Message 8 - Tailor Made - Danger: Hard Hat Area

Ephesians 6:17

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SPEAKER_00 0:10

So uh if you're a guest this morning, we're glad to have you. Thanks for coming in and worshiping with us. We've been spending some time, we're working through uh Ephesians 6, is where we're at in the Bible. You can get it get there with your Bibles or your devices if you want to. And uh we've been working with our way through something called the armor of God. Uh it's in Paul's letter to the to the Christians in Nephesus, and uh he he is writing about this because he has made it clear that uh we are up against a very formidable enemy. Uh he is alive, he is well, uh, lots of names. We've talked about some of the names Satan, uh, the devil, uh Prince of the power of the earth, lots of names that he goes by, uh the serpent. Uh and he uh is about our destruction. That's what he wants. And not not in the from the sense of destroying us as human beings, he doesn't have that kind of power. But uh first of all, his first objective is if you don't know Jesus as your savior, he wants to keep you from ever making that decision. Uh and he'll try to do that in a lot of different ways. Uh it's usually about deception. Uh, we find out in later on in John's letter in Revelation that that is his key power, his key strength is uh not he's not is that he deceives. He just and so he'll use deception. In fact, we'll talk a little bit of that as we work through today's message. Uh but if he misses that, if he is not able to keep you from that relationship, then even as a believer, his his plan, his heart is to uh destroy the fellowship. He can't take away the relationship, but he would like to destroy the fellowship. He would like us to move us into things in our life that uh put us in a position where we we can't uh we're not close to God. We we know that we're uh we we've sinned against him or that we're living in a way that doesn't please him. Whatever he can do to bring that kind of destruction, he he plans to do. And so Paul, knowing that, says, I want to talk about you to you about this armor that we can put on that will help protect us from the strategies, the designs, the deception of Satan. And so that's what we're what we've been looking at in Ephesians uh chapter six, and we've been working through it together. Let me just kind of talk us through uh what we've looked at so far real quickly. Uh he's talked about the belt of truth, which we discovered the the uh Greek, the idea is integrity, uh living this life of integrity that people can know and they watch us and they see us as individuals of integrity. Then he talked about the breastplate of righteousness, was where integrity is more of the outward uh life. Uh the breastplate of righteousness is about virtue, about what we allow into our life. Uh those things that we read, study, look at, watch, uh, entertain that uh that either can make us more righteous person or people or can take us the other direction. And so we need to be careful about that. And so we put on that breastplate of virtue that we're very careful of what we allow into our life, into our heart. We went into the gospel, the shoes of the gospel of peace. And that is really about information, the knowledge, the understanding that the moment we invited Christ to be our Savior, we became at peace with God. And nothing can take that away. There is the the sin that had destroyed that relationship, the sin that had put it put us at war with our God has now been taken away from us, and we're at peace. And so, whatever comes into our life, those moments where we're a little, some of these songs talked about it, where we, you know, it's a little tough, it's a little scary. One thing we can grab onto and know for sure, because it's it is promised by God is I'm at peace. And so he says, put those honest shoes, stand firm in that, and then I'll keep you and help carry you through those tough times and those times when Satan's attacking or lying to us. He tries to lie to us and say, nah, you you messed up now. Uh you don't have a relationship with God anymore. And he said, No, here's the promise. No, you're at peace with God. That happened the moment you believed in His, in Jesus as your Savior. And then we've looked at the uh shield of faith, and that's wrapped up in the promises of God. And we listed a whole bunch of the promises, only not all of them, there's much more, but to grab on, and as as Satan throws things at us, it's the promises of God that will help protect us. If we remember what he's promised. Remember, we looked briefly at even Jesus in the wilderness and in the temptation, he responded to Satan's attacks and even Satan throwing scripture at him by recounting what God has promised, what God has said. So we walked our way through that, those uh so far, and that brings us to uh verse 17, uh, where we read about this uh piece of the armor. Take the helmet of salvation. It's it's been said that the mind is a terrible thing to waste. Uh in fact, I can't remember the exact thing, but I think uh uh second president Bush kind of mixed that up one time and and uh so they made fun of him for a while. But actually originally uh it comes from, it is a quote from a man called Frederick D. Patterson. And Dr. Patterson was a doctor of microbiology, and uh uh one of the things he was very