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Amen. Right, keep a finger in 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 and go to Ephesians chapter 6. So keep a finger there in 1 Thessalonians 5, go to Ephesians 6 because we're continuing our series on the whole armour of God. So far we've looked at the belt, the breastplate, the shoes and the shield, and we've got two more items to go. So two more items on this list to go. You're turning to Ephesians chapter 6, we're going to read from verse 10 again. And like I said last week, if you haven't memorised this by the end of next week, well, I give up, okay. So Ephesians 6, 10 reads, Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armour of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. And, you know, remember that the armour is to be able to stand against the wiles, which are the tricks, the schemes, the traps, the sneaky sort of attacks of the devil, because it's a spiritual battle that we're in, okay. And obviously, look, you know, some people will say, yeah, you say this every week. Yeah, but it's something you really need to remind ourselves. It's a spiritual battle. It's not a physical battle. We're in a spiritual battle, okay. And we have to stand against the wiles of the devil for we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. The Bible is very clear about this, isn't it, in the New Testament. Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand, therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness, and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. Above all, take the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked, and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God. And today we're going to look at the helmet of salvation. So the title of the sermon this evening is the whole armour of God, the helmet. The whole armour of God, the helmet. Let's go to the Lord and the word of prayer before we continue. Father, thank you for the whole armour of God. Thank you for, you know, this passage of the Bible, which, you know, spells out what that armour is. Help me to just explain this particular part clearly today, Lord, accurately as well, boldly, as you'd want it explained, as you'd want it preached. Please fill me with your spirit, Lord. Please help everyone here to have attentive ears, and help us to also want to apply this to our lives. Help us to want to take this whole armour of God, and to wear it, you know, as we go about our day-to-day lives. And Lord, just help all these things to be done in Jesus Christ's holy name. Amen. So like with the previous sermons, I'd like us to first get an understanding of the picture here. So in case you're kind of wondering, where's he going now? Well, you haven't been paying attention. OK, we're going to go to what the actual physical picture is. Like I said previously in this series, Ephesus had been under Roman occupation for approximately around 200 years at this point. So the soldier being pictured here is no doubt to me the very familiar Roman soldier. OK, the helmet worn by the Roman soldier did vary over history. Many here might already be picturing a sort of shiny, cone-shaped, red-crested type thing by some guy wearing a mini skirt and, you know, with kind of knee-high sandals or something else. Well, that's not really very accurate. However, the helmet did change over time, and there were crests for those in certain kind of positions of authority in the army, which kind of showed their ranks and things like that. However, at this point in time, this is around 60 AD, the common helmets are known nowadays as the coolus and the ajon, I think. Now, the reason that they're known as this is it's not because the Romans named that. No one really knows what they were named. It's because of the areas where these helmets were dug up, OK? And they've gone, OK, we've got this one that we call the ajon, because that was a region that was dug up, I imagine, in France. And they're saying, this is what we know of as the ajon. And then they got this coolus. And I'm going to read a little bit about these helmets for you. So you've got an understanding of what Paul's picturing here. The historians consider the coolus and ajon helmet styles the first Roman design, although they were still heavily influenced by Celtic tradition. So these were now designed by the Romans, rather than they were taking like helmets designed by others by the Celts previous to that, although there was still some influence by them. They were in use from approximately 100 BC to 100 AD. Now, just a heads up on this, because some people might be interested in this sort of thing. This isn't by any means 100% fact, OK? There's a lot of varying debates about sort of when certain helmets were used, about certain time periods, because it's all based on things being dug up and people trying to piece things together and put it together, OK? But this for me, you know, it's fairly accurate. And regardless, these helmets are very similar, OK? And again, this is just kind of an extra for the sermon, but I find this stuff interesting. I hope some of you do here. Otherwise, it's not worth it at all, but never mind. It says here, rather than conically or conically, however you'd like to say it, shaped earlier helmets, the coolus and ajon were more globular with a flattened top. So they're basically a bit more circular with a sort of flat top. Archaeologists believe they likely featured a chin strap because of the two holes present on either side of the helmet. So remember, it's from what they've dug up and they're looking at. I've seen some interesting pictures and examples of these while I've been looking into this. And yeah, they're quite fascinating. They had a narrow brim with neck and cheek guards that were typically adorned with basic embossing or ribbing. So basically, they kind of got these guards that come over here and flare out a lot of the time at the neck and embossing a sort of raised areas. And we'll talk about that in a second. Researchers believe the ribbing also strengthened the helmet. These helmets were the first to feature embossed eyebrows, a staple of all Roman helmets going forward. So they basically had this raised section around, like, which looked like eyebrows. Now, the point in these raised sections is that when something, you know, kind of struck it, that it would glance off. So they had these raised, curved, embossed kind of bits coming out of there. So it wasn't so much of an impact because, look, you get something smashed over your head and it doesn't glance off. You're more likely to get knocked out. Then you're going to get killed anyway. Now, there are many examples in museums. And one in the British Museum has this description underneath. It says the helmet would have protect the wearer's head with an inner eye and headpiece and neck guard, which are now largely missing. So a lot of what they're digging out isn't always the full helmet. Though the small