Armed for Battle

Introduction: Living in Light of What You Know

0:03 Let us turn again this morning to the 5th chapter of Paul's first letter to the infant church of the Thessalonians. 1 Thessalonians chapter 5.

0:17 Now again, because we have a number of visitors with us who have not been here to catch the general drift of the argument of the Apostle, in the specific place where we will be approaching that argument and development of thought, I shall read the entire paragraph in which that thought is found. I shall read chapter 5, verses 1 through 11.

0:43 But concerning the times and seasons, brethren, ye have no need that ought be written unto you. For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. For when they are saying, Peace and safety, then sudden destruction, cometh upon them as travail upon a woman with child, and they shall in no wise escape. But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.

1:18 For ye are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night, nor of darkness. So then, let us not sleep as do the rest, but let us watch and be sober. For they that sleep, sleep in the night, and they that are drunken, are drunken in the night.

1:41 But let us, since we are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation. For God appointed us not unto wrath, but unto the obtaining of salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that whether, we wake or sleep, we should live together with him. Wherefore, exhort one another, and build each other up, even as also ye do. As we have reminded you in introducing each of our studies in this fifth chapter, in contrast with the latter part of the fourth chapter, where the apostle was addressing himself to an area of ignorance in the thinking of the Thessalonians, he is now addressing an area of knowledge. And his concern is not to impart more information, but to stir them up to live in the light of what they know. And so he reminds them of what they knew by divine revelation. They knew perfectly that concerning the times and seasons of the second advent, it would come with unexpected suddenness.

The Exhortation: Watch and Be Sober

3:03 And he says, if you know that, then it ought to have some commensurate effect upon your life. And so, having reminded them of what they knew and of what they were by the operations of grace, he draws the conclusion in verse 6, which becomes the thrust of his exhortation, therefore, or so then, in the light of what you know, in the light of what grace has constituted you, sons of the night and sons of the day and sons of the light, let us not sleep, as do the rest, but let us watch and be sober. And so he exhorts them, on the one hand, negatively, let us not sleep. Let us not enter that state in which we are insensitive to the world of spiritual reality. We spent a good bit of time last week focusing our attention upon what it means to be asleep. It's one of the figures used of the state of unregenerate unconversion of men. They are in a state of spiritual slumber.

4:07 The judgment of God hanging as a canopy over their heads, utterly oblivious to it, like that sailor sleeping on the wall that we described last week. Utterly oblivious of it.

4:19 God's judgment set the time appointed even for them. It is appointed on the men once to die and after this the judgment. Utterly indifferent to that terrible hour and day. Now he says, beware, let us as believers not sleep.

4:35 Let us not become insensitive to that world of spiritual reality, but on the positive ledger, let us watch and be sober. That is, let us be awake and not only be awake, but have all of our faculties concentrating on preparedness for the return of Christ and let us be sober. That is, let us allow nothing to intoxicate us. Let nothing move you from a place of steadiness in your perspective on life in the light of the return of Christ.

Reason 1: Avoid Worldly Conformity

5:09 Now in our study today, we're going to consider the reasons why believers ought not to sleep and ought to watch and be sober and they are given in verse 7 and the first part of verse 8 and then we'll consider the third thrust of his exhortation. We're not only to be watchful, to be sober, but we are to be armed, armed, and prepared for battle. All right, now what are the reasons the apostle gives to enforce the exhortation, let us not sleep, negative, let us watch and be sober, positive. Why?

5:47 Well, he tells us, verse 7, for, here's the reason, for they that sleep, sleep in the night, and they that are drunken, are drunken in the night, but let us, since we, we are of the day, be sober. He gives two basic reasons as to why believers should resist the temptation to spiritual slumber and to spiritual inebriation. Reason number one is this. If you allow yourself to sleep, if you allow yourself to be anything other than sober, you are conforming to the unregenerate world.

6:32 You're being, you're being worldly, Paul says.

6:35 He said, don't sleep. Sleep is a characteristic of what? Of the night. Well, this was back apparently before swing shifts and electric light bulbs and dark shades and all the rest, and for the most part, any 99 out of 100 people did all their sleeping in the night.

6:51 And your night started when the sun went down, and your day started when the sun came up. And so, for the most part, sleep was a characteristic, except in the case of a sluggard. It was the characteristic of the night. Sleep is identified with night.

