A helmet of salvation. Why is salvation so called in the seventeenth birth of Ephesians chapter six? It is there in that portion that the Apostle Paul, by the Holy Spirit, describes the component parts of the Christian armor. Why should he use the medieval protective helmet of a Roman soldier to illustrate the great doctrine of salvation? The helmet of the ordinary Roman soldier was a very heavy, formidable weapon of protection in battle. It would protect him from many Assyrians and even a fatal blow from the enemy. This expression, the helmet of salvation, indicates by its application to the believer that the Christian should have an intelligent and an experimental knowledge of the great doctrine of salvation, as it is revealed by God in and through His Holy Word. If we fail to understand this vital doctrine, we shall be exposed to the attack of Satan and all the wicked spirits his followers. The believer must wear this helmet. Furthermore, the doctrine of salvation is the first essential teaching from the Word of God that God desires every person, old and young, to understand. There are many doctrines in the Holy Scriptures, but salvation is the most important, first of all, to be taught and to experience God's saving grace for eternal blessings. Let me briefly give three reasons why I believe it is essential to know this doctrine carefully. First and most important of all, my own soul needs salvation. I need to be saved. My beloved friend, your soul needs salvation. This is the paramount need of the human race. For every man, woman, volume, girl, who enters into this world, The reason for it? It is because we have sinned and come short of the glory of God according to Romans three and verse twenty three. There is an inevitable and an eternal penalty because of this fact. For we read that the wages of sin is death in Romans six twenty three. And this penalty is but eternal banishment. Eternal separation from God in eternal hell, where my soul and your soul justly deserves to bear the consequences of our sin and that forever. Surely this is sufficient evidence to prove how great is my need and your need of salvation, a deliverance from such an eternal danger. God's salvation, if he himself proclaims it, and has provided it, is able to save from this great peril. Praise his holy name. A second reason for the importance of knowing salvation is God's word teaches it. Every believer has the privilege and the responsibility to be a witness in the gospel to others. For are we not saying, to tell others, of the Christ of Calvary, how important it is for a Christian to be able, clearly and acceptably, to impart the way of salvation, having himself or herself a proper understanding of God's great teaching on the subject, and to be able to present it in a complete scriptural manner. But then a third reason for knowing this great doctrine. There are many doctrinal subjects in the Word of God, many of solemn character. But the doctrine of salvation, when it is properly taught or preached, is the one message, redeeming to all mankind God's love for sinners. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, said the Lord Jesus. that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life, as we well know in John three sixteen. This message of salvation fully declares the greatness of God's love for every human being. So with what confidence and with what joy a believer can tell forth the way of salvation? It is a message of love from the heart of God to the heart of every sinner. Before we look at particular scriptures concerning salvation in its complete aspects, a definition of salvation will be helpful to consider. There is one verse of scripture briefly, but very completely, defining the meaning of salvation. It is found in Jonah chapter two and verse nine. It is the closing sentence of Jonah's prayer. From the very depths of the great fish, at the bottom of the ocean, where he was imprisoned. And in that prayer he closes by saying, Salvation is of the Lord. Five words only. Salvation is of the Lord. These words plainly tell us. that salvation is not a work that is done by man on the behalf of God, but rather a work that is done alone by God on the behalf of the sinner. God himself must do the work to save us from the beginning to the end. For it is written, He that hath begun a good work in you will perform or finish it until the day of Jesus Christ. Philippians one, verse six. Salvation then is a work that is done entirely by God, whereby God bestows eternal life upon the one who by faith accepts the atoning finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ that was done upon the cross for the forgiveness of sin. And he or she receives the Son of God as their personal Lord and Savior. At the same time that God bestows eternal life upon the believing sinner, it is with the assurance that God will bring him or her into eternal glory in the future. God who begins the work of salvation at the time the sinner receives his beloved Son, promises to bring that believing sinner to the glory in days ahead. It is his infallible word. Listen again to the whole verse as we quote it from Philippians one, verse six. Being confident of this very thing that God, which has begun the good work in you, will finish it until the day of Jesus Christ. This truth is illustrated from the experience of Jonah. For when Jonah cried, salvation is of the Lord, do we not read that the Lord spake unto the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon dry land? Will you please note very carefully that Jonah was delivered at its final destination? on dry land. He was not spewed out of the fish in the middle of the ocean, and then left to his own resources and power to make the remaining part of the journey in his own strength. If he had been so, probably he would never have reached dry land. This is a blessed illustration of God's salvation. from the depths