Okay, now turn over to Ephesians
6. Ephesians 6, as we look at this next piece
of armor and this full armor of God. Let's read verses 13 through
17. Wherefore, take unto you the
whole armor of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil
day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having
your loins girt about with truth, having on the breastplate of
righteousness, and your feet shod with the preparation of
the gospel of peace, above all taking the shield of faith wherewith
ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked,
and take the helmet of salvation." It says, take the helmet of salvation. Did you notice anything over
there in 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 as we were reading? Verse 8
said the same thing, and for a helmet, the hope of salvation.
And I think you noticed with me before, and maybe then as
we read, the first few pieces of armor in this armor of God
seem to be put on us, don't they? Look at verse—well, we stand
there passively. Look at verse 14. It says, "...stand
therefore, having your loins girt about with truth." We stand
still and see for the first time the salvation of the Lord. When
the gospel comes, it's a revelation, isn't it? It is revealed to us. We stand there, we sit there,
and while the Lord gurts our minds with the truth of the gospel
where it was not before. And then it says, in having on
the breastplate of righteousness, or stand there, and have this
breastplate of righteousness put on you. That's imputed, isn't
it? Imputed. Breastplate of righteousness
of Christ. Perfect righteousness imputed
or charged to reckon to our account while we passively stand there. And God does this. Of God are
you in Christ, who of God is made unto us. Wisdom and righteousness
and so forth. And it says, And your feet shod. And several of you noticed that
the first time and brought it to my attention. Like a horse,
a horse certainly does not put shoes on itself, does it? I know that well. I watched a
farrier today trim a horse, and we had to stand there and hold
it and keep it from kicking us in the face while it was shod.
And that's man's nature, isn't it? He does not want this gospel,
and God has to force it upon his will. Yes, he does. Terry,
it's not what that fellow said to you at work, was it? The fellow told Terry, and you've
heard it, they argue that God does not do anything against
our will. God doesn't force us to believe
or whatever. Well, he better. He better. You know, these ones that he
hasn't forced, that's the reason they believe what they believe
in. That's the reason they believe all manner of ridiculous nonsense
and error, because God has not overcome their free will. And Terry quoted to them what
you quote in Psalm 110, verse 3, "...thy people shall be made
willing." If that's not forcing your will, what is? It's God
that worketh in us both to will. All right, so we have our feet
shot. The gospel comes to us, and the
Holy Spirit anoints our eyes and ears and hearts and minds,
our feet. Remember, I said that's us. We're
the feet of Christ, the body, the lower part. And the Holy
Spirit comes and anoints us to receive the gospel. causes us
to walk by faith in Christ. Now, the next two pieces of armor
that we looked at, verse 16, says, above all, take. Did you
notice that? Take the shield of faith. And
then verse 17 says, take the helmet of salvation. Seems to
be a little bit different, doesn't it? A little bit different. It says, take it. Now, we know
Ephesians 2 says that by grace are you saved through faith,
and that is not of your own doing. It's not of yourself. It is what? A gift. A gift. God has to make
us willing. God has to make us repent. God
has to make us believe. He gives us faith. It is a gift. It is not something that we produce. And how do I say this? And it
is a gift received and used by us. It is a gift we receive and
we use. Now, this is a mystery. This
is a mystery. This is the reason people get
so confused on this thing. God gives faith, and he also
gives a willingness to believe that he grants repentance John
three twenty seven says a man can receive nothing. Except to be what you are given
him. Man can even receive faith and
set to be given him to receive it because God empties his heart
and his mind and. And I can receive it right. A man can receive nothing except
it be given him or given the ability to receive it. And that
comes from above, from God. And Christ said, All that the
Father giveth me, they shall come to me. I come to him by
faith. God gives faith in Christ. And while faith is a gift, and
the receiving of it is a gift, we do believe. Right? We do believe. We do receive the gift. We do come to Christ. Why don't
you reckon the Scriptures keep saying, come to Christ? You see,
Jeanette, why do people get so confused? It's a mystery, but
it's true, isn't it? Nobody's going to come except