bosses would have helped deflect blows from weapons, the outer bronze case is mostly decorative. Some of them had an outer casing, but the main point was that they were iron underneath. The other options around the same time period, we're going to see the port style and imperial Gaelic. Again, these are all very similar. The Agen style is another example of Celtic influence of Roman armour. They were in use during the late Republic and early imperial periods of Roman history. Again, roughly, they claim 100 BCE. We know of that as BC, not before the Common Era. And 100, they say CE, but we like to say AD. What sets them apart from other Roman helmets of this period is that they were made of iron rather than brass or bronze. Otherwise, their appearance is very similar to that of the cooler style. The Celts were renowned metalworks in antiquity and are considered to be pioneers in the development of iron helmets. Only a handful of Agen style Roman helmets are known to have survived in the modern era. Now, the Agen style, this is a bit more descriptive for you, features a deep rounded bowl with flattened tops and steep sides, as well as cheek guards. They have a narrow brim that flares out in the back to form a neck guard that was embossed with two shallow semicircular steps. And the helmet had a triangular sectioned horizontal rib all the way around the bowl. So this is basically like coming out as a triangle all the way around the bowl here. And again, because I think for me, you're more likely to glance off with blows off that as a sword comes and it basically like slides off, slips off. This section coming around here, it had been speculated this rib may have functioned to increase rigidity of the helmet as well, or perhaps improve ventilation. Across the front of the bowl, there were a pair of simple recurved embossed eyebrows, or those eyebrows again, which would become a standard feature in later helmets. The cheek guards are held in place by a pair of rivets on either side of the helmet. So, okay, that's a description. That's what Paul's picturing here, rather than someone that looks like a peacock, okay? It's an iron helmet, which sounds very effective. You know, I think sometimes we look back at history and think like, oh yeah, they would just have some basic stuff, but I don't know. It sounds like a bit of thought went into this, right? A bit of thought as to what would be effective, what was effective. You know, they used sort of the ideas of some of these Celtic metal works, the things they'd done, and then kind of created their own designs from that. And this did change over time as well. Obviously the Roman period was a very long time, and there were things that changed with that. But basically we got these helmets with raised curved sections to prevent full impact. And they were made of iron, so they were strong, right? Okay, iron is a strong metal. They were strong. And what was the reason? Because they were protecting your vital area, weren't they? Okay, you're going into battle. And what's the obvious place a lot of people are going to attack is basically your head, face, and neck, yeah? They're quite obvious places to attack. You're going to do maximum damage. You get a sword strike you anywhere around your head, face, your neck, and you're in big trouble, aren't you? Okay, so they obviously needed protection there. And like with all the other items, you would be mad to go into battle without a helmet on, wouldn't you? And I know I've been making this point each week. It's just because we're so heavily influenced by nonsense Hollywood and other such-like things that I think we can often have a kind of skewed sort of idea of what battle was really like. And the reality is that people aren't kind of just spinning around doing crazy kind of kung fu moves and things. Really, look, this is serious stuff. You're going to want to protect your vital areas. You're going to want to have good armor, and you're going to want to have a good strong helmet on. And the Roman, at least their rulers, obviously didn't think any different on that and made sure they all had good helmets on. Okay, so Paul said in Ephesians 617, and take the helmet of salvation. So what is this helmet of salvation? So we've seen the picture now. The picture is this sort of, is the Roman helmet, this strong helmet, this effective helmet. But what's the helmet of salvation? Is he telling them to get saved? Is he telling them to get saved? Well, although you could argue that just because he's writing to a church, that doesn't mean that everyone's saved. Understandably, look, in every church, you're going to have the saved, the unsaved, you're going to have children that yet need to be saved, and you're going to have, sadly, the unsavable. However, he's writing to those in the spiritual battle, isn't he? And he called them my brethren, didn't he? He called them my brethren. He's writing to those in a spiritual battle, those that are in the midst of the battle, trying to withstand an evil day. Okay, so he's clearly talking to the saved here, isn't he? Okay, I think, you know, we take this for granted, and that's sort of the majority of who he's talking to. That's who he wants to apply this teaching to their lives. Look, there's no point putting on the shoes. Remember, we look to, you know, your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. There's no point putting on the shoes if you're not saved. Okay, if you're not saved, there is no preparation of the gospel of peace. Okay, because you're not getting anyone else saved. There's no point, oh, I'm going to go out and preach the gospel, but I'm not saved. Okay, so it would be bizarre to them be telling them to get saved four items later when he's already told them to put on the shoes, which is your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. And you don't have to turn there, but Romans 1.17 says, for therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, the just shall live by faith. Look, it goes from faith to faith. If you're not saved, you're not getting anyone saved. Okay, you need to be indwelt with the Holy Spirit. You need to be a child of God to be able to preach the gospel and get other people saved, right? But also, don't forget that he's also talked about the breastplate of righteousness. And without Christ's righteousness, your breastplate is filthy rags, isn't it? So without that initial righteousness, which comes from faith in Jesus Christ, you don't have a breastplate of proper righteousness. It is basically a breastplate of filthy rags, which maybe might help in sort of close quarters fighting. It might put people off a little bit. But however, it's not really an effective breastplate, is it? So no, the helmet of salvation isn't getting saved. For me, it's a spiritual protection that comes from wearing your salvation, from protecting your head with your salvation. Okay, now I'm going to explain this to you, because it's a constant reminder of