Dear Pastor, Do I Need A Dramatic Conversion Experience To Be Saved?
Dear Pastor,
As you know, I grew up in the church and know about Jesus. I believe He is God and Man, lived a perfect life, and died a substitutionary death for all who believe. I believe that on the third day, He rose from the grave and now sits at the Father’s right hand. I also believe He is returning one day to judge both the living and the dead. I know all the right things and strive to live out my faith, but now that I am in college, all my Christian friends are talking about this experiential moment of conversion. Now, I’m so confused. Others appear to have something I did not, so I wonder if I’m even saved. Could you help me?
Thank you,
Rebecca
Dear Rebecca,
Thank you for reaching out to me. It is always great to hear from our college students!
You are not the first covenant child to wrestle with this question. Let me say outright that you are undoubtedly a child of God. Your faith in the Person and work of Jesus is a gift from God (Eph. 2:9) and a work of the Holy Spirit (Ez. 36:26). Your salvation is secure in Christ. The good work that He started in you many years ago will be brought to its completion (Phil. 1:6).
What you are wrestling with is the assurance of your salvation. Every believer, for a host of different reasons, struggles with this. Nevertheless, covenant children often ask these questions because they do not have an extravagant conversion experience as several other Christians might when they are not raised in a Christian home. Maybe you feel like you are missing something in your Christian testimony because you never remember a day that you did not believe in Christ.
This is not something to regret but to rejoice in the Lord for! When you were only a baby, your parents and our church vowed that we would endeavor to set the gospel before you. Praise the Lord that you believed this at an early age! Our Lord pursued you long before you desired to pursue Him. The evidence of this is the fact that you believe. Because of your own testimony of faith, you can be assured of your salvation. Do you remember what our Westminster Confession of Faith says?
“…yet such as truly believe in the Lord Jesus, and love him in sincerity, endeavoring to walk in all good conscience before him, may in this life be certainly assured that they are in a state of grace, and may rejoice in the hope of the glory of God, which hope shall never make them ashamed.” (WCF, 18.1)
Our Lord desires for you to be confident and assured in your salvation. Graciously, He gives us means to inwardly test ourselves to see if we are true believers and outwardly remembering His promises of salvation. Let me briefly walk through these tests and means.
In places like 1 John, Scripture gives tests of assurance. These tests of assurance exhort believers to examine themselves to discover whether they are truly “walking in the light as Jesus is in the light” (1 Jn. 1:6-7). Later on, John writes, “By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments” (1 Jn. 5:2).
Our Shorter Catechism is very helpful to remember:
86. What is faith in Jesus Christ? Faith in Jesus Christ is a saving grace, whereby we receive and rest upon him alone for salvation, as he is offered to us in the gospel.
87. What is repentance unto life? Repentance unto life is a saving grace, whereby a sinner, out of a true sense of his sin, and apprehension of the mercy of God in Christ, doth, with grief and hatred of his sin, turn from it unto God, with full purpose of, and endeavor after, new obedience.
Ask yourself the question: Do I love God and strive to live a life that glorifies Him? If you can answer that question with a “yes,” then you are a Christian. It is as simple as that: you can know God has saved you if you love Christ and desire to live your life for Him.
However, God doesn’t just give us these inward tests but also outward signs that point us to God’s promises. He gives these to us so that we might know that we are sealed into His covenant of grace. Specifically, He gives us the sacraments of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper to help us see the love that the Father has given us so that we should be called the children of God (1 Jn. 3:1).
In your covenant baptism, which is rightly administered by sprinkling or pouring, the water is a visual proclamation of the gospel and a sign of God’s covenant love for His people. Here is how the Westminster Shorter Catechism defines baptism:
“Baptism is a sacrament wherein the washing with water in the name of the Father, and
of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, doth signify and seal our ingrafting into Christ and
partaking of the benefits of the covenant of grace, and our engagement to be the
Lord’s.” (WSC, 94)
Your baptism is the covenant sign of this great promise of God: He is yours, and you are His. It is a binding and eternal relationship. This is why you ought to regularly remember your baptism especially in times of doubt. As the water was sprinkled over your head as an infant, the water was a sign of the blood of Jesus’ perfect and singular sacrifice for the forgiveness of your sins (Heb. 10:11-14). At that moment, the promises of God were sealed upon you. The promise is that you would be saved if you came to him in faith. Therefore, when the Holy Spirit changed your heart, and you responded to the gospel in faith–even at an early age–Christ’s sacrifice was applied to you. He has completed your salvation, and now you stand before your Heavenly Father as His daughter.
The second sacrament of the New Covenant is the Lord’s Supper. Again, the Shorter Catechism defines the Lord’s Supper:
“The Lord’s Supper is a sacrament, wherein, by giving and receiving bread and wine,
according to Christ’s appointment, his death is showed forth; and the worthy receivers are, not after a corporal and carnal manner, but by faith, made partakers of his body and blood, with all his benefits, to their spiritual nourishment, and growth in grace.” (WSC, 96)
As you spiritually commune with the Lord during the Supper, He reminds you that you belong to the family of God through the sacrificial death of the Lord Jesus.
You need to remember many wonderful truths each time you take the Lord’s Supper. First, all those who come to Jesus are saved and have all the rights to commune with Him at the Table. Secondly, the words of institution that you hear when the Supper is being “fenced” assist you in understanding that the Spirit is transforming you further into Christlikeness (2 Cor. 3:18). Even when your faith is weak and feeble, it is rooted in the covenantal promises of God. Finally, the Supper reminds us of the Spirit of adoption (Rom. 8: 15-17). The Holy Spirit testifies to your spirit, the mantra of the covenant of grace, “I am God’s, and He is mine.” Because of this you can have the full assurance of God’s love and your eternal inheritance.
As you made a public profession of faith before our church in your early teenage years and began coming to the Lord’s Table, all of these benefits of your salvation are communicated.
Consider this: Not only does your profession of faith give credible testimony that you are truly saved, but your home church has also affirmed that they see Christ in you. Even more, the Holy Spirit continuously testifies that you are God’s and He is yours. Rebecca, you can rest in Christ’s salvation, knowing without a doubt that you are a Christian.
I hope my lengthy response has been helpful, but let me encourage you not to linger in doubt. Again, God desires for you to enjoy the assurance of your salvation. Consider your own testimony of what you believe, remember your baptism, and see the love of God when you partake of the Lord’s Supper. Stay plugged into the church you are attending while away from us. Listen attentively to the Word preached, and the gospel will continue to undergird all I have written.
Your Pastor and Friend,
Matt