God draws them, but he says, you will not—he says, come, doesn't
he, Joe? He exhorts us. Come, doesn't
he? And we're not to take a fatalistic,
well, you know, I won't, I'm not going, I'm just going to
wait and come when he makes me come. That's not it. We do come to Christ. We do repent. He says, God commendeth everybody
everywhere to repent, repent or perish. That's what Christ
came preaching. Well, no man can unless God, the goodness
of God leads him to repent. Well, you better don't try to
figure it out. Just do it. All right. Repent. Scriptures over and over exhort
us and admonish us along these lines. We are responsible creatures. We are commanded to repent and
believe, and we will be judged if we do not. Is that not right? We will be judged. Every man
or woman will be judged, or young person, will be judged guilty
by God because they did not believe Christ and did not repent of
their sins. Right? Oh, yeah. If we believe, if we do believe,
if we ever do believe and repent, God gets all the credit, doesn't
he? If we don't, we're going to get all the blame. Well, and people can't not figure
that out, can they, Sherry? So they say, well, I just don't
believe it's that way. Well, God's ways are mysterious. I can't explain it, but I know
it's so. I wrote that at the top of the
page. I can't explain it, but here I'm going to try to. I can tell you this, why that's
so. Because no flesh is going to
glory in his presence about anything. I know that. The reason it's
that way is so that no flesh will ever glory in God's presence. and say, well, I didn't believe.
You didn't until I made you. Right? Well, I did repent. It
was a goodness, my goodness, that led you to repent. Right?
Nobody's going to be able to glory. And I also know this,
that we're going to be held accountable. Somehow God's going to get all
the glory, not share it, but we're going to be held accountable.
Christ said, listen to this, Christ said, no man can come
And in another place he said he pointed his finger and said
to him and said, you will not come. He blamed him. And that's the reason Peter at
one time threw up his hands and said, this is a hard saying,
who can hear this? Right? And some of them said,
we eat your flesh, we can't come, yet we're supposed to. Now do
we sit and ask questions or do we just try to come? That's what
we're to do, just come. Don't ask why. Don't bother to
try to figure out your election. Just believe. And you see, don't
you? You see that, don't you, Joe?
You see it pretty clearly, don't you, why it's that way? You know
that if God hadn't made you come, you never would have come. But
there was a day when you heard the gospel, and you said, I believe
that, and that's my Christ, and I'm going to confess it. And
you came, by faith. And you still can't figure it
out, That's just the way it is. God gets all the glory. You see,
this gives God all the glory. It leaves us responsible and
accountable. All right? People like to talk
about choice and chance. And you'll see what I'm leading
into here, all right? People say, well, doesn't everybody
have a choice or a chance to be saved? Humanly speaking, Adam was given a chance. Humanly
speaking, I speak as a man, I speak as a fool. Adam was given a chance. Adam was given a choice. Wasn't
he, Terry? Humanly speaking. All right, Adam. Here's your
chance. We know it's not by chance. But
here's your, make your choice, Adam. Me or sin. Me or the woman. Live with me
in righteousness or go your own way. Be your own little God.
What did you choose? Sure did. And that passed on
to us, didn't it? That passed on to us. And I've
said this before. People still maintain that we
ought to have a choice. We ought to have a chance, all
right? Give it to people. Right? Go up to people with this
gospel now, not this Jesus loves you and, you know, won't you
accept him and all, not that. That's not the gospel. Go up
with this gospel, God reigning and ruling and Christ and must
impute his righteousness to dead sinners and make them live and,
you know, the gospel of God's sovereign grace. Go up to them
and approach them with that gospel and ask them, now, will you accept
this? Huh? Here's your chance. Make your choice. The gospel
of God's sovereign grace, where you're a nobody and a nothing,
bowing at his feet as a beggar. He can give it to you or withhold
it. Doesn't have to save you. Bow
at his feet. He's God. You're a nothing. Doesn't
need you. You need everything from him. Can't do anything.
He must do it all for you. Bow at his feet. Repent. Be a
nothing. depend upon Christ for everything.
What you chose that or you're somebody for Jesus you know you
can do this and you can do that and have your little crown and
what they want you. You know what they want you.
Well they had the chance. They made their choice. Well. Men unanimously reject the gospel. They're still accountable, though.
