The Weaponry We Use (5)

The Helmet of Salvation

Eph. 6:117a

And take the helmet of salvation.

We come to the fifth piece of God’s armor. Paul writes, And take the helmet of salvation. Just six words (both in the English and Greek), but how profound those words are! As we’ll see, by the Inspiration of the Holy spirit, Paul give us six words that will protect the mind of the Believer, our thinking.

V. The Helmet Of Salvation

The Physical Piece Of Armor

Naturally, since the head is the most vital part of the body, as it controls all other functions, and since it is so vulnerable, there was a piece of armor to protect it. We’ve all seen modern day soldiers with their helmets, but the helmet is not new to warfare.

The helmet used by the Roman soldier was a kind of cap made of leather. To reinforce it, metal plates were attached. To give a certain amount of protection to the face, many helmets had cheek pieces as well. The soldier usually carried his helmet over his shoulder or attached it to his girdle until it was needed.

The Spiritual Application

The application of this helmet to Christian living is obvious. As the literal helmet protects the head, the spiritual helmet protects the mind. As one commentator puts it, “Although Satan cannot kill the soul, he can wound the mind.”[1] Satan can, indeed, damage our thinking!

Just as a stopped clock is right twice a day, once in a while even pagans make a true statement. A verse in The Pali Canon, the sacred Scriptures of the Theravada Buddhists, says, “All that is comes from the mind; it is based on the mind; it is fashioned by the mind.”[2] What the pagan doesn’t recognize, however, is that man’s mind is fallen and all that comes from it is ultimately wicked. As Paul told the Romans, “Even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient [i.e., fit or becoming]” (Rom. 1:28). Because man does not want to keep the knowledge of God in his mind, in his thinking processes, God gives him over to do the vile things they want.

Significantly, Paul likens this spiritual helmet to salvation. What does he mean? This obviously cannot refer back to receiving Christ as Savior, since God’s armor can only be worn by those who are already Believers. Neither can Paul be talking about present salvation, that is, sanctification of life; he’s already dealt with that in the Breastplate of Righteousness. What Paul points to here, then, is our future, full, and final salvation that will forever remove us from the very presence of sin and usher us into eternal glory. That’s precisely what he wrote to the Thessalonians: “let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope [i.e., certainty] of salvation” (I Thes. 5:8). It is by keeping our thoughts, our thinking, on that future day that we can survive Satan’s attack today.

It is for that reason that even the Christian, who is still bombarded by the world, must labor to guard his mind, guard how and what we think. As we studied back in 4:23, each of us must “be renewed in the spirit of [our] mind.” As mentioned there, the word “mind” is the Greek nous, which speaks of intellect, thought, reason and understanding. In turn, “renewed” is ananeoō, which appears only here in the New Testament, and is a form of neos. The idea is “to make new in time again,” that is, as John Eadie puts it, “restoration to some previous state—renovation.”[3] Further, the verb is a Present Participle and should be translated “being constantly renewed.”

The same truth is found in Romans 12:2; we are to be “[continually] transformed by the [continuous] renewing of the mind.” What, then, must the Christian do? He or she must be constantly renewing the thoughts and attitudes of the mind. If we fail to do this, it will effect our thinking about everything, our beliefs about doctrine, our attitudes towards Christian faithfulness, even our views on social issues and politics.

Back in the 1970s there was an advertising slogan from the United Negro College fund that said, “A mind is a terrible thing to waste,” and that is true of every person, especially a Christian. It cannot be emphasized enough, therefore, that God wants our mind. Why? Because everything does, indeed, flow from it. It controls everything else. Satan, on the other hand, also wants our mind, and he attacks it relentlessly. Satan never lets up in his persistent attack on the mind. There are two basic ways he does so, but those two ways are very effective, indeed, and involve several aspects. Let us take the time to deal with each in detail.

Satan Attacks the Mind Through Inward Attitudes

One of Satan’s most effective assaults is his attack on the Christian’s security and assurance of salvation. Specifically, there are two basic attitudes that Satan uses to do this, and both of these actually show a lack of trust in the Lord: doubt and discouragement.

First, there is the attitude of doubt. I am convinced more and more every day that one of the most damaging doctrines taught in some Christian circles is the one that says that a Christian can lose his or her salvation. I do not say that lightly, not do I say that just because of some arbitrary doctrinal opinion. This teaching is at the very core of much of the defeat that characterizes many Christians, and it does a horrendous amount of destruction.

Some dear, misguided Christians actually call the doctrine of “eternal security” a “damnable doctrine” because it supposedly give us a “license to sin.” We’ll come back to that accusation, but let’s stop and think a moment of which teaching is actually the “damnable doctrine.” Not one place in all Scripture do we find that assurance of anything is the work of Satan; one of Satan’s hallmarks is his persistent habit of planting doubt, never assurance. Just one example of many is Relativism, which is founding on the idea of doubt, that we can be sure of nothing, that everything is up for grabs and Truth is different for each person. Think about it; Satan planted doubt in Eve’s mind, in Job’s mind, and even tried to plant doubt in Jesus’ mind. No, Satan never plants assurance; rather he always plants doubt. He is the author of doubt, the propagator of lies, the spreader of questions. So may we ask, which doctrine is really the damnable one, one that says we can be sure of our salvation or one that says we can never be absolutely sure?

Mark it down: if Satan can successfully plant doubt, he will reap our defeat. If there is doubt, productivity is impossible. If there is doubt, there can be no joy or peace. It’s truly interesting that during the first part of the construction of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, no safety devices were used, and twenty-three men fell to their deaths. For the last part of the project, however, a large net which cost $100,000 was employed. At least ten men fell into it and were saved. But in one sense it was even more significant twenty-five percent more work was accomplished when the men were assured of their safety![4] What a profound truth! No one can labor to the their fullest potential unless they have assurance and security.