your salvation. Look, when you put a heavy piece of iron on your head, there's no forgetting you have it on, is there? Okay, no one's going about going, I didn't put that helmet on, I just can't remember. Okay, and look, you can get like that with certain things, can't you? You know, certain items of clothing and other things, you can forget whether or not you put them on, right? But when you put a heavy piece of iron on your head with cheek guards and neck guards and everything else, and some might say that was the one disadvantage of the helmet, was that it was quite heavy. Okay, but there's no forgetting you have it on. That strap under your chin, the heat of it. Can you imagine the heat in some of these regions that we're talking about here, right? An Asia miner here at the time, like that's going to get hotter many times of the year, right? The weight of it as you turn your head is going to be a constant reminder that you have your helmet on. I remember, I'm going to give you just a kind of example here, just for the sake of it. I like talking about this stuff, yeah. I remember when I did some boxing for a while, and I'd spent years doing Thai boxing. And in Thai boxing, we don't wear these sissy helmets on our heads, you know. Okay, but I'll tell you why they wear it in boxing, because it's not because, oh, they're scared of getting hit. It's because of the head clash risk, okay? So when you box, you know, a lot of people are slipping and ducking and diving and bobbing and weaving, and when two people are doing that, you're more likely to have a clash of heads, okay? So they put on a head guard. Now, I'd spent years sparring, training, never had anything on my head. And I went to this boxing club and I'd gone, right, put on a head guard for sparring, and I was like claustrophobic in it. I was sweating, I was hot. And in between rounds, I was taking it off and almost kind of hyperventilated with it. It was such a weird thing to have this head guard pressed on my head, on me like this. I was, you know, I'm a sweater anyway, okay? So I sweat before the class starts, yeah? I'm halfway through, it's pouring off me. I can't, but you know what, yeah? As weird as it was, I never forgot that I had that head guard on my head. There was no way that with all of that, I was, did I put that head guard on? Because I was just itching to get it off, okay? And for me, it's the same. Look, when you're putting a metal helmet on your head, when you're putting an iron helmet on your head, there's no forgetting it. There's no forgetting, do I have it on or not? And look, yes, salvation isn't a burden, okay? I'm not saying salvation is a burden. Jesus said in Matthew 11, 30, for my yoke is easier, my burden is light, okay? It's not a burden, it's light. But look, it doesn't chafe under our chin, does it? Okay? You're not getting a little bit scratchy, or you're trying to loosen it and everything else. It doesn't weigh us down. So we need to constantly remind ourselves of our salvation, don't we? And you're thinking, well, why do you need to constantly remind yourself of your salvation? Well, go back to 1 Thessalonians 5, because we're going to look at this a bit clearer, where for me, this is a lovely cross-reference about the helmet of salvation, which helps us to understand it more. But we're going to look at the end, sorry, from the end of chapter 4. We're going to look from the end of chapter 4. 1 Thessalonians in chapter 4, we're going to look from in verse 13. 1 Thessalonians 4, 13, which says, But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. So this is talking about the dead in Christ, often in the Bible, it talks about those that sleep. It's talking about those that are dead in faith, dead in Christ, okay? For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus, will God bring with him? For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain, unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. Okay, so we're all being raptured together is the point, okay? The dead in Christ shall rise, yeah, we will meet them together in the air, okay? Verse 16 says, For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words. So comfort one another with the fact that whether we live or die, we're saved, yeah? Whether we die in Christ, or whether we live to the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, we're saved. We're going to be forever with the Lord. That's a great comfort, isn't it? Now let's go on the same topic, the same subject into chapter five now, verse one, which reads, But of the times and seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you, for yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. Now he's talking about for the masses. You don't have to turn to Matthew 24, 33 says, So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near even at the doors. Okay, so we can know, we can have an idea of the times and seasons, no pre-trip ground, you're not going to suddenly vanish, okay? He said in Matthew 24, 33, when we shall see all these things, know that it is near even at the doors. So what's he talking about here when he says it so cometh as a thief in the night? Well, look at verse three, For when they, they shall say peace and safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child, and they shall not escape. But ye, brethren, talking to the saved, talking to these believers who are taking heed or have their ears open to the word of God, are not in darkness that that day should overtake you as a thief. It comes as a thief in the night for those who aren't watching, who aren't keeping an eye out for the signs of the season, but ye, brethren, are not in darkness that that day should overtake you as a thief. For ye are all the children of light and the children of the day, we are not of the night nor of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep as do others, but let us watch and be so, because there are things to watch for, aren't there? Okay, now we've been going through this over our Gospel of Matthew teaching. Look, there are certain signs and seasons that we're watching for, okay? He said to watch and be sober, for they that sleep, sleep in the night, and they that be drunk, and are drunk in the night, but let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and for an helmet, the hope of salvation. We'll come back to that in a second, for God has not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him. Wherefore comfort yourselves together and edify one another, even as also ye do. So look at verse eight again there, but let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and for an helmet, the hope of salvation. Now for me, it's the same helmet, okay? Just a slightly different description, something that helps us to understand what it is a little bit more. The helmet, the protection is the hope of salvation. Now, what is salvation or the hope of salvation protecting us from? Well, the wiles of the devil. That's what we're being