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

The helmet of salvation is that if you have a past salvation, you also have a future one, right? Because there's no other kind of salvation seen in the Bible.

But the fullness of that, which involves justification, sanctification, glorification, whom He called He justified, whom He justified, He glorified. There's a common sales technique known as FUD. It stands for fear, uncertainty, and doubt. How does it work?

Here's an example. A salesman criticizes a rival company trying to make you uncertain, doubtful, even fearful to buy that company's product. Of course, those tactics are not restricted to the business world. If you are a Christian and have ever worried about your eternal destiny, maybe today you're questioning whether you're truly saved, Satan might be using this FUD technique on you.

Thankfully, you have what you need to overcome those ploys. God's given you the helmet of salvation. It's a key piece of the believer's armor. That's the title of John MacArthur's study here on Grace to You.

And now with the lesson, here's John. 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. Look at 2 Corinthians chapter 4. 2 Corinthians chapter 4 verse 6. God commanded the light to shine out of darkness, has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Now, what that verse means is that God has made us the lights of the world. God has put Christ in our hearts to radiate him to the world. And therefore, verse 7 says, we have this treasure.

What is the treasure? It's the light of God, the light of Christ in our lives. We have it in these earthen vessels, these bodies. And the excellency of the power is of God, not us. We have divine power in the indwelling Christ. And what happens? All right, we take Christ to the world. We've got the power and the light is there. We move out.

And what are the results? Verse 8. We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed. We are perplexed, not in despair. We are persecuted, but not forsaken. We are cast down, but not destroyed. We are always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus. Look at verse 11. We who live are always delivered unto death for Jesus' sake. Now look at that. He says, here's how it is to minister for Christ.

Great career to go into, right? Everywhere we go, distress, persecution, cast down, bearing in our body the dying of the Lord, always on the edge of death, somebody always wanting to take our lives. This is how we live, day in, day out, day in, day out, confronting a godless, hostile world. You might say, well, why do you bother, Paul?

Why do you bother? Verse 14 tells you why you bother. Knowing that he who raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus. Now listen, the thing that sustained Paul in the level of commitment that he had was that someday he would be raised to glory with Christ, you see? So that the future dimension of salvation becomes a powerful force in the living of life right now. Hey, you know, I'm going to stand face to face with Jesus Christ someday. I'm going to stand face to face with the record of what I've done to serve Him, and I love Him enough, and I have enough desire to know the fullness of eternal life in all that it can give, to want to give everything I can give as long as God gives me breath in this little tiny veil of tears, this little life that only is a vapor that appears for a little time and vanishes away. I want to maximize these few short years so that I can experience the fullness of glorification and eternity with Christ forever. And the reason I don't want to grow weary in well-doing is because I know that I'll reap a glorious reward if I faint not here.

That's the helmet of salvation. So when Satan comes against me and wants to discourage me and tells me, why don't you quit preaching for a while and rest? Why don't you take some time off? I don't give him so much study, you know, just think of a few things, tell funny stories.

They'll never know the difference. Just have an easy time of it. I get sometimes distressed with the things that I even work hard at, and Satan says, ah, it's very discouraging in the ministry. People don't appreciate you. You know, the church isn't the way you want it to be, or it's not doing the things you want it to do.

Oh, you know, just give up on it. And you hang in there because you know that coronation day is coming. You know that day of accountability is coming. You know that day when you're going to be like Jesus Christ and you want to maximize all that that can be for all eternity. That's what moved Paul on. That's what ought to move us. He said, I have fought the good fight.

I have finished the course. I have kept the faith. Why, Paul? Because henceforth is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge shall give to me and not to me only, but to all them that love his appearing. I do it because I know what's coming. And so when Satan comes with the sword of discouragement and the edge of discouragement against our lives, our lives we hold fast and we are protected by the confidence that the salvation God promised will come to pass as a second thing. And that is that Satan has another edge on his sword. It isn't discouragement, it's doubt. And maybe doubt is the ultimate discouragement. Do you know that Satan wants you to doubt your salvation?

