 said I better get into our study. We're going to be looking at again verse 17 but I'm going to begin reading at let's see where will I begin. I'll begin reading here at verse 10 just to give because I'm going to give you a review but we're going to be looking at at verse 17. So beginning at verse 10 reading to verse 17 Ephesians chapter 6. Finally my brother and be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil for we do not wrestle against flesh and blood but against principalities against powers against the rulers of the darkness of the sage against spiritual hosts of wickedness 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 none all to stand. Stand therefore having girded your waist with truth having put on the breastplate of righteousness having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace above all taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one and take the helmet of salvation the sword of the spirit and the sword of the spirit which is the word of God. Today we're going to be looking at taking up the helmet of salvation. Now by way of introduction let me remind you of a few things Paul has referred to various pieces of armor that are used in spiritual combat. We are to take up the whole armor because we are attacked in various areas of our lives and each piece of the armor reveals something that we have received from Jesus. Now Paul identifies each weapon because believers experience spiritual combat and were to be prepared for the fight that we know we're going to engage in. Now I mentioned that verse 13 says having done all to stand. Now that speaks of taking the stand of a victor feet firmly planted in victory that's what that word is inferring. In 1 Peter 1 13 it says gird up the loins of your mind be sober and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ and so we are firmly planted we are in the stance of a victor and God has given to us his grace in order that we might be able to be victorious in in this warfare. But verse 14 used a different word for stand it refers in that place to taking a stand. You see on one hand the word stand speaks of feet firmly planted on the other it refers to taking a stand it speaks of standing and being ready for combat it speaks of being braced for a fight. So that's something that each individual Christian is to be prepared to do. We're to have a mindset that is resting on certain victory. Philippians 3 13 and 14 Paul says it like this he said brothers and sisters I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it but one thing I do forgetting what is behind straining toward that which is ahead I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus and so we're to take a stand we're to stand with the mentality you'll see this in a moment a little more clearly of the victor but we also are bracing ourselves for the inevitable onslaught that comes against us. So Paul said we are to sink into the belt of truth we are to have a subtle commitment to truth we're supposed to have truth that is evidence in our beliefs as well as the way that we live it reveals this settled commitment to truth but it also reveals an attitude and a lifestyle of truthfulness. Then we put on the breastplate of righteousness as I mentioned to you the breastplate covered from throat to the thigh it protected our it protects the internal organs so the breastplate of righteousness reveals that we understand that in Jesus Christ and this is so important in Jesus Christ we are righteous in Christ we are righteous we have been made righteous through faith in him that word righteous speaks of that which is morally upright it speaks of a a condition that is acceptable to God that righteousness as it speaks of it speaks of integrity of virtue it speaks of purity it speaks of simple rightness and so we fight from the position of knowing who we are in Christ in 2nd Corinthians 5 to 21 he made him who knew no sin to be sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in him Jesus was the sin offering he took upon himself our sin as an offering and so he he gave to us that which we didn't have he took upon himself what he didn't have he took upon our sins but he gave to us that which we didn't have and don't have and that's his righteousness so we have been made righteousness through Jesus Christ and and we have the righteousness of God himself on us so by faith we put on the breastplate of righteousness the breastplate protects us from feeling unsaved and feeling hopeless and because those feelings can be a combination of emotion as well as the attack of the enemy this is something I wanted to to really speak clearly about when I went through this and but I want to repeat it right now guys every sin you have ever committed when you came to Jesus Christ every sin that you have ever committed has been forgiven we need to know that because a lot of people don't we need to understand that every sin how many of your sins were yet future when Jesus died on the cross two thousand years ago and the answer obviously is all of them all of them were still yet future two thousand years ago Jesus Christ died for the sins that you've committed and this is not to give us permission to continue in sin so that grace may abound Paul said God forbid but the understanding that all of my sin has been forgiven is a very important thing it's not just the sins up to the point where I asked Christ to forgive me and then from there I'm now responsible to live a works righteousness in my