THE FIRST STEPS AFTER CONVERSION
(Psa.119,2)
WERNER BERGMANN
Part I.
Psalm 119
Happy are those who keep his testimonies, who seek him wholeheartedly.
Blessed are they that keep his testimonies, and that seek him with the whole heart.
Blessed are they who keep their testimonies, who seek with all their hearts.
Felicity or bliss is the enhancement of happiness.
Bliss is mentioned in John 20:29.
Jesus speaks to him:
Because you saw me, you believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believed!
Thomas believed on the basis of visible things. Thomas is here the representative of the whole people of Israel, because Israel of that time had seen Jesus with its own eyes. Felicity is promised to Israel. But the promise of bliss applies equally to us.
Bliss is the highest blessing of God for us.
So blessed are those who keep his testimonies.
Our testimony is Jesus.
We could say: Blessed is he who preserves Jesus in his heart, who preserves Jesus in his daily life, in all his actions.
Blessed are those who seek Jesus with all their hearts.
The question of fertility depends on whether we seek Jesus wholeheartedly.
Often we say in our prayer:
Lord Jesus, from the bottom of my heart ...
But what do we offer to the Lord - through our daily lives.
Are we credible before God?
Do we bring the content of our heart to him?
The conversion.
Nobody comes to the son, unless the father draws him.
No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.
John 6:44
The sinful man is drawn: that is the drawing of the Father. The father does not draw to himself, but to the son. Why? Because the son was hanging on the cross. That's why the father draws.
Take care. Only that is the gospel, which draws to the cross.
By the way, with a lost person we can not talk about the teaching of predestination. No, with him we first talk about the cross of Jesus.
The Son accomplished the work of salvation on the Cross, and the Holy Ghost sealed the rebirth. He gives the seal of rebirth after a true conversion. You are born again, you have received the forgiveness of all sins. That happened when you took Jesus personally. Jesus came into your heart and you realized that, you now have the testimony!
Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.
1 Petr 1.23
All this together is the work of the trinitarian side of God.
The first question after the conversion.
The most important question for the young convert is: is there a change of mind, is there a change in the way?
The change of mind is only present if there is a change of the way The saved one does not go the old way anymore. Why? Because the Lord our God has changed the senses. He gave us the meaning of Christ.
Whoever has come to repentance to the Lord Jesus Christ, and who was accepted by the Lord Jesus, is justified by his sins, he now has peace with God, and now the question is:
How do I keep assurance of salvation? How do I stay in the presence of God? How does my heart stay connected to Jesus?
Some unclear conversion is due to inadequate instruction in the salvation of the soul. Many believers have a lack of instruction until the end of their lives.
This certainty about salvation is the knowledge of salvation. This certainty can only be given to them by the Holy Spirit. Only those who believe in Christ receive the Holy Spirit: John 7:39; Rö.8,14-16; Of these we pay special attention to verse 9. It is an accent of our time that people want to have the Holy Spirit conveyed through people.We do not receive the Holy Ghost through tongues. This is another gospel, and Paul says about it, "such are cursed." People can not convey the Holy Spirit.
The second question after the conversion is:
how can I keep the assurance of salvation?
Jesus Christ called out of John 19:30: "It is finished." That is our security for our life and our death. Jesus our Lord speaks words of life. But there are also the facts. The blood of Jesus Christ gives us this eternal security. Our salvation is for eternity. We will never be lost again. We have eternal safety in Christ, because through Christ we are connected to eternity. Our Lord Jesus is in heaven, he is in eternity. And so we are in the communion of his blood and in the communion of his sufferings.
Phil 3,10
To know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the communion of his sufferings, becoming like his death,
1Kor 10,16
The cup of blessing that we bless, is he not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is not it the communion of the Body
2.Mo 12,21-23
21 Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel, and said unto them, Draw out and take you a lamb according to your families, and kill the passover.