Well, he is really good at that. Most people suffer from that at some point in their Christian life early on. Now you'll grow in the Lord and get to the place where you perhaps don't, although none of us is totally invulnerable to Satan's temptations along that line. But Satan wants to come just after you've done something that's sinful and say, you're not a Christian. You couldn't be a Christian. Why would the Lord ever save you? You'll never make it. You're not good enough. You don't deserve to be saved. How do you know you meant it when you did it?

Better try it again, see if it works any better. Satan really comes after people in that area. And there are people, you know, who go to certain churches that teach you can lose your salvation. They live in constant. People say, do you believe in eternal security? In a sense, that's what the Bible is saying here. The one thing I don't believe is eternal insecurity. But there are some people who live in that all the time.

They just live in a constant state of insecurity. And some people are told you'll never know whether you've made it until you face the Lord. Oh, can you imagine living that way? All your life, oh, see, am I gonna make it? Oh, it's getting close.

Am I gonna make it? What a horrible existence. That'd be anything but these things are written unto you that your joy may be full. You'd have to say the New Testament would say these things are written unto you that you might be miserable.

You could never be happy knowing that that kind of thing was a guessing game. Then there are other people who think every time you sin, you lose your salvation. Satan wants us to be afraid we don't have salvation. He wants us to doubt salvation.

You know why? Because he wants us to doubt the promise of God. He wants us to believe God doesn't keep his word. He wants us to believe that salvation isn't forever, that God can't hold onto us. He wants us to deny God's power, to deny God's resource, to deny that God can hold us, to deny that God speaks the truth. And all of these things are simply denials of that. And so Satan comes against us, making us doubt.

How do we react to that? The helmet of salvation is that if you have a past salvation, brother, sister, if you have a past salvation, you also have a future one, right? Because there's no other kind of salvation seen in the Bible.

See? There is no other kind. But the fullness of that which involves justification, sanctification, glorification. Whom he called, he justified. Whom he justified, he glorified.

There's nobody in the gaps. Now let me show you this as we go backwards in the Bible to John chapter 6, a very, very important passage in verse 37. All that the Father giveth me shall come to me shall come to me and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. Now what the Lord says is if you come to him, he will in no wise cast you out. In no wise means under no circumstances. There are no circumstances in existence in the universe whereby Christ would cast out somebody who came to him. That's what he's saying. You come to him under no circumstance, under no condition, in no case, in no wise would he cast you out.

Why? Because the only ones who come are the ones the Father gives. You see? And if God gives you to Christ, then you have the decree of God to eternal salvation and you have the response of Christ to eternal salvation and there is no way to lose. The Father then, just to give you an illustration of what he's saying, is the Father is like rewarding the Son. The Son has done well in going to the cross and accomplishing redemption. So the Father gives him gifts and the gifts are very lovely.

They are the souls of men. You and I who know Christ are gifts from the Father to the Son, tokens of the Father's love. And the Father loves the Son so much he gives these kinds of gifts. And conversely, the Son loves the Father so much that he holds tightly to such precious gifts.

All that the Father gives shall come and when they come under no circumstance would I turn them away. Why? It isn't because of you. It isn't because of you at all.

You're not even the picture here. It's because the Son loves the Father too much to ever lose anybody that was a love gift from the Father to the Son. You see? It's all wrapped up in the Trinity folks. Now look at the next verse 38. For I came down from heaven not to do mine own will but the will of him that sent me. This was the Father's plan all along he was saying. The whole plan of the Father was to redeem some people, give them to the Son and have the Son keep them.

That's the whole plan. And this is the Father's will to have sent me. What is his will?

That of all that he hath given me I should lose none but should raise him up again at the last day. How many does Jesus lose? None. None.

None. There is no loss between the decree of the Father, the gift to the Son and the resurrection of the last day so that you have justification, sanctification, glorification, past, present, future without loss. And so does the Bible teach that God has a counsel that cannot be changed, a calling that cannot be revoked, an inheritance that cannot be defiled, a foundation that cannot be broken, a seal that cannot be shaken, a life that cannot perish. I'll go over to John 10 for a moment, verse 27. Now here there are seven strands in the rope that bind us eternally to Christ, seven great reasons why you maintain salvation, seven great truths. Number one, verse 27, my sheep, my sheep.

