“And take the helmet of salvation,” Ephesians 6:17.

Victory for the believer is not so much wounding and killing our enemy as overcoming his attempts to wound and slay us.  And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death, Revelation 12:11. Here this truth is demonstrated. These believers were killed  but they overcame their enemy because they refused to yield to his attempts to make them sin. It is our duty to guard that which has been given us and not allow the devil to take it from us by enticing us into sin. Ours is a defensive war rather than an offensive war. We are not permitted to engage upon a campaign of revenge. Finally, be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of another, love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous: not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing: but contrariwise blessing; knowing that ye are thereunto called, that ye should inherit a blessing, I Peter 3:8-9.   We have remarked before upon the necessity of wearing all the armour of God, verse 11. The word and reminds us that each piece is linked to the others. So it is with the graces that these pieces of armour represent. They all come together, bestowed by the Holy Spirit at our regeneration. Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new, II Cor 5:17. Likewise, they all advance or retreat together. Neglect the use of one grace and all graces decline. That which is represented by the helmet is more fully described in I Thess 5:8. And for an helmet, the hope of salvation. The grace then that is referred to here is hope.

I. THE NATURE OF TRUE HOPE

Nothing is more abundant than hope. But much is false hope. The Bible sets forth the nature of true hope. The believer’s hope is a supernatural grace of God, whereby the child of God, through Christ, waits expectantly for the good things, promised to him in the gospel, to be made fully his.

1. True Christian hope is fixed upon salvation.

False hope comprises the hope of being let off, of escaping wrath by some unforeseen circumstance. The Christian hopes for salvation through the blood of Christ.  Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ, Titus 2:13. As our faith is placed in Christ so our hope rests on Him.

2. True Christian hope comes from God.

He is called the God of hope. Rom 15:13. It is a false hope that springs up from our own hearts.

3. True Christian hope belongs only to the child of God.

That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world, Eph 2:12. Christ-lessness and hopelessness go together. Paul sets forth his hope, Acts 24:14-15. (Hebs 6:18)

4. True Christian hope is always accompanied by holiness.

Tit 2:11-13. Here hope and holiness are linked together. There is the hope of the hypocrite but it will perish, Job 8:13, Pro 10:28. And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure, I John 3:3.