Church: Reformed Baptist Church of Franconia | Text: Ephesians 6:17 | Date: May 15, 2016 | Speaker: Fred Zaspel

In Ephesians chapter 6, we continue our studies through the Christian armor here, working our way toward finally to the end of the book of Ephesians. And today we come to verse 17, the helmet of salvation. We’ll take the time to pick up our reading again in verse 10:

“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. In all circumstances, take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one. And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, praying at all times in the Spirit with all prayer and supplication.”

Let’s look to the Lord in prayer. Our Father, we are grateful for this portion of your word. We’re thankful for the instruction that it has given us. As we have worked our way through it, we pray that you would minister to us again your word, give us through this a greater appreciation of Christ and the riches that we enjoy in him. And through it, we pray that you would make us increasingly faithful. We ask in his name. Amen.

One title that would fit well to Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, as we’ve seen, is the riches of God’s grace. It’s been Paul’s aim throughout this letter to lead us to understand, and not just to understand, but then to exult in the riches of the grace of God given to us in Christ. He started that theme, you’ll remember, in chapter one, verse three, where he announces that God has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in Christ. That in Christ we have every saving blessing.

And so in this atmosphere of rejoicing or exulting in the riches of the grace of God given to us in Christ, it might seem to some that Paul is perhaps skewing reality. Because after all, this life is not marked continually by happiness and joy and easiness. But in fact, there is opposition. But Paul, of course, is not skewing reality. In fact, just to assure us that he is not wearing rose-colored glasses when he tells us all this, he told us back as far as chapter 2, in the opening verses there, that this world is a world that is dominated at present by Satan himself, or we might call him Prince Satan. He’s the prince of the power of the air, and this world is in a very real sense walking in lockstep with Satan’s decrees; he is working out his purpose with the kingdom of darkness in this world.

And now we come to chapter 6, and he gives us a very direct warning about all of that, and he reminds us—or in case you hadn’t thought of it before in these terms, he just teaches us to think—that the struggles that we face are not ultimately against people. But the struggles we face, he tells us, are not against flesh and blood, but against rulers, against authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against spiritual forces of evil in heavenly places. The real struggle is fought in the spiritual world all around us, a world that is very real, but unseen, and a world that determines so much about the environment that we live in.

So Paul is not skewing reality; he’s not wearing rose-colored glasses when he tells us to exult always in the riches of God’s grace. Rather, what he’s doing at this point in his letter is teaching us how the riches of God’s grace come to bear on living in this kind of an environment. All of these riches that we enjoy in Christ, where he’s told us that we have everything that we need in Christ—how does that come to bear in this context of opposition? Satanic opposition and spiritual opposition of all kinds.

The Big Story of History

As mentioned far back as when we first started this series beginning with verse 10, Paul points us to this larger context of a cosmic struggle: satanic rule, the kingdom of darkness, or again in chapter 2, Satan controlling those who are not in Christ, and the world walking in lockstep with its crowned prince. And of course—and I want you to think in the large picture today, we’re going to spend some time on this—this takes us back to the very beginning in Genesis chapter 3 and verse 15.

You remember Adam and Eve have rebelled. They’ve sinned against God. God calls them into account for it. Adam shifts the blame to the woman and to God: “the woman that you gave me.” The woman shifts the blame to Satan, which of course ultimately is where it belongs, and then God calls Satan into account, and God pronounces judgment. “I’ll put enmity between you and the woman.” This enmity that you have begun, it’s going to continue. And there we have the big backdrop for the whole history of humanity. We have these two streams: Satan and his seed, and the woman and her seed. We see Satan in conflict against the woman and her seed, and Satan coming against all those who are good and those who follow God.

We see glimpses of it in various portions of the Bible. We see Satan coming after Job, who was a righteous man and who suffered simply and only because he was faithful. We find Jesus in John chapter 12 referring to Satan as the prince of this world. In fact, in 2 Corinthians chapter 4, the Apostle Paul refers to Satan as the god of this world—the god of this world who blinds the minds of those who do not believe. Again, here in Ephesians, he speaks of Satan ruling over the world so that the world walks in step with his commands. The Apostle John speaks in these terms: the whole world lies in his lap. And again, this is this whole kingdom of darkness theme that we find in the New Testament emphasized.