22 And ye shall take a bunch of hyssop, and dip it in the blood that is in the bason, and strike the lintel and the two side posts with the blood that is in the bason; and none of you shall go out at the door of his house until the morning.
23 For the LORD will pass through to smite the Egyptians; and when he seeth the blood upon the lintel, and on the two side posts, the LORD will pass over the door, and will not suffer the destroyer to come in unto your houses to smite you .
1.Joh.1,7
But when we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from every sin.
Kol.1,20.
20 And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.
The last question
How does the the converted and rescued man defend himself against the attacks of Satan?
Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat every tree of the garden?
We already know the type of snake whisperer from 1.Mo. 3
Today he says: You are not saved. Did he say that to you too? You are not saved because you do not feel anything. Please believe me, I still have not felt that I'm saved. It is a problem of our time. Many who are really children of God have a problem there. They listen to the snake talk. Dear brother and dear sister, never listen to the voice of the enemy. Ask the Lord that you would like to hear his voice, the voice of the Good Shepherd. The Lord Jesus said, "My sheep hear my voice." O friend, you have a right to hear his voice clearly. But it can only be clearly heard if you reject every serpent-whisper and also ask your Lord to give you such a favor.
This evil wants to make you discouraged and push you down. If you do not know what that is, then tell us, we'll occasionally take you to pastoral care, so you can tell what's going down. The enemy wants to take the joy of the Lord because he does not love you. He is jealous of what has become of us in Christ.
He resents himself immensely, that we are promised the glory of heaven. It brings it to envy. The joy of the Lord, as the New Testament says, is just our strength. And it is also written in the Old Testament. We want to read it that is in Neh.8,10. This is wonderful, as the Lord already made these promises in the Old Testament: "And he said unto them, Go, eat fat, and drink sweet things, and send forth portions of those for whom nothing is prepared, for the day is holy unto our Lord. And do not grieve. For the joy of the Lord is your strength! „.
You, that's a question for us personally, is the joy in Jesus even your strength? Or do you strengthen yourself on other things? Where do you become strong? Do you know what your strength is? Where you go to escape is your strength. Some believers flee to the sleeping pills. It's her strength. Some flee in alcohol. It's her strength. Some flee to the world, in front of the television. They say I have to switch off, I have to finally see something else and turn on the box. Yes, we have that in pastoral care, they pull the covers over their heads and do not go out of bed for the next four days. We have experienced all this in pastoral care. In pastoral care, we have come to know the escape routes of God's children. You do not believe what problems arise there. What does God's word say? The Lord is our strength. Therefore take refuge in him! What is Jesus dishonored by clinging to other things than to Jesus? I can not understand how much Jesus is offended by this behavior.
He is our strength, but has nothing to do with feelings. Emotions can never give a sure reason for salvation. This is object illusion. Feelings are changing like summer and winter. Feelings. They are not reliable, as in Germany the weather. The true faith exists, but without affirmation of the feeling in us. Because feelings and moods and moods are connected with the old man. Let me tell you, you are a carnal Christian, if you build on it. Experienced Christians do not respond to emotions, beautiful as they sometimes are, because and that is because they are too often deceived.
Also, the feelings dwindle when they are valued and when they are tested for permanence. You, friend, I tell you, take the feelings out of a whole day's sleep, let's see what you get the other day? You, what you have left then, that's what's real. Real is what is connected with Jesus. What remains. Do you think you can serve the Lord Jesus Christ with counterfeit money? Emotions have their ground in the soul, but not in the spiritual realm. That's a difference.
Of course, whoever can not recognize this is at a disadvantage. The whole modern mysticism of our time, from the tongue-spirit to the face-ghost, to the dream-spirit, to the spirit of lies, all one mind, moves without exception in these expressions of the feeling.