Doubt, therefore, if we may be so bold, comes from Satan himself. Please do not misunderstand; we’re not saying those who believe we can lose our salvation are demon possessed; we do not for a moment question that they are born again and love the Lord dearly. Rather, we’re saying that Satan uses this doctrine to defeat unsuspecting Christians. If he can keep us busy doubting our salvation, or if he can keep us busy trying to “keep our salvation,” he has won a great battle because we will be far too busy for anything else, such as Christian growth and service.

It is absolutely essential that Christians recognize that God’s Word clearly teaches the security of the believer. God tells us that when we are truly saved, we will never be lost again. The reason this is so important is because the weakest Christians I know are the ones who reject this doctrine. It is a fact that those who reject the security of the believer are the most “up and down” and inconsistent Christians in the Body of Christ, ones whose lives are usually driven by emotion. I’m not being derogatory in saying this, but rather I’m saying this because of concern for the spiritual growth of Christians. There is no way someone can grow deeper in Christ if they don’t know from one moment to the next if they are in Christ.

There are no less that twelve clear scriptural proofs for the security of the believer. Let us consider and mediate on each of them.

1. The term “eternal life.” Such well‑known verses as John 3:15‑16, 36; 4:14; 5:24; 6:27; and others all use the term “eternal life” (or “everlasting life”). The Greek behind both terms is aionios which is a word that simply means “indeterminate as to duration, eternal, everlasting.”

May we observe in passing that there are those who make a great deal about there being a difference between “eternal life” and “everlasting life.” They say the former means life that has no beginning and will have no end, while the latter means life that has a beginning but will have no end. This is fanciful and quite silly, for the Greek word is always the same.

The point to ponder is that when we receive Christ as Savior, we have eternal life. If life is eternal, it is really eternal. If you can lose something that is eternal, then it was never really eternal in the first place. Some argue, of course, that “eternal life” doesn’t begin until we die so we can lose it now. But that is not what the text says in John 3:16: “Whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” “Have” is Present Tense, indicating that the Believer has eternal life right now and will continue to have it forever.

2. Salvation is by grace, not by works. Ephesians 2:8‑9, Titus 3:5, and other verses tell us that we can’t earn salvation. Salvation is by God’s grace alone, His unmerited, unearned, and undeserved favor. How, then, can one lose unmerited favor? How can one lose that which is not deserved?

Of course, there are those who argue that we get saved by grace, but in order to keep it we’ve got to “walk the straight and narrow” in order to keep it. That is part of what the Judaizers in the churches in Galatia were teaching and were thereby misleading the Galatian Believers. Paul asked those Believers, “O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you . . . ? Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect [i.e., mature] by the flesh?” (Gal. 3:1, 3). “Bewitched” translates baskainō, which appears only here in the New Testament. In Classical Greek it is used of the superstition that people could be harmed by what we would call giving them “the evil eye,” that is, casting a magic spell on them with a malicious look. Indeed, the Galatians had been “spell-bound” by these false teachers and their supposedly “deeper teaching” of adding Law to grace. By the “magic spell,” so to speak, of the Judaizer’s teaching, they became convinced that mixing Law with grace was beneficial, when in reality they are mutually exclusive.

Incredulously, those who teach that one can lose salvation actually go to Galatians 5:4 as a “proof text”: “Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace.” But such teaching violently rips the verse out of its context. The Greek behind “fallen from” is ekpiptō, a compound comprised of piptō, “to fall” and ek, “from.” Jesus used this term, for example, in Mark 13:25, where He declares that in the last days “the stars of heaven shall fall” (cf. Matt. 24:29, where “fall” is piptō). The term was also used in ancient times to refer to a ship that fell off or was driven off course, that deviated from the correct bearing; it is so used, in fact, in Acts 27:29. The passage, however, has nothing to do with the security of the Believer. Paul is contrasting Law and grace and is clearly saying that to mix grace with Law is to fall off course, to deviate from the whole idea of grace.

May we interject here that most (if not all) false doctrine has at its root a misunderstanding of grace. Those who add any kind of works, those who try to hold on to some ceremony, those who want to follow some system of legalism are clueless of what grace means and what it has accomplished through Christ. To mix law with grace is to deviate from the correct course.

It needs to be made clear that a misunderstanding of grace will effect every aspect of ones theology. As I shared in the Introduction, that is one reason I love Ephesians so much; nowhere else in Scripture is grace made so clear. As one expositor puts it, Ephesians is, “A mini-course on theology.”[5] And what is at the very heart and soul of that “mini- theology”? GRACE. If we do not understand grace, we can understand nothing else.

3. God has the power to keep what He has saved. Without doubt 1 Peter 1:3‑5, John 10:27‑29, and Romans 8:35‑39 are among the strongest evidences for the security of the Believer. Because of the unity of Scripture, three different authors teach us the exact same truth. We first note Peter’s encouragement:

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time (1 Pet. 1:3‑5).

Peter tells us in verses 3-4 of the inheritance that we have in Christ, which will not fade away nor wither, but rather is “reserved,” that is “set aside, guarded,” for us. No problem there, right? Our inheritance couldn’t be in safer place. Peter then goes on, however, to tell us in verse 5 that we right now are “kept by the power of God.” The Greek behind “kept” (phroureō) is a military term meaning “to guard or protect.” It is also a Present Participle showing continuous action that never ends. How marvelous this is! While our inheritance is being guarded in heaven, we are being guarded on earth so that we will be able to receive the inheritance. The guard is never absent, for the guard is God and He is always “on duty.”

John then encourages us with these words:

My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: 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 (Jn. 10:27‑29).

John tells us here that we are God’s sheep and He “knows” us. Again we see the verb in the Present Tense, action that is continuous, never ending. He continually knows us. He has given us eternal life and we, as the literal translation would be, shall “by no means” perish. Once we are in the watchful care of the Shepherd, nothing can destroy us nor snatch us from His care.