This started way back at the beginning when God came in judgment against humanity, against the created order, and against Satan himself. There’ll be this division of humanity. But of course the judgment that God pronounced there was not complete with just that. He also pronounced judgment on Satan himself that would be experienced: “I’ll make you crawl on your belly and eat dirt.” The language of complete subjugation. “You’ll crawl on your belly and you’ll eat dust.” That language, by the way, is picked up in some of the Messianic Psalms in the Old Testament: the work of the Messiah, who will bring the opposing nations to crawl on their belly and eat dirt.

And he gives us some specific language back in Genesis chapter 3: “I’ll put enmity between you and the woman, between your seed and her seed.” And then a fifth person is introduced: “He.” “I’ll put enmity between you and the woman, between your seed and her seed. And he will crush your head, and you will bruise his heel.” Now at that point in history, of course, we don’t know who that “he” is. We’ve read the rest of the book. We know it’s Jesus. But what we have at the outset, setting up the rest of history, is that there’ll be this division in humanity, Satan against humanity, but the promise of a champion who will come to defeat the tempter and fix this whole mess that he has gotten us into. And that is the drama, then, of scripture in big portion. We have humanity reeling from a curse, reeling from its sin, but in the hope of a Redeemer, a champion who will come and deal the death blow to Satan and restore the entire created order.

And so from the beginning, we have this warfare metaphor that characterizes the big story of history, the big story of the Bible: Satan against the woman, Satan’s seed against her seed, and a champion coming to win the day for the woman. Well, that, of course, introduces us to the cross theme when we come to this New Testament, particularly in the Gospels, but also it’s reflected in the epistles where the cross is spoken of in terms of the great triumph of Christ. The old word is the Latin expression Christus Victor—Christ the victor in the cross—which is amazingly an ironic kind of a theme, where here we have Christ in this display of weakness and defeat triumphing over Satan.

And so Jesus will go to the cross in John chapter 12 saying, “Now the prince of this world is cast out.” Or Paul can refer to it in Colossians chapter 2 as Christ on his cross—again, it’s amazing irony—Christ in his defeat, his humiliation, in his cross, making an open display of Satan and bringing them to public shame. The author of the book of Hebrews in chapter 2 speaks of it as well: that he has come to deal with this one who, through sin, has authority over death. 1 John speaks of it as well, where Christ has come to defeat the devil.

And so we have this triumphant Christ theme, triumphing in his cross, dealing forever with this problem of sin by which Satan had hold of humanity. And having dealt with this problem of sin, Satan’s grip over humanity is loosened and humanity itself is set free. And so it’s not only the triumph of Christ in the cross, but this triumph theme is taken into the resurrection of Christ as well. We saw this recently in Philippians chapter 2: “He who is in the form of God did not think that to be something to be used, exploited to his own advantage, but he humbled himself, became obedient to death, even the death of the cross. Therefore…” Because of this successful work that he has accomplished, therefore God has highly exalted him, giving him a name above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that he is Lord.

And so we have it even in this book of Ephesians, speaking of Christ: God having raised him from the dead has established him at his right hand and put all enemies under his feet. The triumphant Christ theme—that all the enemies now are his, and he has authority over them all. Now, of course, there’s a “now” and a “not yet” to this, that eschatological tension that we’ve seen so many times, that the ultimate realization of it all will come to pass in the day to come when Christ returns. But even now, there’s a realization, an inauguration, if you will, of the final rule of Christ. And he marches through, carrying out through the gospel his reign in this earth until finally at his return every knee will bow before him and the created order itself will be restored.

And we need to see this large picture when we come to Ephesians chapter 6, because when the Apostle Paul exhorts us to take the armor of God to stand firm, to remain faithful against the adversary, we need to see it in large picture: that he’s calling us simply to take part in a work that has already been accomplished. Christ has won the victory and we are to take part in that.

Now, there’s a “now” and a “not yet.” This has been characterized famously for at least a couple of generations now—well, ever since the 1940s, I think—as the D-Day and V-E Day of the Christian faith. Not many of us were around back then to remember, but those of you who have studied history recognize that at D-Day, once they landed and established that beachhead in Normandy, Omaha Beach, the war was over. Now it wasn’t over yet. But it was only a matter of time. And now we’ve cut off supply lines. And now there’s a lack of material. And there’s an increasing shrinkage of German leadership in the military. It’s only a matter of time.