That is why Scripture does not know the soul. Did we notice that already? The Bible knows neither the Old nor the New Testament a witness of the soul. This does not exist, the witness of the soul, but the witness of the Spirit (1 John 5: 6-9). It is very clear. We just have to read the bible. The testimony of the Spirit is expressed by the reliance on the written Word. Joy in Jesus, peace of God and the love of the Lord in our hearts are neither illusions nor feelings, but we also want to remember that. The joy, the peace and the love of God are our possessions, that confirms the word of God. Their power is best proved when all mental and carnal feelings pass away.
At this moment, the power of faith in the believer comes to the fore. We are now coming to a problem with which we have to deal again and again in pastoral care. The problem of challenges to the faithful is not always, but 85% of a shift is in a weakness of faith. You try to fight convulsively from the meat.
This takes place in the emotional realm of feelings. The emotional, the emotional things pass away. Do not confuse the fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22, Joy, Peace, Love, etc.) with feelings. That has nothing to do with feelings at all. Siblings, meet the enemy, with the word of the Lord and the fact of John 6:37.
All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.
The Lord Jesus, this mighty one, has received you, that is written. And now it's up to us to live that out in faith
Every day thank the Lord, on his knees daily, for the precious assurance of faith that has come to us in Christ, in him and in his word. So you beat the enemy, who has already been defeated on Golgotha anyway. And finally, I may add a little article and say: By the way, my brothers and sisters, only to those who are saved says the devil, "you are not born again". He says that only to the saved, not to the godless. I have never heard that he said to godless, "you are not born again." The wicked would not know what to do with it, and besides, the devil would draw attention to the fact of salvation. He does not. But you are a child of God, that needs the sanctification and acceptance of the faith that has become in Christ through his grace.
Amen.
Part II.
We want to read about Ps.119 verse 2. It says, "Blessed are they who keep their testimonies, who seek him with all their hearts." No one, indeed no one, will ever be in eternity, who has not sought Jesus with all his heart. That is the question for us, whether God sees us as such people, who have sought him. Not just a little, not once on a Sunday, but with the whole heart. That means there is no gap left in it. The Lord Jesus Christ expects a complete extradition from those he wants to meet. He does that by moving into their hearts. He does when he can. He can do it when we come to him as lost sinners.
Similar to everywhere it is among Christians in Germany. They think it would be enough if they had any Christian creed. It's not like this. We need a very personal encounter with Jesus here, a personal decision, but also a personal reception of Jesus in our hearts. And the Lord Jesus does not move in everywhere. He does not think about it. He wants to enter such hearts, in which he realizes that they seek him with all their hearts.
We now come to the subject of prayer.
For a child of God, for a young convert, it is extremely important. Prayer and thanksgiving daily and as often as possible. In the New Testament, these two terms exist: "watch and pray". I believe that vigilance is part of prayer itself. For the moment we fall asleep at prayer, the proof is provided. There were people who said that the best sleep was sleep in the church. I have not tried it yet. I have never slept in a church or church meeting. But we leave these people now. We do not want to talk about it. But it is necessary that we ourselves are vigilant for prayer. Because our prayer will only be heard, if at the same time we set up our whole senses for what is our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. There is no room for tiredness and drowsiness. I have to be awake to prayer. As it once was in the Old Testament. Then you had to bring the firstfruits into the house of God. Therefore the best for the Lord Jesus. And that is the time of day when we are not tormented by fatigue. That's the morning. The best for the house of God. And this prayer under vigilance is associated with the precious Word of God. We should get used to reading the Bible in prayer. Then it will be right. Anyone who has received Christ needs food in his heart daily. Every child of God must have his own Bible. He should, in addition to the general translations, also have a verbatim translation. For example the Elberfelder or Darby translation. Only with the word of God are we able to overcome victoriously the attacks of the enemy, the attacks of the world and the attacks of our own flesh. There is no other way. Such an attack against the life with Jesus is to draw us into the lusts of the world.
This includes the lust of the flesh. This means we are entangled with our own will and our own self.
