The Helmet of Salvation

Christian author Don Miller told a class at a Christian that he was going to present the plan of salvation, but leave one important part of it out. He asked them if they could tell what was missing. He said:


“All of us have sinned, and fallen short of God's glory. It is necessary to repent of our sins and turn to God. We need to pray for God's forgiveness, and He will save us. Then God will enter into our lives, through the Holy Spirit, and enable us to live a more Godly life. In the end, God will accept us into heaven.”

None of them could spot what had been omitted. Then he told them. He left out Jesus.

He tried this in many other times with similar results. Most people did not notice that Jesus had been left out. They recognized the plan. They just did not remember the person.

If being a Christian is just a “plan” to follow, then why do we need Jesus? If all we do is follow a formula, or accept a doctrine, why do we need a Savior?

Flannery O'Connor in her satirical novel Wise Blood invented the Church of Jesus Christ without Christ. It was for people who had lost their faith in God but still wanted to be religious. Her satire is all too close to the truth, especially here in the South, where religion is so much a part of lives. If we took Jesus out of our religion, would most people notice? There are many who go to church, sing Gospel music, and wear cross jewelry who leave out the most important part—fellowship with a living God.

There is no salvation without Jesus. Jesus is our salvation

In Ephesians 6, Paul refers to salvation as a helmet. It is the first thing we should have to guard against the Devil.

If we were to wear a single piece of body armor, it would be a helmet. Soldiers, construction workers, motorcycle riders, and football players all wear helmets, even if they have no other protection. That’s because our heads need the most protection. If you break your leg, it will heal. But if you break your head, you’ve ruined your whole life.

The head is the leader of the body. The word "head" has always been synonymous with leader. We sometimes use “head” to describe the whole person, as in "talking heads" or 'heads of cattle." We call Christ the "head" of the church. If you have the head, you have the rest. Therefore, whatever part of this divine armor is placed on the head is the most important part.

The “helmet of salvation” comes from Isaiah 59: 17. Isaiah says



He put on righteousness as his breastplate,

and the helmet of salvation on his head;

he put on the garments of vengeance

and wrapped himself in zeal as in a cloak.



The Hebrew word for “salvation” is Yeshua. That word was transliterated into Greek language as “Jesus.” Literally, salvation is Jesus.

We do not need to be challenged to do good, or led away from temptation, or enabled to do good, unless we are first rescued from death caused by sin. Jesus is the one who saves us from sin. That’s why Jesus is salvation.

When I was a small child, my father often traveled to Chattanooga on business. When he did , we always stayed at the same hotel—the Alamo Plaza. Sometimes he took or family along. Whle he worked we swam in the motel pool. Once, while my mother was distracted, I wandered out too far into the deep end. I remember the sensation of drowning--the panic, the helplessness. Then a man jumped in and pulled me out. I do not know the man's name. I do not know where he was from. All I remember is that he was are real man, and that he really saved me.

That’s salvation—to be rescued when you cannot save yourself. You can’t rescue yourself. Someone else has to rescue you. Our rescuer is Jesus.

This understanding of Jesus as our Savior puts to rest two misconceptions of how we become God’s children.

The first misconception is that salvation is something we must do for ourselves. Salvation is not a kind of moral duty. It is not just straightening up and flying right. Certainly, we have moral duties. but salvation is not one of them. If it were, where would Jesus fit into that equation? Jesus wouldn’t be needed! If that man by the pool at that motel had just shouted out to me "Try harder!" then I would be dead now. Someone had to do something for me that I could not do for myself. Yet we keep thinking that we must save ourselves by our own efforts.

The Devil loves moralistic religion, because it promises what it cannot give. Moralism is a trap. At first an easy way to have a relationship with God. All that God requires are a few commandments, a decent life, just getting along with others. All we do is follow the manual., and do what’s expected. But the problem with moralism is that we can never be really sure what is expected.

We fail to be good for many reasons. We want to be better, we try to be better, but we aren’t better. We remain the same old incorrigible sinners we always were..

We fail because know how. I once tried to build a computer. I thought it would be easy. There are only a few basic components of a computer, and I had replaced most of them, so how hard could it be to put one together? But what I thought would take and afternoons wound up taking several days. Then, after several trips to the computer store, it never did work right, because I did not know what I was doing.

We fail because we don’t seem to have the power to resist. Try as we will, we can’t seem to walk away from that cigarette, or that piece of chocolate, or avoid anger or gossiping. Then we berate ourselves because we are weak-willed. Yet no matter how much we tell ourselves something is wrong, we continue doing it.

We fail because we do not believe we can change. Having failed in our efforts, we remain conflicted and unhappy until we just give up and become honest sinners. Then we are not longer conflicted, but we are no less unhappy.

We fail because we justify our actions by comparing them to others. When Alcoholics Anonymous first began, people with drug addiction problems were sent to it. But it soon became apparent that this would not work. You see, the alcoholics looked down on the drug addicts. In their minds they somehow felt that to ruin your life with drink made you a better person than someone who ruined their life with drugs.

A moral person who fails in his morality is less happy than an immoral person who never tried. Some of us even make a virtue out of our misery, because we think it makes us holy!

The second misconception is that salvation about knowing a plan, not the person behind it. We Presbyterians are particularly susceptible to this argument. We think salvation is merely salvation from intellectual error, not from a sinful life. If our doctrine is straight, we think our hearts must be straight. But doctrines are windows, not walls. They open us up to what is beyond them.

The story of Jesus is real. His death and resurrection is real. Reformed theology is real, too. But they do not save us. Salvation is not just knowing what is real but living in the truth.

Over the years, I have learned several different ways of presenting the "plan" of salvation. I still believe the plan is true. I also learned that the Apostles’ Creed is true. I learned that Jesus was the coeternal Son of God. I learned about Trinity, substitutional atonement, and the two unmixed natures of Christ. Many of you probably do not even understand what some of those terms mean. But does that make me saved, and not you? Not at all. We don’t have to understand to believe. We have to believe to understand.

Think for a moment--when I was drowning in that motel pool, did it matter if I knew the man's name who jumped in and rescued me? Did it matter that I did not know his town or his occupation? I do not know whether he was a good man or a bad one. I only knew that he got in the pool and saved me.

Salvation is not about knowledge, but trust. You have to trust that Jesus died for your sins, to give you eternal life. You can have knowledge without belief. You can even have belief without trust. But you can trust without knowing the details of who you know and trust. The smallest child who trusts in Jesus is in better shape than the greatest theologian who does not.

It is not enough to know about Jesus. It is not even enough to serve Jesus. We have to trust Him.

So how can a person be saved? Does he follow four spiritual laws, or ten basic steps. Does he follow the Plan of salvation? Real salvation is both simpler and harder than that. We have to trust Jesus.

What can we do to be saved? Nothing—literally nothing. I cannot tell you how to be saved, because God is the one who must do the saving. If we could do anything to help our salvation, we would have already done it.

But I can offer one piece of advice--quit struggling! Be still! When a person is drowning, their natural instinct is to flail madly about. While they are trying to save themselves, they actually push way assistance. It isn't until they give up trying to save themselves that the lifeguard can pull them out.

Yes, you are a sinner. Yes, you need to change your life. But you'll never do it by yourself. You’ll just escape one sin to fall in another. Be still. Let Jesus come to you. Tell Him you need Him, that you want Him to come save you, and He will.

The best protection we have against the wiles of the Devil is our knowledge of our own special place with Jesus. The close we draw to Him, the less power the Devil has over us.

Be still, and let Jesus save you. He will save you, if you allow Him to have His way.