of the ocean of sin. He will bring the believing sinner to what we often sing as being the land that is fairer than day, the eternal shores of heavenly glory. If the work of salvation is God's work, from start to finish, when a person properly understands it, As God's word teaches it, that person who receives God's great salvation can certainly say three things. First, that person can say, when he or she has taken Christ, as his or her say, yes, I have been saved. Second, that person can also say and will be able to say, I am being saved. Then third and last, the same believing sinner, if he or she knows the teaching of the Word of God, will also be able to say, I shall be saved. Three particular facts. First, I have been saved. Second, I am being saved. Third, I shall yet be saved. There definitely is in the Word of God the teaching that there is a past in relation to the doctrine of salvation. There is definitely a teaching also that there is a present in relation to the teaching of salvation. And blessed be God, there definitely is a future tense in the meaning of salvation. For if God does the saving, from the beginning to the end, he has to provide a salvation that will ultimately bring every believing sinner to his eternal glory. Let us praise God that the provision he has made through Christ and his beloved Son and his great work completely covers the past, the present, and the future aspects of the salvation of a sinner. It is a personal joy for every Christian to say, I have been saved. We ask the question, beloved friend. Can you state that? Has there been an experience in your soul's history and in the history of your life? Whereby you can now say, I have been saved. But by what authority of Scripture is it possible to make such a statement? If you will turn with me or listen to me reading in the fifth chapter of Romans, verses six and eight, there we shall learn why it is that a Christian can certainly declare, I have been saved. They are wonderful words. Oh, the joy, when the soul can, from experience, give the testimony to others, I have been saved. Here are the words of Romans chapter five and verse six. Listen to them say, For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. Listen to the words of verse eight, declaring, that God commended his love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. It is well, first of all, to notice from both of these verses the class of people that are referred to. In verse six, they are spoken of as being without strength, and they are spoken of as being ungambly. And in verse eight they are declared to be sinners. You take the words and put them together, without strength, on godly sinners without strength. And you have the kind of people that God can say. Let me ask the simple question. Are there any other kind of people but this? Never. The whole human race can be so classified as ungodly sinners without strength to save their souls. It is the work of the Spirit of God to convince the soul of this fact in order to awaken the sinner to realize his or her need of God's salvation. As God awakened you, my beloved friend, Have you never been awakened to the fact? You are without strength, an ungodly sinner who can never save his or her precious soul. But also notice in these verses another outstanding fact. It is emphasized in both of them. They declare the same truth, precious truth. It is this, Christ died. Two words concerning the death of Christ. His atoning death that was accomplished by him alone when he died upon the cross. No other person's death could ever do the work to save the soul. For whom did Christ die? Verse six, as we noted, said, for those without strength who are ungodly. Verse eight declares again, While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. My beloved letters thank God that he did not wait for us to stop sinning before he sent his son to die. How could we ever change our sinful nature? It was while we were yet sinners, Christ died for our great salvation. Then why can a Christian say, I've been saved. The Christian can but point to the death of Christ upon the cross of Calvary and say, I believe that Christ, the Son of God, died for my sins. I believe that he paid my penalty upon the tree. I believe that he took the judgment and bore the wrath of God on my behalf. How do I know that Christ did that? Listen to Isaiah fifty-three in verse six. All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way. And the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. There is an amazing fact revealed in this verse. God himself, Jehovah God, who alone knew all my sins? For I could never count them. Jehovah God who knew them all, he laid them upon his beloved son. And his divine judgment for my sins was placed upon the sacrificial offering of his dear son when he was hanging upon the cursed tree at Calvary. The poet is properly written, All thy sins were laid upon him, Jesus bore them on the tree. God who knew them laid them on him. And believing, I am free. Did not Peter the Apostle write to say of Christ, Who his own self bear our sin in his own body on the tree? First Peter, too, and verse twenty-four. Verily, I know that I am an ungodly sinner. You are an ungodly sinner by nature. But God commended His great love toward ungodly sinners through the fact that Christ his beloved Son died for us. My beloved friend, do you know, and have you confessed this undeniable fact I am an ungodly sinner. For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, as we have quoted from Romans three twenty-three. Nevertheless, God can save every ungodly sinner, and will save every ungodly sinner, who will put his and her faith in the death of his Son? For by the death of God's Son, he has provided the need of salvation. to deliver your soul and mind from a well-deserved eternal penalty in eternal hell. Listen to the words of God saying to us