Finally, in that classic passage in Romans Paul declares that absolutely nothing can “separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 8:35‑39). There are, of course, those who argue that nothing can separate us from God except ourselves. When we sin, they insist, we “sever ourselves” from God. But that is precisely the point Paul is making, that no created thing (v. 39), which includes ourselves, can separate us from God’s love. That is why “we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us” (v. 37). Additionally, anyone who would say, “I want to be severed from Christ” (as I have heard some argue), was never saved. How could a true child of God say or even think such a thing?

Again, the truth to grasp is that it is God's power that keeps us, not our power. Those who deny the security of the Believer simply do not understand that truth. It is not what we do, but what God does.

4. The doctrine of justification. We often hear this defined as “just as if I never sinned.” Well, that is not the case. We have sinned and nothing can happen that will alter that fact. In reality justification is a legal term that means “to declare or pronounce righteous and just, not symbolically but actually.” We are righteous not because we are not guilty. On the contrary, we who were once under condemnation are now declared to be righteous because the penalty of our sin has been paid by Jesus.

It’s extremely significant to notice that in the majority of texts where the word “justified” appears (Rom. 5:1, 9; Gal. 2:12, second usage; 3:24; Titus 3:7) the verb is in the Aorist Tense, showing a once‑for‑all “declaring righteous.” In a couple of texts, however, the verb is in a present tense (Rom. 3:24, 28) showing a continuous “declaring righteous.” There is no contradiction here. In fact, there is a great truth. Not only does God do the work once‑for‑all, but He also continues doing the work. The thought is not that we are in a “process” of being justified, but rather we are constantly in the “state” of being justified. God has justified us and keeps us justified.

5. The principle of eternal redemption. Here is a point of great blessing and an absolutely inarguable proof of the Believer’s security in Christ. The clear teaching of Scripture is that Christ died only once for each individual :

By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all . . . this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God; . . . For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified (Heb. 10:10, 12, 14).

We emphasize this so strongly because since Christ only died once for each person, each person, therefore, can only be saved once. Since Christ died only once for our sin, then if we could lose that salvation, it would then be impossible) to be saved again.

It is distressing (if not blasphemous) that many today teach that we can be saved one moment and lost the next and that we can get saved over‑and‑over again, for “they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame” (Heb. 6:6). That is, of course, exactly what we see in the Roman catholic mass, one of the most blasphemous rituals ever devised by man’s fallen nature, as Jesus is crucify over and over and over again. To say, therefore, that we can have salvation one moment, not have the next, and then have again the next is guilty of exactly the same “re-crucifying” of our Lord.

6. The doctrine of sanctification. Akin to the above point is this one. Look again at Hebrews 10:10: “By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.” The Greek behind “sanctified” is hagiazō, “to set apart to God.” It is essential to recognize that the verb here is in the Perfect Tense, which indicates action in the past with an emphasis on the result. For example, when one gets married, there is a once‑for‑all action, but the emphasis now is that he is still married. The action itself doesn’t continue, but the result does.

With that understood, let us realize that we are totally and completely set apart from sin and unto God once‑for‑all and are forever in that state. That is called “positional sanctification.” There is then another aspect of sanctification called “practical sanctification,” which is the day‑to‑day holy living that is the result of our position. (This term is to be preferred over the “progressive sanctification,” which can give the idea that we keep getting holier and holier until someday we get completely holy.) The thing we must realize is that our position is that we are completely holy now. This does not mean we’re perfect or sinless, for we still sin when we allow the flesh (Rom. 7) to rule, but we do not have to sin. God has set us apart from sin and unto Himself, so we are no holier today than yesterday. Our practice then is that we live out what God has done within.[6]

This is brought home to us in the story that is told of an older lady who though she had received Christ as her Savior was plagued by doubts. After quoting several Scriptures on assurance to her, one of the men counseling her asked, “Grandma, if you saw one group of people drinking and cursing, and right next door a gathering of joyful believers was singing Gospel hymns and testifying of God’s saving grace, which company would attract you?” Without hesitation she answered, “Oh, I’d only feel at home with the saints of God. I love to fellowship with them!” He then showed her I John 3:14: “We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death.”[7] A true evidence of our continuing sanctification is a desire to be with God’s people.

7. The sealing of the Holy Spirit. As we studied at length back in Ephesians 1:13 and 4:30, Paul tells us that we have been “sealed with that holy Spirit of promise . . . unto the day of redemption.” As mentioned there, the sealing of the Holy Spirit at our conversion is one of the most (if not the most) comforting and irrefutable doctrines in Scripture when it comes the Believer’s security in Christ. No other doctrine makes this security so vivid and undeniable, and no other doctrine brings as much peace and assurance.

In both verses the Aorist Tense is used to show a once‑for‑all action. As we learned, it pictures the sealing of a letter by an official stamp so that no one will tamper with it until it gets to the one to whom it is addressed. The word “sealed,” in fact, is sphragizō, from the noun sphragis, which refers to a nobleman’s signet ring that held his official seal. We are, therefore, sealed permanently until we are presented to Christ as His chaste bride (2 Cor. 11:2).

Moreover, the Holy Spirit is actually the seal itself! When we receive Christ as Savior, the Holy Spirit comes into us to indwell us (1 Cor. 6:19, Rom. 8:9‑15) and to “baptize us,” that is, “place us into” the Body of Christ, as 1 Corinthians 12:13 and its context clearly show. Think of it! We are permanently sealed by the Spirit’s presence in us!

8. Christ’s intercessory work. The finished work of Christ was His death and resurrection, but His unfinished (or continuing) work is His intercession between us and the Father. This work is that of Christ coming to our defense when we commit acts of sin. The texts on this subject are Hebrews 9:24, 10:21‑22, 1 John 1:9, and 2:1.

We must at this point carefully distinguish “habitual sin” from “acts of sin.” This one contrast is why most people do not grasp this truth of the Believer’s security. The phrase, “If any man sin” (1 Jn. 2:1) is in the Aorist Subjunctive. The aorist tense is once‑for‑all action and the subjunctive mood is action that can possibly happen. The best way to express the subjunctive mood is with the word “if.” Therefore, this phrase can be translation, “if any man commit an act of sin.” It speaks of an act of sin, not continuous sin. John is showing us that sin in the believer’s life is infrequent, not habitual; it is the exception, not the rule.

