I often work with people who are Christians, but people who wonder how they have allowed themselves to get into their miserable situation.  Quite often they have for some reason or other left their minds unprotected.  The enemy has attacked them at the point of their thoughts and brought fear, guilt, depression, anger, and an open door leading to habitual sins.

    Paul counseled the church of Ephesus to put on the whole armour of God, that they may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil (Ephesians 6:11).  While most Christians put on various pieces of the armor, the one that many people omit is that of the helmet of salvation.

    The helmet of salvation is for the protection of the mind against some basic wrong thinking.  The wrong thinking is "performance oriented salvation".  The performance oriented salvation thinking is a false belief system which hinges upon one earning his salvation based upon living up to a certain standard.  The individual has been taught or has created in him mind that certain standard.  This system of beliefs entertains the concept that one has to perform to earn his salvation or to perform to maintain his salvation.

    Such a belief system is a stage for many mental, emotional, and social problems.  Often in such a belief system, the individual never really knows whether or not his is saved or can be saved.  Why?  The standard for measurement is often obscure being based upon various opinions of various men rather than the Word of God.  Furthermore, even if the standard is fairly clear, the individual has no assurance that he will ever live up to it.  Moreover, there is no guarantee that he has confessed and repented of every single sin.  He may have forgotten one.  Therefore, he might miss a sin and still go to hell.  After all, how many sins does one have to sin in order to be a sinner?  This brings a sense of insecurity, doubt, and ungodly fear of God to the individual.

    Another difficulty in such a belief system is that even if the standards are fairly clear concerning actions, the sins of the heart are usually overlooked or ignored.  Jesus said that the person who looks upon a woman with lust has already committed adultery in his heart.  Therefore, this belief system is a stage for denial for truth.  This denial is like a pebble thrown into a pond.  There is wave of denial that spreads through his life.

    If the individual for a time meets the standard, then there is an open door for pride to enter.  He can pat himself on the back and say, "Look at what I have accomplished."  With pride also comes a critical spirit toward others who have yet to reach his standard.  He will look down at others and condemn them for not measuring up to his standard.  This makes for poor social relations.  Even if he pities others, the pity brings discouragement rather than encouragement.

    Furthermore, if the standard is rather low, sooner or later the individual at a weak moment will give in to some sin.  The result is either, denial, blame, or self condemnation.  Again, denial is like a cancer that spread to other area of life.  Blame is saying, "I would not have done wrong, if such and such had not happened to me."  Self condemnation often carries with it anger, depression, and hopelessness. 

Ephesians 2:8-9  "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:  Not of works, lest any man should boast."  One good definition of "grace" is "the unmerited favor of God."  Again, note that a salvation concept based upon our good works leads to pride and boasting.
Romans 11:6  "And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then is it no more grace: otherwise work is no more work."  We can't have it both ways!  Salvation can only be by grace.

Romans 3:28 "Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law."  Here we find Paul's conclusion the the discussion.  A good way to remember justification is "just as though you have never sinned."
Romans 8:33  "Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth."   Do we justify ourselves?  No!  Is it necessary for other people to justify us?  No!  It is the work of God alone.

Romans 8:15  "For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father."  Note that we are set free from a "bondage to fear".  An ungodly fear of God keeps us from fellowshipping with God and receiving His promises.
I John 4:10 "Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins."  A parent who adopts a child, chooses the child which he adopts.  God chose us before the foundation of the world to be His adopted children.

John 3:1-8  "There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews:    The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him.    Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. {again: or, from above}    Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born?    Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.    That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.    Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.   The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit."  Since the second birth is from above and by the Spirit it is termed "born again".  Can one change their natural birth? No! Neither can he change the new spiritual birth.

Ephesians 1:13  "In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise."  This is a seal of approval.  Furthermore, it is a seal of a finished work.  When a document has a seal placed upon it, it become legal or finalized.

I Peter 1:23  "Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever."  Even if one sins in the soul (thinks wrong thoughts, does something wrong, or gets angry when he shouldn't) this will not corrupt the spirit of the Believer.  Furthermore, this incorruptible seed LIVES and ABIDES within the Believer forever.
I Peter 3:4  "But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price."  The Believer also has the capacity to put on the nature of this incorruptible seed or hidden man.

I John 3:9  "Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God."  A Believer can not sin in the spirit-man.  Why?  Because the seed of God continues to remain in him.  Furthermore, since he is born of God, he does not have the capacity to sin.

I Corinthians 6:11  "And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God."  The word "sanctify" means "to set apart".  We are set apart from the world unto God.  Furthermore, God is the one who has done it.  We did not sanctify ourselves!  Because we are sanctified in Christ, we should live a sanctified life.
Colossians 1:13  "Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son."  We have been translated out of one dominion into another.  Again, God did it.  We are taken from darkness into the light, from death into the life.

II Corinthians 5:17 "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new."   A Christain is not the same person that he used to be.  He is an entirely new being.  It is a matter of fact. It is accomplished by God.

II Peter 1:4  "Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust."  We are not of the same nature that we once were.  We have God's divine, eternal nature dwelling within our spirits.

John 1:12-13  "But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:  Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God."  When we receive Jesus as our Lord and Saviour, we receive the privilege to become children of God.  We didn't just one day decide to become a child and become a child.  One can not will himself into becoming a child of God.  God is the one who initiates the new birth.

I Corinthians 6:17  "But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit."  The spirit of God has united with our spirit and given us life.  Now, we are inseparable from God in the spirit-man.   Romans 8:38-39  "For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,  Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."  Nothing, including ourselves can separate us from God.