7:07 Drunkenness, the same way. There was a shame attached to drunkenness that is fast going from our society where we elevate to the place of popular heroes, those that go around in a state of semi-inebriation like Dean Martin and others of his crowd who are looked upon as the epitome of the relaxed, sort of easy-to-live-with kind of guy. And everybody knows he's half-looped half the time, and yet there's no shame attached to it. But at least in this time, there was a shame attached to drunkenness, so the man who was going to get himself drunk did so under the cover of night.

7:44 Now, Paul says, since sleep and drunkenness are nighttime characteristics, and you are not children of the night or of darkness, you better not be having anything to do with that which is characteristic of night and of darkness. You're children of the day. You're children of the light. Now, he says, conduct yourself in such a way that it's manifest to all that you are day people and light people.

8:19 What is worldliness? Well, it isn't a big list of things. Smoking, drinking, going to the theater, going, that isn't worldliness.

8:28 Now, those activities may be an expression of worldliness for some people, but that's not worldliness. What is worldliness? Worldliness is conformity to the pattern of unregenerate men. That's worldliness.

8:44 Now, what is the pattern of unregenerate men? Paul says, it's the pattern of night and of drunkenness. They want to stay in the darkness of ignorance. They don't want to think about the world to come, about the second coming, about those cataclysmic events of which we've read.

9:02 They want to assure themselves, he says in verse 3, peace and safety, everything will work out all right. Oh, we've got some growing pains in the great process of the development of humanity. We're in a state of unusual growing pains. The 20th century is the teenage of human development and we've got all kinds of growing pains, but it's going to work out all right.

9:22 Peace and safety will come. All will be all right. You see, they live in this realm of willful darkness and ignorance. That's characteristic of unregenerate men.

9:33 And they're in a state of spiritual strife, stupor and inebriation. They're drunk with the wine of their own wisdom, drunk with the wine of their own importance, drunk with the wine of their own abilities. We'll accomplish all this. Now Paul says, don't you sleep?

9:52 That's characteristic of night people. You're a day person. That's being worldly. Don't you be anything other than sober.

10:00 Keep the perspective of your mind constantly in line with the light of Holy Scripture. Look at life, the world that now is, the world to come, only in sobriety as your mind is kept under the discipline of Holy Scripture. Anything other than that, he says, is worldliness.

10:22 Sleepiness and drunkenness are characteristics of the world. Don't absorb those attitudes, for if you do, you are being worldly. Your day people live like day people. Now let me ask you, are you worldly?

Reason 2: Live Consistent with Your Identity

10:42 Oh, not I. I've never been to the theater. I've never been. I never, I never.

10:50 Now I mean, are you worldly in the light of a passage like this? Are you wide awake this morning? Well, you say, can't you see my eyes are open? I'm looking at you.

11:00 No, I don't mean physically. Are you wide awake spiritually as one who professes to be a son and a daughter of the day and of the light?

11:12 Has this past week of your activity been indicative of someone who's living in the full blazing light of God's view of life?

11:21 Have you been living in the light of eternal values? In the light of heavenly perspectives? Or have you simply been existing like those sons and daughters of the night and of darkness? Hmm?

11:36 That's worldly. You don't need to pay your two bucks to go to the, King Theater. You don't need to do the thing. You don't need to plunk out your 30 cents for a pack of cigarettes.

11:45 Just absorb that attitude that lives under the delusion that this world is all that there is and lose that perspective that focuses upon the return of Christ.

12:01 You've entered a state of sleep and you've lost your sobriety. That's being worldly. So Paul says, reason number one why Christians ought not to sleep but ought to be watchful and ought to be sober is anything less than that is worldly and then, and I've already hinted at this, anything less than that is a contradiction of what you are. Verse 8, but let us, since we are of the day, be sober.

12:26 He comes back to that theme that we touched on two weeks ago. He says, be what you are. Don't contradict what you are by what you do.

12:36 Don't live a lie. Don't live a contradiction. If the grace of God has been operative in you and brought you out of darkness into light, then you must live consistent with what, consistently with what God has made you by His grace. Well, so much then for those two basic reasons.