own life no he forgave the sins that I had committed and the sins that were still in the future that is mind boggling if you think about it but that's the totality of forgiveness that you have received in Jesus Christ do you think that God is surprised when you blow it do you think he turns to to his son Jesus says man I never thought he could do that look at what he's doing we don't surprise him nothing you've ever done keep that in mind surprises God nothing you've ever done surprises him and he still forgave you now that doesn't mean that I take advantage of it and continue living in sin it means that out of gratefulness for what he's done I turn from sin and practice the holiness and righteousness that I have in Jesus Christ but every sin has been forgiven in Psalm 103 11 and 12 as high as the heavens are above the earth so great is his love for those who fear him as far as the east is from the west so far as he removed our transgressions from us you know you can go north if you look at a globe you can go to the north of the globe and go but you'll eventually when you when you crest it you begin going south but God has separated our sins as far as the the east is from the west look at the same globe and you can go off towards the the east and you will always be going off towards these you never will at a certain point start going west you're always going east which means that the separation is infinite God has separated our sins from us he's removed our transgressions from us understand that and live that way in 1st John 3 20 John said if our heart condemns us God is greater than our heart and knows all things aren't you glad he's greater than our heart my heart condemns me and we're going to be looking at this in some detail in a moment but God is greater than my heart now our feet are shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace as I mentioned to you shoes protect the soldiers feet from hazards in the road or in the field so by protecting our feet we are protecting our walk and we are to personally guard our walk in Jesus Christ so we stand we're built on the peace that we have with God and we we are built on the peace that we have from God and that gives us assurance and confidence as we engage in war so the gospel of peace has resulted in peace from God and the peace of God and this peace with God gives us the ability to share the word with other people the peace of God enables us to weather the onslaughts of the enemy like it says in Job 1925 I know that my redeemer lives and that in the end he will stand on the earth we are continually girded with truth we are wearing the breastplate our feet are always to be shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace and then the following three were to be used in individual battles the shield of faith the helmet of salvation the sword of the spirit I mentioned to you that these three weapons are to be kept in what is called the state of readiness so we take up we raise a pick up these weapons when we're in actual combat the shield is used to defend against long-range attacks darts were used to distract and disrupt the effectiveness of the soldier darts were also used to disrupt and break up the unity of the of the soldiers we use the shield of faith by quickly applying everything we know about God and again we do that by faith first John 5 4 this is a victory that overcomes the world even our faith so God's word to the Christian is a defense against the attacks from the enemy and when the enemy bombards us and indeed he does we lift up the shield of faith and so that's a little bit of a review now we're going to examine the next piece of armor and that's the helmet of salvation now during paul's day a soldier would wear a helmet during combat it was made of thick leather it was covered with plates or perhaps molded metal and the helmet protected the soldier from injury to the head I think we have a picture of that there it is and that's the helmet that they would put on we are to wear this helmet of salvation because satan attacks our minds he encourages us to doubt our salvation he discourages us in our walk he wants us to forget the blessings that God has given to us he wants us to forget the joy of salvation he wants us to forget all that God has done and he will do this in a variety of ways but he uses inference he uses things to to attack us in the mind he wants to make us feel guilty he wants to make us feel unworthy which we are but in a way that would would keep us from from confessing and uh yielding to God you know all of us understand what i'm about to say I was singing of this just before I came up here what is a practical illustration from my own life about putting a helmet of salvation when our church was young we rented a a school called Ontario Christian elementary school I have some in this room who went there you know uh long ago and uh we were in this small auditorium and I would sit out during worship and I didn't sit in the front I sat in the second row for some reason and I would sit in the second row and I would just worship with everybody then at a certain point just like I do here I would know it's time for me to get up and walk up onto the platform and begin the Bible study that's what we do and I was used to doing that and and me especially before I'm teaching I want my mind my heart my thoughts centered on the things of the Lord and I'm very careful with that I I don't want to be distracted by anything that will cause me in