1 Eph. 6:17 The Helmet of Salvation (part 1) The Christian s Hope In v. 17 Paul says, Take the Helmet of Salvation. It is interesting that, at least in this passage, this is the only defensive part of the armor that is not connected with a particular grace. We have seen the belt of truth, and the breastplate of righteousness, the shoes of the gospel of peace, and the shield of faith. Here, the helmet is connected with salvation. But, salvation isn t in and of itself a grace. But, if we look in 1 Thess. 5:8 Paul says, But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation. Here, the grace associated with the helmet of salvation is hope. This is why I have entitled the sermon: The Christian s Hope. So today s sermon is simply to answer the question: What is hope? In order to answer this question, I will follow Gurnall s definition. Here is his definition: Hope is a supernatural grace of God, whereby the believer, through Christ, expects and waits for all these good things of the promise, which at present he has not received, or not fully. Now, let s break this definition down into 4 parts. 1. The author of hope. God is the author of our hope. This means that hope does not originate with us. Hope is not something in and of ourselves that we have. It is a supernatural grace that comes from God. In 1 Pet. 5:10 He is called, the God of all grace, that is, the giver and worker of all grace, both as to its first seed and all further growth of it. Can any of us produce seed for grass? Can we cause it to grow? No! In the same way, none of us can produce the smallest seed of grace in the heart. Nor can we make the seed of grace grow. As God is the Father of rain, bringing it to the earth to make things grow, so He is the author of spiritual rain and dew that nourish and cause every grace in our hearts to thrive. Therefore, God is the author of hope. The Apostle Peter teaches this truth further in the verse I just read. 1 Pet. 5:10: And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. This is true of all grace in the heart and also with the particular grace of hope. In Rom. 15:13 He is called the God of hope. Paul says, May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope. So, the Christian hope comes from God. It begins with him and he is the one who makes it grow. 2. The subject of hope. The subject of hope is the believer. It is the Christian. Brothers and sisters, WE are the subjects of this wonderful grace. It is only for us. As Kristen wears the wedding ring I gave her, so the Christian, as one who is married to Christ, wears the special, precious, unique jewel of hope. There is no hope for the one who is outside Christ. In Eph. 2:12, speaking to those new Gentile believers, says this: Remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. Before I came to Christ, I had no hope. Yes, I may have had hopes that I would play professional baseball or that I would get good grades, or that I would get a good job and be happy, and a whole list of things this world says I should hope in. But, these things are not the hope of which the Bible speaks. REAL hope, TRUE hope, did not come until faith came. It is not beneficial to
2 argue in regards to time, which came first, faith or hope. For they go together. But, in order of nature and operation, faith precedes hope. Faith says, I see the promise of God in Christ to save. Then, hope lifts up the soul to say, I will wait. Which of us would go to the train station to pick up someone who isn t coming? No! We go to the train station to pick someone up because we know they are on the train. Let s suppose there is a wife who has a husband serving overseas in the military. And their only means of communication is through letters. Every day she goes to the mailbox eagerly awaiting his letters. And in these letters, he is constantly telling her how much he loves her and cares for her. And he also tells her he will be home soon and when he gets home, he has such great plans for their life. Upon reading letters like this, she has great joy, and she can hardly wait. But, still, she waits, and she looks out the window for his coming. In the same way, God sends the church his love-letters in which he opens his very heart and all the things that He will do for us. These are his promises. Faith reads these letters with joy. Hope looks out the window with an eager expectation of the day when God s promises will ultimately come to pass. Do you remember the story near the end of the Book of Acts when Paul went on trial before the governor Felix? He gives a defense of who he is and why he is preaching the Gospel of Christ. He says, But this I confess to you, that according to the Way, which they call a sect, I worship the God of our fathers, believing everything laid down by the Law and written in the Prophets, 15 having a hope in God, which these men themselves accept, that there will be a resurrection of both the just and the unjust. So, in the midst of his persecution and trial, Paul possessed great hope. And this hope would help carry him through. It is the same for us. We are the benefactors of hope. If we really believe in the promise of God to save, we have hope that God will ultimately carry out this promise. 3. The object of hope. Have you ever thought more deeply about what hope looks forward to? In other words, what is the object of our hope? Let me mention 4 facts about the object of our hope. i. The object of hope is something good. I don t need to say much here. For, who hopes for something bad? None of us ever hopes evil upon ourselves. Yeah, I hope I have a car accident today. This isn t hope. Instead, we hope for something good. And then we wait for it. This is one difference between faith and hope. Faith can filter through evil and bad things knowing they must be. For we know that God works all things out for good to those who love him and are called according to his purpose (Rom. 8:28). Even the greatest evil known in the history of the world, the cross of Christ, Christians know to be necessary and even glory in it, because of what it accomplished. But hope is different. The object of hope is only good. ii. The object of hope is the good of the promise. The object of our hope is the promise of God to do something good for us. Hope without a promise is like an anchor that falls only on sand and cannot hold. There is nothing there to grab hold of. I remember years ago as a college student. My grandparents paid my way to go to Hawaii and spend 10 days with my uncle. Oh what a trip! But, my uncle s apartment was a sailboat anchored about a half mile from the shore. It was protected from the ocean s waves because of the reef that was about another half mile away. But, I remember laying on that boat trying to sleep. There was still strong current and I believe the