Exhortation 3: Be Armed for Battle

12:54 Now we come to the third thing to which he exhorts them in the light of this doctrine of the unexpectedness, the suddenness of the Lord's return. The first thing was be watchful. The second, be sober. The third thing, be armed for battle.

13:11 Verse 8, but let us, since we are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love and for a helmet the hope of salvation. Now before we come to ask the question what are these particular aspects of the armor, it's obvious that as Paul thinks of the return of Christ and the whole doctrine of its suddenness and as a result of that the necessity for constant preparation, he doesn't think of the picture of the believer sitting under a fig tree somewhere plucking daisies in between naps. When you talk about breastplate and helmet you're talking about armor that is needed by a soldier in active conflict and in real combat. So Paul is very clearly indicating to these believers that if they are to live consistently with that confession, yes, Christ will come suddenly as the thief in the night. He's telling them that there will be great enemies against this being prepared. The enemies are many.

14:26 The enemies are mighty. Those enemies are malicious and he's indicating that they must be prepared to face those enemies. And certainly other portions of Scripture indicate that as the period of history develops, unto the time of the Lord's return that there will be many offended turning away because iniquity shall abound the love of the many shall wax cold. And so you and I do well to catch this perspective and it's one that I've been made increasingly aware of perhaps more in the six months than any other period in the fifteen, sixteen years of my own Christian experience. That this is a matter of knock down drag out fight and warfare. And no man's in that kind of a fight without knowing it.

15:25 You're not in it by proxy. And you're not in it in a state of semi-consciousness or unconsciousness. You're in it and you know it. And so the Apostle exhorts us be sober, be watchful, be armed for battle.

Requirements for Being Armed: Sobriety and Responsibility

15:40 Now, let's consider several things about this exhortation. In the first place, he indicates that it's an activity which demands spiritual sobriety. But let us, since we are of the day, be sober putting on. Indicating that the only attitude that is consistent with this activity of being armed is one of sobriety.

16:06 Can you picture a drunk man stumbling around in an armory trying to fix himself up for a battle and he ends up with his helmet over his arm and a breastplate around his leg and a spear slung under one arm and can you get the grotesque picture that's here of a drunken man stumbling around in an armory getting himself prepared for battle and then he goes out for battle and here he's got his helmet slung over his arm and his breastplate around his leg and he's looking for the enemy and he can't really see him and when he goes to shoot he can't shoot at him straight. You see, if there's to be any preparedness for battle, the soldier as he prepares himself must have all of his wits about him. He must know the piece of armor that fits in the proper place. He must have all of his faculties in order to know his enemy to use his weapons against his enemy and that's the figure the apostle uses here. It's not enough to be watchful and to be sober in general but he says with specific reference to this matter of being armed for the battle we must be sober.

17:18 It's interesting as the reports filed in as the historians collected their materials and have written about the second world war one of the reasons why the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on a Sunday morning was due to this very principle. As they observed the activity of American servicemen they knew that the great majority of them were out to the wee hours of the morning started Saturday night after hours and got themselves drunk, carousing, chasing around and the rest and that Sunday morning the great majority of them were in such a state of semi-stupor that this would be the ideal time to attack for even if the armor was there to be used their condition was such that they couldn't use it accurately see and because they were not sober they couldn't be prepared for battle. The apostle says this activity of being armed for battle requires in the first place spiritual sobriety but you say pastor what's that mean? Well it means basically mental balance it involves self-restraint in the use and love of all earthly treasures and pleasures it's a word that brings into it the idea of forbidding even the excessive use of legitimate things lest we lose that proper perspective of the place of things we live in a world where we need things

18:47 we need food we need recreation we need diversification there are many legitimate gifts of God to us and yet in this very context Jesus warned in Luke 21 34 beware lest your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting and with the cares of this life this life has cares Jesus said he knew it much of his ministry was taken up with those cares meeting people's physical needs food health they were sick they needed healing our Lord knew what it was to work for years the long hours in that humble carpenter shop in Nazareth but he said beware lest these legitimate things so fill the heart and the mind that you lose your perspective and you're not prepared for the return of Christ and so if you and I would be armed for battle we must at any cost maintain this state of spiritual sobriety mental balance if we begin to be intoxicated with excessive desire for things we begin to be intoxicated with carking cares and unnecessary involvement in the details of everyday life so that our spiritual perspective is blurred we'll never be found putting on the armor