any way to feel impure or disqualified and I can't tell you the amount of distractions you can have and the kind of distractions that you might have because all of you look in one direction this way but I look in direction and see all of you and I can see around and I can see what's going on and and I'm always trying to keep my my heart focused on the right kind of thing and and and I just remember this just a moment ago I remember I was seated there in the second row and the worship was happening and and me I was I was kind of looking at my feet for some reason I wanted to make sure they were shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace no I was but I was looking down but as I did the the seats are very close and they're right in front of me was somebody seated leaning forward and and her jeans were down and and and I could see these lace lacy underwear and I got and I said John no I you knew that was coming you knew that was going no but I I did I I looked and I and God I and I remember just closing my eyes and God I I don't want any distractions I don't God help me this I felt God I'm so oh I wish and I really I was really upset and so I wouldn't even look I had my eyes closed and I thought don't need that and so I remember getting up and and actually on purpose ignoring that person as I walked by I did not want to even look at them and I walked up the stage and and I stood just like I am now and I looked down as I was talking and I looked in that direction you know this person had long curly blonde hair I mean I remember that white top it was a guy true story it was a guy I felt twice as bad and so all all of us have had odd distractions whatever they may be that's not the only one I've ever had I could tell you many I have a habit of not looking in the front row you will notice that if you ever notice you I'm not asking you too but I'm just kind of telling you I never look in the front row never because sometimes ladies have come who are not sitting like ladies so I look over the head at all time I'm always looking nobody in the front row I have to actually tell myself to look down because I don't because I've over the years just I just look over the heads and look into the back that's what I do because there are distractions one thing after another and so the helmet of salvation I want to look at that with you because it's it's it's a it's a piece of armor that is to protect your mind now as Christians we know that our salvation is a source of strength as well as our joy Nehemiah 8 verse 10 says the joy of the Lord is my strength when it says the joy of the Lord is my strength it is the joy of the Lord is the source of my strength Isaiah 12 3 says therefore with joy you shall draw water out of the wells of salvation Psalm 35 verse 9 says my soul shall rejoice in the Lord it shall rejoice in his salvation so we know that salvation is the source of strength as well as joy Paul's exhortation is when the enemy encourages doubt and begins to steal the joy of your salvation put on the helmet dwell on the reality of your salvation and be assured in him like what the psalmist in Psalm 43 5 says why my soul are you downcast why so disturbed within me put your hope in God for I will yet praise him my Savior and my God why are you depressed why are you so upset why are you so downcast why are you so in that mood put your hope in God it's like what it says in Hebrews 10 23 let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering for he who promised is faithful now the enemy encourages doubt he uses our feelings he uses our faulty way of thinking our lack of understanding of what the word of God is saying to us and and he he can move us through a variety of distractions to doubt that we're even saved he also inspires false teaching a false teaching that can cause you to begin to think you aren't saved or you don't have any faith when I was a young christian again I spent I got saved at 20 I went into the military I came out of the army I began to teach a bible study at all at the age of 20 at the age of 23 and my mom my mom not only had come to faith in Jesus through me but my mom looked at me as her teacher until the day she died she only had one teacher and that was her son who brought her faith in Christ and who taught her the word of God that was my mom and so my mom when I got out of the military and all I went to I went home and I was living at home at that time at my parents home and my mom came in and spoke to me one day I'll never forget it she was so upset she said David she says I've been listening to the radio because she was a real voracious listener to the word and and a reader of God's word and my mom just wanted to to grow and she was consuming the word of God and so in every moment that she could she would she would get taught she would listen to TV preachers or radio teachers and all and one day she walked up and she says I have no faith David I have no faith because my mom was ill my mom was ill my mom had illnesses from the time she was 24 years old until the time she died she had many years of illnesses so she says I have no faith son I said what do you mean my mind well son I've been asking God to heal me and I was listening to a radio preacher just today and he said that if I'm not healed I have no faith you see the enemy uses those kinds of things to discourage you to doubt you to make you doubt God to doubt salvation to doubt God's goodness to doubt yourself to doubt your relationship he