3 anchor did not hold very well. Because when the sun came up in the morning, I would be in a different place. One morning there was another boat (big one) just feet from my position. What could I have done if they collided? I was thinking, What good is the anchor if we, and or the other boats, shift positions in the night. I was scared and didn t know where I would end up in the mornings. Hope isn t like this. Hope is SURE because it is anchored in the good promise of God. Acts 26:6 on another trial before King Agrippa Paul says, And now I stand here on trial because of my hope in the promise made by God to our fathers, 7 to which our twelve tribes hope to attain, as they earnestly worship night and day. And for this hope I am accused by Jews, O king! (Acts 26:6-7). In Psalm 119:81 the Psalmist says, My soul longs for your salvation; I hope in your word. True hope is only found in that which is promised by God. And, God s promise to save is GOOD! Now, let s go a step further. iii. The object of hope is ultimately God Himself. God makes many promises, but they all find their fulfillment in God Himself. In other words, the greatest hope rests in the fact that God is our ultimate treasure. The object of hope is ALL the good things of the promise. But, all God s promises make their way back to Him as the ultimate good. A man came to Jesus and said, Good teacher, what must I do to get eternal life? to which Jesus replied, Why do you call me good? Only God is good (Mark 10; Luke 18). Do you remember God s promise to Abraham? In Gen. 12:1-3: God said, Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. 2 And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed. Do you hear all the promises? Land. Great nation. Blessing. Great name. Be a blessing. Curse those who dishonor you. Bless the nations! Abraham hoped in these GOOD promises. But, if we read the rest of the story and come to Heb. 11 we see that beyond all the good promises Abraham looked to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God (Heb. 11:10). Moses was also given the same great promises. The time came for the people to go into the Promised Land. But, their hearts were sinful and rebellious. At that time Moses wasn t concerned so much with the land and the blessing and fruit. He was concerned that the presence of God would not accompany them. In Exod. 33:15-16 he said, If your presence will not go with me, do not bring us up from here. 16 For how shall it be known that I have found favor in your sight, I and your people? Is it not in your going with us, so that we are distinct, I and your people, from every other people on the face of the earth? Again, Moses hoped in all God s good promises. But, all these good promises find their fulfillment in God Himself, who will ultimately save his people and be their inheritance forever and ever. Many times God is called the Hope of Israel (Jer. 17:13). There is no greater goal of hope than God Himself. He is called the hope of glory (Col. 1:2, 7), the hope of eternal life (Tit. 3:7), and the hope of salvation (1 Thess. 5:8). Quick application: There are degrees of hope as there are an abundance of promises. But, the greatest promise is God himself. This is the ultimate
4 good! The greatest faith is the faith that looks beyond the gifts to the giver of the gifts. This kind of faith knows that no matter what comes in this life, in the end, God Himself is the gift and the promise of our hope. iv. The object of hope is the good of the promise, not in hand, but yet to be performed. In other words, the object of our hope is in the future. Speaking about the ultimate glorification of all things, Paul says this about hope in Rom. 8:24: For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? This is another difference between faith and hope. Hope looks to the future. Faith is more concerned with the present. Heb. 11:1 says, Faith is assurance or the substance of things hoped for. In other words, we know there is faith if there is evidence, substance, in our lives. As James sys, Faith without works is dead (James 2). But, hope waits from something yet to be. Heb. 11:13, speaking of saints who died: These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. Faith speaks in the present. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? 36 As it is written, For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered. 37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us (Rom. 8:35-37). Hope looks to the future. 2 Tim. 1:12: But I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that he is able to guard until that Day what has been entrusted to me. 1 Cor. 13:12: For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known. One day, hope will be no more. When the promise is fulfilled, when we see Him face to face, hope will cease. Only two things, the performance of the promise, or the execution of the threatening will extinguish hope. In other words, the promise of being with God or the execution of the threat of hell will hope cease to be. Quick application: For the lost, there is hope to be found now, and only now. Heb. 9:27: And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment... 4. The aid of hope. In other words, practically, how is our hope realized? How does it come to us? The aid of our hope is Jesus Christ. 2 Cor. 1:20 says, For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory. By his help we hope. Hope waits for the promise of God to save and to do all He has said He will do THROUGH CHRIST! In 1 Tim. 1:1: Paul writes to Timothy: Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by command of God our Savior and of Christ Jesus our hope... This greeting means that everything that follows in the letter, every piece of doctrine, every piece of instruction, every piece of the promise to come in salvation, is through the person and work of Jesus Christ! From before the foundation of the world, to the promise of God after the sin of Adam, to crush the head of the serpent, to the promise to Noah to bless his family, to the promise of Abraham to bless and give land, to the kings of Israel to always have someone on the throne of David, to the city of Jerusalem with the temple and his Presence; ALL find their fulfilment in Christ, who is Great God and Savior of his people.
5 Both the authority and the ability to hope comes through Christ! How is this so? Here s how. In his death, he purchased the good promise, which is to save and bless a people for all eternity. 1 Pet. 1:18-21: knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. 20 He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you 21 who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God. The death of Christ was the most beautiful payment for our sins. Rom 5:9: Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God... The penalty of death has been paid. And in this death lies our authority to hope. But, we can t stop there. The death of Christ, with the resurrection and the ascension to his rightful place in heaven also gives us the ability to hope. For Jesus said, And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever... (John 14:16). By the Spirit, we have the power to hope in the promise of God to save and deliver us from ALL evil and sin and take us to heaven where we will see Him. With this in mind, we can see why Paul says, Put on the helmet of salvation. It is the helmet of hope through the great work of salvation. So when Satan comes through the trials of this life and the persecutions come and the difficulties with our sin and our circumstances, whatever!; put on hope s helmet of salvation. What a beautiful doctrine. The author of our hope is God. WE are the subject of this hope. The object of our hope is the good promise of God. And, the aid of our hope is Jesus Christ. So, this today, and this week, as you go through all the things you will go through, remember these things. Let me finish with one verse. Ps. 43:5: Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God.