Who attacks? The Enemy and our own flesh. We are unable to face the enemy with our human intelligence. We can not do that. We can try, but we do not have the slightest chance of success because we can not match it in any way. And that is why it is necessary, because we want to lead a victorious life with Jesus, to make Christ our own. Simply that we set ourselves the goal to live just like that, just to talk that, to think only, to act only as Jesus did. To be able to do that, we need to know the Bible. For if we do not know the Bible, we can not walk as he does. What does the Bible say about that? "If we walk in the light, as he is in the light, then we have fellowship." That is the question, can we walk in the light in the same way as Jesus walked? Yes, sure, otherwise the Bible would not say this. Because of the forgiveness given to us in the blood of the Lamb, it is always possible for us to walk in the light. Whether the Lord Jesus knows us as a man of light? O, if he does not see that his light pervades our hearts, that Jesus has not entered our hearts, we are completely lost. And when we realize that Jesus did not enter our hearts, we are still completely lost. That is why the Lord Jesus came into this world to save the lost.
One of the strongest bonds
that we know among the believers is the ego-related bonds that have covered and permeated all of our personal humanity with a monstrous web. We do not suspect that. We only really feel it when we try a little bit to become more like Christ. Then we suddenly feel that we do not grab it. Many become dejected. disheartened. despondent. It is a wrong way. But: It is only from this moment on that we should do more and more to reach Christ completely through prayer and Bible reading. These things that the world offers us, the things that our own self offers us, these things pass away. The Bible says in 1 John 2: 15-17. People who cling to things that go by are like someone who puts a pile of snow in the cellar in winter and wants to wait until he can get him out in the summer and build a snowman.
It will not be possible. Why? Because the snow is going. Just as the snow passes and does not survive the summer heat, so will the earthly life demand us, namely, who or what was your orientation? The transient things? Your own flesh? Then you will pass away together with the perishable things. That is why we need Jesus in our hearts to know that Jesus lives in us, daily, to give us guidance and instruction every hour. We have to know that. We have to own it. This is fellowship with Jesus.
There is nothing better for him who, through the love of Christ, has escaped the essence of this world (2 Peter 2:20). Here, God's Word "escape this world" does not mean suicide. But we should escape the things that are transient.
We also want to learn, little by little, that Christ died in our place. He died so completely that we should see ourselves as having died in faith with Christ. The Lord Jesus did not die a little, but completely.
It is heresy against the word of the Lord when it is said that Christ was not crucified, though God's Word teaches it. Christ died on the cross and nowhere else. But for whom did he die? He, Jesus died for sin.
Which sin? He died for my and your sin. And for whom does he live, this Jesus? The Bible says, "He lives for God." This is Rom. 6.11. He died in connection with our sin, but he did not remain dead, but rose again. Whoever has come to Christ and has received eternal life, may also live with him for God in the equality of his death. Whoever came to Christ also died with him. He who has recognized his sin has recognized the judgment of sin: death. He died at the same time before God. Because he has refrained from sin. It is enough for him.
What children of God live, they live for the Lord. Now we look at our life with Jesus. Do you live your life for God? We have to be aware of that. That's what we offer to God. Our daily life is what we offer God.
Or do you live for yourself? Or do you live for the transient things? Oh, Jesus is not transient, He is forever. He is the word. The Bible clearly states that everything passes, that only his word remains. And like our Lord, so we too. By what? Well, by believing in Him, we are on the Resurrection floor that Jesus created, where we can keep ourselves dead.
We are dead for sin according to the promise of the word of God in faith. And we live in a new life, like Him, in a state of resurrection for God.
So it means for us:
more and more to read his word.
Read so that we know, appreciate, and use Jesus and His power, and learn to apply it. That is why the Lord Jesus did not take us from this world. In high-priestly prayer, the Lord does not speak of taking them away immediately from the world. The Lord Jesus does not say, Father, I want you to take the rescued people away from the world. Why not? Then we would all come to the eternity without any reward ( without wage). Therefore, the Lord has left us here to shine for him in the testimony that we should live for him and represent him through our behavior.
