So the fruit of the Spirit, or you could sum it up and say, when there's love toward Christ and all things that belong to him, when there's joy in your life because of what he's done, when there is a desire to be obedient to his Word even though you're not obedient all the time, that's your heart's desire, and when there's a humility that says, I want to serve you, I want to honor you, I want to submit to you as my Lord, those are the evidences of the Holy Spirit.

And that's how the Holy Spirit testifies to you that you belong to Christ. Thanks for that answer, John. And friend, if you have a question about a current movement in the church or the correct meaning of a verse or how to thrive in a culture hostile to the gospel, I encourage you to call our Q&A line and leave your question. You may hear John answer it on a future broadcast. Get in touch with us today. The Q&A line number is 661-295-6288.

That's just for your questions. But again, you can simply call and leave your question, and John may answer it on a future broadcast. The Q&A line number one more time, 661-295-6288.

You'll also find the Q&A line number at our website, gty.org. And if you want to hear more of John's answers to tough theological questions, I would encourage you to visit gty.org, our website. There you'll find dozens of Q&As that John has had with his home church, and you can download all of them for free. Along with those Q&As, you can access all of John's sermons, including series you've recently heard on radio, such as The Parables of the Kingdom, God's Plan for Giving, and Faith Through the Fire. All of those verse-by-verse lessons and all of the Q&As are free of charge.

Start downloading at gty.org. Now for John MacArthur, I'm Phil Johnson. Keep in mind you can watch Grace to You Television Sundays on Direct TV, Channel 378, or check your local listings for Channel and Times, and then tune in again on Monday when John looks at the lies of Satan and how you guard your mind against him. It's another 30 minutes of unleashing God's truth one verse at a time on Grace to You.