We're still accountable, though we're unable. Still accountable,
though we're unable. And Paul answered it one time. He said, you know, in Romans
9, was it, where they said, well, who can resist his will? If God's
not willing, Or if God's willing or God's not willing, who can
resist his will? If it's all according to his
will, then there's nothing we can do, right? Well, Paul answered
that. You remember that? Oh, man, who are you to reply
against God? Remember that? Just don't open
your mouth. That's what Paul was saying.
Who are you? Okay, so it says here in our
text to take faith. To take faith, it says in another
place, believe and thou shalt be saved. And we saw how we're
to use the promises, we're to use faith, last week. Now it
says, take this helmet of salvation. Take the helmet of salvation. Now turn over to Psalm 103. Come
with me. Psalm 103. And that was just
a long introduction to tell you why that says, take it. Because
we're exhorted to take Christ. Do you take Christ? It's like,
will you receive this man? Will you marry this man? Like,
Rebekah was Abraham's servant. We mentioned him a while ago.
Came to Rebekah and said, will you go with me and marry this
man you've never seen before? Huh? You've never heard his voice.
You've never seen him before. I told you a little bit about
him. And he's something. But will you go with me? Will
you? Rebecca Barry back there is going,
I'll go. Who made you to differ? Who made
you to differ? Will you take this man to be
your lawful, gracefully wedded husband? Will you take him? Yes, I'll take him. Till death
do we unite. All right? So we're made willing.
You're made willing, weren't you, to take him. But he does
say take. Take him. Take Christ. And there's two
things I want you to notice about this helmet of salvation. Two
ways I want to approach this. Number one, it's a thing of beauty
or adornment. And number two, it's for our
protection. But he says take it. Number one,
this helmet is a thing of beauty. It's an adornment, an adornment. Salvation through the scriptures
is often called a crown, called a crown of life. It's called
a crown of salvation. It's a crown of every believer.
He crowns us with salvation, the crown of life. And this is
not a crown that we earn or merit. It's not one that we deserve
because we're royal. It's not one that we make, make
up all our little, you know, add a little star to your crown.
Have you added a star to your crown today, Terry? Huh? Oh, it'd be a mighty poor-looking
crown, wouldn't it? And they are. A man's righteous crowns
are filthy. Ridiculous looking, aren't they?
Look at Psalm 103. It says this here in Psalm 103,
verses 1 through 4. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and
all that is within me. Bless his holy name. Bless the
Lord, O my soul. Forget not all his benefit. Who forgiveth all thine iniquities.
Who healeth all thy diseases. Who redeemeth thy life from destruction. Who crowneth thee. with lovingkindness
and tender mercy. He crowned it there. So this
crown, this adornment, this crown of salvation, of lovingkindness
and tender mercy, is not one we earn, it's not one we deserve,
it's one we receive by inheritance, by inheritance, being joint heirs
with the Lord Jesus Christ. As a son of God, he will in due
time crown us crown us as kings and priests
unto him." Now, there's one king of kings, you know, and I don't
know where that is, but it talks about us casting our crowns at
his feet. Not unto us, O Lord, not unto
us, but unto thee be all the glory. And I refer to it as a
crown, this helmet, as a crown first, because helmets are first
a thing of beauty. and then before they're used
as protection. But they're not merely an ornament, but they
are a vital piece of this armor. But they're a thing of beauty,
a thing of beauty. Now, I doubt very—King David,
when King David went out to fight that giant, he didn't wear a
suit of armor. But later on now, as king, he
did. He wore a suit of armor. And
I doubt he sat around with that little crown on his head like
you see these pompous fellas, you know, in these movies sitting
on their big throne like that thinking there's somebody. You'd
think David sat there on his throne like that and judged Israel,
huh? With his little crown on his
head. I doubt it. I think he was a man after God's
own heart. That tells me he was something
like Jesus Christ, doesn't it? I just don't think he sat around
his throne like he was somebody all the time. Certainly not wearing
a crown. But when he went into battle,
he put on a fine helmet. Do you remember that place where
the men in his army said, let's see if I can quote it exactly, David, he was going to go out
to battle with them. You stay here because we don't
want to lose you. They said something to this effect.