Coupled with that is 1 John 3:6. Because of the Present tense of the verb, this literally reads, “Whosoever abides in Him does not habitually practice sin.” Here we have the Present Tense showing continuous action. The man who is truly in Christ, truly born again, does not live in sin. Literally translated again, the rest of the verse tells us, “Whosoever habitually sins hath not seen Him, neither known Him.” The man who is sins continually, who sins over and over, and who has no remorse for his sin shows that he is not born again.

Note one more verse, 1 John 3:9. Again, literally rendered, it tells us that “whosoever has been born of God does not habitually commit sin, for His seed continually remains in him and he cannot habitually sin, because he has been born of God.” One who has been truly “born of God” (once for‑all act) cannot habitually commit sin. The words “his seed” refer to the divine life the believer possesses. This seed of divine life remains in us continually and makes it impossible for us to habitually sin. May we say it again: the child of God simply does not live in sin—period!. God’s seed causes us to hate sin and to love righteousness.

Not only do such verses demonstrate the security we have in Christ, since His seed is in us continually, but they also expose the error that Christians can have a “license to sin” and answers the accusation of those who argue, “‘Once saved always saved’ means you can live any way you want to.” But such an idea is foreign to Scripture. John tells us that a man who habitually commits sin is lost; such a person was never a Believer. In contrast, a man who has truly been born again no longer lives in sin and abhors the very thought of such living.

Another question many ask on this subject is, “Well, how about the man who was saved but then ‘backslid’ for many years by going back to the old life?” Again, according to Scripture, that man was never saved. Habitual sin demonstrates a lost condition. That is the very point Paul made on several occasions. To the Romans he declared: “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? (Rom. 6:1-2). Sin is no longer our lifestyle, no longer our practice. To the Corinthians he wrote, “If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new” (II Cor. 5:17). And again to Titus he declared, “For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world” (Titus 2:11‑12). When a man comes to Christ there is a change. There must be a change. If not, the man has not come to Christ.

We’re also reminded again of 1 John 2:1, where we see that if we do commit an act of sin— not habitual but an act—we then have “an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” How often do we have a wrong attitude, a wrong motive, a selfish desire, say a hateful word, or do something else that is displeasing to God. These are the realities in the life of every believer and are not habitual, continuous sin, but single acts of sin which happen when the Holy Spirit does not have control of our minds and bodies.

Dear Christian, when you sin, and it grieves your heart, or when you read God’s Word or hear it preached, and realize there is something in your life that does not belong there, it is because you are “born of God.” When there’s sin in your life, it grieves your heart and pricks your spirit because the Spirit of God is in you. This does not happen to the “habitual sinner,” because he’s lost, but it does happen to the true Believer and is one of the greatest evidences that you are a Believer. It is then that we are to apply 1 John 1:9. The Greek word for “confess” is homologeō, homo meaning same” and logeō meaning “to say” Confess, therefore, means to say the same words about sin that God does. In other words, call sin sin. Don’t water it down. Call it what it is. It is only when we sincerely and sorrowfully confess our sin that God then forgives us.

It is at this time, when the believer commits an act of sin, that he has an “Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” The “advocate” is the Greek parakletos, where we get the English word “paraclete.” It means, “one who is called alongside to aid.” It is Jesus who is our paraclete, our “defense attorney,” who comes to our aid when we commit an act of sin. It was Jesus, who, through His work on Calvary, provided forgiveness of sin. It was Jesus, who by His death, burial and resurrection, gave us victory over the penalty and power of sin.

If we, therefore, reject the security of the believer, we make all of what we have just seen of no value. If we reject this doctrine we make Christ’s intercession pointless and powerless. In fact, if this doctrine of the believer’s security is not true, then there is no intercessory work of Christ and to say that would be heresy.

9. God’s children are never condemned. In John 3:18, we are told that those who believe in Christ are “not condemned,” but those who do not believe are “condemned already.” The contrast in the verbs is most amazing. Those who believe in Christ are “continually not condemned,” as the Present Tense indicates. This continuous action shows we will never be condemned; we will never again be in the state of condemnation. On the other hand, those who do not believe are once-for‑all condemned and that condemned state will continue, as the Perfect Tense indicates. In other words, they were already condemned by their unbelief, and they are still in that state. Therefore, since the believer is never condemned, he can never lose his salvation because to do so would mean he was condemned again, which is impossible. One song writer captured it well when he wrote:

Enough for me that Jesus saves—This ends my fear and doubt;

A sinful soul I come to Him, He’ll never cast me out

10. The Word of Christ to the lost. This principle struck me quite profoundly when I first recognized it many years ago. Those who reject the security of the believer are unaware that their belief carries a very simple and glaring inconsistency. When the lost of this world stand before the Lord, He will say to them, “I never knew you; depart from me, ye that work iniquity” (Matt. 7:23). Note carefully that He will not say to them, “I used to know you, but you fell away,” or, “I knew you at one time but because of sin I no longer do,” but rather “I never knew you.” In other words, “I didn’t know you from the foundation of the world [cf. Eph. 11:4]. You have never belonged to me.” The believer, therefore, has always been known by Christ and will never be “unknown.”

11. God has given us the way to know we are saved. We do not make that statement lightly. We need to see the force behind it. In addition to what we’ve already examined in 1 John, there is another essential principle to see there. Over thirty times John refers to knowing we are saved, and he speaks of two kind knowledge. One is ginōskō, “to know by experience.” The other is oida, “to know by learned facts.” Using both of these John says, we can know beyond any shadow of a doubt that we are saved.

To understand John’s First Epistle, one must understand his Gospel and the way the two relate. John’s Gospel records seven miracles that are signs of Christ’s incarnation and therefore prove He is the Son of God, God in the flesh. By reading John 20:30-31 we find that the purpose of the Gospel was so we can believe in Christ and have eternal life:

And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book: But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.