uses that he uses that he encourages doubt he wants us to use our feelings you know I don't feel safe today therefore I'm not saved he wants to use bad teaching so that we begin to think that perhaps I'm not applying things I'm learning and therefore I'm saved he can undermine us and he does that quite quite extensively and constantly he wants to undermine the hope that we haven't Christ sometimes the enemy will use agents to undermine our confidence in in the Lord he can encourage us to a works righteousness through bad teaching once again you well you're saved but you better keep yourself saved and that results in frustration now as for the helmet the bible makes it clear that God desires people to be saved this helmet of salvation and the bible is very clear his desires for all people to come to him for salvation first Timothy chapter 2 verse 4 God desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth 2nd Peter 3 verse 9 God is not slack concerning his promise as some count slackness but his long suffering toward us not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance God doesn't want anybody to go to hell God has done everything that he could could do to to to make it possible for us not to go to hell but not everyone is willing to be saved there are many who refuse to receive Jesus as Lord and Savior they hear the message they sometimes are even raised in Christian homes but they reject that message Jesus wants people to be saved Matthew 23 37 there he is before Jerusalem and he's saying oh Jerusalem Jerusalem the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her how often I wanted to gather your children together as they hand gathers their chicks under her wings but you were not willing 2nd Thessalonians chapter 3 verse 2 simply says not all men have faith so the bible makes it clear that only those placing faith in Christ will be saved this is necessary in John 1 10 through 12 speaking of Jesus he was in the world the world was made through him and the world did not know him he came to his own and his own did not receive him but as many as received him to them he gave the right to become children of God to those who believe in his name remember in the book of Acts in chapter 16 when the apostle Paul and Silas were there in the Philippian jail and they had been beaten they had been placed in the stocks and at midnight they were worshiping and singing praises to the Lord and and the jailer had a conversation with them in Acts chapter 16 the Philippian jailer said to them oh sirs what must I do to be saved and the answer was very simple believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you'll be saved believe in him John 6 47 I tell you the truth he who believes in me has everlasting life it's not something you work for right it's not something you earn it's not something you deserve it's not something that's a product of what you've done it's not because you're so cute or so sweet or so funny or so nice it's because he's so gracious it because he is so forgiving you know many of us have testimonies and we give those testimonies when given opportunity but we have our public testimony the one that we're willing to speak to people and that's the one that we polish that's the one that we have given that's the one we repeat that's the one we're familiar with we have our open testimony but we also have our private testimony which is the real one which includes all the things I would never want anybody to know that I was capable of doing so you have a public one but God knows your private one and he still loves you and he has still forgiven you he has still accepted you and the beloved he has still promised to you that he would fashion you into the image of Jesus conforming you into the image of Christ he's he's promised to do that and God is not a man that he should change his mind you see salvation is received by trusting in Christ and assurance is realized that Jesus has given you eternal life it comes from scripture and like all our weapons is applied by faith in 1st John 5 11 through 13 John said it like this he said this is the record that God has given us eternal life and this life is in his son he who has the son has life he who has not the son of God has not life these things I've written to you who believe on the name of the son of God that you may know that you have eternal life and that you may believe on the name of the son of God that you may know that you have eternal life that you have a certain knowledge his spirit bears witness with my spirit Paul told the Romans and that spirit bearing witness with my spirit is telling me I am a child of God the holy spirit who dwells within me bears witness with the spirit with with my spirit and and enables me to realize that I have been born again because there have been times in my life when I've wondered did anything really take place I remember when my my girlfriend at that time who later obviously became my wife when she and I had a conversation in the early days of Marie's walk with Christ and and she said to me something like this she said you know David she says I no you didn't say David you said my lord no but anyway she she said well Sarah called Abraham Lord that scripture that's a story I could tell you someday that anyway she says I don't I don't think I'm saved and I said why I remember saying why is that she says because in your testimony when you've shared with with us how you got saved you had such a joy such a change such a