When I was a kid, I loved the show Combat. Vic Morrow—some of you have seen the reruns of that thing. We loved watching that thing. They had come in, they’d landed at, I think, Omaha Beach is where they came through, and now we see them fighting through France at each stage working the war until finally—and the show didn’t show this—but finally they would end up in Berlin and there would be V-E Day: Victory over Europe. And this is very much what we find in the scriptures about Christ’s first and second coming. He has come. He has done that work that saves. He has dealt with sin finally and forever. And Satan’s grip then has been broken. Now we still have to wait for his return; the final victory will come, but we fight on and we press on and we stand firm in the battle, taking part in a victory that has already been accomplished by Christ, waiting for the final consummation of it in his return. And that’s the atmosphere here of Ephesians chapter 6.

Old Testament Background

Now there’s also some Old Testament background that I want you to see to it as well, and I’m going to take time for this also. Keep your hand here; we’ll be back. But look back to Isaiah. I have mentioned several times through the series that Paul is playing off some passages in Isaiah, and I want to take a little bit more time to look at those. Isaiah chapter 59. Now we can’t preach through the whole passage; you’ll never get home for lunch. But in the first opening verses here of Isaiah 59, in the first 13 verses, we have the prophet here—God himself through the prophet—complaining against the people for their disobedience and unbelief. They have followed all kinds of vice. They have not kept the terms of the covenant. They have disobeyed the law of God. Justice is to be found nowhere. Righteousness is absent. The whole nation has run against God.

And let’s pick it up with verse 14 and 15 where he gives a summary of what he said: “Justice is turned back, and righteousness stands afar off, for truth has stumbled in the public square, and uprightness cannot enter. Truth is lacking, and he who departs from evil makes himself a prey.” This is the oppressive and evil situation of the day that the prophet addresses. Now beginning in the second half of verse 15 and moving forward through verse 21, we have the Lord’s response to all of that. What’s he going to do about that? What does he purpose to do?

Verse 15, the middle of the verse: “The Lord saw it and it displeased him that there was no justice.” And then verse 16: “He saw that there was no man and wondered that there was no one to intercede and so his own right arm brought him salvation and his righteousness upheld him.” The solution to this problem is found in what the Lord is—righteous—and what the Lord does—his arm. It’s a metaphor that the prophet Isaiah uses other times as well: the mighty arm of God, the strong arm of God, or even “the Lord has laid bare his mighty arm.” It’s really manly kind of talk, and he is flexing his muscle. This is God at work. So God, the righteous one, the powerful one, he will be the solution to this problem.

Verse 17: “He put on righteousness as a breastplate and as a helmet of salvation on his head. He put on garments of vengeance for clothing and wrapped himself in zeal as a cloak.” These are the clothes that God will wear in working out his judgment and salvation. He puts on righteousness as a breastplate, a helmet of salvation, garments of vengeance wrapped in zeal. Righteousness and vengeance wrapped in zeal—that sounds frightening, doesn’t it? This is God going to work against his adversaries.

Verses 18 and following, we have then the worldwide extent of his success: “They will fear the name of the Lord from the west and his glory from the rising of the sun, for he will come like a rushing stream which the wind of the Lord drives. And a Redeemer will come to Zion to those in Jacob who turn from transgression, declares the Lord.” And then verse 21: “And as for me, this is my covenant with them, says the Lord, my spirit that is upon you and my words that I have put in your mouth shall not depart out of your mouth or out of the mouth of your offspring or out of the mouth of your children’s offspring, says the Lord, from this time forth and forevermore.”

So here this takes us all the way up, I believe, to the end of time when God comes in the person of Christ, when he comes in glory to execute his wrath and his judgment against all disobedient nations and to achieve righteousness or salvation for his people. We have a glimpse of it as well—keep your finger here, we’ll be right back, I think—but look back at chapter 11. There’ll be some more familiar language that’s brought up. Chapter 11 is a very familiar messianic prophecy. Verse 1, it starts out: “they’ll come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse.” A graphic portrayal of the promised line of Jesse, which will be a kingly line, and David’s son will reign on the throne, but now that tree has been cut down, and it’s just a stump. But a shoot rises out of the stump. And then he talks about what he will do in the power of the spirit with which he’s been anointed, but look at verse 5: “Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist, and faithfulness the belt of his loins.”