20:16 we'll even forget there's a battle and so whatever this activity of being armed for battle is it requires in the first place maintaining this state of spiritual sobriety secondly it's an activity for which we are responsible just as surely as he says let us not sleep we must keep ourselves awake let us watch you don't ask the Lord to do the watching for you you cry to him for grace to be watchful but you must be watchful you cry for grace to keep your eyes open and alert but the Lord doesn't come and prop them up with toothpicks so likewise we do not pray oh Lord arm me for the battle he says no be sober putting on you must do it this is your responsibility Mr. Sterrick clearly dealt with this matter in his exposition of the first couple of verses of Ephesians 6 put on the whole armor of God and so I'm not going to go back over that ground it would be tedious for some of us but let me just say this much and state it as bluntly and simply as I know how there are no gains without pains no matter how real the Lord Jesus may be to us no matter how precious the sight of his countenance

21:45 by faith no matter how vital our experience is of his fellowship when we read the word when we pray when we gather with his people no matter how much of legitimate valid spiritual reality even raised to spiritual ecstasy will ever put us in the place where we don't need to consciously put on the armor and do it ourselves I think there's an itch in all of us that says if only I can get to the place where the Lord is so real and his face is so lifted up upon me and his presence so exhilarates me to be no more conflict no more having to say am I being watchful here am I putting on the armor here it'll all just come automatically it won't and if you think it is it's because you're asleep and you've drifted into some world of unreality that world of spiritual reality is a world of conflict a world in which there are no gains without pains a world in which the Lord does not arm us while we're sleeping he says be sober putting on it's a conscious deliberate diligent spiritual reality a spiritual effort to which we are called and the flesh doesn't like that one of the effects of the fall is this indisposition to that which is difficult they want the easy way

23:14 in an easy way in an easy way in some the easy way bypasses the cross bypasses the difficulties self-denial in others the easy way sounds so very spiritual it just refers everything to Christ trust him to do it woe woe be unto us if we lift our finger to do anything that Christ says is his exclusive work it's his exclusive work to make us acceptable to the Father woe be unto us if we try to add one thing to the infinitely perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ he calls us to rest completely exclusively in his merits and woe woe be unto any man who seeks to add one thing to what Christ says is his exclusive work but woe woe be unto him who tries to throw off on Christ what Christ has put upon him and Christ has put upon you and upon me the responsibility to put on that armor and he's not going to do it for you he's not going to do it for me and if we can only keep those two things straight that the flesh being what it is and sin being what it is what happens by nature we try to add to the work of Christ and we find ourselves with all kinds of subtle forms of works righteousness

24:42 thinking because we've had good quiet time for three days maybe we can come a little bit more boldly to the Lord instead of just saying nothing in my hands I bring simply to thy cross I cling so we try to add where we shouldn't and then we try to throw off on him where we shouldn't and we say well I'm praying about these things trusting the Lord to help me the Lord says you roll up your sleeves and do something see the human heart never naturally accepts the perspective of scripture it'll add to what Christ says is all his work or it'll try to subtract from what Christ says is our work and our responsibility so it's an activity for which we are responsible but let us not the Lord us since we are of the day put on the breastplate of faith and love well those two things we've learned so far it's an activity that demands spiritual sobriety secondly an activity for which we are responsible in the third place it's an activity which focuses on the cultivation of the three cardinal Christian virtues or graces what are they faith hope and love now Paul had already said that these things were present in the Thessalonians chapter 1 verse 3 remembering without ceasing your work of faith labor of love and patience of hope and faith hope

The Armor: Breastplate of Faith and Love

26:12 and love were already operative amongst the Thessalonians but now the apostle is speaking of these things with particular reference to the doctrine of the suddenness of the return of Christ everything that he says in this paragraph must be related to that subject with which he is immediately dealing it's these three virtues that come up of course at the close of 1 Corinthians 13 now abideth faith hope and love and the greatest of these is love now in what sense then are faith and love a breastplate I'm not going to press the imagery of the breastplate that part of the armor that protected a man in his vital parts his heart his lungs because the minute you do somebody's going to cross reference it over to Ephesians 6 and find that the two don't quite dovetail there you have the shield of faith that quenches the fiery dark so I don't believe we are warranted to press the particular aspect of the soldier's armor which he uses but we should focus our attention rather upon this general principle if we are armed with faith hope and love we're armed for the battle of preparedness for the return of Christ and unless we are armed with those things we will be ill prepared for his return alright let's look at them then not in great detail I'm going to leave