famous for was the fact that he was the third black man to ever earn that degree. Why? Because black men aren't smart enough to understand these kind of things? No, but he actually grew up in a time where that was the assumption. The assumption was that most blacks, in fact, almost all blacks, they they they they can't even learn to read and write, so why even waste your time? Foolish, ignorant, stupid perspective. But that was the perspective of uh not just our part of the world, but uh, but uh a lot of the part of the world. And and and he not only proved that totally wrong, he's a brilliant man, but because he had actually had to live under that process and fight his way through it to to uh even get the opportunity to gain this this uh doctoral degree, uh, he made it his course of life. Uh and this is back in the early 1900s, he raised funds uh to help other uh blacks, men and women to get the opportunity to be educated, and and because of his help, we we found out that uh of the brilliance that we were missing out on. Uh so that's what he's he's famous for. But I think why this ties in to what uh we're talking about again is is because there was such an ignorance that ever brought the conclusion that he had to fight against in his life. Uh and and we need to be, when it comes to Jesus, uh be very careful about an ignorance that is out there that can seep into our life as well when it comes to a relationship with God. And that's what this is about. This helmet of salvation is about uh coming to an understanding and then not letting anything move us away from this understanding when it comes to a relationship with God. Now, let me kind of uh uh work that out a little bit. In our time, there are a lot of common thoughts about God and salvation uh and uh uh being in a relationship with Him about who goes to heaven, who doesn't go to heaven. There are there are a lot of them that are false. Uh they're some would say they're myths, some some would say, well, they're they're kind of mistakes. Uh honestly, I think it's stronger than that. They're lies. Uh not so much lies that uh the people that believe them are that they're not lying so much, but they've been they bought into a lie from the enemy that we've been talking about, Satan. And so there are a lot of those that are out there, and actually I want to kind of mention a few of them that uh are that are floating around even now. Uh, and probably you heard them, maybe you even believed them at one point. But uh so here are some of the uh falsehoods that are out there, the ignorance that is keeping people away from God and away from really having a relationship. And I think what the helmet of salvation is to protect us from. Uh so here's one, and and we'll and we'll look at several. This one salvation is about being a good person. Uh you and I've run into that a lot, you probably have as well. Uh there are a lot of people uh that are certain that they're all right with God because they've been a good person. Uh, you know, and he talked to them and you can ask them, uh, gonna go to heaven someday, and and if they believe in God and believe in heaven, they'll you they'll say, Yeah. And well, based on what? What why do you believe that? I've been a good person. I've been a good neighbor, I've been a good husband, good wife. Uh uh, I just I've generally been a good person, and their perspective is, you know, I get to heaven and God's gonna kind of do this weight thing, and he'll weigh my goods against my bads, and and I think I think I'm on the bounce on the right side, and he's gonna say, Okay, you're okay, come on in. Uh, and and that's their perspective. But Paul wrote in the book of Romans that there's no one good, not even one. Now, I want you to know that the people balk at that statement because they're saying, wait, I'm I don't know a bad person. Uh uh, and I I know lots of good people, and and understand that that there that when he wrote that, he wasn't make a comparison of us as people to people. Because yeah, I mean, there we can always find somebody that's a little more messed up than we are. Uh uh, and so we use that as the equivalent. We're saying, yeah, I'm okay because I'm not at least I'm bad, yeah, but I'm not that bad. Uh and uh so there that you can always find that person. But the comparison that Paul's making here, and the comparison that makes the difference of whether we get to spend eternity with God or not, is comparing us to God. And when you put me up against God, there's no way. I have the a perfect, holy God that has never done anything wrong, and and I'm and if I'm being compared to him, yeah, I'm not good. I I admit it. And in fact, I've never had a person when I talk to them about Christ, I'll, and I'll say, I'll say something along the lines, I've Are you a sinner? And well, what do you mean by sin? Have you ever done anything in your life that you would say is contrary to the will of God for your life? Oh, yeah. And I said, okay, then you're not good enough for God. We've blown it. And that's why Paul said that. We've all blown it. In other ways, he said, we all have sinned and fall short of the God, the glory of God. That's another uh savan by Paul that says if we're gonna, we need to understand that none of us live up to God's standards. That's why we're in trouble because we all have sinned. So uh another lie number two or myth number