Are You Saved?

We have been talking about putting on the armor of God. The first week we put on the belt of truth. To put on the belt of truth is too know our identity in Christ Jesus. Then we talked about the breastplate of righteousness.  We fall short of the perfect righteousness of Christ, yet we strive to live righteously each day.  Next, we learned to have a readiness to stand against our spiritual enemy and to have a readiness to go. Last week my wife talked about taking up our shield of faith. We should be believing God for something in our lives.

This week I want to focus on the fifth part of the armor, the helmet of salvation.

Ephesians 6:10-17

¹⁰ Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. ¹¹ Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. ¹² For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. ¹³ 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. ¹⁴ Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, ¹⁵ and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. ¹⁶ In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; ¹⁷ and take the helmet of salvation.

In another letter that Paul writes to the church in Thessalonica,

1 Thessalonians 5:8-10

⁸ But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation. 

In Ephesians we are instructed to take up the helmet, in Thessalonians we see this helmet is the hope that we have in salvation.  

Because we are saved we therefore have hope that this life as we know it is not our home.  We look forward to a day when we will be with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Just as the helmet protects the head, having a hope of salvation will protect us from getting destroyed when those crushing blows come our way.

It is not a matter of “if they come” but “when they come.”

Helmets don’t prevent blows. They just prevent them from destroying us.

A BMX biker wears a helmet to protect his head when attempting a dangerous stunt just in case he takes a bad fall.  If he is wearing his helmet, then he has a better chance of not getting seriously injured. If you talk to any professional BMX biker or anyone who has done extreme sports they will tell you it is not a matter of “if you fall” but “when.”  Having the helmet on for a biker means the helmet hits the ground and not his head. 

Putting on the helmet of salvation for a Christian means that you take the blow given by the enemy, but it does not destroy you because your hope is in an eternal glory in the life to come.

Things might not go as planned in this life, but we are promised as children of God that things will be much better in the life to come.  This is the hope of every believer.

If the helmet of salvation is the hope of an eternal glory, then how do we know if we are saved?

Those who are not in Christ do not have this same hope of eternal glory.  To put it plainly, they do not have the hope that heaven will be their home when they die. An unbeliever is unprotected when the enemy strikes their head.

Therefore, the apostle Paul gives us a sure way that we can know that we are a child of God.

Romans 8:12-18

¹² So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. 

One of the first ways to know whether or not you are saved is to answer the question “Do you live according to the flesh? 

Just to clarify, to live by the flesh is to be ruled by the flesh.  The flesh is the part of our inner self that is rebellious toward the things of God. It does not like to be told what to do.  It is stubborn and refuses correction and does not want anything to do with God.  We all have fleshly desires but as Christians we are to crucify those desires daily. 

A believer in Christ knows that he/she is headed for destruction if left on their own and a believer realizes their need for the Power of the Holy Spirit to help them to overcome the flesh. 

Whereas an unbeliever does not even bother with getting help to overcome the flesh, they simply live according to the flesh. Whatever the flesh wants that is what the flesh does.  Therefore, they are not ruled with the mind of Christ but instead are ruled by their selfish desires.

To know whether or not you are saved is to ask yourself “do you hate your sin?”

¹³ For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. 

So besides hating your sin you are being proactive in putting to death those evil desires.  Being saved or being a Christian means that you are taking steps to put away your old self.

¹⁴ For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. 

The next way we can know if we are saved is to ask yourself are you being led by the Spirit of God?

Is the Holy Spirit ordering your steps?  Do you feel his conviction when you do wrong? Is He speaking to you about the direction of your life? Is He telling you what steps to take next? 

Is He revealing truth as you study His Word?  If so, then you are being led by the spirit of God and you are a son or you a daughter of the Almighty God. 

You can be assured of your salvation.   However, if you are not being led by the Spirit of God then you are not a son nor a daughter.  You are not saved!

¹⁵ For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!”

The third way we can know whether or not we are saved, is to evaluate our hearts to see if there is a yearning in our spirit which cries out for “Abba Father.” The word “Abba” would suggest a tender, intimate relationship while the cry would describe an authentic, sincere, longing to call on Him as Abba Father.

Just as a child would cry out for the help of his/her father do we have that same need to be helped by our heavenly father.  Do we realize that without Him we can do nothing?  If so then you are saved, if you still feel like you can do it on your own, then you are not saved. 

The Fourth way we can know if we are saved, it is confirmed in our spirit that we are his.

 ¹⁶ The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,

We have the assurance that we are his through His Holy Spirit.  It says the Spirit bears witness that we belong to God.  To be a valid witness at an accident would require a person to have seen the accident for their witness to bear truth.

The Holy Spirit was a witness on the day when you gave your heart to the Lord, He is witness every time you confess your sin and repent of your wrong doing, and therefore testifies before the Righteous Judge that your sins have been acquitted for.  The deep cries out to deep.  The God (the Holy Spirit) that is in you, cries out to the God who made the heavens and the earth and bears witness that you are His.

Just to recap, you can know that you are saved if:

• You hate your sin, and despise your fleshly desires
• You are led by the Spirit of God
• You know Him as Abba Father
• The Spirit bears witness that you are His.

Putting on the helmet of salvation is to have the assurance of salvation or to know that you are saved.  With that assurance comes the hope of a future glory.

¹⁷ and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, 

If we have the assurance that we are saved and that we are children of God, then as children we are heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ. Meaning there is an inheritance waiting us.

John 14:3

³ And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.

Two things are promised believers in this one verse. 

1. Jesus is going to prepare a place for us
2. Where He is there we will be also. We will live with Jesus.

Philippians 3:21

 ²⁰ But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, ²¹ who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.

3. We will have a glorified body just like Jesus when He raised himself from the dead.

Revelation 21:3

³ And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. ⁴ He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

4. There will be no more tears, death, pain, sin etc…

This is the inheritance which is in place for believers in Christ Jesus. Going back to Romans 8

^17bprovided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.  ¹⁸ For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.

Taking up the helmet of salvation does not prevent the tough blows that life throws our way, but it keeps us from being destroyed by them. Knowing that we have the hope of a future glory with an eternal inheritance, will keep us engaged as we fight against our spiritual enemy.

You may endure suffering on this earth, but your suffering now does not compare with the glory that you will experience with Him.