27:41 that to Mr. Stair as he continues his expositions in Ephesians 6 so I will merely be suggestive this morning and by no means attempt to be exhaustive the breastplate of faith and love faith what is faith? faith is the substance of things to hope for the evidence of things not seen Paul says in 2 Corinthians chapter 5 we walk by faith and not by sight it's been most helpful to me in trying to analyze the peculiar function of faith to remember that it's opposite is the realm of sight we walk by faith in the light of what faith sees in the light of what faith knows in the light of what faith possesses not by sight we don't walk governed by that which we can see the world of time and of sense faith is the substance of things hoped for it is the evidence of things not seen the opposite then of that which is seen with these eyes that can be felt with these hands is that which is appropriated by faith now what renders men unprepared for the coming of Christ is it not just this it is a sinful

29:10 preoccupation with what they can see and touch and feel the world of sense as in the days of Noah so shall it be in the days of the coming of the son of man as in the days that were before the flood they were eating something I can see something that feels good going down and when it's down if it's been prepared right and you don't eat too much of it drinking marrying giving in marriage things that are perfectly legitimate in themselves but notice this became the total sphere of their preoccupation so that when Noah talked about a thing they'd never seen before a flood is coming they say what's that we've never seen it now we're realists we have the scientific mind what we see and what we analyze that we believe and in that by that we govern our lives do you see Noah had seen the flood he saw it by faith by faith Noah being warned of God concerning things not seen did what prepared an ark to the saving of his soul the soul the lives of his family you see by faith he had the very substance of that flood he saw that flood by faith God had said it's coming faith saw it these people said we don't see it

30:39 we never saw one we'll never see it and so they gave themselves over some in a very sensuous in what we would say lawless way but the Lord does not point up the violence that's spoken of in Genesis 6 and that always amazes me in Matthew 24 in Genesis 6 it says violence filled the earth prior to the flood Jesus said it was preoccupation with the legitimate there were probably some people who weren't given over to chasing after everybody's everyone else's wife and killing the neighbor but they were nonetheless people who lived on the basis of what they could see and touch and handle and so because of this they were not prepared for that sudden destruction that came with the flood and oh dear child of God what will render you and me in some measure ill prepared for the return of Christ is a weakening of faith if we're to be armed for all of the battles that we'll face in seeking to be prepared for his return we may not be ready but we must put on the breastplate of faith that is we must continually feed on that unseen world of spiritual reality we must continually gaze upon a savior who died a savior who is now at the right hand of the father on high a savior

32:08 who one day set his throne for judgment a savior before whom we will stand and give an account of the deeds done in the body we must continually by faith feed upon that perspective of scripture that this world and the works therein shall be burned up there will be ushered in the new heavens and the new earth it's only as we have on this breastplate of faith this firm grasp upon the unseen world of spiritual reality that we'll be prepared for the return of Christ and be prepared to battle with all of those enemies that would make us something other than prepared now someone says how do you get this faith in the context of speaking of faith that initially embraces Christ the apostle says in Romans 10 faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God but that principle is true in every step and every stage of the development of spiritual life faith must feed upon the facts of divine revelation and feed on air and so when the child of God begins to neglect the word of God and all his exposure from morning to night is to that world of sense and of time he begins to think well maybe this is the only real world he doesn't say that but he begins to act

33:35 that way so he begins to slack off praying why? because prayer has to do with that world of spiritual reality he begins to slack off on watchfulness days will pass as we mentioned last week and he never consciously thinks Lord this world isn't going to be here forever there's coming a time when I'll pass through my last spring and see the leaves open for the last time and those trees as we now know them will be consumed by the fire of God's anger and judgment at the return of Christ dear child of God you do to your own peril neglect the word of God and feeding upon the scriptures which alone can give us that perspective because one of the great and constant and all pervasive influences particularly of our own generation which is called itself the now generation is a bird in hand is worth more than four in the bush if you've got something now enjoy it I marvel at how the apostle kept this perspective so much so that at times you'd think he was drunk with it which is a good thing to be drunk with the perspective of faith because that's real spiritual sanity and sobriety he's listing all the things he passes through as an apostle in 2nd Corinthians