two, uh, however we might put it. Uh, and I've heard this one a lot too. Salvation's about the sincerity of my belief. And I hear that, I've heard that before. It's, you know, I sincerely believe in God. Good. But sincerity is not enough. You know, uh, I hear it a lot in regards sometimes to individuals that are uh kind of drawn in by the cults, and and a cult by definition, it's a very simplistic definition, but a cult is it is it is called a cult based on what they do with Jesus Christ. Uh and every cult, if you if you investigate them uh thoroughly enough, you're gonna find out that when it comes to what they believe about Jesus Christ, what they don't believe is that He is God, which is what the Bible teaches. He is God. Philippians chapter 2. Uh He's God. He set aside the attributes of God for a period of time to come down to earth for our behalf. He took on flesh and blood and uh spent time on earth teaching and preparing people for the coming kingdom, went to the cross, died on the cross for our sins, and then made it possible for us to, as a gift, become a follower of Christ. But they don't believe he's God. Uh though they may say, they may say he's the son of God. They they'll use that same terminology. But if you, when we when the Bible speaks of the Son of God, it does not mean he's the a created individual, which is what they would mean. Uh it means that he, as the second person of the God, head of the Trinity, that he took on a position for a period of time. Hebrews uh 1 talks about the fact that he wasn't always eternally the son, he was always the second person of the Trinity, but he became the Son of God. He stepped into our earth uh for on our benefit. But uh, but somehow they don't, if you quit quiz them far enough, then that he he is a created being. Uh and that was what, but honestly, and and I've heard even Christians say, but they're so sincere. In fact, sometimes they put us to shame as Christians because you know they're so uh uh ambitious as far as uh wanting to help people and draw other and teach other people about God, and they talk about God all the time, and they're they're so sincere. But see, it sincerity is not what uh puts us in a right relationship with God. You know, there are people today that still sincerely believe the earth is flat. It doesn't make the earth flat. Uh and and so sincerity is not what counts, it's it's knowing what's true and then believing what's true and responding to what the truth is about the salvation message. Uh so uh here's another one. Uh I'm gonna get to it. Salvation comes from praying praying a prayer. There's this formula prayer, and if you pray the prayer, then you're saved. And a lot of people, you know, and some people you'll talk to them and say, Do you are you a follower of God? Are you one of his children? Yeah, I prayed the prayer. Well, this it's not there's not the magic prayer out there that makes you a child of God. Uh now I will tell you that when I finally stepped into a relationship with God, I was actually at a summer camp, and uh my dad was a speaker, and he shared the the message of salvation, and and I did pray a prayer. I talked to God, that's what praying is, about what I understand. And I talked to God, and I said, okay, God, if I understand this right, uh, you died in my place for my sins. That's why Jesus went to the cross. You died for my sins, and because you have paid the price of the sins, you're offering me a gift of forgiveness. And that, and what I understand is if I'll accept that forgiveness, that you will actually adopt me into your family, I'll become one of your children, and that I get to go and spend eternity with you. And then I prayed that prayer. I talked through that. What it wasn't the prayer that happened, it was the uh was believing what I was saying to God. I was rehearsing it, and we'll see a verse in a moment says it's a good thing to do to verbally talk through the but there's not this magic prayer. It's it is what you believe that that makes the difference uh and and what we grab onto. Uh there I know a lot of people that are I are in a relationship with God, and I and we'll talk about all in fact I was talking to a man this week, and we I said, you know, and he's actually getting the air time to go home. And I said, you know, so why do you know you're going home? Heaven. And he said, Well, I I I can't remember exactly, it's not an exact place, Paul, and then I didn't pray some exact prayer, but I remember a period of time in my life where I came to understand who Jesus was and why he went on the cross, and and I believe it. I believe that that he is my savior, I and uh that uh I'm gonna go to heaven, that God's my heavenly father, and I and uh but I can't tell you exactly where, and it wasn't in a specific prayer. So there's not this magic prayer. Uh it's it's what you believe. Now, I you know, if you came to that point by praying and talking to God and then walking through like I did, uh then that's wonderful. And I can point to I can point to the day and the time. I can't remember the exact date anymore, but I can tell you exactly where it happened, the environment, and and basically what I said to God. But it wasn't the prayer, it was the decision in my heart to trust what I found out about Jesus and why he was on the cross. Here's one that uh uh is pretty prevalent today, and for me, really even