You're worth 10,000 of us. Do you remember that? Something
to that effect. They said you're worth 10,000 of us. Can you imagine
the helmet that David wore that was fitted for his head? One
which would honor him and protect him well? What does that say
of the crown that our Lord Jesus wears? But, at any rate, a soldier's
uniform—and we're talking about a helmet—a soldier's uniform
would be incomplete without this helmet, wouldn't it? I like these
football players. Can you see them running out
on the field without a helmet? It would look
pretty silly, wouldn't it? They do it all the time, don't
they? When they score a touchdown, they take it off so everybody
can see who they are, you know? I wish some guy would just ram
them right about then. But that is the adornment. That is the final suit in that
armor, isn't it? Put that helmet on. That's the
last thing you put on, that helmet. Look at Psalm 116. Psalm 116. Turn over there. Now Christ said,
I give unto them eternal life. He says he crowns us with life,
he crowns us with righteousness. He does that. He does it. And this thing of a crown being
given to a believer, now listen, it says take it,
take this crown, doesn't it? Take this helmet, put it on,
wear it. Wear it. Take it. Take it. Take Christ. Come to Christ. Take it. God says here in so many words
about salvation and His Son. He says, This is my Son in whom
I am well pleased. Take Him. Hear Him. He is yours. Believe Him. Rest in Him. And
He says concerning this salvation, I have made this glorious crown
for you to wear. And it renders you This righteousness,
this robe, it renders you holy, beautiful, acceptable, unblameable,
glorious. It makes you a son of God. Take
it and wear it proudly. Huh? Take it and wear it proudly
as a son of God. Not proud of yourself, but proud
of that salvation. Oh, thank you, Lord. Thank you. Take it, right? So somebody said,
no, Lord, I can't. I don't deserve it. I didn't
say you deserved it. I don't give it to anybody that
deserves it. If you think, if you acted like you deserve it,
you wouldn't get it. Ah, but Lord, I can't take it. Why can't you? Take it. You're ugly without it. You're
helpless without it. Take it. Take this salvation. He doesn't give it to us because
we deserve it, but it's an inheritance. It's an inheritance. He's not
honoring us for our life we've lived, but he's honoring us for
the life his Son lived. And we're to take it and wear
it proudly. Not proud of ourselves, but proud of Christ. Look at
Psalm 116, verses 12 and 13. Then what shall we do? What shall we render unto the
Lord for all his benefits undone? What does David say? Well, I'll
just take it. I think I'll take it." The couple
sat. You see what I'm trying to get
at? It's not like it's an offer. It's not. He has to make us willing.
But I tell you, he says, take it. And what are you going to
do? Huh? Lord, but I... Take it! You see what I'm trying
to get at? You think these two words will
crawl? Take this helmet. You're totally helpless without
it. You're damned without it. There it is. Take it. You know
what I'm saying. I spent so long a time telling
you that God has to make you willing. Unless I'm misconstrued
on there. But take it. David says, I will. I'll take the cup of salvation.
And I won't presume, though. I'm going to call upon the name
of the Lord. Keep calling. I'm going to take it. I'm going
to take it. God gave it to me. I'll take
it. Will you take it? Joe, I'll offer you a million
dollars right now. Will you take it? Huh? You'd give me a bullseye
or two, wouldn't you? Huh? God says here's the eternal
life. Will you take it? Whoo! Give
it to me. And make haste. Perfect. Take it. Today's the day of salvation. Take it. Thank you. Nobody ever thought they were
too simple to be saved. That's a cop out. Nobody. Nobody ever thought they were
too simple. Oh, I can't. I can't. I'm just too simple.
That's a bunch of bull. It sure is. Nobody ever refused salvation
but for one reason. They didn't want it. Am I right? Nobody was ever too sinful to
be saved. Mary Magdalene didn't say, Lord,
I can't, I'm too sinful. She wrapped herself at his feet.
