Over the past few years, there has been a growing increase in some sports of concussions and traumatic brain injuries. Especially in American Football where children can start playing at the age of 5 in Pop Warner which started in 1929.
There is now great concern over the long-term effects of getting smashed in the head even with the best of helmets. The problem is that one’s brain hitting the inside of the skull can cause a severe concussion.
“Symptoms can include disorientation, memory problems, headaches, fogginess, and loss of consciousness. After suffering from one concussion, a person (especially an athlete) is much more likely to suffer from a second one after another injury. The CDC reports that having more than one concussion can cause depression, anxiety, aggression, personality changes, and an increased risk of Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, CTE, and other brain disorders.” http://www.center4research.org/football-brain-injuries-need-know/
Could you imagine any football player wanting to get into the game but refusing to wear a helmet? It simply would not be allowed. And yet all of us are in a war and fighting battles every day yet many enter the arena with demonic enemies with either no helmet or something that seems to be a helmet but is not.
In Ephesians 6 we are told God has given us the full armor we need to stand strong against our demonic enemies. One of those pieces of armor is called the helmet of salvation. This means that the knowledge of our salvation, truly knowing what it means, and the ongoing effects of that knowledge protects our brains from misinformation and bad theology.
If you have become entangled in porn and sexual sin your enemy and his minions will do everything they can to get you to believe lies about yourself, your sin, and even your relationship with God. If he can get you to believe just one thing about your salvation your odds of recovering from this addiction will be severely hindered and you will end up in great despair, all because you have a false theology of salvation and therefore are playing in the big leagues without a helmet.
In trying to make this simple, because this has been an issue in the Church since it began. And that issue is this;
Is our salvation conditional or unconditional?
Is it given as a free gift that is eternally ours or must it be maintained by good works?
I probably am not going to change anyone’s mind in one email for this has been argued in the church for centuries and was even a part of the discussion at the first council meeting in Jerusalem in Acts 15 and the book of Galatians was written because they gave up the gospel of grace and were gradually slipping into a gospel of works demanding that if you are going to be saved you must be circumcised.
Wow, talk about a hard sell in the New Members Class but that is exactly what was happening in the church of Galatia and Paul gets so angry over the matter that he makes this statement in Galatians 5:12;
“I wish that those who are troubling you would even emasculate themselves.”
Rather harsh words from Paul. If you are going to require circumcision, then you might as well go all the way and cut it all off.
Paul’s point in both these passages is that salvation must be unconditional. That means there cannot be anything required for us to do in order to earn or keep our salvation. It is the unconditional gift to us because of God’s great and never-ending love for us.
However, there are plenty of people who preach that if you continue to fall into sin over and over again you will lose your salvation as if God saved us hoping we would be able to obey His commandments and remain, by our works, a member of His family.
So, if your helmet of salvation is not one based on the unconditional love of God and you are striving to keep your salvation by walking in obedience, through good work, and yet have a sexual addiction that is one confusing place to be fraught with many fears and depression. So, you try harder and fall even more. You are running into the football field of your day without a helmet can another concussion will soon be happening.
I believe that if you are concerned about your sexual addiction and are trying your best to stop that indicates that you are a Christian. If you have given yourself over to sexual sin and it has become your lifestyle and you are ok with that then I would submit that instead of losing your salvation you were never saved in the first place.
Truly born-again Christians all struggle with sin. This idea that a true Christian could not be addicted to any sinful behavior is another flaming arrow of the evil one. Becoming a member of God’s family does not put you in a bubble where you cannot be affected by temptation. No, we face temptation every day and regardless of the battle in which we find ourselves we are;
- Chosen by God Before the Creation of the world so that we can become holy.
- In love, He has Adopted into the Family of God.
- He has redeemed us through the shed blood of Christ
- He has given us forgiveness of all our transgressions according to His riches and grace.
- He has sealed us with the Holy Spirit as our guarantee of our inheritance in heaven.
These are ironclad truths taught to us in Ephesians 1:3-14 and I could go on to Romans 8-9.
However, my point is the helmet of our salvation needs to be the salvation taught clearly in the majority of the Word. So, indeed, if someone has truly been born-again by the grace of God and He brought you into His family you are eternally secure forever and do not let our enemy cause us confusion about this so that he can keep us off balance causing us fear and depression.
This Divine Helmet of eternal salvation needs to be put on every day so that you are thinking about yourself in light of God’s eternal grace and you have the assurance that you are saved and that Christ will keep you always saved as His Spirit helps us to learn how to walk in the Spirit and not fulfill the desires of the flesh.
Now strap on your helmet, snap the chin strap in place and enter the field of battle protecting your mind with the true gospel of salvation.