protected from, the wiles of the devil. All the different schemes, tricks, traps of the devil. Without the hope of salvation, without a constant reminder that whether you sleep or alive and remain until the coming of the Lord, that you will ever be with the Lord, that you'll ever experience God's wrath, life would be a bit different, wouldn't it? Okay, life would be very different. You're more likely to focus on the things of this world, aren't you? Without that constant reminder, without reminding yourself of where you're going, because look, you're constantly getting bombarded, bombarded in this world with basically lies, with a fake image of the world, with basically live for the now, if it feels good, do it, and all the rest of that stuff. They're all wiles of the devil in one way or another. The snares and distractions, that he puts at every turn. Look, there are distractions everywhere, aren't there? Ways of trying to pull you into this type of life, to pull you into this other sort of sin, the lust of the flesh, the pride of life. Look, without constantly focusing, constantly reminding yourself, having that constant reminder, that helmet on your head that you can't take off, without having that on your head, look, you could easily get distracted, couldn't you? You could easily start living for the now. You could easily start living for those temporal things, for those things which are just gonna burn up, for that wood, hay and stubble, right? You're more likely to succumb to his demoralisation tactics as well, aren't you? Yeah, we talked about some of that. We talked about that with just like murmuring and complaining, which is meant to demoralise you, let alone his fear-mongering as well. There's a lot of fear-mongering out there, isn't there? You're more likely to think, oh, but what if this, what if my physical life ends, when you're not focusing on eternity, right? You start to doubt more. Maybe you start to doubt more when the usual barrage of work salvation is being hurled at you. Look, people are gonna get doubts. Look, you're not gonna start believing in work salvation and put your faith in your works, yeah? Well, if you're saved, you're not, okay? But however, you can start to doubt a bit, can't you? You start to wonder, start to be a little less confident when you're preaching to others, a little less confident when you're in front of the work salvation is when you don't have that helmet of salvation on, when you're not constantly reminding yourself that it's grace through faith and you are saved, yeah? Now, you know what you're less likely to do as well without your helmet on? You're less likely to take the fight to them, aren't you? Without putting your helmet on, you're less likely to march forward into battle. Verse six says this, it said, therefore, let us not sleep as do others, but let us watch and be sober. And what are we watching for? Well, we've been looking at Matthew 24. If you wanna turn over to Matthew 24 and 25 over the last few weeks. And the whole point of being aware of the signs of the times is to be busy soul winning, to not allow our houses to be broken up. And look, I understand that soul winning has become a dirty word pretty much around Christianity, around so-called Bible believing, we believe in grace through faith alone, so-called churches around, but it's not a dirty word here, okay? And it shouldn't be. And they almost mock it now, don't they? And scorn it and find all these different ways of trying to criticise and make out like you're a one, two, three, repeat after me, easy believe-ism and all these other sort of, you know, these terms that they've coined to try and criticise and put doubt and put kind of a bit of, you know, a bit of just, you know, a bit of unsureness in you. You know, are we really doing the right thing? Because none of the other churches seem to be out preaching the gospel. Well, look, that's what we're meant to be doing. The whole point of being aware of the signs of times is to be busy soul winning, okay? To endure until the end. Matthew 24, 13 says, but he that shall endure until the end, the same shall be saved. Now that's obviously not talking about salvation, okay? Salvation has nothing to do with enduring until the end. Salvation is believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, thou shalt be saved, okay? Very rarely, I say unto you, he that believeth in me have everlasting life. How can you have everlasting life if you then have to endure to the end to have everlasting life, okay? Obviously not. He's not talking about salvation. What's he talking about enduring to the end? Well, the clue's in the next verse. Look at verse 14. And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations and then shall the end come. It's all about a physical salvation in the end times, in that tribulation period, going into the great tribulation, if you endure until the end, okay? And really the end start, really we know it's the end when we're great tribulation. So if you're enduring up until that point, when the persecution's heating up, you're out preaching the gospel, then physically you'll be saved. You'll make it through to the rapture, okay? That's what it's talking about. And we know verse 14, the gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations. Who's gonna preach here if it's not us? Who's gonna preach here? It's us. We're called to preach the gospel and you might be sitting there going, we've been talking about preaching the gospel a lot over the last few weeks. Yeah, because that's what we're told to do. Yeah, that's the great commission. That's the first love. That's the first word to preach the gospel. That's what it's all about. It's not by being a leaflet distributor. Now, sometimes you feel like when you're out knocking doors that you are leaflet distributing, right? Because half of them don't even answer anymore. I tell you what, ring doorbell's got a lot to answer for, isn't it? Sometimes it's hard to even get an answer and you're like, man, I'm just posting leaflets. But we post the leaflets, but that's not our goal, is it? We're not out posting leaflets as our main goal. It's not by singing hymns down the high street, is it? It's not by going down the high street to sing some hymns and that's gonna turn them to the Lord, isn't it? No, it's gonna turn them away from the Lord, all right? Do you know what it is? It's by good old-fashioned soul winning, isn't it? Going out and preaching the gospel and winning some souls, knocking on some doors and getting people saved, pulling them up in the highways and hedges and asking them, do you want to know how to get to heaven, right? There's nothing wrong with the old way, is there? The old way of knocking doors and preaching the gospel, having many liberal little sissy churches out there want to have their little rock bands and they're, get them in, get them in with all sorts of compromising and liberalism. Now, that's not how you get people to say, you