Stop right there. Whose sheep are you? You're Christ's sheep. Now listen, if you are Christ's sheep, it is his duty as shepherd to care for you and protect you. If he loses you, that is in effect a slur against his own ability as a shepherd.

You get that? If you are his sheep and the shepherd is to care for the sheep, then for someone to be lost reflects upon the character and quality of the shepherd. There's a second strand that binds us to Christ. My sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me. Listen, they follow Christ, his sheep do, no exceptions. They will not listen to strangers, they listen only to him. True Christians then are kept by the power of the great shepherd at strand number one. Secondly, they will follow.

That's what he says, they will follow. They may stumble and sin, but they'll be there. Thirdly, I give, verse 28, unto them eternal life. Now eternal life lasts how long? Forever. It is eternal life.

To speak of it as ending is a contradiction in terms. Eternal life is eternal. So we are bound by the character of the shepherd, we are bound by the character of the sheep as they follow, we are bound by the very definition of the gift of eternal life.

It is forever. Further, it is a gift. I give unto them eternal life. You didn't do anything to earn it, you can't do anything to keep it.

It's a gift. Fifthly, another strand that binds us to Christ, is he says they shall never perish. If one Christian ever did, then Christ didn't tell the truth.

If Christ didn't tell the truth, throw away your Bible, forget Christianity, it's all wrong. Further, it says no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand. There is no power in the universe stronger than God, and if God wants to hold on, that's the way it's going to be. Nobody can take us out of the Father's hand. And further, he adds, verse 29, my Father who gave them to me is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand.

Notice in verse 28 he says, my hand, and verse 29, my Father's hand, double protection. Now what I'm trying to show you in these two passages in John is simply that Jesus Himself, by His own words, confirms the fact that a past salvation includes a future one as well, that eternal life is just that. They never perish. They never fail.

He never loses any of them. That's the way Jesus spoke of it. No wonder when you come to Romans 8 and verse 38, the Apostle Paul says, I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creation, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Paul is saying there is nothing in the universe now or in the future that could ever separate a believer from Christ. In Philippians chapter 1 verse 6, it says, being confident of this very thing that He who hath begun a good work, that's the past part of salvation, He begun it, will perform, that's the present, until the day of Jesus Christ, that's the future.

All three elements of salvation bound up in the same verse. Now I want to close our study by having you look at the book of Jude, the next to the last book in the New Testament. Let me just say this by way of a general look at the book of Jude.

The book of Jude is written to deal with apostasy or a departure from the faith. It is primarily concerned with the vile character of false prophets and false teachers. It talks about in verse 4, certain people creeping in who are basically ordained to condemnation, ungodly men who turned the grace of God into lasciviousness. It talks about filthy dreamers in verse 8. It talks about the prophets who prophesy for greed in verse 11.

The scabs, they're called scabs in verse 12, wells without water, clouds without water rather, trees without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots, raging waves of the sea, wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever, murmurers, complainers, and just horrible, sensual, ungodly, lusting beings. These are the apostates. And here's a little group of Christians, as it were, sort of in the midst of an apostate age, not unlike us today. The concept here is that right in the midst of vile, evil, false teaching, the corruption of the church, the rotting of the foundations, as it were, there's a little group of believers who might be saying to themselves, man, you know, we're able to get swept up in this whole deal. What's going to happen to us? They see everything going down the drain, like in our society, liberalism and neo-orthodoxy and all of the garbage that's coming along in the name of Christianity seems to be selling us right down the river. And we say, well, what about us?

Are we going to fall by the wayside in this deal? And so at the beginning of Jude verse 1, at the end of Jude verses 24 and 25, Jude reiterates the fact that we don't have to fear. No matter how bad the day gets, no matter how vile the world around us, we're okay. Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James, to them that are set apart by God the Father and kept in Jesus Christ. Better to translate it, kept by Jesus Christ in the dative case. He says, in the midst of all the rot around you, you will be set apart by God and kept by Jesus Christ.

Te reo is the Greek verb. It means to watch, to guard, to keep and to preserve. It's even been used outside the Bible to speak of something being guaranteed. When you were saved, you were given a gilded guarantee. The Bible talks about the fact that we've been given the earnest of the Spirit.