And then chapter 52, another passage that’s played off of here in Ephesians 6. Isaiah 52:7, which we’ve talked about before: “How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness, who publishes salvation, who says to Zion, your God reigns.” And then chapter 59 again, verse 17, this imagery that you’re familiar with already from Ephesians 6: “he put on righteousness as a breastplate, the helmet of salvation on his head.”

Well again, this is the larger context that Paul is pulling from when we come to Ephesians chapter 6 in this talk about warfare and armor. The imagery of Isaiah 59 and of chapter 11 and of chapter 52 as well all comes together to speak—and in fact here in chapter 59 verse 21 I think is part of the background for the next expression that we will see, the sword of the Spirit. Here it’s “my words will not depart out of your mouth or out of the mouth of your children.” In Revelation chapter 19 we find Jesus described with these words again, a sword coming out of his mouth. That is all he has to do to defeat his enemies: speak.

And now we come to Ephesians 6, and we have the sword of the Spirit, which is ours to work. And in all of this, we are simply clothing ourselves with the armor and the clothing that God himself has worn and pledges to wear in the accomplishing of his salvation and judgment. God’s retributive judgment brought against all of his enemies, and Paul says now, you take on that same armor in Christ and partake of this same triumph that God has pledged to accomplish in Christ.

Now again, there’s the tension of the “now” and the “not yet.” God in Christ has won the decisive battle. Victory is sure, and we know that because D-Day is behind us. And then certainly V-E Day is ahead of us. And yet in the meantime, we must defend the position. And that’s what Paul is talking about in Ephesians 6. Stand firm, which means simply remain faithful. Stand firm in the success that Christ has won for us. If you’d like to jot it down, there is some imagery close to this in Revelation chapter 12 as well, where it says that those who are being opposed by the adversary overcame by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony.

Well again, this is the riches of God’s grace in Christ applied to this warfare context. Paul has already told us very specifically and very explicitly something of the power that has been brought to bear upon us in Christ—the same power that was at work in raising Christ from the dead (this is Ephesians 1:19 and following) has been at work in us. And now he’s bringing that to apply specifically to how we remain faithful in this struggle for faithfulness. So he’s encouraging us then to be strong and remain faithful in a work that has already been accomplished and will be brought to full consummation. So this whole concept then of this Christian armor is a partaking and a participation of a work and a resource that has already been accomplished.

The Helmet of Salvation

That brings us then to verse 17, again: the helmet of salvation. Now, what is the helmet of salvation? Well, if you’ll turn forward a handful of pages to 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 and verse 8, I think we have a bit of a clue. This is the only other time that Paul uses the expression of the helmet of salvation. And notice how he phrases it here: “But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and of love and for a helmet, the hope of salvation.” Now notice he doesn’t quite say here “the helmet of salvation,” but “for a helmet, the hope of salvation.”

Now that’s an interesting phrase. A couple of things that I think we have to point out about that. First of all, when he speaks of the hope of salvation, he’s obviously speaking prospectively of a salvation that will come. Salvation, you know, in the scriptures is spoken of in three tenses: I have been saved, I am being saved, and I will be saved. And here or there in the scriptures, you may have the emphasis falling on the other. All of it is what salvation is. But the emphasis may fall on one or the other. I have been saved: I’ve been saved from the guilt of sin; I’ve already been rescued from that. I’m presently being saved from the power of sin, and God is preserving me and keeping me. And yet I will be saved in the sense that I will realize this salvation in its fullest sense. And Paul here is speaking of that as a helmet, the hope of salvation.

That brings us then to discuss the other part of this phrase: the hope of salvation. That’s the language of assurance, the language of expectation. Now in the English language, the word “hope” has come to mean simply a desire. And it’s not quite the way it’s used in the New Testament. In the New Testament, hope is more than a desire. It’s the idea of expectation. Now in our language, when we speak hope, I might say, “Well, I hope I don’t get sick on vacation this year.” Well, there’s no note of expectation or anticipation. It’s mere desire, right? Or I might say, “Boy, I hope I live long enough to see Pastor Boyd wear clerical robes in church some Sunday.” And it’s really got nothing to do with reality or expectation. It’s just a desire. Or you might say, “Boy, I hope I live long enough to see Pastor Fred wear a tie on Sunday morning”—something that’s got nothing to do with reality, nothing to do with expectation; it’s just a desire.