get them saved by going out and preaching the gospel because that's how the Bible's supposed to do it, right? But without that assurance, without that constant reminder of salvation, without reminding yourself that whatever happens to you here, glory awaits, yeah? Are you really going to be seemingly, because it's seemingly risking all to get other people saved? Without constantly reminding yourself, are you really going to be out there? See, because look, when we get, when we're in the tribulation, let's talk about tribulation, right? When we're in this end times and you're being told that you're going to be arrested, you're going to be possibly beheaded or whatever else of being a Christian, a lot of people are going to think, sod that, no chance. Now, when you're constantly reminding yourself of heaven, when you're focused on heaven, you're more likely to plough through that, aren't you? And the thing is, I say seemingly, because really, he that endured to the end, the same shall be saved, right? So if you've got, I don't know about this, I'm going to go and hide in the cave, yeah? I've been like buying some high powered air guns in this nation, right? I've got a really good air, I've got a crossbow. You could get a crossbow still, can't you? What's the 10 beads of the crossbow? I'm going to make it, you're not going to make it to the end, yeah? He that endured to the end, you're not going to endure in the cave with the crossbow and the air rifle, and, you know, really armed up. I sometimes, you know, sometimes I wish we could have guns like the Americans, but really, like, you're going to put your trust in your guns, aren't you? Whereas really, what should we put our trust in? He's going out and preaching the gospel, because that's what the word of God says, doesn't it? So, but without that, without that constant reminder, you really going to do that when things are heating up? When are they, like being a Christian, when I say being a Christian, I'm not talking about the ecumenical Christianity, I'm saying being a soul winning, you know, the only way is grace through faith alone, it's Christ alone, you know, when that is going to be pretty much the offscouring of the world. I mean, we're already on our way there, aren't we, right? Well, you said in verse seven, for they that sleep, sleep in the night, and they that be drunken, are drunken in the night, but let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love and through a helmet, the hope of salvation. Do you know what that breastplate of faith and love is? It's soul winning. It's having faith to keep preaching it, and the love of others to get them saved. All these clowns around, oh, Jesus is love, you know, it's all about love, just love everyone sin, love the sinner, love everyone, love it, but do any of those people even preach the gospel? Any of them loving enough to try and tell someone how they cannot go to hell and go to heaven instead? It's fake, it's dissimulation, but he wants us to take, put on the breastplate of faith and love, okay? Those who are of the day. Now I've turned the first one, three 16 says, hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. Okay, that's the love of God. That's the love that we're trying to achieve, aren't we? And in the end times, when we get into the great tribulation, that's going to feel like you're laying down your life, isn't it? You're laying down your life for the brethren, for at least for the potential brethren. And do you know what we need for that? The helmet of salvation, that constant reminder of it. That's why verse nine then starts with a four. It says in verse nine, four, having just said, let us who of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and for in the helmet the hope of salvation, four, for God have not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him. Okay, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him. And whether it's when the final tribulation heats up, or it's, look, if it's during the tribulation that we're all going to face, look, you're all going to face tribulation. You live for God, you live for Christ, you're going to face tribulation, right? Okay, and that's why I like this pre-trib kind of, and it's so ridiculous, isn't it? Turn to Acts 14. He said in verse nine, when you're turning to Acts 14, for God has not appointed us to wrath. God has not appointed us to wrath, the wrath of God, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ. And if anyone's wondering what I'm talking about here, sadly, in kind of Christianity all over the place, people have been conned by this ridiculous sort of doctrine that the whole seven-year period is actually all the tribulation, they try and call it. They don't separate it between the tribulation of believers and then wrath on the world, which is what it clearly is. Yeah, God's not appointed us to wrath, but we all have to go through tribulation. And it's ridiculous to think, oh, well, if I live around the time of the rapture, God is not going to make us go through tribulation. That's funny because it seems that all believers are going to have to go through tribulation. Look at Acts 14 in verse 22. Paul and Barnabas were confirming the souls of the disciples and exhorting them to continue in the faith and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God. What, but suddenly when it comes to whatever point Jesus just vanishes them away, well, those ones didn't have to go through much tribulation. They were the special ones. They were better than everyone else. Funny that because I don't really see any of these people doing much, right? But no, one of the reasons that the pre-trib position is so ridiculous. We all must go through tribulation. Okay, we're all going to get persecuted. Look, all you that live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. Okay, that's life. And the quicker we get used to that, the better, right? And it's not a bad thing. It's not something to smart away from. Persecution better not live godly. Look, then you're just going to get chastised. Stuck between a rock and a hard place. But really, but it's not a hard place because the truth is that going through things for the Lord, look, what a glory, yeah? Yeah, what an honor to go through stuff. And you know what? God's with you through all of that. And you can grow and get peace really in that as well and get the joy of the Lord while you're close to him going through tribulation. But either way, where it says, who died for us that whether we wake, go back to 1 Thessalonians 5, who died for us that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him. Look, so either way, that helmet, that hope of salvation is what keeps us marching forward, isn't it? That constant reminder that you're protected no matter what. That constant reminder that you are going to heaven. Verse 11 says, wherefore comfort yourselves together and edify one another, even as also you do. And here's the thing. It's a good thing to