Huh? Jacob, if there's anybody that
was too sinful to be saved, John, it was Jacob, right? What a worm. His name says what he is. It says what you are, you son
of Jacob. Huh? Well, when the angel came
to Jacob and said, I'm going to bless you. Then, what Jacob
do? Oh, I'm too sinful. No. I'm not
going to let you go until you bless me. I'll take it. I know
if you don't give it, there may be no tomorrow. I'll take it
now. Today's the day of salvation. Huh? The only reason anybody
ever refused salvation is because they didn't want it. They didn't
want it. You see, God's not unfair, is
He? God is not unfair. Everybody
has heard this gospel. And the only reason they won't
receive it, they don't want it. I don't know about you, but I'm
going to take it. I'm going to take it. I'm unworthy, I'm unfit,
I'm undeserving, but I'm going to wear it anyway. This crown
of salvation. I'm nothing without it, and I'm
beautiful with it. You know the old saying, the
clothes make the man? They sure make me stand. You
ever heard that saying, the clothes make the man? Well, if it ever
applied, it's here. All the clothes, this armor makes
the man, doesn't it? This helmet, this adornment,
it makes the man. Oh, I was reading a magazine,
Sports Illustrated, and I saw some little guy walking along
some college campus, and he looked like a little bookworm, Stan,
with big horn-rimmed glasses on, you know, he was carrying
books and walking along beside some great big guy, and he looked
like a little peanut, looked like me, you know. And the article
said this guy was a star on Florida State's football team, you know.
just a star, one of their leading players. And I thought, boy,
I tell you, the clothes make the man. Well, he's nothing without
that uniform. Neither are you. You're nothing
without that robe, without that helmet, apart from Christ, outside
of Christ. You're a peanut. A peanut. So he says, here is a glorious
helmet. Who will wear it? I will, I will. You know, one size fits all. Small. Ain't no big heads will
fit in this helmet. One size fits all. No big heads
will ever wear this helmet. All right, secondly, it's a helmet
for protection. It's a helmet for protection.
And I asked my wife here, I grilled her. Glad you don't live with
me, I grilled her on that. I said, what would you think
about, what would you say about this helmet of salvation? Forty-five
minutes, what would you say about it? Well, she came up with some
good answers. The first thing she thought of,
though, is the thing for protection, how that our heads need to be
protected. We can survive a real trauma
to our body. But a slightest blow to the head
would render us useless, right? A slightest blow to the head
would do things, would do terrible things to us. And now, this certainly
speaks of Christ, doesn't it, and how we're nothing without
our head, and that all our strength lies in our head. But here's
the analogy. Most assaults—you ever watch
these boxing matches? You ever watch a boxing stand?
I say I'm a pacifist, but I sit there and want to kill him, kill
him. And there's times when, if I
was watching a match and Mindy beside me, she, she says, I'm doing that. And after they, after a while,
you know, they start out punching and moving and jamming, but after
a while, they're just, just going for the head, you know? That's
all they remember, isn't it, Rick? They're going on just pure
instinct and they're, swinging at the head. All assaults seem
to be aimed at the head, because the head is the seat of everything,
your faculty. Your eyes are in your head, your
ears are in your head, your mind is in your head. Some of you—it's
not there all the time, but your mind is in your head, sight,
hearing, thinking, understanding is in your head. You see the picture? If it's
all enveloped or enclosed inside of something, it's safe, isn't
it? It's safe. It's inside this helmet. It's safe. You'll be seeing things
from within. You'll hear things from within. You don't see it outside of Christ,
do you, John? I handed a man a book today on these types of
Christ, Old Testament type. He said, oh, yeah. I said, I'm
going to go through the Old Testament this year. I went through it
a couple of years ago, and there's a great deal of history in there.
That should be it. And I said, his story's in that. I said,
you take this and follow this, you're going to see pictures
of Christ in that Old Testament. That's what you need to see in
the Old Testament. Well, in Christ, you see things.
