What Does "Converted" Mean?
What does converted mean? It means completely changed. Converted is not synonymous with reformed. Reforms are from without—conversion from within. Conversion is a complete turnabout to Jesus and a willingness to do what He wants you to do. Unless you have made a complete turnabout and are doing His will it will avail you nothing if you've reformed a thousand times.
The Lord says He has something better for you—salvation—if He can get you to see it. Jesus said: "Come unto Me," not to a creed, to Me, not to a preacher, to Me, not to an evangelist. "Come unto Me... and I will give you rest." Matt. 11:2828Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. (Matthew 11:28). Faith in Jesus Christ saves you.
You can attend the services, teach Sunday school, return thanks and do everything that would apparently stamp you as a Christian—even pray—but you won't ever be a Christian until you do what God tells you to do.
The first thing to remember about being saved is that salvation is a personal matter. "Seek ye the Lord"—that means everyone must seek for himself. It won't do for the parent to seek for the children; it won't do for the children to seek for the parent.
If you were sick, all the medicine I might take wouldn't do you any good. Salvation is a personal matter that no one else can do for you; you must attend to it yourself.
Some think they must come to Him in a certain way—that they must be stirred by emotion or something. Some of you say that in order to accept Jesus you must have different surroundings. You think you could do it better in some other place. You can be saved where you are as well as any place on earth. You need a new heart, not a new suit.
You say, "The church is full of hypocrites." So's hell! There are no hypocrites in heaven. What can I do to keep out of hell? "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." Acts 16:3131And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house. (Acts 16:31).
Jesus Christ became a man; God became flesh and blood. He died on the cross for us, so that we might escape the penalty pronounced on us. Now. what's our part in salvation? Here it is: "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved."
You say, "It's so mysterious. I don't understand." You'll be surprised to find out how little you have to know. You plant a seed in the ground; that's your part. You don't understand how it grows. How God makes that seed grow is mysterious to you. But you leave that up to Him.
God says: "Let the wicked forsake his way." Isa. 55:77Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. (Isaiah 55:7). When'? Within a month, within a week, within a day, within an hour? No! Now! The instant you believe, God's plan of salvation is thrown into gear. You will be saved before you know it, like a child being born.
I want you to see what God put in black and white—that there can be a sound, thorough conversion in an instant, and that man can be converted as quietly as the dawning of a new day. What I want to make clear is the fact that a man can be converted without a great display of emotion or ceremony. It is an inward thing.
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved. Because of His divinity He understands God's side of it, and because of His humanity He understands our side of it. Therefore, Jesus Christ is the mediator between God and man. He died to save us.
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, confess Him with your mouth, and you shall be saved. It is a great salvation that can reach down into the quagmire of filth and pull out a struggling sinner. It is a great salvation, for it saves from great sin.
I want to close with this: that the way to heaven is a blood-stained way. "The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin." 1 John 1:77But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. (1 John 1:7). No man ever has nor ever will reach it without Christ.