remind a worried Christian, okay? Look, there's nothing wrong with that. To comfort a fellow believer that no matter what they're saved, you think, well, really, do we need reminders? Yeah, we need reminders of that sometimes, right? Okay, we can all do with a reminder sometimes of just reminder of heaven. Talk about heaven. Nothing wrong with talking about heaven. You know, talk about heaven. Talk about the glory that awaits. Jesus said in John 10, 28 and 29, and I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish. Neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My father which gave them me is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them out of my father's hand. So look, there's nothing wrong with that, yeah? Jesus reminded us. Many people, Paul's constantly reminding us, isn't he, of the glory that awaits and the rewards that can be earned. There's nothing wrong with reminding people of the bigger picture of the eternal things. Turn to Romans 15, because what that helmet should then do, like other parts of the armor, is encourage us to push on, to enter the battle, not to shy away when we see some fiery darts, when we see some incorrectly used swords swung at us, right? When the incorrectly used word of God, completely out of context, is being swung at us by the heretics out there, we don't need to shy away because we have the helmet on, don't we? Because we have our helmet of salvation on, or the hope of salvation. Romans 15, 13 says this, Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing that ye may abound in hope through the power of the Holy Ghost. So look, I've got my iron helmet on. Let's get busy. That should be our sort of our mentality, yeah? I've got this strong iron helmet on. It's even got cheek guards. It's got a neck guard. It's made of some strong metal. Let's get busy. Let's get working, yeah? Let's go to battle. You can actually go to war with a smile on your face. He said, Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing that ye may abound in hope through the power of the Holy Ghost. See, you're not appointed to wrath. No matter what happens, you cannot spiritually die. Yeah, no matter what happens. If you put your faith in Jesus Christ, you cannot spiritually die, otherwise it's still your own works keeping you alive. Spiritually that is, okay? It can't. No matter what those sons of Belial throw at us, because they do throw a lot at us, don't they? Whether they mock, scorn, slander, physically threaten, physically attack, there are churches which are going through that right now, people threatening them, death threats outside their churches, protesting them, trying to take down number plates of believers, threaten them, threaten their livelihoods, try and get them kicked out of their jobs and everything else. But whatever happens, you're going to heaven. But that's something we need to remind ourselves of, isn't it? Spiritually, eternally, their end is destruction, isn't it? Whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things. That's from Philippians 3 19, in case you're wondering. Our end is life eternal, isn't it? Our end is life eternal. And look, because sometimes it can be hard. Sometimes you look at these people, and they seem to be enjoying themselves, while they're just mocking, scorning, attacking, doing all sorts of things to you and believers around this world. But we're going to heaven and they're not, okay? What do you mean? Look, I'm talking about the worst types of people. I'm talking about reprobates here. And God doesn't shed a tear for these people. Now, no, we can get busy, okay? We can abound in the hope of salvation with joy and peace. And turn to Titus chapter 1. Turn Titus 1, because by the way, Titus 1 2 says that that hope is a promise of God, okay? So in case you're like, oh, this hope, is it like, well, I hope I go to heaven. I hope that I'm saved. No, look, it's not, it's not, well, I hope so. Because Titus 1 2 says in hope of eternal life, which God that cannot lie promised. He promised before the world began. That hope of eternal life is based on a promise of God, okay? That's not, you know, we use sometimes the word hope like, oh, well, you know, our hope is in it's kind of a 50 50. Yeah, no, no, no. The hope is based on the promise of God who cannot lie, okay? And that's as sure a hope as you're going to get, isn't it? And that's why it's a helmet and not just some silly head covering like those illiterate strict in particular Baptists like to have their women wearing, yeah? Anyone seen this sort of stuff out there? These people are nuts. I mean, if they only just got halfway through 1 Corinthians 11, then they'd realize that actually the hair is the head covering. It's bizarre, isn't it? But it's not claimed to be Bible believers, these people. That woolen beret isn't making them abound in hope, is it? Anyone think that woolen beret is going to? No, it doesn't make them abound in hope. They don't abound in much, do they? Because they just believe that, well, God's just kind of pulling strings anyway. They might as well just sit back and relax. That the yarmulke, the top hat, the furry top. But there's someone with a furry top hat, something like furry beret type things, aren't they? Got a lot of strange hats, don't they, the Jews? But it's not making anyone abound in hope, is it? Okay, that's not, it's a fake. It's like a sort of, it's a false helmet. It's a sort of, hey, look at me. And they love a, hey, look at me, don't they, these people? But it's not. Have you noticed, by the way, how pretty much all false religions love a silly hat? Anyone notice that? They all love a silly hat, don't they? It's ridiculous. I was thinking about this. The Catholic and Orthodox type bishops hats. What are they all about? Some of them are like this wide, aren't they? They're like oversized pirate hats and stuff. Big crosses on the front, big square sections and everything else. Hey, look at me, you know what? They can barely keep their heads up under the weight of the hat. And it's same with all the kind of, you know, the Protestant, you know, we didn't protest far enough to actually get away from silly hats and most of the other stuff. We just kind of don't openly worship Mary too much, although some of us do. But no, what about the Muslims love the kufi, don't they? Yeah, is that how you say it? Have I said that right? Anyone want to correct me? No? He wouldn't dare. I'll show you. Okay, so that's a funny one, isn't it? It's like a kind of netty hat thing, isn't it? Like it looks bizarre, doesn't it? Hey, look at me hat. I love how you look at me hat. What about the the Buddhists have various hats, don't they, as well? I've seen different Buddhist little hats and caps and Hindu scarves and hats. Yeah, they love a little scarf around the head or some sort of weird little prayer hat. The Sikh turban is a big one, isn't it? They look dodgy, though, especially in hot countries. That looks pretty sweaty under