again, For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for all. First Timothy chapter two, verses five and six. Listen to the words. spoken by Peter in Acts chapter four and verse twelve. Neither is there salvation in any other, for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. I have to confess. You must confess it. Christ alone can save me. The beloved apostle Paul testified that both Jews and Gentiles were imperatively commanded to repent. And in Acts chapter twenty and verse twenty-one, the beloved apostle said that he preached to the Jews and to the Gentiles the necessity of repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. It is absolutely true that when an ungodly sinner confesses his and her need to God in genuine repentance for his and her sins, and exercises faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and his atoning death upon the cross, that believing sinner can then say, I have been saved. Now please listen to the confirmation of God's word. giving authority when you and I can say I've been saved. We quote the words of Romans chapter ten, verses nine and ten. Listen to the words of the beloved apostle written by the Holy Spirit. That if thou shalt confess with thine mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. Please note very carefully, let me emphasize this. It is not merely the confession of the mouth alone. Neither is it merely mental acquiescence of the mind to the truth. But it is believing in the heart. that God gave his son to die upon the cross of Calvary for our sins, and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day. If thou shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. And it is with the heart that man must believe, and does believe unto righteousness, with a mouth making confession unto salvation. My beloved friend, If never you have, why not? Believe this moment in your heart and confess it with your mouth, Lord Jesus, you died for me. In the words of the old hymn, for it is completely and only by the atoning sacrificial death and the redemptive blood of Christ that you and I can ever dare to say, I've been saved. And in the words of that old hymn, the chorus of it particularly, I do believe, I now believe, that Jesus died for me, that on the cross he shed his blood, from sin to set me free. What a blessed confession. Have you ever made it? Believing that all the wages, the inevitable, and the eternal penalty of my sin, Christ bore upon the cross himself, offering himself as the sacrifice to God for my sin. This I can be assured of, in my heart when I believe he died for me. And with my heart fully believing, I am able to say with another Christian poet, My faith has found a resting place, not in device nor creed. I trust the ever-living one. His wounds for me shall plead. I need no other argument. I need no other plea. It is enough that Jesus died, and that he died for me. Oh, my beloved, can you say that? Please note very carefully the first half of Romans five and verse ten, to which we now refer. God writing by his spirit through his servant Paul to say, When we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his son. My beloved friend, there is only one solid and eternal foundation for you and for me. to rest our souls upon for salvation, for our deliverance from eternal hell. It is the death of Christ. We ask the question, are you resting your deliverance from that eternal hell? Are you resting your faith upon the death of the Lord Jesus Christ? One is well stated, on a life I have not lived, on a death I did not die. another's life, another's death. I state my whole eternity. How important it is. I never will be able to say I've been sane. And the testimony that one can so give is very precious, when it is true. To the deep and earnest joy of my own soul, the night, as a poor, well-deserving sinner, I fell at the feet of my beloved, blessed Savior. to acknowledge my sin and my guilt, to call upon him for the salvation that he had provided for me by his death on the cross, coming to him in simple trust in faith, receiving him into my heart as my failure. I rose to my feet many, many years ago. And from that moment, yea, the very night that I was saved, I began to tell others, I have been saved. May I again emphasize the authority of being able to say it. By the death of my Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, upon the cross of Calvary. My friend, if you are unsaved, oh, that you would say words that I now quote from a precious old hymn, Jesus I will trust thee. Trust thee with my soul. Guilty, lost and helpless. Thou canst make me whole. There is none in heaven nor on earth like thee. Thou hast died for sinners. Therefore, Lord, for me. Yes, my beloved friend, the first great aspect of God's salvation, we must know. And it is to be experimentally known, in our soul's experience, to be able to say, I have been saved. My friend, can you save it? And can you point alone to that mighty, atoning sacrifice of Christ the Son of God, which he made for you upon the cross of Calvary? It is then, and not until then, can you go further to say, as we shall see in the will of the Lord, I am also being saved, and I shall also yet be saved, which in God's will we shall consider in regard to this great doctrine of salvation. May we close this portion of our study by saying, the words of Ephesians six, seventeen, Beloved friend, make sure, take the helmet of salvation, shall we pray. Blessed Father, we lift our hearts in gratitude, thanksgiving and worship, for the provision of a salvation that has been accomplished only by and through the death of thy beloved and precious Son. the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God. May each one of us say, with gratitude and worship, he loved me, and he gave himself for me. We ask it for his glory, for our blessing, and even the salvation of some dear soul who may not yet have received the Savior. Amen.