transformation she says I I feel like nothing changed in me and that is just absolutely not true at all you know even the very best by human standards is still a rotten sinner in front of Jesus Christ and so God's God's saving grace and and his grace that he works in us is is a wonderful thing and you don't need to have a terrible tragic testimony your your testimony is true I was lost but now I'm found I was a sinner and now I'm saved I've been forgiven of all of my trespasses thank you Jesus I remember hearing a testimony hearing of a testimony of a little boy who was six years old giving his testimony in front of the church and he said before I got saved I was a terrible sinner and you're looking at a six year old and you're thinking oh please come on now what did you do steal cookies from your sister I mean please but we are before the Lord we are we are terrible sinners and so what we do is we we put on the helmet by centering our thoughts on and what it means that we're really saved and that provides a strong confidence for our future and it gives us peace in the present in Psalm 32 1 and 2 blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven whose sin is covered blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity and in whose spirit there is no guile so our assurance and hope of salvation rests on the fact that sin has been dealt with and it was dealt with when Jesus gave up his life for us as a sacrifice on that cross and John 19 verse 30 when Jesus therefore had received the vinegar he said it is finished and he bowed his head and he gave up the ghost it is finished so I'm putting on the helmet when I dwell on some very basic things one I dwell on the fact that when I was saved I was immediately rescued from the penalty of sin immediately in Romans 8 verse 1 there is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the spirit there is therefore now no condemnation it's dealt with in John 5 24 most assuredly I say to you he who hears my word and believes in him who sent me has everlasting life and shall not come into judgment but has passed from death into life I am not going into judgment that that condemnation that that judgment Jesus took upon himself my sin and therefore I have his righteousness I stand before God as one who has never sinned I've been justified and so I need to put that mindset on to understand that so I dwell on the fact that I have been rescued from the penalty of sin and secondly by grace I have freedom over sin's domination of my life there's a beautiful scripture Romans 6 14 you might want to mark this down sin shall not be your master because you are not under the law but under grace sin shall not be your master to whomever I yield myself to to that one I become a slave when I yield myself to Jesus Christ in Christ I am yielding myself to freedom to freedom from the law freedom from condemnation and that's a mindset that I should have and third I have fellowship we have fellowship with God throughout our lifetime it isn't something that comes and goes you see in the Old Testament the Holy Spirit would come upon a prophet a king a priest but the Holy Spirit would also depart that's why David said take not thy Holy Spirit from me because there is a a reality in the Old Testament that the Holy Spirit would come upon anoint but could depart the Holy Spirit departed from Samson and he didn't even know that the Spirit had departed so the Holy Spirit can depart in the Old Testament in the New Testament the Holy Spirit dwells with us and is in us and in a permanent sense he dwells in us in that way God has given to us permanent fellowship Hebrews 13 5 never will I leave you never will I forsake you never will I leave you never never never will I forsake you it's in a strong imperative it's speaking of repetition never never never will I leave you never never never will I forsake you never never never that's God speaking his promise to us he's with us and the fourth thing is we are confident because we are going to be fully conformed into the image of Christ 1st John 3 verse 2 beloved now we are children of God and what we will be has not yet been made known but we know that when he appears we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is and then heaven I dwell on the fact that I'm just passing through heaven is my future home I am just passing through I've had the opportunity over the years quite often obviously of ministering to people who are about to enter into eternity and I've always shared the same kinds of things with them there's just something about this scripture that I love so much you know I shared it with my uncle have an uncle who went home to be with Jesus many years ago now and and my aunt had called me she said your uncle is in critical condition David can you come and see him he was my dad's a younger brother to my father and so I went it was in Riverside went to the hospital there in Riverside and and I walked into into the waiting room and when I walked into the waiting room so I could go see my uncle the room was full of all these people just it was there were a number of people there several of them and I remember walking in looking at these people and they're looking at me like who are you and I'm looking at them wondering who they are it turns out they're all blood cousins of mine all of them my grandmother had 118 great great great and great great grandchildren 118 that was in 1992 we've taken over California anyway so so I went in I had my aunt her