a little more scary. Uh it might, and I'm hoping I I might it might offend some of you, uh, and I'm not gonna spend a lot of time digging into it, uh, but maybe at some point in the future we'll we'll need to talk more about this, and or you can pull me aside and say, hey, wait a minute. I don't know, I need to push back on this one a little bit. But here's one that's that I hear a lot today, and uh, and actually some of my favorite pastors, guys that I really admire in a lot of ways, and but I think I they're pushing this, and I think it's a I I feel for myself in the word of God that it's a mistake, but it's this one. Uh in order to truly be saved, to truly know that you are a follower of Christ, that you are one of his children, you have to make him not just pray this prayer and believe in him, but you actually have to make him take him on as Lord of your life. Now, what they mean by that is the a person is not truly saved until they have actually turned everything over in the in their life to him and are obeying him in every aspect of their life. And and here's the struggle I have with that. Uh I I do believe that once you become a follower of Christ, that as you grow and as you learn more about him, you will you will pursue him, you will want to be more and more in line with his will for you. But it's not at that moment. Uh you know, the the most famous verse, John 3.16, and uh it says, Everyone who believes everyone who believes on him receives eternal life. And it's very, very simple. In fact, I shared, I was talking to a man uh three or four weeks ago about this, and he and he said to me that word, he says, Wow, this it's so simple. I said, Yeah, it is very the Bible says a child can understand this. They can understand that that, and and this is what we're we're supposed to believe is that Jesus is God's Son, God came to earth, he died on the cross for our sins, and he is offering us as a gift, uh, payment for our sins, and if we'll accept that gift, we're adopted into this family. That that's what the Bible says it's about is making that decision and then accepting that and believing in that, putting your faith in that. I think the the lordship part then comes after that. It's an it's a growing process. The the word of God talks about uh a process of being sanctified. Uh I don't think a baby Christian can even comprehend that uh okay, you know, what it means to make God Lord of everything in their life. I don't think after a lot of years of doing this that I've can totally figure it out, all the time I'm learning things about, oh God, yeah, I need to I need to make you put you in charge of that. So so I I've I'm afraid of that teaching. I think it's off one of the verses they point to, but but actually I point to it too. It's is it says that if you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you'll be saved. Now remember, the battle when Jesus was walking on earth, the real battle was regarding who he was. Do you remember that? The uh there were a lot of there are there are individuals, even the religious leader, that were willing to admit that he was a rabbi, good teacher. There were some who are ill willing to even say he was probably a prophet. Uh and and even the Pharisees uh uh when Nicodemus came to talk to Jesus, he said, We know you're from God. They knew so there's but they they would fall, they would come short of confessing that he was in fact the Messiah, the Lord, uh God in the flesh. They couldn't bring themselves to do that, and that was the problem. And and that's why uh Paul is addressing this. He says, You and if if a person's not even gonna be willing to say, Yes, I believe that Jesus was in fact God in the flesh. He is the Messiah, he is the Lord, and then I believe that he died for me and God raised him from the dead. Uh those are confessions that we need to make and believe. And if you don't believe that, then you probably even if you count yourself as saved, you probably haven't aren't yet because you haven't believed what you have to, this the very basic of what you have to believe. But that's what saved us. And it is not at that moment. I I do not believe anybody's capable of at that moment saying, You're Lord of my life. Everything I will not do, everything I do, you don't even know what that means at that moment. You're you're a baby Christian. Uh, you got so much, I have so much learned, and you're ongoing learning it. So, so I that's a danger. Someone, some of you might want to push back because it's pretty prevalent and it's taught by some pretty major pastors out there today, but I I think it's scary. One reason I think it's scary because Paul Paul warned when he wrote his letter to the Galatians, don't let anything be added to the basic of uh that faith is about belief. Belief in Christ. Uh, it is by grace we're saved. And anything we add, even the idea of, well, yeah, I need to believe in Jesus, but I also need to be ready to make him Lord of my life. I think that is adding to the very simple teaching of salvation by faith in in Jesus as my savior. So I'll be ready for pushback. You want to go into that. So a couple more before I draw this to enclose. These are these are a little more simple, but but I've heard these, I've heard this. Uh I'm a Christian because I was born in the good old USA. You know, we're a Christian nation. So I I'm I've been born, so obviously, when