Don't you? Clearly? You see the truth? You
see who God is? You don't see who God is outside
of Christ, do you? Huh? You see who you are? You
don't see who you are outside of Christ, do you? You see the
gospel? You don't understand and believe
the gospel outside of Christ. You hear things inside, in Christ. We hear God's voice in Christ,
don't we? Huh? We think—your mind—we think as
we ought. We're conscious of everything.
as it relates to Christ, right? Like I said, if you ever wore
a helmet, if you ever played football, you never forgot the
fact that you had this helmet on your head, or a hard hat. You ever wear a hard hat in construction,
Rick? Oh, I used to. I used to hate that darn thing
until I hit my head on something every now and then without it. You laughed at me one day on
the job when I knocked myself silly. But those hardhats protect
you. They protect you. But you're
always conscious of it. And in Christ, buddy, your way
of thinking, you're always conscious of Him as being in all and in
all. And these things, like I said,
it's protection. These things are protected inside
this helmet of salvation in Christ. You're protected. will never
be altered by blows, your ears, your mind. No matter what happens,
if you're found in Christ, you're saved. No matter what assaults
the enemy, we're talking, that's the context here, Satan. Well, no matter what assaults,
he aims at your head. Stay with me. I'm going to give
you three more minutes, okay? Like a boxing mat. Three minutes.
Can you stand it? You're on the ropes. Three minutes. No matter what
assaults the enemy aims at your head, what's that? What's your head? That's Christ
and the truth. Isn't there an all-out assault
today on the gospel? Isn't there? All-out assault. You still see clearly, don't
you? In Christ, by faith and cry, you still see clearly. Huh? No matter what assaults, all
right? No matter what new thing comes down the line, no matter
how good it looks, You still see it for what it is in Christ. You follow me? You still see
it for what it is. That's just show. That's just
flesh. That's by sight. We're to walk
by faith. That's not according to this book we're to walk according
to this Word. You still see clearly. No matter what you hear, no matter
how good it sounds, you'll only have ears for the
shepherd's voice. You'll only have ears for the
gospel. Jeanette, your ear is tuned You know what a well-tuned
piano must sound like, huh? And everybody that's ever heard
the gospel knows what a good gospel message sounds like. And
no matter how good some fellow sounds, how good he looks, or
how good he sounds, or a message sounds, you say, there's something
just wasn't right there. Something was missing in that.
And it'll say. It'll say. See? Your hearing
will be protected in Christ. You won't fall for everything
that comes along. People do, you know. You won't. Then cry. No matter what you
run head on to or butt up against, it can't hurt your head. It won't
alter your mind. It won't change your way of thinking.
You know, believers are the hardest-headed bunch of people on the face of
the earth. Yes, they are. The hardest-headed
bunch of people. You're just not going to convince
them otherwise. Can I convince you in any way, shape, or form
that your works have something to do? No way. No way. You can't tell them anything,
except you've got something new to tell me about Christ. You've
got something to tell me about Christ. I don't know. There's
a lot I don't know about Him. Tell me something about Him.
Right? You've heard about all you need to hear. You're thirty-some
years old. You've got it pretty much covered,
don't you, bud? You know all you need to know
to get by around here. You can learn a whole lot more
about Christ, so can we. They can't learn anything except
more about him. More about him. It's a helmet. It's three minutes. It's over. If I was like Scott, I'd say,
that's it. That's the best thing to do. It's a helmet, though, because
it's a crown of beauty. the norm of this whole armor
and it's our protection Christ is that he is that he is salvation
taking. Put him where. I think it will
you take with me tonight will you take. Staying with. Our Heavenly Father, we are so self-willed and earthbound that
we have the hardest time understanding the simplest of things. But we
see in your Word how you tell us that Christ is free for the
taking, come unto me. All you that labor and are heavy
laden, and I will give you rest." You said that when you walked
this planet. But yet, Lord, there are some
people who just will not come. They just will not come. Lord,
so we ask that you would make them willing the day of your
power. Maybe this might be the day of
your power. At least sow the seeds within them to see that
they need Christ. how that if they don't come,
it's their own fault. It's not due to your sovereignty,
but it's due to their sin and not wanting him. Lord, we do
call upon you to act and move and work in spite of us. We give
you all the glory and honor. But we do ask that you make us
all willing to take Christ as helmet of salvation and wear
him proudly. Someone ask us, are you a believer?
Without hesitation, without apology, we'll say, yes, I love the Lord
Jesus Christ, not like I should, not like I want to, but I do.
He is my all and end all. Thank you, Lord, for everything
you've done to render us safe, our salvation. In Christ's name
we pray, met together. Amen.