But Christ is all for us, Paul says in 1 Cor. Yes, he has given himself completely for us and now he represents us completely before the father. Completey. Therefore Christ is everything to us, completely. Can the Lord Jesus be everything for us if we do not give everything to him? Surely not. Therefore, as children of God, which we belong to him, who have come to the rebirth, which we have everlasting life, we must consider the honor of our Lord, that the Lord Jesus can look to the Father, saying to the Father: look at the work of my salvation on the cross on this brother (sister). The father is then glorified.
My question to you is:
Do you glorify the heavenly Father through Jesus? Christ is all for us also through his word. In what relationship do you live to the word of God? Does that make any difference to you, whether you read the Bible or not? Do you think you could honor God if you don't appreciate His Word. Because Jesus is the Word.
A born again Christian is only near to God if he wants to be taught. People who can not be taught are never near God. A sign of true succession is the willingness to be taught. I do not mean to be lectured by the Jehovah's Witnesses, but to be instructed by the word of God. That's what matters. If I am not instructed by the Word of God, then I can't be taught by the Spirit of God.
The modernist events of spirit-glorification, as it has become modern in the end times of Satan today, is a striking example. Here the honor is taken from the Christ. By the will of the Heavenly Father, Jesus is to be honored as the Son of God.
It is true that one does not go against God here, but one shifts the emphasis by bringing the mind into a glorification stage, in which one takes the glory of Christ, which Heavenly Father has said, "so that all may honor the Son." The Bible does not say that everyone honors the Holy Spirit. There is no such bible verse.
Only he who honors the Son, who honors his Word, honors the Father. Only he who honors the Son honors the Holy Spirit. And about all that the young convert reads, he has to ask, is there any agreement of mine with the word of God?
I can not just read the Bible as a compulsory exercise. That's nothing. I need a personal communion with the living God. I must have a living connection with the Word and through the Word to Christ, otherwise the Word of God is not alive to me. And everything that is dead does not live. That is why Jesus lives because he did not remain dead, but rose again. That is why God's Word says that he is not a god of the dead, but of the living. That's how it is written. We want to stay with the Word of God.
Reading is a practical side. If believers read books and journals with non-divine content, then we can already say that the Lord Jesus does not allow this.The weak believer gives the permission for himself. I may assume that self-deceivers are also deceivers, as the letter to the Galatians says. Self-deceivers are those that do not correspond to the meaning and spirit of Christ. They contradict him. I can not ask God for something and at the same time live as if there is no God
This holy God of whom there is written, who can not see sin, will never allow you to read an atheistic writing. That's what people think, but that's not a fact. Imagination does not count before God either. But they contradict Him, this living God. The Holy Spirit should to get more the real control over our life. Let's ask: Lord, how do you want that? What does your word say about that?
And one thing I can say, there are believers, they do it that way.
For the precious Word of God You can only thank and nothing else. Remember that. You can only give thanks for the precious Word of God on the condition that you have fellowship with it and not with things that God has forbidden. Prayer is the respiratory organ, the word is the digestive organ. If the lungs and stomach do not work, you have to die. Spiritual dying takes place even in the church of Jesus at those who have come to rebirth. we need both to live, lungs and stomach.
4th point.
The believer, young or old, when he comes to faith, must also learn more and more. He has to be excited again and again to look at Christ. Then the world, the sin, but also the self, the seductions of the people will be small. The moment the things of this mortal world demand tribute from us, it becomes clear that we have not yet recognized Christ. Jesus must be recognized. Only then can we receive his blessings. Maybe we do not know about the deep communion we can experience with Christ. Christ the Lord gives us his fellowship. And if we do not own her? Then we did not access. Jesus Christ gives us his hand. We did not touch his hand. One gains strength in faith in Christ, says the letter to the Philipians in chapter 4:13. To be an overcomer in this world is the goal. Only by believing in Christ do we gain the power to be an overcomer. That completely excludes our human personality. There is no glory for us. We are unable to guide ourselves through this world. We are unable to protect ourselves. We should be victors. By the Lord Jesus.