In dramatic contrast, the reason John wrote his First Epistle was so we might not just have eternal life by believing, but rather that we can know we have eternal life. The Epistle supplements the Gospel. It is the personal application of the Gospel. God not only wants us to have eternal life, but He also wants us to know we have it! What use (or good) is there in having something if you don’t know you have it? Indeed, it is absolutely useless to possess it if you don’t know you possess it. Let us consider just a few instances here in 1 John.

First we note 2:3: “Hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments.” The word ginōskō is used here, which means that we know because we have personally experienced it. The first instance is in the Present Tense, to continually know. The second instance is in the Perfect Tense, past action with the emphasis on the result. Here is the blessing! “We continually, progressively know by experience that we came to know Him by experience in the past and are in that state right now.” We must add also that “continuing in His commandments” doesn’t “keep us saved.” Rather John says that keeping God’s commands is an evidence that we are indeed continuing in Christ.

Now note 3:24: “And hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us.” Here is a tremendous verse! Again, this is a ginōskō knowledge in the Present Tense. In addition, the word “abideth” is in the Present Tense and the word “given” is in the Aorist Tense. Putting all this together we see that “we continually know that He continually remains in us because of the Spirit that He gave us once‑for‑all.” Why would any teacher wish to argue with that?

In 4:13 we then read: “Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit.” While that is very similar to 3:14, the word “give” (referring to the Holy Spirit) is this time in the Perfect Tense. Therefore, “we continually know by experience that He continually remains in us because He gave us His Spirit once‑for‑all to remain in us permanently.”

The capstone then is 5:13: “These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.” Here we have action that is possible. It is possible that we may keep on knowing (Present Tense). The reason this action is only possible, not definite, is because it is based upon our decision. Indeed, there are those who reject this truth, but we can continually know, if we want to continually know. Note also that we may know we have, (Present Tense again), so “we can continually know that we continually have salvation.”

It’s also significant that the knowledge spoken of here is the oida type of knowledge, knowledge gained, not by experience, but by someone teaching it to us or through other study. “The things (referring to the things concerning Christ) have been written.” We can therefore read them and see God prove to us that we have eternal life.

The wonderful story is told of a preacher who was staying with a couple whose son was deaf and mute. The man prayed for God to use him to reach this little guy for the Lord. Since the boy was learning to read, the preacher thought he would write each of the first five words of Psalm 23 on the boy’s five fingers. He would then go over the words by pointing to each finger. After repeating this for several days, he wrote a short note telling the boy in simple words that if he trusted Christ as Savior, the fourth word, “my,” would become real to him and he could then be confident of going to heaven. The preacher’s meetings ended and he head to leave town before he was sure the boy truly understood the Gospel message. Years later, however, he returned to that town and learned that the little boy had become ill and died shortly after that first visit. Just before he lapsed into unconsciousness, however, he pointed to each of his five fingers. With a smile, the then griped the fourth one. The preacher rejoiced in knowing hearing that the little guy testified in the only way he could of his trust in Christ.[8]

How, then, do we have assurance of salvation? Because God says so. Salvation is truly ours. Again, that is why John wrote his First Epistle! If Christians would simply stop living in emotion and begin thinking with the mind, they would see what John is saying. John wrote this letter not so Christians would wallow in doubt but so they would rejoice in certainty.

12. The doctrine of adoption. We also studied this wonderful doctrine back in Ephesians 1:5, also noting Romans 8:15‑17 and Galatians 4:5. The word “adoption” translates the Greek huiothesia, which simply means “son-placing.” It, therefore, speaks of our position as a child of God. Adoption can be defined as: “The placing of a son, who is not a son by birth, and giving him the place and inheritance of a son by birth.”[9] C. I. Scofield presents a marvelous comparison between regeneration and adoption: “In regeneration a Christian receives the nature of a child of God; in adoption he receives the position of a son of God.” We see then that we are in the family of God through the merits of Jesus Christ, our Elder Brother (Rom. 8:29). We, who were once “of our father the devil” (as Jesus said of the Pharisees in John 8:44), are now members of God's family.

All that to say that to reject the security of the Believer, then, would mean that when we sin we’re “kicked out of the family” or otherwise disowned or disinherited. What an appalling idea! What an unthinkable thought! That is no more true in the spiritual sense than it is in the earthly sense. When we were children we did not cease being our parent’s children when we disobeyed them. On the contrary, as erring children we were disciplined, but we were still their children. And, as we’ve already seen, this fact doesn’t give us a “license to sin,” for we know that as erring children we will be disciplined.

There are those who fear this doctrine of security; others just hate it. The latter was dramatically brought home to me when I was preaching a week of meetings in a certain church many years ago. After briefly mentioning the security of the believer on the opening Sunday morning message, however, I was told after the service by the church leadership, “We want you off the property by the end of day because we don’t believe in that teaching.” But why would anyone hate a doctrine that says, “I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day” (II Tim. 1:12)? But this doctrine should neither be dreaded nor despised. It should be dearly loved, for it protects the true child of God, while at the same time it exposes and condemns those who are not truly born again.

Before closing this point, we must interject that the doctrine of the security of the believer is not a minor issue, and its rejection is serious error. This security is central doctrine. To reject it is to reject the very essence of salvation. To reject it is even an attack upon the integrity of God. What kind of God can’t keep His children safe and secure? The rejection of the security of the believer does untold damage upon biblical theology.

I would finally interject that to deny this wondrous principle is to invite defeat. It is to think that you must keep salvation by works and personal effort, but sooner or later you will grow weary and be defeated. In his eye-opening book, Holiness: The False and the True, The Beloved Harry Ironside recounts his own days in the Holiness Movement of the Salvation Army, which not only rejects the security of the believer, but teaches that by holy living one can eradicate all sin in their life. The pressures of such teaching and his own effort eventually wore him down so far that he, like many others in that movement, had a breakdown and spent some time in a rest home. Is a teaching that brings that kind of result truly of God?