But I might say, or you might say, “I hope to finish up my classes in June.” There’s more of an expectation, right? “I hope to graduate in June.” Or “I hope to make it to Becca’s recital on June 4th.” There’s an expectation for it, an anticipation. And that’s a faint reminiscence of the way it’s used in the New Testament, where it speaks of the hope of salvation. It’s not just a desire—”Boy, I hope it’ll come. May not, but I hope it comes”—but it’s the expectation of the full realization of it. When we speak of the Christian’s blessed hope, we’re not saying, “Well, I hope he’ll come, and I’m not sure if he will,” but there’s anticipation and expectation. We’re living today on a borrowed joy of the full realization of that when Christ comes. And that’s the sense here of this hope of salvation. It’s the language of assurance, the language of confidence and expectation.

Now the question is: is Paul in Ephesians 6 using the expression “the helmet of salvation” in the very same sense? There’s some discussion on that, but I think he is, and I think it’s hard to avoid some notion of assurance with both of these expressions. The helmet of salvation is in some sense an expression of confidence that I am saved, that God has me. And once you’ve said that, you’ve said there’s some confidence that God will keep me. And then we’re into this hope of salvation as well. So we’re back to what we’ve seen before: that now with the terms of the hope of salvation, it is salvation objectively achieved, yes, but it’s salvation subjectively grasped, understood, enjoyed, and so a confidence and assurance that God has saved me, God is keeping me, and God will preserve me until the day of salvation.

Charles Hodge, in his commentary on Ephesians, puts it in a little bit of an eloquent way. He says that “that which adorns and protects the Christian, which enables him to hold up his head with confidence and joy, is the fact that he is saved.” That’s what he’s speaking of here. This confidence that comes stems from the fact we understand, we have grasped, that God has saved us in Christ. Now in an objective sense, that’s easy enough. It’s a settled truth that those whom God saves, he saves forever. But in a subjective sense then, what is needed to wear salvation as a helmet? How do we put it on? How do we attain the steady, grounded conviction that salvation really is ours, that I am safe in Christ forever?

While we’ve been spending our time developing the atmosphere of the passage, we can’t preach another series of sermons on assurance, but we can sketch it out in broad strokes. Ultimately, assurance of salvation—this sense of confidence that God has saved me, is saving me, will save me—this sense of confidence ultimately is not something we can produce. It’s not something we can crank up. It is a work of the Spirit of God. Now I’m going to qualify that in a minute. But ultimately it is a work of the Spirit of God. We read of it in wonderful terms in Romans chapter 8 verses 15 and 16, that God has given us his Spirit, the Spirit of Sonship. It’s a significant term, the Spirit of Sonship, assuring us that we are sons, so that now instinctively we cry, “Abba, Father!”

Have you ever noticed when someone in the world, someone who’s not in Christ, encounters stress, difficulty, tragedy, whatever, their instinctive reflex is not, “Oh, Father”? It’s just not. It might be something like, “Why do you do this to me?” But it’s not, “Father.” But there’s something about that, being in Christ, that becomes the instinct, doesn’t it? And Paul tells us the Spirit of God has been given to us to minister just that sense of sonship, so that instinctively now, by the Spirit’s help, we cry, “Abba, Father.”

But having said that—that the assurance is a work of the Spirit of God—it is equally important to emphasize that the Holy Spirit does not work in a vacuum. He works through means. This is what I meant when I said we can’t crank it up ourselves. There is a way that although the pastor cannot give you assurance, Bible teachers can’t give you assurance, and you can’t give yourself assurance—it’s the Spirit of God that must do it—ultimately there is something that we can do to help ourselves in this regard, to increase a steady sense of assurance that we are in Christ. The Holy Spirit uses means to give us assurance.