The question is:
how do I relate to the suffering of this time?
There are two types of suffering of this time:
a) self - inflicted and
b) non-culpable suffering.
And because we never see innocent suffering with our beloved Lord, we should never suffer from it. That's very clear. You can examine the New Testament. Tell me, where the Lord had to learn self-inflicted suffering? His approach to the cross was not self-inflicted suffering. But the guilt was ours. In this, God's Word clearly teaches us in 1 Peter 2:20 or 1 Peter 4:15. And if the precious Word of God gives us such instruction, there is also the possibility of living through intimate fellowship with Christ without self-inflicted suffering. If we then examine the Scripture, we find many things about this matter.
Now we have to undergo the innocent sufferings, even if our old person completely resists them. Self-inflicted suffering did not exist with our Lord. But innocent suffering was the part of our Lord. And why should we avoid this suffering?
If we go through these sufferings, our Christianity is like that of the first witnesses of Christ, for example Acts. or 1.Thes.3,3-4 or 1.Petr.2,19 and 1.Petr.4,12-13 and so on. Most importantly, our beloved Lord suffered much, much from the unjust world. And he promised us that it would be our part too (Jn.15: 18-21, as well as Mt.5: 11-12). Do we want to have a better life in this world, which rejected him, Christ, than himself?
Do we want to come through this world without harm when the Lord has told us to be his imitators? Would all young converts learn at an early age from wearing their shame, from shame outside the camp, according to Heb.13: 13.
5. Such sufferings for the sake of righteousness, suffering for Christ's sake on the part of the unbelieving world, will have to go through especially the children of God who will faithfully follow the Lord Jesus. They will bid the unfaithful and the religious world farewell. With the conversion we should actually punch every infidelity and the religious world in the face. Children of God have no community with worldly things. Principles of Scripture, such as principles for the celebration of the celebration, have simply been rejected. People who are not saved confess in a deceitful way: to be a bread and a body. That is not correct or not so, as we find in 1.Kor.10,17ff. And by the celebration of the meal one receives no forgiveness of sin, though this is taught. The need for conversion is very seriously emphasized in Scripture, for example, for the purpose of forgiveness of sins (Acts 3:19 or Acts 26:18).
So too is the interpretation that one would be born again through the waters of baptism, totally wrong. And a very dangerous thing.
However, if one lives scripturally, then one has denied the non-biblical teachings and actions practically every value. Now, if one abandons such an organization which teaches such false doctrines about blessings, one will stand innocently on purely biblical grounds.The scipture admonishes us, for example in 2 Corinthians 6: 14-18.
Christ, and later also Paul, experienced the hatred of the unsaved world and suffered many things for the sake of the Word. By placing oneself under the biblical truths of the baptism and the Lord's memorial service (Romans 6 and I Corithians 11) with the act of obedience to faith, one will become acquainted with the enmity of the world.
Such suffering is therefore scriptural. We are in identity with the whole Acts of the Apostles. This already proves the Passion story of the Lord Jesus. For Jesus suffered the most from the religious world, from the people whom the Lord calls the Blind Leader. And notice that the religious world nailed Jesus to the cross. Let's never forget that. And there are still many such enemies of Jesus today. Ultimately, the people of different religions, including Catholicism and Protestantism, do not have Christ in their hearts. In the end, there are only a few who belong to the Lord Jesus. And certainly some of the Catholics and Protestants are also saved. Nevertheless, we want to say clearly, do not follow the religious world.
Only by faith in Jesus will we have eternal life, just as Scripture says. He who does not take Jesus into his heart, who does not let Christ enter by confessing his sins as a lost sinner before God, passes the destination. Those who accept their responsibility and accept Christ as Savior, are saved. Charity does not help. The Lord wants to lead us to obedience.
Lord grant us mercy
Amen.