I because I'm a I was born in USA and I'm a city of the United States, I must be a Christian. Well, okay, number one, we are not a Christian nation. If you haven't figured that out by now, you're not paying attention. Yes, the foundations of our nation were were based on some uh uh Bible, biblical teaching, uh, which I appreciate the fact. Uh uh so that our we we are we had biblical principles as the foundation of our country, but a but a country cannot become a Christian. Only an individual can become a Christian, and uh and we're far from being even biblical for the most part as a nation right now. So being born in this country is not enough, uh, which kind of adds to this one. I've heard this one too. Well, I was I was born into a somehow I got off track. I was born into a uh Christian family. You know, my I I I've heard people say, I I'll say, are you uh are you Christian? Yeah, I I was born into a Christian family. Well, good. I I was I was born into a Christian family. I my parents both know Jesus, godly parents. I'm I'm really grateful that I was born into that family and and uh and that they in fact were godly. But I had to make my own individual decision about who Jesus was, uh, and you do too. Everybody does. We each one individually have to come to that moment where we decide whether we believe Jesus died on the cross for our sins, and whether we accept that death, that forgiveness, that gift of forgiveness, that is an individual decision we all have to make. Uh that's when you become a believer, is when you make that decision, and when I make that decision uh ourselves. Uh, we had a baby up in front of us a few weeks ago. Was it a few weeks ago? Yeah, a few weeks ago. And when we prayed, and one of the things we talked about, the fact was his mom and dad really, really are praying that someday he becomes a follower of Jesus. But he will have to make the decision. And we prayed for that day when when he does. Paul wrote earlier in the actually in the same letter that it is by grace you have been saved through faith. It's about faith. It's not about lordship, and it is by faith, and it's not from yourself. Nothing you and I add to that, it is a gift of God, not by works, so that no one can boast. So here's the helmet of salvation. It is thinking correctly when it comes to the relationship with God. You know, when we start thinking things like, well, I wonder I've done I've done enough, Paul says, wait a minute, wait a minute, you put on the helmet of salvation. Did you accept Jesus as your Savior by faith? Did you accept that gift of salvation? Then it's not about what you've done. It is not your works, it's by grace. Put the helmet back on because you're not thinking right and you need to think correctly about this, that's going to be your protection. So quit thinking that way. Or when you think or say something like this, I wonder if I said the right words. It's not about the words, it's not about this prayer. It is about did you trust Jesus to forgive your sins? Did you believe that that's why he died on the cross? Then put the helmet back on because you need it. It's about what thinking correctly about this. That's taken care of. It's not about what you're saying in certain words or anything like that. It's about what you believe about Jesus. Put that helmet back on. Or, you know, you get sick, and and all of a sudden you're like, boy, did I do something wrong? Is that why I'm sick? No, no. Put the helmet back on. Keep that on because Satan's gonna throw all kinds of lies at us. And so we need to keep the helmet of salvation, the truth about the fact that it is by grace I have been saved. It is because of faith in what Jesus Christ did for me on the cross. It is not anything about anything I can do, it is by whether I accept that or not. And that's the helmet of salvation, always thinking correctly about that, and that will protect Satan from the deception that he's always trying to bring into our lives, and that's what we need to count on. So let's pray together. Thanks, Father. Uh, just disarmor. We walk our way through, and we each one we've had come in at with the question mark I was, what does this mean? What are you trying to tell us? And I feel like each each time it's like, oh yeah, that makes so much sense. Our our enemy is is such a good liar. He's been practicing it for century after century after century. He knows the kind of games and and and and things that he wants to throw into our minds that that are lies. They they sound real reasonable sometimes, but they're lies. And so it's so important that we wrap our head around the fact that our relationship with you is built on our faith in Jesus Christ as the one who died in our place for our sins. So thanks. Thanks for this other piece of the armor. Lord, help us as individuals as we move into the this new week to to see how to apply it to our lives, to the way we live, to the things we're gonna run again in the week ahead. And and thanks for this time to be together to worship. And Lord, just uh for this family to be a part of this family. Pray these things in your son's name. Amen.

SPEAKER_01 29:20

We're gonna stand together and sing one last chorus together. As we do, our prayer team Tom and Roxanne will be up here at the front. If you want someone to pray with this morning, I know they'd be glad to do that. Let's sing this together.