35:04 chapter 4 let's look at it for just a moment all the things that he knew in terms of opposition he had listed them in some detail beginning with verse 7 pressed on every side perplexed pursued bearing about in his very body the dying of the Lord Jesus constantly living on the brink of extinction and then he goes to interpret all of this and he says in verse 16 of 2nd Corinthians 4 wherefore we faint not but though our outward man is decaying yet our inward man is renewed day by day for our light affliction which is for the moment and there he encompasses the suffering of years and he calls the years a moment now what makes a man call years a moment well he's going to tell us it works for us a more exceeding and eternal weight of glory while we look here is the focus of the game of my life 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

36:33 the man who keeps that perspective is the man who says while we look where is the focus of our gaze not here in the realm of the temple if it were he'd say what a miserable lot I've had look at this weeks and months and years of suffering and anguish and persecution this is what I get for being a Christian he says light affliction lasted just a moment while we look you see what the perspective was it was that perspective of eternity he had on the breastplate of faith and it preserved it well let's hurry on to the second the breastplate is not only constructed of faith but also he says of love of love of love of love of love of love that virtue which in 1st Corinthians 13 is called the greatest of all the Christian virtues when faith issues in sight and we shall see him be like him when hope issues in realization love will go on into and through eternity dominating and increasing in the hearts of the people of God love to their great God and Redeemer love to one another now in what sense then is love part of eternity armor I thought love was what we'd call the more feminine peaceful grace how does love enter into the conflict

38:00 and protect a man in conflict Mr. Clark gave me an illustration at the door last week that I want to use if any of you want to do that I welcome those you think of something during the sermon and you want to pass on an illustration I'm never never reluctant to snatch at illustrations or anecdotes that will help in illustrating and elucidating the truth of God and he mentioned a friend of his who had been away somewhere and ministry I believe it was and the details aren't important and he came home one night real late at night 1.30 in the morning 2 o'clock something like that and he was so surprised as he came up to his house to see the lights all on and he wondered well one of the children's sick what's the problem came in found his wife fully dressed waiting up for him and what's wrong dear somebody's sick there's been some emergency he said no I just was waiting up for you I was waiting up for you I knew you'd come and I was waiting for you now she wasn't accustomed to sitting up till 1.30 2 o'clock at night this wasn't her normal pattern and I imagine like all of us if our normal pattern is getting to sleep at 10 11 11.30 12 o'clock whatever it is about that time she began to feel some strong desires to drift off into the land of Nod but what was it that caused her to shake off her sleep keep herself alert and keep herself waiting for the sound

39:29 of the husband's the heels of his shoes on the sidewalk it was her love for his person it was her love that kept her watchful and awake putting on the breastplate of faith a firm grasp upon the world of unseen reality and love love to your God love to your Savior and it's that love you see that will be the motivation to be watchful when everything in our flesh and every influence in the world says sleep sleep we say I must not I must not my Savior has bid me be watchful and out of love for Him I'm willing by His grace to buffet myself and to bring all of my faculties and appetites into subjection and whence love begins to wane then the incentive to be watchful and careful to be so over begins to wane and we'll find ourselves sleeping we'll find ourselves beginning to be inebriated made drunken with the wine of things and the wine of self-importance and the wine of personal ambition and so if we would be prepared for the sudden return of our Lord we must have the breastplate of faith and of love not only love to our God

The Armor: Helmet of the Hope of Salvation

40:59 but love to one another for one is the spring of the other and the second is always the fruit of the first the Apostle Paul speaking of the light of the judgment that would come at the return of Christ in the 24th of Acts says herein do I exercise myself to have always a conscience void of offense to God and to man in one of the parapels that Jesus gave about the return of Christ He said if that servant says my Lord delays His coming and how does it express itself and begins to beat His servants you see when He puts off the return of Christ and there's a rupturing of love in this direction it will express itself in something how in this direction and so if we would be prepared there must be that breastplate of faith and love and then He says and I'll just touch on it briefly and for an helmet the hope of salvation now what is this hope of salvation well it's not wishful thinking or uncertain longing I hope that my brother-in-law or mother or father or sister or husband will come to see me hope in the scriptural context is not uncertain longing or just wishful thinking it is as I've defined it on previous occasions the joyful and confident expectation of promised blessings