nickname was Billy my aunt Billy she brought me in and she said to me um David she said speak to your uncle and she said and speak like a Rosalis when she said it made me laugh because see I was afraid of my uncle because he had a rough and loud voice and but then I remembered all of my uncle said rough and loud voices so when my aunt told me that I said so that's where I got this from this loud voice it's from my my father's side of the family she says speak to him like Rosalis so I started speaking to my uncle and she said he has an open his eyes all day he was moving into a coma he died of cancer my father my grandfather I'm sorry my uncle was uh about 5 10 190 200 pounds but as I was looking at him all of us who have seen what cancer does to somebody he had lost all this weight he was just a just a bag of bones there just waiting to to check out so he could go to heaven and I was looking at this man they had given him chemo and and the other kinds of therapies and he had a real thick uh you know hair his hair was real thick and he had a mustache that's another thing Rosalis mustache and but it was gone he was bald he was sallow his skin was yellow and I remember looking at him and I said uncle I said I want to pray with you and he hadn't opened his eyes or made any noise my aunt had said all day and and he goes pray like that I heard him he said pray so I put my hand on him and I prayed for my uncle and I said to him let me tell you something I said Jesus said in my father's house are many mansions I go to prepare a place for you and if I go and prepare a place for you Jesus said I will come and receive you unto myself that where I am there you may be also my uncle he says you're going to go into the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ I did that with him I've done that with others others whom I loved very deeply that scripture gives me hope I go and I prepare a place for you very often we read the word in my house in my father's house are many mansions King James many mansions the uh the literal translation of the word mansion it speaks of dwelling places that's what the word means in my father's house are many dwelling places uh not necessarily because when you hear the word mansion now what do you think of you think of some you know 20 000 square foot you know that's a mansion right no it's it's a dwelling place and and when you go to Israel you'll go to a particular place where they will show you this and and they'll point this out to you they'll say this house here that what would have been here is the main structure but they would build for family members dwelling places the father's house would be here and the dwelling places would be built into the father's house and so when Jesus was saying in my father's house are many mansions I go to prepare a place for you if I go and prepare a place for you I'll come again and receive you unto myself that where I am there you may be also when Jesus said that he was saying this is a community structured as a family we all belong together and we'll all be able to dwell together that's why I say if you don't get along with your brother and sister now in the Lord you're gonna have a tough time in heaven because you're going to be dwelling in the same family home if you will but he said where I am there you may be I dwell on that I dwell on that and and I tell you as as as my life continues on and and and I I see more of my friends and and and family as they're departing and going to their to their rest with the Lord Jesus Christ I I begun begin to long even more and more for that one day I become more homesick for the place that has been prepared for me too because when we get to go to heaven and we get to see our Jesus we'll also see those whom we love they're there too you see one of satan's chief devices is to tempt you to trust in your own works and when I was in I've seen this in Mexico City I've seen this in in in Manila Philippines where where the people are crawling on marble or on on on rock trying to gain the attention of God or paying off a promise they have made no you don't have to do that tied us three four and through seven says it like this when the kindness of the love of God our savior toward man appeared not by works of righteousness which we've done but according to his mercy he saved us through the wash in every generation renewing of the Holy Spirit whom he poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our savior that having been justified by his grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life you see our assurance is totally rooted in God's unmerited undeserved favor salvation again we rest on this is an absolutely free gift from God absolutely in Romans 3 24 we are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus now I can voluntarily sin but when I do I quench the spirit and there's a breaking of the fellowship that I should have with the Lord like it says in the Psalms if I regard iniquity in my heart the Lord will not hear me but when I confess and repent and forsake that's in fellowship will be restored that's why Jude 1 21 says keep yourselves in the love of God as you await the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life stay in the sphere of the love of God remain he's saying where you experience his blessing remain under the spout where the blessings come out that's what pastor chuck would say because the Holy Spirit wants to point your life that's what it means for us to be a believer to be a