Matthew 11:2, “Now when John had heard in the prison the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples, And said unto him, Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another?”
A faithful web visitor and dear friend recently
wrote to me. He shared with me a personal experience, where he had decided
to pretend that he is an atheist. The brief experiment left him a bit
emotionally shaken and feeling bad afterwards. So he wrote to me and asked
for my brotherly opinion. here is my response to him:
Concerning your salvation, I wouldn't feel bad about trying to pretend to be an atheist. You were trying to be empathetic, putting yourself in the shoes of an atheist, to see things from another's perspective. The Lord knows our every thought and intention (Psalms 139:1-6; Proverbs 24:12). God knows that you were simply trying to see things from an atheist's perspective, which in no way is a denial of Christ.
Many, if not most believers are confused at times about their salvation. Dr. Jack Hyles once taught that everyone has such doubts about their salvation at some time, because “There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it” (1st Corinthians 10:13). We all struggle with proper thoughts. We all struggle with areas of sinful weakness. We all struggle with doubts at some point after being saved, as we “grow in the milk of the Word” (1st Peter 2:2).
Feeling bad is not evidence of salvation. I heard Paul Washer say that he comforted his own mother. She was worried that she wasn't saved because of sins she had committed. Paul told her that those very fears were proof of her salvation. I would say that Holy Spirit conviction over sin is some evidence of salvation, but first and foremost, the proof that anyone is saved is the written promise of God in His Holy Word “TO SAVE THEM THAT BELIEVE” (1st Corinthians 1:21). I found a great quote last years from Dr. John R. Rice, about feelings after salvation. I think you will benefit from this, as I did...https://www.soulwinning.info/truth/feelings_and_the_new_birth.htm
https://www.jesus-is-savior.com/Basics/guilt_vs_feelings.htmOne of my web visitors, from Australia, made a new YouTube video, which I just listened to and it is excellent, called, "The Subtle Works Gospel: Calling/Confessing/Asking For Eternal Life."
I found a helpful quote last week by Dr. John R. Rice commenting on Romans 8:4 about they that, “walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.”
I had a web visitor try to prove Lordship Salvation by twisting Romans 8:1, claiming that we must walk after the Spirit to be saved, and not after the flesh. That passage of Scripture doesn't mean that. Walking after the Spirit is not walking in the Spirit. The article explains the difference. We all do and say foolish things some times. I put my knew camera on top of my car today to take a self picture of myself and the wind wobble it, and it fell on the concrete. it didn't break, but I have a nice new dent and scratched paint on my “new” Canon pocket camera. I felt stupid for doing that, knowing it was likely going to fall off my car. My point is that even if you feel bad for something you did, that is, trying to think like an atheist, we all do stuff like that.
I once stayed in a hotel in Honolulu, Hawaii. It was like 17 stories high. In my room, I opened the doors and walked out on the small balcony and started to think about how someone could just easily jump over the railing and fall hundreds of feet to their death. I'm sure I'm not the only one who gets that creepy feeling of the possibility of doing it, committing suicide. Many people have done it! There's just something about being several hundred feet up, and seeing a skimpy 4 foot railing being the only thing between you and the end of life. But then I realized that if I even entertained the thought of possibly doing it, I might actually do it, and those creepy feelings scared me (because I always feel them when looking down from high places). So I quickly left the balcony, closed the doors and the curtain, and didn't go out there anymore during my hotel stay, because of those weird feelings.
I said that to say this. Since no one can conclusively prove the existence of God, the very element of doubt is an absolute essential. The very nature of faith includes the reality of doubt. If there is no doubt, then there can be no faith (trust), because without doubt it would be knowledge. 1st Peter 1:8, “Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory.” The very nature of being a Christian is trusting in a Savior we have never seen, yet we love Him and believe. So this reality must include moments of doubt, such as we see with John the Baptist in prison.
I listened to a brilliant sermon by Pastor Jack Hyles the other day, titled, “You Can Choose Your Own Temperament.”In the sermon Brother Hyles refutes the common misconceptions, statements such as, “She is a naturally sweet person” or “He is a natural hard worker” or “He is generous by nature.” No, we are all selfish, stingy, angry, lazy and worrisome by nature. The difference between the cranky grump and the sweet person is CHOICE. A hard-working man chooses to work hard. A sweet person chooses to be sweet. Dr. Hyles says that since God commands us to forgive, that means it is our nature not to forgive, otherwise God wouldn't have to command us to do it. God wouldn't have to command us to rejoice evermore if we did it naturally, but we don't; by nature we are all moody, grumpy and angry. God gives us the “fruit” (as a gift) of the Holy Spirit when we get saved. The gift is the indwelling Holy Spirit (Luke 11:13). God has to command us to pray without ceasing, because it is not in our fleshly nature to pray. So, God wouldn't have to command us to have faith in God, unless it were in our nature to doubt, worry and fear. Mark 11:22, “And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God.”
In my heart, in think about how much God needs me to help others while I can, preaching the truth. God does need us! I cannot explain why God made it this way, but He did. For some reason, God has placed the burden of reaching others with the Gospel on us. I mean, God the Father gave His only begotten Son to die on the cross for our sins, and yet at the same time He has limited the effectiveness of that great sacrifice to our willingness to “GO YE INTO ALL THE WORLD” (Matthew 28:19-20). If we don't go, they won't know!!! 2nd Corinthians 4:3, “But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost.” If we refuse to live a holy life in the Lord, people won't get saved. Hebrews 12:14, “Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord.” If the lost don't see Christ in us, they won't see the Lord, and they won't get saved. It is a biblical principle that when believers love right and live right, the lost world will see the Lord, and that gives us opportunities to share the Gospel with them. John 13:35, “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.”
I hope some of that might be helpful to you. I know 100% that I am saved because I am solely relying upon what Jesus Christ did to pay for my sins—dying on the cross for my sins, being buried and bodily resurrected the third day as my heavenly High Priest, “seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them” (Hebrews 7:25). I love this Bible verse in Hebrews 7:25, “Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.” (See also Romans 8:34)
Satan is confusing millions of people today by promoting all sorts of wickedness, false doctrines, lies, false gospels and counterfeit Bible versions. Our 7 weapons of spiritual warfare are: The Gospel, salvation, faith, prayer, Word of God, righteousness and truth (Ephesians 6:12-18).
As simple as these things are, they seem to be the least important to the churches today, who are indifferent concerning the truth, God's Word and the Gospel (which evidences their lack of use of the remaining weapons of prayer, faith, righteousness and salvation). I am glad that you are zealous concerning the truth!
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“Nothing
in my future can ever affect the salvation that I have... Once you trust
the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior, you are eternally secure!”
—Pastor Hank Lindstrom (1940-2008), a quote from the classic MP3 sermon
titled, “