42:27 joy joyful and confident expectation of promised blessings now He says your helmet is the hope the joyful and confident expectation of salvation well I thought they were saved well they were but they weren't they were saved if you put into the word saved justified their sins blotted out brought into right legal standing with God incorporated into the family of God vital union with the Son of God yes but as Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones brought out so clearly at the men's retreat last weekend two weekends or last weekend the scripture makes very clear that all that the child of God has of God's salvation now as glorious as it is is but a small part of that which He shall eventually have our present salvation is called the down payment the earnest and the first fruits now what's bigger the first fruits or the harvest out there in the acreage what's bigger the down payment on your house or the twenty year mortgage see now God says our salvation what we know now is just down payment it's earnest money assurance that the rest will come and it's first fruits just a basket full of the great bushelfuls

43:56 yet to come and the child of God who has evidence that he's got the down payment and the basket full now has a joyful and confident expectation that he's going to have the full harvest and he's going to have the full inheritance having this much and having the promise of God that he who has begun the good work in me will carry it on until the day of Christ this hope of salvation not a wishful thinking an uncertain longing no no it's this confident joyful expectancy that the best is yet to come now how does that relate to being prepared for the Lord's coming well it's this hope of salvation that will keep you from disappointments as you face present calamities and apparent injustices now follow me closely one of the curses of modern evangelism is right here it baits people by saying come to Jesus for present peace present security present blessing and when they come and they find that problems begin to arise and injustices are not dealt with by God when inequities are allowed to ride as though heaven were silent and ignorant of all of this what happens many times such converts turn away and say

45:26 I can't take that business right whereas when our Lord invited men to himself he promised them hardship and he promised the apostles went around to all the young churches assuring them what that through much tribulation they must enter the kingdom they told them the truth but they also made clear look the best is yet to come you can afford to stand back and look at present injustices and apparent inconsistencies in the dealings of God present calamities why because we never told you that the best was here we told you the best was out there and so that kind of person who comes in with that understanding he's not shaken you follow me so the hope of salvation is the helmet and when one looks out into the world and sees the injustice the inequities one sees the calamities that come to the people of God and people say is that what your Christ does I say no you come around after he's come back again and see what he's done for us the best is yet to come you see you won't be shaken by this and unbelievers can hurl it into your teeth and it doesn't move you you say the Lord never promised to straighten things up down here he never did show me one promise that says he did he never did the Lord never promised to set everything straight down here and now but bless God

46:54 he's going to then you say that's pie in the sky religion you call it what you want but that's the religion of scripture we are saved in hope that's our hope and that acts like a helmet to keep us from those fatal blows to the head and then secondly it will not only help in the face of disappointment from calamities and apparent injustices but it will keep you from the allurements of sin what makes sin alluring it's it's present dazzle and glimmer you never had any sin suggest itself to you with anything other than it's present gratification when did sin ever come to you and say look embrace me and look what I'll do to you I'll torment your conscience I'll wreck your home I'll destroy your soul did you ever have a sin come to you with anything other than it's present allurement and present gratification did you ever have any sin suggest itself with anything other than a now connotation did you never never it's one of the peculiar characteristics of the temptation of sin that it always comes look what I'll do for you now look what I'll do ah but when I have that helmet of the hope of salvation I can look at some glittering temptation and say look you're tarnished in the light of that glory

48:23 what I'll have there and as I fix my gaze upon the glory of all the pure joys that will be mine there I can face the tinseled glittering joys of sin which are for a season by the grace of God turn aside isn't that exactly what it says about Moses I'll have there what does it say about him he chose rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season why he had respect to the recompense of the reward sure it glittered to think that he could have all that his flesh and his pride would want there in Egypt when he gazed beyond and had that hope of salvation he was kept from the fatal blows of the enemy and I suggest this morning that you should the apostle says this is the way you and I are to be prepared for the sudden return of Christ don't sleep be watchful be sober and in that attitude of sobriety be armed for battle put on the breastplate of faith and love and for in helmet the hope of salvation and as we are thus armed and all of the assaults come upon our soul we shall be found more than conquerors through him that loved us

Conclusion: Armed for Conquest

49:51 let us pray