follower Jesus in Luke 9 23 said it like this if anyone desires to come after me let him deny himself take up his cross daily follow me so as his followers we offer ourselves as a sacrifice and we do that daily I put on the helmet of salvation I abide in the loving grace of God Satan says give up you're never going to make it but Satan's a liar in Jude 24 God is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with succeeding joy God is able in Philippians 1 6 being confident of this very thing that he who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ he didn't start a work that he won't finish it's because of God's grace that I can continue this walk and trusting in his grace has given me assurance it's resting in him that you find assurance it's resting in him that you find peace that's why Colossians 3 2 says set your minds on things above not on earthly things you see of all people Paul could have been tormented by what he had done when he's speaking of his own testimony in Galatians 1 13 he said to the church of Galatia you've heard of my previous way of life in Judaism how I intensely persecuted the church of God I tried to destroy it in 1st Corinthians 15 9 he said I am the least of the apostles who have not worthy to be called an apostle because I persecuted the church of God that could have troubled him it could have provoked him to refrain from preaching I don't have the standing how could I possibly speak in this way but he knew the grace of God that's why in 1st Timothy 1 13 he said even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelief again the battlefield is our mind put on the helmet of salvation we're not ignorant of how the devil works we remain on the alert and when we become discouraged and when we are saddled with doubt what I do let me encourage you to the same thing as I just begin to dwell on his promises I dwell on his promises 2nd Thessalonians 3 3 says the Lord is faithful who will establish you and guard you from the evil one I dwell on his promises he who has begun a good work will continue it he's going to complete it it's not by works of righteousness which I've done according to him his mercy and grace and love and all of that he saved me and so I put together the different scriptures that I know and and and I also ask God that I might guard my heart and my mind and keep them in the proper place so that I don't allow myself to travel in a place I don't want to be so it's a discipline it's a dying to yourself it's an awareness of what's going on and you put that helmet of salvation I've been saved by Jesus Christ and I've had people especially at the beginning of my walk with the Lord who wanted to doubt that God had done anything people including my brother whom I've mentioned and others who knew me are you just you know you're just you know one of these days you go back to what you were David you know because you know you can't be anything other than what you are you know how many of us have that in our head still that you have always been a liar once a liar always a liar or once a doper always a doper once a immoral person always an immoral person now I've I've heard all of those things because my heart has condemned me my heart has condemned me what gives you the right to talk about the grace of God you're not that good and you don't know that much and who are you who do you think you are and God is very gracious because there are always people in church who will remind me of what I am or what I've been I was doing a men's conference or actually a pastor's conference in another state and a guy walked up to me and he says you're not that good a preacher you know I never saw him before I said really he says no you're not you're not that good a teacher I said okay he says God has given me the gift of keeping pastors humble what a gift thank you so much you know so people people will tell you or you may run across somebody who remembers you from the old days some of you have haven't you who remembers you from the old days they want to bring you back say you know what you know I've told you this in our church no less than two times people have come to church here for services who have left say and I'll never go back there again I know him I know what he was I went to school with him I know what kind of man that is he's a charlatan he's a liar he's a thief and he's lying to you that's what he said twice two different people and I just say well bless you Jesus I've been transformed that much well thank you Jesus you know thank you you know it's a fact but you know what God is faithful he establishes us and he guards us from the evil one put your mind on the things of God rest your hope completely in Jesus Christ and when the enemy lies to you just lift up that well we'll see this lift up the sword but put on that helmet and just keep going because the one thing I know for a fact there's many things I know for a fact are scriptural but I know where he ends up and I know where I end up because of the grace of God because of the grace of God remember that put it on so Hebrews 13 will close with this verses 20 and 21 may the God of peace who brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead that great shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the everlasting covenant make you complete in every good work to do his will working in you what is well pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ the Whom be glory forever and ever Amen father we just thank you