Oh, dear Christian, let us never give in to doubt. To doubt our salvation, or anything else God has said, is to actually doubt His promises, His veracity, and His integrity. And all that is simple unbelief.

Second, Satan also attacks through the attitude of discouragement. Ponder a moment: why did Paul write to the Galatians, and by extension us, the word, “Let us not be weary in well doing?” (6:9). The reason is obvious—because we tend to get weary in well doing, tend toward weariness and surrender. After all, we’re not in just a brief fire-fight, not in a battalion or division level battle, not in an extended campaign, not even in a theater of operations; rather we’re in a global war. Our warfare, therefore, is constant, and it is easy to become drained and discouraged.

I am often reminded of the Vietnam War. It dragged on and on, prolonged by political bumbling. Such ineptness created in the brave people who fought the battles a sense of futility and pointlessness. Morale was virtually non-existent, and the blight of that era will never go away.

One of the most vivid illustrations of discouragement is found in the Epistle to the Hebrews. The Christian Jews that Paul addresses were being persecuted by fellow Jews and there was a strong possibility that such persecution was going to intensify (10:32-39; 12:4). They were, therefore, tempted to look back to that old religion and return to it’s now meaningless symbols and rituals. They were even tempted to compromise certain truths of Christianity, such as demoting Christ to being a mere angel (as implied in 1:4-13). In short, in their discouragement they were tempted not just to give up a single battle but the whole war!

Did you know, however, that discouragement is actually an outworking and a result of doubt? It’s a doubting of God’s principles, precepts, and promises. Great men such as Moses, Elijah, Jeremiah, Habakkuk, and others had times of depression, discouragement, and seeming defeat. But the truth we need to see is that they didn’t stay in that condition!

Oh, how we need to realize that to wallow in discouragement is actually sin! Why? Because such attitudes come from a failure to trust and lean upon the Lord. The major cause of these, may we add, is selfishness and self-centeredness. To have victory over discouragement, we must do three things.

1. We must stop looking at ourselves and start looking at God. Before continuing, please stop and read Psalm 42 and 43. The author of those Psalms is unknown, but whoever he was he certainly was discouraged, which again comes from self-centeredness. This is obvious from the fact these two Psalms contain fifty-two personal pronouns: “I” is used fourteen times, “me” sixteen times, and “my” twenty-two times. In contrast, God is referred to only twenty-one times. The writer’s problem, then, was that he was self-occupied; he was concerned only with his feelings, his plans, his questions.

Such pre-occupation with self will sooner or later bring discouragement. We live in an age of unprecedented “self-awareness” and “self-consciousness,” and sadly this has spilled over into Christianity. Many want to speak of “self-esteem” and “self-image,” but do we not see what happens when that gets bruised? When something comes along, or when someone says something that damages our “self-esteem,” we fall like we’ve been hit with a club. Why? Because “self” is not enough.

Our confidence must lie not in self but in God. How nauseating it is to hear psychologists say we must give children a good self-image, for when another child makes fun of some facial or other characteristic, then the child is devastated. If self-image is all they have, what happens what that is shattered? If only we would teach children to have a “Christ-image,” then such things would not effect them nearly as much. A “Christ-image” is not effected by such things. May we be challenged, we cannot become discouraged as long as we are leaning upon the Lord.

2. We must stop looking at the past and start looking at the future. While we can and should look at the past for lessons and challenges, we must not live there and be defeated by it. Satan will try to bring to our memory past failures and try to convince us that we can never have victory because of them. God wants us to live in the future; that is, He wants us to live according to hope, to live according to certainty. The writer of Psalm 42 and 43 finally realized this; he knew God would defeat the enemy (43:1), would give him strength (v. 2), would direct him (v. 3), and would give him joy (v. 4). Dear Christian, we need to look to what God is going to do in us and through us.

3. We must stop searching for reasons and start resting on promises. Ten times that writer Psalms 42 and 43 asked, “Why?” But there is no record whatsoever that God ever told him why. In contrast, it’s interesting to observe that the prophet Habakkuk asked God several questions that God did answer. Why did God answer Habakkuk but not this Psalmist? The answer is simple: Habakkuk asked with submissive concern instead of self-centered complaint. Oh, how often we ask God “why”! More often than not, however, if God told us why at the moment we ask, we still wouldn’t understand. God didn’t tell Habakkuk until the time was right and He does the same with us. He expects us to trust Him and patiently wait for understanding. The key verse of Habakkuk, in fact, is 2:4: “The just shall live by his faith.” Don’t trust feelings, don’t trust your “inner urgings,” don’t trust your own thoughts, ideas, or opinions. Trust what God says. Isn’t it wonderful that a verse from one of the so-called Minor Prophets is quoted three times in the New Testament (Rom. 1:17; Gal. 3:11; Heb. 10:38)? Just trust what God says.

When we are spiritually ready to understand the workings of God, He will then reveal them. I pray that the following statement will be read, memorized, and quoted often by us all:

We do not live by explanations; we live by promises.

Indeed, if we live our lives by explanations, we will be truly miserable. Did God ever renege on even one promise? No! Why then is it so hard for us to simply trust in His promises? The world says, “We must have proof.” God says, “Trust me.”

Is it not significant that the Bible speaks of “child-like faith” (Mk. 10:15)? Most dads have experienced their child standing on a high step and trustfully jumping into daddy’s arms when he stretches them out. What a trust in a promise that is! Daddy doesn’t have to explain that his arm are strong enough to catch the little one or explain any other aspect of that feat. The child simply knows and trusts the promise that daddy is there. Oh, would that we had that kind of faith in our Heavenly Father! Yes, that is so “childish” and “anti-intellectual,” but that just show that we have never read His Word and do not believe His promises.

My dear Christian Friend, those words, “Trust Me,” flow from the Helmet of Salvation.

