Clearing Up Conversion Confusion 
July 4, 2006

1 John 5:10-15

The one who believes in the Son of God )has the testimony in himself; the one who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has given concerning His Son.

 11And the testimony is this, that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.

 12He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life.

This Is Written That You May Know

 13These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.

 14This is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.

 15And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him.

 
God never seeks to confuse us. Rather, He expresses Himself precisely. He desires that we truly understand His teachings and how they apply to our lives. Simply put, the Lord wants us to trust in Him with complete confidence.

We have an Enemy, however, who attempts to undermine that confidence at every turn. We’ve all been there—joyfully moving along through life, sure of our salvation, and then, BAM! We stumble into sin, and our feelings take over. The Devil uses our remorse and conflicting emotions to eat away at our confidence. We think, There’s no way I can be saved. If I were truly saved, I would never have done such a thing. Overwhelmed by feelings of regret and shame, we find our faith coming under fire.

It’s amazing how effectively our fleeting human emotions can undermine assurance in God’s promises. We should not find it all that shocking, however. After all, men and women have been conditioned to let their feelings lead them through life. “If it feels good, do it” is an all-too-common motto in today’s world.

But, the Lord does not speak in feelings. He speaks in truth. Whenever your emotions contradict the Word of God, you can be sure the Scriptures are reliable. For a believer, “feeling saved” is as irrelevant as a husband or wife “feeling married.” Either, you are or you aren’t. Your feelings don’t make it so.

Have your feelings of regret stolen your confidence in God’s eternal salvation? Lay your feelings before the Lord today, and embrace the certainty that only comes with His truth.