there, doesn't it? But they all love a silly hat. And what is it really? They're fake helmets. They're fake. They're so-called helmets. But there's no hope of salvation because it's all based on their works. So they're trying to show, they're trying to like make out like they've got this confidence in their hat. But really, it is what it is. It's just some piece of useless fabric, isn't it? They're fake. Our hat is a spiritual one. Our hat's made of spiritual iron. It's got spiritual cheek pieces on it. It's got a spiritual neck flap. It's even got a spiritual nice cord to keep it on, if you so want to put it on, right? Yeah, we've got a spiritual helmet. Our helmet is not some sort of joke, hey, look at me. And we don't have to walk around with a hat on, do we? OK, we don't have to try and show everyone our holiness and show our big long garments and our flowing pyjama suits and whatever else they like to wear in the Catholic dresses and everything else. And the Muslim dresses. Don't forget the Muslim dresses. A lot of them like dresses. Actually, a lot of them like dresses, these people, don't they? The Hindus wear saris, don't they? Yeah, they love the dress, don't they? Sorry, mate, it's just not good enough. There's a lot of that, isn't there? But we don't need any of that, do we? Because ours is a spiritual helmet. We have a spiritual helmet on. Now, OK, how do we take this spiritual helmet of salvation and how do we keep that constant reminder of the hope that is in us? Turn to Acts chapter 20. Should I just preach the gospel every sermon? Should we have like one gospel sermon every week, perhaps? Yeah? As long as we end every sermon with the gospel. How about that? I saw a review once for a church in this nation where someone said, you know, it reminded me of the Church of Old because they just preached the gospel every sermon. Amen, it's all about the gospel. No, it's not all about the gospel. Yeah, getting people saved. Yeah, the unsaved, it's all about the gospel, right? We're not going out and preaching. You know, I hope you're not preaching standards to people on the door and everything else. No, we're preaching the gospel to them. But it's not about that. It's not about ending each sermon with the gospel and an altar call. Look, I've been in churches with people unsaved where they've been preaching the gospel every sermon and an altar call and they never got saved. OK, it was a waste of time. We could have actually been fed with something during that time, but they didn't bother. No, Paul said in Acts 20 to the Ephesian elders, Wherefore I take you to record this day that I'm pure from the blood of all men. This is Acts 20 and verse 26. Verse 27, sorry, says, For I have not shunned to declare unto you the gospel. Is that what he said? No, for I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God. All the counsel of God. That's why he's pure from the blood of all men. Take heed therefore unto yourselves and to all the flock over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood. Yes, sometimes we need some reminders, right? OK, 1 Thessalonians 511 did say, Wherefore comfort yourselves together and edify one another, even as also ye do. OK, sometimes, sometimes we do need hard passages explained in the light of the gospel, don't we? Sometimes we need reminders of eternal security where we're looking at passages which false prophets will take out of context, will take and try and teach something else, despite the the tons of verse in the Bible which teach that once saved always save, which teach that you have everlasting life, which teach that you that is passed from death unto life. Yeah, when you believe. But look, sometimes we need reminders of the glory that awaits us, don't we? Sometimes we need reminders of heaven. We need those reminders of what's coming. We need to constantly be reminded, constantly have it on our minds, on our hearts, so we can protect ourselves with that. So we can constantly just remind, no, I'm going to heaven, it doesn't matter, I'm going to heaven. Sometimes we need to remind each other too, don't we? It's not, look, he said here, he said, Wherefore comfort yourselves together and edify one another. I don't think it's just talking about the preaching either. Sorry, that's what he said in First Thessalonians 511. Because look, sometimes you might be talking to maybe a Christian that is finding things hard, a Christian that is maybe finding it hard, the barrage of this, the temptation of that, the lies being preached from all these false prophets, and sometimes it's good to remind them of where they're going, remind them that you're saved. People can have doubts, right? It's good to remind them. But there's a lot of counsel here, aside from the Gospel and salvation, isn't there? I don't know about you, but I think there's a lot of counsel. If I'm declaring unto you the whole counsel of God, if I preach the Gospel every week, I'm missing a big chunk of this Bible, aren't I? Yeah, and all scripture is given by inspiration of God, isn't it? Okay, and all of it is profitable. So there are other things. There's parts of the Bible which will help us how to behave in life. There are parts of the Bible which will teach us how to parent, teach us how to be a good spouse, teach us how to be a good employee, teach us many parts of just life itself, aside from the Gospel. In fact, there's parts of the Bible that teach us how to take the whole armor of God. Yeah, that's not just talking about getting saved, okay? That's talking about when you're saved, being able to go into that spiritual battle. But do you know the best way of putting on the helmet of salvation? So yes, yeah, preaching is good. Yeah, reminding each other of that hope is good. Yeah, that's going to help us. Yeah, that's going to help us, you know, to stay strong in those times. But you know what it is? It's by going out and preaching about salvation, okay? That is how you take the helmet of the hope of salvation, the helmet of salvation, because that's when it's on your mind, when it's on the tip of your tongue. When you're regularly preaching the Gospel, when you're going out and you're preaching the Gospel and you're finding opportunity to offer the Gospel to people, when you're going out and you're preaching the Gospel and you're getting through the Gospel presentations, week in, week out, multiple times a week, then you've got the helmet of salvation on, okay? Then you've got that constant reminder. It's on your mind. When the doubts come, straight away, those verses are there, aren't they? When you're out preaching the Gospel and the doubts are coming in, the flesh is doubting. The flesh, look, the flesh wants to believe, sadly. Look, the devil's not silly. The temptation for so many, and obviously for the non-believer out there, is to think that they can be good enough to get to heaven, that they're somehow going to achieve it. It's a pride, isn't it? It's a big one. And the flesh is going to have