Satan Attacks the Mind Through Outward Philosophies

Another way Satan attacks the mind is through the plethora of outward philosophies that permeate our society. While we could look, quite literally, at a huge number of philosophical and religious ideas, concepts, and system, there’s really no need to do so because there is one philosophy that encompasses all others, the philosophy of Humanism. We briefly touched on Humanism back in our study of the home (specifically, under nurturing children in 6:4c), but we will here go into more detail. Christians need to be aware what Humanism is, how subtle it is, and how it has twisted every aspect of our society, and many Christians fall victim to the thinking of the world. Let us divide our short study of Humanism into two emphases.

The Five Basic Tenets Of Humanism

What follows is not my opinion of what Humanism stands for or what other evangelicals think it propagates; rather it is what the very leaders of Humanistic thought say, write, and practice. There is among Humanists a great “missionary zeal,” a zealousness to spread the philosophy into ever aspect of human society, and as we continue we’ll see that the humanists are doing quite well in their quest.

First, there is atheism. When one lives by the idea that man is the center of all things, he can go anywhere with it, and the first place he goes is to deny God’s existence. It was really the French philosopher René Descartes (1596-1650) who launched the Age of Reason with his now famous statement, “I think, therefore I am.” This became the rallying cry of others such as Voltaire, Rousseau, Hegel, Nietzche, and many others. The final verdict of the rationalist was, as first articulated by Nietzche, “God is dead.”

It’s pivotally important, however, to see that atheism, so-called, is actually a modern invention. Until these modern times God’s existence was a logical conclusion to most people who simply looked at His creation, as is plainly stated in Romans 1:20. A man can call himself “an atheist,” but in reality he is merely “a fool” (Ps. 14:1), who denies the knowledge that is inbred within him. Would we not call “a fool” the man who said, “I don’t believe in gravity” and who then jumps off a tall building? Infinitely worse is the man who says, “There is not God.” The humanist prides himself upon not being “religious,” but Humanism is a religion, as defined by the U. S. Supreme court, a religion where man is worshipped as his own god.

Second, there is evolution. While evolution has been called a “theory,” there’s not even enough evidence for it to be called an “hypothesis.” It is no more and no less a mere belief, which like all other pagan religion actually goes back to ancient Babylon. But despite its superstitious origins and despite the fact that it has been discredited by many scholars and scientists (and not all Christian ones), evolution remains the foundation upon which secular education is built.

Today’s secular psychology, sociology, political science, biology, astronomy, and most other fields depend upon evolution. You see, Humanism depends upon evolution because since it rejects God and deifies man, then it must look for some other way to explain the origins of the universe. There are only two alternatives: a Creator made the universe, or the universe made itself. Appalling, some Christians have tried to blend evolution with creation, calling it Theistic Evolution, but that is the height of folly, for no two things are more contradictory.

Third, amorality (no morality). Here is something most instructive. As one examines evolution he quickly finds that it obliterates moral values. Adolph Hitler was an evolutionist, for example, and was how he could justify his moral atrocities. Why? Because teachings such as “natural selection” and “survival of the fittest” produce a philosophy that says, “Sex is sex” and some life is better than other life. The results of this are sexual permissiveness, the destruction of marriage, rampant and blatant homosexuality, abortion, pornography, and public school sex education which either openly condones or at least fails to condemn such things. Humanism’s amorality has replaced the moral law set down by God in the latter six of His Ten Commandments, which are then restated and even expanded in the New Testament (e.g., Matt. 5:27). While that moral law was at the foundation of our nation, it has been banned from our schools and even our courtrooms. That is where evolution has taken us.

Fourth, there is autonomous man. Humanism says that man is totally independent, self-sufficient, god-like, self-governing, and all-powerful. Man’s authority is “himself” instead of God’s written Word, the Bible. Man serves himself instead of God. As one studies history, he finds this thread woven through its very fabric. Throughout recorded history, man has striven to be autonomous, “to be independent from God and from what He has taught in the Bible and from the revelation of God in Christ.”[10] And it is that desired autonomy that has affected every aspect of man’s life and world: art, music, government, and all else.

Fifth, there is a socialist, one-world view. I am very careful about in bringing politics into the pulpit, but Christians do need to be aware of underlying philosophies that affect their lives, families, and churches. We need to be aware of what can affect our thinking. America, without question, becomes more socialistic with each passing day. The major reason for this is Humanism’s attack on Americanism, capitalism, free enterprise, and other principles upon which this Republic was founded. Humanism, like Socialism, calls for big government, decreasing personal freedoms, increasing taxes, and collectivism, commonly called “the redistribution of wealth.” Humanistic leaders give more praise to Marxism than Americanism. That is why humanistic politicians allowed Russia to invade many European countries; that is why they didn’t allow a real victory in Korea or any victory in Vietnam; that is why they gave away the Panama Canal; that is why they allowed Russia to turn Cuba into a Russian military base of operations; and that is why they rabidly condemn the War on Terror that came as a result of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on American soil.

Upon visiting America, Alexander Soliznezin, the famous Russian who was sent to the gulags as a political prisoner and who wrote his famous work, The Gulag Archipelago, observed that America is going down the same roads that Russia traveled before its revolution. That fact becomes all the more profound since the fall of the Soviet Union. Is not America headed for the same eventual collapse?

We can sum up these five tenets in the following chart:

The Five Basic Tenets of Humanism

Humanism	Christianity
Atheism (no God)	The One omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent, sovereign God of the universe.
Evolution (no Creator)	God as Creator.
Amorality (no morality)	Civil morality based on God’s Moral Law.
Autonomous Man (no authority)	Man as servant of God and who is governed by His Word (the Bible).
Socialist, One-World View (no personal freedoms)	Compassionate, representative republic world view.

This leads us to our second emphasis.

Humanism’s Four Attacks Upon the Mind

May we repeat, Humanism has effected every aspect of our society. To do this, it very effective uses four mediums.

