Bible Matters 230: Converted: Preponderance of Evidence. 

Out of the mouth of two or three witnesses the preponderance of evidence standard will confirm that a child of God has been converted as presented in the New Testament. No longer abiding in sin.   

Hypothesis:  The lost, natural man walks in darkness with the devil. His life is for the lover of self that leads to the destruction of self and relationships with others.  No love of God.  No love of neighbor.  He may know of Jesus, but never gives God the glory.  This lost man maybe you.  You may even be going to church, but do you give God the glory in everything you do?   If you are lost, then your life is stagnant and likely imploding on you with no peace in sight.  You enjoy your life of sin, drunkenness and self-fulfilling worship.  Tired and weary, you know there is something bigger for you on the horizon, but you just don’t know how to get there.  Your heart is glazed over to pure thoughts, ears are dull and eyes are closed.  You are OK and righteous in your eyes.  You may even feel that you are going to spend eternity in heaven with this life. The bible says you must be born again or be converted to be a child of God in the Kingdom of God here on earth.  Let’s find out!

Case Testimony: 

Matthew 13:15 – For this people’s heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.

Your wisdom is foolish in the eyes of God.

1 Corinthians 3:19-21 – For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, He taketh the wise in their own craftiness. And again, The Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain.   Therefore let no man glory in men. For all things are yours;

The natural man may be going to church.  He uses a verse or two from the bible to justify sin.  In works they deny him.

Titus 1:16 – They profess that they know God; but in works they deny him, being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate.

God directs you to hear his word. There will be that one verse, that one message that pricks your heart.  I was living religion my whole life.  Serving self and not God.  I was baptized and thought I was going to heaven.  I was not living my life in the glory of God.  God finally pricked my heart with Proverbs 30:5-6.  God’s word is quick and powerful.  A discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.  On 12/3/13 my life changed to give God the glory in all that I do. 

Proverbs 30:5-6 – Every word of God is pure: he is a shield unto them that put their trust in him. Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar.

Hebrews 4:12 – For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

To be born again or converted is a testimony of God’s power in the New Testament to a change in your heart toward sin.  You repent of you sin and decide to live a life in the glory of God.  A righteous or converted life allowing Jesus to be the center of your life.  You can feel the power in his word and this taste of God satisfies your soul.  The sin and worship of the devil that ruled your life Is a fading memory, but you still get reminders.  You continue to pray, study God’s word and to grow your heart in the love of Jesus. 

Psalm 51:13 – Then will I teach transgressors thy ways; and sinners shall be converted unto thee.

Mark 4:11-12 – And he said unto them, Unto you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God: but unto them that are without, all these things are done in parables: That seeing they may see, and not perceive; and hearing they may hear, and not understand; lest at any time they should be converted, and their sins should be forgiven them.

Acts 3:19 – Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord;

This conversion is rarely a single exposure to God’s word.  For me, it was continual exposure and the study of God’s word for six months.  During this transition period God’s word was tasting good, but so was the taste of the natural sinful man.  The natural man likes a self-righteous soul.  As you grow in God’s grace, you start to enjoy God’s blessings. The devil is telling you that God wants you to enjoy life.  A little sin is not bad…. Your heart longs for Jesus, but the natural man craves sin.   You are a double minded man. Unstable in all your ways.

 James 1:8 – A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.

Let God control your life to get through this transition phase.  Humble yourself in the eyes of God.  Let your works show your love of God.  Study God’s word daily.  Hear God’s word weekly so he can heal your heart. Pray continually for God’s grace and strength.  That this conversion be complete….For strength.  For sight.  For hearing.

John 12:39-40 – Therefore they could not believe, because that Esaias said again, He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart; that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them.

Luke 22:32 –  But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.

Acts 28:28 – Be it known therefore unto you, that the salvation of God is sent unto the Gentiles, and that they will hear it.

God wants your conversion to be complete.  He wants you to release that foolish natural man pride, humble yourself at the foot of the Lord and become as a little child.  A child believes by faith.  The converted man believes by faith that his sins are forgiven by the shed blood of Jesus Christ, through his death, burial and resurrection of Jesus on the cross. Pray that the hour comes upon you.  The hour when the Son of man is glorified.  The natural man is crucified by Jesus and the Spirit is glorified in your heart to the converted or born-again man as a child of God. 

John 12:23,25,27-28 – And Jesus answered them, saying, The hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified. He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal. Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour: but for this cause came I unto this hour. Father, glorify thy name. Then came there a voice from heaven, saying, I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again.

Decision:  The converted or born-again man is a doer of God’s word.  You forget the natural man who you were.  You no longer abide in sin and darkness.  You become of child of God, not looking to fulfill a life of sin.  Your desire is to walk with Jesus.   You desire to be a new man ( See Bible Matters 208: New Man) walking in the light of Jesus Christ (See Bible Matter 195: Walking in Light).

James 1:22-25 – But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.

John 14:12 – Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.

You glory in the love of God’s commandments.  You love God and your neighbor, being free of the sins of the flesh.  You show your love of God through the love of your brother by hope and charity.

1 John 4:19-21 – We love him, because he first loved us. If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also.

You live a righteous life in the glory of God.  To get to know the only true God and Jesus Christ. You follow Jesus and abide in only his doctrine. You study his word.  You enjoy the fellowship of brothers and sisters in Christ.   

John 12:46 – I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness.

John 17:3-4 – And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.  I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.

John 14:12 – Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.

To God be the glory in all you do, Amen.