And the earnest means engagement ring, down payment, guarantee. When you were saved, God gave you the Holy Spirit as a guarantee that someday you'd be glorified in the presence of God, even in the toughest times. You know, Jesus prayed, Father, I pray that you will keep them which I have given you, that you'll keep them from the evil one, John 17, 11 and 15. And Jesus' prayer will be answered. The Father will keep the believer.

And that's what he's saying here. You are not only sanctified, you are kept by Jesus Christ. That's the helmet of salvation. You don't need to listen to Satan's doubts. Oh, you better make sure you're really a Christian to start with. If you're shaky on that ground, you can't have any confidence. If you don't have any confidence, number one, you may not be a Christian at all. But number two, you may be a Christian who's being severely buffeted by Satan, and you better get back on the helmet of salvation. Go to verse 24 of Jude. And here it is the same thing again, only at greater length. Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling.

Isn't that great? The word able is dunametal, power. He is powerful enough to keep you from falling. It isn't just that Christ doesn't want you to fall, it's that he's able to prevent it, you see? He's able to prevent it. And he's able to present you amomos, without a spot, without a blemish, faultless.

And by the way, amomos is used in 1 Peter 1 18 and 19 to refer to Christ. He is able to keep you from stumbling, keep you from falling, and present you as pure as Christ is pure, someday in the presence of God the Father. That's the keeping power of Christ. Tremendous security.

Tremendous. And the word here talking about keep you is not terreo, the same word as the earlier one of watch, guard, keep, but it's velaso which means to secure in the midst of an attack. So no matter what all the hosts of hell throw against you, Christ is powerful enough to keep you from falling and present you amomos as spotless as Jesus Christ in the presence of God. No wonder the psalmist said, surely, confidently, surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.

He knew it. And ultimately I will dwell where? In the house of the Lord forever. See, he knew that the salvation God gave him was a past, present, future salvation. Surely, he said, goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life and ultimately I'll dwell in the house of the Lord forever. In 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 verse 23, Paul says, in a glorious benediction, the very God of peace sanctify you wholly and your whole spirit and soul and body preserved blameless to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. And I love this, faithful is he that called you who also will do it.

What a great thing. Paul says this great benediction, preserved blameless and faithful is he who called you who will do it. No, we do not accept the blows of doubt that Satan casts against us. Our armor is the confidence that salvation is future as well as present and past. Then Christ holds us in the power of His own hand and He in Hebrews 6 16 to 19, the Bible says there are two things, two immutable things, two unchanging things, the promise of Christ and the oath of Christ that anchor the believer's soul forever.

Hebrews 6 16 to 19. And so it is that confidence that makes us defend ourselves against Satan's blows. Beloved, when he comes with discouragement, when he comes with doubt, be assured there's a glory day coming, there's a victory day coming, fight the good fight, have confidence in the salvation God gave you and know that you'll be there for that crowning day. In the wonderful hymn, the church is one foundation, the writer says, mid toil and tribulation and to molt of her wars, she waits the consummation of peace forevermore till with the vision glorious her longing eyes are blessed and the great church victorious becomes the church at rest. Someday there's coming a rest.

Not now. We're in the battle. We've got to fight the battle. The rest comes later when the victory has been ours. Another hymn and you know it well says, stand up, stand up for Jesus.

The strife will not be long. This day the noise of battle, but next the victor's song to him that overcometh the crown of life shall be he with the King of glory shall reign eternally. And I end with the words of John Bunyan. Hobgoblin nor foul fiend can daunt his spirit. He knows he at the end shall life inherit.

Then fancies fly away. He'll fear not what men say. He'll labor night and day to be a soldier. Dear John Bunyan was thrown in the Bedford jail and it was there that he determined that he'd fight and never grow weary.

He wouldn't feel the blows of discouragement and doubt and in that time in the jail as he looked to the day he'd be with Jesus Christ in the worst of circumstances he produced the greatest thing he ever did in his life, pilgrim's progress. Don't give up. Don't let Satan victimize you with discouragement and doubt because you're going to win in the end.

Keep the helmet on now. This is Grace to You with John MacArthur. Thanks for tuning in today. John is the chancellor of the Master's University and Seminary.

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