those times, you know. But look, when those verses are in your head, when you're preaching them regularly, week in, week out, it's just going to be answered straight away. Straight away. For by grace, you say through faith that not of yourselves. It's a gift of God, not of works that any man should buy. Those verses should just roll off your tongue, should just go into your heart, go into your head, right? When the fiery darts fly, and they come in various ways. The fiery darts come and fly in, and they're challenging you, and maybe the fiery darts are to scare you, and to put you in fear, and to think, oh man, what happens if this happens, or what happens if I lose my job because of going to a church which preaches the whole counts of God? What happens if things get really rough when we're out, and we're preaching, or whatever? Well, look, you're going to heaven. I think you've changed that. No matter what the devil, no matter what those false prophets say, no matter what all those wicked, lying serpents say, you're going to heaven if you put your faith in Christ. And when you're out preaching that, and you're preaching it, and you're showing people from the scriptures, that should just be on the tip of your tongue. That should be in your heart. When those false prophets are constantly trying to con you, trying to put doubt in your mind, trying to make you believe other weird scriptures, trying to make you believe weird things about hell, whether it's eternal, and all these things. No, what does the Bible say? The Bible says they're going to hell, I'm going to heaven. Yeah, and these things should strengthen you, shouldn't they? And what they should do is, like a helmet, they should give you the confidence to march forward, to march through all of that stuff, when the outside temptations surround you. Because they do sometimes, don't they? Look, everyone here is going to have times where the temptation to go and do this, the temptation to give up on the things of God, the temptation to go back into the world, the temptation to go back to your old life. But don't forget the eternal rewards. Yeah, that, look, the salvation, you're going to end up in heaven, that's eternity. You're not like someone who's just living for the now, because, well, you know, what'll be will be. No, you'll go to heaven. Yeah, why don't you go there with the red carpet rolled out? Why don't you go there with rewards waiting, with the crown of righteousness, with knowing that you're going to be ruling and reigning with Christ, knowing that you've got a millennial reign to come, and knowing that I'm going to do my best to make eternity amazing. And look, it's going to be amazing anyway. You can make it even more amazing, right? And look, that helmet of the hope of salvation, thinking about salvation, thinking about heaven, having it always on your mind, and the best way of doing that is going out and preaching about it, preaching the gospel, being in the word of God, preaching the truth, preaching about these things. And look, if you're listening to this, though, and you're unable to get soul winning for some reason, because look, there are some reasons, some people have times in their life seasons when for some reason they can't get out. There's an issue there. There's some problem. At the least, memorize those verses. If you, look, for many people who are soul winning, you don't even have to try and memorize these verses, do you? If you're preaching them regularly, you've been preaching them for years, you're out multiple times a week, not once a week, now and again on a Sunday. Nothing wrong with that. Look, better than not, better than not. You're going out twice a week, sometimes more. You're going on marathons. You're just preaching the gospel, preaching the gospel, preaching the gospel. Those verses just get etched in your heart, don't they? And I'm sure many people here could preach the gospel without opening a Bible, and could just quote verse after verse after verse without even trying, because you've been preaching it so much and so long. And when it's in your heart like that, that helmet is fixed firmly on your head. Okay, you've got that strap on. It's a tight fit, but it's a nice fit. It's a snug fit. Paul said in 2 Timothy 1.13, hold fast the form of sound words, which thou has heard of me in faith and love, which is in Christ Jesus. He said, hold fast, hold tight, hold strong. The form of sound words, which thou has heard of me in faith and love, which is in Christ Jesus. Memorize them, protect yourself with them. But by preaching them regularly, you're just going to be focusing on them, aren't you? It's one thing to have them memorized, another thing to just be constantly talking about them, constantly preaching them, constantly telling people about them. And when you have that on, you've got the helmet of the hope of salvation on, haven't you? I'll tell you what, show me a brother or sister in Christ, soul winning week in, week out, focusing on eternity, talking about heaven, working for rewards in heaven. And I'll show you someone who's taking a helmet of salvation. That for me is taking a helmet of salvation. Okay, it's focusing on it. It's talking about it. It's memorizing it. It's going out and preaching it. And you take that helmet of salvation and you're much more protected than most, right? And you can go and you can march forward and you can do great things for God. That was the whole armour of God, the helmet. On that, let's pray. Father, thank you for the helmet, the helmet of salvation, or as 1 Thessalonians 5 calls it, helmet of the hope of salvation. Thank you that not only do we have salvation, but there's a protection that comes from focusing on salvation, from thinking about it, from dwelling on it, from preaching it, Lord, for just being able to defend ourselves against those fiery darts, against that false doctrine, against all of those different attacks, those temptations of the devil, knowing and reminding ourselves regularly that we have a home in heaven awaiting us and nothing can change that. Nothing can change that. If we've put our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, we're saved, and what a great reality that is, and what a thing to remind ourselves of regularly. It's not exactly a hardship. That's something that we should do and something that we should go out and preach as well, which then helps us to be reminded of it, help us to focus on that this week as we deal with that spiritual war on a day-to-day basis, help us to remind ourselves of heaven, remind ourselves of what awaits us, Lord, and we understand that it would be very hard to describe in words. However, there are many little mini descriptions and reminders of it in scripture. Help us to focus on those, help us to go out and preach that truth to other people, Lord, help us get people saved this week, and help us to all return Wednesday for the midweek's service. In Jesus' name, I pray all of this. Amen.