And those means, very simply put—and this can work out in a hundred directions—but very simply put, the means by which the Spirit of God assures our heart is an increasing understanding of the gospel. That’s it. There’s a sense in which assurance is an exercise of faith. Faith grounded in the gospel. In fact, the Reformer Calvin, in particular, defined faith in such a way as to entail assurance. There’s been much discussion about that. Is assurance part of saving faith? Well, in one sense, at least, you have to say, of course it is. To say, “God loves me and has saved me in Christ” is a note of assurance. To say that “I am God’s child in Christ” is an expression of assurance. And so assurance is a function of faith.

Faith in God’s promise. God has promised that if I come to him as I am with all of my sin, if I come to him, he will have me. He has promised that he requires nothing of me, just that I come to him through Christ. And so there’s faith in God’s promise. And eventually then, that focus is not just faith in God’s promise generally, but specifically it becomes a focused faith on Christ in whom those promises are secured. My faith is in Christ who has accomplished the salvation for me. And this answers all kinds of questions that are asked about people regarding assurance of salvation. I’m sure you’ve heard it if you’ve not asked it yourself: “I believe, I trust in Christ, but sometimes I wonder, is my faith strong enough?” You ever ask that? And of course it misses the point. Your faith is not what saves you. It is Christ who saves you. And what makes faith effective is its object: Christ. Because I’m trusting in him—even if it’s a weak faith, it’s a mighty savior who can save.

And trusting in him, there’s this sense of assurance that belonging to Jesus Christ, I’m safe. And the Spirit of God ministers assurance then through our increasing grasp of the Gospel. And so it becomes immensely important for us to work through the teachings of the Scripture regarding salvation, to work through those wonderful passages that expound the nature of our salvation. If God gave me his Son, well, he’ll not withhold anything else. That’s the Apostle’s logic. Who can possibly criticize me? Ultimately, how could that ever matter? Even if the criticism is well-founded, I’ve been justified. I’ve been declared righteous in Christ. Could Satan condemn me? How could he? God has justified me in Christ. Christ has died, has been raised from the dead. How can anything ever separate me from the love of God in Christ? It can’t. In Christ, we are more than conquerors.

And it becomes very important for us to work through the thinking of passages like that in Romans 8, and all of the teachings on the gospel. And this is the stuff that the Holy Spirit uses to give us this increasing sense that we belong to him and we are saved. And so the Spirit of God assures our heart by the gospel. And in all of that, our faith in Christ is deepened, and he bears witness with our spirit indeed that we are children, but not apart from the means, and that is the gospel. And so we’re back to what we’ve emphasized all along. There must be this increasing acquaintance, this increasing grasp, a deepening understanding and appreciation of the gospel, a deepening enjoyment of it. There is nothing so suited to a sense of salvation than an increasing acquaintance with the gospel through which the Spirit of God assures our hearts.

And so he says, put on the helmet of salvation. Wear it. Bring it to bear in practical ways. When there’s suffering, remember: God has promised in Christ we have all things. There’s no testing that has taken us, but such as is common. And God through Christ will make a way to escape. And if it’s persecution, remember: our Lord told us, “They hated me; they’re not going to love you.” Don’t be thrown by it, but remember you’ve read the last chapter. And if it’s doubt, think in terms that we’ve spoken of here now through this series so often. Recognize that the righteousness by which God accepts me is not mine. The righteousness by which God accepts me is the righteousness of Christ, and my righteousness is in heaven pleading my case for me.

Summary

In summary, then, Paul is telling us throughout this whole passage on the armor: one, be warned. Don’t be naive. There’s an adversary. He’s strong. He’s powerful. He’s subtle. He’s bigger than you. Be warned. Don’t be naive. But number two, be advised. There’s provision in Christ. Put on the armor. But more than that—more than be warned and be advised—the Apostle Paul is telling us here: be encouraged. Put on the armor and take part in this great work that’s already been accomplished. With D-Day behind us, we fight on with V-E Day ahead of us, which will surely come. That song I like to quote so often: “Then we shall be where we would be, and there we shall be what we should be. Things that are not now nor could be soon shall be our own.” And that is the thrust of this passage. Take part in this great victory that’s been accomplished in Christ and be encouraged and remain faithful. Amen.

Let’s pray. Our Father, we thank you for your word that is given to tell us of the riches of the grace that you have given to us in Christ. We pray that you would encourage your people in it today. In Christ’s name we ask, amen.