II Timothy 1:12  "For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day."  Once we have made a faith commitment to Jesus as our Lord and Saviour, God initiates His work within us.  He then become responsible to keep us saved.  Otherwise, no one would be saved longer than a few hours or days at most.

II Timothy 2:12-13  "If we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us: If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself." If we reject the Gospel, God will reject us.  However, even when we come to disbelieve after once believing, Jesus can't say, "I don't know you" when he lives in us.

Ephesians 2:10  "For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them."  We should see that God has put us in Christ that we may do good works.  However, we don't do good works to get into Christ.
I John 4:15  "Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God."  I have heard Christians say, "If you don't live up to a standard, you will be walking away from God."  Hogwash!  How can we walk away from God when God lives within us?   We may take God (in us) some place that we should not, but we can't walk away from God.

John 10:28-29  "And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.    My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand."  The term "eternal life" is an expression of a QUALITY of life.  The life that one receives when he accepts Jesus is of the very highest quality of life that anyone can have.  It is of a God-quality.  Because it is of such a quality, it is also every lasting.  It will never perish.  We should note this life is given to us at a point in time with lasting results.   Furthermore, NOTHING can take us out of the hands of God.  We can't even remove ourselves.  Why?  Because we did not put ourselves in His hands.  God placed us there.

Hebrew 9:14 "How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?"  The blood of Christ is meant to purge our conscience.  We are to be set free in our conscience.  Dead works are any good works that we do to obtain or maintain our salvation.  We are to be saved from such works!  Why?  So that we may be free to hear and obey the voice of God.  If we are trying to become accepted or maintain our acceptance with God by living up to a certain standard, we are too busy to hear and obey God.  We must be careful not to get the cart before the horse.  We don't do good works to get saved or to keep our salvation.  We, instead, are saved that we may do good works.

Titus 3:5-8  "Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;    Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour;  That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.   This is a faithful saying, and these things I will that thou affirm constantly, that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable unto men."  We should never get tired of teaching, sharing, preaching this truth of being saved by His mercy so that we may be free to maintain good works.

1. The basic context of this passage is not salvation, but fruit bearing.  One can be a child of God without bearing a significant amount of good fruit.  Therefore, Jesus is exhorting the hearer to abide in Him that he might bear an abundance of fruit.
2. Although a portion of the passage may seem to imply that a Believer can be cast into hell to be burned, we must, by principles of interpretation, keep this passage is context of the Word as a whole (I have just listed 16 other passages dealing with the subject).
3. Again, salvation is not based upon our choosing God, but that He has chosen us (vs. 16).  Before the foundations of the world, God foreknew those who would receive Jesus as their Lord and has predestinated them to be conformed to the image of His Son (Romans 8:29).

1. When we look at the context, we see that it is to settle the issue so that we can go on to maturity.  It is difficult to go on to maturity until this issue is settled.
2. The author states that if it were possible to lose your salvation that it would be impossible to regain it.  The psychological issue is that if one believes that he can lose his salvation, then he will focus his attention on the negative and will most likely end up doing the very thing that in his mind would cause him to lose his salvation.  The person who says that he will never drink and focuses his attention on that will most likely end up drinking.
3. However, the author states that he is persuaded better than this of the Believers.  The author sees that the change that God initiates in the spirit of Believers will keep them from falling away.  We should understand that we look on the outward man, but God looks on the inward man.
4. Most importantly, the author to the Hebrews says that we have a better salvation than one in which we could lose our salvation.  We have a better covenant.
5. The major point of the book of Hebrews is to demonstrate that we have a better covenant than the old.  In the new covenant, we are sanctified once for all through the death of Christ.  Hebrews 10:10  "By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all."

1. Here the context is that of hearing the Gospel and rejecting it.  If one hears the Gospel and rejects it, then there is no sacrifice that remains for him.  We should understand that one may receive Christ before his death, but once the person has died, he has no further opportunity to receive Christ.  Hebrews 9:27  "And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment."
2. Again, the author assures the Believers that they will not draw back, but will believe to the saving of the soul.

1. In the interpretation of Scripture, there must be a balance.  One truth taken to the exclusion to other truths, makes the one a lie.  Should we do away with good works since salvation comes by faith?  God forbid! Furthermore, we read in I John 2:19  "They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us."  Some come to church and go through the motions of committing their lives to the Lord without it being a reality.  Soon you don't see them in church any longer.  Why? Their experience was not a true salvation experience.  Yes, I  know of people like that.  Then later, they may come to realize that they were trying to save themselves, but could not.  Then they may come to commit their lives to Jesus as Lord and receive the new birth.
2. James said that if one is truly born again, that he will produce some good works. God gives us faith to believe in Jesus through His Word.  If we accept it, then He initiates the change within us producing the new birth.  Once the new birth has occurred, then we will by the new nature within us produce some good works.  However, if there are no good works, then we can assumed that there was no change within us.

1.  The passages is directed to Believers, the church of the Laodiceans.  We understand that this church was filled with the opinions of the people opposed to the Word of God.  None the less, the people are Believers.
2. The context of the passage is fellowship, not relationship. Revelation 3:20  "Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me."  Our fellowship with God may vary from day to day, but our relationship to God as His children remains constant.
3. Lukewarm Christians make God sick to His stomach.  Again, the purpose of this article is to set us free from the power of the enemy in dead works so that we can fellowship with God, hear His voice, obey Him, and receive His promises. Amen!