First, there is the news media. By far, the vast majority of the news media is blatantly liberal, also called “leftist,” and humanistic (three terms that are really synonymous). It is an indisputable fact that Conservative, or even truly objective, journalists are a rarity in the news media. The liberal media invariably supports anyone who is liberal and tries to discredit, or simply refuse to acknowledge, anyone who gives the conservative view on an issue. Instead of reporting the news, it editorializes, and that is not journalism. It is driven by an underlying humanistic philosophy, and the mind of every Christian today is under attack when he turns on the evening news.

Second, there is humanistic organizations. There is a myriad of humanistic organizations that have sprung up during the last 100 years of our history. One such group is the American Ethical Union (AEU, 1886), which propagates what it calls “Ethical Culture,” which “is a humanistic, religious, and educational movement inspired by the ideal that the supreme aim of human life is working to create a more humane society.” A plethora of other groups include the Chicago Urban League (1917); the Sex Information and Education Council of the United States (SIECUS, 1964); and the National Organization of Women (NOW, 1966).

Without question, however, the most effective humanistic organization to date is the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), founded in 1920. It has been the most effective organization in destroying the laws, morals, and traditional rights and values of Americans. It is anti-Christian, anti-American, and clearly pro-socialist. The list of past leaders of the ACLU reads like a “who’s who” of Humanism, Liberalism, and even Communism. Its founder, in fact, Roger Baldwin, openly sought the utter destruction of American society. Fifteen years after the founding of the ACLU, Baldwin wrote: “I am for Socialism, disarmament and ultimately, for the abolishing of the State itself. . . . I seek the social ownership of property, the abolition of the propertied class and sole control of those who produce wealth. Communism is the goal.”

Another ACLU leader was Dr. Harry Ward, professor of social ethics at Union Theological Seminary, the same man who helped socialize the United Methodist Church, a denomination whose social positions parallel those of the Communist party. Still another leader, William Foster, was at one time the head of the Communist Party here in the United States. John Dewey, the progressive educator who gave birth to the humanistic takeover of American education, also lead the ACLU, as did Clarence Darrow, the famous ultra-liberal defense attorney. And the list goes on.

As a result of numerous investigations, the ACLU has been proven to be a Communist front organization. Just a few of its activities include: antagonism toward laws that control subversive activities; opposition of laws that control or forbid pornography; opposition to the repeal of narcotics laws; support for furthering the rights of homosexuals; and attempts to delete the words “In God We Trust” from our coins and the words “Under God” from The Pledge of Allegiance.

I interject again, I take great care in bringing politics into the pulpit. There is a very real danger of preachers becoming too political in their preaching, not to mention becoming politically active. But when the Word of God deals with such things, we must also. And the Apostle Paul here in our text speaks explicitly of Satan’s attack upon our mind. The pulpit should not be used as a political platform, but it should be used to warn God’s people of the attacks upon the mind. We must address anything that affects our thinking process, that which tries to prevent us from thinking biblically. Thsi leads us to the third medium.

Third, there is government. We have touched on this already, but we add that many elected officials today do not represent the views and wishes of the people who they are supposed to represent. All of us have wondered at one time or the other how a specific law ever got onto the books. Sadly, many officials vote for what will benefit them personally and/or what will appease the liberal element.

Each of us need to realize that before casting our vote we should closely examine a candidates voting record and his personal moral character and views. Humanistic leaders rebel against that practice, especially against basing votes on personal morality. They say, “A candidate’s morals and personal life is none of anyone’s business; only the issues matter.” But we beg to differ because what a person does in private will, sooner or later, manifest itself in what he does in public. If his morals are twisted, so his political views will be skewed as well. This was no better illustrated than the unconscionable scandal of former President Bill Clinton’s lying to the American people about a sexual affair that occurred, of all places, in the Oval Office of the While House, the very center of our government. How on earth can anyone say that “character doesn’t matter”?

Fourth, there is education. Of these four mediums, this one is by far the most important. Why? Because the children of today are the leaders of tomorrow. The humanist agrees with that principle and, therefore, does all he can to fill the minds of young people with the humanistic worldview. It is not an exaggeration to say that most children today who are in the public (state) school system are turned into humanists before they leave grade school.

We dealt with education at length in our study of Ephesians 6:4, but one fact bears repeating. From the time the Pilgrims landed in 1620 until late in the nineteenth century there was no such thing as “public education.” Education of children was solely in the hands of parents and the church; any other approach was unthinkable. Even the colleges and universities founded in the first 100 years of American history were founded by a church, denomination, or religious group. It is plainly evident that education was never intended to be Godless. But all this changed with the introduction of public education. Because of John Dewey and other humanistic educators, public education has done away with traditional (biblical) morals and values, parental authority, godly influence, and even nationalism and patriotism.. Would that every Christian in our day recognize the peril of putting their children in such a system.

In closing, because Humanism gives man nothing to turn to, nothing outside of himself to trust, this can only lead to perversion, despondency, and emptiness. It is the Helmet of Salvation that protects our mind from the attacks of Satan. Tragically, and the their peril, man Christians do not wear this helmet and are as a result affected by humanistic thinking without even knowing it. English poet William Wordsworth wrote: “The mind of man becomes a thousand times more beautiful than the earth on which he dwells.”[11] Is that statement true? Yes, but only for the Christian. Only when the Word of God is at the core of our thinking can the mind become beautiful. Charles Spurgeon rightly wrote: “When filled with holy truth the mind rests.”[12] The world is in constant turmoil, and the only thing that will bring rest is the truth of God’s Word.

Dear Christian friend, will you put on the helmet yourself, and will you then pass it on to your children and grandchildren? As I closed my study of the helmet of salvation, I could not think of a better way to conclude than Paul’s encouragement to the Corinthians (2 Cor. 4:8-9, 16-18):

We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; . . . For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.

The old hymn says it well:

Mid toil and tribulation,

And tumult of her war,

She waits the consummation,

Of peace for ever more;

Till with the vision glorious,

Her longing eyes are blest,

And the great church victorious,

Shall be the church at rest.

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